Eggs and Butter

Eggs and butter.

This is what launched Gordon Food Service over 115 years ago… eggs and butter. Actually, that’s not true – it was really a heart to invest resources into the local community and into local ministry that propelled Isaac Van Westenbrugge to sell eggs and butter so that he had money to give. The more eggs and butter… the more impact.

Isaac was good at both.

Earlier this week I walked into the new office headquarters of Gordon Food Service. It’s tasteful, impressive, and beautiful.

While the size and the scale and the extent of the business has changed radically over the decades – the heartbeat of the original vision for the business has stayed anchored and true. Stewardship, integrity, excellence, customer focus, and a deeply entrenched belief that our obedience to our calling can produce eternal dividends is still permeating the ethos and operations of this business.

Eggs and butter in the hands of Jesus are a powerful resource. Amazingly so. But unlike many corporate success stories – it is stewardship, not selfishness, that has ignited, marked, and fueled this family business. Generational transitions have served to only intensity and codify this passion and commitment.

Isaac Van Westenbrugge had a vision… and so did his son-in-law, Ben Gordon. It was to serve God and love people. It was to operate a business with wisdom, integrity and courage so that God could extend the reach of His kingdom… using eggs and butter.

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”　(John 6:9)

Barley loaves and fish… Eggs and butter…

It’s simply about the hands that these raw materials are placed in. And in His hands… with the touch of Jesus… with the blessing of the miracle worker… with the boundless power of God…

Eggs and butter become the largest family owned food service distributor in the United States… and more importantly… stewardship continues to mark the vision of every decision made in Wyoming, Michigan.

A beautiful corporate center gives light to baskets left over… to blessings beyond imagination… to honor… to courage…

All this convinces me that I cling too tightly to what I consider either mine or too insignificant to matter. Neither could be further from the truth.

Everything I have is His. And as His… eggs and butter, and barley loaves and fish feed thousands and extend the message of God’s amazing grace.

The baskets are full at Gordon Food Service, and it started with eggs and butter.