Business as Mission = Risk
Starting a business as mission company obviously involves a great deal of risk. Often times it means mean putting everything on the line. It requires a great deal of time, effort, energy, relationships, money and that can be very intimidating for someone who is new to the idea of being an entrepreneur.One of the very first things I believe someone getting involved in business as mission needs to examine is the role of risk both in their attempt business and their personal walk with Christ. It's all too easy to get comfortable in a certain way of life and not step out and take a risk. I think that's because many times we fear the perception that society supposedly gives to failure.
Any business as mission business owner will tell you that any endeavor in business as mission will be filled with failures. The key is being able to take the risk and go for it and learning from the failures as you go along.
My wife and I are going through a study called Chasing Daylight with our community group in our church (Allen Bible Church). The author of the book and featured teacher in the video series, Erwin McManus said a quote last week that really stood out with our group. Erwin tells the story how he was talking with a friend who was trying to decide what to do upon graduating from seminary. His friend was torn between several options and he couldn't decide what to do so as a result he was doing nothing. Erwin was frustrated with this lack of action and finally said "Just do something!" I watched as those words challenged our small group of teachers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and missionaries to look closely at the idea of take a risk and chasing these big dreams.
Risk is something we need as Christians need to take more often. We need to get out from being comfortable and take a risk, accepting the fact that a lot of times that will end in failure. When it does, we need to prepared to learn from the failures so we are better equipped for the future. Any business as mission owner will tell you their experiences were filled with failures and it was the lessons that they learned during those experiences that contributed more towards their long term success than any significant book or leadership conference.
There's a view video that I think really drives that point home. It's one our team finished at Bluefish TV called "Famous Failures." The clip takes a look at people like Walt Disney, Michael Jordan, President Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas Edison, and The Beatles and shows how their failed several times before becoming very successful. It's only about 1-2 minutes in length but I hope that it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about. Oh, and by the way if you want to download the clip to use in teaching a lesson at church or in your small group you can do that for $1.99 at the BluefishTV site.
Labels: Editorials
2 Comments:
Thanks for the great link to the video. Folks should be encouraged to put this in a favorites folder designated for a regular infusion of inspiration.
commented by 
Dave, 1:09 PM
Dave, 1:09 PM
Thanks for the feedback Dave. It's encouraging to hear it was an encouragement to you. Creating videos that can help communicate a message and help someone teach. It's one of the things we're very passionate about. You can scan through some of the other videos at www.bluefishtv.com. In the next few months we should have some videos specifically about BAM that will make great teaching tools when getting the word out about BAM!
