I want to tell you a story that begins in 1982, when the world was shaken by a crisis. Some of you may remember it—the Tylenol poisonings. Seven people in the Chicago area lost their lives because someone tampered with bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson faced a nightmare scenario.
At that time, James Burke was the CEO. His advisors, his investors, and much of the business world expected him to defend the company’s profits and image. But Burke made a different choice. Guided by Johnson & Johnson’s Credo—which begins with responsibility to the people who use their products—he ordered a recall of 31 million bottles. The cost was astronomical. But lives mattered more. Trust mattered more.
That decision changed everything. It saved the brand, but more importantly, it set a standard for integrity, transparency, and putting people first. In fact, it became a case study in ethical leadership still taught in business schools today.
Now, you may not know this, but in the middle of that crisis, one of the young executives working for Johnson & Johnson in the Chicago market was a 21 year old graduate from the University of Illinois. He witnessed, firsthand, how integrity in leadership could transform not just a company, but also communities and families.
Fast-forward to today. This young man leads Victorious Family, a nonprofit ministry with one central mission: to equip families to pass on faith to the next generation. Because of Johnson & Johnson’s calling in 1982 was to protect physical lives, his calling today is to protect spiritual lives—to protect marriages, to strengthen homes, to help parents disciple their children in a world that’s full of tampering, full of toxins of a different kind.
So, what can we learn from James Burke’s story and apply to our families through the work of Victorious Family? Let me offer three lessons.
First: Put people first. Burke put customers before profits. For us, that means putting our families before schedules, screens, and success. Parents, your children need you more than they need a perfect GPA or a packed calendar.
Second: Live your values, don’t just frame them. Burke challenged his team: if you don’t believe the Credo, take it off the wall. Families need the same challenge. Don’t just hang Bible verses in your home—live them. Let your children see faith in your decisions, your humility, your sacrifices.
Third: Think long-term. Burke was willing to take massive short-term losses to restore trust. Families, sometimes the easy decision in the moment—giving in, giving up, or walking away—costs us in the long run. But standing firm, even when it costs, yields trust and legacy.
Friends, the Tylenol crisis was a wake-up call to corporate America. But today, we face a far greater crisis: the erosion of faith in our homes. Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people raised in Christian homes are walking away from the church. This is our crisis of trust, our moment of decision.
And just like in 1982, the answer is not self-protection or image management. The answer is courage, integrity, and sacrificial love. The answer is families living victoriously—not perfect families, but faithful families. Families who say: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
That is what James Burke modeled in a corporation. That is what I, that college kid, is calling us to model in our homes. And that is the invitation before each of us today.
1. Write Your Family Credo
- Just as Burke turned to the Johnson & Johnson Credo in crisis, I encourage families to draft a simple Family Credo or Mission Statement—a sentence or two about what matters most to them spiritually.
- Example: “In our family, we will love God first, love each other deeply, and live with integrity before the world.”
- “Don’t just frame it on the wall—live it.”
2. Start One Faith Practice This Week
- Pick one intentional discipleship practice to begin this week: a nightly prayer together, a weekly family meal with no phones, or reading one verse together each morning.
- Emphasize: It doesn’t have to be perfect—just consistent.
3. Invest in the Next Generation
- Remind them: Burke’s choices protected lives for the future. Our choices protect faith for the future.
- Action: Commit to one specific way you will invest in your children’s or grandchildren’s spiritual life this month. Attend a Victorious Family workshop. Mentor a young parent. Share your faith story with your kids. Gift my book, Do Your Children Believe? to a colleague (www.victoriousfamily.org/resources)
To my continuous surprise, that book not only became one of my best-selling books but also one of my works that has had the deepest and longest-lasting ministry impact on my family and thousands of others in many homes, in many nations.
A Leadership Heart-Check
So let me leave you with a few diagnostic questions to take home:
- Am I building from a posture of prayer, or a posture of pressure?
- Do my decisions reflect faith in God’s provision, or fear of missing out on cultural opportunities?
· “Are you building something God designed, or something culture demands?”
- Will the fruit of my leadership still matter in eternity, or only in the next quarter?
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