Every once in a while, we run across people who did not really find their gifting until later in life. Either that, or the opportunity did not present itself for them to exercise that gifting until then. Whatever the case, it is fun to watch people like this excel in their gifting as if they have a lot of ground to make up! My wife is one of these people and she has certainly found her gifting as a teacher!
Have you heard anyone say, “I think I am going to quit my job and go into the ministry!” Have you ever heard a pastor talk about so-and-so that left the business world to go into full-time ministry? Has anyone ever told you that you should not be in business, but should be in full-time Christian ministry?
So, what is all the fuss over “the” ministry? What exactly do you have to do to qualify for Christian ministry? What exactly is full-time ministry? Is it something you must be called to do?
Our business is not a big one in the grand scheme of things, but we do get a good cross-section of employees with roughly 100 people working here. As a result, I have seen those that learn the job quickly and others that do not. Some understand their job and do what is necessary without being asked while others are waiting to be told what to do.
If you have been working for any length of time, you have probably witnessed this. For the most part, any new employee needs to be told what to do in the beginning, right? Unless they have worked that exact job before, there are things they need to be told first.
They probably need to know WHAT to do, WHY, WHEN, and HOW they are to do it, and maybe a few other tips. Once they get this, they should be able to go forward on their own with only occasional guidance along the way.
The problem is that some employees are still waiting to be told what to do. You probably know some of these people where you work. Maybe they work for you. No matter how many times they have read the job description or listened to the training, they refuse to take action on their own. They can sometimes be found actually standing around because no one stopped to tell them what to do next! It really amazes (and frustrates) me!
To be clear, I am not talking about waiting to be told about NEW tasks, responsibilities, or ideas. As employees are being developed for promotion or more responsibility, they need to be taught more. They cannot know the new stuff until it is taught to them. I am only now talking about what they already know (or should know) they are to be doing.
So now that I have you worked up and as frustrated as I am, let’s (again) turn this around to be about us. You probably knew this was coming, didn’t you? For the sake of this discussion, we are the “employees” in this picture and God is the “employer”.
As you go through the rest of this post, ask yourself if you are acting just like one of these employees. Ask yourself if you are “standing around” waiting to be told by God (again) what He wants you to do. Be honest with yourself and allow Him to guide you. He will show you what He wants you to see.
Let’s take an easy example to start with.
Our “handbook” (the Bible) says that we are to love God (Matthew 22:37-40), right? This is called the Greatest Commandment and we should all be aware of it by now. We have probably read it many times and have likely heard sermons (training) on it as well.
So, are you DOING it? Are you really LOVING God? Are you doing it with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? OR are you waiting to be told again that you are to do this?
If I am honest in answering these questions for myself, then I would say I am doing it sometimes and I am trying to do it other times. I can’t really say that at any point in time I am sitting around waiting to be told again to love God. I think I have a passing grade here, but not by much.
Let’s get a little tougher. We have all likely heard of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) as well, right? We are told here to go and make disciples of all nations. Again, we have read it and heard many sermons on it. I doubt there are any of us that can honestly claim ignorance here.
So, again I ask the question. Are you DOING it? Are you truly making disciples? Are you mentoring someone in the Christian walk? Are you engaging your employees, co-workers, and others in Christian ministry? Are you teaching what you have been taught?
In the past, I could answer this question with an easy “Yes!” without blinking an eye. Lately, I have allowed distractions to creep in and now I am unable to answer with confidence. What about you? Have you made an effort? Have you allowed distractions to interfere?
I won’t go into detail with each of the following areas from our “handbook,” but I will at least list them and let you ask yourself the questions. Think about each category and ask yourself the tough questions. Where are you waiting to be told what to do? If that is difficult for you or if you think you will go too easy on yourself, ask someone else to help you. Maybe that can be the start of a discipling relationship!
Evangelism (Acts 1:8)
Tithing (Matthew 23:23)
Love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-44)
Forgive your enemies (Luke 17:4)
Praying for others (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
Bible study (2 Timothy 2:15)
When you have had enough abuse for one day and you are ready to close out this post, stop and do one more thing. Decide on one, only one, of these areas and commit to do something!
Commit to make at least one change. Start doing something that you already know you should be doing. It will be the first step down a great and rewarding path!
Where are you doing what you know you should be doing?
Where are you waiting to be told what to do?
What are you going to do about it?
Football season is here again and I am excited! I love watching my favorite college and pro teams play each weekend. Even more exciting for me is that this year my son is playing for the local high school. I am not sure if there is anything more fun than being a spectator when your own kid is on the field.
If you will bear with me, I want to describe how it looks on a normal Friday night. First, we have already paid for the season tickets and the parking pass. Next, we will walk into the stadium carrying the stadium seat that bears the logo of the team. We purchased this from the school, along with various articles. Finally, we will likely spend a little on the various refreshments they sell at the concession stand.
All of this money spent is part of the experience and is acceptable because we know it goes to support the team, right? As spectators, it gives us a sense of pride that we can do our part to financially support the efforts of the local team. After all, we cannot very well go out on the field and contribute by playing, can we?!?
Before you think this post is about how expensive it can be to be a spectator at a football game, let me make the connection. The problem that I want to highlight here is that many Christians operate in this same way with their faith.
Go back to my description of a typical Friday night – change it to a typical Sunday morning. We go to church. We have paid our tithes and feel good about that. We watch the show and pay a little for the coffee in the cafe if our church has one. We may even add a little to the offering plate for the upcoming youth mission trip.
All in all, we feel good about our contribution because we know our money is put to good use. We know that we are supporting the ministry of the church when we do this, right?
The problem with this is that we are still only spectators in this case. While we might get arrested if we attempted to suit up and run out onto the field of a high school football game, this is not the case with our faith!
Instead, we are actually CALLED out onto the field! With the Great Commission, we are COMMANDED to go out and be participants, not spectators! There is no limitation here, no security guards keeping us in the stands!
There is actually a Coach out on the field calling out our names and beckoning us to join Him. So, what is our response?
Before you get upset, I am not saying that financial support of the church is not critical. It is absolutely necessary. The only problem is that too many Christians stop here and think they have done something. In fact, many think they have fully met their responsibilities.
This is simply not right. Jesus is sending us ALL out to be participants. We are to step out of the stands and onto the field. We are to join the battle that is going on and we are to do so with a very clear objective.
For some, what you do as a participant will look different from the next person. Not everyone will have the same role. There will not be hundreds of quarterbacks out on the field. Each person’s talents and gifts are different and therefore their contribution will look different.
The bottom line is that there must be an active contribution. Simply sitting in the stands holding up the foam #1 sign is not enough. It may be all we can do in high school football, but more is expected of us when it comes to our faith.
So, what does this look like? How do we apply this idea to business?
I am glad you asked! I will try to take this analogy further in my next post by describing what some of the various levels of participation may look like and where we might fit in. I hope you will stay tuned!
Would you consider yourself a participant or a spectator?
What should you change to be more of a participant?
What are the risks of being more of a participant?
Have you ever dealt with an organization that clearly performed at a low quality level? If you are like me, it is really frustrating. What is worse is when they profess to be a Christian organization, using their “cause” as an excuse for less than excellent work. Why is it that Christians so often think they should be given a pass when it comes to excellence?
This is the fourth post in a series of five that describes the advice my brother and I received from business and ministry leader, Jim Reese. Mr. Reese seen incredible success in the business world over a stellar career with executive positions in companies such as Randstad N.A., Frito-Lay, and HoneyBaked Ham, but he has also significantly impacted people for eternity through his work with Atlanta Mission. He has taken his exceptional business skills and is applying them in Christian ministry.
Below, is the fourth of five main points I gained from our conversation. This advice is directed at anyone trying to buck the norms of this world and integrate their faith into their work. If you are trying to run your business from an eternal perspective, then you need to heed this advice.
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If there was one of the five main points Mr. Reese made with extra emphasis, it was this one. We spent at least twice the time on excellence as we did on the other topics.
Obviously excellence is an extremely wide topic. For the purpose of this post, here is our definition of excellence.
Excellent organizations achieve and sustain superior levels of performance that meet or exceed the expectations of all their stakeholders.
So many Christian ministries and organizations today think they get a free pass in regards to excellence because they are doing God’s work. They think people will (or at least should) accept less than excellence when they know the cause is right. While it is truly sad, many people have come to expect this from Christian organizations.
Folks, this is simply ridiculous thinking! If anything, work done for God should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. If we are following Scripture and working as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24), then we should act like it! We are serving the King of the Universe! He would not accept less than excellence from Cain (Genesis 4:3-7) or from the Israelites (Malachi 1:6-13), why should He accept it from us?
This attitude of excellence should be central to everything we do. It should drive every aspect of our lives and our businesses. There should be nothing in our lives that we accept as less than excellent.
This is not to say that we can achieve perfection, but we should always maintain a culture of improvement. This culture will cause us to always be working on any weaknesses so that they do not remain that way.
If we are to be Greatest Commandments and Great Commission companies, then we must earn the right to influence others. We earn this right by doing business with excellence. Anything less will risk pushing people away from the Gospel.
Do you consider your company as one of excellence?
Do you recognize the importance of excellence?
What do you need to change right now?
Would you jump at a chance to get advice from someone with an incredible career in both business and Christian ministry? I got that chance!
My brother and I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours this past week with business and ministry leader, Jim Reese. I first met Mr. Reese when he was a speaker at the Catalyst conference in Atlanta this past October.
After attending his session, I sought him out and we spent a few minutes talking about the integration of faith and business. It was then that I asked for the opportunity to visit his ministry, Atlanta Mission, and get his advice on how he thought I could better use our business as a platform for Christian ministry.
Though we have been working at this for over eight years, we know there is still so much to learn! We know we have just barely scratched the surface and therefore are always on the look-out for opportunities to learn. This was clearly one of those opportunities. In fact, we came away with much more than we could have hoped.
Not only has Reese seen incredible success in the business world over a stellar career with executive positions in companies such as Randstad N.A., Frito-Lay, and HoneyBaked Ham, but he has also significantly impacted people for eternity through his work with Atlanta Mission. He has taken his exceptional business skills and is applying them in Christian ministry. His leadership is taking the Atlanta Mission organization to new heights.
I could take the rest of this post telling you how gracious and helpful Mr. Reese was in taking the time to pour into us. He clearly has a passion for what he does and is very willing to share that passion. We will not know the full impact of this short visit for many years to come, but I can tell you that it will be huge!
Below, I have listed the first of five main points I gained from our conversation. I will discuss this first one in detail today and the other four points in my next posts. This advice is directed at anyone trying to buck the norms of this world and integrate their faith into their work. If you are trying to run your business from an eternal perspective, then you need to heed this advice.
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In a publicly-owned corporation, success is most often defined as an increase in shareholder wealth (stock price). Maybe revenue growth is a close second. In private business, net profit or net cash flow probably leads as the definition of success. Growth may also take a top spot in some of these businesses as well.
Since virtually all of us have worked in a secular job for a non-Christian company at some time or another, you probably know exactly what I am talking about. I do not know the statistics here, but success in most companies is defined this way. I am not judging them (not my job to do so). I am simply pointing out the facts.
But when you step out and say that your business is God’s and you are just a steward of it for a time, then you must redefine success. The normal business metrics will not work for this purpose. Instead, you must determine what is most important to God for His business.
Of course, the best place to look for this is in the Scripture. You may need to translate what you find into various specific definitions of success for your own business based on variables such as type (manufacturing, retail, services, etc.). It may be different specific results for different businesses, according to God’s will for each, but I guarantee it will be related to the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission.
When Jesus says that all of the law and prophets hang on loving God and loving others as ourselves, then you can bet your success definition needs to be founded on this. When Jesus’ last words on earth charge us to go and make disciples of all nations, then you need to include this as well.
I will not attempt to give you a single rule of thumb for redefining success for your business from an eternal perspective. This is something that you need to determine for your business through searching the Scriptures and fervent prayer. I will tell you that I think it is solid advice to redefine success for your company.
By redefining success from an eternal perspective, you will change the way you make decisions. You will hire differently. You will invest your time, talents, and treasure differently. When you have redefined success, your motivation changes and that picture of success begins to permeate your thoughts, actions, and words. Success redefined is a powerful force!
What is your definition of success in business at this point?
How have you prayed about this?
What do you feel God is leading you to do?