I grew up at Lakeview Church on the West Side of Indy under the pastoral leadership of a pastor named Tom Paino. To say Pastor Tom had a passion for global missions and The Great Commission would be like saying Peyton Manning is sort of good at football (you...
RESOURCE CATEGORY: Unreached People Groups
VIDEO: Erik Cooper’s Sermon on The Great Commission and the Marketplace
The Stone Table presents a very special video today, as The Stone Table’s very own Erik Cooper had the opportunity to share at Grace Assembly of God in Greenwood Indiana.
The Great Commission: Interview with Dick Brogden
Posted by Erik Cooper | February 24, 2021 | Missions, Resources | 0 | This article transcription on the Great Commission was transcribed from a conversation with Assemblies of God missionary Dick Brogden, a global leader of the LiveDead movement. In...
VIDEO: Interested in Missions? Dick Brogden shares how you can get involved
In this video, Dick Brogden of Live Dead talks to Erik Cooper of The Stone Table, about missions in Saudi Arabia and how you can join. There is tons of great information as Dick shares about Saudi Arabia and how it’s changing. Also, there’s plenty of great stories in between.
VIDEO: Dick Brogden of Live Dead talks about his work in Saudi Arabia and how missions is being done there
Here’s Part two of the interview with Dick Brogden of Live Dead. In this video, Dick shares his current mission location and how the country is opening up to missions work.
VIDEO: Dick Brogden of Live Dead discusses Missions and using Business as Missions
Dick Brogden of Live Dead and Erik Cooper of The Stone Table discuss reaching unreached people through missions, and the importance of using business as a vessel to do so.
Assembly of God Missionaries Serving on Mission Trips: Unexpected Blessings When the Evening Comes
I have two missions stories for you back from 2018 that may be good reminders during the times we find ourselves in. One is where my family had the privilege of serving on a mission trip with other Assembly of God Missionaries in Ethiopia, and the other is from...
What Are Some Ways Business as Mission is Being Used Around the World?
https://youtu.be/zZS70A2ITkI
When you talk about business as mission ten different people will think of ten different things, so today we wanted to take some time to define the two branches that we see when we talk BAM and how they go together.
What we are seeing is that these two ways don’t need to battle each other, but really be more of a “both and” type of scenario. We believe that we need to embody and proclaiming the Gospel around the world.
It’s true that BAM is changing everything!
Transcript:
You know, it’s interesting when we say business as mission or use the short phrase of bam, um, 10 different people will think of 10 different things and that’s become more and more obvious to me as we engage this conversation, both at home and, uh, overseas where business as missions is being used in, uh, missional contexts. And so I think it’s good to take some time to define and the way I see it, there, there are kind of two branches of this. And then, uh, they go different directions, uh, from there. But there are folks that are engaging in bam that see the objective as kind of a holistic gospel approach, which is to bring the kingdom or to embody the kingdom of God through the marketplace through entrepreneurship. And so they go into local communities and they hire locals. They make an economic impact. And the ultimate outflow is what we would say is, is maybe human flourishing to, to bring the kingdom in a way that brings human flourishing.
So we have, uh, an angle of business as mission that that is their focus. And then we have another angle to business as mission where business entrepreneurship, the marketplace is being utilized as an access point to proclaim the gospel and take the gospel into places where we cannot go with traditional missionary mindsets and methodology. And, uh, sometimes these two angles kind of hit up against each other. Missiologically and I think what I’m finding, what I’m processing through is that it really, as usual as a both, and rather than an either or, you know, the gospel is to be embodied. So we are to live it out. I mean, even here in the States, we are in the housing business, we are in the affordable housing business and we say every day we have the opportunity to embody the gospel to honor God and love our neighbor because of who God is.
Then we inject that into the business itself. So we embody and bring the kingdom through the marketplace. Um, so we believe that, right, but we also believe in proclaiming talking, uh, sharing about Jesus, pointing to the one who makes us right. And ultimately we believe that if, if we’re not both embodying and proclaiming, then we’re not engaging in a holistic missions or misseology. And so I don’t think these things need to go against one another. I think they’re part of a broad tapestry of business as mission and how the marketplace is engaging people for the gospel, both at home and abroad.
Mission to Unreached Peoples: Three Stories of Prayer from the Mission Field
We love hearing (and sharing) stories about the mission to the unreached peoples around the world. It helps us to see that this is more than just an idea, but that real people are being touched each and every day by not only Assembly of God Missionaries, but...
VIDEO: Interview with Matthew Rohrs from Sinapis on the Transformational Power of Business.
Sinapis is a global community blending intensive training with faith-based principles and access to capital. Click to hear from Matthew Rohrs and Erik Cooper discuss the power of Business for Transformation (B4T)
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