Sharing your Faith in the Marketplace. Week 1

Introduction.

Creating something that others want feels incredible. The only thing that tops it is creating something that makes others want something bigger than you could ever make. I believe this future is full of faith Driven Entrepreneurs who will do just that. Men and women around the world working to create products and services that meet the needs of those around them and point to the God who meets all our needs.

Christians know that their work is a part of their worship. But the hell has not always been as clear. Here at Faith driven entrepreneurs we will give you practical, actionable ways to build on your faith and integrate it into how you lead, lunch, and grow your business. Our world is groaning for the gospel, and business leaders following Jesus are posed for radical impact. These articles need to be read by every Christian business person, business student, investor, and pastor.

Entrepreneurial-ship is the key to unleashing the next generation of Christ followers who are seeking to love God and love people. What does it mean to be a face turban entrepreneur? What does it really mean to be a Faith Driven person? These are questions we should find ourselves asking often. These articles are written for Christian entrepreneurs, but there is something about that phrase faith driven that makes you think. Christian makes a phenomenal noun but a sub par additive. If I told you I was a Christian baker what exactly does that mean? I would like to imagine that a Christian baker if someone you instantly knew operated with quality, excellence, integrity, timeliness, and many other virtues. That would be awesome if whatever came after the additive Christian meant that. But often times it does not. These articles are helping us redefined the idea of excellence by giving us a different frame. We’re faith driven.

Just exactly what does that mean? First and foremost, it says that my faith in Jesus drives the way I work in live. It says that I am here to create quality work. It says that I am here to do the work that God has put in my hands to the best of my ability because I believe that he oversees everything I do, in my work, my time, my energy Dash all things that belong to income from him Dash our tools to serve him well.

Faith is when you can be honest and transparent and say, quotation God, I don’t have what it takes. I need you to do it. And quotation for Christians, we can be tempted to twist our virtues so that they serve us. We like to pat ourselves on the back and say, “ look at me.“

Faith Driven entrepreneurs who are starting companies in building businesses where they believe in Jesus in an understanding of themselves as beloved children of God as their core identity. Entrepreneurs are not God‘s plan B. Rather, they are the people God has called and equipped to see his will done on earth as it is in heaven.

As an entrepreneur, you, yes, you Dash or a part of God‘s plan a. God has a purpose and a plan for the entrepreneurial ventures his people are starting and growing all around the world. The work you do today – the company you’ve built, the employees you work with, the customers you serve, the shareholders you report to, all of it–can serve as an active part of what God is doing on earth.

They serve an entrepreneur is both an organization and a type of person. As an organization, we exist to encourage, equip, and empower Christ followers, entrepreneur early minded people with world-class content and community. As people, we are working to create, alongside the master creator, businesses and enterprises that bring him glory through their mission, their return, and their practices.

Moreover, faith driven entrepreneurs are a movement. It is a continually growing group of people who believe that they are sent by God to do his work by building businesses that serve his plan.

entrepreneurial-ship is a lonely journey but it doesn’t have to be. You do not have to build your business on an island. Let this be an affirmation and a call to arms Dash your work matters, and you’re not the only one out there doing it!

There are 582 million entrepreneurs in the world – that includes every tech entrepreneur, salon owner, an independent insurance representative. Approximately 180 million people who are creating in shaping culture; 180 million people who are ready know that their work is an opportunity to transform and innovate, to help and serve, to lunch and learn; 180 million people who are just like you Dash who are building businesses on behalf of the God who made them.

Our vision at Cornerstone Consulting is that within 10 years, every Christ following Entrepreneur will know the majesty of the gospel first, and with that gift fully received, will be inspired to bring their gifting, experience, talent, and work to the altar as their meaningful form of spiritual worship, thereby transforming the workplaces, families, and communities in which they operate.

Called to Creativity.

We want to see that happen in the lives of entrepreneurs all around the world. This is the mission that gets us out of bed each morning and it has motivated this training.

So what are the defining characteristics of a FaithDriven entrepreneur? They are the values, habits, faith, and traits that allow people to successfully build a business and faithfully pursue a loving relationship with God. That is what this training is. It is an outline of those characteristics, stories that display what they look like, and encouragement for how you can see them in your own life in business.

At the end of each entry we’ve included a PDF of discussion guide that will help you dive deeper into these ideas with others. Because despite what you may have felt in the past, you don’t have to go this alone.

This training is the starting line. It is not meant to be comprehensive or the final word on the subject. It’s just the start Dash for me, for you, and for the entire faith driven entrepreneurial movement. Start realizing that God has a plan for every entrepreneur, and he’s inviting you into it. Will you join?

Are called to create. Does god call people into certain jobs and professions? Is your calling a special spiritual experience? Are some people called and other people not? Theologians have for decades been debating about what Colin really means and how he can discern our own, the real harm in our conversations around calling is found in the spiritual caste system it has created between secular and sacred callings.

Being quotation mark called end quotation mark into ministry seems like a special, more elite, and more personal path than having a career in other professions. Christians often consider those called to vocational ministry a special ops group that only certain people are qualified for. We often believe that there are regular believers on one side and preachers, teachers, and missionaries on the other. Well, we cannot all be missionaries and preachers, it’s easy to feel like those people have received something special from God that we have not. Why can’t an entrepreneurial venture, lived and pursued faithfully, be God‘s desire for your life? I think it Can be.

Entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity to step into a purpose that is aligned with who God is and how God has made them. Just us pastors are taking the gifts God has given them and given those gifts back to others, entrepreneurs can take the creative problem-solving energy within them and pour that back out into society in a way that is beneficial to those who receive it and glorifying to the God who instilled it in them in the first place.

As an entrepreneur, you have felt the life-giving energy that comes through serving your customers, vendors, and investors. You get fired up when you find solutions to problems. You cannot wait to see the fruit of the work of your hands. Why? Because you are created in the image of a creative, entrepreneurial God. God created humans in his image. And in his image, we can see a God who worked six days and created something out of nothing. That’s who we are. That’s what an entrepreneur does!

When you solve problems from scratch, that is an opportunity to commune with the living God who has helped people solve problems from the beginning of time. When you provide a new idea, a new resource, a new training, or a new product, that is a chance to bear witness to a God who is the ultimate provider. When you pray, quotation mark the kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven, end” God is answering that prayer with a resounding yes, and he is running toward you, eagerly inviting you to come under his power and his protection to join him in doing the work to make that happen. Leave your feelings of inadequacy at the door. You were made for this. God has something incredible in store for the faith driven entrepreneur.

If we want to learn what it means to be a FaithDriven entrepreneur, the first place we can look to is the garden. Because you, entrepreneur — whether you’re calling yourself that yet or not – or a gardener. But you’re not the first. God is the original entrepreneur. We can see that from the very beginning he has created us to share in his entrepreneurial process: (Genesis 2:15).

God invited Adam into the work of Caring For and cultivating the garden right away. He did not just sit Adam down in Eden and tell him to enjoy himself. Adam had roles and responsibilities.

So often, we think of work as a curse -as something God made us do after we got kicked out of the garden. But what if work is actually a part of bearing his image? What if work is an invitation to create and build alongside the ultimate entrepreneur? What if work is something God gave us as a vehicle through which we can enjoy his presence?

The garden of Eden and all the plants and animals in it were shared between God and man. That’s the perfect vision of entrepreneurship Dash that we can be united in purpose, passion, and pursuit with God. God wants to work with us. He wants to create with us. He wants to start, share, and complete new projects and ideas with us. He does not ask us to work in isolation.

God uses us to bring about his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Our creations and Services can bring order out of chaos, solve problems, rally against injustice, and create dignity an opportunity for those who interact with our creations. These truths should empower us. It should give us the ability to move forward confidently as we create and lead our businesses, as we propose solutions to societal problems, and as we step out in faith into the entrepreneurial venture God has drawn us to.

As an entrepreneur you want to break out of whatever societal box makes you feel trapped, and you want to move and shake and do and work and make something. That’s the entrepreneurial dream. And since you’re part of this training about being a Faith Driven entrepreneur, my guess is you are serious about your Christian faith as well. Entrepreneurial ship provides a place where you get to commune with God through the creative processes. It provides a way through which we can love God and love others. And so my hope is that as you study through this training in the next seven weeks — these marks of a FaithDriven entrepreneur Dash you will feel empowered to do what you’re doing and to do it well.

Entrepreneurship is a legitimate pursuit that, when done well, brings honor and glory to our entrepreneurial God. You can speak confidently about what you do, because God is in you and with you.