Before we dive into the content for this episode, I want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor, High Bridge Books. If you're a Christian and you want to write, publish, and sell a book, you really need to contact us. In fact, you can contact me directly because this is my company. You can reach me at Darren at highbridgebooks.com. Our authors have sold many tens of thousands of life-changing books for the glory of God, and we're always looking for more Christian thought leaders to work with. You can take a look at our publishing package and some of the other services we offer at highbridgebooks.com. And you can also learn about some of our incredible authors and their books. So go to highbridgebooks.com. All right, let's jump into this amazing episode. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Theology of Business Podcast. I'm your host, Darren Shear, and this is the show where we as marketplace Christians explore and apply God's will for business. On this episode, you're going to hear the audio from a live webinar presented for Houston Baptist University's Center for Christianity and Business, which is titled How Marketplace Christians Can Cultivate Christ-Centered Companies. In this episode, you're going to hear why companies market culture and not merely products and services, why the marketplace is a great place for Christians, how companies can set Christ-centered industry standards in every aspect of the business, and how to use the Christ-centered company assessment tool to evaluate how closely your company's culture and operations are aligned with biblical principles. You and your executive team can take the Christ-centered company assessment free of charge at theologyofbusiness.com forward slash assessments, theologyofbusiness.com forward slash assessments. All right, here we go. So what I'm going to present here today, as you know, is on the topic of how marketplace Christians can cultivate Christ-centered companies. I know that many of you are entrepreneurs who are listening to this and watching this webinar right now. And it's also exciting to me that most of you, based on what I've seen from the registrations, most of you are college business professors, Christian business professors. And you are equipping the next generation of minds and hearts and hands that are going to go labor in the in the business world for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that you have a faith integration component to what you're doing. But I hope I'll be able to give you some tools that you can bring to your students as well during this uh during this webinar. So we all know that there is a tremendous opportunity for the body of Christ in the marketplace. Almost, that's where almost all of the non-Christians are. In fact, I and maybe COVID is expediting this, I don't know. Uh, but only 11.7% of the US population is expected to be in church by the year 2050, uh, which is uh which is really sad, but that's the way things are going. And yet all of those non-Christians are still in the marketplace. And at the same time, the Christian workforce is in the marketplace, probably 85% of the Christian workforce, at least in the US, uh, where we still have this large public and social sector. In many countries around the world where there aren't such large public and social sectors, that percentage is much, much higher. And so, what whatever it is that the Lord expects from the church and Christians in the business world, we know that there's a tremendous opportunity because that's where all the people are. And and discipleship happens primarily within for-profit companies because that's where we spend about 60 to 70 percent of our waking hours is at work. And it's also our Lord Jesus Christ's example that he said. He was a blue-collar worker. You may have heard this that 92% of his public appearances were in the marketplace, 87% of his parables had a workplace context. It's also interesting that most of the main characters in the parables of Jesus were resource managers of some sort. And so and so God is definitely interested in what's happening in the marketplace because that's where the people are. So the question is, what are we what are we to do with this opportunity? If you will go to there is a tab that says polls, and I want to just poll the audience real quick.
SPEAKER_01Um, go click on polls. And there is a question there for you. There's a question there for you.
SPEAKER_02Which of these do you emphasize the most? When you think about what are we called to do as Christians in the marketplace? Is it uh is it evangelism? Is that what it's about? We're supposed to go and win lost souls to Jesus. You know, maybe that's uh setting up times, you know, to take people out to lunch to go share the gospel with them over our lunch break or uh business's mission. Um I see a comment saying that I don't see it. I see other people who are commenting. Um, so it looks like some, hopefully you'll be able to get that figured out here pretty quickly. Um so business is mission, and that typically takes on a cross-cultural uh evangelism focus, or business as or business is ministry, marketplace ministry. A lot of times this this has uh I've I've noticed that these are some of the different, as I've interviewed people on this subject of marketplace Christianity and what God is up to in the workplace, in the faith at work movement, all the different things that we that we call it, um, they tend to boil down into one or more of these categories, depending on what theological tradition you're coming from. The ethics focus. So we're gonna really focus on Proverbs and looking at the business principles in the Bible, ethical capitalism and biblical business are some of the phrases that I hear come up around that. The philanthropy focus, that what we're to do in the marketplace is to make money so that we can give to charitable causes, so so that we can give to the work of the church. Um and typically when we say church, we're referring to the building on Sunday morning, which of course, hopefully you you understand that the church is much broader than just a building on Sunday morning. Um, there are terms like strategic philanthropy and kingdom builders. Kingdom builders you often find are uh groups that meet within it's a local church program, and in a lot of cases, and by building the kingdom, the implication is we're building buildings. If maybe we're gonna launch this when we're gonna have a building campaign for our new church building. The goodness of work focus, this one is very popular. Um theology of work, work as worship, this idea that uh all work matters to God, which it does. And so we need to do everything as working for the Lord, not for men, because it is the Lord Christ whom we serve, as it says in Colossians 3.23. Uh and that no work, whether you're a housewife or you're the CEO of a company, every work, every work is valuable to God. Every work has intrinsic value to God. The social justice focus, certainly uh gaining a lot of esteem here with the Black Lives Matter movement that's going on. You'll hear uh about social entrepreneurship, community capitalism is one that I've heard not too long ago. Liberation theology. A lot of seminaries nowadays are really steeped in this theology. Um, second chance hiring is uh is another one. We're hiring people that might not get a job opportunity coming out of prison. And so we're gonna dedicate our company to serving people that are in that situation. The culture-shaping focus. Uh, you may hear the uh the Seven Mountains mandate, this this theology that we're to get Christians to the tops of all of the mountains of cultural influence so that they can make a difference. Um, kingdom business, you know, this idea of really taking authority in the cultural mandate, the employee care focus. A lot of times this focuses on the CEOs that are running the companies and and more of an HR focus on how you're caring for your employees. And so these are some of the different uh focuses that I hear. And so it's interesting to look here at the at the poll. Um, let me just get a screenshot just in case everybody is not seeing this. You can let me know at the end of the presentation and I'll uh make sure that I have a image of that so you can see it. But it looks like employee care focus is actually uh the number one horse in this pack here, uh, followed by ethics focus. Um, philanthropy focus is at the bottom. I think if we had we probably don't have too many pastors uh on the on the call here today, um, or or nonprofit fundraisers, development directors. Uh, and then so we got employee care focus number one, ethics focus number two, uh, and then goodness of work focus. So we got some theology of work folks out here, evangelism focus, uh culture shaping, social justice, and then philanthropy all the way at the end. So thank you for sharing your uh your insight on that. That is certainly actually, I think this is right in the middle of the screen, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I'm gonna end the polling right now. There we go. There we go. So if it's still on your screen, just X out of it. Okay, so how what is it, what does it depend on?
SPEAKER_02It really depends on our what we emphasize when we think about what God is up to in the marketplace. A lot of it comes down to what our theology is. And I I like to call this your business theology or your theology of business. A simple working definition. Um, if you've never heard this concept before, it's the exploration and application of God's will for business. Maybe your definition of that is better than mine. I would love to hear it. Um, feel free to send that to me. But as I as I have explored this topic over the last several years, uh, having gone to seminary, having gone to business school, and really saw just this tremendous chasm between the two. Um, there was I had such a passion. I I love business, I love theology, and I think those two, those two spheres of society and of life are there, there are a few that are more important than those. Theology and business. And so, what is the uh the interchange? What is the relationship between these two? Um, theology, the Bible says we know in part. So, your part, if you're gonna emphasize this and I'm gonna emphasize this, is probably because we have somewhat of a nuanced, different theology. And it doesn't make either one right or wrong. Uh, it just means that we have a different, uh, a different emphasis and we're seeing a different facet of God. And on this side of eternity, we're we're only seeing part. But we do need to develop a robust theology of business. In fact, medieval scholars viewed theology as the queen of the sciences. You couldn't really understand uh science or understand any other facet, whether it's arithmetic or anything else, until you really dig into what theology and who God is. Um, it's it's one aspect of systematic theology. You may be familiar with um Christology and pneumatology, ecclesiology. Um this is certainly related to Christian ethics, which is another aspect. Uh, but business theology, as we're gonna see here in a second, I think transcends even just ethics. Uh, how we see God is how we see business. And that's why we need to make sure that we're developing constantly, not just settling for whatever small part of uh that we're emphasizing as it relates to what God is up to in the marketplace. And and also what is what is Christian doctrine pertaining to business matters? We have Christian doctrine pertaining to a lot of issues in the culture that really the society and by and large doesn't really care too much about. But society cares about business, and and Christians care about business. And so what does the Bible say about business? And it's not always uh point blank, very clear for us to uh uh to understand. It's not really spelled out always. Sometimes we have to uh div we have to really dig into the whole of scripture to understand what is the Bible telling us teaching us about risk management, about marketing, about all the different facets of business. So, what are 11 elements of a well-formed theology of business? Uh I would say one of those is the what is the purpose of business? There's a field called the philosophy of business. One of the popular responses to what is the purpose of business is this Friedmanian uh idea that business is simply about maximizing shareholder value. As a Christian, I don't think that's a sufficient answer. And I'm gonna get into that here in just a little bit. Uh, but that's something for those of you professors to make sure that your your classes are wrestling with. And those of you who are entrepreneurs, what is the purpose of business? Is it just to make money? Is it just to maximize shareholder value? Uh, number two, how marketplace Christians fit into church structure, government, and mission? So this is this gets into ecclesiology as you might study in seminary. Um, is it basically the your pastor on Sunday morning, and that's that's the clergy, and then there's everybody else, the laity, and and that really there aren't any church offices uh to be filled by business people, and that the church doesn't really operate or even need a structure in the marketplace. I think it does. Uh, number three, how spiritual gifts apply in the marketplace. This would also be part of um ecclesiology as well as pneumatology, the study of the work of the Holy Spirit. Um, I I've I've heard it said that gifts, the spirit some people would say the spiritual gifts aren't even in use nowadays. Um, that's that's another webinar. Others would say, yeah, they they they are here today, but they're only for use in the congregational setting, not for use. So, what about a gift of administration? Are you saying that my gift of administration is only to be used if I'm counting the offering or something like that on Sunday morning? What about my gift of administration to even help to put this webinar together or the work that you're doing at administration or leadership or prophecy or all of the different gifts? We need answers to these questions. And it's all part of a well-formed theology of business. Number four, the intrinsic value of work. Is all work valuable to God? Is some work more valuable than others? Is church work more valuable than work in the business world? Is uh creative work more valuable to God than more mundane, routine type work? Uh is our physical products more valuable than intellectual property? We need answers. Number five, uh I think a well-formed theology of business would include a biblical framework for all business disciplines. And we're looking at economics, innovation, management, all of these subjects that are typically taught in a business school program and that we um that we operate in for those of us who are running businesses, these are the these are the things that we need a biblical framework for. And I would dare say doctrine. We need Christian doctrine for these different issues. Number six, the Holy Spirit's activity in the marketplace. Is the Holy Spirit basically just sitting in the church waiting for us to uh come and worship on Sunday morning? Or is the Holy Spirit active out in our workplaces right now? I pray that the Holy Spirit is active in this in this webinar, speaking to somebody right now through this. And then the Holy Spirit is active in your classrooms for those of you who are professors and active in your workplace right now, for those of you on your lunch break of up working in your business today. Number seven, evangelism and apologetic strategies for the marketplace. Um, how do we share the God? What's the right, uh, is there a right or a wrong way to share the gospel? Because certainly it doesn't look just like it does where you can just get the mood just right in a church service, have just the right volume of the music, to the just the right instrument, just the right verbiage from the pastor, you know, from the from the front to the back to the left to the right, and just a holy hush on the place. You don't really have that in a in a workplace setting. And so what is what are the evangelism and apologies? And then you got to consider the HR laws and all of the things that uh we're up against in the marketplace in terms of sharing the gospel. Number eight, church history that highlights key marketplace Christians, Christ-centered companies, and marketplace movements. A lot of times, if if you were to ask your class uh or or ask any Christian, who were the heroes of the Christian faith, would you say? Uh typically you're gonna hear the the names of pulpit ministers, you're gonna hear the names of the famous evangelists like Billy Graham or or D. L Moody, or or maybe you'll hear about Mother Teresa, those who um dedicated their lives to the least of these and and and clothing the naked and feeding the hungry uh through more of a charitable nonprofit type of uh type of uh profession. What about business people? Are there any marketplace here Christian heroes that we can look up to? Uh and and especially for the younger generation or for anyone, if we need role models, we need we need people to disciple us through their through their example. Number nine, to approach uh ethical quandaries in business from a Holy Spirit-led Bible-based perspective. And and so when it comes to uh in market in the marketplace, things aren't always as clean as as we would like them to be in terms of the ethics of the situation. And and so how do we approach some of these sticky gray area issues in the in the marketplace as Christians? Biblical teaching, number 10, biblical teaching for business owners. So this isn't just for the business owners or the CEOs, it's it's also for customers. But what does the Bible say about being a good customer? That's one that I don't often hear about in this in this conversation. I think there are uh there's a there's a covenant exchange, I think, when there's uh when when transactions are are happening and that there are expectations on the customers as well. If you're a Christian customer, you ought to be tipping well. Uh you ought to be respectful to the people on the other side of the counter. And so it's biblical teaching for all stakeholders of a company.
SPEAKER_01And number 11, the what is the role of business in shaping culture?
SPEAKER_02So those are some of the the elements of a well-formed theology of business. How did you get the theology of business that you have today? I would say that there are at least 10 factors that form a person's theology of business. And I'll just bounce right through these real quick on your your family upbringing. I mean if you if you grew up in a uh I'm a preacher's son, fortunately my dad had a a little more of an unconventional approach to uh what God was doing in society, that it wasn't just about what was happening in a in a church building but but maybe you that wasn't your experience. Maybe you thought that God pretty much was just um waiting for us to show up on Sunday morning and that's where we would that's where we would meet him that he wasn't really involved out in society. Sometimes denominational backgrounds can reinforce that idea and in fact in a lot of cases are what are driving some of those those perceptions. Your political affiliation and background can have an impact. Your conversion story maybe if you got saved uh if you became born again in a workplace setting or that it was one of your coworkers who led you uh to the to Jesus then you're probably going to have a somewhat of a different outlook on business than somebody that just that that I don't say just that I I met Lord in a church that went down front and gave their life to the Lord on the altar on a Sunday morning or at a at a tent meeting or something like that. Your spiritual gifts are also going to have an impact. Negative experiences in business you if you had a bad boss that was a Christian that's probably going to skew your view of what of what God is like in the business world. Positive experiences on the other hand in business I think have led a lot of us into the business world where we have seen Christians that we look up to that are CEOs, that are managers, that are just great workers and we say I want some of that. I want to follow that example um your personality the the presence or absence of an admirable or dishonorable Christian business owner in a person's life if you just never had somebody to look up to then it's going to be hard to really see what God is up to in business. Your socioeconomic and cultural context um if your emphasis is on the social justice aspect of what uh of what God is up to in the marketplace then that could be driven by your socioeconomic situation or people who are close to you just the the plight of the poor and dealing with the the the problem of poverty in society. So all of these things are contributing so earlier I pulled the audience and we looked at what what is the emphasis that you have um when you think about what God is up to in the marketplace. And I would say that it's all of that it's all of those things that were on the the list and I I think most of you would agree with that but I didn't use all of the above option in the in the survey what is our primary mission as Christians in the marketplace it's to make disciples of Jesus Christ. It's not the Great Commission is not just to go make a profit go into all the world make a profit it's not even to go into all the world and make converts um we have we've had a a lot of that happening where you go to uh a revival meeting you give your life to the Lord and then you don't get discipled in fact uh in one of my seminary courses on discipleship the professor said uh okay all of you raise your hands if you have never been discipled and and grant this is a master's level mdiv course where these are this is our next generation of pulpit ministers and pastors 80% of the hands went up in this room of the average age probably mid mid-30s that said I've never been discipled no one has ever taken me under their wing and and showed me what the in a very intentional way what the Christian life is all about. Yeah you've been to church you've heard sermons um but but had not actually been discipled and it's not just about local church programs it's not just about making money so that we can fund uh the the quote unquote work of the ministry as if it's not what's happening in the in the marketplace it's to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations it's not even just making disciples of individuals is making disciples of entire nations and I don't think you can make you can disciple an entire nation until you disciple a state and a city and every echelon of organization in between and I think where the rubber really hits the road because it's where people most people spend the majority of their waking hours is a company. I don't think you can disciple nations until you disciple companies and that's really what the thrust of the rest of this presentation is is going to be all about so when you think Christian discipleship I'm not just talking about going to sit down with somebody and going through the Roman road or going through the Gospel of John. Yeah do that on your lunch break that's that's awesome. I think discipleship is something broader and more all-encompassing than that. But fundamentally it's about becoming more like Jesus and helping the world around us to look more like Jesus as a result. That's not only on an individual level but also on a cultural level where the culture of your company would begin to reflect what God is like in the in the ways of God. Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ I don't know of a more simple definition of what disciple making is imitate me as I imitate Christ. Paul's saying I'm gonna do my best through the the power the Holy Spirit that works within me to set the right example for you. So follow my example and and so when you come into a company you're now you're following the example of because the the CEOs the leaders the managers the employees will all come and go what will remain is that culture and and that's what is going to replicate and really make the greatest impression on the people in the long run. So it's about making disciples um it says in Habakkuk 214 for as the waters fill the sea the earth including the marketplace will be filled with an awareness of the glory of God. And we learn that the glory of God that the sun is the radiance of God's glory in the exact representation of his being so it's about filling the earth including the marketplace filling your company with an awareness of the glory of God which is Jesus. That's making disciples kind of on the macro cultural level not beyond the the individual level so disciple making is about setting the standard when Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ he's saying I'm gonna set the standard and you follow that. And I hope your business you want to set industry standards. And I know those of you business professors are showing best practices from from across the business world so that your business students will have standards to follow best practices benchmarks to follow and for us as Christians our standards are found in in the word of God they're they're they're going to be consistent with the word of God. So where do we set those standards as marketplace Christians? It's in the way that we make value our innovation the way we compete and how we compete do we are we supposed to compete with other companies or compete with our is it Christlike to compete uh to try to be better than somebody else is that what Jesus did um organizational and process management profit making and profit management marketing customer care quality control accounting HR business law risk management so these are all of you went to business school or you're teaching in business school you know that these are the topics that are uh that are taught and and so these are the areas where we are to set Christ-centered standards so again discipleship isn't just about sitting down one-on-one and going through um teaching the the basics of the Christian faith I would say that part of the basics of the Christian faith ought to be uh your vocation your your profession and how to honor God in that in that capacity the companies market culture not merely products and services and and so I would say that it's the culture that produces the products and services so if these are good products and services for society that came out of that kind of a that kind of a culture um the the people the employees in the company will come and go what will remain as people come through and are impacted within that company and again that's where they're spending most of their waking hours um it's going to be the culture of that company and and so as Christians it with whatever level of influence we have whether it's as a CEO or it's our first day on the job and we're entry level it's to it's to help to cultivate the culture of God's kingdom in that company with whatever level of influence we have and because the the influence can go 360 degrees it it's it's it's all around you don't have to be the owner of the company to make an impact to to help disciple the culture and as you're as you are cultivating this Christ centered culture I think you're you're on your way to to becoming more and more a Christ centered company and what is a Christ centered company it's where the culture results in discipling the people within the company discipling the industry discipling the community so setting the standard for the people in the company setting the standard for the industry setting the the Christ centered standard for the the community and and this happens in in all different measures but it's ultimately about filling the earth with an awareness of the glory of God and if you have with whatever level of influence you have in your company that's where that's a huge part of it. So a couple of examples um I'll go through three discipling the people within the the company um so we're talking about on an individual level Polydeck Screen Corporation, a phenomenal company they get brought up again and again in these in these conversations um and we need more of these kinds of of examples uh but one of the things that they do is they help employees who accept Christ and and a lot of them accept Christ actually on the job is that they provide an orientation about the Christian faith. They give them a Bible they help to connect them with a local church. They disciple the people by observing and modeling Christ like attitudes and behaviors uh and and then when they see something that that really is consistent with their values that they set forth uh from the top down they have an I caught you caring program where they can affirm and publicly recognize the workers that demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors. And their employees also grow as disciples by uh just on the job by discovering and using their God given talents. So it's it's not just about what's not happening. One of the the guys I respect in this conversation, uh Dr. Scott Ray, he says a lot of times what we're talking about with faith in the workplace is all the stuff we're doing when we're not actually doing our job. And I I think that's uh uh that's spot on. So it is about what's happening when we're actually doing the work itself. Discipling an industry John Wanamaker if you're not familiar is known as the father of modern advertising. He he said famously half of my advertising budget is wasted I just don't know which half he was the first to hire a copywriter. He was the first to take out a full page and half page ad in a newspaper um his store his department store was the first US department store with electricity this was a strong man of God um but he wanted it to be a store that was so complete and welcoming that people wouldn't want to leave it was the world's largest playable pipe organ in there uh it was something like something like 10 stories um but just this beautiful beautiful building um he wanted people to feel so comfortable that uh that they that they wouldn't want to leave and one of the ways he did that is he invented the price tag and of course this sent uh this had uh an impact across the entire retail economy he didn't want people to worry about whether or not they were getting fair prices when they shopped he just wanted them to be able to see it right there on the price tag and go and pay for it and and so this is one example of how an innovation like that um can set the standard for a whole a whole industry in fact the Bible says in Proverbs that a false weight is an abomination to the Lord and and so in those days where there was just haggling that was going on because nobody really knew exactly except for um the the whoever was selling the product the customer didn't really know what the price ought to be they didn't have Google to go and search on and find out what the price ought to be and so they would just haggle and try to get the best price that they could get and so a lot of people were getting taken advantage of this is one way of actually applying the biblical principle of of having um ethical pricing and and uh just kind of a side somewhat of a side note here um a demonstration of his passion for evangelism when DL Moody came to town and wanted to have an evangelistic meeting John Wanamaker said well why don't you use my store and then he donated the services of 300 ushers from his own paid staff to assist with the event and and so it's discipling individuals discipling the industry and discipling a community I think a great example of this is Cohen Architectural woodworking uh Phil Cohen is just an incredible uh godly man this company's up in St. James Missouri this is an Inc. 5000 company um and uh Phil was actually named the 2017 SBA entrepreneur of the year for the for the state of Missouri one of the interesting things about this company is 60% of their employees are ex-convicts uh andor former drug addicts and so when the news stations come uh to to their to their shop which is just this massive massive building there in um uh right outside of St. Louis and they they say tell us about your program they think that this is just uh you know kind of a social program. Keep in mind this is an Inc. 5000 one of the fastest growing companies and he says that there's no program here we're just building lives like we like we build cabinets and and so I just I love that think about the impact on a community uh that where they're hiring uh just uh a an a pretty large amount of people and a lot of these are the the people from that community that everybody knows are the the ex-cons and the and the drug addicts that they went to high school with and and and Phil is taking them in and discipling them. I mean they've got they've got Bible studies that happened actually Phil leads them it's uh it's just a really I went to go visit one time and it's a a really special special place so those so I was talking about discipling individuals industry the community I want I want to get this kind of the uh the takeaway I've created an assessment and I would love for you all to go and check this out theology of business.com forward slash assessments um what's the purpose of this assessment is to assess the extent to which your company's culture and operations are consistent with biblical principles uh and it's gonna take a look at your management leadership your marketing accounting HR business law risk management and philanthropy and there are 54 statements you're gonna in each of these statements you're gonna rate your company um you can use this professors you can use this as an exercise for your students and have them actually go take the assessment to a local business we have uh other colleges that are doing that uh and they can go and have that business owner or have that leadership team not only the leadership team I think the way this assessment is going to be give the most reliable results is if is if people at all levels of the company go through it and rate yourself and your comp your your company on a scale of one to five one being this is never true of our company number five this statement is always true of our company here's a couple of examples of what this assessment it uh what some of the questions look like um the prices our company prices products and services fairly to the customer and to the company um as I said before Proverbs 1611 it says adjust balance and scales belong to the Lord all the weights in the bag are his concern um they I won't go into all of the the history for the sake of time on on the the context of that scripture but suffice it to say it's best it is biblical to uh to have fair pricing not only to the customer but make sure that you're not pricing your services so low that it's gonna you're gonna have to pay your people less and and so that's the those other questions is how you're paying your people are you giving them uh a livable wage and and this this assessment is not so prescriptive that we're gonna say the minimum wage is you know $70,000 like Dan Price did at uh at his company up in up in Seattle which I think is is uh incredible and and admirable uh but what is what is that what does that really mean what is a livable wage um and another example of question question 23 the co our company's leaders receive consistent feedback from peer advisory uh uh groups of other christian business leaders um larry briquette said in his in his book business by the book that uh that it's not the pro the going after and and only following non-Christian business gurus it's not the advice that they give a lot of it is going to be the stuff that's consistent with what's in this assessment it's the advice they don't give uh specifically the spiritual insight and and for one of the things that we're doing with this assessment is every item is is framed around a scripture principle and and this is a principle that is consistent across the scripture it's it's not just about proof texting or or something like that but trying to develop um and and this is still early and I'm looking for feedback on from those of you especially um who you're you're already you're you're coaching you're teaching and you would have some good feedback on the way the assessment is delivered even some of the the questions if you think something is a little bit um this isn't trying to be legalistic in fact a lot of these things are things that your business ought to be doing anyway um it's just that what we've done is we kind of push God out and say God isn't really relevant to marketing I I think Jesus is the most effective marketer in all of history. I mean, um, one out of three people in the world claim to be a follower of Jesus. And so it's bringing God into the conversation about business. Um, there's no charge to take this assessment. And if you want a more thorough uh assessment for your company, um, we can do that. Just reach out to me, Darren at hybridgemedia.com if you're interested in that. And we'll take a look at where some of the strong points and any of the weak points that we could potentially improve upon. And I've developed a course um called business theology. And uh we've got some colleges, universities that are using this curriculum. We have peer advisory groups using this curriculum in a more scaled-down format. Uh, but some of the concepts and modules in this course, what is business theology? Talked a little bit about that already. The history of the marketplace Christianity movement. And of course, you could go all throughout church history. Um, we're specifically looking at over the last probably 200 years, um, in this uh for the purposes of this course, current and future expressions of the modern marketplace Christianity movement, uh, the primary biblical purpose of business, biblical economics, and the purpose of profit. And then well, the real practical um aspect of this course is the biblical foundations for the items assessed in the Christ centered company assessment, which I just mentioned a little bit ago. Again, go to theology of business.com forward slash assessments plural. Um, because we we do have another assessment. It's just not loaded up yet. Um, but that's what this course is gonna do. It's gonna break down what does the Bible say about marketing and accounting and risk management and all of the different facets of business, or at least the major ones that you would that you would learn about in an MBA course. Um colleges, universities can license this curriculum. You can definitely reach out to me. Um, as I said, this assessment is a powerful tool for bridging uh to your local businesses, where you can really serve your local businesses, helps with marketing. And I would also say having worked in universities, it helps with fundraising as well when you can connect with those local businesses to help to show them the scriptural application for what they do in their business. And and um and so you can use your your students can help your businesses, local businesses go through that assessment and then provide, as an exercise, provide the feedback on the best practices that they learn about from the other uh assessments that are being done from the other students in the classroom. And um that's one of the exciting things is happening with this assessment right now. Reach out to me again um to initiate that discussion. I know uh many of you are looking for a solid faith integration aspect of your business school curriculum that goes beyond uh just kind of an opening devotional. Um, and I think this is this is a important piece to what you're doing. And um also the Biblical Standards for Businesses course. You can check this out at theology of business.com forward slash course. Um, there is a small price for this, um, but especially for those of you entrepreneurs looking um for to really dig into this. We've got eight hours of video teaching on how to apply the Bible practically in your company.
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