Twenty-eight years ago, I qualified for MDRT Membership for the first time and attended the Annual Meeting.  There I experienced the greatest motivational, educational, and relational meeting of my life…..up to that time.  The next year I failed to qualify and was truly disappointed.  In March of that year, I received an invitation in the mail to attend the Christian Fellowship Study Group (CFSG).  The meeting was within driving distance and I viewed it as an opportunity to spend time with MDRT members and, hopefully, experience some of “the MDRT magic” I experienced at the MDRT meeting the previous year.   (I don’t know who put my name on the mailing list but I know it was no coincidence.)

That CFSG meeting was powerful!   I experienced a deep relationship with some of the leaders in the life insurance/financial services profession who truly practiced the “whole person”  life — who understood the importance of developing their Christian walk and aspired to live their life in a way that demands an explanation of their faith and their belief system – and who also struggled with the same issues I did (family, finances, production, running a business, employees, rejection, call reluctance, procrastination, etc., etc., etc.).  Those relationships have been of profound importance to me and I speak and/or correspond with several of the Study Group members every month.

In the last twenty-six years I have rarely missed a Study Group meeting and have found the fellowship and teaching there at least as important as attendance at the MDRT Annual Meeting.  For the last several years, my wife, Roberta, has attended with me and has formed lasting relationships with other wives and Study Group members.

Tom Dougherty

Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA