OPEN Network Gathering in Istanbul and Big Updates
Patrick Lai and the OPEN Network will be holding its second HUDDLE of the year this coming September 10-13, in Istanbul. The OPEN Network is a network of tentmakers/BAM practitioners. We have learned that though many of us are working with mission organizations, we have problems that are uniquely ours. Meeting together, sharpening and sharing with one another enables us to "build up one another." These meetings are open only to servants of Jesus who are living and working in the 10/40 Window.Though this information may not pertain to yourself, it is being sent to you as you are known to have friends who are living and working in the 10/40 Window. To get the word out, it would be encouraging for you to pass this information on to those you know who might benefit from it. For more information write to or check our website; http://www.opennetworkers.net/ or write Laura.Meller@travelbag.org OPEN Huddle Istanbul, September 10-13, 2009 - Speakers:
- Julyan: former tentmaker in Turkey now gives leadership to an international agency will bring the devotions.
- Patrick Lai, owner of 2 small profitable businesses in SE Asia, who’s team has planted 2 churches and 2 fellowships of MBBs will be sharing on new mission paradigms.
The location of the meeting will be revealed after you register. Register on line at http://www.opennetworkers.net/ or write Laura.Meller@travelbag.org. Rejoice as several major events have happened this past year within the OPEN Network.
- We have received some funding which will enable us to expand our coaching of teams around the 10/40 Window.
- Several wholesalers in North America have expressed more than interest in marketing our goods and services and one has committed to taking our products and marketing those that meet his standards.
- Internships have expanded to include China, Malaysia and India.
- Huddles were held in Bangkok, Istanbul and Dubai.
- We are forging new relationships with tentmaking/BAM trainers in several countries who may guide workers to our businesses.
- There are several recent articles on tentmaking/BAM on the OPEN website, go to “resources.”
- Opening an on-line store/website for our goods and services.
- OPEN Expos planned in the USA to train business people in coaching tentmakers/BAMers and link them to OPEN workers in need of their skills or coaching.
Labels: Events and Conferences, OPEN Network, Patrick Lai
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What do you want on your Tombstone?
Barry Landis - President, The Landis Agency - "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." Proverbs 22:1I was on a road trip to Atlanta recently when I noticed the writing on the back of a semi ahead of me that read, “What do you want on your Tombstone?”
Everyone else in the car understood it to be an advertisement for a pizza company, but I began thinking of it as a question that should cross the mind of every serious disciple of Christ. How do we want to be remembered when our work on earth is done?
I’ve spent my career in the entertainment world, specifically in the music business, which, I have come to believe, is driven mostly by fear and ego. In that type of world, I want to be remembered as someone with character. I want my “yea to be yea” and my “nay to be nay” (see Matt. 5:37). I want to deal honestly with people, telling them the truth about our potential business together or why it’s not going to happen. I want to deal with employees in a straightforward manner.
Character counts. In 1994, our company, Warner Alliance, had to take a stand on an issue with a gospel singer who had an affair with one of his background singers. We received both criticism and support for our decision to terminate the contract of the singer.
The local newspaper seemed amazed that a for-profit organization would have the resolve to take a moral stand, but my favorite response came from my former pastor, Millard Reed, who said, “It is probably true that while the world continues to need preachments on issues such as this, it desperately needs examples.”
Character has been defined as “moral or ethical strength.” Right now in America, we desperately need examples of this type of character. All too often, we hear about another corporate scandal, another doping scandal in sports, another case of plagiarism by a journalist or student—even instances of ministers stealing sermons off of the Internet. “Everybody does it” should not be an excuse for the Christian.
God is constantly building our character. We don’t get to choose our parents, but we do get to choose our character. We make decisions every day that shape our character, determine our future course in life and, ultimately, establish what will be said about us when we are gone.
When Joseph was placed in bondage to the Egyptians, he was tested many times, yet he rose to the rank of the second most important person in all the country. His true character even allowed him to help the very brothers who had sold him into slavery.
In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, the main character, Jean Valjean, thinks he has stolen silver from the bishop’s home. However, when the police catch him and bring Valjean back to the scene of the crime, the bishop tells the police that he had given Valjean the silver. After the police leave, the bishop tells Valjean, “Now, you have been bought with a price. Use this money to become an honest man.”
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
As Christians, we have been bought with a price. Since this is the case, how much more should we, who are called by His name, desire to use our bodies and minds in ways that demonstrate moral and ethical strength?
Point to Ponder
Give so much time and energy to your own improvement that you have no time to criticize others.
Questions to Consider
1. What does the phrase “moral and ethical strength” mean in your life? How does this phrase make you think about your choices?
2. How can you make yourself an example of moral and ethical business in your everyday dealings with colleagues and other business people?
3. So . . . what do you want on your tombstone?
From Devotional Ventures, © 2007 by Corey CleekPublished by Regal Books. Used by permission. Allrights reserved.
Labels: Barry Landis, Corey Cleek, Devotional, Devotional Ventures
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Trading in the Pursuit of the American Dream
You read any stories that have really inspired you lately? You know the kind. The ones that take your to do list, turn it upside down and put in a whole different order of priorities? My wife just forwarded me Katie Davis's blog (http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/2008). Katie's a twentysomething that traded in the pursuit of the American Dream to help provide clothes, food, education and spiritual encouragement to 305 kids in Uganda by starting Amazima Ministries (amazima.org).
I've never met Katie, but I was stopped by the power and yet the simplicity of how they her story. It may not be the typical story of a self sustaining business that you'd typically find on this site, but it sure sounds like the heart of a leader, a self starter who saw opportunity and took action.
Here's a piece from website, read more stories at Amazima.org (http://amazima.org/stories.html).
"In December of 2006, Katie Davis traveled to Uganda for the first time. She was immediately captivated and fell in love with the people and the culture. While in Uganda, Katie met Pastor Isaac Wagaba who implored her to come teach Kindergarten at his orphanage in Buziika, Uganda, called Canaan Children's Transit Center.
In the summer of 2007, Katie returned to Uganda to teach Kindergarten at Canaan. As she walked the children home from class each day, she was shocked to see the sheer number of school-aged children sitting idly on the side of the road or working in the fields. It was then that it came to Katie's attention that there were very few government-run public schools in Uganda, and none in the area where she was working. Most schools in Uganda are privately run and therefore require school fees for attendance. Due to the extreme poverty in this region of Uganda, many children are unable to afford schooling.
God laid it on Katie's heart to start a child sponsorship program, matching orphaned children who are unable to afford schooling with sponsors in the US. Sponsors pay $300.00 per year to send these children to school and provide school supplies, 2 hot meals each day, and all needed minor medical care. Originally planning to have 40 children in the program, Katie had signed up 150 by January 2008. By the grace of God, in December 2008 the sponsorship program had successfully sent all 150 children to school for a full year and provided them will all life's essentials.
Every Saturday morning the children in the program, as well as others from the village, arrive at Katie's home for fellowship, a hot lunch, baths, and Bible study led by an Ugandan employee. The children sing praises to the Lord until late in the afternoon. Before returning home, they are each given a bag of food for their family. Amazima also strives to provide the children with spiritual growth. While the children are in school, two Ugandan Amazima employees spend time in the six villages where the children in the program live, holding Bible studies and spiritual growth activities with the families and guardians of the children to ensure they are coming home to a safe spiritual environment. Each child in the program is also visited by a social worker once every two weeks for a home visit to ensure that they are getting proper care and thriving in their home environment."
Labels: Amazima, Trading in the pursuit of the American Dream, Uganda
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The Seminary of the Future, Focused on the Marketplace?
by Kent Humphreys - What would happen if seminaries redefined their mission in light of Ephesians 4:11, 12? What if seminaries prepared our future church leaders to be equippers of the saints for the work of the ministry and not just trained pastors to be teachers and preachers? What would happen if we no longer just emphasized the mental, but prepared students to relate to other community leaders before they ever graduated from the seminary? What if every student could have long term mentoring relationships with workplace leaders, pastors and church staff, and existing faculty? These relationships could not only deal with spiritual or religious issues, but with the whole person including the family, the finances, and the practical issues of the stresses of leading others. Could long term relationships be established that would last for decades and provide deep friendships which are so rare among pastors today?Since Jesus emphasized the importance or relationships and community in John 15 and John 17, could we add that dimension to our seminary training? What if every student was involved for a year, two years, or three years in a small accountability group? What if these groups, scattered throughout the community, would mix seminary students in with real people who are struggling in their families, as parents, financially, and in integrating Christ into every part of their lives? What if these students experienced true vulnerability, transparency, and accountability that few pastors experience as they are leading a local congregation? What would happen if we modeled Jesus’ pattern of relationships with the twelve as we designed our seminary programs?
Certainly Jesus taught in the temple and preached on the hillside, but most of his time was spent in relating to the twelve and modeling His relationship to the Father to those disciples and a few other men and women followers.
What if we begin to spend money in our Kingdom work where it would get the best return? If it costs $25,000 for one salvation decision using church staff and only $1,700 per decision for workplace chaplains, then why do not we redirect our staffing and funding?
If one marketplace chaplain will lead 28 people to Christ a year and most churches do not baptize that many adults in a year, then why do not do what Jesus did? Why not just go to the marketplace where the lost people are everyday just as Jesus did? Jesus knew that most of the lost people would never go to the temple, so he went to them where they lived, worked, and played. What if seminaries trained thousands of workplace chaplains and encouraged pastors to have every workplace executives to hire those chaplains in their public and private workplaces? If people are no longer being drawn to the local churches, then why do not we just train chaplains, workplace leaders, and ALL of our members to love and serve the people in their sphere of influence? Since most people come to Christ through ORDINARY followers of Jesus, then why all the emphasis on buildings, programs, and professional staff instead of the everyday average follower of Christ?
What if seminaries, local churches, Para church ministries, and workplace groups joined together to train, prepare, and equip the seminary student for real life and real grass roots ministry? Once the student understood how ordinary believers live out Christ and share Christ in their normal sphere of influence, then that student will be much better prepared to equip these ordinary believers when they leave the seminary. What if the seminary no longer considered their students as “special” or “set apart”, but as leaders training for the position of an “equipper”? That equipper is not more spiritual than other believers, but that man or woman has been given the position by God to be a leader and to equip the rest of the saints to be FULL TIME ministers of the Gospel where they live, work, and play. What if those in the pew no longer considered themselves as “second class citizens” but all FULL TIME followers of Christ who are not on the church payroll? What if seminaries prepared soldiers for the front lines instead of preparing them to lead institutions? What if seminaries were the leader in breaking down the walls of DUALISM and everything that would seek to separate the spiritual and the secular? What if the laity could also receive training at the seminary and such training would no longer be just for the professional or the clergy?
For many of us as business leaders, ministry leaders, donors, and non-professionals, we really believed that the seminaries would be the last place that would change. However, overseas these changes have already started. The lines of the professional are not as clear in Asia and other places. Those seminary leaders understand the move of God in the workplaces. In the United States many of the functions of the denomination and the seminary have been taken over by the mega churches which have formed their own training programs, networks, and conferences. So, while denominations are struggling, churches are closing, and attendance is declining, seminaries must now act or die. I believe that some seminaries are actually going to be the leaders in this new move of God to return to the methods of Jesus and the tearing down the walls of religious infrastructure. The future is now. Seminary leadership, churches, Para church organizations, business leaders, and other community leaders are JOINING TOGETHER to form new alliances for the equipping and training of our future leaders. Yes, mentoring, small groups, the workplace movement, marketplace chaplaincy, and other methods of Christ, formerly NOT emphasized by the seminary are taking place in our most progressive and biblical institutions. Will the theology, languages, and biblical teaching be abandoned? NO! But, our future leaders of our churches, mission organizations, and religious institutions will be much better prepared to lead because we have more closely followed the model of our Master Jesus Christ.
Kent is the longtime leader of Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, a great group that is looking to connect business and ministry together. I encourage you to check out their website by clicking here.
Labels: Editorials, Kent Humphreys, Sacred and Secular Divide
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Quotable - What if spend money where it would get the best return?
"What if we begin to spend money in our Kingdom work where it would get the best return? If it costs $25,000 for one salvation decision using church staff and only $1,700 per decision for workplace chaplains, then why do not we redirect our staffing and funding?If one marketplace chaplain will lead 28 people to Christ a year and most churches do not baptize that many adults in a year, then why do not do what Jesus did? Why not just go to the marketplace where the lost people are everyday just as Jesus did? Jesus knew that most of the lost people would never go to the temple, so he went to them where they lived, worked, and played. What if seminaries trained thousands of workplace chaplains and encouraged pastors to have every workplace executives to hire those chaplains in their public and private workplaces? If people are no longer being drawn to the local churches, then why do not we just train chaplains, workplace leaders, and ALL of our members to love and serve the people in their sphere of influence? Since most people come to Christ through ORDINARY followers of Jesus, then why all the emphasis on buildings, programs, and professional staff instead of the everyday average follower of Christ?"
Kent Humphreys
Labels: Kent Humphreys, Quotable, Sacred and Secular Divide, Seminary, Training
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Called to the Marketplace
By Al Erisman- Former Director, Research and Development, Boeing Company and Director, Center for Integrity in Business, Seattle Pacific University"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
A young Christian was working a job in logistics for a package delivery company. (Logistics is the planning and scheduling of the movement of goods so that products arrive on time where they are needed in an efficient manner.) He bemoaned the fact that his work was ordinary and wondered how he could find a job in full-time missions work that “counted” for God.
This young man obviously didn’t know the biblical story of Joseph. God had personally come to Joseph’s great-grandfather, Abraham, with the promise of making his family God’s representative on Earth. The promise was repeated to his grandfather Issac and to his father, Jacob. Joseph was in a prime position to be a leader in carrying out God’s promise. But God had something else in mind for him.
Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt, falsely imprisoned and forgotten. Then one day, someone he had helped in prison remembered him and suggested to the Pharaoh that he was the very person who could help the Pharaoh with a major problem. Not only did Joseph interpret the Pharaoh’s dream, but he was commissioned to implement a plan to collect, store and distribute food to save the world in a time of famine. God cared about the distribution of goods then as he does now, and called Joseph to that work.
Joseph could have looked at his situation as being unworthy of his efforts, in light of the promise God had made to his family. But we see no evidence of this. Rather, we see a person who passionately and excellently pursued his job in logistics, serving God full time in a decidedly secular workplace.
This story of Joseph was an inspiration to me during the 32 years I worked at the Boeing Company. When I left the company to teach at a Christian university and publish Ethix, a friend said to me, “Now you are free to pursue the passion of your heart for the Lord.”
My reply was, “I believe God called me to Boeing and, imperfect as I am, I was excited to serve him there. Now I have a new opportunity to serve in another way. I believe I’ve always been in full-time Christian service.”
Point to Ponder
No matter who writes our paycheck, we must be careful not to treat our work as “ordinary.”
Questions to Consider
1. In what way might God use your daily work for the benefit of His kingdom?
2. Do you need to remind yourself of this perspective from time to time?
3. Read through the story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50. How is the life of Joseph instructive in your own life?
From Devotional Ventures, © 2007 by Corey CleekPublished by Regal Books. Used by permission. Allrights reserved.
Labels: Al Erisman, Corey Cleek, Devotional, Devotional Ventures, Joseph, Seattle Pacific
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A Revolution of Vocation: The Role of the Church in Aiding in Systemic Change across the Professions
By John Terrill and Lausanne World Pulse - If there was ever a time to mobilize Christians in business to engage the culture courageously and meaningfully, the time is now. Although business has been an engine of economic prosperity, there is no denying that it has stumbled in recent years.In just the past decade, the collateral damage has been devastating. Consider the dot.com bubble and burst, the high-profile scandals of Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and others, and most recently the housing bubble and subsequent sub-prime meltdown that has brought the world economy to its knees. We need systemic change, and we need it quickly, lest we repeat the same mistakes as we try to rebuild our economies.
Lausanne World Pulse has acknowledged and documented the positive advances of the Business as Mission (BAM) movement and its influence on world evangelization and spiritual renewal (e.g., click here or here). Additionally, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization has recognized the importance of BAM and marketplace ministry movements by forming working committees to draft collaborative Occasional Papers (e.g., click here) on these important topics.
These efforts should be applauded; however, as important as BAM and marketplace ministry movements are, we need more. Not only do we need to equip all Christians in all places at all times to embrace God’s vision of redemptive work, we need to empower Christians to work toward systemic, industry-wide change within the fields in which they serve. We need a revolution of vocation, and the Church worldwide can help lead this effort.
Seeing the Calling to Business as Sacred We desperately need to recover the sacredness of a calling to business. The Church must continue to renounce the sacred/secular divide that has beleaguered Christian communities for too long. As A.W. Tozer rightly notes in The Pursuit of God, far too many Christians get snared in this trap: “They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims of the two worlds…. Their strength is reduced, their outlook confused and their joy taken from them.”1 And I might add that their impact in the world is severely constrained.
Christ followers serving in business, law, healthcare, the arts, media, government, and every other profession need to experience in tangible ways the Church’s blessing of their Christ-honoring work in companies, law firms, clinics, studios, press rooms, and congressional chambers.
John Terrill is director for the Center for Integrity in Business at the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. Prior to this, he served as the national director for Professional Schools Ministries with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Terrill holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) and master degrees in theology and religion, respectively, from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. For ongoing conversation, email john at jterrill@spu.edu.
Labels: Editorials, John Terrill, Lausanne World Pulse
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Wealth creation a moral duty - Pope Benedict
(It is a) misunderstanding is that since business depends on profit, and profit depends on self-interest, morality is the enemy, and not the friend, of business.This mistakes both the moral nature of self-interest and the moral nature of profit. The choice between profit and service is a false one.
All of us, including those in the public sector, work for a profit to provide for ourselves and our families. In doing so we contribute to our society by paying taxes, and by providing our communities with services and products. And we relieve the state from the burden of our care. There is everything moral in that exchange.
In addition, it is clear that the mere redistribution of existing wealth is no long-term answer to the poverty that still besets the three billion people, almost half the world, who live on less than $2.50 a day.
As the Pope said in his recent New Year message on the importance of economic development in creating peace, “The creation of wealth is an inescapable moral duty”. So a wrong response to the credit crunch is to decry business in general, or finance in particular. The creation of wealth is for many in the West both a duty and a pleasure. For many elsewhere it is a pressing necessity.
The investment of capital or labour to earn a reward is one of the bedrocks of creating a civil society. We can celebrate those who take entrepreneurial risks in order to build successful businesses. Read the rest of the post and more from Mats by clicking here.
Labels: Editorials, Mats Tunehag
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Serving or Being Served? By Larry Weins
As in most things that we do for others or for the Lord, we often get more out of it than the intended recipient. In May 2006, I made a decision to go to Indonesia with rēp, a San Francisco Bay Area organization that trains voluntary business consultants to go abroad on short-term business missions ventures to mobilize medium-sized businesses for the Kingdom of God (http://www.repurposing.biz/).On my trip, I was blessed to have Opa* as my "client." Opa arrived at the two-week business consulting seminar with a twenty-seven page manual describing his corporation's strategy for growing the Kingdom. My initial reaction was that he should be teaching the seminar—and that reaction proved to be spot on.
After our team’s initial seminar kickoff in Jakarta, Opa and I took off for two days to fly to the neighboring island of Sumatra to visit his company. This venture took place in North Sumatra—one of the most populated provinces of Indonesia. We arrived at 9 P.M. and found his Corporate Kingdom Committee waiting at the office to brief me on their policies and actions. What follows are some of the discoveries I uncovered—that with elegant detail and strategy they were living out a Kingdom mindset in their business.
I first noticed an image of a dove when I entered the office. Opa said that all cultures see the dove as a symbol of peace, and this sends a message to both Muslims and Christians that a company is safe and fair. The picture behind Opa's desk is one of Moses. Moses is respected by both religions, Opa added. And unlike other businesses, Opa's office building is neat and clean, and had the only employee parking lot in town.
I learned that the company leaders more than tithe on corporate profits—not personal income—for the purpose of building churches, supporting education for women, and backing evangelism.
Opa owns 10 plantations and employs 600 (mostly Muslim) workers. Beautiful tree orchards and blooming flowers greeted us everywhere on the plantations, along with clean, well-maintained office buildings. In addition, the employees who choose to live on the plantations keep flower gardens in front of their houses.
Opa owns 10 plantations and employs 600 (mostly Muslim) workers. Beautiful tree orchards and blooming flowers greeted us everywhere on the plantations, along with clean, well-maintained office buildings. In addition, the employees who choose to live on the plantations keep flower gardens in front of their houses.
Other company amenities include athletic fields and basketball courts. This is uncommon in the United States and unheard of in Indonesia.
The corporation was well run and delegated. Everyone I met knew their job and their role in the big picture, and they were comfortable telling Opa about their goals, targets, and plans to achieve them. It was apparent that Opa did not micromanage his employees. I met management personnel who had worked 10 to 15 years with the company and some who had been with the company from its inception over 20 years ago.
For Muslim workers, Opa also built small mosques on each plantation. Similarly, he paid for his oldest employee’s pilgrimage to Mecca. The employee was an 80-year-old Muslim elder who, after the pilgrimage, continued to remind the Muslim community not to give Opa any trouble when it arose because he said that Opa was his adopted son.
After Opa built five mosques for his workers, the Muslim community didn’t object to him building a church. The church he is building will hold 300 to 400 people, which Opa sees as a gain for Believers.
But, in spite of Opa's many good works, the Muslim business community, police and judges have often tried to accuse him falsely to get monetary bribes, a common Indonesian business practice. Opa consistently refuses to pay kickbacks and once endured over 20 days of police interrogation.
Soon after I left Indonesia, officials falsely accused Opa again, and this time, a judge sentenced him to jail. When I heard about his imprisonment, I tried calling his cell phone. Surprisingly, he answered it in jail and told me he was imprisoned along with an estimated 1,500 inmates. Three hundred of them were Christian.
The next time I called, Opa said they had started a Bible study in jail. A successive call revealed that he and the prisoners grew the study into a church of over 200. A couple of months later, he said the church was over 300 people and they were requesting Christian pastors to come in to teach them. Finally, on one of the last calls I made to Opa, he asked that we stop praying for him to be released, because he said he was where God wanted him to be.
Opa is a single man who has no worries about family. He also never worries about his company. It is well managed and does fine without him. After about 10 months, Opa served his sentence and was released.
It was a privilege for me to walk at a "safe distance" through this experience with my "brother." I have learned much, and I have been changed from this encounter. Specifically, I learned three lessons from this experience that continue to challenge me in my Western business practice.
First we need to hold onto our possessions and status loosely. Secondly, we need to trust those who work with us and prepare them to be able to succeed without us. And lastly, we need to view every opportunity and situation as a potential to serve the Lord. Sometimes what he asks us to do will seem outlandish to others but if it’s God’s design, he will give us peace about it and it will no doubt influence others for the Kingdom.
First we need to hold onto our possessions and status loosely. Secondly, we need to trust those who work with us and prepare them to be able to succeed without us. And lastly, we need to view every opportunity and situation as a potential to serve the Lord. Sometimes what he asks us to do will seem outlandish to others but if it’s God’s design, he will give us peace about it and it will no doubt influence others for the Kingdom.
___________________________________________________
Larry is a rēp consultant who is humble, generous and well respected “in the sight of men and in the sight of God.” He traveled with rēp on one of the organization’s first business consulting ventures to Indonesia.
rēp is the business missions arm of The Institute, a management consulting firm that mobilizes, equips and deploys businesspeople to use their skills to build the kingdom of God.
*Opa – Name changed to protect client.
Labels: Larry Weins, Rep
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Why Charging Interest makes Sense - Logically and Biblically
By Chris Horst of Hope International - A few weeks ago I met with a church group in Boulder, Colorado. One of the group members asked pointedly, “Why do you charge interest to the poor? Why not just offer interest-free loans or grants?” I started sharing a lengthy, detailed response when I was interrupted by another member of the group— “It’s not that complex,” she said, “It actually makes a lot of sense why they charge interest.”She shared that when her practice first opened, decades ago, she provided free counsel to underprivileged women—single mothers, former inmates, etc. “They rarely showed up for our scheduled sessions. If they did show up, they kind of blew it off.” She went on to discuss why she now charges these at-risk clients. While she discounts her service significantly, she still charges a fee. The change, as she described it, has been remarkable. “Now these women value my services. They come on time, they are invested, and they soak up every minute of their sessions. It’s been a dramatic shift since I’ve started charging a fee.”
I smiled sheepishly and said, “Yes, thanks for your comment. That’s why we charge interest.” Her simple story from her counseling practice, and the clear personal conviction with which share shared, powerfully communicated what no amount of complex development theories, supportive statistics or quotes from field practitioners could. It just made sense.
Ok, so it works logically. But, as Christians, we are not always called to act logically. At times, we’re called to act contrary to what “makes sense” to everyone else. The Bible actually has a lot to say about this subject. Some of it, at first glance, actually has made me squirm. Exodus 22:25 says "If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender, charge him no interest” (NIV). That feels fairly straightforward. It seems clear that we aren’t to charge interest to the poor. Upon first seeing that passage, I began wondering if working at HOPE was even biblically permissible!
The Hebrew word for moneylender, neh'-skek, as used in this passage, is also used in Nehemiah 5:7, when Nehemiah rebuked the wealthy in his community for taking advantage of the poor. “I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, "You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!” Here, it is translated as “extracting usury.” The word used in both of these verses, in Hebrew, literally means “to bite” or “to strike with the sting of a scorpion.”
I am by no means a biblical scholar. However, after doing some research, there seems to be fairly clear consensus that these, and other similar OT passages, are an indictment of usury and exploitative interest. The Bible is clear in its condemnation of profiting off the backs of the poor. And, make no mistake about it; God has a strong distaste towards charging exorbitant interest rates to those on the margins.
What HOPE is doing across the world, however, is trying to put moneylenders out of business. Whenever we start working in a new community, we undercut the loan sharks. While it is common for these loan sharks to charge 200 or 300% APR or more, HOPE is offering reasonable and transparent rates. HOPE’s rates are a breath of fresh air for the poor who have been trapped in poverty as a result of these moneylenders.
Through charging interest, HOPE has sustainable programs, which treat our clients as clients, not as needy recipients. They value the services we provide—because they experience the dignity of legitimate exchange and because the rates are clear and reasonable! We are bringing justice in the communities where we are working, as we seek to strip loan sharks of their clients. I believe, just as the psychologist from Boulder said, that charging interest to the poor “just makes sense”—logically and biblically.
Christ Horst is a regular contributor to the blog and is an active leader with HOPE International, one of the leading Christian Microfinance groups. Learn more at http://www.hopeinternational.org/.
Labels: Chris Horst, Hope International, Journals of Microfinance, Microfinance
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Quotable - Traditional Methods are no longer Useful
" ... Arrange strategic meetings for you with key business, mission and church leaders in adopting strategies that are new and different in keeping what God is doing in using Business as Mission "for profit" companies, workplace leaders, professionals, and ordinary "lay" people to use their gifts and callings to reach the unreached. This will demand us to think outside the box and began to emphasize what God is already blessing rather traditional methods which are no longer useful."Open Letter Signed by: Mark Anderson - President GPN/call2all, Loren Cunningham - Founder, Youth With A Mission and Steve Douglas - President Campus Crusade for Christ
Labels: Campus Crusade for Christ, Quotable, Sacred and Secular Divide, YWAM
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Homebuilding in Albania for God
Excerpt from Janet Maxim's Article 'Business as Mission - Service to Man as Service to God' Click here to read the full article. Unlike governments, which impose detailed regulations on business, owners of a “Kingdom business” follow a higher authority. Their integrity is intangible but also structural. “Integrity is a literal thing in our business,” explains Grant Van Cleve, a partner in Vista Group, a developer and home builder in Albania. Van Cleve says government building inspections in this recovering post communist nation are sporadic and mostly a guise for collecting bribes, not a deterrent to shoddy construction. “The temptation is to sneak in lower-quality products that the customer will never see.” Van Cleve and his Albanian partner, Mimi Kruja, say they battle daily against “corruption, laziness, aggressiveness, suspicion, and scapegoating.”
Why do they do it? “Because of who God is. He is a God of perfect integrity,” says Van Cleve: “We honor our contracts and use the quality materials we have promised our clients. We go back and fix bad quality workmanship. Maybe you can get away with it in the short term, but in the long run the market rewards integrity.”
Van Cleve’s story is like Jeri Little’s: business is in his blood and it has found its way into his ministry. The son of a successful southern California home builder, Van Cleve earned a degree from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School in 1991. His eyes were opened on a short-term mission trip to the Balkans. “In the Albanian leg I had the privilege of being among the first foreigners to spend time in the country after fifty years of extreme isolation,” he writes. “It was like being in the Wild West of American lore...completely anarchic.”
On the staff of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Van Cleve jumped into his ministry: he learned the language and practiced relief work, evangelism and church planting, and began to collaborate with other Christian groups in mostly Muslim Albania. The country’s business skills were long-lost after decades of communism, and Albanian believers were hungry to take advantage of the newly-free market. They asked him how to do business.
In 2005 Van Cleve introduced real estate development to Albania. Van Cleve explains that under communism there was no private property ownership, and afterwards people “just kind of squatted on land and started building.” Communism also destroyed the work ethic: “There were no rewards for your work, so you worked the minimum possible, and only when you were being watched. People actually made a game out of seeing how much they could get away with. They were also forced to spy on each other, and they were always trying to undercut each other, so the deception was really deep, even among ‘friends’.” And there are further complications. In the West, much business is done online—but not in Albania. “Here, it’s all manual. It takes three months instead of three minutes. You have to stand in line in ten different offices to get ten different signatures—if they think it’s in their interest. Even then, the information you get may be wrong.” “Despite the challenges,” Van Cleve says, “we are actually inspired that we’re on the right track.”
Van Cleve and his wife Carina work for YWAM but their property development business is their primary ministry—to their employees, suppliers, other businessmen and government contacts. “Albanian believers are opening up to me like never before,” he wrote in a recent newsletter, “perhaps inspired that I’ve invested capital in their risky country, or simply that I care enough to want to help generate new jobs, or that I am treading with them through the perils of business life in corrupt Albania.” Though home building is their day-to-day occupation, the Vista Group is in the business of nation-building: person by person, business by business.
In his acclaimed book The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (Basic Books, 2000) Peruvian economist Hernando DeSoto says the lack of legal protection for private property explains economic underdevelopment, poverty and corruption. Grant Van Cleve agrees, but adds, “He misses the other dimension: there has to be personal transformation.”
For Ken Eldred the problem is “negative spiritual capital,” which accumulates in cultures lacking a Biblical foundation. The communist who rejects God values the individual only as much as he is useful to the state. But the Christian who loves and honors God loves and honors each person He has created. The signs of negative spiritual capital in a nation, says Eldred, are slavery, corruption, and an abuse of workers, while Biblical virtues such as honesty, fairness and generosity are positive spiritual capital, as well as the necessary foundation of sound business.
There is no quick fix or magic formula for success. However, the vision of BAM is not just a few good companies. The goal is to build the spiritual capital of nations. Vili Husac, the owner of Trim-Line Bakery in Romania, which employs 150 people, is now helping to launch a business employing at-risk women. He believes the purpose of his business is “first, to help my family;
then to help my friends; then to help my church; and then to help my community.”
then to help my friends; then to help my church; and then to help my community.”
Excerpt from Janet Maxim's Article 'Business as Mission - Service to Man as Service to God' Click here to read the full article.
Labels: Albania, Case Studies, Grant Van Cleve, Vista Group
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What’s Your Definition of Full-Time Ministry?
Corey Cleek - Marketing, PassAlong Networks - "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4-5"During the summer after I completed my MBA, as I was devoting the majority of my time to starting a Christian ministry organization with a group of graduate school friends, I took a step back to consider whether God was calling me into full-time ministry or calling me into the marketplace (interesting time to consider this, wasn’t it?).
At the time, my limited definition of full-time ministry included being on staff at a church or working full-time for a non-profit Christian organization, and I was wrestling with the eternal value of spending the majority of my time working in the marketplace.
After some serious reflection, lots of prayer and guidance from mentors, I realized that I was indeed being called to be in full-time ministry . . . in the marketplace!
This realization that I could be in full-time ministry in the marketplace altered my entire mind-set about business, ministry and my calling. For the first time, I had peace about spending the majority of my time in the business world, and I realized that the reflecting God in my life can be expressed in various for-profit and non-profit settings over time. I’ve also learned that full-time ministry has more to do with serving God and others in the environment in which I’ve been placed, than it does with my involvement in a particular vocation, organization or business.
How do you view your life as a business professional? Is it a job? A calling? A passion? A ministry?
How do you view your life as a business professional? Is it a job? A calling? A passion? A ministry?
During this time of reflection, I realized that for me, it is all of the above.
Point to Ponder
It is possible for business professionals to also be full-time ministers.
Questions to Consider
1. Do you consider yourself to be in full-time ministry? How is your workplace a place of ministry for you right now?
2. How does Romans 12: 4-8 validate or alter your perspective of why you are expressing your gifts in the way you are today?
3. If you have never considered yourself in full-time ministry, what could you do to change your perspective?
From Devotional Ventures, © 2007 by Corey CleekPublished by Regal Books. Used by permission. Allrights reserved.
Labels: Corey Cleek, Devotional, Devotional Ventures
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Adversity Builds Character - Facing Difficult Times
By Kent Humphreys - Most businesses that lose thirty percent or more of their sales volume at one time never recover. They cannot cut their overhead fast enough to survive. Several years ago our distribution firm lost thirty-four percent of our business in one afternoon. A national retailer decided to eliminate the “middleman”. They dealt with integrity but gave us a thirty day notice. My vice president of sales and I walked slowly to the car. We asked ourselves the questions: How could we make up the sales? How many of our good employees would lose their jobs? Why did God allow this to happen to us after we had done such an excellent service job?Once we reached the car, I told him that we needed to thank God for allowing us to lose the business. My friend was in shock. I explained that if we believe that God is sovereign, all powerful, knows everything, loves us, and has our best interest at heart, then we must trust Him. If we had thanked God when we got the account seven years before, then we needed to thank Him now. So we bowed in prayer. With the help of an acquisition we replaced all of the lost business within eighteen months, and we no longer had more than eighteen percent of our sales with one customer. God did know what was best for us, but it took us some time to see His plan.
Two of my friends have had to liquidate their businesses during difficult times. They each chose not to take the easier route of bankruptcy, but to openly and honestly deal with their creditors. They choose integrity over the hiding or protecting of personal assets. A couple of others friends over expanded a few years ago and as their sales dropped to years ago their losses exceeded one million dollars in their small family business. Through the counsel of several of us and because of weekly accountability, they turned it around the next year to show a profit. They also dealt openly with creditors and presented a workable plan rather than choosing an easier way out. Because a struggling economy their industry had been hit with a severe downturn but through hard choices they survived and returned to profitability. They wished that they had gotten this help several years before. Sometimes difficult times force us to seek help from God and from our peers.
I am a business owner and also led the ministry of FCCI / Christ@Work for many years.. As a family of CEO’s, business owners, and marketplace leaders, we understand the issues that you as a business leader face every day. We know that God has chosen to model Jesus Christ in our relationships in the marketplace in both the good times and the bad. Through our weekly groups, our conferences and materials, we provide encouragement, accountability, and training to thousands of CEO’s across the world. There are a number of good marketplace organizations that can help you as a business leader. Give one of them a call, and let them walk with you through the tough times.
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
Kent is the longtime leader of Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, a great group that is looking to connect business and ministry together. I encourage you to check out their website by clicking here.
Labels: Editorials, FCCI, Kent Humphreys
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Expect Trials - The Little Engine that Could
Cheryl Bachelder - Former President, KFC Restaurants and Consultant to the Women’s Foodservice Forum - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3 I am an optimist. My favorite childhood story was The Little Engine That Could, the story of the train that climbed the mountain saying, “I think I can, I think I can . . . ”
This mantra characterized my life, and certainly my business career. I wanted to work on the rusty old brands that had lost relevance to their customers. I wanted to inherit a poorly performing team and turn it around. I wanted to be given the impossible goal that had stymied prior leaders. Bring it on.
Then came the trials. While serving as the leader of a large chain restaurant corporation, God saw fit to test me. First, I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo surgery and radiation treatments. Then, barely nine months later, I experienced a second health crisis that required surgery and a two-month medical leave.
Simultaneously, the business took a sharp turn south, and nothing that our team put in the marketplace arrested the trend. It was like being in the ring facing a world-class boxer with no training on how to avoid the opponent. I took the hits hard, first on the left cheek, then on the right, then in the gut. I was stunned. I couldn’t steady myself. I thought I would go careening into the ropes.
What was wrong with my perspective? Simply this: I did not expect the trials. I thought I was immune to them. My optimism—a strength in many settings—was now my greatest weakness. The Bible says unequivocally that we will face trials of many kinds. These trials are the intentional plan of God for the refinement of our faith. Trials are God’s way of enrolling us in His character-building program.
Today, I am deeply grateful for these trials in my life. I have been refined by fire: Fire that humbled me and caused me to once again surrender everything to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This was God’s perfect plan to make me a better witness for Him in the world. As it is eloquently stated in John 9:3, “This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in [my] life.” To God be the glory.
Point to Ponder
Trials are God’s plan to build our character and refine our faith.
Questions to Consider
1. How are you responding to your trials at work and at home? Are you angry, frustrated or disappointed?
1. How are you responding to your trials at work and at home? Are you angry, frustrated or disappointed?
2. Can you see how God’s character might be revealed in the way you respond to these difficulties?
3. Have you surrendered these trials to the saving grace of your Savior, Jesus Christ?
From Devotional Ventures, © 2007 by Corey CleekPublished by Regal Books. Used by permission. Allrights reserved.
Labels: Corey Cleek, Devotional, Devotional Ventures, KFC
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20+ Workshops of the Introduction to Business as Mission Course
For the past couple of years, the International Business as Mission Training (iBAM) has been a great opportunity to learn theory and see reality of Business as Mission up close.Now they're gearing up for another year. Maybe, your considering getting involved? Now they have a 3 week and 5 week training course. Here's a rich list of the topics that have been taught – most of them will be covered again.
List of Workshops
- Business as Mission Teaching: Biblical view of work and Business – Mats Tunehag, Landa Cope
- The bottom lines of business as mission – Mats Tunehag, Peter Shaukat
- Business people as role models and influencers in society – past and present - Mats Tunehag
- Slavery today – human trafficking and the role of business as mission as a solution to real world problems – Mats Tunehag
- SME sector as a strategic focus in business as mission – compared and contrasted to Microenterprise and overseas private equity models – Mats Tunehag, Peter Shaukat
- What is success in business as mission? Goal setting and evaluation for ‘successful’ business as mission enterprises - Peter Shaukat
- Capitalisation of business as mission enterprises – 7 types of capital needed, Stages of a business and financial capitalisation – Peter Shaukat
- Microenterprise Development – principles and case study – John Quinley (of Step Ahead MED)
- Dealing with corruption – Landa Cope, Peter Shaukat
- Success and failure in business – principles from a personal story – David S, Bill R
- Business as Mission and Incarnation
- Biblical worldview, God’s view of nations – Landa Cope
- God’s principles for discipling the nations in all spheres of society – Landa Cope, Glen White
- Business and economic development and the Biblical mandate to disciple nations – how business is strategic – Landa Cope
- The essential role of prayer in business as mission – Bill R, Glen White
- Business and Relationships
- Cross-cultural business
- Business as a new paradigm for missions – Mats Tunehag
- Tentative definitions of business as mission – Mats Tunehag
- Personal spiritual foundations for a business as mission practitioner – Peter Shaukat
- The church and business as mission – Peter Shaukat
- Business as mission as an agent of transformation – Peter Shaukat, Mats Tunehag
- Servant leadership in the marketplace, Values for serving in business as mission – Peter Shaukat
- Moral leadership and operational leadership – Peter Shaukat
- Working with mission organisations (workshop) - Josie Plummer
- Multiplying business as mission (workshop) – strategic approaches to mobilising and multiplying – Josie Plummer
- Communicating business as mission – conveying the concept! (workshop) - Josie Plummer
- Spiritual realities of doing business as mission, spiritual warfare (examples from Asia)
- The Power of God in business, Hearing God’s voice in business life – Daniel G
- BAM case studies and principles to be learned from them – Mats Tunehag, Peter Shaukat, Glen White, Daniel G
Real Life Case Studies - Ongoing throughout via visits to real examples locally and during field trips and having practitioners give testimonies/ tell stories during the course.
Business Development Track - Includes teaching sessions, workshops, group coaching, 1-1 coaching - delivered by coaching staff (primarily Ken & Irene Elliot) and visiting business practitioners.
Key topics covered: Business planning, Financial management, Accounting and financial recording and systems, Sales/Marketing, Developing staff and managers, Succession planning, Business ethics, Goal setting+ topics requested by participants in 1-1 coaching sessions or group Q&A times.
Other personal development topics: Cross cultural considerations – living, working and ministering cross-culturally, Culture shock and culture stress, How to develop yourself as a leader, Developing and coaching others, Team building and Knowing your strengths from the Strengthsfinder tool.
For more information visit: http://www.businessasmission.com/pages/thecourse
Labels: Glenn White, IBAM, Josie Plummer, Landa Cope, Mats Tunehag, Recruitment and Job Opportunities, YWAM
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A Biblical Role Model: A Businesswoman
Mats Tunehag hada great post about of looking at the Proverbs 31 woman and her role in business. Seriously, check out Mats blog, he's always got some great stuff to say. Business people are NOT second class citizens in God’s Kingdom. The Bible even portrays a businesswoman as a godly example of how to serve others and meet various needs. Let’s briefly look in the Bible, at Proverbs chapter 31:
16 She considers a field and buys it;
She does a market assessment and invests
Out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She makes a profit and reinvests
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
She keeps books and manages cash flow
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
She is involved in manufacturing and retail
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She has set up a supply chain
20 She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
She uses part of profit for charitable work
15 she provides food for her family
She is the breadwinner of the family
and portions for her servant girls.
And provides employment
31 Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Her work in business should be recognized and is certainly commendable
Labels: Biblical Basis for Business as Mission, Editorials, Mats Tunehag, Proverbs 31
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Business as Mission Conference Coming to Dallas Oct 14-16
This fall the Global CEO Network has been of longer standing Business as Mission gatherings across the country. Now it will be coming to Dallas October 14-16.Orientation takes place Wed, Oct 14 from 3-5pm. Conference runs during the day on Oct 15th and the Gathering concludes Friday Oct 16 at 12pm. Location: Hilton Park Cities- Dallas, (more details to follow including discount room rates).
For more information, please visit http://www.globalceonetwork.org/. As you know, invitations are sent exclusively to CEO's or senior executives who are passionate about using their companies for Kingdom purposes.
If you know of other CEO's with a heart for missions and a global business operation that should attend this meeting, please send their name and contact information to Alicia at afuller@ecgroup-intl.com.
Labels: Events and Conferences, Global CEO Network, Tom Sudyk
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Pro-Line Racing Business Serving Casa Hogar Belen
By Todd Mattson - This is a simple story of running my business and encouraging associates to make a difference in a ministry activity. While, I’ve always had opportunities for ministry at work, home and in the community, I couldn’t have guessed what plans the Lord had for my business and our people to minister to others in a unique way.A friend invited me on a day trip to a Mexican orphanage. Although I’d been to Mexico before for ministry, it had been many years. The few minutes we traveled south of the border transported us to a place seemingly much farther from home. This small orphanage, Casa Hogar Belen, is home to 70 children and the small staff who love and care for them. In minutes, those children embedded themselves into my heart. The orphanage, though small, was tidy and well supplied with food and clothing. The children ranged in age from infants to older teens. Their needs were the same as my own children, to be loved and cared for, but their lives were markedly different.
Among the many challenges of keeping 70 youngsters fed, clothed and healthy, the small staff had another problem. The orphanage’s outdoor play equipment was dilapidated and dangerous. My friend and host suggested I bring a group from my company and build these children a proper playground. I was interested, but unsure what the response would be from my associates. Would they want to help children south of the border or were they too busy with their own lives? I took a few pictures of the children and the orphanage to share at our next company meeting.
Eagerly, I shared the pictures and the opportunity we had to make a difference with the entire company. We could take an unpaid day off, travel to Mexico, assemble a playground, play game sand spend time with the children. The response was overwhelming. Of the 40 associates, 30signed onto the project.
I handed over the reins to an associate who arranged the date, made a transportation plan and all other arrangements. The friend who introduced me to the orphanage planned the playground construction, logistics and established a budget for the project.There was a lot of excitement surrounding the upcoming trip. I overheard conversations about the ninos (children) and what our trip might be like. Along with 30 company associates, our group included associates’ family members, friends and one of our suppliers. The video, taken by an associate, shows highlights from the day and is a precious record of one of the best days we’ve ever had together. From this trip, another was planned and executed by the associates, who are now invested in this ministry.
I spent very little personal time on the project and was very impressed with what we accomplished. Certainly, the lives of the small children were changed, but so were the lives of many associates. I supplied the idea, a “day off ”, spent about 2 hours in meetings and prayer on the project and paid all expenses. Very little given, great return.
To see a video of the Pro Line Racing Team on their trip, visit http://www.prolineracing.com/t-video.aspx and then scroll down on the far right side to the video "Pro Line Racing Gives Back".
To learn more about Pro Line Racing, visit www.prolineracing.com. Pro Line Racing is a member of a local Convene. Convene members are CEOs, Business Owners, and Executives who desire to be and do more. They want to take their businesses to the next level and honor God in the way they lead and run them. Learn more at convenenow.com.
Labels: Case Studies, Convene, Pro Line Racing
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A glimpse into Heavan - Following up from the Call 2 All conference in Hong Kong
By Buck Jacobs, Founder and Chairman of the C12 Group - My trip to attend the Call2All conference in Hong Kong was a kaleidoscope of impressions, relationships, and sensory input that is going to be hard to capture. So many were packed into such a short time.First, who Call2All is from their web site - "Call2All is a worldwide movement calling the church to a renewed, focused collaborative effort to complete the Great Commission.Call2All is about all nations, all spheres of society and every unreached person everywhere in the world. It is strategy-centered, action-oriented movement focusing on where the Church is NOT, rather than where it is. Its purpose is not to replace existing ministry but to network, train and focus the body of Christ to fulfill the Great Commission. Call2All is about engaging Christian leaders in new and more comprehensive strategies.Call2All Let's start with the event itself.Call2All is drawing together the Global Church in an unprecedented way to reach the least, the last and the lost."
Call2All convenes Christian leaders in Strategy Congresses and provides new avenues for training to foster a global move of God.
This year the invitation included an unusual pronouncement:
"God has been speaking to us about involving the "whole church" in the call2all movement and we are responding to his call. We have acknowledged that for too long we have focused on the "professional" missionary agencies and churches to spread the word of God to His people. We realize that if the other 95% of the Body of Christ joins us we can reach many more people for Him. In that effort, we are warmly inviting leaders from the Workplace,including the Market Place ministries, BAM (Business as Mission), Business Leaders, and the everyday workplace believer to partner with us. We are not doing this primarily to get your financial support; we want your involvement on the front lines! We apologize for our past actions of asking for money without getting your heart and hands in coordination with us first. We look forward to seeking God together and finding ways we can serve you and your calling as workers in the great commission. We hope you'll find a way to join us and other key leaders from around the world."
I was invited to be a part of the strategic planning group who were called together to begin forming strategic objectives to accomplish the integration, and did meet with that group on three afternoons. As might be imagined getting agreement on even simple terms was awkward at first and there is way more yet to be done than was accomplished in the three days.But it was a start and if we are willing to listen to God and set aside preconceptions and personal prejudices who knows what might happen?
I was invited to be a part of the strategic planning group who were called together to begin forming strategic objectives to accomplish the integration, and did meet with that group on three afternoons. As might be imagined getting agreement on even simple terms was awkward at first and there is way more yet to be done than was accomplished in the three days.But it was a start and if we are willing to listen to God and set aside preconceptions and personal prejudices who knows what might happen?
The mornings were times of teaching, worship, and prayer and it was thrilling to see thousands of Christians from across Asia and around the world joining together in praise and worship. A huge world map was spread out in the middle of the hall and people would wander to stand on a country to pray for that nation.
The afternoons were broken into three teaching threads, missions, church,and business taught by leaders from around the world. I shared a small part in one breakout and was amazed at the response. Kent Humphries and I stayed for 30-45 minutes after the session counseling and praying with business owners from Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Polynesia, and other countries. It was a very moving time to see the sincerity and passion for Jesus and His way in their businesses and to be able to stand with them and bring them to Him in prayer. That part alone would have been worth the whole trip to me.
I distributed a few books and pamphlets and exchanged a bunch of business cards and as always it is hard to measure the direct benefit from attending an event like this. Some people that seem to be very interested disappear and others who you meet only briefly pop up and are indeed "divine appointments." I believe that I was supposed to go and that God will use the trip in His way and time. Time will tell. I didn't go to make business contacts but there were many of them as well.
One of the most powerful memories that I will hold of this time is that of the young, very very bright, and capable, committed Christian business owners that I met who hold no brief with a separated life but see themselves as 24/7 Christians. I met several from China are risking all they have and sacrificing all that they could have in a career in a position in the US by starting and leading various businesses as ministry. The clear and sparkling look in their eyes as they talked to me about the visions and calling they hold inspired me. I just wanted to give a hug and anything else that I could to encourage them and speed them on. God is indeed at work in the marketplace and in places and ways that we don't hear about through people we may never meet this side of heaven. The gathering in Hong Kong was a glimpse of a bit of what heaven may be like.
Buck Jacobs is the Founder & Chairman of the C12 Group and a regular contributor to the Business as Mission Network. To learn more about the C12 Group visit www.c12group.com.
Labels: Buck Jacobs, C12 Group, Events and Conferences
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Living an Integrated Life
By Keith Ferrin - Founder and President, True Success Coaching - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Colossians 3: 23-24 It seems you can’t pick up a business book or magazine these days without reading something about “work-life balance.” Everything I read about a balanced life sounds really good. The problem is, I have a hard time actually doing it.
In fact, whenever I bring up the concept with someone, I can almost predict the eye roll followed by the heavy sigh. I have come to believe the reason for this is because God doesn’t call us to a “balanced” life but rather an “integrated” life.
The primary metric for measuring a balanced life is time. If I spend this much time at work versus spending this much with my family, serving my community or worshiping at church, my life will be balanced.
Alternatively, the primary metric for measuring an integrated life is lordship. So, instead of determining how much time I am spending here or there, the real question becomes, Is Jesus Christ the Lord of every aspect of my life?
It is wholly possible to live a balanced life yet not give Christ lordship over a certain area or areas of our life. Jesus wants to be Lord of everything—our work, family, friendships, leisure time and worship. The bottom line is that a balanced life can still be compartmentalized, but an integrated life cannot.
Paul begins the second half of his letter to the Ephesians with these words: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). Here are just some of the areas of life he then goes on to discuss:
• Relationships
• Attitudes
• Reconciliation
• Our calling
• Service to the church
• Maturity
• Our minds
• Sexuality
• Honesty
• Work
• Our attitude toward money
• Our willingness to forgive others
• Our relationships with nonbelievers
• Wisdom
• Purity
• Marriage
• Our duties as parents
• Our relationships with bosses and employees
• Prayer
• Unity
• Our encouragement of one another in our calling
• Attitudes
• Reconciliation
• Our calling
• Service to the church
• Maturity
• Our minds
• Sexuality
• Honesty
• Work
• Our attitude toward money
• Our willingness to forgive others
• Our relationships with nonbelievers
• Wisdom
• Purity
• Marriage
• Our duties as parents
• Our relationships with bosses and employees
• Prayer
• Unity
• Our encouragement of one another in our calling
Now that’s an integrated life!
Quite honestly, integration is harder than balance. But it’s what we’re called to do, and it leads to a sense of purpose and fulfillment that only comes from placing ourselves daily—in the center of God’s will. Integration requires examining our lives to see where we need to give Jesus His rightful place as Lord, discovering what we need to do in order to be obedient to His calling and executing those action steps, and conducting a regular evaluation that covers all areas of our lives.
Living an integrated life is a journey, not a task. There is no deadline. There is no chart or graph, just a constant prayer running through our minds: “Jesus, this day and every day, I give You Your rightful place as Lord of everything I am and do. When this day ends, may You be smiling. Amen.”
Point to Ponder
God calls us to live an integrated life in which Jesus is Lord of every part.
Questions to Consider
1. What is one area of your life that you need to bring under the lordship of Jesus?
2. How do you see your life: an integrated journey or a balancing act? How does this affect your perspective of spirituality and God?
3. When today ends, will God be smiling on you?
From Devotional Ventures, © 2007 by Corey CleekPublished by Regal Books. Used by permission. Allrights reserved.
Labels: Corey Cleek, Devotional, Devotional Ventures, Keith Ferrin
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