April 26, 2024
We are all familiar with Hobby Lobby and David Green, entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of the chain of arts and craft stores. Green comes from a family of preachers and says he has built his business squarely on biblical principles. In a book detailing the history of the company, Green is quoted as saying, “We are Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles.”
According to an article in the Huffington Post, Green commits half of Hobby Lobby’s total pretax earnings to a portfolio to evangelical ministries and has donated more than $500 million.
Green took a public stand against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) because of a provision mandating that companies include the “morning-after pill” in their health coverage, which he considered to be an abortificient (a drug causing abortions).
The case was taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and Hobby Lobby won a landmark victory for religious liberty. The Court ruled that individuals do not lose their religious freedom when they open a family business. Unfortunately, lower courts have challenged that decision since it was rendered on June 26, 2104.
Recently, Stuart Varney, British-American economist, interviewed Green on the FOX News Business Channel. Varney asked Green, “What would you have done if you had lost the case with the Supreme Court?”
Green responded, “We don’t know what we would have done, but we knew what we weren’t going to do. Without any question we were not going to pay for someone’s abortive pills.”
In his dialogue with Varney, Green said, “We are stewards of our assets. We want to give our profits to ministries. We are making as much money as we can. We are opening as many stores as we can so we can be more effective in the ministries we support.”
Hobby Lobby is a growing company. At the time of the aforementioned interview Green indicated there were 780 stores and they were building 50 to 70 new stores each year.
Varney asked, “If I were to say that you are an aggressively Christian operation – spreading the Word of God – is that what you do?”
Green responded, “That is our purpose. We have to have a purpose.”
Varney’s expression brightened as he made a statement intoned as a question, “And that is a far higher purpose than making money?”
Green answered, “We make money. We need to do that in order to do what we want to do, but the end result is eternal – telling people about Christ. So, we think more about eternal things than that which is temporal.”
Green indicated he had a conversation with Donald J. Trump and stated his conviction that if America is to be great again we must go back to the truth of our motto, “In God we trust.”
Green has just written a book titled Giving It All Away ... And Getting It Back Again. The book is about living generously and highlights the principles that have guided him in growing a business from scratch, weathering a Supreme Court case, raising a loving family, and leaving them a lasting legacy.
The Green family has announced that the construction of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. is nearing completion. The technologically advanced eight-story museum is located three blocks south of the United States Capitol, contains 430,000-square feet of floor space, and will open this fall. For more information go here.
Green stated to Varney, “We need to get back to God’s Word. God’s Word is something I can stand on. I can stand on it in my marriage, in my family, in my business. I think this country could stand on it as well."
