The Disciple’s Cross is the only home based craft assembly work I have ever recommended. The craft assembly business is well-known for being prone to scams. I believe the Disciple’s Cross is a legitimate home business. First I will tell you about the Disciple’s Cross craft assembly opportunity. Then I will tell you why I do not believe it is a scam, and I will demonstrate the basis for this belief.
About The Disciple’s Cross
Disciples Cross is a home based craftwork opportunity. This Christian craft assembly job consists of making a popular item known as the Disciple’s Cross. These attractive little crosses can be made in any colour or combination of colours.
The crosses are made from symbolic materials to remind us of Christ’s suffering on the cross. The horseshoe nails represent the spikes used at the crucifixion, the wrapped wire represents the crown of thorns and the simulated leather cord is symbolic of the leather straps used to beat The Lord.
The Disciples Cross home business was started by Pastor John Raymond who is the Pastor of New Horizon Christian Fellowship in Slidell, Louisiana. The first Disciple’s Crosses were made in the early 1990’s. They started as a craft idea for a summer youth camp.
Demand for the Disciple’s Cross skyrocketed when Pastor John Raymond appeared on the CBS television show, Survivor: Thailand in 1992. He appeared on television wearing one of his hand-made Disciple’s Crosses, and many viewers were immediately eager to find out where they could buy a similar cross for themselves.
The demand from people wanting to buy Disciple’s Crosses was so great that Pastor John was unable to produce enough crosses himself. In order to satisfy the demand, Pastor John decided to outsource the work. That is how the Disciple’s Cross home business was born.
There are two ways to earn money with Disciple’s Cross home assembly work:
1. You can make the crosses and sell them back to Pastor John.
The payment is a fixed sum. Currently this is $2.25 per cross, but you should check the Disciple’s Cross website in case there has been any recent change. The Pastor also pays a contribution towards your mailing costs for sending the completed crosses to him.
2. You can assemble the items and sell them anywhere you like.
For instance people sell Disciple’s Crosses to friends, charities, local church groups, Christian bookshops on ebay auctions, at craft fairs and over the internet on their own websites. You can earn more by selling direct to the public, but you will have to be responsible for doing your own advertising. You set your own price when you sell the items direct. Currently most people are selling the Disciple’s Cross for between $5 and $10 each, but it is possible to achieve a higher price at markets and craft fairs.
The ideas for making money from selling Disciple’s Crosses to the public are unlimited. For example you can sell the crosses as key chains instead of necklaces, or you could make crosses to order in local college colors.
It takes an average of five minutes to make a Disciple’s Cross necklace. In order to avoid the danger of sweat shop labour becoming involved, the company will buy a maximum of 400 Disciple’s Crosses from a producer per week. By making and selling 400 necklaces to the company, you will earn a clear profit of $500. If you want to make and sell more than 400 little crosses in a week, there is no bar to you selling direct to the public.
Getting Started
To get started you need a starter pack. This includes materials, a sample Disciple’s Cross necklace made to quality specifications for you to use as a guide, a Certificate to prove that you are a certified Disciple’s Cross producer, and an instructional DVD in which Pastor John personally demonstrates step by step how to make the Disciple’s Cross. The cost of the starter pack will be reimbursed after 400 Crosses have been bought from you by the company.
Why I believe The Disciple’s Cross Business Opportunity Is Not A Scam
The “Quality Control” Scam
The most common craft assembly work at home scam requires you to purchase materials from the company and sell your assembled product back to the company (the goods often bear a logo, so you wouldn’t be able to sell them elsewhere). Any item you send to them will be rejected on the grounds that it does not meet their quality control. You will have to pay a fee for handling/shipping to get the items back to try to improve them. None of the items will ever be approved by the company. The company does not want the items. The company makes its money from selling materials and charging handling fees.
In contrast, with the Disciple’s Cross company, you have a choice and they are happy for you to market the finished items yourself.
The “Minimum Quota” Scam
Another home craft assembly scam is where the company sets a minimum quota for the amount you must spend on materials every month. You will never be able to recover the money you spent on buying the materials from the company. Again, the company is not interested in the items you have assembled, they make their money from selling materials to people like you.
The Disciple’s Cross company does not set any minimum quotas. You buy the materials as and when you need fresh supplies to continue working.
In General
1. Would a Senior Pastor really become involved in a scam? News of crooked dealings travels fast. Would Pastor John risk this sort of bad publicity getting round his congregation? Personally, I don’t think so.
2. The fact that the Disciple’s Cross business has been running since 1992 is an excellent indicator that it is a legitimate business. Scam companies tend to spring up suddenly and grow quickly like mushrooms, and then disappear suddenly without trace.
3. Searching online does not reveal any evidence of scam activity. If this was a scam, there would be a ton of information posted all over the internet by now. If you do a search, you will find the odd accusation dating from some years back. These are usually made by somebody who has never even joined the program. These postings can be found on various internet forums and when you read them it is clear that the people responsible are basing their opinions on misinformation. A few relate to the early days of the program when it went through some “teething troubles” and there were delays to shipments etc (but no dishonest dealings). These accusations are countered by positive testimony from active Disciple’s Cross members.
4. All the terms of this work at home opportunity are set out clearly on the Disciples’ Cross website.
5. There is a 30 day unconditional guarantee for anyone who might decide that Disciple’s Cross is not for them.
Visit the Disciple’s Cross website to see why they say this is “Simply the Best Home Based Christian Business Opportunity”.
