Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of whitepapers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s 2018 Global Event.

— by Kenneth Ewell

The foundation of Christian entrepreneurship is, paradoxically, weakness. This is not weakness of product, service, or business, but of the entrepreneur himself as a Christian. This is true because Christ said His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). If the goal of the Christian entrepreneur is to advance the Kingdom of God by the power of God, in some sense, weakness must be the way. In a culture that continually tries to conform us to its patterns, idolizing strength and worldly power, Christian entrepreneurs must go into the world aware of, or even embracing, their own weakness. In this way, they advance the Kingdom of God, relying on His power rather than their own.

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul began one of his famous boasts, this time not directly in the cross, but in his own weakness. It is important for the Christian entrepreneur to note that Paul was not referring to any weakness in his work ethic, or the impact his work would have on the people he served. Rather, he was referring to his own personal weakness. It is also of note that Paul was not merely aware of his own weakness; rather, he boasted in it. This boasting enabled Christ’s power to rest on him (v. 9). In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul urged the church to imitate him (1 Corinthians 11:1). If the Christian entrepreneur wishes to have Christ’s power rest on him, he too, should imitate Paul—in all ways, but especially in his boasting in weakness.

What does it mean for the Christian entrepreneur to boast in his weakness? While these apply generally to all Christians in business, I have the entrepreneur in mind. First, it means to be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings and character flaws. Pride and vanity, often nurtured by a social media culture that requires us to present the best version of ourselves at all times, can lead to the deception of others and self about who we really are. This does not mean we should go around advertising our failures or speaking poorly of ourselves. Rather, we should first be honest with God and ourselves about our weaknesses, and therefore act in humility towards others (colleagues, customers, suppliers, investors, and competitors). For example, if a young Christian CEO struggles with fear of man, he should take stock of how this distorts his relationship with God and affects the people who work with and for him. Then he should repent and reflect on his tendency to make decisions based on the opinions of others rather than a holy fear of God.

Second, this honesty should extend to a circle of trusted advisors. Ideally, these would be Christians who are members of the entrepreneurial community. This circle of advisors can respectfully inquire about our day-to-day awareness of these weaknesses, help us to see “blind spots,” and encourage us to continue taking stock of our character, bringing our weaknesses to God, and praising God when His power clearly does work in and through us at work.

Finally, boasting in weakness means recognizing that God’s power works in and through Christian entrepreneurs not despite their weaknesses, but often because of them. The occasion for Paul’s boasting was a “thorn” in his flesh, which God gave him to keep him from becoming conceited (2 Corinthians 12:7). When Paul pleaded with God to remove the thorn, the Lord replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9). As a result, Paul decided to “boast in his weakness” so that Christ’s power might rest on him. For Paul, God’s power was able to work through him precisely because of his weakness. This is also true for the Christian entrepreneur, whose goal is to advance the Kingdom of God through his ventures. When the entrepreneur responds appropriately to his own weaknesses, paradoxically this enables God to accomplish the goal through him.

In closing, let me offer four thoughts I hope will help Christian entrepreneurs to boast in their weakness.

1. Begin each day by reminding yourself of the big story of your salvation by God’s sheer grace, which highlights both your weakness and Christ’s power.

2. Reflect on your own weaknesses and shortcomings, not morbidly, but so you may see this truth more clearly: every day you must rely on God rather than yourself.

3. In moments of success, boast in your weaknesses, knowing that success despite those weaknesses is due to God’s grace and power.

4. In moments of failure, continue to boast in your weaknesses, remembering that God has chosen to use entrepreneurship, above all, to conform you to the image of Jesus, not for your material gain or glory.

I am still exploring these ideas. I welcome any discussion, feedback, and suggestions on how to develop them further.

…

Special thanks for the cover photo to Ian Chen on Unsplash

This week we get into Part Two of the Lightning Round episode, fielding your questions.  Henry, Rusty, and William tackle two really important questions for the faith driven entrepreneur: how we handle our resource of money and time. Neither may come up on our radar readily given the entrepreneur’s everyday grind and hustle.  Henry shared that it’s important that we identify firstly why we give, and also pray over where and how. Rusty recognized that some entrepreneurs have other ways of giving and gets us thinking about planning for giving.

The team moves on to tackle the issue of traveling for work and how to balance personal time with traveling, as well as the potential for excessive or unnecessary travel to become an idol for too many entrepreneurs.  Some may even see it as a badge of honor. What is model behavior for leaders to communicate a healthy view of travel to their subordinates?  Rusty says we should be judicious about our time and William reminds us all that with so much technology we can think about using other tools to achieve the same business goals. 

Tell us in the comments section below about your most rewarding generosity experience.  Drop a line also on how you’ve maintained healthy boundaries on work travel. And one final note: spicy chicken sandwich. That’s all we’re going to say about that…

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

This week we get into part two of the Lightning Round episode, fielding your questions.  Henry, Rusty, and William tackle two really important questions for the faith driven entrepreneur: how we handle our resource of money and time. Neither may come up on our radar readily given the entrepreneur’s everyday grind and hustle.  Henry shared that it’s important that we identify firstly why we give, and also pray over where and how. Rusty recognized that some entrepreneurs have other ways of giving and gets us thinking about planning for giving.

The team moves on to tackle the issue of traveling for work and how to balance personal time with traveling, as well as the potential for excessive or unnecessary travel to become an idol for too many entrepreneurs.  Some may even see it as a badge of honor. What is model behavior for leaders to communicate a healthy view of travel to their subordinates?  Rusty says we should be judicious about our time and William reminds us all that with so much technology we can think about using other tools to achieve the same business goals. 

Tell us in the comment section below about your most rewarding generosity experience.  Drop a line also on how you’ve maintained healthy boundaries on work travel. And one final note: spicy chicken sandwich. That’s all we’re going to say about that…

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

Happy Monday, all!

The Lion’s Den, with their conferences in Dallas and Birmingham, have been partners in the Faith Driven Entrepreneur movement for more than 5 years.  Think “Shark Tank” meets the Kingdom of God and you have a sense as to what happens at these events.  This is installment #1 of 4 highlighting their work.  In this video, the TLD team asked some experts about helping entrepreneurs make a plan to take the leap and invest their talent in startups. 

Take a look at this short video below about being transformed and allowing God to work through you as a entrepreneur.

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If TLD is something that you think you’d be interested in presenting at, or going to, please go to: https://www.thelionsdendfw.com/pitch-application  — Applications are open until 12/31/18.

Rusty Rueff is one of the co-hosts of Faith Driven Entrepreneur’s weekly podcast. This post was originally published on Rusty’s blog, Purposed WorKING.

Coco Chanel was an entrepreneur and the way that she personally owned her marketing is an inspiration. — Henry Kaestner

by Rusty Rueff

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19

Fast Company Magazine recently ran an article about 10 CEO moves that changed business. We can learn from each of them.

Coco Chanel in 1910 couldn’t figure out how to get people to recognize the fashion she was designing, so she did something others hadn’t done.  She started personally wearing her designs in the streets of Paris. First was a hat that others begin to see and ask, “Where did you get that hat?”.  Then later she did the same with perfume. Ever wonder why in the mall or on the street someone wants to spray you with their perfume? We can thank Coco Chanel for being the first to take it to the streets. If it worked for Coco, it can work for us.  What do we have that we need to be taking to the streets instead of waiting for the street to come to us?

Jesus was very clear.  Our faith belongs in the street, not hidden in a church. Our streets can be our workplaces and when we live out our faith and are ready to share what God has done for us, then we are following what Jesus commissions us to do.  God has given us each our own “streets” to take to for Him.

Reference: Matthew 28:19 (New Living Translation)

The post day 2532: Bold Moves – Part 2: Taking It To The Streets appeared first on purposed worKING.

Special thanks to Jeff Frenette on Unsplash for the cover image.

Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. This article was from a collection of whitepapers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s 2018 Global Event.

— by Philip Clemens

The average family business lasts 25 years. Only 30% of family businesses go from the first generation to the second; only 12% go from the second generation to the third; and less than 4% go from the third generation to the fourth. What has allowed our family business to go into the sixth generation—to survive for 123 years and have in excess of 325 family shareholders?

Are we just lucky? No, I don’t think so. Did we do everything right? No, I know we didn’t. So, how did we do it?

First, I need to admit we made many mistakes and came very close to becoming a statistic like most family businesses. Second, we weathered many storms through our strong faith in God and our view that the business was not ours, but God’s. Finally, by becoming very intentional, we clearly understood the pitfalls and had many very honest and hard conversations.

Every family business is made up of three unique entities: family, owners, and business. Most all family businesses begin with these entities looking like one when in reality they are three. Enmeshing them into one ends up confusing everyone because you wear a different hat in each entity. In the family, most times it is a parent hat; in ownership, you wear an owner’s hat; and finally in business you may wear the leader, president, CEO, or another hat. Each hat has different responsibilities and rights.

Many family businesses that fail are victims of one of the pitfalls. Communication is a major pitfall. Communication is complicated because of the lack of understanding about which hat you wear and which hat the recipient is wearing. Another major pitfall is an entitlement mentality assumed by many family members about what their role can and should be in the business. Lack of accountability is also another major factor in business failure. This list could go on and on.

I find there is one common thread in every family business that has failed. In fact, it is a seven-word phrase written on the tombstone of every failed family business: “We never did it that way before.” This is a failure to change.

After 100 years in business, we have discovered a major secret that allows us not only to survive, but also to thrive:

We changed our focus from being a family business to being a business family.

These two models are mirror images of each other. One will work; one doesn’t. Making a change from being a family-first business to a business-first family is very difficult. As a result, many families choose to end their business either by selling the business or by watching it die a slow death.

To better help you understand the differences between a family-first business and a business-first family, let me explain the distinctions.

In a family-first business, family members feel they are entitled to a job and sometimes even to a title in the business. Some families actually mandate that their children join the family business or become ostracized from the family. Family who are employed by the business rarely have the same rules of employment (salary and benefits) that other non-family employees are required to follow.

Leadership in a family-first business can take some extreme forms. For some, only a blood-line family member can be the leader; others only allow the oldest male child to lead the business; and there are many other variations to this. Some family-first business, however, allow non-family to lead the business. In either case, the consistent factor is that family always chooses the leader.

Finally, and most important in a family-first business, the main goal is family harmony. We all must get along. Profits are always at least secondary. This model is a non-sustainable model but is the one followed by about 80% of family businesses.

A business-first family desires to have family members employed by the business. However, in order to be hired, you must be qualified. You don’t get hired just because you have the right last name, you’re an owner, or you’re a friend or relative of the owner. All employees hired by the business need to be qualified.

When it comes to leadership of the business, it is always the most qualified. If that is family, that’s great; if it’s non-family, that is OK also because we know we are being led by the most qualified individual.

In a business-first business, all employees also have the same work rules. There aren’t different rules for salary, promotion, benefits, etc. for employees. Family members who are qualified to be in the business only get to wear one hat: employee. It levels the playing field for all employees.

In a business-first family business, the business is there to give a fair return to the owners. Often in a family-first business the family feels they are there to help the business, regardless of whether they are employed by the business. It’s a bit like the IRS knocking on your door and saying, “I’m from the IRS and I’m here to help you.” All of us can do without this type of help. In a family-first business, the family members barge in the door and say, “I’m from the family and I’m here to help you run the business.” In this scenario, family are as welcomed as the IRS.

Finally, in a business-first family, the main goal is profitability. Profits are both expected and respected. As a result of being profitable, you can then work on family harmony.

These two models are mirror images of each other. Business-first family businesses are often seen as family business when in reality, they are just the opposite.

In my family’s business, our success has come because of several important factors.

1. First, we are a mission-focused business. Our mission is: “We aspire to operate in a way to honor the Lord Jesus Christ as demonstrated through ethics, integrity and stewardship.” We define ethics as “I’ll do the right thing”; integrity as “I’ll do what I say”; and stewardship as “I’ll build a foundation for the future.”

2. Second, we are firm believers in accountability for everyone. Our management team is held accountable by a Board of Directors that has a majority of independent directors who are very qualified individuals. Board members must be leaders in another organization, have no conflict of interest with our company, and embrace our mission and culture. No employee is permitted to serve on the Board except the current CEO. Accountability is critical.

3. Finally, we have adopted a servant-led mindset. Leadership is focused on serving, not being self-serving. Leadership is there to serve our team members, customers, community, and shareholders. Servant leadership puts others first but does not abdicate the responsibility of leadership.

It is possible to be successful for multiple generations. It takes hard work, the willingness to risk relationships, and a strong desire to do the right thing.