MAX’s Core Message

MAX’s vision (our core message) is creating and sustaining W H O L E N E S S through preserving and restoring property, lives and communities.

Why have we chosen this message for MAX?

Wholeness implies that nothing has been omitted, ignored, or taken away – it is a state of well-being, of being complete. Wholeness is an outgrowth of the faith community’s teachings, a reaffirmation of Jesus’ ministry being Way, Light and Wholeness.

In the Message version of the Bible, Isaiah 9:
“For a child has been born – for us!
The gift of a son – for us!
…His names will be Amazing Counselor, Strong God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
And there’ll be no limits to the wholeness He brings.”

Wholeness is another word for Light. We are the light for the world – we are the wholeness for the world. The MAX vision is another way to state the call to love our neighbor and live together in community – wholeness. MAX grew out of the Christian tradition but wholeness and light describe important attributes of all faith communities served by MAX.

We live out wholeness at MAX through a combination of quality faith-based insurance products and services, and mutual aid ministries. All of our stakeholder relationships (team, boards, partners, and members) are framed within this mission of wholeness. Each of us carries a responsibility and a privilege to help identify ways that MAX can create and sustain wholeness in lives, property and communities. In all our daily activities, in all our interactions, in all our conversations, we are measured not only for excellence in our work but also for our ability to enhance wholeness.

The Problem With Fear and Discouragement

There sure is a lot to worry about right now, isn’t there? The economy, the flu, conflicts raging in our world … and the list goes on.

The problem with fear and discouragement is they just keep us from doing anything but feeling sorry for ourselves, which only guarantees we will continue to feel fear and discouragement. Have we thought about this carefully?

The more we listen to doom and gloom voices the more discouraged we feel. The more discouraged we feel, the more certain we are that there is no other choice but to feel that way. And the more convinced we are that we have no choice but to feel the way we do, the less choice we have. And feeling that we have less choice, we feel more and more discouraged and fearful! It’s a never-ending circle and grows in its intensity unless we break that chain of thinking.

This brief column cannot address all the helpful ways available to us to deal with this discouragement cycle. MAX President and CEO David Wine lists one thought that has been helpful to him through the years. It comes from Guy Finley, author of “The Essential Laws of Fearless Living.”

“In any given moment, there is always something higher you can do with your life than sit there and suffer over what you think you can’t have, or do, or be. Why wallow when a small amount of interior work will act to change your reality?”

Wine adds that much of the interior work is simply realizing that we would be much happier and less gloomy if we didn’t insist that life be a certain way and conform to our demands.

“It is the resistance to the way things are that is the real source of our fear and discouragement,” Wine says.

Defining MAX

One of the most difficult things for any organization to “get right” for any organization is a compelling, descriptive vision statement and accompanying mission statement.

These concepts are best explained with the following questions:

  • A vision statement answers the question: How do we want the world to change?
  • A mission statement then answers this question: What will we do to change it?

MAX is far ahead of so many organizations in defining ourselves exceptionally well. Our vision statement answers clearly how we want the world to change. The world and its people, communities and property, are often broken, fragmented and less than whole – a far cry from the “state of completion” that wholeness defines.

Into that brokenness MAX steps in with a resounding vision: We will do our part to contribute to our world by “creating and sustaining WHOLENESS.” How do we want the world to change? We want it to be healed, put back into a state of wholeness and we want to do our part to provide that healing.

What will we do to change it – to help it get to a state of wholeness? We will do it through “preserving and restoring property, lives and communities through a combination of quality insurance programs and mutual aid ministries” – our mission. Note again – it is both insurance and mutual aid. Our mission weaves both of those together to enable us to be agents of wholeness.

“MAX is not just insurance and it is not another service agency,” says David Wine, MAX president. “It is a very unique combination of the two that could (and should) be modeled by many more companies, not just insurance, to bring wholeness to our world.”
“Every action we take and decision we make should be founded upon answering the question – What will we do to change our world toward wholeness?” he says.

MAX team members, agents and board members are working in a bold new way to bring healing and completeness to places where brokenness and fragmentation exist. What a wonderful and meaningful way to do our vocational work!

Photo by h.koppdelaney

Providing WOW Service to Our Members

There is a great little book out called “How to Become a Rainmaker” by Jeffrey J. Fox.  In the book Fox writes about the rules for attracting and retaining customers. At MAX, we like to put the book’s tips into practice as we help our members of our MAX family with their insurance needs and in maximizing wholeness in their lives.

Here are some of the ways our MAX staff members serve our constituents:

  • Cherish our members (and our constituency) at all times
  • Treat our members as we would our best friends and family members
  • Truly listen to our members and decipher their needs.
  • Help  members get what they want and need
  • Share the extra values in MAX’s products such as mutual aid ministries support
  • Show our members the actual dollarized value of what they will get with their policies
  • Customize our product or service to suit members’ needs
  • Deliver our service to members when they want it (and do it earlier and easier than expected)
  • Give our members a little extra, more than they expect
  • Remind members of the value they receive – the MAX difference
  • Thank each member sincerely and often
  • Make choosing and paying for insurance easy for our members

Our focus is providing WOW service at MAX, and we are continually working to improve our members’ services to new levels. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions to help make your MAX insurance experience as rewarding as possible.