A FOUNTAIN OVERFLOWING (FACES OF FAITH)

Bob Nations likens his faith in Christ to an artesian well overflowing with water.

Once people become Christians, they can't contain the well and want to share it with others, he says.

"Faith in God is what completes a person and gives them a desire to live," he said.

Nations is a Cape Girardeau businessman and national vice president with the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. He worked to restart the local chapter three years ago after several years of inactivity.

Nations tells a story related to him by evangelist Frank Perry, who has been visiting Cape Girardeau.

He said when people become Christian, God gives them a new BMW, and they enjoy it so much they push it around town, giving friends and relatives rides.

But then people discover the car has a gas tank and with gasoline, "you can get farther and really go a lot better," Nations said.

Christians who have been filled with the Holy Spirit and the power of God's love are like the cars with full gas tanks, he says.

"If you know the Lord then you want to share and witness," he said. "It's something too good to keep to yourself."

The Holy Spirit and revival movements aren't just coming from churches, Nations said. Often churches are "bottled up," and the message has to get out and is beginning in the marketplace.

More and more people have shared their testimonies and stories of transformation at business meetings and civic clubs not just at church services.

The Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship is an international organization whose purpose is to meet for fellowship and ministry support. It is not supported by any denomination or church.

The local group is not "theologically trained," Nations said. "We're just a bunch of guys that want to share the love of God with others and help them come alive."

He got involved with the group about 20 years ago when a building contractor asked Nations and his wife, Bonnie, to attend a convention at Southern Illinois University.

Nations attended the meetings and realized "Jesus was not just a historical figure but was alive in the men and women at the convention."

The people involved with the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship "knew a peace and joy that I didn't have," Nations said. He was attending a church and serving as deacon but didn't have the excitement and energy he saw in others.

"I was brought up to have respect for God and reverence for God but I didn't know him as my daddy," Nations said.

Now he has that sort of relationship. Once Nations put his relationship with Jesus Christ first in his life, "all my needs for success in business ceased," he said.

That didn't mean his business declined, just that his need for success and worldly goods had diminished.

God doesn't care that a person has BMWs or fancy cars or takes exotic vacations, he said.

"What matters is the people that I have influenced in my life," he said. "You have to give away your life to find life."

Bob Nations

Family: Wife, Bonnie, and four children.

Occupation: Owns and operates Nation Brothers Electric Starter and Alternator Service. The family business was started by Nations' grandfather in the 1930s and his son, Adam, will be the third generation to operate the business.

Church membership: LaCroix United Methodist Church.

Serves as an international director with the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International.