Talk to most successful businessmen, and you hear about their work. Talk to Barry Meguiar, and you hear about his faith in Christ and his love for sharing the gospel with others.
The longtime host of Car Crazy on the Discovery Channel (now available on YouTube), Meguiar took the family business, Meguiar’s brand of car polishes, to the retail market in 1973. “It really has nothing to do with car wax,” Meguiar says in a recent interview on my Strang Report podcast. “It has to do with enlarging my territory so I can tell people about Jesus. And I’ve known that basically my entire business career; that message was given to me early on.
I’ve known Meguiar, now living in Phoenix, Arizona, for a couple of years. He’s one of the most outgoing. positive people I’ve ever met. He’s always talking about Jesus. For more than 40 years, he’s shared his faith in Christ with someone new almost every day. I wanted to learn his secret, so I invited him to record a podcast. His faith is infectious. He’s wildly successful (his Meguiar’s car wax has passed Turtle Wax and Armor All in market shares), yet he comes across as humble.
“I always just say, ‘I love my business,'” he explains. “I’m a car guy; I love what I do. … But I do recognize that when I get to heaven it’s not going to matter how many bottles of car wax I sold. It is secondary; it’s the pulpit.”
Meguiar says because of the Great Commission, we all have a responsibility to share our faith—but it shouldn’t be drudgery or something we carry out because we have to. “When we do it, and we have fun with it, there’s nothing more exciting or more fun,” he says.
He shares how God spoke to him through one of his favorite Scripture passages to encourage him to make the bold move to take the family’s car wax from wholesale into the retail market.
“My favorite Scripture coming out of college was Proverbs 3:5,” Meguiar says. “It’s just the basics. The Scripture are so profound, ‘Trust the Lord with your whole heart …’ I found that 99% doesn’t work. You still have that one issue of faith, that one issue of worry. When you trust Him with your whole heart, when you’re all in and you acknowledge Him in all your ways, He will direct your path.
“And I started at the beginning of my career, I said, ‘God, this is so easy for me; I have no understanding,” he adds. “‘Lean not on your own understanding.’ That’s easy—I have none. So I’ve just got to follow Your lead.’ And when I did that, He just opened up the gates.”
Meguiar says that even down to the artist who created the logo for the Meguiar’s retail brand, the Lord directed his paths. His family was initially against him taking the brand to that market, but as he trusted the Lord, the company became the top-selling car wax brand.
Today, Meguiar continues to share his faith, both in his personal life and on his Ignite Your Life television show as well as his Ignite America radio spots, heard daily on over 800 Christian radio stations in 47 states. He uses the word “ignite” both to refer to ignition in a car but also—and most importantly—to have your faith “ignite.”
I love the stories he tells of how he grew in his understanding of this and how he simply loves on people who come across his path. He doesn’t preach to them; he just moves them closer to Jesus. That’s his ministry’s mission statement: “Every day, move everyone one step closer to Jesus.” Another common saying he loves is: “Follow the nudge; live in the FOG” (FOG means Favor of God).
“I could go on for hours talking about the miracles God did … most of them tied to living for His purpose,” Meguiar says. “His purpose is to seek and save the lost.
“The second most important Scripture of my life is Romans 8:28, that most people don’t read to its entirety, and they wonder why things aren’t working out for good,” he says. “But when we live for His purpose, when we live to seek and save the lost, when we live to share our faith every day … We live in the promise of Romans 8:28.”
For much more from entrepreneur, revivalist and television host Barry Meguiar, listen to the entire episode of the Strang Report at this link. Share this article with others who want to be inspired to share their faith and want to listen to Meguiar’s amazing testimony.
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