Christian Business Builder

You know I think that being actively Christian in this society is as difficult as I have ever known it to be in my 30+ years as a Christian. The reasons for this are numerous; Christianity has been rejected by the vast majority of the population, schools have taken an almost anti-Christian stance in educating students, and business leaders have embraced a quasi-Christian philosophy that values human effort over the wisdom of God.

With this backdrop it is difficult for we who are dedicated to the truth of God and his word to find place in our chosen professions. There is often lots of “God talk” without much “God seeking.” In this series of articles I am trying to reverse this trend. It is time for we “Christ followers” to look to him and his word for the answers to our business life as well as our personal relationship with God.

We have been examining the passage in Proverbs 3:5-10 to see where we might seek the Lord more directly in the building and operation of our businesses. This article will cover the third thought seen here:

“In all thy ways acknowledge him,”

For more than a century, we have been taught in school and in life that if we are going to be successful in life that we need to “pick ourselves up by our bootstraps” and “never quit.” We have been told that we can achieve anything as long as we stay focused and keep at it. We have been told to find something we love and do that thing. It is all up us and we are the only one who can make or break our success story.

Now, while the scriptures do surly speak to the subject of industry and hard work, they also speak to the subject of God’s direction and leadership in making directional choices in life.

I for one can tell you that listening to the voice of the Lord in making the right choices with regard to direction isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are so many voices in the world today with so much advice and so many options. How is someone supposed to make right choices in the midst of all that is out there in the world?

The answer to this question rests in this simple phrase from Proverbs 3, “In all thy ways acknowledge him …” Only when we acknowledge the Lord throughout the whole of our lives activities will he provide us with the wisdom to make the right choices at the right times in our lives. What is also so amazing about God is that even if we have made wrong choices, he is always willing to help us return to the right path by simply seeking his forgiveness and acknowledging him from this point on!

The little word “way” is the key to understanding this portion of scripture. According to Strong’s Concordance, “Way” means a course of life, mode of action. In other words our acknowledgment of God needs to be throughout our entire course of life and mode of actions, not just those we find easy, but also those we don’t want to release to anyone.

Only as you release more and more of your life and business to God will you have the power to know and understand the level of success God has in store for you. The only caveat that I need to make here is that God’s view of success may be quite different from yours. However, you will never find yourself in a better place as a Christian business owner than the place that God has called you to Think about it!

Talk more later …

Ok, yesterday I told you that I had a seven step plan for business success. I told you that I would deliver that plan to you over the next seven days. I also told you that the creator of this plan can guarantee you success if and only if you are willing to follow the plan completely. If you fail to completely follow this plan your level of success will be effected.

So … without any further adoo, here is step number one in the seven steps to business success:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; …” (Proverbs 3:5a)

I know, I kown, you’ve heard this before. But wait, give me a chance and I will show you how all of these thought fit together before I am done and, if you believe God’s word, you will see how your success can be guaranteed if you are willing to work this plan.

Now, let’s look at step one.

Trust means to be confident or sure. It means to be bold and to make to trust. So, if we apply this to business success, we could say that if we are going to be successful in business, we need to be confident in the Lord; to be bold in him.

We need to trust in the Lord “with all our hearts.” Our heart is the seat of our intellect, emotion, and will.

So, when we put these definitions together, we need to be confident in the Lord with all of our intellect, our emotion, and our will. This means that the Lord needs to be our confidence when we consider the technical aspects of business and marketing, when we struggle with the emotional ups and downs owning a business can bring, and as we surrender our will for success to that of the Lord. (Remember he doesn’t always define success the same way that we do.)

It is a simple first step, but it is not an easy one. To truly trust in the Lord means that you have to always agree with him and yield yourself to his direction throughout the course of your business career. Add to this the fact that Satan battles, seeks to blind and discourage all those who trust in the Lord and you have to make a real commitment to this first step.

However, if you are willing enough and surrendered enough God will bring you to a place of real success if you trust in him with all your heart.

Tomorrow - “and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Over the next eight days I want to outline for you a sure fire success formula that will allow you the greatest opportunity to be successful in this life! Now, I cannot guarantee anyone success, mostly because I don’t know what success looks like to you, I don’t know how closely you are walking with God, I don’t know if you are being led by the Holy Spirit, I just don’t have enough information to guarantee you success.

What I can do is lay out a plan that was written by the Creator of all that is. His plan will at least lead you to the greatest opportunity for success (guaranteed if you follow the plan without fail). But, remember as you go along, Adam and Eve were guaranteed success in their lives as well but failed to follow God’s plan. His guarantee was good while their execution left something to be desired.

This plan lays out perfectly with seven clear and distinctive parts. (Remember 7 is the number that represents perfection.) This is a perfect plan, designed by a perfect being, to provide perfect success to those who have the faith and the courage to follow it perfectly. Any deviation from the plan lessens the synergistic effect and lessens the level of success you can expect.

Success is a strange thing, God desires it for everyone, yet so few achieve it! Are you ready to take up the challenge? Come back tomorrow and we will get started!

Wax on, wax off Danielson!

Over the past couple months, I have been much in prayer about God’s leadership in the development of my business. It has been a very interesting time with the Lord as he has clarified many things to me. While the details of God’s direction are not really important as they pertain to the specific needs of my business growth, the principles can apply to everyone considering God’s will in their business.

God led me to a passage in Proverbs 30 to teach me two key principles about the development of my business:

“Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”  (Proverbs 30:7-9)

The first thing I came to was that my business was to be operated with transparency and integrity. No business can operate successfully for long based in “vanity and lies.” While I understand that you must be seen as an “expert” in your field for people to consider you, your business, or your advice, to take self-promotion to the extreme heights seen in business today smacks of vanity.

God’s word tells us conversely, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

When we work hard at what we do with transparency and integrity, God will put us in the right position at the right time for our business to be as He wills it to be.

The second key principle in these verses deals with the question, “How much is enough?” The writer here asks God for something that seems a bit out of step for our modern western culture. He asks to be neither poor nor rich, to be fed with food convenient (an appointment of quantity) for him.

The idea here was that people who are “poor” and hungry will steal to get their food, thus declaring God of no value to them while the “rich” will gorge themselves with every delight, thus declaring God unnecessary in their lives. What the writer is then saying is that he wanted to have all that should be appointed to him while not forgetting his reliance on God.

Too much emphasis is place on “how much” money is made these days while too little emphasis is placed on who we depend on to make it. Along with this, people are often overcome by the opportunities that wealth brings while forgetting its responsibilities.

Andrew Carnegie once said “You should spend the first half of your life making money and the second half of your life giving it away.” While most of us don’t have this luxury, it does remind us that those who have been given much, of them shall much be required.

Talk more later ….

When doing any business planning as a Christian we must always remember to look first to God. I have been overwhelmed with what the Psalmist said in Psalm 37.

We are told, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

This passage puts the responsibility on us to let God handle the planning of our businesses. We need to not let the world control our thinking when it comes to business. What we are to do is:

1. Trust in the LORD. God knows what our business should look like and what we can handle to bring the greatest glory to him. We need to trust the Lord in his wisdom.

2. Delight ourselves in the LORD. This simply means we need to be soft or pliable in God’s hands. As we do this, God will give (appoint, ascribe) us the desires of our hearts. In other words, when we are pliable in God’s hands he will place desires in our hearts that allow us to fulfill his will.

3. Commit our way unto the LORD. This is where the rubber meets the road. If we trust the LORD for the design of our business and we become so pliable in his hands that he can place his desires into our hearts, we then need to commit our way (the course of our lives) to him. When we commit ourselves this way, God promises to bring those desires to pass.

Business planning is important and every Christian business owner needs to have a strong business plan, but that plan needs to reflect God’s will above everything else.

What is it that makes our Christian life distinctive in this world? Is it just the fact that we follow a set of “rules” that are outlined in the Bible or is there more to it? Is there more to the name of Christ than the music we listen to and the books that we read? What makes Christianity worth considering and even more worth embracing?

You see, what makes Christianity distinctive, is what will make the business owned by a Christian equally distinctive.

I think that there are three things that make Christianity distinctive among the religions of the world:

1. Christianity is built upon a personal relationship with God himself. Unlike every other world religion, Christianity is based upon the ability of the individual to have a personal relationship with God. This relationship guides the believer in every other aspect of his life. His family life, relationships with friends as well as enemies, and of course the function of his business. Only when the relationship with God is as it should be can the Christian business owner run their business as it should be run.
2. Christianity is based on the notion of love. God, we are told is love and therefore as his children we ought to be the practitioners of his love. Jesus was asked one day what the greatest command was and his answer was to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Then he went further and said the the second great commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. He concluded the thought by saying that it was upon these two commandments that all the law and the prophets hung. Everything is God’s word leads to these two ends. Our relationship with God will lead us to love him and all those that he loves. In business we need to remember that our customers and/or clients ought to see in us the love of holy God. We should demonstrate a genuine, loving concern for them in all that we do.
3. Christianity is distinctive in that it is a religion of mutual service. Throughout the word of God, the believer is shown a pattern of service to others both by Christ himself and by the disciples he trained. Each believer is to care for the other. When this mutual concern is realized its synergy multiplies the result. The Christian business owner knows that she must look for these opportunities to benefit and serve both her customers and/or clients while also looking for ways to benefit her employees and vendors as well. As she learns to serve and bless everyone involved in the success of her business, she will succeed in more than just money.

These three distinct aspects of the Christian faith need to be seen and felt in our businesses for us to be truly a “Christian business.” God will be honored, our clients, customers, employees, and vendors will be best served and we will live under the blessed had of God himself.

In my view, there is no better way to run a business!

I wanted to take just a minute to say “Hello” to the whole online world. I am writing because I have a passion for business and for my faith in Christ. I want this blog to reflect both passions.

If you become a regular reader you will see that the theme of my writing will be a combination of the biblical understanding of business, finances, and making a difference in the world along with what it takes to be successful in the online business world.

My expertise comes from both failures and successes. I want people whose faith really means something to them to be able to have a place to gather around a proverbial cup of coffee and have a conversation about what it means to be a Christian Business Builder.

Come join me and let’s change the world through our faithful service to God and man in the world of business.

Dave Wellman, Founder
Christian Business Builder

When attempting to build a Christian business, the first and most striking question that must be answered is, “What is a Christian Business?”

There are three basic truths that must be understood in order to answer this question. Today I am going to present these basic truths in a broad and general way. Over the next week I will get more specific as to the how these basic truths answer the question, “What is a Christian Business?”

My goal here is to present something that makes us all think. Just because we are Christians and just because we own businesses doesn’t make our businesses “Christian.” My goal is not to denigrate anyone, but to make us all think. Too often we, as Christians, following the “it works” method of business building rather than thinking (and praying!!) about whether or not Christians should follow after such business methods.

So … here are the three basic truths every Christian who wants to own and operate a “Christian Business” needs to understand:

1. To be a Christian business owner, you must first be sure that you are a Christian. Tragically in our world today, many people carry the banner of Christianity and when asked when and how they became a Christian don’t have an answer. Others still have an answer that isn’t consistent with Biblical teachings. This is not the forum to discuss or debate the different nuances of theology, but it is safe to say that being a Christian is necessary to having a Christian business.

2. To be a Christian business owner, you must develop a biblical world-view. Most businesses (even those whose owners are Christian) operate from a fleshly world-view. All that their businesses are about is “success” and “success” by definition is always about making more money, having more things, and “living the dream.” God doesn’t ever say that his people should all be poor and without means, but he does give great amounts of insight as to how their blessings of success are to be used.

3. To be a Christian business owner you must live a life of benevolent service. God is glorified when his people serve others ahead of themselves (just like he did by going to the cross). We are called to be stewards of those things he gives us (and that includes our businesses). Until we see our mission as one in which we help others even ahead of ourselves, we will never really know what it means to have a “Christian” business.

WOW!!! I must be nuts to think like this! But, before you just write me off as  kooky, take time to consider and pray about what you read. Going into a new year is a great time to move forward in both your faith as well as your business.

Talk soon ….

Merry Christmas to everyone. 2010 is going to be an exciting year. See you then!

Have you ever wondered about why there is so much debt in America these days? Have you ever considered the shear magnitude of what debt does and the true horrors is produces in our society? Have you ever thought about who might be behind such a diabolical plan to enslave the vast majority of this countries people to the place where there is little or no room for God in their lives? As Christians, these questions must have answers and we must be settled in those answers if we are going to be living testimonies for the glory of God.

Thoughts about money, debt, and greed have been the focus of my thinking over the past couple years. I have come to some firm conclusions about these thoughts and am going to make them available to you here. There is literally too much to say in one post, so I will divide things up into several articles. I hope you will enjoy them, be challenged by them, and really consider the real battle underway through the methods of greed, covetousness, and debt.

Let me start out by saying that having money and possessions is not a sin. However, coveting money and possessions is! Covetousness and greed are among the biggest problems in America today and their ramifications reach into every one’s view of God. The poor who are covetous blame God for their lack and the wealthy who are covetous see themselves as always deserving more “blessings.” They both have wrong views of God based on their covetous and its evil twin, greed.

As Christian business owners, we certainly want to be successful. We want to honor God in this part of our lives as well as any. We know that God blesses those that work hard and we certainly are willing to work hard. However, we sometimes forget that God does not keep score by how much, but by faithful and that he distributes life’s blessings as it pleases him. Even David, the king whose heart was after God’s own heart, knew times of luxury in the palace and times of living in caves.

The Apostle Paul said, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. ” Philippians 4:12-14

His primary concern was not how much that he had but that he had it from the Lord. He was content knowing he was serving the Lord, and he trusted God for his wealth. Paul continued this teaching when, writing to Timothy, speaking about false teachers said, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” (1 Timothy 6:3-11)

Now I know that this passage does say that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil, but how many times have you asked someone, “What do you do?” and had them answer in some other way than how they make money? How many business owners, when asked that question, say, “Well, I run my business so that I can be a blessing my church, strengthen my community, and change the world for the glory of God?”

I will leave you with that thought for now … Remember, Greed Kills!