Available now through Amazon or other online bookstores.
Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction:
The opportunity for Christian business owners to influence this country toward the Lord is ripe, mostly unexplored and seldom discussed in our churches, colleges, MBA[1] programs or seminaries.
In our Evangelical subculture, there exists, at best, a dotted line between what a business owner does Monday thru Friday and what she hears from the pulpit on Sunday. In my 60+ years of going to church, I’ve never heard even one part of one sermon, let alone a full sermon, focus on the act of owning and running a business.
In working at Faith Radio[2] as a volunteer for over seven years, I’ve been given access to the books publishers send in the hopes that someone will interview the author on-air and thus drive sales for the new book as well as expanding the ministry of that author. Countless books talk about prayer, holiness, family, parenting, healing marriages, recovery, discovering the secrets of this or that – all of which are good and necessary topics. A few discuss the integration of business and faith, and of those that do, the focus is usually on faith and work in general. It is rare to find a book which focuses on any aspect of business ownership or God’s purposes for business.
I attended one of the most prestigious seminaries in the nation for five years and I do not recall even one discussion – let alone one course – on how our theology would impact those who own businesses. When I look at the course descriptions of most Master of Divinity degrees at our leading seminaries, few have an emphasis on stewardship or the integration of business and theology.[3] This means that when a guy or gal graduates from most seminaries in America, supporting business owners as stewards will not be on their radar screen. It’s not that they don’t care. It’s simply a lack of training which leads to a lack of awareness which leads to an absence of focus on stewardship in their ministries.
Privately, if they are honest, many pastors will tell you they are uncomfortable preaching about money, economics, giving, generosity and so forth. Most elder boards, however, need them to address it from time to time because giving levels are so embarrassingly low among those who claim the name of Jesus Christ. So, tensions can exist between pastors and boards as churches need more money to survive while pastors find it easier to avoid than to engage.
To be sure, there are high-profile Christian business owners who have had positive influence, such as Dave Thomas, who founded Wendy’s, Truitt Cathy who founded Chik-fil-A, James Cash Penny, who was a partner in the founding of the Golden Rule Store, which was later renamed to JC Penny’s in 1914 or Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart and who started in business by working as a clerk at JC Penny.[4]
Forever 21 prints John 3.16 at the bottom of their bags. Tyson Foods employs over 1000 chaplains to provide pastoral care to their employees. Alaska Air, Interstate Batteries and others have a distinct set of roots in Christianity because of their founders.[5] But as influential as these and others like them have been, we need more than a dozen or more of large companies owned by Christians to achieve the revival I envision for this nation. We need a sea change in those smaller businesses owned by Christians who have under 100 employees. To help bring about this change, we need a base of theology from which to build a Biblical ethos of Christian business ownership in our seminaries and churches. It’s an audacious vision. It’s not an optional goal.
[1] Master of Business Administration
[2][2] KTIS, Minneapolis/St. Paul. myfaithradio.com
[3] Happily, Seattle Pacific University has a dual degree program for those wishing to obtain both a Master of Divinity and a Master of Business Administration degrees.
[4] High Profile Christian Business Leaders. Tim Parker, October 5, 2018. investopedia.com
[5] 18 Extremely Religious Big American Companies. Max Nisen, June 23, 2013. Businessinsider.com.
