Our October 2003 speaker was Barry Minkow, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Mira Mesa. He is an energetic and entertaining speaker. He is author of Clean Sweep: The Inside Story of the ZZZZ Best Scam and Making It In America: Eighteen Years Old and a Million Dollars.

Barry regularly speaks about fraudulent financial activities. Why? Because he was a personal initiator of fraudulent activities. You may be familiar with the story.

Barry founded ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning Company in Los Angeles at age 16 and grew it into a business worth $240 million - on paper, anyway. The media and Wall Street touted him as a "whiz kid," and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley even proclaimed a "Barry Minkow Day" for the city. Actually, Barry had become involved with organized crime, defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. At age 23, he was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

Well, the Lord got Barry out of jail much earlier than that - in only 7 and ˝ years. As Barry puts it, "…only seven Super Bowls." That part of the story is for another time. Barry's story today was about what caused his fraud, and some keen insights into integrity.

Fraud in the U.S. is apparently rampant. 55% of CFOs recently reported that their CEO had requested them to misrepresent company finances. The FBI reports a high number of new fraud cases are being investigated each month. What causes this? Barry talked about three causes of his fall and he theorizes that these are universal truths.

Downfall cause #1 - Caring too deeply about what other people think. Our self-identity can be linked to what we can do or what we have - not to who we truly are. Barry learned in high school that he was popular, had respect, and influence if he bought people things. This became so important to him to keep the popularity, respect, and influence (and money) - that he compromised everything else. In addition, he learned how gullible people are - which enabled him to dupe them. The true solution to this of course, is our identity in Christ. Christ is who we are, so we do not need false popularity, respect, and influence to give us value.

Downfall cause #2 - Taking short cuts. If short cuts go unchecked, they lead to rationalization. The shortcuts, which include lying, become reinforced behaviors. When the person is not caught and are able to continue their "success" with lies, the deception becomes more and more prevalent. Barry shared a story about carpet cleaning where he sold the additional service of "scotch guarding" to a customer, but used water instead of real scotch guard. The client never knew, and he made a profit for the company. Alternatively, he referenced men he knew who set healthy boundaries and avoided fraud and huge financial mistakes. The decisions they made were difficult and risky, but their integrity paid off in the end.

Downfall cause #3 - Pride of being un-teachable. By not listening to wise instruction and warning signs, the road to sin is inevitable. The opposite is a humble, teachable spirit - one whom God can lead through humility. The healthy leader in a company uses internal accountability and honesty to the fullest.

Barry challenged us to pay careful attention to these three points. As the saying goes, "But for the grace of God go I."

Barry closed with a moving and poignant story. What would you do if a man broke into your house and murdered your 5-year-old child? You would have only three choices - all of which are mutually exclusive to each other: 1) vengeance, 2) justice, or 3) mercy. If you chose Vengeance, you would hunt down the murderer and kill him. He would get exactly what he gave out. If you chose Justice, you would help the authorities hunt him down, put him in jail, try him in court, and sentence him to a fair reward. Justice would be served. If, however, you chose Mercy, you would find him and forgive him for the murder of your dear child. Then you would adopt him into your family, as your own child. That is mercy. And guess what? God does that every day! He is merciful like that to us, every single day.

The final challenge from Barry is simple - live integrity to the fullest. Talk is cheap. Accompany your talk with action - that is what truly makes a difference. If we talk about mercy and love and integrity as Christians, then let us live it with all of our might, to the glory of God.