Hotelier stands up for Jesus in Branson
- Sep 15, 2008 - comment
BRANSON, Mo.—Chris Myer, vice president of marketing for Myers Hotels in Branson, is a believer at First Baptist Church, Branson, who is passionate about living out his Christian worldview as a hotelier.
Myer, 38, along with his brother, Gail, vice president of operations, and father, Carroll, president, operate two Best Western and three Comfort Inn & Suites in this southwest Missouri vacation hotspot. Their flagship Comfort Inn at Branson Meadows is one of three finalists for Comfort Inn of the Year out of more than 1,360 worldwide. Also this year the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce recognized the Comfort Inn & Suites as Small Business of the Year.
They are ambassadors for Branson in that they put God, family and country front and center. The second line of the company’s mission statement is “Christian values and ethics guide all of our decisions and efforts.” They take care of details, like making sure the Bible is left open in every room, and they enthusiastically promote www.cleanhotels.com, where people may go and book rooms nationwide at “no pornography” hotels.
Myer said he does not like to give out the total number of rooms that the company has at the Best Western Center Pointe Inn, Best Western Music Capital Inn, Branson Meadows, Comfort Inn at Thousand Hills, and Comfort Inn West, but it is in the hundreds.
“We get our fair share, if not more,” he said. “By having excellent locations, great staff, we spend a lot of dollars on marketing—it all adds up.”
Myer is in charge of all advertising, sales, public relations, Internet, photography and print pieces for the hotel group, which prides itself on “friendly, fantastic service always.” This is what drives him.
“I’ve always said, if you don’t remember anything else, if you can be super friendly and super clean; those things go a long way in the hotel business,” he said.
Myer Hotels has won numerous national awards, including the Best Western Chairman’s Award for outstanding quality standards. Carroll Myer has been in the hotel business since 1967, developing properties in Nebraska and Colorado before moving to Harrison, Ark., in 1976 and purchasing a 100-room Ramada Inn before he, Gail and Chris targeted Branson in 1983, where there are about 175 hotels.
“Branson is a very tough place to do business,” Chris Myer said.
The family has survived and thrived for a quarter of a century by being consistent. It also helps that all three wives are active in the business. For example, Sonja, who is married to Chris, makes her contribution in accounting.
Chris Myer was raised in the faith of his mother, Janice, a Missouri Synod Lutheran. There were times when he doubted his salvation, but he did go forward to profess faith in Christ during a youth event at Eagle Heights Baptist Church in Harrison, Ark. He also was influenced heavily by the ministry of Joe White at Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, attending a total of eight years.
He and his wife have spent the last seven years attending First Branson. Their two older boys, Montana, 10, and Gatlin, 7, were baptized recently along with Mom and Dad. Their other son, Houston, is 3.
The ministry of former First Branson Pastor Jay Scribner, who retired in 2005, deeply impacted Myer’s life.
“I like the evangelistic aspect of Baptists, and I think as churches we need to engage in culture,” he said. “Jay was one of those few people who would do that. Jay would stand up, and from a leadership standpoint, I liked that.”
Scribner said the Myer family is known around town in Christian circles. In particular he has observed how well Chris can build a network of likeminded people on a moral issue like gambling, which to this date has been kept out of Branson.
“Chris and his family are excellent people and business leaders in the community,” Scribner said. “He really is community-minded and values-minded. He is willing to stand up and be counted for things that really matter in the type of Christian community that we have there in the Branson area.”
The hotelier said he longs to tell others in the hospitality business about Jesus.
“Over 40 percent of the hotels in the country are now owned by Asian-Americans, Indians—people that aren’t Christian, for the most part,” Myer said. “So there is a great opportunity to witness through your life and also to talk to them. I’ve had several conversations with people and they really didn’t have a good concept of who Christ was.”
It’s all connected to taking his worldview into the greater marketplace.
“I just encourage people to get involved and really stand up for what’s right and what’s true,” he said.
This article is reprinted from the Sept. 9, 2008, issue of The Pathway, the newspaper of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
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