I had a recent conversation with a graduate student at Indiana University that really got me thinking. He is a friend of my daughter and part of the vibrant Chi Alpha campus ministry that is discipling hundreds of IU students each year. This kid is incredibly gifted,...
I'm on a long flight home as I type this week's newsletter, heading back from a transformative week in Johannesburg, South Africa. My wife and I were graciously invited to attend a once-every-four-years gathering of all the AGWM missionaries investing their...
In episode 11 of the Missional Marketplace Podcast, the biggest takeaway is this… “Marketplace skills are missionary skills. So, marketplace people, what are you doing to forward the Great Commission?”
In episode 10, we got to define Business as Mission. BAM is defined as, “the intentional integration of business and ministry to create a sustainable presence of the Kingdom of God in a particular community.”
I am in Springfield, Missouri this week to meet with our friends and partners in the AGWM BAM Office. As a missions organization rooted in the marketplace, The Stone Table is so passionate about BAM – or business as mission. But if you ask twenty people to...
In Episode Four of the Missional Marketplace Podcast, we learned the foundations of a good work theology. Erik & Darren unpack what a basic work theology looks like from a Christian perspective and give some insight on how we can live out our lives missionally with this new perspective.
We are not only inviting God to be a part of our stories, He is actually inviting us to be a part of His. The overarching goal of this episode was to give us a new perspective that allows us to see our story as embedded in God’s greater story.
Amy took the practical tools we learned from Erik & Darren today and applied them to her local community. She saw value in people, saw a need in her community, and set about pairing those things up to create something fresh for the people around her. She has embodied what it looks like to accelerate the Great Commission through the marketplace – exactly what the Stone Table stands for.
Season 1 of the Missional Marketplace podcast is available on all your favorite listening platforms. We hope it encourages you to remember that the work of your hands holds eternal value to God.
I have a friend who consults with business as mission projects across the globe. Earlier this year, he was overseas with a missionary friend who is running a coffee shop. He inherited the shop when the founder, a fellow global worker, was reassigned to a new...
In this unforgettable testimony, you’ll hear the journey of a soldier who carried unimaginable trauma, hatred, and grief after witnessing the death of lifelong friends—both at home and on the battlefield. His heart grew cold. His pain became armor. And bitterness...
What does your work really mean to God? At the Christian Business Breakfast, Erik Cooper unpacks the third pillar of the Missional Marketplace framework: Work and the Great Commandment. Too often we look to our careers for identity, security, and fulfillment—turning...
Business is more than profit—it’s about purpose. In this video, Erik Cooper, president of The Stone Table, shares how his family’s business journey led to the founding of CRF (Community Reinvestment Foundation) and ultimately The Stone Table. What started as one...