{"id":40423,"date":"2016-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/church-starts-subway-franchise-to-provide-jobs\/"},"modified":"2016-08-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T00:00:00","slug":"church-starts-subway-franchise-to-provide-jobs","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/church-starts-subway-franchise-to-provide-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Starts a Subway Franchise to Provide Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A church in Buffalo, New York has found a unique way to bless its local community—open a Subway franchise in its building. In a riff off the popular TV show, Undercover Boss<\/em>, in which business leaders from large corporations spend several days working alongside lower-level employees, Don Fertman, Subway's Chief Development Officer, goes undercover at several locations across the United States. Most of the episode includes your typical Undercover Boss<\/em> fare—bumbling executive, dedicated workers, tear-jerker employee recognitions—but Fertman also visited a restaurant in Buffalo, New York located in the same building as True Bethel Baptist Church. The church owns and operates the franchise.<\/p>\n\n

The reason? To provide employment and job training to the surrounding neighborhood. On the episode Senior Pastor Reverend Darius Pridgen explains the origins and aim of the idea:<\/p>\n\n

\n

The reason we actually put it in the church was because there weren't a lot of opportunities in this neighborhood when I got here. We had a high murder rate, and a lot of people not working. So, a lot of people always talk about, "Just give people jobs." Well, that's not the key, if they haven't been trained. So we started collecting an offering. We called it a "franchise offering"—literally called it a "franchise offering." But we've got to do more than build a business. We've got to train people. We try to push people into the next level of life.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The episode concludes with Fertman waiving the franchise fee for the church to open another similarly suited store in a nearby neighborhood. In addition, he encourages a room of Subway executives to consider it as a model for the future.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3533,3645,3648,3897,4245,4295,4296,4458,4459,4470,4476,4477,4567,4579,4669,4821,4953,5005,5006,5007,5008,5011,5013,5102,5127,5179,5242,5247,5293],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-40423","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-business","tax_ctp_tags-community-impact","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-evangelism","tax_ctp_tags-influence","tax_ctp_tags-job","tax_ctp_tags-jobs","tax_ctp_tags-mentor","tax_ctp_tags-mentoring","tax_ctp_tags-ministry","tax_ctp_tags-mission","tax_ctp_tags-mission-of-church","tax_ctp_tags-opportunity","tax_ctp_tags-outreach","tax_ctp_tags-poverty","tax_ctp_tags-responsibility","tax_ctp_tags-service","tax_ctp_tags-social-action","tax_ctp_tags-social-concern","tax_ctp_tags-social-conditions","tax_ctp_tags-social-gospel","tax_ctp_tags-social-justice","tax_ctp_tags-social-trends","tax_ctp_tags-success","tax_ctp_tags-teamwork","tax_ctp_tags-training","tax_ctp_tags-vision","tax_ctp_tags-vocation","tax_ctp_tags-work"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nChurch Starts a Subway Franchise to Provide Jobs - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/church-starts-subway-franchise-to-provide-jobs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church Starts a Subway Franchise to Provide Jobs - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A church in Buffalo, New York has found a unique way to bless its local community—open a Subway franchise in its building. 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