The Christian Home Business Association (CHBA) was founded in the autumn of 2008 by Cynthia K. Lee (her photo is to the right), who is also the Association's administrator. A middle-aged Christian entrepreneur who lives in a small town in the mountains of Northwest Arkansas, Lee says that, for her, the Christian Home Business Association is "a ministry as much as a business association."
This is because Lee felt "led by the Holy Spirit to establish the Christian Home Business Association to help bring ethical Christian entrepreneurs together so that they and their home-based businesses could become more effective in transforming the marketplace and establishing the Kingdom of God within it. I guess you could say that's the really big picture." She adds that the Christian Home Business Association seeks to do this through its distribution of its free Christian Inspiration newsletter (the Christian Inspiration Gazette) and its dedication to supporting members "by providing them with the Christian inspiration, educational resources and expert assistance that will help them create ethical, profitable home businesses.
"Another key element in my founding of the Christian Home Business Association this year (2008) is that I very strongly feel that in these turbulent and financially stressful and insecure times it is increasingly important to develop home-based businesses and incomes that don't depend on a shrinking and increasingly competitive job market, personal savings, or investments in a very volatile stock and mutual funds market.
"It seems to me that one of the best ways to do this is for brothers and sisters in Christ to join together to provide trustworthy, honest support and encouragement to each other and to those who want to do business with honest, sincere, faith-full people. I know that I don't trust or want to do business with home business marketers who assume I am a money-obsessed, greedy, lazy person who is naive enough to believe their lies. Not surprisingly, the Association's "motto" is: "Bringing honesty, common sense and Christianity to the marketplace."
Christian Home Business Association monthly membership dues are $10.00. Membership benefits include: in-depth monthly reports on key aspects of running a successful home business; a monthly membership directory that provides members with the chance to share information with each ohter about their products, services and programs, up to 10 hours (per year) of professional writing assistance for members' needs with sales letters, articles, news releases, advertising, a monthly Anointed for Business Devotionals booklet, personalized Christian Home Business Association websites with free hosting, newsletters, special alerts and more.
The most popular membership benefit is the generous New Member Referral Bonus given to members who introduce others to the Christian Home Business Association. Members whose referrals join the Christian Home Business Association receive $5 a month for each one for as long as they remain active members. With just two referrals, members can cover the entire cost of their monthly membership fees. With more than two referrals, members will find themselves making a regular monthly profit from their membership.
Lee launched the Christian Inspiration Gazette, a free quarterly newsletter of Christian-oriented inspirational articles, quotations and information in January 2008. It is now published by the Christian Home Business Association electronically (on the Internet) as well as on good old fashioned paper for those who don't use computers or who prefer to hold their newsletters in their hands. The Gazette contains no advertising and is not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination or group.
The Christian Inspiration Gazette is freely provided to all who request it, although those who wish to recieve copies through the U.S. Postal Service are asked to contribute two first class stamps to help with postage costs for a sample issue or five first class stamps for a full-year's subscription. A sample issue or annual subscription can be requested by sending a note or postcard to: CHBA, P.O. Box 774, Siloam Springs, AR 72761 or by email at: christianproserity@gmail.com . Please specify whether you want a single sample issue or a quarterly subscription and whether you want to receive it by email or have it delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.
Initially, the Christian Inspiration Gazette was offered in a free version (quarterly) and in a monthly version for paying subscribers, who paid a monthly subscription fee of $10 that also entitled them to receive $5 new subscriber referral bonuses for anyone they introduced to the Gazette who became a paying subscriber. This structure and wording was confusing for some members, and other members recommended giving paying subscribers additional types of benefits beyond the monthly newsletter. These suggestions helped to guide Lee's decisions about how to structure the Christian Home Business Association.
Prior to founding the Christian Inspriation Gazette and the Christian Home Business Association, Lee established the Life More Abundant Club in the autumn of 2006 and officially launched it in January 2007. It provides home business information (through reports and newsletters) for Christian entrepreneurs who are budget conscious and don't want to invest a lot of money in connection with starting and building their home businesses. There is a low, one-time cost of $20 for Internet-using members to get a lifetime membership in the Life More Abundant Club, and an annual fee of $10 for members who don't have (or want) computer access.
In the early months of 2006, Lee reached a major turning point in her involvement with Internet home business activities, an involvement that had taken up 20-30 hours a week of her time and attention for four years. She recalls being "burned out, frustrated, and almost ready to walk away from it all, but I had a nagging sense that I had been led to invest all that time--and money!--for some reason other than experiencing a really big level of failure. When I prayed about it and asked for guidance and direction, I realized that I had learned about little known ways to make money on the Internet through free-to-join Internet programs as well as low cost programs. I had also learned about passive income programs, which require no recruiting whatsoever to get into profit, and the best researchers and advisors in that little known arena.
"I felt inspired by the Holy Spirit to share that information with others, but to offer it to others who were faith-focused rather than any and all would-be entrepreneurs. There is so much deception, and there are so many grossly unrealistic claims in the home business opportunities industry that I did not want to be a part of it or work with people who thought getting rich quick was totally realistic."
