#Marco Fischer doing the lord’s work

[lightsburnbrite]

[katherineameliaa]

When do we get the final results, Marco?

[melvinfellerstuff]

Melvin Feller Business Ministries Group Answers What Business Consultants do for You

Melvin Feller Business Ministries Group Answers What Business Consultants do for You

Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group Ministries in Texas and Oklahoma. Our mission is to call and equip a generation of Christian entrepreneurs to do business as ministry. We provide workshops and resources that help companies discover how to do business God’s way. When the heart of a business is service rather than self it can be transformed into a fruitful ministry.

“Church consulting” is a process in which church leader’s partner with an outside “expert” to identify and address issues affecting the health, effectiveness, and direction of the church.

There are some important words in the above definition:

1. Issues — It is often the presence of unusual or challenging circumstances that prompt church leaders to seek a consulting relationship in the first place. Not all such “circumstances” involve crises or problems. Sometimes, churches want to grow faster, church leaders desire to lead better and more proactively, church staff long to function more cooperatively and effectively. So, the issues prompting a consulting relationship can range from negative to positive, urgent to proactive, managing crises to building competencies.

Usually, the issues facing a church tend to cluster around the classic SWOT acrostic: strengths (e.g., “We are a very loving and generous church. How can we be more effective in using those gifts to reach our community?”), weaknesses (e.g., “As elders, we seem to be stuck in the role of managing church business rather than shepherding spiritual growth. How can we be better “soul shepherds”?), opportunities (e.g., “Our pulpit minister just resigned. How can we the best person to take his place?”) and threats (e.g., “Our marriages are in trouble. What can we do, as a church, to encourage more intimate and stable relationships?”). The more focused and specific the issue, the more likely it is that the consulting relationship will prove effective.

2. Church leaders — When churches are blessed with elders, they are usually the ones who initiate a consulting relationship and form the primary leadership group with whom a consultant works. However, preaching ministers and staffs, leadership teams (who do the work of elders even if they do not wear the title), and/or deacons can also initiate this relationship. It is important — for a successful and effective consulting relationship — that the leadership of a church (whatever form that leadership takes) have the will and the congregational support to address issues affecting the health, effectiveness, and direction of the church.

3. Expert — Someone with broad experience working with churches, deep knowledge of Scripture and church systems, and wide contacts within the denomination or fellowship. This person must have the ability to listen carefully, focus on core issues, recommend a range of options, and provide detailed plans for action.

4. Outside — One of my favorite quotes comes from Albert Einstein: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Inviting a stranger into your church system can be a frightening and threatening thing. But many church problems and challenges require the fresh eyes, out-of-the-box-thinking, objectivity, and independence that only an outsider can bring. Churches that are “stuck” need a different kind of thinking.

5. Partner — Consulting is done with churches and church leaders, not to them. It is a collaborative exercise, drawing from the strengths and gifts of both church leaders and the consultant. Solutions that are primarily “owned” by the consultant will be short-lived and shallow. Only a true partnership — involving shared responsibility, work, commitment, and trust — can result in solutions that are lasting and transformative.

6. Process — Consulting is not an event, it is a relationship, a conversation, an interactive and evolving collaboration. As such, it usually involves five distinct phases — a discussion that deserves an essay of its own.

Melvin Feller — Profile

Hello, I am Melvin Feller and I started Feller Business Ministries Group because clients kept telling me that the financial models and business valuations I prepared for them were among the best they have ever seen.

I have worked as a consultant in some of the larger firms where I found my passion of helping business owners with financial analysis, market research and business management. My goal is to earn business for life and I am committed to providing you high quality services with integrity and respect. I look forward to getting to know you and helping your company reach its maximum potential.

I have helped hundreds of business owners and individuals with financial and business startup or valuations needs for support, and transaction consulting. I have also helped entities such as family limited partnerships for wealth management and protection purposes. I have worked across multiple industries including restaurants, retail, technology, manufacturing, health care, energy, real estate, and service providers.

Where we put grace back into working with numbers and mistakes! We love numbers and people!

See what my clients say:

L. Marco, Business Systems Implementation Analyst

Melvin Feller is unmatched to any business consultant we have ever had Totally Awesome Melvin is an absolute professional. The skill set he brings is great programming plus business knowledge. Melvin is patient and thorough. From the point of view of our project — we would not have been able to do this in the time available without him. Melvin is intuitive about our needs. Melvin is also imaginative when problem solving — when we hit a wall, Melvin had several different ideas to help us get past the issue. I’ll be calling Melvin Feller a lot to get him back.”

K. Fischer, Senior Business Analyst

Robinson Trucking Company

Robinson Brick Company, a 124-year-old Texas Trucking manufacturing company and longtime Melvin Feller customer was in quick need of high-level Advanced Pricing consulting. We called upon our attorney who immediately recommended we use Melvin Feller Distribution Consultant and expert in the Advanced Pricing arena. Melvin Feller smoke-jumped into Robinson Trucking Company with a couple of days’ notice and provided numerous tips, advanced knowledge, high level detailed expertise, and demonstrated product setup utilizing Robinson Trucking’s data. With Melvin’s’ guidance, Robinson Trucking Company is currently in the process of implementing Advanced Pricing functionality to all of its 13 locations. Thank you for providing outstanding demonstrated product knowledge and immediate customer response.”

C. Shen, Manager, Uptown Business Systems

OKOrthopedics

Melvin Feller has brought a lot of value to OK Orthopedics through his custom training sessions. He tailored his presentations to address our specific process issues and questions. We have especially found that Melvin Feller is great at matching up the true potential of our goals with the real life business challenges that are not text book or white paper issues.”

D. Dostal, Director of IT

Kreggs Corporation

There are two reasons we will continue to use your organization for supporting our Business systems. First, the depth and validity of your consultants’ knowledge base is exceptional. We do not have the time or resources to function as a training ground for consultants exploring new areas. The consultants you have provided to us have been able to make an immediate impact on our projects. In addition, they have made sure that they left us self-sufficient in those areas. Second, the value provided by your organization strikes the right balance. Your rates are appropriately aligned but more importantly, your associates keep a firm understanding of our needs at the center of their work at all times. They have been excellent at advising us on several possible courses of action while helping us determine which direction most closely aligns with our abilities and system plans. We will not hesitate to contact your team for our future Melvin Fellers work.”

We do planning for Business, Nonprofits, Ministries, Directors, Business Leader, Governments and Individuals.

Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group Business Ministries in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller Business Consultants Group Business Ministries helps business owners and CEOs collaborate with God for success. We show them how to utilize biblical techniques, the power of prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit to go to higher levels of success than they have been able to achieve using their talent and business skills alone. Our team members come alongside Christian CEOs and business leaders and serve in a role that can best be described as a combination of business intercessor, prophetic voice, and business confidant. We work closely with business owners and CEOs to help them obtain wisdom and understanding from the Lord in order to make better decisions.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Protesters Demand MoMA Drop Trump Advisor from Its Board

A view of protesters inside the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art on the evening of Friday, February 17, 2017, and at the start of the action. (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

Last Friday, February 17, protesters marched from the 2017 College Art Association (CAA) conference to the entry hall of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to demand that the institution remove Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock, from its board because of his ties to the Trump administration. The exact number of protesters taking part in the action was hard to calculate as many of them appeared indistinguishable from the MoMA visitors in the crowded lobby.

Projection at the Distinguished Artists Interview event at CAA.

The roughly hourlong protest was first announced Friday afternoon during the Distinguished Artist Interview between artist Coco Fusco and art historian Steven Nelson, which was part of the CAA’s ARTspace series at the Hilton Midtown hotel. A projection greeted guests to the event and depicted a meeting between President Trump and Fink with the words “MoMA, Dump Trump!,” “Do Not Normalize Fascism,” and other phrases overtop.

Fusco read a statement from Occupy Museums, which is an art collective that will be part of this year’s Whitney Biennial, that explained the focus and reasoning for the action. The following is the statement in full:

It has come to our attention that a Trump economic advisor sits on the board of the Museum of Modern Art. The name of this advisor is Larry Fink. He is the co-founder and CEO of Blackrock Inc, the largest financial company in the world.  Blackrock barely existed before 2008. Today it manages 5.1 trillion dollars of assets.  If you hold any kind of debt to any bank, chances are that it’s traded by Blackrock. The firm is deeply invested in Americans—and especially students to remain in permanent debt. Fink is also on the board of NYU.

  Fink is not in Bannon’s camp.  He’s a liberal. He was talked about as a potential Clinton treasury secretary. But now he’s on Trump’s team. And because Trump is waging a war of hate and lies against Muslims, Immigrants, women, LGBTQ, disabled, and the planet itself, one cannot reasonably advise or do any kind of business with this regime. To advise this regime is to normalize White Supremacy.

  There is a long history of activism at MoMA. In fact, tonight’s free museum entrance was brought to you by the Art Worker’s coalition protests decades ago.  So in this tradition, we are calling for MoMA to change its behavior.

No More Normalizing Trump.

We are calling for Larry Fink to be kicked off the board as a sign to your public that you care for our values of human dignity.

  MoMA!

Why are you normalizing this regime by having a Trump advisor on your board?

Larry Fink of Blackrock Inc!

MoMA, time to Dump Trump!

Fink off the Board!

  Protesters, including members of Occupy Museums, in the lobby of MoMA

Larry Fink is a MoMA board member who was given the David Rockefeller Award by the museum in 2016. He joined a group of prominent CEOs who met with Trump to discuss economic policy. The Rockefeller Award is bestowed on an “individual from the business community who exemplifies enlightened generosity and effective advocacy of cultural and civic endeavors.”

The protesters met in the MoMA lobby at 6pm EDT and unfurled a banner that read “Resistance Against Fascism Is the Best Art,” while Coco Fusco reread the statement, another participant read “Poetry is Not a Luxury” by Audre Lorde, and another read from Walter Benjamin’s “On History.”

Protesters unfurled two banners from the balcony around the information desks of the museum, one clearly took aim at Fink, the other was more cryptic and read, “Hocus Pocus vs. Focus.” The words of the protesters were echoed using the people’s microphone technique, previously popularized by the Occupy movement.

A view of the protest in the MoMA lobby

Many visitors to the museum listened to the words but some seemed to have trouble understanding the message, which was clarified by handouts to the crowd that included a graphic by the Guerrilla Girls. One high school student from Virginia named Miranda was standing on the balcony when the protest began and told me she thought the protest was about: “The state of the world at this time and the election of Donald Trump.” She wasn’t clear about the action’s connection to the museum, but she thought most people visiting probably agreed with the protesters. When I explained to her that the action was directed at a MoMA board member connected to Trump, she said she understood the protestor’s intention. “I don’t agree with the state of the world now, it’s not safe,” she added to explain why she was unhappy with the new government.

A graphic by the Guerrilla Girls handed out at the protest

Another group of visitors on the ground floor also had trouble understanding what was going on even as they were reading the handouts. When I approached two visitors from Charlotte, North Carolina, I asked them what they thought the issue was and one said, “Cultures are not being represented correctly, is that it?” When they finally understood the issue, a woman named Rachel told Hyperallergic, “I think it’s great that they are sharing their concerns.”

Artist Coco Fusco reading the Occupy Museums statement at MoMA

The protesters repeated their chants and messages a number of times and even invited visitors to join the protest. Not every visitor was in agreement though, and a young man stepped forth into the circle near the beginning of the protest to declare: “I’m a hispanic man and I voted for Trump. Change the Narrative!” Before he darted off. Another two men were starting to speak amongst themselves a few steps away from the protest circle and they were complaining about the anti-Trump sentiment, until another man, who may have been a protester, joined in to insist this was freedom of speech.

One of the protesters at MoMA

Artist Brian Fernandes-Halloran was one of the protesters helping to hold a banner from the balcony. “I think it’s ridiculous that the Museum of Modern Art is allowing Larry Fink to stay on the board even though he’s an advisor of Trump. It’s normalizing his fascist tendencies … and we won’t stand for it,” he told Hyperallergic. He said he had been following Occupy Museums for a while and decided to get involved.

The protest then moved outside onto 53rd Street, where The Illuminator was projecting phrases, including “Fire Fink,” “Evict Trump from MoMA,” and “MoMA Don’t Normalize Trump.” Protesters repeated the readings from earlier and also invited anyone to add their voice to the protest.

Protesters in front of MoMA with words being projected by The Illuminator above.

Noah Fischer of Occupy Museums told Hyperallergic that this was “the first action in a campaign to get Larry Fink off the board of MoMA and to speak out against the normalization of the Trump regime in the art world.” He explained that they targeted MoMA because it has a direct connection to Trump. “We know that many museums have Trump-supportive people on their boards … but this is an actual direct connection. Fink was down in DC in the initial meeting with Trump to help deregulate the economy, and help make money for the 1% in the years to come.” Fischer said that we will all be hearing more about this, and how Blackrock impacts the lives of all Americans.

Artur Polando, another member of Occupy Members, told Hyperallergic the action was important because Fink was “so close to the administration.” Fischer pointed out that they are inspired by the tradition of resistance in the arts, particularly at MoMA, and that it was “time for artists to take that tradition back or art was going to become a very small insignificant thing, or a tool for those profiting from the deregulation and simply an asset. We’re not only fighting to get Fink off the board but we’re fighting for what art needs to be in the coming years.”

I asked Fischer about the the term “take it back,” and where he thought it went that it needed to be reclaimed. “It went to art fairs, and record setting auction prices, while working folks and all kinds of people are losing money and the 1% is spending money on art … we need to take art back [and ensure] autonomy from the market, and even from the state … to organize grassroots resistance.”

The Illuminator parked on 53rd Street

Betty Yu of Chinatown Art Brigade participated as, in her words, “an act of solidarity with Occupy Museums, artists, activists, and educators from across the country.” She explained they wanted “the Museum of Modern Art to do the right thing and fire Fink.” She said the museum “does not get absolved simply because they display work by Muslim artists,” referring to the recent installation of art in the permanent collection galleries from eight artists from the seven banned Muslim-majority nations. Seven of the artists the museum recently installed are of Muslim cultural heritage, while one, Marcos Grigorian, is not.

Mariangeles Soto-Diaz is an artist and professor from Southern California who was attending the CAA conference and decided to take part. “We’re a nation of immigrants and it’s important not to be complicit with the Trump regime,” she told Hyperallergic.

Protesters in front of MoMA

Coco Fusco and Steven Nelson were standing at the front of MoMA at the end of the protest and I spoke to them for their thoughts about the action. “I am heartened by the resistance and we need more,” she told Hyperallergic. Nelson echoed the sentiment, “This resistance is terrific and I hope it is a harbinger of bigger actions.” Fusco said she hopes MoMA would make a public statement responding to this call, whatever their position is, to “acknowledge that artists are asking them, and if they don’t want to kick him off, then [to] let us know that.”

I asked the pair how they would respond to those who say this issue represents the financial realities facing museums today. “Museums are not sacrosanct spiritual institutions,” Fusco said. “But it is also true that there have been other horrific political controversies involving art collections and museums … and there is a history of responding to that and rectifying the issue.”

“I think that’s too simple of a statement,” Nelson added. “Museums can find money in many many places and to ask for divestment or at least get a clear statement why you won’t is vital … not to divest is still a political statement.”

Hyperallergic reached out to MoMA and a spokesperson said they would not make a statement at this time.

The post Protesters Demand MoMA Drop Trump Advisor from Its Board appeared first on Hyperallergic.

from Hyperallergic http://ift.tt/2l1UFqF via IFTTT

[lightsburnbrite]

📸: Marco Fischer

[lightsburnbrite]

[katherineameliaa]

[lightsburnbrite]