— by Peter Greer

I unwrapped one of the most memorable gifts of my childhood on my twelfth birthday. At the time I knew nothing of the company that manufactured the Buck knife I held in my hands, but I knew from its weight and sheen that this was a high-quality, excellent product. Throughout my youth, that knife was my constant companion on many outdoor adventures, as I unknowingly continued in a very long and rich history of Buck knife aficionados.

The company that now employs over 300 individuals who manufacture upwards of five million knives annually began with the work of a bi-vocational pastor who pursued both ministry and knife-making “as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Pastor Hoyt Buck transitioned from knife-making hobbyist to professional during World War II, when the government called for donations for American soldiers. Hoyt knew he could make high-quality knives: He had been doing it since he was just 13 years old. He bought an anvil, grinder, and forge, and in his church basement, he crafted over 2,000 knives to donate.

With friends’ encouragement and prodding, Hoyt and his son, Al, purchased more equipment and began commercially producing knives. H.H. Buck & Son made about five knives a day through the 1940s. Today, Al’s son Chuck is the chairman of Buck Knives. Chuck is warm, generous, and eager to tell the story of how the company came to be. “In the early days, my dad did the handle work, and my grandpa did the blade work,” he reminisces. “Even when my grandpa was in the hospital, he still did the blade work from the hospital. Eventually, my grandpa figured my dad needed to learn how to make blades. My dad would go into the hospital every night until my grandpa was satisfied that he could make the blades just right.”

Hoyt Buck’s adherence to quality is still melded into the company he founded. Over 100 years after Hoyt made his first knife, the Buck family is still zealously committed to quality and to Christian principles.
Growing from a company that produced a handful of knives daily to over 10,000 daily—without losing the commitment to quality—is a testament to Hoyt, Al, and Chuck’s shared perspective on what it takes to run a company the right way. Because the Buck family holds such confidence in the quality of the craftsmanship, they personally guarantee every Buck knife for life. Accompanying the lifetime guarantee in the box is a simple message to the new knife-buyer from the Buck family: 

If this is your first Buck knife, “Welcome aboard.” You are now part of a very large family. We think of each one of our users as a member of the Buck Knives family. Now that you are family, you might want to know a little more about us. The fantastic growth of Buck Knives, Inc. was no accident. From the beginning, we were determined to make God the Senior Partner. In a crisis, the problem was turned over to Him, and He hasn’t failed to help us with the answer. Each knife must reflect the integrity of management. If sometimes we fail on our end, because we are human, we find it imperative to do our utmost to make it right. If any of you are troubled or perplexed and looking for answers, may we invite you to look to Him, for God loves you. Chuck Buck, Chairman/Owner of Buck Knives

“For God loved the world so much that He gave His only son; so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”—John 3:16

Customers buying Buck Knives hail from all corners of the world. From all faith backgrounds, tens of millions of people—from Shanghai to Moscow to San Antonio—own Buck Knives and have read this simple Gospel message. The Bucks believe that the quality of their craftsmanship is crucial. 

A substandard knife would undermine the message they include in the box. Propelled by their faith, Buck Knives is setting the standard for professional excellence. They understand the inherent link between the services they provide and the way people hear their message. They are focused on letting their “light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Light doesn’t shine when it comes packaged in an inferior product.

The words “poor quality” and “Christian” should never be used to describe the same organization. Substandard work runs contrary to God’s calling, even while excellent work—as Buck Knives can attest—can open doors to share the Gospel.

Martin Luther once wrote, “The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” Just as Hoyt Buck was unwilling to etch the Buck name into a knife until it had reached his exacting standards of excellence, God doesn’t ask us to etch His name on our shoddy craftsmanship. Our faith demands we lead “best in class” organizations, regardless of what type of work we do.

——
Adapted from Mission Drift by Peter Greer and Chris Horst, with Anna Haggard. More info at peterkgreer.com/mission-drift.

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— by Justin Forman

We have three kids, 12, 9 and 7. And while Hollywood production shuttered this past year, one of our family’s favorite TV shows became Shark Tank reruns.

Conversations between soccer games and school drop-offs quickly turned into the playground of “what do I want to be when I grow up” entrepreneurial inspirations from the screen.

Growing up in a Christian home, I never had a good answer for that age old question. But whether at college parties or church small groups, I noticed that the outsized influence of how much you were respected was inherently tied to its answer.

Through a whirlwind, cross-cultural trip during my college years, God opened my eyes to see that my work could be an act of worship. An answer to that question finally started to form. Validated and encouraged, I ran across the stage and grabbed my diploma—alive with this newfound permission slip to integrate my faith and my work.

Years later, I found myself hosting a conference for thousands of pastors and business leaders. Standing backstage, I watched as one of our speakers went rogue.

The outline of his talk was intended to be a rally point of helping see our work as worship. But instead, it became a cautionary tale…

“See your work as worship. But don’t worship work.”

While that message may have landed with everyone sitting in the seats, it missed the person standing backstage.

For the next decade, we launched a new entrepreneurial venture, and it took off, serving millions around the world. I spent much of that time traveling, talking, and being the ambassador for the team. I was often asked to tell “our story.” Oftentimes, my response would include something about 30–40% year-over-year revenue growth and the millions of people “our team” was impacting.

It was a cool story to tell.

And while God always was in the film credits as the leading actor, over time I thought too highly of my supporting role.

As wonderful as my wife and family were, I was getting 10x the praise for my work. I wasn’t grounded, and with every reciting of the story, I began to tie my identity, worth, and self-respect into what I did.

The story of our success quickly became an idol.

Like most idols, they become an addiction. The fruits of mine were pride, false humility, misplaced identity, and burnout.

By the grace of God and the faithfulness of my family, He’s helped me see the rightful place He needed in my life. Through a painful but refreshing sabbatical season, God helped start a new adventure. He’s used that previous experience to give me better insight on what it means to encourage Faith Driven Entrepreneurs to balance this tension of embracing a “call to create” while being rooted in our identity in Christ.

As entrepreneurs, it’s too easy for what we do to become intertwined with who we are. So often, the business becomes the person and vice versa.

We all want to appear like we have it all together. As entrepreneurs, we want investors, employees, and customers to know that everything is under control. We can take care of everything. We can handle whatever comes our way.

The problem with this attitude is that it often ends with us putting up a front. And trying to manipulate the way others perceive us is a slippery slope because eventually all we have are these false frames that others see with no concept of our actual selves that lie within them. We can quickly become walking shells of humans with personalities we’ve merely created for ourselves.

Here’s the truth: We can’t do it alone, and even if we could, it’s not about us anyway. God wants our honest hearts, not the facades we put up for others, or the version of ourselves we’re most proud of. But to give Him that requires humility.

That’s the call. We can be entrepreneurs that realize that our own brokenness is an outstanding opportunity to share the reason for the hope that we have—it’s a chance to lead with a limp. We understand that sharing “why” we do what we do is effective leadership when done with gentleness and respect.

When I read Matthew 25, I always looked at the Parable of the Talents through a single lens. I slid into this hijacked definition of stewardship. I thought that generosity was only defined quantitatively. It was a % in your mind or an extra zero on a check.

I think we’re selling it short.

Everyone has something to share—especially entrepreneurs and investors.

We’ve blazed trails that climb the highest heights and plunge to the lowest depths. Often alone and fighting to survive, we make it through, with little time to comprehend what we’ve learned before the next plot twist.

But pour a cup of coffee (or something a little stronger), and the life lessons come in waves with endless refills. God gives us these adventures, and He leaves us with scars. And often, it’s the authentic stories of struggle—the “why” behind the limp—that leaves us hanging on the edge.

Nothing is more repulsive than the fake polish of a story that hides the truth. Nothing is more attractive than the soothing grace of the gospel piecing together our brokenness.

Call me crazy, but I wonder if this idea of leading in our brokenness is less optional than we think. What if Matthew 25 isn’t limited to our finances, but in fact, it’s our stories of grace that we’re called to steward?

Then it’s clear that burying them isn’t an option.

We’re called to pay it forward. We’re called to actively invest our stories into others as often as we do our finances.

In turn, I’m called to share where I made success an idol—where I turned the idea of work as worship into an excuse to worship work. I get to point at my scars and say, “This is where my limp comes from.”

So, as I look back on that season, what are the cautionary signs I ran past and things I want to do moving forward?

• Pronouns Matter – The small words in front of the bigger words are under indexed for their ability to convey our heart posture. When I think back to that season, I cringe at the times of saying “my team” or “our story.” They have the opportunity for us to show what is rightfully His and not ours. I don’t want to become some Jesus Juking Ninja. But I want to discover what it means to daily reinforce this idea that I’m simply a “cook in His kitchen”—that everything we do is His, and whenever someone asks to hear “our story” that it remains rightfully His.

• Don’t Excuse Idols – I heard a friend recently talk about his addiction to trading on Robinhood. The 24/7 access of crypto markets made investing an idol, stealing moments of affection for God. At the end of the day, scripture is clear. Just because it’s a business you started … or just because it’s going to pay for your kids’ college … it doesn’t change the equation. If it’s causing you to make less of Him, you can choose to cut it off, or let him do the pruning.

• Fire Escape – Any parent audibly or mentally goes through that exercise. If the house was on fire, you have a moment to get out, taking only what matters. Oftentimes, our time on this earth or time in this venture vanishes quicker than we think. Nobody drives to work thinking that his/her life could change at the next intersection. Nobody plans for life to come to a screeching halt. But oftentimes, it does. He calls us to something new. How can I live life knowing that the mission of any venture is so much bigger than me—that I’m simply called to serve for a season?

• Servant of One Master – Money has an inordinate influence on the life of an entrepreneur. We keep score with it, report on it, and borrow it to make ideas come to life. Scripture is clear: We have to choose whom we will serve. Just because you’re generous … doesn’t mean you don’t love money. Just because you see yourself as a steward of your business … doesn’t mean you don’t love money. Being generous can become an identity. For entrepreneurs, our greatest strength is our greatest weakness. Do we really have a handle on our identity?

• Pray Out Loud Before Battle – When the Old Testament kings went to battle without God’s blessing, it was disastrous. When I think of lost battles, I strangely think I saw more of them coming than I realize. When I know I’m not coming with the right intentions, I resist that vulnerability to pray out loud before battle. I keep those thoughts in the quiet, free from the accountability of my blind spots. But I don’t have to do that—I can pray out loud and invite God and friends in to examine my blind spots.

We’re all wounded. We all have a limp.

Mine is a story of being willful—of forcing my wants to take priority over God’s—and making good things an idol.

My hope is to lead with that limp, to let the Gospel shine brighter in my weakness.

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 White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s Global Event.

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These are truly unprecedented times as war rages in Eastern Europe. We had the unique privilege to be joined by a member of the Faith Driven Entrepreneur community in Ukraine. Andrew Denysov, founder and CEO of TechVision Global, joins us on the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Podcast to share with us his story, how entrepreneurs play a key role in times of turmoil, and how we as the body of Christ can stand strong in the face of evil and uncertainty.

Episode Transcript

Rusty Rueff: Welcome back, everyone to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. These are truly unprecedented times. The world fought together against a global pandemic just a few short months ago. Yet it would seem as though that bond of unity has evaporated as a war now rages on in Eastern Europe. Today, we have the unique privilege to be joined by a member of the Faith Driven Entrepreneur community in Ukraine. Andrew Denisov is the founder and CEO of Tech Vision Global, a US based software consulting and development company with development teams in Ukraine. He also runs an automotive import business importing cars from the United States into Ukraine. He serves as the managing leader and preacher of the local church in Lviv, and he is an active member and one of our global Faith Driven Entrepreneur groups and a Faith Driven Entrepreneur live watch party host. Andrew joins us today to share with us his story, how entrepreneurs play a key role in times of turmoil, and how we as the body of Christ can stand strong even in the face of evil and uncertainty. Let’s listen in.

Henry Kaestner: Welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. We’ve never done this before. I say all the time that we’ve got a special edition and Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast, and I believe that every time I’ve said that, that is true. And yet this is even truer than it’s been in the past because this is the first time we’ve ever had an interview with somebody in the midst of a war who’s on the ground in Ukraine. A great friend of the movement, guy named Andrew Dennis off, who hosted an FDE watch party back last fall, who’s visited with Kimberly and I here at our house in California and who we consider to be a friend and just a great partner in the movement and somebody we’ve been thinking about and praying about and who’s with us live on fond. Before we bring Andrew in, I’m joined by my co-host William Norvell. William, good morning.

Rusty Rueff: Hey, good morning. Good morning. Yeah, it’s so great to have Andrew. And yeah, it’s kind of a special edition of trying to figure out what entrepreneurs can learn and here and how we could potentially help what God’s doing in your life and the Ukrainian people.

Henry Kaestner: So, Andrew, we’re going to get a bunch of things going to talk about your background, what you’re doing, what life is like when you’re not in the middle of war. But the question is, bring it on. All of our hearts right now is what’s it like there? I mean, we’ve never had an entrepreneur on the program that’s in the middle of a war zone and just give us an idea about what’s going on. And I know the last night we’re going to do this recording, but it was interrupted by an air raid, so we didn’t. What’s it like? What’s going on?

Andrew Denysov: Good morning, gentlemen, and I’m so honored and humbled to be invited to this podcast because I am a listener of this awesome resource that I use every time and looking for every to the U.S. So, so and on January 22nd, I turn to certify and I was never, never imagined how it could be in the world. Because every time I read a lot about the world in the books and stories and played video games by the worst but never felt under my skin was that. So today is the ninth day of the war. Sometimes we forget about the name of the day. So today’s Friday and probably the second Friday in my life, I forgot to say the magic phrase Happy Friday, you know, because it’s difficult to say that this is happy for us. And yeah, talking about it from epicenter of the war, you know, it’s kind of very mixed feelings and emotions and something that actually I have never felt in my life before. And every day, it’s something that you need to plan like. OK, so what’s new can be today? And like you just said Henry, that we’re actually supposed to record this episode yesterday, but we couldn’t because we plan our days like our days consist of two parts from morning to evening and from evening till morning. So day and night, and we have to listen to the news to understand what’s going on right now and what do we have planned tomorrow? So I’m actually in Ukraine right now, and I live in the awesome city called Slava al-Dabbagh, which is the western part of Ukraine, which is actually located like 38 40 miles from the border of Poland, which is NATO’s area, right? And basically, we’re far from the front line, but at the same time, we are in the country. That was where it is right now. Yeah, so it’s sad. And how’s that here? We’re in the war. We have lots of restrictions. For example, all Ukrainian males from within the age of 18 to 60 are not eligible to leave the country. Only women and children, for example. You know, my wife, Orla, she’s a very brave girl, and she said, I want to live the I want. I have seen it firsthand. Just, yeah,

Henry Kaestner: larger stories and more. I guess with what we have, maybe we went there, right? She was I have a loving hundred and forty pound Newfoundland dog who thought that only was a pretty thing he’d ever seen and decided that he was going to tackle her. And I will never forget where you learn a lot about somebody, his heart and character and their response within that, you know, two or three seconds of being knocked to the pavement. A man, she was so gracious that we were so poor and she’s meant she’s awesome.

Andrew Denysov: Yeah, that was a funny story. And we reckon the star is whether there are lots of smiles on their faces, you know? And yeah, so yeah, she’s very brave girl. And we were lucky to have two kids, six and nine, and she says that, Hey, I won’t go anywhere without you. She can do that any time. But OK, so we had as interpreters, we had negotiation before and almost every day, and we made a decision that if we feel, think and hear that the worst case scenario is coming, she will go, No, she will leave the country, right? What I mean, the worst case scenario? This is answering your question, Henry. So in we we are like more or less in peace right now. So no mystery and yet in the city. But it was in the region. No shelling occurred here in this city, but we said yet we said so far, but we hope it will never come right. So we’re doing right now. We’re focused on a few directions of every day. So first of all, we wake up every day and we pray that the prayer life like never before. We pray and think about Pray God for the peace in our hearts and minds because, like I said, lots of mixed feelings and thoughts right now. The second is where, you know, we’re texting to our dear ones. That’s always good. Call. Nice checking the emails and you’re so understanding what’s going on right now because, for example, how I found out about the war. It’s interesting story goes that on February twenty fourth, I try to wake up at like 6:30 a.m. and try to not use the cell phone when I sleep during the night, not check the cell phone. But last few weeks, I had to do that because of this like. Tension that we had in the air in the news, you know? Yeah, and I received lots of messages from my friends, from states because you guys really one to three steps in front of us going into the news you hear about what’s going on about the Russia conflict. And so there was just until that morning, your night that was just list of notifications, messages. But when I picked up the phone at five a.m., just woke up to drink of water, I realized that something happened. You know, she goes, I decided to check her Facebook and no sleep after that moment. So I saw the messages, lots of videos and messages that the war had started. So now we focused on that, you know, check the news about what happened for the past night because most of Shalane actually is going on right now during the night, for example, like you may read this morning that the biggest nuclear factory in Europe was under attack this night. And so now we have lots of news. Are they controlled by like troops, Russian troops or they’re controlled by Ukraine? And so no real news so far. We have lots of refugees. We have a huge stream of refugees from front line, just thousands of thousands every year. And we, as Christians, we have hearts to help them as a when we say I was going to say in. No, we donate lots of money to, you know, bring some, you know, like food, hygiene products, everything social, humanitarian help aid for them. So on, so on. Because I’m just,

Rusty Rueff: yeah, I want to pause there. Can you maybe walk us through a little bit of that? So, you know, for for people that obviously have not lived through something like what is happening in the eastern side, how our people move? Like when you say refugees like Coop, who’s coming, who’s allowed to leave, how are people maybe just explain the whole situation for the east, the West, your friends over there, maybe who you’ve talked to, what they’re going through, maybe take us into that a little bit more for those of us that can’t quite empathize with what that is.

Andrew Denysov: Of course. Well, thank you for this, because, you know, sorry, guys. Lots of information. We’re here for the last days, so people that are coming from Kiev, from Kharkiv, from those said Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and this is the main target, right? So the population of Kiev, for example, while like millions, five, four million people, so all they could do, they were just running from missiles, from troops. Those who could do that just pick up the backpack with some, I don’t know, like cell phone, they refuse some clothing and just jump to the car if they could or train the tech. So there are like normal good people that were planning their next days, you know, but now they left everything, just everything. We’re lucky that banking system still works in Ukraine. I mean, in those cities where everything okay, right now, electricity more or less, OK, that, but it changes every time, every day. So this is the type of people. So there are different. There are lots of them and they’re just, you know, try to survive. That’s it.

Henry Kaestner: So they get in the car and they head west and they show up and the Vive. Am I pronouncing that right anywhere close? That’s correct. The Vive, and they’re showing up. And are they showing up at churches? I guess they’re looking to friends first. Yeah. Tell us more.

Andrew Denysov: Yeah. So they try to find anyone, any contacts in the western part of Ukraine, west of Ukraine. Vive OK, let’s call it on the West. They know if they don’t know, they tried to call anyone and they are OK to find shelter anywhere. And I want to tell you, German, that, you know, we have a whole lot of sadness here, fear. But there’s one really positive thing that I noticed. Ukrainian nation Ukrainian people now are united like never before. Like never before. We’re focused on one thing the victory and bright future. To get this goal, we realized that we have to win. Because technically, we’re in the war would be in the last eight years. Now it’s a real war. So killing people, killing children, you know, sending missiles to hospitals. So that’s why we are united. And now anyone had to have connections to get it, to get people. Churches, schools, gyms, offices of the all companies we recombine to. We transformed to shelters, to hotels to gather people, give them food, give them places to sleep, rest, shower and help them with anything we can. The Partizan people of those strategies, they decided to leave the country to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova like neighbor countries. But of course, again, only women and children eligible to do that. So we tried to motivate all males to stand up and fight for us with us. So that’s why some of the activities that we do right now, we support army anything they need. We ask our foreign friends to send us. I don’t even know that words in English, military words in English. You know, to besides the word weapon or something like that, you know, just to help. Yeah. So supplies the glass, right? Yeah. Any supplies, even clothing, military clothing, etc. So and we’re good with this. I mean, really, I feel like the world helps us, you know, especially the United States helps us with this humanitarian aid. We’re a good more or less here. But those front lines, they are in the terrible situation right now. Even if they have some money, they cannot purchase anything, anywhere. They’re, you know, stores destroyed, everything destroyed. So we organized columns and cars, big trucks of humanitarian aid with food just to get in there and give them just, you know, food. You mean so terrible pictures and videos. And they are real. They are real. Lots of my friends just came there and terrible stories. I mean, they were dream all their life boat house. And finally, they build. They purchased the house. They lived there for a year. And that’s.

Henry Kaestner: So these are friends, so tell us more about these are people that, you know, in Kiev, other entrepreneurs or business owners and also just I think that some number of us have gotten an understanding about where Ukraine is geographically. We know it’s nice to Belarus and it’s nice to to Russia. But give us a sense of kind of the size and scope. And then there’s some amount. And in the Ukraine around Kiev that are maybe Russian speaking and then some of them out there, Ukraine has been. Help us understand kind of the the general makeup of the country ethnically language wise, what the experiences of Ukrainian nationalism in Kiev, in the east versus the West help us understand some of that.

Andrew Denysov: This is a very good and deep question. I’ll try to be very short on this, but clear so historically, actually, Ukraine consists of Ukrainian and Russian speaking population, right? And western Ukraine, where I live, we strictly mostly speak in Ukrainian, but the center and especially the eastern part of Ukraine, they speak in Russian. So we don’t like the mix of people. You know, they they like in past they were Russians, but now move to Ukraine and vice versa. So every time we had like words and phrases like we’re brothers, country brothers, people right until February 24th, 2022, because brothers don’t kill each other. So talking about, for example, language landscape, we’re a very loyal and most of them are very loyal to the Russian. But it’s not about like language, it’s about like vision for the country. Right? So we want to build our country. Our vision, political and entrepreneurial vision is going to be very integrated with with Europe, with the states, you know, with Naito, with the European Union. But unfortunately, pro-Russians, they don’t want it. They know that the USSR still alive, but under the name of Russian Federation. So there’s just only one way for prosperity and for success, for bright future. So that’s why we every time have this like not head to head, but sometimes it hats, right? But this like tension, I would say right now it’s making it real right now. So are you with that? OK? Are you with a normal world or are you with aggressors? That’s it. Because, you know, taken from the interpreter perspective, I actually have a dream, you know, because like, we had a conversation, Henry, when it came to you, we were in an awesome barbecue and talking that, you know, young Ukrainian generation like mine. Or so we’d like to build the country with integrated with the world like, you know, creating technologies, you know, creating workplaces, help people and grow entrepreneurship. This is what actually we feel the real freedom, passion, energy. But unfortunately, you know, the Russian side like, OK, we want to control you. And this is not good. So Kiev is a capitalist Ukraine. It’s like, you know, half of the population is still speaking. The Russian half of the population speaks Ukrainian, but they mostly, you know, very pro-Ukrainian. But all the revolutions exactly happened there. Why? Because they know they are on the edge of two parts of Ukraine. So probably that’s why, because of I’m afraid to tell you this phrase, but they’ll tell in a few seconds. But I’ll tell you now that’s why we have this situation in the east of Ukraine, because a big part of it tribulation that wanted to stay with Russia.

Henry Kaestner: So there had been some level of internal rivalry between some folks that are in Ukraine proper, but speak Russian. That’s right. And then the Ukrainian population that speaks Ukrainian natively, that’s on the west side. How is that in your experience now that Kiev is really a dynamic city and you probably know it from Faith driven entrepreneurs and Kiev that are native Russian speakers? How are they processing this or are they welcoming it and thinking this is great going to be part of a greater Russia? And this is the motherland. And this is, you know, back in 1980 on the shores of the Jinapor River, this is where the Russian heartland was founded, and this is just kind of our manifest destiny. Or are your Russian speaking friends that are faith driven entrepreneurs in Kiev? Are they just a part? Help us to understand what that looks like. Yeah.

Andrew Denysov: Very good question, Henry. So I’ll give you the answer on the example of my business partner. So he’s from Crimea, the Crimea. He’s actually originally from Korea, his parents from Crimea. You know, this is actually pretty similar, been with Kiev. So he was speaking the Russian whole entire his life. He knew Ukraine, and because they had news in Ukraine and, you know, everything like in Ukrainian on their official, but they spoke Russian. So it’s very delicate edged between Russian Ukrainian language because there are lots of Russian speaking Ukrainians, but they support Ukraine. So here’s an example of that. He actually won in 2014. You know, Russia came to Crimea. They were trying to fight for like a year, but they realized that, OK, so we would just have to leave this place. So they moved to leave the city where they have never been before. They just jumped into two cars and moved here, and they started to learn Ukrainian. Sometimes, you know, when they’re in the family, they still speak in Russian. Sometimes you forget it like, OK, I need to speak to Ukraine or something like that. But you know, it’s not about now language. It was not about the language, but it was about the vision for the country. You know, that is fascinating.

Henry Kaestner: That’s helpful. What you’re saying right there is that, look, there is this concept of a vision about integration with the West. There’s as you said before, it’s kind of a hope and a future and that it’s not as much around linguistic barriers. It’s around what kind of future do we want to see? Do we want to see one integration in the West into technology, into the marketplace? Or do we want to kind of go back to the way things were when there is this global USSR type of thing? And that you’re saying that’s not necessarily completely just linguistic, it’s just OK, have a hopeful democracy and those that do not.

Rusty Rueff: And I don’t want to speak for 45 million people. But when you’ve lived there, do you feel like there’s an overwhelming one way or the other? You know, is the country split or is there? Hey, you know, 90 percent of people want to pursue one and 10 percent want to pursue the other. Just how how does that country, how does the country feel along that line? I hear that line. I’m curious, how do you do you do you have five friends and four agree one way and another agrees another way? You know, it’s kind of a political conversation. You know, we have these obviously in the states all the time where it’s like, Hey, I don’t I don’t think that’s the right path. I think that’s the right path. Right? How is that conversation? Go with your friend groups and your church and things like that?

Andrew Denysov: Well, you mean now or before February 24th?

Rusty Rueff: I’d be curious to hear both. Right? Yeah. Was it was it one way? And now this is totally switched it or yeah, I think because they’re both ten days, it’s crazy.

Andrew Denysov: Yeah, because now our life, our lives divided before and after February 24th. So before, I mean, we’re different. You know, we wrote for the different political groups, different, you know, candidates to presidents. And you know, we spoke different languages. And like I said, I can easily switch to Russian and for on my surname, actually my grandpa, he’s is from Belarus, by the way. And I have Belarussian roots, so even the ending of my surname. Oh, really, it’s very like from Russian. So that’s why I’m very open to that. But you know, this is a very good question. Well, because the language, the linguistic, you know, that difference is kind of one of the main trigger right now. One of the main trigger right now, especially when it comes to West Ukraine. And there were lots of rumors that, for example, Ukrainian speaking Ukrainians know they hate Russians. No, no, no. That’s not true. Again, that’s about division. So now we’re united and we speak to each other, the language that we know, but we look to the fruits of actions of the vision. So if you speak Russian and Ukrainian, that’s fine. But you know what’s interesting? Lots of before February 24th. Russian speaking Ukrainians start to speak Ukrainian to be united because they realized that language is one of the most important triggers right now. So difficult question, but it’s just evolving right now. You know, so that’s I like about the churches. For example, we have preachers that could and can now come here and preach in Russian. Or, you know, talk in Russian, and that’s fine, and that’s OK because we speak on the language of Holy Spirit. Talking about the business, we’re never diverse. Oh, if you a Russian speaking, I will not hire you. No, no, no, no. That’s not. We have engineers around Ukraine and we speak in chat in my bilingual Ukrainian and Russian. And that’s OK because we speak on the language of high, top notch service delivery for our clients. Tell us a little

Henry Kaestner: bit about what the businesses you have.

Andrew Denysov: Yeah. So one of the business I have is a tech company and probably I had the car dealership business, but I think it’s di because just there’s nothing in the world. So you had a car

Henry Kaestner: that you had a car dealership business until 10 days ago?

Andrew Denysov: Yeah, we purchased American cars in America, in the United States, like broken cars, shipped them to Ukraine, repaired them and sell them here. There was a small margin and I think that our small margin and because I love cars and, you know, it was a good business. But now it doesn’t work

Henry Kaestner: quick, have real quick diversion. Now a moment of levity and inmates report from a war zone. I had a good friend of mine in Finland who did the same thing, and he was fascinated and loved, and many of his friends loved Camaros in Iraq and Corvettes and things like that. The problem was that in Finland, there’s a very big import duty on sports cars, but there was no import duty on pickup trucks. So he had a business right in port, the cameras in and he turned them into pickup trucks. So the front would be a Camaro or an Iraq or a Corvette, and the back would be a flatbed pickup truck, like we said, the El Camino Real. You know, that was back in the 1970s, so I’m kind of betraying my age here a little bit. But I remember a business like that that I thought was interesting driving around the streets in Finland and seeing these converted cameras into pickup trucks. OK, back to our originally scheduled program reporting from the war zone in Leviev. Continue on. So you’re saying that this import type of business is probably now threatened

Andrew Denysov: because of the seaports in Odessa? I mean, it doesn’t ship anything. And yet that’s why we purchase broken cars in the states because there were super low import fee. And we have really smart people that actually can repair the cars, and it would look like new, you know, like really, really good Teslas. You no big trucks, etc. but by about another guy,

Henry Kaestner: that’s a great example because you hear this because they’re hitting a lot of the cities right along the Black Sea, and you’re giving a good illustration about why access to the ports is really, really important.

Andrew Denysov: Really, really important. Talking about another tech business, which is my primary business and the business that actually and my passion connects to that I love it because Ukraine, for the last twenty five, 30 years, Ukraine, everything was like a really good pool of talents in tech and software in math and physics. So that’s why the industry is also engineering in this super high. And, you know, we always thought that no force majeure actually can freight us, which is what we need when in our brains, internet connection laptops, electricity. That’s it. For example, when COVID hit, where? OK, so we just lost our offices and we work from home. So nothing broke our high tech measures on the stability for our clients. Why? Because we simply all lost more than to the case where remote vendor for our clients, mostly United States, the United States, is the biggest client for all companies right in Ukraine, Europe as well. Of course, Middle East. Yeah, like this through their actions. And another thing is because of the good tax system, what do we have in Ukraine always had? That’s why lots of smart people, they just talked to engineers and they provided a really good coach. And this industry was and still is, I hope, very good. Probably you heard about it recently. Yeah, we’re well known Prime Minister of Digital Transformation in Ukraine. This is a guy who was thirty one year old and he’s a vice prime minister in Ukraine, and he’s doing an amazing job, amazing work in our just digitalizing the Ukraine. So this is who we are. We love to create. We’re very entrepreneurial. We is it to learn best to learn everything. We understand that we know like we don’t need other languages, just English. For example, when I was kids, my dad said, Hey, no other language, just English. You have to learn. I said, Daddy, why I want to play soccer on the street, you know, et cetera. I don’t want to waste my precious time on learning English. If you speak English, you will speak with whole world. Daddy, thank you so much for this advice. I mean, software like business is something that still alive and works, and I want to even tell you more, brother, that exactly. Tech companies are providing the biggest donations if it’s my internal donations to United States Army, to refugees and the taxpayers.

Henry Kaestner: So maybe I’m being too presumptuous here. But a way to support Ukraine in this time is realizing that millions of Ukrainians who are well-educated in math and science and are good on the tech side are great candidates to be able to help the marketplace because as you’re helping them, they are involved with local minister. Well, maybe I’m just putting too many words in your mouth, but I think you’re getting something really important here. Ukraine has an increasingly tech proficient marketplace providing skills and services to a global economy as they are becoming more and more successful as you are. Others like you, including yourself, are able to invest in the challenges that you see in Ukraine that are right in your backyard. Yes. Is it too presumptuous for us to ask our audience just to be thoughtful about? Are there opportunities to hire Ukrainian businesses at this time there in the knowledge economy? And maybe that’s a way to help Ukraine in a really desperate time? Or is it sound like to pro-Ukrainian? I’m turning this into a sales pitch for Ukrainian technology companies. And maybe that’s OK.

Andrew Denysov: I want to quote Henry Kissinger on my link in Facebook. You know, the attempts by Ukrainians. I one this is one of the best sell speech I ever heard about Ukraine. Brother, there’s a win, actually. Let me start you off from waiting for Ukraine. I’m Ukrainian. So yes, that’s just one hundred percent each word. What you said? It’s true. True, true. And why? Because we smart. We are hard workers and we’ll do our best to provide the best service. But at the same time, at the same time. And yes, and of course, we’re very entrepreneurial and creative, so we love technology. For example, you probably heard about unicorns like Grammarly and Ukrainian company. You probably heard about tech. You heard about, like Snapchat, it’s American. But now, of course, technology was created in Ukraine and the Odessa, one of the companies and stuff like that. So we are very creative so we can create some really cool technologies. But at the same time, because of the economies gap Ukrainian emergent, there is another vein, for example, for American business, because the prices here are cheaper at the same time, providing a really good service. So that’s totally Win-Win.

Henry Kaestner: So tell us a little bit about, you know, this is a time of need in the country. And one of my favorite experiences ever with Faith driven entrepreneurs was going with Ruben Culture., director of international strategy to Romania, where there is just an incredible number of Faith Driven Entrepreneur groups. It’s just incredibly encouraging. So we spent an entire week going around at different cities in Romania and visiting with them. One of the highlights was a retreat that a number of Faith driven entrepreneurs put together in Transylvania, and there were 35 of them, maybe 27 28 Romanians and seven or eight or nine Moldovans. And during the entire day, they talked about the different ministries they like to support locally, and it completely changed my paradigm of having thought about this. We hear about Romanian orphanages, and the presumption is that all the money comes from the West. In this case, these are local entrepreneurs rolling up their sleeves, getting involved in these orphanages, many of them sitting on the boards of some of these organizations and giving generously to them. And then as they talked about the different organizations they like, then they went around. At the end, you could go ahead and pile on. The other faith driven entrepreneurs that were already given other ones that they were championing would say, Hey, I love that presentation. I want to count us down for 2000 euros for that as well. Yes, it was just kind of this neat, vibrant generosity initiative among Faith driven entrepreneurs in Romania. You see anything like that happen in the Ukraine or is there a local generosity initiative? Talk about that.

Andrew Denysov: Yeah, yeah. You know, I’ll tell you another quick story from my experience of my life. OK, so here’s the point. There are two types of generation in Ukraine. Like I call that my generation. They were like grown up after the Soviet Union and another like my parents’ generation who were grown up and actually, you know, like in Soviet Union, right? So my parents’ generation, because they grow up, their data mentality was like, you know, you have to go to school university, you’ll get the job from the government for 100 percent and you’ll be provided the job housing and all will be OK. Not you won’t be prosperous. You know, you won’t believe the rich, the rich, you know, like super freedom, life, etc. But you’ll be provided my generation. For example, on the very first day of when I came to the university, the very old but very wise professor told me, I remember that that was in two thousand four. He told me that. When you graduate, when you finish this year or in five years, all of you will be unemployed and we were like, What are you talking about? That was 2004, like unemployed. But my mom and my dad told me that you have to go to university because to get a good job. They were right and they are like, world right. But the world has changed. And that professor was right. So when I graduated, I was struggling to find a job. That’s why the only one way you could do is start your business. And two years before I graduated, I had a chance to come to the United States for some of my life. That was the students exchange program called Work in Travel USA. And like I said, I just was at work where in the United States, Gulf Shores, Alabama and Orange Beach. Yes, we lived in culture

Henry Kaestner: that match up like, we’re doing this video interview right now, and I see the skyline of Manhattan behind you and the Brooklyn Bridge, and I see Steve Jobs in the Chicago Cubs baseball, the Gulf Shores Alabama match what you had thought the United States was always about. And I say this partly in jest because I know of William’s love of his home state of Alabama.

Andrew Denysov: Really, really.

Rusty Rueff: I’m not going to derail us into a conversation about Alabama, but this makes me very happy.

Andrew Denysov: Yeah, brothers. I didn’t know anything about states, about Alabama before. That’s because we got the job offer from Johnny Rockets the most rocket Iraq. The hamburgers. We were dancing servers. I won one of the best dances server ever in their entire history.

Henry Kaestner: You were a dancing server at Johnny Rockets.

Andrew Denysov: Yes, sir. Yes.

Rusty Rueff: Oh, I wish we did a video. So what is

Henry Kaestner: it? What does that entail? I mean, what? What do you do? I mean,

Andrew Denysov: every 30 minutes, the visitors could order the song and they knew actually there were bands and servers and we had a few songs and it was really the really cool song Brothers. I think I’ve lost that video somewhere on. You may have

Henry Kaestner: to find and put it in the shadows. So this dinner,

Rusty Rueff: we need to go. We need theater Alabama style. That’s what it sounds like. Sounds like Henry’s never been to a Johnny Rockets Amen revenge on Iraq, but we can celebrate.

Henry Kaestner: Yes, last time in Alabama.

Andrew Denysov: But I love it. Yeah, that’s super cool. It’s it’s interesting. But you know me and my wife, although we were planning to come to the United States on June again and this year for a month or so, and we tried to mostly visit to the East Coast, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, you know, of course, New York City as well. But of course, now we don’t know which plane right now, so no more plans are on hold. So that’s why we were going to visit Gulf Shores and Orange Beach as well. Because, you know, this is our very first impression of the United States and it was super cool and fresh.

Rusty Rueff: So during that time, you come back to Alabama, you let me know, well, OK. Well, when you go

Henry Kaestner: to North Carolina first, you will never leave.

Andrew Denysov: I don’t know. Yeah. Oh my guess, brothers. You make me smile like I. This is the most for the last nine days. Thank you, brothers, for a good movie with you.

Henry Kaestner: It’s so great to be with you.

Andrew Denysov: So let me come back to my story. So I had a chance to come to the United States, and 2007 actually was here in the States when I got knocked to my heart in the States. I was dropped there because it was full, because I was four. There was a story that in the end, the third months of my stay in the states, just saving money in the house, you know, etc. And then my friends, they knew that and they just $5k, the biggest money that I ever had in my life and ERG and there was just one month remains until I had to come back to Ukraine and my mom came to Jesus year ago. I mean, in 2006, you know, I said, Hey, I heard about you, Jesus. My mom told me that an issue you just for me, I need like $3K more because my parents actually spent four air tickets, program documents, you know, people, papers, cetera, et cetera. Exist, just give me that. I talked to him and I forget the conversation and I started to work, work hard and two jobs. So when you came back to Ukraine, there was on three hundred bucks more than, I bet, you know, like three K plus three hundred dollars. And actually, when I was talking to Jesus that time, I didn’t believe that it will come true. How one important thing I saw 2007. And that was the year when Steve Jobs and Apple announced their very first iPhone, I was working my second job that time was I was housekeeper, so I was cleaning one in that rooms. I looked at the advertisement, Steve Jobs said, Hey, these icons are so cruel that you want to lick them, right? So I remembered that phrase and I was looking at the TV and I said, Oh, wow, what a kind of magic is that holding my old small Nokia Wear audience, you know? And I realized that, hey, these technologies, this is real magic. So that’s why I came back from the states to Ukraine that year. I realized that I cannot find a job being the student. On the third year, I realized that I need to try and trip conversion, and I earn some first money and I realized, Wow, it works. So this notion of this business works because I never even heard about word business and urban airship. So I realized that it works and it can make some good money. I can help my parents, my friends, my family know and etc. So we’re talking about different crises, so in my life. I had a few crises in 2004, a revolution, first 12, 14 and 13 second revolution. There was like comment. I don’t count that as a crisis because now comparing to comment is just not. So talking about entrepreneurship, I realized that entrepreneurship for Ukraine is must be so much my entrepreneurship as a Christian, I’m a result of American missionaries. And when I really I was always pursuing the English courses and one of the stories is actually I get acquainted with a missionary that actually came back after 10 years living in Ukraine to back to Atlanta, Georgia, and his name is Dustin Miller-Meeks the most fantastic man I ever know. So he invested into my spiritual life, and I call him like my spiritual daddy. And we had the conversation last week. So he’s actually I’m the product of American Christians, and they actually invest it to me so much. And we help all Americans to create, you know, camps, English courses, etc. And that’s why I talk to all Americans. I tell to all my American friends one thing that please don’t give us money. Teach us how to generate the money. How to learn entrepreneurship. How to create the value. Because we don’t want to take just fish. We want to ask you, teach us fish. And you know how to generate this? Well, not to be the country of donations, but to be the country of generator of some kind of cool value in tech, anything that we have lots of talents. So this is my store. This is my vision. That’s why I’m super passionate about being the co-founder of American company. I had to do that. I predicted this. And actually, even for the American markets, better off. And you know, my clients paid to American bank account, you know, dealing with an American company. But still, I’m Ukrainian, and thank God we’re living in a very global world. So, you know, I can be in Ukraine, I can be in Europe, I can be in the states anywhere and still doing the business and creating job workplace. I can tell you about the passion about the vision. I could talk a lot, so please stop me.

Rusty Rueff: No, not going to stop you. I just know we’re getting close to the hour here in Russian. I have. And forgive me if I don’t ask this question properly. How is your hope and how is the hope of the Ukrainian people right now? You’re in nine or 10 days. I mean, there are, I guess I’m going to ask this poorly. There are bad outcomes here, potentially from what I can tell and I’m not in it. There are good outcomes. There are medium outcomes. How is your hope and how is your friends and your family thinking about where this will be 10 days from now and 100 days from now? How are you there?

Andrew Denysov: OK, so officially, the help is good. Not officially, it’s not a good. It’s time to look into the broken serious and, you know, looking to this situation like Christian, I realize that everything will be OK because we’re going to the eternal life to our heavenly home, right? Looking at a jumper error, I realized that, oh my gosh, we need to build our country from the ground. So general, we try to keep the hope good and brother. Really, there are mixed feelings regarding the help. So if telling you, honestly, we don’t know. We didn’t know because situation is really bad. I’m positive, actually hold my last and very close. I try to look to the evidence church is very positive. That’s why that’s why I love to encourage people, inspire people in my life. But now just telling to you all guys and everyone here, listen to this episode and the best podcast ever in the world for entrepreneurs and not just entrepreneurs, but the people who fight to create something creative value and make a difference in this world. I’m telling you, if you hear us, please help Ukraine. And if with anything you need. If you’re somewhere in a government, please through your government sources are in business, maybe donate something. But with the trust source, if you can, you know, help with some military stuff, please do that with humanitarian aid. We need that a lot. And when the World War will finish and we really, really asking you, please come here and just meet these people, invest into this business. I realize that it sounds ridiculous investing into the country after the war. I’m sure they will win. That’s my hope. Brother, well, my hope we will win. You trend will win. But to help us with, you know, entrepreneurship, how to invest, how to build companies economy, I mean, like, you know, some kind of economic stuff. Money management and English. We need English, we don’t need Russia in any lot of the language. I mean, now we need English because this is international language. When computers understand English, because the code is in English, so this is the hope. I really, really hope that we’ll come back the hope to the right level because my hope is Jesus. And that’s why we tried to help our people around us to keep the hope on him and turn it into the practical direction.

Rusty Rueff: Thank you so much for that, and I know, Andrew, if you have any resources, we’ll listen for our listeners and we’ll make a post about some of the things I know. Hope International has a fund and some other friends of the community have ways to help, but obviously help us. Listeners have ways to help reach out to us. We’ll share it with our audience, so please be with us. Thank you for that. And as you know, we do typically closed with with God’s word, and I would love to invite you there. Where does God have you today? Where is he pointing you for some of that hope or clarity or or anger or frustration? I don’t know what emotion you’re going to scripture with right now, but where my God have you?

Andrew Denysov: Actually, what’s interesting, one of my favorite verse that I live right now, when I wake up every day, every morning, this is the release 21 seven that says that those who are victorious will inherit all this. And I will be their God and they will be my children. So, you know, that message from scripture came to my mind even far before the war started. But now it’s actually like never before. We understand about what victory this passage is talking about, right? And I’m thrilled. I don’t want to, you know, connect to the war or something like that, but I realize that like never before. Then sooner or later, I will die. I will die and learn what will go, so I will be that guy who will be called son and inherit that investments that Jesus invested into my life, into my eternity. And this verse that I would wake up every morning and go to bed with this brother. So this is my hope as well.

Henry Kaestner: Heavenly Father, we lift the banner and the people of Ukraine to you, and we ask for your world to be done and that you would it would be your world that this conflict would end quickly. We asked for particular favor and protection over your community of believers who you acknowledge you as their father and who want to ascribe glory to you and your largest asset. You would glorify yourself through this in a way that doesn’t seem obvious right now, but you would know and you’d find us all faithful and obedient those of us listening to this and in North America, that we would answer the call to be involved in some of the relief efforts through different ministries that we know are on the ground, making an impact that we would be an encouragement to those that are still on the ground and in Eastern Europe, especially those, of course, in Ukraine that would find as prayerful that you would answer our prayers and that you would be glorified but micro prayers that you just bless the Denisova family. You protect them on the times when they can’t make it down to the basement for the air raid that you’d protect them where they shelter in place and the bathroom that you’d be with faith driven entrepreneurs all throughout the country, you’d be with faith driven entrepreneurs all throughout Russia. That your name would be proclaimed and that the glory wouldn’t go to Russia, the glory wouldn’t go to Ukraine, the glory would go to you in Jesus name. Amen.

Andrew Denysov: And that brothers, I want to tell you, thank you so much for this podcast because you shed that light into the darkness of this world. I truly believe because the combination of entrepreneurship and Christian Faith driven entrepreneurs is something. This is something. And I truly believe that when the world gets darker, the light shines brighter. So keep shining and let’s shine together.

Henry Kaestner: God bless you, brother. Awesome, MIT.

— by Amanda Lawson

In preparation for teaching our course “Integrating Faith & Entrepreneurship,” I have spent hours looking for the content to add to the curriculum. I came across a book called How Then Should We Work by Hugh Whelchel. It’s a good read and asks some provocative questions. 

But if I’m being honest, I think I’ve struggled much more with a similar, perhaps more cynical question: why then should we work? It’s a question I believe many of us ask when we are in dry or hard seasons. So many times, we ask the hard questions, quickly shove them aside and try to grin and bear it until we either forget the question or life gets easy enough that it doesn’t seem to matter. That isn’t always a bad strategy, but I believe this is one question that deserves an answer. 

I’ll be candid, I woke up this morning to news of yet another devastating tragedy in Haiti. I serve on the board of directors for an organization in the northern part of the country, just outside of Cap Haitien. I’ve been involved in the organization for a decade and have been on the board for three years. It is a country very close to my heart and my time in Haiti has had a profound impact on my life—from the college I attended and the focus of my master’s thesis to the way I spend my money and PTO. 

About six years ago I was on a trip to help with the building of a high school. On the one hand, it was so hopeful: this was going to be one of the only high schools in that part of the country and would be able to serve a massive number of students. And on the other hand, one high school in a country with few jobs and few students who could afford 9-12 years of schooling (both financially and because of family obligations) felt like less than a dent of progress. Sitting in the back of a pickup truck driving through downtown Cap Haitien, I started to cry, lost in strong and conflicting emotions, feeling like nothing we were doing was making any real difference. 

2021 has been a tragic year for Haiti, a country that was already struggling to overcome centuries of political and economic turmoil. On top of ongoing battles with COVID-19, the assassination of the president, followed by a devastating earthquake, subsequent hurricane, increase in gang activity that led to more violence and less gasoline (which is necessary to operate life-saving generators throughout the country), and most recently, an oil tanker explosion that killed upwards of 60 people, the picture of 2021 in Haiti has been incredibly dim. 

This morning, I woke up to the news of the oil tank explosion. When I’m in Haiti, I drive by the spot where it happened almost daily. Now, I’ve never woken up to an email that my company was hacked or that we lost all of our money, but I do understand what it is to wake up to news that people you love, people you have worked with, have had their lives uprooted overnight. I’ve seen those houses, I know the community. What I don’t know is how to move forward when it feels like everything is truly meaningless. 

I understand that this isn’t the chipper, encouraging message we love to hear as entrepreneurs. We want the stories of overcoming obstacles, of underdogs going public, and of products that change the world. They’re easier, more palatable. But I think there’s value in the honesty in hard things. The truth is, we don’t know how to reconcile the devastation like that which has taken place in Haiti and places like it. I’ve found myself constantly asking the question this year: why then should we work? If Haiti is just going to be continually plagued by corruption and political turmoil, natural disasters, and gang rule, what’s even the point? 

Some days, remembering the lives that have been changed for the better, the children who get to go to school, the churches that have concrete buildings instead of outdoor meetings subject to nature’s whims is enough to keep my heart in it. Other days, it’s not. 

How do we fight what feels like a losing battle? Why do we do the work when it feels like nothing is going to make a difference? I’ve wrestled with this question so much in my job and work I’ve been a part of in Haiti. I think the reality is that the world is broken and it’s not meant to last. The hope in it is that it isn’t going to last. And when the hits just don’t stop, when I’m losing the fight to stay motivated, I have to remember why I started in the first place. 

I can’t deny the calling I felt. As much as days like today—years like this year—make me want to close my eyes and run far away from this fight, I can’t pretend to not know. The outcomes can’t be my motivation. Obedience has to be my motivation. Because regardless of your eschatology, some day, all of this world is going to look drastically different. Whether everything is burnt up or redeemed to something more, what we “produce” won’t look the same. What endures is our obedience, our worship; worship not only in the gazing at the Lord, singing and declaring His holiness way, but in the Romans 12:1-2 definition of a life fully laid down and surrendered to God’s will. 

So what do we do when the things we are called to explode, shake, flood, or otherwise make us want to scream and run in the opposite direction? Practically, I don’t know. I’ve fought plenty of losing battles and I recognize that there are so many people fighting much harder things (the people living in Haiti, for example), but I can’t say I’ve found any great coping mechanism. I also believe that it’s ok, maybe even Christ-like, to weep over those battles and to be honest about the struggle. 

Jesus wept at the death of His friend and He looked at the masses with compassion. Paul and the Ephesian elders wept together at his departure, knowing they would not meet again in this life. The early Church faced persecution that we cannot imagine—case in point, Revelation 2:13 mentions a man who was martyred by being boiled alive in a vat of oil because of his faith—yet persisted because of the call and commission of the gospel, not because they converted the Roman Empire. 

The hope I can offer here is that obedience endures when other outcomes do not. We honor the call because of who called it and we have to trust that He had a good and holy reason to do so. And also, it is okay to weep over the fight. 

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— by Phil Clemens

What is truth? Is your truth the same as my truth? Is there a single source of truth? Why is truth difficult to accept?

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32 ESV)

Jesus was teaching His followers this truth. He began by saying, “If you abide in my Word,” then you will know the truth. However, what happens when individuals first don’t accept “His Word,” or if they do accept it, they just don’t read it, let alone “abide in it”?

In today’s society, God’s Word is truth for some, but for many others, it is just another opinion.  Many believe no one has the corner on truth. Even people who believe that God’s Word is truth have varying thoughts on how you interpret what the Bible says.

Why is this a real danger in the 21st century? If there really isn’t any truth, I can believe anything I want to be true, and it now becomes my truth. Society can condemn my truth, but what are they comparing it to—their truth? Who is to say who is right? Is there really a right truth?

This slippery slope has invaded business, society, religion, and in reality, every area of life. So often individuals will look at truth from a cultural perspective. The truth is really determined in what area of the world you live in. For instance, in many areas of the world, bribing an official is considered a normal business practice. Anyone who doesn’t bribe will rarely succeed, and both life and business will be difficult. In other cultures, bribing is absolutely wrong. So, which is right? Or are they both right? How can opposites both be right? Relativism says they both can be right.

Leaders today need to know that there are moral rights and wrongs. To travel down the path that obvious moral wrongs are acceptable can be very dangerous and can lead to a society where anything is acceptable. The real challenge comes when I place guardrails on what I do based on biblical principles, and society around me does not believe or accept these same guardrails.

Relativism has invaded every area of our society. This is a worldwide issue. Relativism has influenced moral behavior, cultural acceptance, and even our ethics. The idea that we can have a compass based on a true north to guide us in these areas just is not accepted in the 21st century.

Years ago, a Christian theologian, Francis Schaeffer, asked the question, “How should we then live?” It is a question that leaders—Christ following leaders—need to ask today. Our society is in desperate need for leadership that acknowledges truth and lives by it.

Christians over the centuries have not been very good at being the leaders in this area. Some Christians use truth as a weapon, and it can be, but that is not its main purpose. Other Christians use truth as an excuse to why they think and do things the way they do because it is an easy out to blame someone else for their beliefs which they never truly adopted. Finally, some are very intentional in understanding why something is truth and applying it first to themselves before they ask others to acknowledge truth.

Back to Schaeffer’s question: “How should we then live?” Knowing and accepting truth begins with the acknowledgement that there is truth, and it is unchangeable. Often times we are tempted to just modify truth slightly to fit our circumstances. Most every lie, especially ones that are very believable, have a great deal of truth with only a slight modification. We see this in the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Satan approached them with the truth modified, and they accepted it. After all, isn’t this what God said? It must be true.

Our society today is much more sophisticated than Adam and Eve. We are much smarter, and we don’t need someone to tell us what truth is. We know what we know. The problem is, we don’t even know what we don’t know. Society as a whole continues to reject the Author of truth.

The real answer to Shaeffer’s question resides with the person we see in the mirror each day.  How we should be living is not based on our thinking, our morals, or our society. It is based on truth that is given to us by the Absolute Truth—God Himself. Absolute truths need to be discovered, not invented. God desires for us to show the world around us how we should be living and loving, even if people reject His truth. Here is where we as Christ followers fail. Many strong Christian leaders do accept God’s truth as absolute truth—but we miss the second part, which isn’t optional. We need to love others, just as God Himself has loved us. It’s not an option. But it also is not easy, especially when we see society around us clearly walking down a path of destruction.

God has commanded each of us to be light—especially in the darkest places. He has also commanded us to be salt—enhancing the flavor of life that He has given. He wants us to have His eyes and His ears and to demonstrate His love in order to change the world around us and to help people see that there is Absolute Truth and that relativism exists to seduce humankind from it.

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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 White Papers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s Global Event.

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