Kingdom Impact

This past Monday, we had a follow-up session with some of our Scale students.  Scale is our program for existing businesses who want to scale their business to the next level.  When we work with Christian business owners specifically, which isn't all the time due to the low percentage of Christians in this country and wanting to use our school as an outreach tool, we talk about the kingdom impact of their business.

Kingdom impact is a term used for how a person's business will effectively spread the kingdom.  It is a revolutionary idea for our students and I would even argue for the business world at large among Christian leaders.  There has been a false dichotomy purported for years that there is sacred and secular work.  Thankfully there is a movement afoot that is recognizing that simply isn't the case.

A Christian’s life at work is just as important as their life on Sunday mornings.  Our whole lives are to be lived for the gospel, not just parts of our lives.  Business as Mission is a growing movement among Christian business leaders focused on how to integrate faith and work.

We asked these business owners what their kingdom impact statements were and how they were doing at them.  One of them shared that he’s got a sidecar business where he repairs sidecars.  Sidecars are bicycles with a side car used to transport people around, kind of like a cheap version of a taxi with pedal power.  Anyway, he was able to use his business to witness to a couple whom he described as friendly and open.  After meeting with them a few times he shared the gospel with them and they were later baptized after asking more questions.  Now they go to his church and he is discipling them.

Another business owner shared how people in his community are now much more open to hearing the gospel since he runs a business that benefits the community.  I can’t remember exactly what his business was but I think he was a pastor.  He said before no one would give him the time of day but now he’s got a platform to share and the people are more receptive.

The third business owner was more focused on kingdom impact as is traditionally thought of in the Christian business world.  She was giving more to her church and able to tithe the profits there.  Tithing is good and we want to teach our fellow believers to do so but it can’t stop there.  She has 2 employees and is expanding to 4 so my first thought was she has a great opportunity to disciple them.  Whether they are Christians or not undoubtedly they can grow in their faith or take steps toward Jesus.

Monday was so encouraging to me for this reason.  I’ve heard kingdom impact talked about and even heard some examples.  It was a great joy to hear actual people share their stories in person as opposed to just examples.  It really put some flesh on the idea that I had heard so much about.  This is what gets me excited and out of bed in the morning.

I love what I’m doing in Myanmar.  There are times where I get lonely, either for my fiancé or friends and family.  Usually around those times something like this happens and reminds me why I’m here.  I’m here to empower people to start businesses, and if they’re Christian business owners, to use their businesses to help disciple others and obey the Great Commission.  I can’t describe how excited this makes me and how fulfilling this truly is; I think I’ve finally found my sweet spot.

One day, I want to start my own entrepreneurship school in a developing country.  I’d like to do this within 3-5 years.  I just read the story of Joseph last night and realized that sometimes God has different plans.  It’s extremely difficult for me to end my prayers like Jesus did in the garden, “Not my will but Your’s, Father.”  Oh, how I struggle with that!  I want to do what I want to do, but I need to open myself to the Spirit’s leading.

If God allows me and empowers me to start my own school someday I would be thrilled.  It would be the most difficult thing I’ve ever done to be sure but I think it would be incredibly fulfilling.  If He chooses to take me another route though, that’s something I need to accept and thrive in as well.  May my prayer always be, “Not my will, but Your’s Father.”

The Purpose of Freedom, Part 2

I am utterly at a loss of what to do about many global problems, especially war.  There has to be a better way than bombing places and killing civilians.  What if we used our soldiers to fight against problems in our own country and used all the resources we pour into our military to fight some serious problems in the states?

There are so many people who serve in our armed forces who are brilliant and I have to believe there’s a better use of their mental capabilities than figuring out how to best kill our enemies.  We have so many problems at home.  Similarly, why am I living in Myanmar when there are plenty of problems at home?

All I can say is I feel called to overseas missions and have for quite some time.  The thing I’ve realized and that saddens me is that a lot of people who say things along the lines of, “Well you should do more for people in your own country” usually are the ones who do nothing themselves in our own country.  Why is this?  If they’re so passionate about me serving stateside why don’t they do the same?

How do you create freedom for others?  Ultimately, I believe Jesus creates freedom for others.  That’s what we see in the New Testament.  From the time Jesus announced He had come to set the prisoners free to the time Paul was in prison but was still free according to him, freedom is an underlying current in all of Scripture and particularly in the New Testament.

Jesus is the creator of freedom, and so we must introduce others to Him.  Be careful though.  If you introduce someone to Jesus there is a good chance they will watch your behaviors more closely to see if you live what you claim as truth.  Does knowing Jesus make us any different than the world around us?  Are we truly living lives of freedom or something else?  Are we living for Christ or are we enslaved by the idols around us?

We mustn’t live in a state of fear.  People use fear all the time to intimidate and ultimately enslave others.  It’s why we spend so much money on anti-terrorism and not on preventable diseases like heart disease or other diseases that lead to many more deaths than terrorism.

Furthermore, I think our priorities as a Western society have dramatically gone off course.  We seem to care more and become more outraged by the mistreatment of animals than of humans.  Some giraffe was killed recently and there was outrage around the Western world.  Simultaneously there are hundreds of people dying in Syria and South Sudan from war and thousands of people are dying of starvation or preventable diseases.  We seem to be more concerned with the well-being of animals instead of humans.  How can this be?

Freedom is a tricky and slippery concept.  We view it differently depending on where we were raised.  We also view it differently depending on how we were raised, what kind of household our parents brought us up in.  I view it in the lens of Jesus; other people view it differently than that.  One thing I hold onto, freedom is created from the bottom up, not the top down.

The Purpose of Freedom, Part 1

“The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.”  -  Bernard Malamud.  I came across this quote the other day and loved it instantly.  It can be used in a variety of situations.  For instance, it can be used on a societal level, on a group level, or on a personal level.

It reminds of a couchsurfer I stayed with in Wellington, New Zealand back in 2008.  She said something along the lines of, “If we have the ability to live however we want we have the responsibility not to.”  Sometimes sayings just stick with me.  They are so true instantly that they really resonate with me and stamp themselves on my brain.

Let’s get back to the original saying.  Americans cherish our freedom as a nation.  Are we using that freedom to create it for others?  It is so difficult to do as a nation.  Sometimes we try to use diplomacy, other times sanctions, other times war. 

Operation Iraqi Freedom was one such example.  We tried to free the Iraqi people and ended up making it worse overall.  How many people are killed every day there now?  How many soldiers did America and other countries lose in battle?  How many soldiers now suffer terribly from PTSD on a daily and ongoing basis?

Would anyone say the Iraqi people are now free after we “freed” them?  It would be a pretty tough argument to make.  What do you do though?  There was a terrible dictator in Saddam Hussein who was killing his own people.  We saw people suffering on the news every day.  We had the military resources to put an end to Saddam.

A few weeks ago I listened to a podcast that talked about sanctions and how often they worked for the states.  The expert they interviewed had looked over the past 50 or 60 years and all the times we had used sanctions.  He had evaluated what the purposes of the sanctions were and whether we had achieved those purposes or not.  He found sanctions worked about 30% of the time.  Maybe that’s why some Americans are so quick to want to pull the trigger.

“Freedom isn’t free” is a favorite saying among Americans as well.  It’s the idea that people fought and died so we could be free as a country.  How do you stop a dictator like Assad or Putin from just doing whatever they please?  Many people think we should get in there and use our military resources to defend the rights of the powerless. 

Is there possibly a better way?  Is there a third way like Walter Wink suggests?  He has a book entitled The Third Way that talks about the way of Jesus.  Is that possible in today’s geopolitics?  Is nonviolent resistance effective?  Can it possibly work against a violent regime?  What is the way forward in all these war-torn countries?

International Micro Enterprise Development

This week at our office we are hosting a group from IMED, or International Micro Enterprise Development.  It’s an organization that helps Christians in developing countries start businesses and run them.  We have some great men here who are doing great work for the kingdom.

On Monday they did some get to know you activities with the small business owners.  I didn’t partake in this but a friend here told me it was good and purposeful.  The second day their leader started with a great devotion out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12.  I got a lot from it and hope the participants did as well.

After the devotion it was down to business.  Tony and the other guys split into groups and basically interviewed the small business owners about their businesses, whether existing or with people who wanted to start a business.  This was basically learning about the businesses, what exactly they did.  Tony used a SIPOC model to probe for information.

SIPOC is shorthand for Suppliers, Inputs, Products, Outputs, Customers.  I found it interesting and seemed like a great tool to understand a business.  Tony was incredibly thorough which is good to help the small business owners think about exactly what their businesses are doing.

Tony’s group of students/small business owners are all working on getting clean water to their neighborhoods.  It was great to know that people are meeting the needs of their communities through businesses.  Two of the people have wells and one is basically a middle man.  Two of them are existing businesses and one of them wants to start a new clean water business.

Today, Wednesday, they’re going over the financials of their businesses.  Tony has said a couple of times that accounting was his least favorite class in getting his MBA.  I can see why.  I’ve never been one for details and knowing a company’s financials is all about details.  Phone calls are made to learn about different prices and costs for the business from one lady’s husband at the house presumably.

I’m not sure what tomorrow will hold but I do know this is great stuff.  It is part of the Business as Mission movement.  People are learning that providing people with jobs or providing them with the means to create their own jobs is kingdom work in itself.  You can preach the gospel but if you don’t help the person holistically than are you really preaching the whole gospel?

We are commanded to preach the gospel to all nations.  Part of that is helping people in material poverty work their way out.  Who are people more likely to listen to, someone who is preaching at them or someone who is providing a job for them?  Who are you more likely to listen to? 

Creating businesses offers a platform for witnessing in everyday interactions.  That is what leads to effective discipleship.  It is the day in and day out of working with one another.  It is very hard work but has way more fruit than “drive by” evangelism.