The first rule of fight club Holy Business: Recognize there is Business in Holy and Holy in Business
Whether you are influential or affluent or both, you have been blessed with more than many. When we are given something, if we truly believe God has equipped us and given us all we have, then we have a special call to ensure we steward those blessings well.
Why does it matter that we recognize the Business in the holy, one may ask?
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38
Holy Business is not just about meeting the needs of others on small scales and leading them to Jesus. Holy Business means we have the ability to ensure the gospel message multiplies exponentially through our gifted work. In Holy Business, recognize that faith forward leadership gives us the privilege to influence many to know Jesus and serve like him. That influence can help others of influence and affluence grow in their faith and feed hundreds or thousands of widows and orphans- yes, we all can see where the multiplication effect goes from here.
As a leader, you have the ability to not just sow one seed, but to pull out the farm equipment and fill fields with seeds. We are responsible for doing or not doing this. We have people in our communities who will benefit from employment, education, care initiatives and more, because we answered the call that God placed on us when we accepted salvation that says we Love and we Love like Jesus.
Take a few minutes and ask yourself a few questions:
What is the vision of my organization?
How does it align or not with my faith?
What adjustments can be made?
What kind of harvest will come from what I’m sowing right now?
What do I need to plant more of with my team?
“A man scatters seed on the ground; he sleeps and rises- night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows- he doesn’t know how.” Mark 4:26-27
When we are leaders, we are not simply sowing seeds ourselves, we are teaching entire teams to sow and plant and tend and harvest. Knowing this, we have to regularly ask ourselves, what am I not only sowing myself, but what am I launching a whole production chain around?
Sowing Seeds of Healthy Leadership
Whether we recognize it or not, we are demonstrating leadership that either emulates our faith or speaks against it. Even with healthy written plans for development, the weight of it lands on our shoulders to model well.
We must be self aware in times of celebration and stress- in staffing changes and in unexpected announcements, because whatever we do in those moments speaks to our faith and our teams will begin to emulate that behavior.
Sowing Seeds of Financial Stewardship
What are we giving back to? What are we demonstrating in our financial planning? What are we discussing financially with our teams?
It’s imperative to model that we tithe and give generously back. Does the business take a rollercoaster approach, meaning if unexpected repairs or buys happen, everything must freeze and top leadership talks about financial panic? Or, do they manage and save carefully, establish budgets and give with generosity and planning, so when hard times arise, the climate can remain more steady (a climate appreciated by around 67% of the population).
Sowing Seeds of Excellence
Set standards of excellence by modeling them in our work and celebrate them when we see them. Take a moment each morning to personally recognize how our work connects someone with an excellent experience. Celebrate these same qualities in your team. Excellence in this case means, we work for God and the work we are doing pleases him.
We should all strive for this type of excellence every day, and in doing so, we circle back to leadership, where our teams strive for excellence, and when the goal is missed, we get to model grace and integrity.
Pivot Point
Look back at the assessment questions. What small change do you need to make? What step will you take this week?
Knowing all of that, let's get down to Holy Business.
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