Business as Mission When You’re Not the Boss: BAM for the Rest of Us [Book Excerpt]
by Mike Baer
The Story So Far…
God graciously invaded my life in early 1974. Actually He had been battering at the gate of my self-centered fortress for some time prior but it was in February of that year that, like Lydia, the Lord opened my heart and I believed. My conversion was dramatic. Not emotional. No fireworks. Yet one man knelt down to meet Christ and another, entirely new person got up to live for Him.
Within a week I had connected with 3 other new believers on the campus of the University of Tennessee. We all faced a common dilemma. What do Christians do on Friday night? We were expert in what pagans do. But what about the followers of Jesus? Not knowing any better we decided to get together to read the Bible, to pray together and to play cards. That first evening there were 4 of us. The next week there were 8. Then 16 and so on until soon over 150 students and young people began to gather to study the Word, to pray, and eventually to exercise baptism, the Lord’s Supper and Church Discipline. Without our knowing it God had used us to plant a New Testament church. I, along with a couple of others became the “elders” and “pastors” of this congregation and from that point I spent the next 15 years in a pastoral role for several different churches around the US. I went on to study at a variety of institutions – missionary training schools, Bible colleges, non-Christian universities – and earned a BA and eventually gained a Th.M.. I jokingly refer to myself as the “accidental church planter” because only God could have engineered such a path.
However, over the course of the 15 years that I was in the formal pastorate the Lord began to create in my heart a thirst to be more effective in reaching unbelievers and encouraging believers who were distant from the organized church. I began to sense that my “pastoral job” was actually more of a barrier to this desire rather than a bridge. Let me quickly say that this was for me and not for all those engaged in pastoral work.
Over time, the Holy Spirit made it clear that He wanted me to leave the formal pastorate and migrate into the business world. This is where I could engage the lost and the least churched on their turf, in their domain. Fast forward. For the next 10 years I was blessed to be highly successful in business and to enjoy the granting of my heart’s desires. I was able to demonstrate and communicate the Gospel to many who would never darken the door of a church, even the most seeker friendly church. Believers who were disenfranchised from organized church began to find encouragement, shepherding and equipping in the context of the workplace. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.
My quest, though, was not ended. There began to emerge in my mind a burning question: how do these two seemingly separate parts of my life fit together? Ministry and Business. 15 years in one; 10 years in the other. Were they two different books? Two entirely distinct chapters?
While I prayed about and pondered this, the Lord arranged for me to travel to Kyrgyzstan. This was the early 1990’s. The Soviet Union had collapsed and Kyrgyzstan was among the many Muslim republics to break away and form independent countries. I was invited to work with the State Medical Institute to help their students learn how to establish fee-for-service medical practices in place of the collapsed centralized Soviet system. It was in Kyrgyzstan that I began to discover God’s “seamless integration of business as mission.” It was there as an open follower of Jesus and a real business person that the “corridors of power and influence” opened both to me and to the Gospel.
For the last 25 years it has been my privilege to operate in the space now known as BAM – business as mission. We have launched over 1300 micro-businesses (MEDs) in 25 countries. We have helped acquire or launch several “small to midsized” enterprises (SMEs) and consulted with others. All of this is with a focus to see Jesus Christ demonstrated, communicated, and embraced in and through business around the world. This is my passion. This is my calling. This is my joy.
Another Perspective
In 2006 my first book was published. Business as Mission: The Power of Business in the Kingdom of God. It has been very well received and I have received many notes of thanks and encouraging testimonies about how the concepts in it have helped business people find their meaningful place in God’s work in the world–especially among the unreached who live in very hard to get to places.
My good friend Peter had read the book and invited me to address the Cre8 Conference in Melbourne, Australia. After one of the main sessions several approached me. “We really like your book,” the group said, “but it doesn’t really apply directly to most of us. We’re having to work really hard to make the leap. You need to write another book!” My Aussie audience in typical Aussie fashion were bringing their feedback right up the middle—which, by the way, is the how I like it. And they were right.
I have pretty much always been an entrepreneur. I started working when I was eleven and haven’t stopped since. I’ve started service companies, consulting companies, churches, and ministries. I’ve normally been the founder, the CEO. And, I hate to admit, this background blinded me to an obvious truth. It’s one thing to build a kingdom company, a BAM business, when you’re in control. But what about the other 85% out there. As one brother put it, “What about the rest of us?” This new book will help answer that question.
This new book Business as Mission When You’re Not the Boss: BAM for the Rest of Us takes up where Business as Mission leaves off.
The fundamental principles are the same:
Business in the kingdom is…
- Vocational–it is a high and holy calling from God on the same level as all other callings including “ministry.”
- Intentional–it is to be deliberately connected to God’s ultimate purpose in the world.
- Relational–it is a web of people entrusted to us by God to serve, love and develop.
- Operational–it is a business and needs to be managed in a way that glorifies God and creates a profit, i.e. financial, social and spiritual impact (a.k.a. the “triple bottom line.”
Yet while the principles are the same the practical applications are quite different when you report to somebody else, when somebody else is the boss or owner, when you are what my Australian friends called “2IC” or “second in command.”
Biblical Role Models
Some would question if it is even possible to see a company do “business as mission” if you aren’t the CEO or if there is any hope of significant kingdom impact in such a case. The answer is a strong “Yes!” I would particularly point out two men from Scripture who were clearly not the “main man” and yet no one would doubt that their presence contributed to remarkable results and kingdom outcomes–the deliverance of nations, the declaration of the glory of God, the pointing of kings to the YAHWEH, the practical blessings of many people, and even leading the CEO to confess that “the Lord He is God.” Of course I’m referring to Joseph and Daniel. I call Joseph the “boy who delivered two nations.” Daniel is the “boy who served as a trusted advisor to two empires.” Both had tremendous impact over a long period of time. Both labored under adverse circumstances. Both saw God honored in and through their careers. I realize that none of us is Joseph or Daniel. However, we are no less than they. We are the children and servants of the Most High God and He longs to work through us too. Much of the balance of this book will be based on analysis of the lives of these two men.
One of the reasons this book has taken so long to be written is that I didn’t want to write out of theory alone—even theory based on Scripture. I need to write what I’ve learned from experience. To that end, I turned my consulting business over to my partner a few years ago and went to work as an employee for one of my clients. Using Joseph and Daniel as role models I have sought to see kingdom purposes affected in and through the company. The situation is different. It has unique challenges. Yet, I can say that God, in His amazing faithfulness, has proven to me that He can and will use those of us who are “second in command” or in other positions as an employee as a witness and as a catalyst to Kingdom Impact. BAM is not limited to the entrepreneur or owner; it is a calling for all of us.
So, as you read the book, I pray that God will encourage you and help you discover that for a business person who loves Jesus there is a special place in the Kingdom and a special way in which you can impact it.
Sola Dei Gloria!
About the Book
Many Christians in business feel that impacting the workplace for Christ, at home or overseas, is only for the owner or the boss. But what about those of us who aren’t owners or entrepreneurs? Originally published as “2IC”, Business as Mission When You’re Not the Boss is just that, a guide to Kingdom Impact for the rest of us. Based on the lives of Joseph and Daniel, Mike Baer shows that you can be “second in command” (or 2IC) and be used of God to make meaningful kingdom impact. More book information.
Mike Baer was one of the early leaders in the modern Business as Mission movement. He started his career as a pastor and church planter. After 15 years in the pastorate Mike was led into business where he gradually began to discover the potential for believers in business to bless their communities, evangelize the lost and spread the Kingdom of God, especially among the unreached. Today, Mike is the CEO of Third Path Initiative, an online BAM education resource, a strategic coach to companies in the staffing industry, a podcast host and YouTube content creator, a speaker at BAM conferences, and an author of 10 books. He and his wife Cindy live in the mountains of Western North Carolina (USA) and enjoy their grandchildren.
