Defining Gathering in the Faith Driven Investor Movement
As Faith Driven Entrepreneurs we know that you're looking for resources to encourage and equip you on your journey. We also know that a big part of that is finding a community of like minded leaders both to provide insight and counsel and in some instances to financially invest in the work God is doing. Those are some of the many reasons why a growing number of fund managers, investors have come together to star the Faith Driven Investor. In the coming weeks you'll see us share more in a 4 Part Podcast Series introducing it.
We also know there is nothing like the power of getting together. There's something catalytic about spending time praying for what God might do in this space. What started off as a small gathering of 30 friends we had to cap out at 175 leaders of the Faith Driven Investor gathering in Deer Valley, Utah for a day of prayer and shaping the conversation.
So many ideas that came from last week ... It was so encouraging to hear ideas about things happening in real estate, private equity, employee resource groups and so much more. In the surveys we've already heard a desire for future events, content ideas, and possibly the idea of working groups to evaluate deals together ... And thats just a few of them! There's no way we can summarize them in one email, which is why we wanted to create this website for those conversations to continue.
This is very much in its beta form, but we hope that its something that you'll be proud of and want to share with friends. In the coming weeks we'll be adding blog posts with slides and notes from many of the speakers. We'll also continue to update the Asset Map that captures who is serving in this movement and we're planning to process the input on the Unifying Principles and have an updated version up by the end of August. We're grateful for pastoral friends like Chip Ingram, Tom Nelson, Toby Kurth who have offered to provide theological leading to many of the things we discussed as the conversation continues. We also know that many smaller working groups might spring out of this for different spaces or to tackle some of the Areas Where Action is Required.
While things are fresh we wanted to highlight a few tangible ways we'd invite you continue to shape the conversation and lead out as a voice in the movement.
Encourage Others to Join the Conversation - If you know friends who want to join the conversation but couldn't attend the event we encourage them to sign up for a monthly newsletter where we’re going to bring the best podcasts, articles, videos into one place.
Listen to the First Episodes of the Podcast - We've got four beta episodes we'll be releasing over the next two months. You can start by listening to Henry Kaestner and Aimee Minnich on the introductory episode. And please be sure to send us your thoughts on format, topics and guests we should be consider. Then, stay tuned for these upcoming shows…
Pete Kelly unpacks how Apartment Life is making both a Spiritual Impact and delivering a greater Financial Return.
Trae Stephens talks about this idea of Abundance vs. Scarcity and Competition vs. Creation through the lens of Scripture.
Christeen Rico talks about how Faith Communities are Strengthening Culture and Companies at Apple, Dropbox, Google.
Frank Chen talks about being a Servant Leader to the Entrepreneurs they work with at Andreesen Horowitz.
Share Your Thoughts and Thoughts Shaping You - Yesterday on the blog we shared the prayer that Mats Tunehag shared with us last week at the event. We’d encourage you to check that out and let it recalibrate your heart as you start your week. Please send us posts, articles, videos, and/or sermons that you've written, or share what is shaping you so we can share with others.
We'll continue to keep you updated about future gatherings as one way to spotlight work God is already doing to bring this community together. Many friends in this space are planning to be at the Christian Investment Forum that John Siverling hosts August 14-16 in Asheville, North Carolina and we'd encourage you to check that out!
We’re grateful to be on this journey with you and excited for what’s to come!
The Faith Driven Investor and Faith Driven Entrepreneur Team