By Guest Author I am an accidental entrepreneur. I did not originally go about seeking to use business as the tool for transformation. My only goal or tentative hope was to find a way for women in India’s growing sex trade to a way to find freedom in whatever way possible. I first entered one […]
By Mats Tunehag, with input from Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag In the 1700’s the slave trade was widely accepted and legal. It was, in fact, a backbone of the economy of the British Empire. It was a big, organized and transnational business. William Wilberforce and the Clapham group decided to fight this evil trade. They chose […]
by Mats Tunehag My wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in August. The focus was freedom! Freedom from slavery and injustice, and freedom to live in truth, enjoy beauty, create wealth and share goodness. This is the story of freedom business. We know that jobs with dignity are […]
by Patrick Lai Every man is as lazy as he dares to be. – Emerson Emerson had it right. People do not do what is expected; we do what is inspected. Phil Parshall, after forty years of serving among Muslims, said to me, “I have my doubts about tentmaking … most tentmakers I know start […]
by Patrick Lai John Piper writes, “For much of my Christian life I have had a one-sided view of “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). I assumed that the verse meant only that when hard news or rebuke needed to be brought, it should be done with tenderness and sensitivity. I was wrong. Not totally […]
by Mike Baer The word “integrity” has been bandied about so much over the last decade or so that it has practically become meaningless. Politicians are described in their self-serving advertisements as men or women of “integrity.” We like the word. It’s right up there with “tolerant”—another empty term. In fact, who could argue with […]
by Larry Sharp A disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leading firms, products and alliances. The term was defined and phenomenon analyzed by Clayton M. Christensen beginning in 1995.1 BAM takes into consideration, the human condition […]
by Dave Kahle For much of my Christian life, I’ve struggled with a difficult and painful image of myself: I was a second-class Christian. No one ever said that to me in so many words, but a certain belief permeates our Christian culture so deeply that few Christians would ever question it: Real ministry is defined […]
by Dave Kahle “Our business should just make money so that we can give it away” – that’s the message our contemporary evangelical culture teaches us. Those who look for a higher purpose in their business may find this message easy to accept but is this message actually short-sighted and missing the mark on all […]
by The Lausanne Movement and BAM Global Wealth Creation is Rooted in God The Bible makes a bold claim, namely, that wealth creation is rooted in God the creator. He is the ultimate source of all wealth. Genesis 1:1 declares, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ And Genesis 2:1 notes that […]
by Dave Kahle “For my whole life, I was led to believe that we were the richest country on earth. Now, I see that we are the poorest. It’s like my whole life has been wasted.” This comment comes from John, the 80-year old father of one of our Albanian foster children, who was visiting […]
by Larry Sharp In recent years I have taken notice of what pastors have stated on topics related to Business as Mission (BAM), the theology of work and the Great Commission. Here are some comments which give me particular concern and have caused me to wonder how typical they are or if they are part […]
How can BAM companies avoid losing their way? On the one hand, many BAM startups lose momentum, fail to break even, or simply get aborted. On the other hand, some BAM companies that reach financial success find themselves in danger of losing sight of the non-financial goals and objectives that led them to start their […]
by Bill Cousineau In Part 1 – Planning for Breakthrough Performance, we discussed the issues of traditional strategic planning. We summarized it by saying that in too many instances, the polished business plan is nothing more than a highly thought-out collection of concepts and ideals, tied together by wishful thinking. None of which result in customers […]
by Bill Cousineau Some years ago I worked at an Aerospace company. At one offsite location, a man by the name of Dave Hanna coined the phrase, “Every organization is perfectly designed to get the results they are getting!” That phrase has always stuck in my mind. Think about it: As leaders in business we […]
by Stu Minshew It is such a privilege that the Lord calls His people walk alongside Him as He advances the gospel to the nations. Today, more than ever, business is powerful tool that He is using around the globe. As a Christian entrepreneur, I am extremely excited to see all that He is doing. […]
Three female BAM owners share their Human Resource stories from around the world – from Mongolia to Turkey to Puerto Rico! People issues can make or break a BAM company. Listen in to these real-life experiences. Julia in Mongolia – Hospitality Industry Keeping staff steady has been a major challenge! We have had a 10 […]
by Jim Nelson Making the right hiring decisions is crucial to a company’s well-being. From a BAM company perspective, I have sought to hire local Christians to work for me. By our shared faith, we can understand each other better and seek Kingdom values in the company and surrounding community. If proper research, interviewing and […]
by Patrick Lai Lions and Martyrs are entering the colosseum to do battle. The Lions are investors, hungry to invest in solid BAM/B4T businesses. They hope to make money, as well as create new opportunities for the Good News among the least reached. The Martyrs are starting new businesses in spiritually, and some cases, economically […]
by Chris Cloud Since there are many excellent articles on Vision Casting out there, I have decided to come at this from a different angle. My question is: Where is a vision likely to fall off the rails? I’d argue that most individuals, and most organizations, are not guided by a clear vision. I have been […]
by Dave Kahle I’m facing a big business decision – whether to invest a significant portion of my retirement funds into a new venture whose financial success is hardly assured. At the same time, last week I worked with a friend who is faced with a very similar decision, whether to invest a big portion […]
by Dave Kahle One of the characteristics that distinguish a biblical business from its competitors is the degree to which the executives of biblical businesses embed prayer into the fabric of the business. This is an uncomfortable thought to many Christian business people, who have been led to believe that prayer has no place in […]
by Roxanne Addink DeGraaf Growing up in Iowa, the agricultural heartland of the United States, I was surrounded by farms. I remember childhood summers milking cows and “walking beans” (walking between rows of soybeans to pick weeds) on my grandparent’s farm. I saw how the farm put food on the table, as I always enjoyed a cold […]
by Stu Minshew On the theme of ‘maximizing BAM success factors’ we’ve invited guest authors to highlight what they consider key factors contributing to success and growth for BAM practitioners. Previously we’ve covered ‘breaking through your growth ceiling’ for an established business. But what if you are a startup? What if you have a business idea and […]
by Dave Kahle “Is there one business model that you would recommend to a budding entrepreneur?” That was the question a young man asked me recently. I reflected for a moment over the past 25 years, and answered this way: “No. I’ve worked with over 500 businesses, and in that pack there were lots of […]
by Mats Tunehag “Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” (Deut 8:18) The Bible talks about wealth in three ways; one is bad and two are good. Hoarding of wealth is condemned. Sharing of wealth is encouraged. But there is no wealth to be shared […]
by Colleene Isaacs “Why did I fail? I did it by the book. I listened to my advisors. I corrected course based on what others recommended…” “The business was a good idea, the timing was probably just off…” “I knew I was in God’s will. He would provide and make it successful. How could I go […]
by Chris Cloud I’ve had many failures in my life. One of them was in business. I was partner in a healthcare related startup that launched right before the Great Recession in the U.S. We were trying to do something radical, and the market wasn’t ready. But the truth is, neither were we as company […]
by Larry Sharp The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Stories from the Frontline Last year I was leading a seminar in a conference in Arizona, when a local business owner asked the question, “Are there no failed BAM businesses?” While I readily agreed there were, I began to think about the question in […]
by Evan Keller We entrepreneurs thrive on an inner fountain of optimism and courage. While these God-given virtues help us scale astounding heights, they also set us up for catastrophic falls. How so? We simultaneously and unwittingly possess the ominous dark sides of these strengths we so prize. A healthy optimism can morph into a […]