While meeting Roger for lunch, Roger asked me to tell my wife, Kathy, “not to take offense if she hadn’t heard back from his wife.” Roger explained that his wife had taken over the day-to-day responsibility for their family business and was chairing a ministry board that was building a new facility! In pursuit of excellence, Roger’s wife began saying […]

In my 30’s, my desire was to be the President of my own bank. So, when the bank I worked for was for sale I assumed that God surely wanted that for me as well. Over a period of months, however, God began to reveal His desire, which was me teaching and equipping leaders to do business God’s way. In […]

500 years ago, today, Martin Luther wrote a letter in protest to Johann Tetzel’s business venture. Tetzel had been sent by Pope Leo 10 to raise money for St. Peter’s Basilica. Tetzel creatively began selling what he called “indulgences.” Tetzel assured the poor that if they paid an “indulgence” to the church, their loved one’s souls would immediately be released […]

In our world, a little dishonesty is okay if you can get away with it and it helps you get ahead. Businesses use puffery in advertisements to excite us into buying their products. Businesses lie about their markups and hours so they can squeeze a little more profit from us. We accept this and look the other way. If everyone […]

My son Daniel and I attended a workshop that promised to teach us how to build our own business. When we got there, it was a multi-level marketing program that focused on building up our own image. In Jeremiah 1, God says those who follow him will do some tearing down and some building up. If we’re building our own […]

I remember how scared we were, back in 2013, the first time we created a One Page Plan for our company that included our mission, vision, values, and short-term goals. We devoted so much time to creating impressive PowerPoint presentations. We didn’t know we could have used a napkin or an envelope and it still would have worked. Despite our […]

Although we don’t always get it right, over the years we’ve tried as a ministry to partner with like-minded faith at work organizations. Some leaders, however, view us as competition and refuse to work with us. At times, ministries fear they are competing for the same donor dollars. Likewise, many businesses fear if they don’t win every job, then there […]

Tom, a friend in the construction business, offered a bid on a big job that he felt was critical to win. He prayed and prayed to be selected for this project, only to learn that one of his competitors had been selected. At first, Tom was very disappointed and angry with God, until months later when Tom learned that the […]

Years ago, I worked for a bank led by someone who had a cousin also working in the banking business. They were fierce competitors and at times my boss made irrational decisions when his cousin’s bank was competing for a loan. Competition can be healthy or unhealthy depending upon the motives driving decisions. Jealousy and envy can lead to badmouthing […]

Years ago, two friends came in for some counsel. They desired to start a partnership to rehab houses, and they wanted to do it carefully. Knowing that conflicts are inevitable, I recommended that they formalize a partnership agreement before buying any houses. In addition, I encouraged the two friends to address how they would handle any future conflicts. After leaving […]