SALISBURY, N.C.--Rick Grubbs, founder and president of LifeChanging Seminars (LCS), uses his ministry to teach Christians how to live their life to the fullest by efficiently managing their time. He is reinforcing what many people have known all along: life is short and there is not a moment to waste.
"God had been speaking to me about the amount of time people waste," says Grubbs, who also hosts a 60-second radio program called, "Redeeming the Time," which is based on Ephesians 5:15-16 –"See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (NKJV).
Grubbs presents three reasons why Christians should treat time as one of their most precious commoditites. First, he says time is limited (Psalm 90); Second, time is our most valuable earthly possession (Matthew 25:14-30); and third, we will have to give account for the way we have used our time (Matthew 12:36).
He not only teaches about time but how his faith has been improved by his realizations about time.
"One of the motivations for my coming to Christ had been an increasing realization of the brevity of life and how there is so little time in this world to prepare for eternity," he says.
Started in 1987, LCS seminars have been hosted by organizations such as Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, National Religious Broadcasters and Family Research Council. He has spoken at Christian events from conferences to pastor’s retreats. His radio program airs on American Family Radio’s 200-station radio network.
The Appalachian State University graduate teaches people how to use their time to work for eternal things and even testifies that his ability to speak in public was the work of God.
"Before I got saved, the thought of speaking to any size crowd terrified me," he says. "Today, that is what I love to do more than anything."
Grubbs attended a liberal church when he was young but later took up drugs and alcohol. It wasn’t until he was handed Bible during college by an evangelist and taken to an Intervarsity Christian Fellowship meeting by a dorm floormate that he used his life for the glory of God.
After he accepted Christ into his heart, he wanted to commit more of his life to sharing his faith. He even changed his major from business to public speaking so he could learn to speak in front of people.
Before beginning to serve full-time for the LCS ministry in 1998, Grubbs served as a missionary to Czechoslovakia. He has taught over 1000 seminars to date.
People know they need to better manage their time, says Grubbs. However, he says they still lack the discipline to change their habits.
"If we know what we know," he says, "why do we still do what we do?"
The best advice he gives to others is by telling them to ask themselves two questions before beginning any activity: “What will its fruit be in five years? What will its fruit be for eternity?”
