We continue to count down the Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs with…

When Helping Hurts

by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

With more than 225,000 copies sold, When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation and ministry to those in need. Emphasizing the poverty of both heart and society, this book exposes the need that every person has and how it can be filled. The reader is brought to understand that poverty is much more than simply a lack of financial or material resources and that it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve the problem of poverty.

While this book exposes past and current development efforts that churches have engaged in which unintentionally undermine the people they’re trying to help, its central point is to provide proven strategies that challenge Christians to help the poor empower themselves. Focusing on both North American and Majority World contexts, When Helping Hurts catalyzes the idea that sustainable change for people living in poverty comes not from the outside-in, but from the inside-out.

Click on the book cover to check out the Reviews and Purchase at Amazon

Click here to listen to our podcast episode with Brian!

This article was originally published here by The Wall Street Journal.

— by Ruth Simon

At Nehemiah Manufacturing, workers with a criminal past are the norm. But the company has learned that giving someone a job is just half the battle.  

CINCINNATI—While some companies try to attract and keep employees with yoga classes and lavish cafeterias, Nehemiah Manufacturing Co.’s perks include a social-service team and an attorney.

When two consumer-product veterans started Nehemiah a decade ago, their idea was to create more opportunities in a struggling part of Cincinnati. Increasingly, that meant hiring people who had a particularly hard time finding jobs: those with criminal backgrounds.

…

Click here to read the full article!

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[ Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash ]

This article was originally published here by Business as Mission

— by Mats Tunehag

The effects of the coronavirus are disruptive beyond comprehension. The situation is changing by the hour. The consequences vary from difficult to dire for billions of people, and nobody knows what the timeline is for this crisis.

Media across the world updates us constantly on the negative effects on businesses and on people’s lives, so this short article will have a different focus: what can we do?

But first let’s note that throughout history the Church has a track record of serving others in the midst of major plagues and catastrophes.

“The sociologist Rodney Stark has written (in The Rise of Christianity) that one reason the church overcame hostility and grew so rapidly within the Roman empire traces back to how Christians responded to pandemics of the day, which probably included bubonic plague and smallpox.  When infection spread, Romans fled their cities and towns; Christians stayed behind to nurse and feed not only their relatives but their pagan neighbors.” (Living in Plague Times – Phillip Yancy)

Why has the Church done this for centuries and why should we do it now? One fundamental reason is that we are to love God and our neighbors, and the two are connected. As Bishop Barron says: “Why are the two commandments so tightly linked? Because of who Jesus is. Christ is not simply a human being, and he is not simply God; rather, he is the God-man, the one in whose person divinity and humanity meet. Therefore, it is impossible to love him as God without loving the humanity that he has embraced. The greatest commandment is, therefore, an indirect Christology.” [1]

Many businesses are facing challenges with cashflow, lockdown, sales, having to let staff go, supply chain disruptions, bankruptcies, et cetera. So, what can we do now?

Let me suggest seven areas for action as it relates to BAM businesses and the global BAM community. We also invite you to add your suggestions. 

Please do share your thoughts and suggestions by responding to our Reader Survey

1. Pray

Seek God, listen to Him.

• Pray for BAMers and BAM businesses.

• Pray for divine wisdom and intervention.

• Pray for creative thinking and innovative solutions.

• Use St. Patrick’s BAM prayer, available in five languages.

• Ask friends in business how you can pray for them!

• Start or join online prayer groups for BAMers and businesses

Please check Larry Sharp’s helpful blog for some ideas on BAM-related prayer points.

How else can we pray for BAMers and BAM business?

2. Buy

We can help BAM businesses by engaging their services and buying their products:

• Support local businesses by buying their products and services when possible.

• Shop online.

• Do your Christmas shopping now!

• Buy gifts and give to neighbors, family and people in need.

How else can we help businesses, both local and far away?

3. Give

There is a need for financial, intellectual and social capital.

Loans:

Many businesses face issues with sales, revenue and cashflow, and could benefit from donations and loans. We need contingency funds.

Advice:

Can you help a business with advice, can you be a coach and mentor? You may be an experienced business person who has gone through tough times and learned important lessons.

Connections:

Can you help connect BAM business with people who can help? With sales? Marketing? Access to loans? To support peer groups?

Do you know of contingency funds? Mentors that are willing, qualified and available? Practical suggestions regarding helpful connections?

4. Remember the poor

The coronavirus crisis affects the poor more than most others. Millions of self-employed have lost their jobs and thus income. There are even more people who are day laborers who work in the informal economy, have no safety nets, and in a lockdown situation they may lose income day 1, and may be out of food soon after. And they have limited access to healthcare. [2]

The mantra many of us hear – “work from home, wash your hands frequently, and keep physical distance” – is not possible for millions of people.

Some headlines from India, Africa and Nepal:

India’s poorest ‘fear hunger may kill us before coronavirus’ 

In Africa, social distancing is a privilege few can afford

Daily wage workers are more worried about starving to death than Covid-19

One group in Thailand provides care packages of food to vulnerable women in the sex industry, who lost their daily earnings because of lockdown.

Another example is an African American woman in North Carolina, USA, who “feeds more than 100 families every day during the COVID-19 pandemic”, see report and video.

What other encouraging initiatives do you know of?

5. Learn

Many of us have to stay home, and this may open up opportunities to study. Being mindful that our present crisis is unique,  albeit not the first one, we should also study lessons learnt from previous significant world changing events. We should also – even now – try to draw lessons in and from the present crisis.

Let me give a few concrete suggestions:

• In a time of “corona imposed monasticism”: let the Word of God come alive, learn from those who have gone before us, and enjoy God’s creation. See Bishop Barron’s reflections of these three things in this video.

• Check the BAM Global Reports and study two foundational documents for the BAM Movement: The BAM Manifesto and the Wealth Creation Manifesto.

• In a time with major dramatic changes we should remind ourselves about countries which have been transformed in our lifetime. It will give hope and inspiration during these stressful times. Learn from Israel, Singapore and Rwanda, which have succeeded against many odds. See four recommended books in footnote.[3]

I am just now reading a book which describes, analyses and compares 12 Church encyclicals from 1891 to 2009.[4] They deal with topics like business, wealth creation, profit, workers rights, private property, democracy, socialism, theology of work, human dignity, human rights, free markets, democratic capitalism – all from a Bible based perspective mindful of both historical roots and contexts.[5] One of the best is the John Paul II encyclical from 1991: Centesimus Annus.[6] I also warmly recommend the book!

What books, articles, videos, and podcasts do you recommend? What are you learning?

6. Regroup

This global crisis is bigger and more complex than we have ever experienced before in our generation. We are not just going through it and coming back to normal. Things are and will be changing. Thus, we need to review our business presuppositions, and possibly regroup even now. There are of course also new business opportunities during and after the crisis.

Praxis is “a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship, supporting founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to renew culture and love their neighbors”. Three of Praxis’ leaders have written a thought-provoking essay dealing with these issues: “In this essay we will explain why we think that for most organizations — businesses, nonprofits, and even churches — this is a time to urgently redesign our work.” This is highly recommended reading!

What are you and your business and/or organization doing to regroup?

7. Don’t give up!

Why pursue BAM? God wants it, the world needs it and we are called to it! It is part of a greater godly plan which the Jews call tikkun olam: repairing the world.[7] We are living in the tension of the world that is and the world as it ought to be. Thus, we pray “may your Kingdom come, and may your will be done on earth as in heaven”.

Tikkun olam means co-creating with God, bridging the gap of the world which is to a world as it ought to be. During and after the corona crisis we are to repair and heal people’s lives and improve the world, bringing hope and healing to the world, also through business.

As the markets plunge due to the corona crisis, let us learn from Jeremiah: “The prospects were not good. Actually really bad, even disastrous. The city was under siege, and everything pointed towards a defeat. People would be assaulted, hurt and killed; houses burnt down and the remaining citizens of Jerusalem would be deported to a foreign land. In this doomsday context the prophet Jeremiah was told by God to make an investment – in the doomed city!”

Sounds like bad advice, maybe like investing during the corona crisis. But God showed that the marketplace will be restored again one day, and God was engaged to that end, and He still is. See my earlier blog God Restores the Market Place.

As we pursue BAM and tikkun olam, we mustn’t lose hope or give up as we are facing tough times. Emmanuel – God is with us.

For more information on COVID-19, please see our page highlighting some of the best resources out there for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs in this season.

Footnotes

1. Bishop Barron’s reflection on today’s gospel reading from Mark 12:28 – 34, on March 20, 2020. 

2. These are very vulnerable people who in some cases also are badly treated when they are just trying to survive these dire circumstances, see for example this report.

3. Israel is an example of a small nation with limited natural resources and with hostile neighbors, which has been transformed to a prosperous world-leading innovator. Singapore was poor and became independent in 1965. It looked at Israel as a model. Today it is another world-leading country; amazingly well functioning, green, safe, clean, and prosperous. Rwanda went from a genocide and devastated country in 1994, to become a beacon in many ways in sub-Saharan Africa. It gleaned on Israel and Singapore.

* Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, by Dan Senor &Saul Singer

* From Third World to First: The Singapore Story – 1965-2000, by Lee Kuan Yew

* Rwanda, Inc.: How a Devastated Nation Became an Economic Model for the Developing World, by Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond

* Beating the Odds Together: 50 Years of Singapore-Israel Ties, by Mattia Tomba. 2019

4. Papal Economics: The Catholic Church on democratic Capitalism, by Maciej Zieba. 2013

5. The world has gone through major changes in the last 150 years, sometimes through major wars and political upheavals. The industrialization, unbridled capitalism, the growth of dictatorial communism, the end of the cold war, and the greatest lift out of poverty in the history of mankind – which has happened through business. Significant Christian thinking has gone into analyzing these developments from Biblical and church related perspectives.

6. The context is the upheaval of the cold war, the collapse of communism, and a cataclysmic change for hundreds of millions of people. Read Encyclical here.

7. Learn more about the concept, and how Israel applies it. I also strongly recommend a lecture by Rabbi Sacks: To heal a fractured world.

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[ Picture taken from original post ]

— by Jerome Fogel

I want to share three shifts that every leader can and should make during the COVID-19 crisis. 

As an offsite general counsel to small and lower middle market companies and leadership coach to executives and CEOs, I’ve spoken with a number of executives and entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 Crisis. Here’s three shifts that every leader needs to make:

1. Move from survival to service.

COVID-19 is at the front of minds for all of us, and it should be. But we can tend to get focused inward and on survival rather than outward and on service.

This is the very time to make the shift from survival to service. Shift from thinking about how to survive to serving the needs of your team, your clients, your customers, your business partners, and your family. When you begin to focus on the needs of others, you begin to have a greater vision for what your company could be.  Find extraordinary and smart ways (considering the times) to be of service. 

2. Look out the windshield rather than the rear-view mirror.

The past is important. It is something we need to reflect on. But there is a marked difference between focusing on what was vs. what is when it comes to creating a new future. We either focus on what could have been from what was, or we focus on what could be from what is. Legendary business management thinker Peter Drucker said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” There are opportunities in front of you. Ask God to give you the eyes to see them. 

3. Shift from Enduring to Learning.

Adversity is difficult. It requires endurance. And endurance is important.  But it is in the most challenging times that there is an opportunity for the greatest growth. We can begin to ask questions such as the following:

• What am I learning now that I didn’t know before?

• What is God teaching me?

• What areas do I need to improve?

• What ideas do my team and customers have that I haven’t thought of?

Make the shift from enduring to learning. You will begin to grow, and then your company will grow along with you. 

——

[ Photo by Tabea Damm on Unsplash ]

At the end of every podcast, we like to ask our guests to share what God has been teaching them in this season of life. This week’s guest is Alan Robertson ,the oldest son of Phil and Miss Kay Robertson. He helped start the family business, Duck Commander and left there in the late ‘80’s to serve as a Pastor for 22 years at the White’s Ferry Road Church in West Monroe, LA.

Luke 7:37-38

A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

You know, we’ve been teaching out of the book of John, and there are so many things that are motivating. But one thing that has really spoken to me, and I find myself using it quite a bit, is the story in Luke 7 where Jesus is being anointed by a “sinful” woman. 

Versions will say a sinful woman as if we’re not all sinners, but this woman who had this, you know, bad reputation and she comes in and of course, the scene, you know, it’s almost like people are looking at it like what is this? Because she’s crying at his feet. She’s wiping his feet with her tears in her hair. And yet she’s obviously just in a completely broken position. 

Then there’s Simon, the guy that invited Jesus over. He’s sitting there and he’s looking at this. And the more it goes on internally, the more it really starts to upset him because he’s like, you know, I didn’t invite him here for this. He even just has a thought like he’s made in his head saying, “I mean, if this guy knew who this woman was, he wouldn’t let her do that. He must not be a prophet.” 

I’m paraphrasing. But in the story Jesus looked at Simon and he said, I’m going to give you a little parable here. So he does. And he tells him that two guys owe a debt and one’s bigger, one less. Who would feel better about being relieved of the debt? Simon said, well, the one who had the bigger debt. And Jesus said, you judge correctly. 

And he said, you know, I came here. You didn’t wash my feet. You didn’t pour oil on my head. You didn’t greet me with a kiss. And here’s this woman who doesn’t own this home. And she’s been doing all that the whole time I’ve been here.

And then here’s what’s been speaking to me. Jesus looks it’s Simo,n and he says, “to the person who has been forgiven much they will love much, and to the person who’s been forgiven a little they will love little.” And it was very obvious who’s talking about it. Simon compared to this woman. 

And that really has spoken to me because, you know, you think about how willing we are to be forgiven or to offer forgiveness to other people. And according to what Jesus says in that text that directly tells us how much we’re willing to love people and put ourselves out there for people. 

So I think about that just in the whole Christian circle. And we have to be people who will embrace that forgiveness and be willing to offer it to other people if we’re ever going to love anybody. Otherwise, we just kind of close off our walls, close off our business, close off ourselves to where we don’t have anything to offer anybody else. 

I really think a lot of that has to link to the idea that it just doesn’t matter what my status is, my bank account is, or anything else. How much do I embrace the forgiveness of God and how willing am I to offer that to other people? That’s what I have to ask myself.

That’s going to determine whether I would love folks or not love folks. And so that has just kind of driven me everyday when I get up and just kind of go through my life and mostly my walk. God, how much do I embrace your forgiveness today? Because anytime I have fear or I’m worried about something, I’m not trusting God. I’m saying, you know, God, you may not be able to handle this one. But then I say, well, how am I gonna love anybody if I’m living my life in fear? 

And I think in the current climate we’re in that it’s even a better message for how we should respond.

Today’s guest comes from a group that you almost certainly have heard of. Their values are faith, family…and ducks. Not sure if you guessed that third one, but if you did, then you’re probably a fan of Duck Dynasty, the television show about the Robertson family and their business.

What started as a one-man job making duck calls out of Louisiana Cedar trees has now exploded into a multi-million dollar business and cultural sensation. And today, we’re talking to Al Robertson to hear the story of how it all started.

Hear Al talk about Duck Commander, his life in ministry, and the power of forgiveness. As always, thanks for listening.

Useful Links:

In the Woods with Phil

Alan & Lisa Robertson on Duck Dynasty

Our Story: Alan and Lisa Robertson

A New Season