When Willard Mason and Jim Kirby started an advertising agency with a political focus back in 1971, it’s no surprise that God granted them success. The two had worked for Oral Roberts for 10 years, taking his crusades to 85% of American households via television. Their BMC Advertising became one of the most sought-after agencies for political candidates and campaigns.
But God stepped in to change the agency’s direction. This year, as the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company, now known as BMCFerrell, celebrates its 50th anniversary, it also celebrates His work, CEO Ben Ferrell says.
Both Mason and Kirby had traveled to different Oklahoma sites on political business, Ferrell says, when “God spoke to them independently and differently. He said, ‘I want you to turn BMC over to me, and I want to use your experience and your company.’ So they got back together in Tulsa, and they shared that with each other. And they went, ‘Wow, well, let’s do that.’
“And so they began, they prayed and turned it over to the Lord,” Ferrell says. “And they said the next Monday morning, the phone started ringing, and it was preachers and ministers who they never even had thought to talk to in several years, and that’s how it started out.”
Through the years, God used BMC Advertising to help bring media attention to ministries such as those of John Osteen, Kenneth Hagin, Jack Van Impe and R.W. Schambach. “They became famous for being able to see potential,” Ferrell says. “They would begin to strategize on how to bring these ministries into a well-known status and reach a wide audience. And they began to use all of these traditional media … it was paper, it was television, it was radio, and they used those particular types of media to reach the world and build tremendous ministries.”
Ferrell himself came to the company through an unusual means. God told him to lay down his ministry as a traveling minister and singer and focus on his family instead, saying, “Don’t stop worshipping me; I’m going to use you in a different way.” Within a week, he was working for Mason and Kirby, handling all their print production.
But God had another plan for Ferrell. The company owners told him, “The country needs a revival, and it’s going to come up through the younger ministries. So if you know of a ministry or ministries that you feel God is raising up, just reach out your hand. We don’t want you to sell; we’re not trying to sell—God is our source,” which he says Roberts had taught them.
And God blessed Ferrell’s outreach. “All of a sudden Bayless Conley came, Brian Houston came, Joyce Meyer came, and all of these new clients came through my reaching out to them again,” he says. “It was a phenomenon of how God began to build a whole new group of clientele.”
For more about how God has used BMCFerrell through the years, listen to the entire episode of the Strang Report podcast at this link. Be sure to subscribe to the Strang Report on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. {eoa}
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