Some of us may wonder, “What kind of influence can I have for God if I’m not working in the Church?” And the answer is, “quite a significant one.” B4T and the Great Command B4T is a unique approach to spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth, as the Lord...
You know when I was a pastor, my passion was the Gospel; the proclamation of Jesus Christ and the discipleship of people through the local church. That was my job. So, my job was pastor, my passion was the Gospel. But now for the last decade or so, I have been back in the marketplace. And you know what? My passion is still the Gospel. I sit at a different seat now. I’m in a marketplace seat. I’m involved in managing apartments and developing apartments and Realestate but my passion as a believer is still the same. My job is different but my vocation (my vocation or “vocare” from the Latin word “calling”) is still the same; the Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. I just do that now from a marketplace seat. So, I want to encourage all of you, whether you work in a church, whether you work in a marketplace, whether you’re on the mission field, the vocation and calling of every believer ultimately is the same. It is to embody the kingdom and to proclaim and glorify the name of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. That’s your job, that’s your vocation.
I’m on vacation this week with my whole family — Mandy and all three of our kids, my mom and dad, my brother and sister-in-law and their two little ones, and even some dear friends we’ve known for 25 years. So I thought it would be a good week to share an excerpt from...
Something that I have been reflecting on more recently is the increasingly apparent move of God that is now, and will be, coming through the marketplace rather than only in the church. While this does not take away from the vital nature of the church, it does increase...
And at The Stone Table, we define BAM this way: Business as mission is the intentional integration of business and ministry to create a sustainable, missional presence of the kingdom of God in a particular community. Across the globe, all kinds of marketplace work is being embraced as a Great Commission opportunity to take the Gospel to every ethnos. We have missionary entrepreneurs that are starting sustainable farms, tourism companies, CrossFit gyms, and coffee shops in areas devoid of Gospel witness. We have gig economy workers like graphic designers and book editors that are moving their base of operations to strategic missions’ outposts. We have take-a-job missionaries that are partnering with local church planting teams and are embedding in local corporations that are moving them to unreached parts of the world. We have business owners that are franchising their models to missionary teams that could take the Gospel into places that traditional missionaries cannot go. And missionary investors are underwriting the risky startup costs of these strategic BAM projects through grant and investment dollars. And they’re embracing this multiple bottom-line definition of success and Great Commission returns.
Workism: Faith in Work As I’ve been piecing together Paul’s theology in the epistle to the Colossians, I’ve found that there is something interesting he addresses when it comes to spiritual powers. While there is some debate about the verse in specific, there is a...
So, what is the Great Commission? Do you know? The Great Commission is Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples as he ascended into heaven. These instructions weren’t just for professional pastors and missionaries. Jesus’ words were aimed at all of us who call him “Lord,” including those of us with marketplace jobs. Look at Matthew 28:19. It says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” It says “go,” to move out, to train up followers of all nations. And the Greek word here is actually ethnos. It’s ethnos or a people joined by similar customs or culture. We can better translate this word, not as geo-political nation states, but as people groups. And Jesus said to go make disciples of all of them. But the Joshua Project estimates there as many as 7,400 unreached people groups in the world today. These 7,400 people groups total 3.1 billion people or 42% of the global population. And for many of these people, were not just talking about a general disinterest in Christianity, we’re talking no access to the Gospel. If you are born into this 42%, there is a good chance that you will live and die without ever as much as meeting a Christian let alone hearing the life-giving message of Jesus. And this should disturb all of us. See, if you belong to Jesus, the Great Commission belongs to you.
Many times throughout the Gospel, Jesus presents to us the challenge & encouragement to keep our eyes on the things that matter – the things that will last for eternity. Paul also continues this teaching throughout the epistles in the New Testament, keeping...
The images and stories coming out of Ukraine are still hard to digest. I will leave the geopolitical pontification to people much smarter than me, but you don’t have to be an expert on the world stage to be moved by the contrasting leadership on display. Ukrainian...
This newsletter is two days late. I know you watch your inbox with eager anticipation every Tuesday morning waiting for its arrival (insert sarcasm emoji); but not only has it been a busy start to the week, I was also struggling to find something of value to say. As...
Today we saw how many of the marketplace skills that we have as believers can fit into God’s story and work in the world
Do you find yourself striving for success, looking for certain markers to prove that you have arrived? What if everything you thought about success, achievement, and high performance was skewed? Well in this week’s video, we are discussing the secret to high performance and how to achieve it with ease, but it might not be at all what you are thinking. Let’s dive in.
Are you tired of feeling like you have to separate your faith from your everyday life? Are you ready to erase the boundaries between the sacred and the secular and fully embrace your identity as a follower of Jesus in all aspects of your life? Then join us for this powerful message as we explore the transformative power of integrating our faith with our daily activities.