10 deadly sins of Business as Mission

Published by BAM Practitioner February 7th, 2007 in Business as Mission, Holistic Living and Christianity. 2 Comments

Recently, John Ortberg presented his Ten Deadly Sins of Preaching. Out of Ur took notes. As I read them, I realized they applied to BAM practitioners as well.

Here’s an attempt at the 10 deadly sins of BAM (my additions/changes in italics):

1. The temptation to be inauthentic
We want to present an image to others that makes us appear more holy, intelligent, or godly than we actually are. In the end this is a foolish pursuit because the truth of who we are will always leak out. As a business owner or boss there is a strong temptation to be the infallible anchor and the tower of strength. You won’t fool people for very long.

2. The temptation to live for recognition
When running a business the question that runs through most of our minds is, do they like me? But we need to learn to root our identity in something other than applause. Ortberg cited Dallas Willard’s ability to present his material and give no thought to people’s reactions. He’s like a child who releases a helium balloon. He says what God’s given him to say, and simply lets it go. In order to run a successful business, and do what God is calling you to do, you may need to sacrifice your popularity.

3. The temptation to live in fear
What if I fail? That question plagues all business people. But there is a difference between failing at something and being a failure. You are not a failure. Again, our identity must been hidden in Christ and not our accomplishments.

4. The temptation to compare
With the radio, television, and the internet our generation faces this temptation more than any previous generation. Our culture of celebrity CEOs causes us to compare ourselves to others. This does nothing good for the soul. Doing what you have been called to is the holiest thing you can do. Don’t get sidetracked chasing the things of this world. Success is faithfulness to God–nothing else.

5. The temptation to exaggerate
This seems closely linked to temptation number one. Overstating facts is how we often try to manage our image and appear better than we are. John also linked this to plagiarism—passing someone else’s story, sermon, or idea off as our own to win approval.

6. The temptation to feel chronically inadequate
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. John 15:5 (The Message)

7. The temptation of pride
Having people work for you can make you prideful. The antidote? A wife. (Ortberg’s joke) It’s funny because it’s true.

8. The temptation to manipulate
Having power and authority might give some a power rush. We mustn’t use our position to manipulate people into doing what we want them to do. There’s a line between leading and manipulation. Try not to cross it.

9. The temptation of envy
This seems related to number four, the temptation to compare. But envy carries the nuance of desire and ambition. We not only compare ourselves to another preacher, but we seek to achieve what they have. Such selfish motivations will undermine our spiritual health.

10. The temptation of anger
John read this quote from Henri Nouwen that says it all:

Anger in particular seems close to a professional vice in the contemporary ministry. Pastors are angry at their leaders for not leading and at their followers for not following. They are angry at those who do not come to church for not coming and angry at those who do come for coming without enthusiasm. They are angry at their families, who make them feel guilty, and angry at themselves for not being who they want to be. This is not an open, blatant, roaring anger, but an anger hidden behind the smooth word, the smiling face, and the polite handshake. It is a frozen anger, an anger which settles into a biting resentment and slowly paralyzes a generous heart. If there is anything that makes the ministry look grim and dull, it is this dark, insidious anger in the servants of Christ.

Corollary: Being angry at your suppliers, vendors, employees and co-workers invites resentment, isolation, and bitterness. It will harden, and ultimate paralyze your heart.

Feel free to add any additional ‘deadly sins’ BAM practitioners should avoid in the comments.

Get free business advice from SCORE

Published by BAM Practitioner December 22nd, 2006 in Business as Mission. 0 Comments

I just stumbled across this phenominal resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners.

SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” is America’s premier source of free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs.

From free, confidential business advice (from active and retired business people) to business resources (like a business plan template) and online tutorials, SCORE is an absolute goldmine!

EnergyStar for Business

Published by BAM Practitioner November 7th, 2006 in Business as Mission and Environmental. 0 Comments

According to EnergyStar, small businesses can typically save as much money and prevent as much pollution, per square foot, as large organizations.

The EnergyStar small business web site has tons of resources, from a energy cost savings calculator to a guide book for making your business more energy efficient and more cost effective.

For example:

The Beutler Company in McClellan, CA made extensive structural and lighting upgrades, eliminating about 60% of the existing lighting fixtures while improving lighting quality. The firm expects annual savings of about $20,000, 296,000 kWh and will prevent about 367,040 pounds of CO2 emissions annually.

Calling

Published by BAM Practitioner November 6th, 2006 0 Comments

“The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Frederick Buechner

How two grocers changed the course of their nations

Published by BAM Practitioner November 2nd, 2006 in Business as Mission, Quadruple Bottom Line, Economic, Social and Spiritual. 0 Comments

John mentioned Arthur Guinness in a previous post, but this article includes the amazing story of Boots the Chemists and the genesis of trade guilds founded on mutual accountability to Biblical principles in London.

Article: Business as Mission: How two grocers changed the course of a Nation

Recycle More Paper: Paper Mills Can’t Get Enough

Published by BAM Practitioner November 2nd, 2006 in Business as Mission, Environmental and Holistic Living. 0 Comments

Recycling is big business and a quickly growing industry. The demand for post-consumer waste that can be recycled into new products is surging. Some companies (RockTenn) will even pay you for your paper waste.

Recycling isn’t just common sense, it makes economic sense as well.

Recyclers and manufacturers in Minnesota and the Midwest are looking for more of your recyclable paper, because they can’t get enough of it.

When recycling gained popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, cities and counties collected a lot of paper. Demand often lagged from factories that used that material to make new products. Low commodity prices for recycled materials made the economics of recycling difficult.

However, global market conditions and stagnant collection rates are now making supplies tight for U.S. manufacturers, and demand is expected to be high indefinitely.

Our nation’s recycling collection system, and Minnesota’s in particular, are very effective at collecting your paper, and other nations have noticed. In 2003, more than a quarter of U.S. recycled paper was exported—much of it to China—and that figure is expected to reach one-third of recycled paper by 2007. American paper mills are competing for more of your paper to make new boxes, newsprint, magazines, copier paper, and other products. In short, they can’t get enough paper.

In Hennepin County, we recycled almost 138,000 tons of paper in 2004, making up about 23% of our total recyclables.

There is a lot of recyclable paper that is going in the garbage in Minnesota. Almost one-quarter of all our garbage—or about 769,000 tons—is recyclable paper, including newspaper, magazines, catalogs, cardboard, office paper, and other paper grades.

About three dozen manufacturers in Minnesota and the region employ thousands of high-wage workers and use recycled paper to make new cardboard boxes, roofing felt, countertops, newsprint, coated paper for magazines and printing paper, cellulose insulation, copier paper, tissue, egg cartons, and other products.

Source

Christian Environmental Stewardship

Published by BAM Practitioner November 2nd, 2006 in Business as Mission. 0 Comments

I received two email newsletters today from separate Christian organizations that both led with environmental articles. That’s never happened to me before!

The November Evangelical Christian Publishers Association E-link featured an article by Dwight Baker entitled It’s Better Being Green: The Green Press Initiative and Christian publishing. For an industry not known for its environmental stewardship (printing books consumes 20 million trees and uses toxic chemicals like toluene and other solvents) the Green Press Initiative is a big deal, especially in the Christian publishing industry. For many years, most Evangelical Christians have had an “it’s all going to burn” or “subdue the earth” mentality. After all, why should we care for the environment when Christ is coming back any day now?

The answer is simple: because He told us to care for His creation in Genesis–which includes everything that He created. For more on this, read Tri Robinson’s book: Saving God’s Green Earth.

In the second article, which arrived in the OSCAR update (the UK information service for world mission), Rev. Dave Bookless asks:

There is no longer much doubt about the seriousness of the global environmental crisis. Where there is still plenty of confusion, is over the Christian response. Should we agree with the American Christian writer, Cal Thomas, that “Jesus’ teaching has nothing to do with global warming or the environment� and that the task of Christians is simply to “prepare themselves and others for the world to come� Or does the Bible teach something rather different about the God who is both creator and sustainer of the earth, and about the place of humanity as those entrusted with the careful stewardship of God’s earth?

Seeing an article about the environment in a missions publication is even more rare. In many cases, missions has been so focused on saving souls that it has become myopic. When “number of salvations” is the key measurement of success, everything else looks like a distraction, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

God is glorified when the land is healed, jobs are provided, sickness is destroyed, and starvation is ended. We cannot make the tragic mistake of separating the care of the environment with the care of lost souls. The two go hand in hand. By caring for the environment, we are creating an opportunity to meet people’s real physical needs.

For example: Jesus Wells in India- a village goes from hostile to receptive due to environmental transformation.

When the land has been redeemed, the soil is ready for the Gospel to be sown–and the harvest will be plentiful.

The Pathetic Segmented Life

Published by BAM Practitioner October 31st, 2006 in Business as Mission, Holistic Living and Christianity. 0 Comments

Steve Sjogren nails the problem with modern “western” Christianity–segmentation. It’s the reason for the sacred/secular divide. it’s the reason we send missionaries and evangelists to spread the word instead of living it.

We live in a time when virtually all of mankind lives a segmented approach to life. For the most part, people have a section of life that is dedicated to their married life, another section that is all about work life, another section that is for spiritual life, and so on it goes until, if you will, an entire wall of boxes or segments are produced that is called “Someone.�

By externalizing the radical nature of our faith, the call of Jesus to become like Him, we are able to go about our nice little lives and let others do the spiritual work.

We, tithe, attend church regularly, and do 3-4 outreaches per year and consider ourselves a good servant.
But Jesus called us to become like Him– to live unrestricted, unsegmented, unencumbered lives of worship–all day, every day. Segmentation is sin, because it robs God of the worship he deserves–our entire, unsegmented lives.

The Pathetic Segmented Life: Why people stay away from Church by the droves By Steve Sjogren

High Tech, Highly Toxic

Published by BAM Practitioner October 13th, 2006 in Business as Mission, Quadruple Bottom Line and Environmental. 0 Comments

Not surprisingly, the completely high tech synthetic computer I’m typing this post on is highly toxic as well.

GreenPeace has been putting the pressure on U.S. computer manufacturers to clean up their act.

Apparently, even ‘recycled’ computers end up in e-Waste scrap yards in China, and the toxic chemicals in them harm the workers and leech into the ground water.

Sadly, I just purchased one of the most toxic PCs around: a MacBook Pro. You’d think Apple of all companies would make a green PC.

So, as you’re buying computers for your BAM venture, make sure you buy the greenest ones you can, or they’ll likely end up harming the health of a poor worker in China… which would be a shame.

Everything is spiritual…

Published by John DePree October 13th, 2006 in Business as Mission. 2 Comments

I attended a seminar yesterday presented by Dr. John Mulford who teaches Business as Missions at Regent University. The topic was “Trends in Business as Missions” and the presentation was followed by a question and answer time. One cruciual definition that I have been missing in this movement toward BAM is this… The Lausanne Business as Missions Manifesto makes it clear that there is a quadruple bottom line for successful BAM and that bottom line is Spiritual, Social, Economic, and Environmental transformation. But here at the conference various speakers mention either the “triple bottom line” or just “spiritual and economic” transformation”.

Here’s the deal…

Everything is spiritual, always has been, always will be. We got ourselves into a wrong theology (my job is not about God’s work or call) and became a bunch of Christian zombies at our jobs because we separated work from being a spiritual activity. Now we are at it again, Instead of stitching back together the tremendous spirituality of our work lives, we are creating separation by not including these elements of transformation under the heading of “spiritual”

Back to the story…

I asked the loaded question or Dr. Mulford reagrding why we are not hearing about the topic of the environment at this gathering and if he saw the environment as an emerging trend? and I appreciated his answer, which was (to paraphrase) that it is an issue of injecting politics and political parties into the topic of the environment that is keeping us from talking about or doing the right thing. My opinion is that if today’s missions and BAM sending agencies want to be relevant with today’s emerging entrepreneurs they better get their stance on this issue solidified, as the environment is an emerging hot button issue. So here is my proposal - From now on we focus on “spiritual transformation” which is evidenced by economically, environmentally, and socially transformed communities and nations. This way we never again see any of these four cornerstones of transformation as anything but spiritual.

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