Business for Transformation:

Patrick Lai

Description

Business for Transformation focuses on answering the question: “How do you start a business that transforms communities of unreached peoples?” Starting a business cross-culturally involves thousands of decisions. Until now, BAM and B4T practitioners have been lacking a tool that explains how to start a business that engages unreached people for Jesus’ sake. This book draws on years of experience from scores of OPEN workers who are BAM/B4T practitioners. BAM/B4T are among the faster growing segments of the worldwide mission movement. It is written for new workers and coaches who need practical guidance in setting up and doing business in hard, churchless areas.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Growth
• Christian Church
• Non-governmental organization
• Aéroport international du Ch?bu

Informations

• Publié par: William Carey Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781645080985
• Langue: English

Extrait

Business for Transformation: Getting Started
Copyright 2015 by Patrick Lai
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission of the publisher, except brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published by William Carey Library
1605 E. Elizabeth St.
Pasadena, CA 91104 | www.missionbooks.org
Melissa Hicks, editor
Brad Koenig, copyeditor
Hugh Pindur, graphic design
Rose Lee-Norman, indexer
William Carey Library is a ministry of
Frontier Ventures
Pasadena, CA 91104 | www.frontierventures.org
Digital Ebook Release BP 2015
ISBN: 978-0-87808-677-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lai, Patrick.
Business for transformation : getting started / by Patrick Lai.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87808-542-2 - ISBN 0-87808-542-4 1. Part-time missionaries. 2. Missions-Finance. 3. Business-Religious aspects-Christianity. I. Title.
BV2063.L248 2015
266.0068-dc23
2015003671
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Chapter 1 - WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF B4T!
Jesus and Jobs-Priority #1
Jesus Model
All Business Is Not the Same
About This Book
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 2 - UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS FOR TRANSFORMATION
First Things First
Transformation Begins with Us
Transformation via the Workplace
Business for Transformation
Understanding B4T
Business as Mission Terminology
Final Reminder
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 3 - STARTING THE BUSINESS-CHOOSING THE CAMPSITE
Start with Ministry
Know Yourself
Job 1-Profitability and Impacting Lives in Jesus Name
Pros and Cons of Starting a Business
The Risks
Do You Really Want to Work?
Timing
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 4 - THE INTANGIBLES
Get Wisdom
Mentoring
Spouse
Generosity
Flexibility
Are You an Entrepreneur?
Building a Solid Foundation
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 5 - DESIGNING YOUR TENT
Think!-Be a Learner
Be Creative
Risk Equals Faith
Failure
Bouncing Back
Trust God
Make the Journey Fun
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 6 - LAYING A GOOD FOUNDATION
Choosing a Campground (Look on the Fields)
Location, Location, Location
Rent or Buy?
Work for Others or Self?
Work for a Local Company or the West?
Sharing Your Tent
Owning Your Own Business
Franchises
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 7 - SELECTING A TENT
Factors to Focus On in Selecting a Tent
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 8 - SETTING UP YOUR TENT
Issues to Investigate in Setting Up Your Tent
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 9 - STAKING YOUR TENT
Pointers for Staking Your Tent
Starting a Business
Buying a Business
Service Industries Versus Manufacturing
Hiring
Negotiating
Selecting a Banker
Local Laws and Regulations
Location Issues
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 10 - THE BUSINESS PLAN
Why a Business Plan?
Key Reasons to Write a Business Plan
Involve Businesspeople at Home
Ministry Plan
Adapt
Business Plan Components
Additional Business Issues
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 11 - PAYING FOR YOUR TENT
Planning
Business Questions to Ask Yourself
Funding
Financing
Show Me the Money!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 12 - ENSURING YOUR TENT BECOMES A B4T BUSINESS
Four Steps
Eleven Building Blocks
Summary
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Chapter 13 - MOVING FORWARD
The Heart
Capital and Churches
Jobs
Looking Ahead
Last Words
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
APPENDIX A - QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN NEGOTIATING AN APPRENTICESHIP OR INTERNSHIP
APPENDIX B - TERMINOLOGY
APPENDIX C - AFTERTHOUGHTS-NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM OPEN WORKERS
APPENDIX D - B4T/BAM SERVICES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
FOREWORD
Something is changing in the world of missions, and it is happening all over the world. This change is not being directed by one person or organization. The evidence is mounting that Heaven s Kingdom is behind the change, influencing men and women to think and act differently in the realms of business and mission.
It is clear that Jesus is reclaiming His role in the workplace, especially in parts of the world where He is not invited. As He does this, we are seeing His influence explode into the lives of individuals and in a few cases communities. We are finding the eternal goals of business (eternal profit) to be complimentary with the goals of missions. We are discovering that He wants us to integrate both our walk with Him and our business life in ways we never imagined before. This book demonstrates that kind of integrated life; doing business while constantly listening to the voice of God.
As Christian workers in countries unfriendly to Jesus were drawn into doing business, they began to discover each other and a network formed between them. No one knows this network better than Patrick. In researching his first book Patrick surveyed over four-hundred field workers who were exploring this new way of effectively expressing what God s love looks like in the working world. Patrick has experienced and heard many stories of both successes and failures. He has talked to hundreds of people as they tried again and again to reuse old paradigms to manage what God was doing, only to find new paradigms were required, but hard to find. Fifteen years later, Patrick and his wife, May, are still coaching and mentoring B4T workers in over twenty countries. During their thirty-one years overseas, Patrick has started thirteen businesses in three Muslim countries, so he s not only studied the subject he s done it. In addition, he not only knows business, he also is sold out for Jesus. His life is a model of the integration of business and missions among unreached peoples. The simple fact is that no one today knows more about what has happened, and is happening, in the collision of missions and business than Patrick.
As I began my journey twenty eight years ago, there were no books to help us understand tentmaking, BAM and B4T. Thanks to Patrick and others, that is changing. This book is for anyone considering entering a country where Jesus is not welcome and starting a business for the blessing of the people there. Whether people come through an organization or come on their own, they will be greatly helped by what Patrick shares here.
In the business world people collect what are referred to as best practices. These are observations about how the best and most successful businesses conduct their operations. In this book, you will find dozens of best practices. The value of learning from one another s mistakes is that you can leap frog into successful situations without paying the price of making the same mistakes. The price I have paid by not knowing best practices could be counted in wasted years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. This book is a great value to anyone who doesn t want to waste that kind of time and money.
It has been said that the only thing that matters in the end is what has been executed. All the best plans and theories really mean nothing, unless they are executed. In order to know what and how to execute, you need specifics. Patrick provides many specifics for a new start up, and for anyone who wants to take a fresh look at their BAM/B4T business operation. I recommend everyone interested in this change within the mission world, to read this book.
Bill Job
Meixia International
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has been in progress since I wrote the last page of Tentmaking in 2004. It has taken ten years to come to fruition. In that time there have been hundreds of workers from the OPEN Network who shared their stories with us, both successes and failures. There have been hundreds of thousands of miles traveled as my wife and I coach and mentor dozens who are doing business for transformation. We even sold our main B4T business, started a new business, and bought into another one during this time. Not to mention the term B4T (business for transformation) was birthed. God is teaching us a lot.
First, I wish to acknowledge and thank Jesus for the wonderful life He has given us. This book and all that we are and do is dedicated to Him.
Second, I wish to acknowledge the other half of us, my wife, May. She has been alongside me in almost all of my travels; endured living out of a suitcase the last seven years, sickness, depression, weariness, missing our children; and sacrificed in many other ways, giving 100 percent toward fulfilling God s assignment for us-to do missions better. Doing missions better includes seeing BAM/B4T become a viable strategy for reaching the unreached. She has talked with hundreds of field workers and businesspeople and answered even more emails while working alongside me. She is the engine that keeps things moving forward. She puts wheels to my ideas. She has fretted over bills, prayed for staff, and done all of the bookkeeping for our businesses, keeping an eye on how the businesses are run, freeing me to work with people. She does 70 percent of the work and gets less than half the credit. Thank you, May.
First Chronicles 12:38 speaks of fighting men who volunteered and served in the ranks. They were not seeki