Answered Prayer
Praise God for Demonstrating & Displaying His Greatness
“LORD my God, You have done many things — Your wonderful works and Your plans for us; none can compare with You. If I were to report and speak of them, they are more than can be told.” (Psalm 40:5)
“You answer us in righteousness, with awe-inspiring works, God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth.” (Psalm 65:5)
“Come and see what God has done, how awesome are His works on man’s behalf!” (Psalm 66:5)
“I will remember the LORD’s works; I will remember Your ancient wonders. I will reflect on all You have done.” (Psalm 77:11–12)
Our Journal of Remembrance: God's Great Answers to Our Humble Prayers
-
In the beginning, there was a vision
In the fall of 2001, God revealed a fresh and relevant way for Christians to practice Christian community in the marketplace.
Internet research was conducted to assess the existence of Christian business networking organizations in the US.
The initial framework of a Christian business networking organization solidly founded upon Scripture was developed.
-
The early years of building the model
In January of 2002, Paul Bender, Elmer Bley, Chas Jones, Bill Tamulonis and Mike Chetelat white-boarded the CBN concept.
These men continued meeting together over the course of the next four years to develop CBN's initial business model.
As CBN's business model continued to develop, it was posted to a private website for further review and enhancement.
-
The Christian Business Network was formed
Christian Business Network, LLC was officially formed on February 10th, 2005.
Development of the business model and website continued steadily until its official unveiling.
-
The Christian Business Network was launched
CBN officially launched in January and hosted its first public networking event in February.
CBN hosted its first Annual Fall Breakfast networking event.
-
Networking events were successfully hosted
CBN hosted its first Annual Spring Breakfast networking event.
CBN hosted its second Annual Fall Breakfast networking event.
-
CBN clusters expanded throughout Maryland
CBN hosted its second Annual Spring Breakfast networking event.
CBN hosted a series of ten Cluster Invitational meetings throughout Maryland.
CBN hosted its first Annual Fall Banquet at the Hilton Garden Inn in Maryland.
-
CBN’s original Membership Site was launched
CBN launched its world-class Membership Site enabling members to join and connect on-line.
CBN hosted a series of Spring Conferences in various venues throughout Maryland.
CBN conducted a workshop at the 2010 Iron-Sharpens-Iron Conference.
CBN hosted its second Annual Fall Banquet at the BWI Hilton Hotel in Maryland.
-
The vision of CBN was becoming global in scope
On September 6th, the Lord inspired CBN's president to develop CBN into a global enterprise.
CBN purchased the software necessary to map and navigate every region of the world.
On December 31st, the CBN website was taken off-line to begin the process of transforming CBN into a global enterprise.
-
The Power of Prayer and the Greatness of God
In January, Scott Chetelat was hired as our Director of Online Operations to help develop our global websites.
In April, CBN secured the rights to harness the power of Google advertising services for our members.
In April, the Power of Prayer and the Greatness of God became major themes for our staff and board members.
Paul Bender, John Chetelat, Rick Conniff, and Chuck Whitmore agreed to serve on CBN's new Advisory Board.
In December, CBN Advisers and their spouses attended the first annual Adviser's Dinner at the Conniff's home.
-
The second year of major accomplishments
In January, CBN contracted with a vendor to develop our new Member Registration and Profile Management process.
In February, CBN contracted with a vendor to develop our Custom Map and Group Home page back-end database.
In February, CBN purchased the software to create a Home Page for every continent, country, and region of the world.
In February, CBN launched Phase One of its newly re-designed CBN website for the benefit of our global audience.
In March, CBN purchased the software whereby its members could create and manage a variety of professional blogs.
In March, CBN contracted with vendors to develop and execute a Social Media & Marketing Strategy for CBN.
In June, CBN purchased the software that would enable them to add thousands of unique pages to its website.
In August, CBN Advisers hosted a special 2-hour prayer meeting to lay our many requests before the Lord.
In September, software was purchased that would enable the CBN site to be easily viewed on any mobile device.
In September, comprehensive industry and occupational categories were added to the CGN Member Profile.
In September, comprehensive geographical categories were added to the CGN Member Profile.
In September, a state-of-the-art design template was chosen for the new Christian Global Network site.
In September, a state-of-the-art design layout was chosen for the new Christian Business Network site.
In September, the CBN website was enhanced allowing it to be easily viewed on any mobile device.
In October, many mission-critical geographic shape files were obtained for our Global Navigation System.
In November, a comprehensive set of geographic overlay images was obtained for our Global Navigation System.
In November, a major website technology malfunction was discovered and resolved by Scott Chetelat.
In December, God granted us a major breakthrough with how to automate the process of banner advertising.
-
The year that wisdom became supreme
In January, CBN launched a brand new, very versatile and mobile friendly Blogging service for our global audience.
In January, God granted us major breakthroughs in the development of our Global Navigation system.
In January, God granted us major breakthroughs in the deployment of our Global Community Blogging system.
In January, God granted us wisdom on how best to display text and rotating images at the top of our mobile site.
In January, God granted us wisdom on how best to populate 7000+ Group Home pages with unique content.
In January, God granted us wisdom on how best to post Global Community Blog entries to our Twitter account.
In February, God granted us wisdom in resolving a Blogging notification malfunction.
In February, God granted us favor in completing and unveiling our newly redesigned Home page.
In February, God granted us wisdom on how best to enable site visitors to view references to Scripture.
In February, God granted us wisdom on how best to manage site-wide design elements of CGN's new site.
In March, God granted our technology team great wisdom on how to merge of our Web and DB services.
In March, God granted us wisdom on how best to incorporate our Global Navigation within our CMS web platform.
In April, God granted us wisdom on how best to display Global Navigation pages on Desktop & Tablet devices.
In April, God granted us wisdom to harness the best technology to display banner ads on Global Navigation pages.
In May, God granted us wisdom to get modules to work if they are added as part of a separate template.
In May, God granted us wisdom on the right API solution for securely collecting and displaying member information.
In June, God granted us favor and our business partners wisdom to enable Community Blogs to auto-post to Twitter.
In June, God granted us wisdom to fully implement the Professional Settings section of the CGN Member Profile.
In June, God granted us wisdom to harness the power of our API for the collection and display of member information.
In June, God granted us wisdom to find and implement a very professional and user-friendly FAQ module for the CBN site.
In June, God granted us wisdom to enable people to request notification when we launch groups in their region of interest.
On July 2, God brought our development team to the end of a long journey as we completed all mission-critical tasks!
On July 3, we re-opened the Christian Global Network for existing members to test and to refine our processes.
In July, God granted us wisdom on how best to display banner ads on Global Navigation as well as Group Home pages.
In July, God granted us wisdom in significantly revamping all of our Member Types, Privileges, Dues, Discounts, etc.
In July, God granted us wisdom to discover technical flaws within our bulk e-mail system prior to public launch.
In August, God granted us wisdom to fine-tune our Global Navigation system to make it intuitive to navigate.
In August, God granted us wisdom to supplement CGN's bulk e-mailing system with one that is globally respected.
In August, God granted us wisdom to discover a much more responsive template for smart phones.
In September, God granted us wisdom to implement a much more responsive template for smart phones.
On September 8, we publicly unveiled the Christian Global Network and announced the same to people globally.
In September, God granted our Prayer Team the pleasure of His presence as we met for a time of prayer and praise.
In September, God granted CBN's president, Michael Chetelat, to opportunity to speak at CBMC's World Convention.
In September, God enabled Mike Chetelat & Chuck Whitmore to introduce CBN to 800+ people at the Convention.
In September, God granted our development team the wisdom to activate banner advertising on smart phones.
In October, God granted Scott Chetelat the perseverance in activating 6,000+ Global Groups and Maps.
In November, God granted us insight into what was causing our mail server to be blacklisted and the wisdom to fix it.
In November, God granted us wisdom to develop and implement a Referral Rewards Program for members.
In December, God granted Scott Chetelat the wisdom and perseverance to harness the power of Google Analytics.
In December, God granted Mike Chetelat the wisdom to develop the initial draft of a Content Publishing Strategy.
-
The year of godly faith & great expectations
In January, God granted us wisdom to finally resolve a major dis-function with our blogging system.
In February, God granted Scott Chetelat wisdom to harness the power of Bootstrap as our new site design tool.
In March, God granted our design team wisdom to make significant changes to every page on the CBN website.
In April, God graciously enabled our design team to complete and launch phase one of the new CBN website.
In May, God granted Scott Chetelat wisdom on how to format all email templates to ensure a consistent design regardless of the browser or email client.
In June, God granted us wisdom to refine the banner advertising process which will enable members to promote their organizations as Regional Sponsors.
In August, God granted us wisdom to create a Local Clusters page that outlines the features, benefits and resources for Local Cluster members and leaders.
In September, God granted us incredible favor with Janet Parshall by inviting CBN’s president to join her on her radio show In The Market with Janet Parshall.
In September, God granted us wisdom to develop a strategy for connecting members with each other in every region of the world utilizing WebEx and Skype.
In October, God granted us wisdom to design a new home page for groups that would include the ability to search for group members by name, industry, and occupation.
In November, God granted us great wisdom to merge all the functionality of CGN into the CBN website enabling us to achieve a seamless and consistent user experience.
In December, God granted us great favor to complete phase one of group search functionality and to increase the number of services and privileges we offer to members.
-
The year of major expansion and service enhancements
In January, God granted us wisdom and favor to implement major enhancements to every group home page, the most significant being our new Member Search feature.
In February, God granted us wisdom to introduce new Industry Groups for members to join that would enable them to connect with members from various industries.
In February, God granted us wisdom to greatly enhance the Member Resources section by adding many online, multimedia, publication, and devotional resources.
In March, God granted us wisdom to complete our Private Business Community Group strategy and favor in demonstrating it capabilities to church leaders.
In April, God granted us favor with several Christian universities as they agreed to distribute our Student Flyer and to post the same in their Career Center.
In April, God granted us favor with LeTourneau University’s Center for Faith & Work as seen by their willingness to add CBN to their list of endorsed ministries.
In May, God granted us favor in recruiting Daniel Starcevich, International Director of The Pocket Testament League to become the first member of our Ambassador Council.
In June, God granted us favor in recruiting Scott Adams, Business & Organizational Leadership Director at Columbia International University to join our Ambassador Council.
In August, God granted us a measure of mysterious, yet providential confirmation to stay the course and remain committed to building this global community.
In September, God granted us wisdom to abandon our use of WebEx in favor of Zoom web conferencing software along with favor to receive a refund from WebEx.
In October, God granted us wisdom to harness the powerful Anti-SPAM and DNS tools of MXToolBox to protect our domain assets and intellectual property.
In November, God granted us wisdom to change the bank with which we do business.
In December, God granted us wisdom and favor with upgrading our blogging software to the latest version without losing previously posted blogs.
-
The year of global expansion and website improvements
In January, God granted us wisdom in planning for major website improvements, redesigning Group Home pages, adding more groups, and a Member Profile Scorecard.
In February, God granted us wisdom and favor to complete the development and implementation of our powerful new Member Profile Scorecard.
In March, God granted us wisdom with redesigning Group Home pages to include featured members as well as more intuitive search options and search results display.
In April, God granted us favor while replacing our previous cloud communication service with RingCentral in order to establish a truly global communication system.
In May, God granted us wisdom with redesigning our Member Area menu navigation and to streamline the user experience within the entire Member Area.
In June, God granted us wisdom to make the necessary enhancements to inform visitors and members of who the Regional Director is for a given region of the world.
In June, God granted us wisdom to add LinkedIn, Facebook, College, Company, and Ministry Group pages to the Group Navigation section of the site.
In August, God granted us wisdom to replace former geographic location overlays with Google regional map overlays.
In September, God granted us wisdom to finetune regional location names on Regional Group Navigation pages.
In September, God granted us wisdom to add the ability for members to search by Region as well as by City/Town within Groups.
In October, God granted us wisdom to implement significant enhancements to Member Profile and Referrals pages.
In November, God granted us favor to successfully conduct a series of Member Webinars using RingCentral - our new webinar platform of choice.
In December, God opened doors for us to begin working with pastors in Mozambique who want to represent CBN in the capital city of Maputo.
-
The year of content creation and ministry collaboration
In January, God granted us wisdom and favor to greatly enhance and reintroduce Godly Wisdom@Work - our content publishing service.
In February, God granted us favor with several missional organizations that are eager to partner with CBN as we co-labor to fulfill the Great Commission.
In March, God granted CBN president incredible favor to be able meet and speak with top executives from some of the most recognized marketplace ministry organizations in the USA at FCCI's Impact Summit held at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. Steve Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby, hosted a lunch for about 30 such executives to meet and discuss practical ways to more effectively and efficiently collaborate in the marketplace.
In April, God granted us great favor as CBN president Michael Chetelat was granted a 3-hour one-on-one meeting with CBMC president William McAvinney in Fredericksburg, VA.
In May, God granted us great favor as CBN was featured at a Young Professionals Summit in Kigali, Rwanda with 95 attendees expressing interest to learn more.
In June, God granted us great favor in raising up a well-respected Kenyan businessman, David Tanki, who is eager and committed to serve as an ambassador for CBN in Kenya.
In July, God granted us great favor in Nairobi, Kenya as David Tanki coordinated the official launch of CBN in Kenya - the first regional CBN event outside the United States.
In August, God granted us great favor by moving in the life of an Ethiopian businessman who loves the vision & mission of CBN and wants to see it firmly established there.
In September, God granted us great favor by providing Paul Muhami, a replacement for David Tanki, to head up the establishment of a CBN Branch in Kenya.
In October, God granted us great favor in being able to secure the name "Christian Business Network" as the official name of CBN's Branch in Kenya.
In November, God granted us great favor with David Holly, president of Truth@Work, by inviting CBN to be the only remote hosting site for their 2018 Truth@Work Conference.
In December, God granted us great favor in becoming an official partner of RightNow Media@Work to offer their entire suite of videos to dues-paying members beginning 2019.
-
The year of more growth, expansion, and collaboration
Throughout 2019, God has granted us wisdom and favor in negotiating with Maia Arneson, president of Christian Business Networking, to enfold their organization into CBN. As a result of our choosing not to rush the process, Maia has agreed to become and remain a Premium Member of CBN and to promote the same to her many contacts. Thousands of her contacts have now been added to CBN's membership role and contact database. As of January 1, 2020, ChristianBusinessNetworking.com is now owned by CBN and all website traffic is permanently redirected to CBN's website.
Throughout 2019, God has granted us wisdom and patience in strategizing with David Tanki on how best to establish a solid and sustainable CBN Branch Kenya. In December, David Tanki organized and facilitated their first CBN Board meeting attended by several key Kenyan CBN members. They laid out and documented a course of action starting with a monthly breakfast forum set begin on February 5th. This should prove to be a significant step forward toward establishing a strong CBN presence in Kenya as the launchpad for other African countries.
Throughout 2019, God has granted us wisdom and favor in strategizing with key CBMC leaders in Uganda and India toward enabling their regional members to employ CBN's Member Engagement Platform as their own private connectivity platform. If our platform proves to serve them well, this could lead other CBMC regions to follow suit.
In December, God granted us favor in beginning a strong and collaborative relationship with Bruce Witt, president of Leadership Revolution. Bruce has trained and equipped thousands of Christian leaders in many countries over many years.
As of December 31st, CBN now has members from 100 countries on six continents.
-
The year of adjusting to the Coronavirus pandemic
On April 9th, we hosted a Global Townhall webinar during which representatives from six continents shared how various contries were being impacted by and responding to COVID-19.
Throughout 2020, we kept asking the Lord how CBN and its members could and should respond in practical ways to those within our sphere of influence who were being impacted by the Coronavirus.
Throughout 2020, we conducted discussions with key leaders of many organizations about ways to partner and collaborate with each other for the greater enhancement, expansion, and impact of our respective organizations for a win-win-win for everyone involved.
During the 4th quarter of 2020, God granted us wisdom and favor in developing a strategy for the creation of Professional Groups and for high-caliber Premium members to facilitate them beginning in January of 2021.
During the 4th quarter of 2020, God granted us wisdom and favor in developing a strategic partnership with Columbia International University. The Alumni Department and the School of Business and Professional Studies have agreed to use our member engagement platform as the primary means of enabling their students, alumni, and personnel to connect, communicate, and congregate online in various private groups. If this initiative proves successful, there are many other Christian colleges and universities that should be interested in following suit.
-
The year of launching Professional Groups
Throughout most of 2021, we hosted and facilitated up to 12 unique Professional Group meetings via Zoom on a semi-monthly basis. These Professional Groups included: Business Strategies • Career Development • Communication • Entrepreneurship • Financial Stewardship • Leadership • Management • Networking • Sales & Marketing • Social Media • Technology • Worldview@Work
In the fourth quarter, we negotiated and sealed a strategic partnership with OneShare Health - an ACA-exempt Health Care Sharing ministry. They provide a special discount for CBN members.
-
The year of building a new membership platform
Throughout most of 2022, our dedicated and experienced team of website developers has been focused on designing and building a brand new, fully-customized, and state-of-the-art Professional Engagement Platform to serve Christian professionals internationally. By the grace and wisdom of Almighty God, we believe that our membership platform model is unlike any other platform on the Internet.
Given the magnitude of this Kingdom endeavor and the enormous expense required in order to build such massive platform, we are seeking to partner with private equity and angel investors for investments totaling up to $1,000,000 in order to complete phase one of this platform as well as adding mission-critical extensions that would dramatically increase its value to members. You can learn more about this investment opportunity here: https://christianbusinessnetwork.com/about-cbn/investor-relations