Sometimes the journey of faith is more important than the actual on-going success of a business.

One of the hardest things many of us experience is waiting for what is next. For what’s to come. When will I get the promotion? When will I get the job? When will I get the new clients? When will this business start to take off? Why is it taking so long?

Fear and trembling aren’t bad or wrong. But you cannot ignore what comes before and behind: that we have the joy of obedience because we are blessed to know the end of the story, and that it is God who is working in and through us to carry out His good purpose.

No matter what happens, I will strive to continue living shalom, because it is not dependent upon my financial success or how well I manage a company or whatever else may happen in my life, but rather on my daily obedience to God’s calling.

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.

Achieve, work harder, be a go-getter, pursue. These concepts which are so familiar to entrepreneurs are not inherently bad but have the potential to knock us on our backs if not kept in the right context.

What if God is glorified by taking us to Red Sea Moments on purpose? How do you respond as a leader when you find yourself up against the wall?

Each season is indeed remarkable. However, the season I want to focus on is winter. With everything gray and cold, winter can seem like a lost season. But it isn’t. In fact it’s vital for the garden.

For the first time since the threat of nuclear annihilation hung over the UK in the 60s, millions of us are worried about dying, or worried about someone else dying. Suddenly, the question ‘if you were to die tonight, where would you go?’ has a fresh pertinence.

Survival is a funny thing. Survival can feel good. The adrenaline rush which comes from dodging a train is a good one. But if we get into a habit of just avoiding bad outcomes, we can easily start redefining success as “we’re good at avoiding bad outcomes.”

I never saw it coming. I started my business part-time in January, 2000, and I completed my MBA in September of the same year. I purchased my second new construction home. Things were going well, and I could not have been happier.

Both the most generous and the most covetous people I’ve ever met have been people on the low end of the economic ladder. The generosity I received a few years ago in Uganda among the poorest of the global poor, at times, brought me to tears.

Although pain is inevitable, misery is optional. The same calamity can produce positive change in one person and cause caustic bitterness in another. Whether pain’s life-shaping power makes us better or bitter depends on what we believe about God.

It’s now clear that COVID-19 is a deadly serious global pandemic, and all necessary precautions should be taken. Still, C. S. Lewis’s words—written 72 years ago—ring with some relevance for us. Just replace “atomic bomb” with “coronavirus.”

None of us, including experienced business people, have led a company in such a time as this. For over 20 years, Charlie Paparelli has been an professional angel investor and entrepreneur, co-founding 12 startups and investing in twenty-three. Read his take on where we go from here…

“The scripture speaks of God ‘shaking things that can be shaken that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.’ He has a way of doing that in big and little ways. He shakes things. He is not a God of the status quo. And why is that true? It is true because in a static world we would never grow or be conformed to the image of Christ and there would be no need for faith. We could simply live ‘by sight.’ That’s not His plan.” This message was originally sent from The C12 Group Founder Buck Jacobs to C12 Group members. The C12 team hopes his words offer peace, calm and hope while being extremely timely and profound.

When we (C12 Group) first began to release information, resources and guidance on playing offense in regards to COVID-19 in February there were some reports of “what’s the big deal, it’s not effecting my city, business, industry.” Those delusions are quickly fading. As a global economy, human race, and universal Church everyone is and will be effected in one way or another.

Elbow grease and a hard work ethic are found within the heart of every entrepreneur, but Tom Strickland of Suncoast Team Services possesses something stronger: the fervent desire to see God honored in every build. Tom realizes that the successful entrepreneur is the man or woman that relinquishes control to God, and that the success or failure of a project is in the Master Builder’s capable hands.

Jerry Colangelo is a legend in the world of professional sports, but that isn’t how he wants to be remembered. Instead, Jerry hopes that when people think of him they will say, “He cared.”

Rather than succumb to the negativity that was permeating our culture in the 2009 economic crisis, Derek had a vision of launching a new business that would provide jobs, hope and source of optimism. What was that vision? It was that of a self-serve frozen yogurt shop.

Norm Miller, founder of I Am Second Leadership, told TwoTen about how his desires became less about him and more about Him. To date, the “I Am Second” web site has been visited over ten million times in over 56 countries. More of that journey is included in this blog post …

For over 20 years, Charlie Paparelli has been an professional angel investor and entrepreneur, co-founding 12 startups and investing in 23. On a daily basis, he mentors 10 startup founders and advises many more. Read more about his 11 thoughts on how to see failure as an entrepreneur.a

We’re huge fans of DIFW, Jeff Haanen, and their podcast The Faith & Work Podcast. They recently interviewed New York Times columnist and best-selling author David Brooks about his new book The Second Mountain. We highly recommend you listen in!

Located in the heart of downtown Chattanooga, First Presbyterian frequently receives requests for financial assistance from local residents. Over the past decade, the church has intentionally changed the way they help their neighbors in need.

Whether you’re trying to trust yourself, your employees, or God, letting go of the desire for control never seems to get any easier. Today, we have a parable from Henri Nouwen on this very idea.

Let’s not let our identity or vision be an excuse for bad leadership, but rather the fuel and motivator for great leadership.  One of my agendas in the work I do, frankly, is to redeem the brand dignity of “Christian business leadership” to be associated with the very highest standards in society

‘It is human to crave certainty. The problem with certainty is that it creates self-sufficiency. If we feel that we know everything or have everything, why would we need God?’ Find out more in this extract from ‘The Relationship Book’ by Matt Bird.

“If you’ve been following us at FDE for a while, you know that the concepts of identity and generosity are two of them.  A third, and the subject of this blog, is the difference between being faithful and willful. As entrepreneurs, things seemed to go well when we were faithful, things tended not to go well when we were willful.  I hope you are blessed by David Morken’s (CEO of Bandwidth) note the way that I have been…”

Workplaces that eliminate email notifications, discourage out-of-hours communication and reduce email volume, save money and improve efficiency. When individual workers process their inbox less often, rather than continuously, they experience less stress without losing responsiveness.

Our approach may be limited in its effectiveness to change the nation but is very effective for the few we reach by our limited efforts.

Susan, a competent young professional, looked worn and defeated. In talking about her workplace, she told us that bickering, criticism, and lack of support had spread through her organization – a workplace she used to love. Now, she said, “The tension here is so thick I hate going to work. Actually, right now, I hate my life.”

No one thrives in a toxic workplace… but how do we avoid getting there in the first place? Here are four behaviors that contribute to a toxic workplace—and how you can avoid these common pitfalls.

If you feel that Christ is calling you to use your talents as an entrepreneur, consider going into business with a friend.

Lifestyle leaders focus on modeling the values and beliefs that they see are essential to the organization’s success. They also focus on gaining influence with constituents in their development and performance.

Ministry in word is a foundational mark of the Faith Driven Entrepreneur. Here’s some inspiration for starting a workplace faith community.

As you dream about why your faith community should exist, consider how much time is available for each meeting (e.g., a noon-hour gathering only has about 50 minutes of time). What can you realistically accomplish in the time available?

If there is a problem today, then regardless of who’s fault it is or where it came from, we are leaders and leaders solve problems – so what are we going to do about it?”

An embassy can only exist in a foreign territory if they are welcomed there. In the same way a Christian ERG needs to be cognizant of and respect the conditions under which they are welcomed into the organization.

A Lean organization maximizes customer value by continuously eliminating waste in its process with the goal of creating more value using fewer resources.

At LivFul we believe a company can be a tool for bringing shalom to this very dark world, a world where things are missing and broken, and that it should actively work towards the setting right of things

Henry Ford, the great industrialist inventor of the automobile, once said that he looked for men who had an infinite capacity to not know what couldn’t be done. Daryle Doden, CEO of Ambassador Enterprises, is a personification of this ideal.

For shalom is more than peace. Shalom means relationships that are in every conceivable respect clarified and reconciled. Shalom is deep connectedness with one another – vertically (with God) and horizontally (with people). Shalom is cohesion that withstands every ordeal of external forces.

I believe that Christian business is called to attend to the welfare of the community within which it operates.

The Lone Ranger persona is a common attribute of an entrepreneur. But is it accurate? Or even helpful?

We’re living in a time of extremes that are testing our faith and testing our businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced changes in how we operate on a daily basis.

Isn’t it interesting to think about how and when friendships start? A year ago, I did not know my friend, Judy.

While many companies in recent years have spent some time developing their core values, they often end up gathering dust on the wall, ignored and irrelevant. If so many leaders and consultants champion them as a vital part of your organization, why does this happen?

There are always challenges to developing productivity teams. Individual egos, agendas, capabilities all combined with unclear roles or changing priorities, will impact on how well a team works together. But, today teamwork faces a threat that is as negatively impactful as it is subtle.

Have you ever looked up the definition of pivot? What if I shared with you that we as leaders are the “Pivotman/woman” for our organizations?

Too much change overwhelms and confuses people. It can make a solid plan fall apart or never take off to begin with, and as I’ll explain, as a leader, you must be mindful about how you structure organizational transformations so you can avoid change saturation in your people.

If you are a business owner or operator with traditional office space, now is the time to rethink and reshape your work environment. We are all in survival mode, but it doesn’t mean that you stop looking ahead to the future.

We spend about a third of our waking lives at work. And yet, for the majority of people, work is not much more than a paycheck. We feel lonely, especially men. We feel like there’s a gap between our job responsibilities and our own potential. We often feel exhausted and question whether our work is making any meaningful difference.

In a business world that prioritizes productivity, speed, and profits, Christians may feel like Monday through Friday belongs to the world while Sunday belongs to God. But Scripture beckons Christians toward a more holistic lifestyle. “Whatever you do,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “do it all to the glory of God.”

Brian Grim, the organization’s president, said: “There’s a lot of studies that look at how well a company does and including gender or sexual orientation or race… This is the first one to look at how they include religion.” The purpose of the study is not to measure “doctrine or dogma in the workplace, but it’s to help people be able to express themselves” and their faith in the workplace.

Applying biblical principles to shape best practices in business may sound challenging or scandalously illegal, but it’s surprisingly achievable and worthwhile. And while this view of stewardship may seem to be an ethereal, fluid concept, ministry can be objectively measured with worthy metrics of success much like any other dimension of thriving business.

In this video you will hear from best-selling author, Patrick Lencioni, as he presents a powerful framework and simple advice for hiring and developing ideal team players in any kind of organization.

How do we develop a biblically-based approach to appreciate what has gone before and what has worked, whilst keeping an eye towards the future as we build a new paradigm for leadership that is capable of meeting the challenges we face today?