Issue #12

One question from the Faith Driven Entrepreneur conference earlier this month stayed with me: Are we building so God will bless what we build, or so God can use it?

I’d push it further: Are we building something and asking God to bless it, or are we asking God what He wants us to build? That’s not a small difference.

One speaker talked about encountering a problem and thinking, “This is mine to help solve.” Not “Someone should do something.” Not even, “I could build a business around this.” But a sense that God had placed something in front of him and was inviting him into it.

Another speaker talked about the impact he could have by investing in eternal rather than earthly treasure. Instead of raising his standard of living as his business grew, he raised his standard of giving.

A third speaker put it bluntly: the business was never really his to keep.

Different speakers, different stages of business, same underlying question: What if what we’re building was never really ours to begin with?

That changes how we define success, what we do with money, which problems we take on, what we say no to, and what we believe we’re responsible for.

Stewardship isn’t ownership with a Christian label. It’s recognizing that what we have has been entrusted to us, and asking what faithfulness looks like with it.

One more thing from the conference stayed with me. A speaker described a church and its entrepreneurs moving as one, and that’s rare. Many business leaders don’t feel understood or supported by their churches in the challenges of leading or starting a business. And many church leaders may not realize there is a gap.

If you feel that gap, you may be the one who has to voice it. Start by telling your church leadership what you need and what would help.

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When faith meets the hard decision

It’s one thing to say a business belongs to God. It’s another to decide what you’re willing to say no to when someone puts a bag of cash on the table.

That’s one story Rich Sheridan tells in the first episode of a new podcast David Luzquiños and I have started: The Calling and The Company.

Rich is the CEO and co-founder of Menlo Innovations and the author of Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer. A client’s cash could have opened doors for his company. But something in his spirit said no. He shares why, and what it costs to build a company defined as much by what it refuses as by what it accepts.

In the second episode, the conversation goes further. Rich talks about an arbitration battle that tested his faith, a dream that made him rewrite a book, and how he’s thinking about handing Menlo to the next generation. Same question, different angle. Not just what are you willing to say no to, but what are you ultimately willing to hand over?

Sooner or later, leaders face these questions. That’s what David and I explore in the podcast. Not abstract value but honest conversations about power, fear, stewardship, success, and responsibility, especially when the pressure is high.

If those are questions you find yourself wrestling with, I’d love for you to listen.