VALDOSTA – If you are a Christian, you are under the same mandate that I am – the Great Commission. In Matthew 28 Jesus told the disciples to “go and make disciples of all the nations…” The great commission was the last set of instructions given by Jesus while he was on earth. Being his last instructions, we can assume they were very important to Jesus and should be to us. That is why they are called “great”.
As followers of Christ, we are called to fulfill the great commission but only a small percentage of Christians ever go into full-time ministry as a vocation. In fact, only 2% of Christians are in ministry as a vocation. Wouldn’t you think full-time ministry is where we’d all be if we were serious about fulfilling the great commission?
Maybe not. Maybe the other 98% of us who live our lives outside of full-time ministry are where God wants us – in the marketplace.
In Matthew 9:35 Jesus stated that “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” If Jesus were here today would he say more of us should be in full-time ministry in churches and the mission field? I’d guess he would.
Would he also say that we are all in the mission field, but most of us are failing to recognize our calling to live out the great commission where we are planted?
The marketplace is the best opportunity we have to make a positive difference in the world. The marketplace is self-funding, so it won’t run out of resources if we do it right. The marketplace is focused on meeting the needs of our clients. The better we meet their needs the more clients we attract and the more money we make. The better we serve, the better we do financially. We can then use those resources to expand our reach and to give back.
To deliver great value to our customers we must employ great team members. People need jobs and leaders in the marketplace need people. We can serve our team members by providing them jobs and a place to learn, grow and develop their skills.
Growing leaders in our organizations is discipleship. By teaching our people what we know, followers of Christ will be imparting His truths to their people whether they pull out their Bible or not.
Try this. Listen to any of the great success coaches that have ever lived. Anybody that is not a “get rich quick” person. If you listen to them and if you know the Bible, you will be able to find the Biblical truth behind most of the instructions that these coaches give.
People have an innate need to succeed and give back, to make the world a better place. In the marketplace, we can offer them this opportunity. As we grow more great leaders, we will serve our customers even better. Our great service will attract more customers, so we’ll need more great people to serve them. Those people will need to be discipled/trained.
It is a virtuous cycle that too few of us recognize is right in front of us. Too many of us are overwhelmed trying to fit all our ministry work in our free time when there are amazing ministry opportunities in front of us every day at work.
If you’d like to learn more about being a light at work, please join us for a 3-night study starting October 10th.
We will be meeting at First Baptist Church from 6-7pm on Wednesday, October 10th, 17th and 24th. Everyone is welcome to attend so invite friends! You can also join us for dinner at the church starting at 5 pm ($7 per person, max $24 per family). Please call ahead for dinner so they can know how much food to prepare.
There will be activities for children and spouses during our meeting times. Spouses are welcome to attend this event or other options available at the church. You don’t have to be in the marketplace to participate. My wife will be attending, and she is full-time homeschool mom. If you are not in the marketplace, you probably support someone who is.
Please call the church office @ 229-242-0484 to sign up so we can have materials ready for you. Also, let the church know if you will be joining us for dinner.
You can learn more and invite friends using our Facebook event page. You can find that here – https://www.facebook.com/events/309623259827725/
There is an optional $15 donation per participant to cover the costs of printing and binding.
Have a business topic you’d like me to cover? Send suggestions to cfowler [at] valuesdrivenresults.com or use our contact form by clicking here (http://valuesdrivenresults.com/work-with-us/)
Curt Fowler is President of Fowler & Company (http://valuesdrivenresults.com/) and Director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey (http://valdostacpa.com/) . He is dedicated to helping leaders create and achieve a compelling vision for their organization. He is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and has an MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School. He is also a CPA and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.
