John Cicilioni

John Cicilioni, a 28-year old Assistant Pastor at Peckville Assemblies of God and graduate of Valley Forge, came to speak to our class about his ministerial and entrepreneurial experience. He started the conversation off by talking about his recent weight loss. He lost over 70 pounds by eating healthy and exercising regularly and was motivated to do so because life is short and he wanted to be healthy and beat the average life span so he could minister as long as he could. If you’re tired because you’re unhealthy, you can’t minister the way you have to. How does weight fit into spirituality? He said you have to watch three things- your time, talents, and treasures. If you get the right mix of them, you can accomplish a lot of things, but it one of them is not balanced, then the whole equation is thrown off. On top of his ministerial position, he is also an entrepreneur and businessman. His mom wrote a book called “Super Baby Food” in 1996 which became a self-published bestseller, sold 50,000 copies in one year, and was featured on several TV shows. In this business, he works eight hours a week, one day a week, and he makes over $80,000 a year. Him and his brother attend expos around the world and buy baby products in bulk from manufacturers to sell on Amazon. They outsource everything- marketing, customer service, phone calls, website, etc., and use odesk.com to delegate work to freelancers around the world. His philosophy is that since 20% of your effort produces 80% of your work, if something is unproductive, cut it off. When asked about his philosophy about money and ministry, he said that either money masters you or you master money. He doesn’t love money, but it’s a tool you can use. Money is directly connected to time- it buys you time.

There are felt needs and actual needs. The greatest actual need people have is salvation, but most don’t know it, but people know their felt needs. Because of this, the church starts a six-week series every fall and advertises it with attractional needs, and use that as an opportunity to present the Gospel. The church is also starting a follow-up discipleship program. The Great Commission isn’t just to go and save people- it’s to make disciples. To help with this, the church leaders handpicked 30-35 people from the church that had strong relationships with the Lord to attend a three-week training so they can do one-on-one coaching for seven weeks with people that are new believers. I absolutely loved this discipleship program.
Pastor Cicilioni definitely knows his stuff and I was really interested in how he balanced his ministry and entrepreneurial endeavors, and appreciated how he went into the background details of how he manages it all. He showed us how God honors good stewardship, and how we can use those things to give back to the Kingdom. I also was really impressed by how he organized discipleship programs in his congregation, really focusing on the follow-up aspect of it. All in all, I really appreciate the insight that Pastor Cicilioni shared with us.