Last Friday, the morning started out early for the 40 of us. We loaded on a charter bus and headed out at 6:45 to Chick-fil-A Corporate to have our Vision and Values Tour. We arrived at our first location, the original Dwarf House that Truett Cathy established. It was a very humbling experience eating breakfast at the place that would eventually become what we now know as Chick-fil-A. We learned all about Truett from his daughter Trudy. She gave us a tour of the Dwarf House kitchen and told us stories about her dad and what it was like for him growing up. He definitely did not start as a big success. He was faced with many hardships, but he trusted in God despite dealing with struggles. God provided and blessed him richly. I was blessed to meet him at Winshape Camp in 2007. He was so genuine and his faith was incredible. He gave his time, money, and service. His story is so inspiring. Truett Cathy was probably one of the most generous people I ever met.
We then traveled on the bus for a tour of the town Truett lived in, having Trudy give us fun facts and details along the way. The bus stopped off at Greenbriar Mall where the first official Chick-fil-A store was ever opened! Trudy told us a story of when she was a little girl and for the grand opening of the restaurant, she wore a red and white dress handing out balloons. Hearing her tell these stories of her childhood and of Truett’s determination was so inspiring. One of my biggest takeaways from the tour with Trudy was the importance of serving people. Putting others needs before your own was definitely one of Truett’s priorities. My favorite quote that was said was “It’s not about the sales, but the service.” That quote made me really think and ask myself, “How can I serve someone today?” There is always a need in peoples lives, so how can I positivity impact them, and at the same time show them Jesus’ love?
We left the mall and headed to the current Chick-fil-A Home Office for the next part of our day. We arrived ready for a delicious lunch (which of course was Chick-fil-A, plus a few things that the stores do not have on their menu). We got to “taste test” the brand new frozen lemonade dessert, which was delicious. It was so nice getting to have great conversations with each other over a delicious meal. After lunch, we went to the home office for the next part of our tour. We had a session with Ty Yokum, a Chick-fil-A executive and father of an Impact 360 alumnus, who talked with us about the values we have in our lives. “What is our Purpose in life?” was the question of the session. We discussed in our C-Groups what we believe our top three values are for our group. We presented those to the class after 45 minutes of great conversation.
We then had a session with Trent Wilbanks who gave us a sheet of paper with about 160 verbs. Each of us individually went through the list and chose our top 12 we each think we value the most in life. In the end, our class had to individually narrow it down to our top three. We then wrote out a purpose statement for our lives incorporating those three words. Finding our values in life is a very important step to make, because it really shows where one’s time and focus are centered. That was definitely a huge takeaway for me from that session.
That evening, John and Trudy White invited us over to their lovely home for a Mexican fiesta. They are some of the most generous people I have ever met. We had enchiladas and tacos for dinner along with Chick-fil-A sweet tea and lemonade. After dinner, we went down to the basement to play “Speed Uno.” It was a very fast paced game—which our class loved. Looking back on the day, I can only say good things about it. Chick-fil-A truly does everything with excellence. I am so blessed by the Cathy family and all the wonderful influence they have contributed to our program at Impact 360.