Jon's Story on CBN's the 700 Club

Paying Off $52,000 in Debt

Minneapolis (CBN) Sept. 2016 - Jon has been a hair stylist for more than 30 years. In the late ’90s, he owned a successful salon but he made an honest, yet costly, mistake. The IRS reclassified all of his stylists as employees, and then demanded back taxes on their wages. When they stylists could no longer be independent contractors, they all left.

“They walked out on me,” remembers Jon. “I had this huge rent. It was $2200 a month. And they left me. I was like left alone.”

Jon lost his business.  That’s when he started using credit cards to pay his bills and household expenses. By 2002, Jon and his wife Lanette were $52,000 in debt.

“At that point it was the lowest we had been,” says Lanette. “And I always knew God always takes care of us. I always had that assurance. But it was tough, you know. It was tough.”

Jon and Lanette had been CBN partners since 1983. Even though money was tight, they kept giving to The 700 Club.

“That was one thing that Lanette really wanted to make sure we kept doing,” says Jon. “Keep tithing.  We have to honor God. We have to honor God no matter what. And in 2002, I started asking God for a financial miracle. And so I, every day, every morning I prayed, ‘God, I need a miracle. God, I need a miracle.’”

One afternoon, while watching The 700 Club, Jon and Lanette joined Pat and Gordon as they prayed.

“And Pat got done praying and nothing happened,” says Jon. “I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and I looked down, ‘Okay, Lord.’ And then something really interesting happened. There’s four seconds left in the program, Gordon said, ‘Excuse me, Dad. There’s someone named Jon and you’re praying for a financial miracle. God has heard your prayer and He’s going to give you that.'"

“What?!” exclaimed Jon. “And I looked at my wife, I said, ‘What did he just say?’ because the show was over.”

“And I was a little hesitant,” says Lanette. “But God proves Himself time and time again.”

Several months later, their financial miracle began to unfold. Jon went by his old salon, and noticed that it was still empty. He immediately called his former landlord.

“So he came back with his number of less than a third of what I was paying for before. I said, ‘That seems too good to be true.’ So he called me the next day. He goes, ‘Well, it’s not right. It’s $600 a month.’ I said, ‘I’ll take it.’ So that was the beginning of my financial miracle. The first two years I doubled what I took in the year before. And in 2005, we paid off all of our debt. Then in 2006, my business really started taking off. One year, I believe it was 2007, I took in just shy of $400,000.”

Then, in 2008, the stock market took a dive. Most of Jon’s clients paid top dollar for hair extensions, but when the economy tanked, many of them disappeared. And he was facing the possibility of losing his salon again.

“We need another miracle,” says Jon. “So we prayed. And that’s when we decided to jump to a Founders Club. It’s like, ‘Lord, Your word says to give. And the measure that You give is the measure You’ll be receiving.’ So we did that.

“The next day, we jumped to Founders Club. So my business started doing better. But something really amazing happened in 2012. It was February that this girl showed up. Her name was Becky. And she wanted extensions but nobody could do her hair. I’m one of two people that could do hair extensions after chemo, on one inch of hair. And this is so God, that God would do something like this. Only God could do it. I never saw this coming.”

A local news station covered Becky’s tranformation. It was posted on Youtube and Facebook.

“And that thing went viral,” says Jon. “And I have people coming in from Peru, Belgium, Australia, the Philippines.”

Jon is already booking appointments for next year, and he and Lanette continue to support the ministries of CBN.

“It’s not that God needs our money,” says Lanette. “It’s because we’re obedient to His word. And out of sacrifice God uses that. And so we are to help others. And we are to give selflessly. And it’s a joy to give.”

“You want to go on a ride of a lifetime?” asks Jon. “Give. I can’t explain it. I don’t know how He does it, but it’s God’s rule. Give, and it shall be given unto you.”