— by J.D. Greear

The story of Jacob in the Old Testament is a fascinating tale of pride, humility, success, failure and a man who (quite literally) wrestled with the Lord. His upbringing and family dynamics led him to a life of seeking—often deceptively—the next level of success and proving himself. JD Greear explains how understanding the life of this persistent father in the faith and Old Testament leader can help modern-day entrepreneurs avoid some common pitfalls and walk in the loving grace and freedom of Jesus.

[Jacob was] scrappy, innovative, resourceful, ruthless and even deceitful. He was just willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. His name, Jacob, even meant deceiver. Well, like I said, he was very successful. But eventually, as often happens, some of his ruthlessness caught up with him. He found himself at a point of personal failure. And we’ll go into all the details. But it was it was business failure, family failure. He’s fearful for his own personal safety, even with that very night as Jacob’s struggle with all this worry, doubt and despair. Genesis, 32, tells us that God appeared to him in the form of an angel and wrestled all night with him. Jacob had been able to overcome most things in his life, but he could not beat this divine opponent. 

It’s supposed to be symbolic of what was happening in his life. You see, a lot of things happened in that divine encounter, but most significant of which is that Jacob learned to know God as the one he couldn’t overcome…and that it wasn’t all on him to get the job done. He learned to depend on God. And so he ceased to have to be ruthless.

Jacob was touched by God in his hip socket. So from that point on, Jacob would walk with a limp. The best leaders usually lead with a limp. And that’s because they’ve come to a point where they realize they can’t do it on their own. And they realize that they have to trust God. They have to submit to him. And they have to do it his way. They stop being ruthless, unhealthily driven, willing to sacrifice their family or their people around them or their health or their integrity to get the job done. They stop being unethical and instead they patiently and faithfully do their work. Just trust in God to be their supply. They realize that for the person who walks with God, faithfulness, not effectiveness, is the measure of success. 

A venture capitalist friend often tells me that venture capitalists are not always eager to invest in somebody whose first ever venture was a big success quickly. Sometimes it’s the entrepreneur who has shown tenacity through a couple of failures that ends up being the better bet…Moses, for example, failed before he became the leader of Israel. King David and the apostle Paul both have long, frustrating times of waiting before God actually began to use them powerfully. 

And in four basic phrases: there’s bad news, there’s worse news, there’s good news, and there’s better news. Bad news is you and I are separated from God and because of our separation from God, we’ll spend eternity apart from him. You say that that is bad news. What could possibly be worse? Well, the worse news is there’s literally nothing that you and I can do about it. No amount of religion, no matter of intentions to be good, no amount of church attendance or money given can change the reality. The good news is what we couldn’t do, God did for us. He came as his Son and he died in our place so that he could offer salvation to all who would receive it. The best news, the better news, is that all you have to do is receive it as a gift. Ephesians 2:9 says that it is by grace. Grace is a free gift, that you and I are saved through faith. Faith means just receiving what God says that he did for you. And it’s not of ourselves. It’s the gift of God. It’s not works, not a human accomplishment, so that nobody can boast. It’s faith in what Jesus has done. 

When we understand that we’re just humble servants that are focused on obedience, trusting that if we do what God wants, he will be our sufficiency and our supply. 

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[ Photo by Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash ]

— by Reuben Coulter

There are major trends which will shape our world and the church for generations to come. The Christian community needs to prayerfully discern how to respond to these and particularly how faith driven entrepreneurs and investors can provide solutions to these opportunities and challenges.

1. Youth bulge 

Of the 1.8 billion youth today, 90% live in developing countries. The median age in Uganda is 16 years and in the Philippines it is 25, compared to 38 in the USA. The growth of jobs is not keeping pace with the growth in population which creates the potential for massive unemployment and social unrest.

2. Battle for Hearts and Minds

There is a battle for the hearts and minds of young people in developing countries. Christianity has spread rapidly in many parts of Africa and Latin America, yet it’s often ‘a mile wide but an inch deep’. The emphasis on a sacred-secular divide means Christian values are not expressed in the marketplace. In addition, a shallow ‘Prosperity Gospel’, emphasising individual materialistic success rather than the true Gospel, threatens to compromise the church. For young people, the faith of their parents feels irrelevant and unattractive compared to a materialistic, secular life. Other countries are unreached by the Gospel and may be hostile to Christianity. For those seeking meaning and purpose, faiths like Islam appear to offer a seemingly compelling vision and close knit community. Some Islamic nations and communities have a strategic, long-term vision of influencing societies and are actively utilising business and investment to these ends. This stands in contrast to most of the Christian church  which has been disengaged from the marketplace. 

3. Covid 19 and the Global Economic Crisis 

Many emerging and frontier markets have grown rapidly over the past 20 years, with the top 10 fastest growing countries all in Africa or Asia. However, much of this growth was fuelled by debt or commodities. This has failed to create significant job growth, foster value addition, or develop human capital, thus leading to inequality. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has led to severe economic stress and job losses across the world. According to the IMF, 40% of poor countries are either in a debt crisis or are rapidly approaching one. Small and medium businesses are particularly vulnerable with a recent survey (June 2020) showing that 12% had already failed and 49% were at high risk of failing.

4. Climate change 

Rapidly changing weather patterns are severely affecting emerging and frontier markets which are particularly dependent on agriculture. As temperatures rise, regions such as Africa will face declining crop yields and will struggle to produce sufficient food for domestic consumption, ast their major exports will likely fall in volume. Climate extremes have also led to an increase in droughts, flooding, and other natural disasters from which developing countries are less prepared to recover.

5. Technology leapfrogging 

Over the past decade there has been a rapid adoption of innovative technologies in emerging markets. In Africa, over 75% of the population now has a phone and almost a third of these are smartphones. Lack of legacy technologies and the drive to address complex problems has enabled nations to leapfrog forward. For example, off-grid solar power is bringing electricity to remote villages, sensors and AI can predict droughts, mobile payments can enable business without cash, and remote viewing can enable expert doctors to save lives from thousands of miles away.

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[ Photo by Muhammadtaha Ibrahim Ma’aji on Unsplash ]

— by Leah Davidson

In venturing into entrepreneurship, it is easy to get sucked into the idol of control (“a desire to have everything go according to my plans”), what Tim Keller labels in Counterfeit Gods as one of the four root idols.

As entrepreneurs, the desire to be in control is often why we set out on this trajectory. We pitch to investors, customers, and the press that preparation/experience, a great team and idea, and our own skills and competence as a leader will differentiate our venture, only to then feel misled when funding rounds collapse, contracts fall through, and key employees or co-founders leave.

Here are some lessons learned from traveling to 20+ countries on the path to building an ed-tech venture: 

1. Embrace the uncertainty as a chance to fully rely on God

Everyday life is uncertain, but often those uncertainties are hidden behind a seemingly stable job, a bank account and retirement plan that can weather tumultuous financial markets, and a resume with enough accolades and brand-names to presumably land high-paying jobs, even during global pandemics. Leaving friends, family, and income behind to pursue entrepreneurship abroad forced me to acknowledge that success, funding, and security are never guaranteed, but that no matter what happens, God will never forsake me. 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

2. See every blessing as a gift

By giving up my own control over the ability to provide for myself, I saw God open up incredible doors, like a chance to live with a Chilean host family and build a relationship teaching English to their three-year-old daughter, which helped combat loneliness, and accelerator programs that came through with funding when we were struggling to pay our tech team’s monthly salaries. More importantly, God provided deeper spiritual blessings of peace, comfort, and joy in the midst of the struggle.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows

James 1:17

3. Know when to stop and how to let go

Perseverance in the face of adversity is admirable, especially when it comes to living for God, but too much resoluteness in a certain direction can blind you to what God is actually saying. When we faced rejection after rejection during the fundraising process, I needed to face the reality that maybe I would have to accept another job and give up the full-time pursuit of entrepreneurship.

In contemplating the options, I had to surrender my own desires and ask myself a few questions:

• Am I unwilling to consider alternatives even when all the evidence points to the need for a pivot? 

• Would I hurt or risk endangering the people I love to achieve my goals? 

• Where is my pride and ego in my vision for the project’s success? 

• Would I still persevere if I received no financial benefit and no earthly recognition? 

• Am I falling into the sunk cost fallacy of believing that more perseverance will necessarily lead to greater rewards? 

I ultimately realized that God may be leading me in new directions and I chose to continue pursuing grant opportunities, while searching for more of a home-base, where I could build church community.

Will you do whatever God asks of you, even if it means sacrificing your son (Abraham), losing your possessions (Job), dying (Stephen), and never reaching the Promised Land (Moses)? What does it mean to truly surrender? Be prayerful and allow God to open and close the right doors.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

4. Make sure to stay humble

Entrepreneurs are often trying to solve big problems, so it is easy to get caught up in wanting to be “the one” to make the change and forget that God is ultimately in control of restoring the world. Humility allows us to view our time and talents under a lens of stewardship and to allow God to mould us and use us as He wills, with the understanding that we are not guaranteed any earthly outcomes and may never see the fruits of our labor on this Earth. 

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

1 Corinthians 3:6-8

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[ Photo by Bailey Heedick on Unsplash ]

— by FDE Team

Faith Driven Entrepreneur has been blessed by the wisdom, encouragement, and stories of the faith driven community. We’ve compiled a list of 10 of our favorite, most challenging and encouraging podcasts from the FDE community. You can find the full podcasts, and over 100 more, on our site.  

1. Lecrae and Ben Washer, FDE Episode 127, “The Reach Records Origin Story”
   “If God came to Earth as Bill Gates, he still would have been taking a step down. You know what I mean? And he goes below that. And that just blows my mind. And then at the same time reminds me when he says the first shall be last and I shall be first. He really exemplified that like he really laid out as an example of saying, “listen, I’m first.” There’s no one more first than me. And I’m coming in. Born into an impoverished situation in a Palestinian barn. And that just reminds me to stay low, to stay humble, to stay. Trying to serve and to try to remember that the first will be last and last will be first.”

2. Peter Irvine, FDE Episode 121, “Global Franchising Redemptive Culture”
   “God doesn’t wake up in the morning and say ‘I’ve run out of money.’ But the world thinks he has. And Christians often think that he has. He hasn’t run out of resources or money. What he births, he’s got to make happen. But the thing is, He’s saying to me, ‘it’s not always your interpretation of what I’m going to do. So you’re going to have to wait for me. And when you step out of the boat, you’ve got to keep walking.’”

3. Jena Nardella, FDE Episode 81, “The Redemptive Nonprofit”
   “I think that founders of nonprofits, especially those who feel like they have a line to their calling to their work, have the greatest challenge around the nobility trap and start to believe that the organization is theirs, start to believe that they are indispensable to the organization. And the encouragement we are making is really to have our leaders surrender their identity and really their organizations to God and to be able to practice. The mindsets and habits of stewardship, which is really to hold the organization open handedly and very difficult to do.”

4. Rob Thomas and Jeff Parker, FDE Episode 103, “99% Confession Equals 0% Freedom”
   Jeff Parker, “Conflict is a constant opportunity. Right. I think God’s glorified when we preserve the unity of the spirit or the unity of a company…I just really want to just push in and go, man, if you’ve got breath in your lungs, you’re not irredeemable. Your sin is not have to be what defines you. And so get it in the light. Confess one hundred percent of it. And if even if it’s because you’ve wounded your business partner, confess it and trust God.”

5. Pat Lencioni, FDE Episode 100, “The motivation of Faith Driven Entrepreneurs”
   “It’s a different calling. And if you’re not doing it with the cost in mind and feeling like you’re called to that, then you shouldn’t do it. And it’s just too easy for people to slide into that thinking, well, this is the next step of my career…sometimes in discernment, we get caught up in trying to understand exactly what God wants us to do. And maybe he just wants to step out in faith and then learn from there.”

6. Alan Barnhart, FDE Episode 51, “God Owns It All”
   “We decided to protect ourselves against wealth by putting a cap on our lifestyle and say we’re going to draw a certain salary from the company and live a certain lifestyle. And if God chooses to prosper the business, we’re not going to see that as a call to increase lifestyle, but instead see it as an opportunity to use the dollars that God provides through the business for Kingdom purposes.”

7. Ron Blue, FDI Episode 11, “A Founding Father in the Faith Driven Investor Movement”
   “Two questions that the wealthy needed to ask. Number one was: Who owns it? And there’s a lot of implications to that. And secondly: How much is enough? Be it a lifestyle or be it accumulation or whatever it may be, because if you don’t set a finish line, you’ll never finish. And we help people give away a lot of money, but it was primarily because they said, ‘You know want? I have enough. I don’t really need any more.’”

8. Phil Vischer, FDE Episode 55, “Have You Ever Had a Dream?”
   “God does not call us to outcomes. He calls us to obedience. He doesn’t care how big you get, how successful you get. He actually doesn’t care what you accomplish. He cares who you are. He cares about your character. He cares about how you treat people. He cares about obedience. And joy comes from letting go of outcomes and embracing obedience.”

9. Don Flow, FDE Episode 71, “Letting Trust Drive Business”
   there is a sense in which all of us get up every day for people of faith and say, Help me imagine with you, Lord, a way of doing business, aligning myself with your purposes in this world, which your purposes are always about, the restoration of renewal of this world to reflect your deepest desires.

10. Pete Ochs, FDE Episode 83, “Jailhouse Business”
    “There are 5 things that lead to courage: the first one is truth. We’ve got to seek the truth. The truth will make us free. I don’t care whether it’s economic, social, spiritual marketplace. We have to know the truth. When you know the truth and you can go to the second step, which is faith, you’ll start believing it. And as you start believing the truth, God gives you through the Holy Spirit this ability to start living it out. And what I call character. So it’s truth, faith and character. You work through that system. And then I think the fourth step after you’ve started living it out is I think God begins to give you a vision for your business or for whatever he’s put on your heart. And as you get that vision, and for me, I get really excited about vision. There comes a point when I say that vision is so big. I don’t think I can do that. And that’s where the fifth step humility comes in. And if we understand that this isn’t going to happen unless God comes along beside us and makes it happen, then it’s going to work. And then at that point in time, you are going to probably run into a roadblock. There is going to be something that happens in this journey of entrepreneurship. So as you start your business, start with truth, believe it through faith, start living it down with character.”

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[ Photo by Jonathan Velasquez on Unsplash ]

— by Kerry McDonald

The pandemic and related government lockdowns have caused widespread economic and social disruption over the past several months. There is much to despair about, as tens of thousands of small businesses have permanently closed and rates of depression and suicide rise. Yet, there are signs of hope. Uncertainty and fear might stop many of us from taking risks or thinking imaginatively during this tumultuous time, but recent data show that entrepreneurship is surging during the pandemic. Seizing new opportunities and spotting unfulfilled needs, entrepreneurs may help to lift our economy from its sickly slump.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis this week, “Americans are starting new businesses at the fastest rate in more than a decade.” These startups don’t outpace the number of companies closing this year due to the pandemic, but they do suggest that entrepreneurial individuals are launching new enterprises to satisfy changing demands. According to government data, there have been 3.2 million applications for employer identification numbers (EIN) this year. Required to start a US company, EIN applications reached only 2.7 million at this same time last year. The Journal cites additional data to confirm an increase in entrepreneurship, beginning in June, as some individuals turned layoffs or reduced work hours into opportunities to build a business. While startups are always precarious and many small businesses fail, these new ventures can be catalysts for sustained economic growth. According to the Journal: “Even though new businesses inevitably start small, they are a critical engine of job creation. Startups have historically accounted for around one-fifth of job creation…”

Click here to read the full article, where it was originally published by Foundation for Economic Education.

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[ Photo by Tyler Franta on Unsplash ]