Two of the most enjoyable and interesting people I’ve met are Dexter and Birdie Yager. They had one of the largest organizations within Amway. I have never been part of Amway, but my wife and I used to get together with the Yagers for dinner occasionally, and each time it was an evening we would never forget.

         I was always amazed at how Dexter would seem to know the name of every waiter and waitress at whatever restaurant we went to. He treated each one of them like they were the most important person in the world, and they would swarm around him like moths to a light. It was always as fascinating and inspiring to watch this as anything else we did. The Yagers loved people, and I think this was by far the biggest secret to their huge success. It will also be the biggest reason for our success, if we are truly successful.

        One night we were at the Yager’s house until almost 3:00 a.m. Dexter and Birdie were still as full of life as when the night began. There was a knock on the door, and it was one of the guards. He said a waiter from a local restaurant was there and wanted to see Dexter, who had told him to come by “any time.” Dexter laughed and said, “Sure, bring him in!”

         We used this as an excuse to go home, but I’ll never forget what Dexter said when he could tell I was questioning the wisdom of letting people come into his house at three in the morning. He said, “You never know what people will become, so we should treat them all as if they were the most important person in the world.” It was also obvious that Dexter was not just doing this because he thought they might be the next big Amway distributor, but he really loved people and helping them was his life.

          Dexter’s success did stretch far beyond Amway, as he owned a host of other businesses as well. He often met with Presidents and movie stars, but I think the secret of his great success is that he sincerely treated every waiter, waitress, mechanic, janitor, and so on as if they were just as important as the famous. Isn’t that what the Apostle Paul meant when he said we should bestow more abundant honor on the less comely?

          For a period of time, Amway and other similar multi-level organizations possibly led more people to the Lord than the church. They were boldly evangelistic, and in one event I attended, several thousand gave their lives to the Lord at an altar call. The message had been powerful, but I know that the way people were honored and loved at the entire event had set the stage for so many conversions.

          I have known people at the top of different multilevel marketing enterprises. I am not promoting them but am using them for an important understanding that the church must get. In fact, I became interested in multi-level marketing in 1987 when I received a word from the Lord that many in Amway understood some of the important kingdom principles that the church did not understand, and we must learn. I think virtually every principle of success in any field is based on a kingdom principle, but this really got my attention. So I studied the big multilevel marketing businesses, and I saw quickly what the Lord meant.

          First, I must explain that we have a policy that those who are a part of the full-time ministry team at MorningStar cannot be a part of multilevel marketing. This is simply because we can’t have people who are trying to minister to others start looking at those people as prospects for their business. Even so, I have been a big proponent of the multi-level marketing concept since I studied it. Certainly some get into them for various reasons, some of which are not good. The huge wealth generated by some does at times have greed being promoted. This has happened to many churches too, but I am not going to give up on the church.

          New Testament ministry is multilevel, as we see in II Timothy 2:2. “the things which you have heard from me . . . entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” These are four levels: 1) Paul, 2) Timothy, 3) faithful men, 4) others. In multilevel marketing, the deeper you go in your “legs,” the more successful you are likely to be. The same is true in our commission to make disciples. A true equipper will soon have multiple generations being equipped by those they equipped.

          In multilevel marketing, you will only be successful if you help others to become successful. This does have everyone thinking about how they can help others in a very practical way. Art Williams, the founder of A.L. Williams, once told me that he did not build a business—he built people. This too should be the basic mentality of the church. How would our lives be different if we woke up every day thinking about how we could help build someone else up?