A Growing Community

"¹ Praise the Lord.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

² Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord
    or fully declare his praise?
³ Blessed are those who act justly,
    who always do what is right."

-Psalm 106: 1-3 

 I have been given a great opportunity lately and through the whole process, the glory of God and his work in people is very evident.

I am going to share the story of meeting Dennis Gable for the first time and I hope he doesn't mind me saying all of this. 

As many of you know, I am a photographer. I am kind of in a transition period of not necessarily wanting to promote myself too much before moving but wanting to continue to do some jobs and drum up work. One of my pushes to drum up work was getting a hold of this brand new growing community called Get Local AZ. The foundation of this community is to support local business, but you'll see the vision of the founder is quite a bit more spiritual. 

I contacted them through their website about a month or so ago about becoming a provider for the community. That would entail buying into the group, receiving some "discount cards" and reselling those to clients as a way to both promote my business and give my customers a discount on their services with me as well as every other business in the community.  The problem lies in the fact that I would be the only provider in Northern Arizona. Trying to sell a card for $20 that gives you discounts to businesses that you aren't located by is like trying to sell a tornado shelter to someone in California. 

However, Dennis, who is a co-founder, mentioned that they will be looking for an intern to help grow this community in the north land. Well, I am perfect for this. I know business owners, I am a Flagstaff local, I have connections. Plus, if i promote and grow the community in Flagstaff, that will help me sell my cards more quickly. I'm in.

Dennis and I conversed a bit over email the next couple weeks and then he said that they would be traveling up to Flagstaff and would like to meet. Perfect. 

I already knew that Dennis was connected to YoungLife and I knew that some of my friends had heard of him and were actually led by him when they were in high school. I knew that he was a Christ follower and that made this meeting much more than just a business lunch. 

Dennis and his partner at Get Local AZ, Danny are both incredible guys. They have a passion for this because it's about more than just supporting the local business community. They want to see this community become an evangelistic tool for Arizona. Just as in Jesus' time, people had to rely on other believers for food, shelter, necessities that they couldn't get from those persecuting them. The vision behind this Get Local AZ community is to become the support network for people needing services. It is the modern version of the historical foundation. I think that is pretty cool. And something that I would support even if I didn't have a business interest in it.

If you live in Arizona and would like to get more information about Get Local AZ, purchase a discount card, or become a provider, write me a comment on here and I will be sure to connect you to the right people!