Business & Faith

Vocational Discipleship

Dr. Mike Business & Faith ,
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 ESV

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What is your favorite church program? Sunday school, women’s ministry, choir, praise band, small groups, bible studies, missions, etc. My answer may surprise you. The reason why may even challenge your #1 choice.

Of all the programs I have been associated with over the last forty plus years, the one with the greatest impact in my life and in the life of many others is discipleship. Not just being mentored on how to live in Christ, but how to live each day in the workplace with, in, and through Christ. So when we speak about vocational discipleship, we are emphasizing how to integrate faith with our vocational calling.

The reason vocational discipleship rates so high in my book is it takes every area of one’s life into consideration. Most of us will spend more than a third of our waking hours working in the marketplace. When one practices the discipline of following Christ through mutual submission with another believer who likewise has surrendered his business kingdom to our Lord, personal and cultural transformation is exciting to witness.

Through discipleship one learns and puts into practice leadership, serving, giving, loving, communicating, and over one hundred other attributes that imitates our Triune God.

So when vocational discipleship is the prime program of every church, members exercise their gifts and talents for God’s glory and for the sake of others in the immediate church community as well as outside their four walls. Church becomes more relevant when one sees how God is involved in everyday life within the marketplace. In addition, vocational discipleship lays the ground work for saints to capture more ground for God’s Kingdom. Church becomes a 24/7 activity.

The believer grows to trust and rely everyday on God’s faithfulness and grace through the challenges and opportunities presented in the marketplace. When You see God move through the workplace each day, your faith and witness becomes stronger. You learn leadership by following your King’s lead. As you follow the Spirit’s lead, you relate with others by how God relates with you.

So if you have time to become involved with only one church program, my recommendation is vocational discipleship. If your church doesn’t have such a program, maybe the time has come to start one.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Founder & Executive Director
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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Marriage, Dancing, Daytrading

Dr. Mike Business & Faith, Life in Christ , , ,
” What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.” Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 ESV

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The best things I learn about life and walking with God comes through marriage, dancing, and daytrading.

Marriage is the platform that introduces me to self-sacrificial love and mutual submission. The same love that Jesus demonstrated through his life is put in practice everyday within the marriage relationship. The same attitude the apostle Paul writes about is likewise tested each day within the bounds of marriage. Marriage cultivates the fruit of godliness within a relationship when Christ is the center of the two. If I can’t make it work in marriage, how do I make it work elsewhere?

Ballroom dancing teaches me to lead others by mutually working together focused on the same goal. Whether we are dancing the foxtrot, waltz, or polka, two people expressing themselves through the rhythm of the music in unison is a joy to behold. Though typically one leads (the male in most circles), when professionals dance, the lead role may switch without the casual outsiders even recognizing the difference. In my early dancing attempts as a young man, I had many a widow move me around the dance floor. They knew I wasn’t ready to lead. I was happy just to learn. Later in life, I learned that there is a time to lead and a time to let the other lead. Insecurity and control are the demons that prevents one from truly experiencing the joy of following the lead of the Spirit in one’s life. Dancing teaches me the joy of mutual leadership.

Daytrading the stock market involves risk and reward built upon reality, repentance, and boundaries. To trade successfully, one needs to recognize what they may not initially see. That the market is greater than any one person and deserves a high amount of respect. Realizing its power, we need to change our thinking towards it. We need to relearn everything we think we may know about it. In a sense, we need to repent and believe in its possibilities. In the process, we need to develop boundaries that protect us from harm but yet allows us to experience the fruit of success. The trade masters from yesterday have much to say what it takes to manage our relationship with this mighty beast. For some this beast is cruel and mean robbing them of their livelihood. For others, the beast is a rewarder of those who praise and respect its might learning to live within its boundaries. I chose the latter. Like God, when one grasps His reality, repents and changes their thinking about Him, and learns to walk within His Divine boundaries, life becomes immeasurable more than just breathing, eating, and sleeping.

Now you know why I am always reminded how awesome our Triune God is whenever the subject of marriage, dancing, and daytrading come up. How about you? What activities make God come alive in your life?

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Founder & Executive Director
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
* Great Business Emulates a Good God
* Be Radical…Follow Christ!
* Simply The Messenger
* Unequally Married

Yellow Pencils

Dr. Mike Business & Faith, Kingdom Paradigms, Life in Christ
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…Romans 12:3-6 ESV

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What would life be like if everyone only wrote with a #2 yellow pencil? We probably would manage. However, what would happen if someone introduces you to a red pencil? a mechanical blue pencil? a typewriter? a computer? Which would you prefer?

One of the challenges of leadership is surrounding yourself with people who will compliment you. There are leaders who surround themselves only with people who are like themselves. In my time we called them “yes” people. They always would agree with leadership in public. But behind doors, they totally disagree with the leaders final decision. They act like they are 100% behind the decision, but passively rebel when the foot hits the cement.

On the other hand, there are leaders who surround themselves with all types of people who differ from themselves. Abraham Lincoln built his senior cabinet post surrounding himself with people of high abilities but whose allegiance would be questioned from the outside looking in. Yet he recognized that differences of opinion and personality and other attributes assisted him with reaching important decisions.

What does this have to do with yellow pencils and the church? Sometimes we in the church believe everyone should behave and act and look in a peculiar way. Like yellow pencils, we believe unity comes from conformity on the outside. Not realizing that Christian unity comes from the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3 ). Ever notice how ministers graduating from the same seminary behave and act similarly when preaching or teaching a course. They simple execute what they have learned. Like yellow pencils, they look and act accordingly.

Yet there are those who realize the purpose of a pencil is to have the ability to communicate through the written medium. The color of the pencil doesn’t matter. Whether it is a #2 or a #3 pencil doesn’t matter. What matters is that the message is communicated.

I for one am thankful that God created us all with a different personality, ethnic origin, and attributes. It adds flavor and color into the action. Yet for those whose preference is yellow pencils, I am also thankful that God created you. Without you I wouldn’t appreciate all the various differences that make up the Body of Christ.

PS: To this day I am a faithful, daily yellow pencil user in my work and writings. I also enjoy modern technology. Everything has a time, place, and purpose.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Founder & Executive Director
Marketplace Bible Institute
& Resource Center, Inc
Author of e-Books:
* Great Business Emulates a Good God
* Be Radical…Follow Christ!
* Simply The Messenger
* Unequally Married