THE FOUNDER’S STORY - Mike French

After retiring from nearly 40-years of doing advertising and marketing within the auto recycling industry, I have founded a new non-profit organization, Christian Auto Recyclers & Vendors Association, or simply, CARVA, for short.

WHY CARVA?

There are Christians present in every industry, including ours, and they love to know who each other are and they want to have fellowship with each other. This is not unusual; many industries have Christian associations connected to them. Just to name a few, there is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (sports), Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (Publishers), Christian Educators Association (educators), Christian Legal Society (lawyers), Christian Organization of Psychiatry (Psychiatrists), and literally thousands more. Just do an internet search of “Christian associations” to see. It is appropriate and timely for our industry to have an industry wide Christian fellowship group, too.

I was in the Christian secret service

For many years I was a member of the Christian Secret Service. What I mean by this is I didn’t do much to let others know I was a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Oh, I tried to behave well and Christian Like. I didn’t get intoxicated or use foul language. And I tried to treat others very well. But I didn’t do much to share Christ with others in the industry. Then something happened to change that.

Receiving terrible news made me see what’s important

One day I sat down with a young businessman who was excited about getting his business to the next level. For three hours I shared advertising methods and marketing plans with him. He was extremely outgoing and friendly. He was full of life, he was enthusiastic, and he was open to anything I said to him. On his way home after our meeting, he was killed in a head-on collision. When I heard the terrible news, I was heartbroken! I realized I had spent three hours with him and hadn’t mentioned anything about God. He had been so open and friendly that I could have easily spoken to him about spiritual matters, but I didn’t. And I may have been the last person to speak with him. After that, I made a pledge to never let that happen again. Now I always pray for people before I go to meet with them, and I try to find some way to include Christ in our conversation. I am always polite, I’m not pushy, therefore, I have been able to share Christ to some willing listeners on several occasions. One of CARVA’s two purposes is to share Christ with the industry.  

Knowing other believers within the industry

CARVA’s second purpose is to connect Christians within the industry to each other. Over the years I have been fortunate to discover many other Christians within the industry and it has been encouraging to me to have fellowship with them at so many industry events. Unfortunately, this is not always the case for many Christians. They become invisible as they blend into the crowd. If you didn’t know they were Christians, you would find it difficult to pick them out of the crowd. That is why one of CARVA’s two purposes is to spotlight awareness of other believers within the industry. Christians can and do encourage and help one another when they are aware of each other. That is why one of CARVA’s purposes is to spotlight awareness of other believers within the industry. Christians can and will encourage and help one another when they are aware of one another.

CARVA’S TWO PURPOSES

CARVA has two simple purposes:

1. To connect Christians within the Automotive Recycling Industry to each other.

2. To share Jesus Christ to the Automotive Recycling Industry.

Making Christian Connections in the Automotive Recycling Industry

Visit www.carva.group, and complete the form near the top and please leave your contact information so we can keep you informed about CARVA happenings. And be sure to stop by and visit us at our booth at Industry events.

Mike French, CARVA Founder & President