A young kid inherits the family factory, conquers the world of commerce with cutthroat tactics, buys a fancy car and house, realizes he's empty inside, squanders his funds on a bad business venture, finds God and vows to make his life meaningful by helping others.
Lester "Buck" Jacobs, 65, thought business leaders could relate to his life story. And judging by the growth of C12, his support group for born-again Christian CEOs, many do.
Founded in Apollo Beach in 1992, C12 has 22 chapters in 11 states and the District of Columbia, including three chapters in Tampa. Many members also enroll their senior staff in one of C12's "Key Players" groups.
But Jacobs' path from epiphany to ministry was no straight line.
It began in November 1973. After losing nearly $1-million on a startup called Jet Age Industries, Jacobs faced the possibility of bankruptcy and, he says, a gnawing sense of personal failure. When he saw a televised sermon by Hour of Power evangelist Robert Schuller, he committed himself to Jesus.
The next day - no coincidence, Jacobs believes - a childhood friend called to offer him a job as vice president of sales at an Illinois chemical company where "Jesus was the chairman of the board." Jacobs, raised in a nonreligious household, took the job. Within seven years, he says, revenues at the S.H. Mack Co. of St. Charles, Ill., grew tenfold. The company also thrived according to a more unorthodox business metric: number of souls saved. That dual success would prove a compelling recruitment tool years later at C12.
"Sometimes the things we did in response to God's direction didn't make much business sense," he says. Yet they apparently worked.
When his friend sold the chemical company, Jacobs decided to share his Christian business acumen with others. Through a mutual friend, he found a kindred spirit in the owner of the Apollo Beach Golf & Sea Club in Hillsborough County.
That led to a golf course ministry called the Golf and Sea Fellowship Inc. Offerings included free play on Saturday afternoons, weekend retreats and golf contests, packaged with prayer and Christian lessons.
Next came a multiyear stint with a not-for-profit called the Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, where Jacobs became Florida coordinator. In December 1992, he went solo with his own for-profit concept, C12.
Jacobs, who moved to Cornelia, Ga., this year, no longer runs C12 meetings. He continues to produce monthly lesson plans for his 18 regional licensees, for which he collects a hefty fee.
While the Fellowship survived on donations, C12 charges for membership. Jacobs says doing so ensures members come regularly and pushes C12 toward excellence.
"Our members, if they don't receive value, will leave," he says. "And they should."
