Motivational speaker Peter Lowe expects ‘huge blessing’ from merger with century-old Success magazine
Christian motivational speaker and seminar leader Peter Lowe merged his Success Seminars with The Success Cos., parent company of Success Publishing, publishers of Success magazine, it was recently announced.
The combination of the widely attended business seminars and the 109-year-old Success magazine should be a win-win situation for both, Lowe said, without requiring him to abandon his efforts to evangelize. Lowe will act as chief executive officer of the newly formed subsidiary, through which the seminar tour will operate. The headquarters and operations will remain in Tampa, Fla.
“In Tampa, it is business as usual,” Lowe told Charisma. “Success Events International became a for-profit entity, while Peter Lowe International will remain a not-for-profit ministry.”
Lowe declined to discuss the financial aspects of the deal but
called the merger a “huge blessing” for Peter Lowe International.
Lowe said he is under contract to host seminars for the near future and will write a monthly column for the magazine. The seminars’ evangelistic component, in which Lowe presents the gospel in a 12-minute segment, will remain.
Lowe said he and his wife, Tamra, have always felt called overseas by God and hope in the long term to fulfill that calling, as well as hold youth events and try out other ministry opportunities. Lowe first decided to approach The Success Cos. in May, when he said the Lord prompted him to call the company one night.
“Tamra and I were having dinner, talking about some things, what we thought was the next step for Peter Lowe ministries, and I went up to my office to pray,” Lowe said. “I felt like I should call, and thought I would do it the next morning, but the Lord said, ‘No, do it now.’
“At, like, 8 o’clock at night I reached the president, then the owner, who was in town visiting and had been planning to fly out the next morning.”
Instead, the Lowes flew to Raleigh, N.C., to discuss the deal, which was finalized only eight weeks later.
“I so often think that the difference between being a Christian and not is the ability to listen and to hear from God,” Lowe said. “The things that have made us Peter Lowe International were the times we heard from God. It wasn’t any brilliance on our part. God said, ‘Do this,’ and we did.”
Since 1987, Peter Lowe has been recognized as the leader in promoting business and motivational seminars. Millions of people have attended his events, which are held in 90 major U.S. cities and have featured speakers like Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush; British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Gen. Colin Powell; Barbara Walters; Bill Cosby; and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
For more than 109 years, Success magazine has been considered the premier publication for business owners and entrepreneurs. Lowe said the merger benefits the magazine, which gets added exposure at the seminars, as well as the seminars, which get free promotion through the magazine.
“We are bringing together the country’s best business publication with the world’s most popular business seminar,” said Victoria I. Conte, publisher and president of Success Publishing. “The benefits of this association will be phenomenal for business leaders.”
The benefits to Lowe’s ministry, he believes, will be equally phenomenal.
“My wife and I visited Without Walls International Church [in Tampa] for a service where the prophet Kim Clement was speaking,” Lowe said. “[Clement] didn’t know anything about the deal we had just done. But he said: ‘Peter Lowe, stand up. You have paid your dues, and now you are going to have double the fruits from your ministry that you’ve had before.'”
