The Chocolate Christian

 

(I) will make thee an eternal excellency,

a joy of many generations.

-- Isaiah 60:15b

 

            This Christmas, I hope Santa buys lots and lots of gifts from a Christian chocolatier in Springfield, Mo., who has an inspiring and encouraging life story.

 

 

Shawn Askinosie, flanked by our mutual friends, and Askinosie Chocolate's #1 customer/fans Chris and Jim Wiskus.

 

Shawn Askinosie has designed the second half of his life on a classic Christian model: aiming to be the very best, and having fun helping others, locally, nationally and internationally. He was a rich and successful criminal defense lawyer, even appearing on NBC Dateline to discuss big cases. But now he has moved from the courtroom bar to the chocolate bar. He owns a remarkably innovative small business in southern Missouri which is reaching out worldwide with its mouthwatering products.

 

He makes single-batch, single-origin, specialty chocolates. He makes them from primeau cacao beans grown by specially-selected farmers in Ecuador and western Mexico. And he makes his own cocoa butter, one of a very few chocolate makers in the world to go that extra mile.

 

 

Talk about a dream job. . . .

 

 

You know those generic Hershey bars and Tootsie rolls? They're tasty. But take it from me, a card-carrying chocoholic: THOSE chocolates are to Wal-Mart as HIS chocolates are to the Sistine Chapel.

 

Askinosie's white chocolate, made with pure goat's milk? Eye-crossingly good. His new dark milk chocolate? You could mainline it. His chocolate nibs? So high in antioxidants, you can feel your whole body getting Roto-Rootered just by sprinkling a handful on your morning yogurt.

 

 

Each square is to be savored, in keeping with the chocolate's careful manufacture.

 

 

But here's what is just as good to know: Shawn Askinosie is a Christian Renaissance Man, business-wise. What a world this would be if there were more like him. How did the life of this long-time attorney take such a radical turn?

 

"After nearly five years of prayer," he said, "I heard a faint whisper that was a little gift from God in the form of a new passion or vocation --- chocolate. There was no road map, only some principles to follow and no promise of 'success.'"

 

Here's how he operates, in close concert with the Lord: "I listen as best I can, then follow, listen again and repeat. The mystical part of this is that I sense God's peace stronger as the struggle grows greater."

 

Askinosie adds, "Following brings blessings in ways we never imagine. This is joy."

  

He spreads that joy: the chocolatier pays well over fair-trade prices for his cacao beans - sometimes as much as double -- because he wants to encourage "his" farmers. And, in an amazing gesture that we can only hope will catch on, he profit-shares with those Third World farmers after the chocolate has gone to market.

 

 

Giving the profit-sharing checks to farmers in Ecuador;

Askinosie is in the middle of the back row.

 

 

This producer-honoring philosophy is called "Stake in the Outcome." It acknowledges something that often falls by the wayside these days: the importance of the agricultural producer. There are about three dozen of these farmers in two towns: San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador, and Soconusco, Mexico. Askinosie  encourages their organic methods, and is able to direct the drying and fermentation processes to his specifications, because of his custom-contracting orientation.

 

 

One of Askinosie's farmers, from the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

 

 

But to sell the chocolates, he moves from that modest, rural world into the big-dollar glamour district, marketing his chocolates in specialty boutiques from San Francisco to Sweden. So he has one foot in the Third World, and the other in the world of expensive boutiques and gourmet marketing.

 

Right now, a 3-ounce Askinosie chocolate bar costs $8. So that ain't cheap. But ah! The discriminating palate knows that it's worth it. The big shots in gourmet food marketing are literally salivating over his chocolates in reviews, and big-time chefs and "foodie magazines" are crazy about his stuff.

 

 Askinosie refuses all additives, including emulsifiers and vanilla. That way, his chocolate tastes pure, mixed with cane sugar only, or pure goat's milk for his white and milk chocolates. He single-sources his beans for the distinctive taste of his product line. Most chocolate makers mix beans from all over. But his are so targeted that customers can trace the 70-some steps from field to tummy with an inventive online map system involving a "choc-o-lot number," and farmer photos on the packages. It's a painstaking business model that no one in the world can match, but it shows respect to both farmer and consumer in a winning way.

 

And his excellence goes on: he has rehabbed an 1894 building and created jobs in a blighted area in Springfield.

 

 

Historic Springfield, Mo., building turned into a chocolate factory.

 

 

He brings homeless kids in to his company periodically for real-world lessons on geography, math, entrepreneurship, culture and good, old-fashioned encouragement.

 

Even his packaging is distinctive and Earth-friendly.

 

Everything about his business is just as deliciously different and soul-satisfying as the chocolates he sells. No wonder: both are totally God-directed. Askinosie prayed about this business for five years before he got started. He gives God all the glory for his every success.

 

No wonder his specialty chocolates are so out-of-this-world heavenly. You just HAVE to order some through his website: www.askinosie.com Demand that your favorite specialty shop starts carrying them; in fact, print out this story and bring it to the shop owner.

 

Note that chocolate makes a great holiday gift. Heck, it makes a great DAILY gift, to yourself.

 

Be sure to read Askinosie's story and watch his Fox News interviews while you're on his website, too. He's their go-to guy for small business trends. You'll be impressed.

 

 

The former lawyer went from not knowing beans about cacao beans

to becoming an expert on them, and from the (legal) bar to the (chocolate) bar.

 

 

There's only one thing I like better than the taste of quality chocolate melting on my tongue. And that's the flavor and essence of Jesus Christ, flowing out into the world through everyday guys like Shawn Askinosie.

 

Think of the witness he's making to those Third World farmers about what American Christians are really like!

 

Think of the impact on the world gourmet food industry that he's making as a Christian businessman with a world-class product from "flyover country" USA!

 

Think of how happy your loved ones would be, to find some outstanding Askinosie chocolate in their Christmas stockings this year.

 

Merry Chocolate Christmas!!!! Hint, hint, hint!!!! www.askinosie.com  †