Business and Mission

We arrived in Texas last night to visit Christine's sister and her family down in Waco. Yep, we're heading down to the Waco for a great Thanksgiving day and some wonderful Mexico Thanksgiving food her aunts make. Hmmm, I can't wait.

Today it has been great seeing the kids play with their cousins. I have been sitting around reading. A few weeks ago I received the Mission Frontiers Magazine. The whole issue is about Business and Mission. I am a coming out of the closet leader who would love to be in business and tie it into restoring our communities.

I have been thinking for some time now of opening up a laundry matt in Denver. I heard that Tony Campolo, not confirmed, has a bunch of these in Philedelphia. I would love to open up a bunch of these off Colfax and other places that are in need. My desire would be to make them break a small profit, throw it back into the business, make them the lowest cost laundry matts in town with a staff that loves, cares, listens and prays for the customers. Make it a place where people can be refreshed from the hardships of life while sitting around waiting for their skivies are drying. Who knows if this is even a viable plan?

I would love to create a business where lives are changed, a real service is offered and a model of business can be replicated by anyone. Could it be that business and mission are not oppossed to one another? Could it be that a profit could be made, a competitive edge could be kept and a service and blessing to a people is offered that allows for community restoration. Isn't that the way of the Kingdom?

One of the articles (go ahead and read the whole magazine at the above link) that challenged me was Over-steering a Cadillac. Click on the link and read it in pdf format.

If you're interested in partnering with me or have some capital you would like to invest, drop me a comment.

Categories: Missions, Business, Movements

Disruptive Missiology: I like being disruptive

Sat down today and read through the Mission Frontiers Magazine, found online here. The last article in Further reflections called Disruptive Missiology Part 1: Definition by Greg Parsons has some good insights.

At times, to see that happen, we need a disruptive missiology. Something that looks at what is happening, what is not happening and dreams about what might happen. Something that hears the footsteps of the working of God in breakthrough and thinks, dreams, and works towards what might happen should God choose to move in peoples where we haven’t seen Him yet move.

I like dreaming with a healthy dissatissfaction of where we are at in reaching the lost. He ends with, "How might god use your giftings and creativity beyond what you have dreamed to disrupt something for good?"

Categories: Missions, Movements, Leadership, God, SimpleChurch

Quotes from Alan

This past summer I read a book The Shaping of Things to Come by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost. Marc Van der Woude just attended a conference where Alan spoke. Here are a few quotes that stuck out and reminded me how good this book is.

• The issue is not whether you believe in Jesus, but whether you follow Him. The lordship of Christ is often proclaimed (orthodoxy), but not often practiced (orthopraxy). Greek thinking is comprehending an idea, while Hebrew thinking is learning by incarnating truth. In other words: you only really know what you apply in real-life.
• Christology shapes missiology shapes ecclesiology. If we start with the church, we start on the wrong side of the spectrum.
• To really change society, we need to tell a different story. Stirring people's imagination is more important than transferring knowledge.

To read the whole thing visit: Quotes from the Fringes

Categories: Books, Missions, SimpleChurch, Movements, Evangelism