Jason Glas
Cracked ribs, concussions, surgeries, and even air-lifts to a hospital—these all go with the territory of having sons involved in the sport of wakeboarding, which involves doing dangerous tricks at wake parks and lakes all over. In attempt to create his own wake park feature at a nearby canal, my middle son grabbed one of our plastic folding tables, some PVC pipe, and sawhorses from our workshop. He placed the pipe on the ground to slide, set the table as a ramp to transfer, and ended the run with sawhorses as grind features—all while being pulled across the canal by his brothers on the other side who hooked a wakeboard rope onto a golf cart. It went about as well as one might expect. Not only did the ramp not hold up, but when it gave way, he face-planted on the sawhorses, grinding only his head and shoulders, and he finished inverted and underwater in the canal. While everyone held their breath and went to check on him, he came up from the water and said, “I lost my hat.”
I knew right then: he was going to be an entrepreneur.
My assessment of his future came from recognizing he was not afraid of risk to accomplish his objective. I appreciated his ingenuity, his planning, and willingness to sacrifice his body to give it a try. Our society, in general, has become increasingly risk averse. But risk in life is impossible to escape. There is inherent risk in everything we do, and to accomplish what we want to achieve, risk is usually part of the formula. My job as a father is to train that risk-willingness into worthy pursuits, and as a pastor, to shepherd a local church to risk for the kingdom of Christ.
Life is embedded with risk, and especially the Christian life. Sure, the missionary risks by leaving the safety of their home country, but even the faithful layperson risks time, energy, safety, resources, and emotional hardship to serve others. Faith itself is a risk! We Christians risk our entire lives believing the Bible is true and the promises of Jesus are certain for those who overcome (Rev. 21:7). Genuine faith empowers not only restraining the cravings of our flesh (1 Pet. 2:11), but also giving sacrificially to the kingdom of God, because we are trusting that God will reward (Matt. 6:4). Giving is an act of faith that our flesh wants to resist, but in risky faith we know to sow sparingly is to reap sparingly (2 Cor. 9:6). This kind of risky giving is something that must be discipled and not assumed. It is as much a part of Christian maturity as prayer, Bible reading, corporate worship, and serving. We must be taught, we must be trained, and we must be willing to take the risk of learning cheerful giving (2 Cor. 9:7). How do we encourage this a risk-taking mindset for the glory of God? I will offer up four short ideas as a good place to start, knowing that more can be said.
Disciple Believers to See Money as a Tool and Not a Master
I love tools. Every time I grab one of my saws, nail guns, wrenches, or welder it is therapeutic for me. The tools are not the end; they are a means to an end. The tools are there to build, create, repair, and work. We must change our optics of money and spiritually train our hearts to see it as a tool. Money is a tool to create and build enduring structures for the church’s mission, not temples to our sensual satisfaction. Money is a tool to support Bible translation projects and missionary support for the spread the gospel to unreached peoples (Rom. 15:24–29). Money is a tool for evangelistic efforts to adorn the truth of the gospel towards the end of conversion (Luke 16:9). Money is a tool that to enable pastors more time in study so they can to preach better sermons (1 Tim. 5:17-18). Money is a tool to express love for one’s neighbor (Luke 10:33–37). And this is only a partial list of all the good that money can do. We are entrusted with the Master’s tools relative to our own ability, and we are expected to be good and faithful servants to what He gives (Matt. 25:14-30). This does not mean embracing extreme asceticism, because God does give us all good things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17b). But here is the catch: Faithful stewardship is much easier said than done. It is easy to have goals of giving and talk of kingdom priorities when we have little, but when the business grows and cash flow increases, our sense of pride, self-importance, and love of things grow with staggering and deceptive intensity. Money is an excellent tool but a terrible master.
I have seen many “Christian” businessmen fall because greed masters them. It is too easy to abandon kingdom goals as their identity gets wrapped into the success of their enterprise more than their identity in Christ. It takes massive spiritual discipline and accountability to avoid these snares that plunge men into ruin and destruction (1 Tim. 6:9). The pursuit of business and creation of wealth requires an incredible amount of death to self.
Being an entrepreneur or simply being financially successful requires as much pursuit in sanctification as pursuing the enterprise. It requires concentrated situational awareness knowing the territory is littered with temptation—landmines of pride, conceit, self-enlargement, love of things, trophies of success, temples and monuments to our purchasing power, lust, and the shift of priorities and excuse making for commitments to lesser things while neglecting the greater things. Train believers to see money as a tool, a means to a greater end, because the pursuit of getting entails massive discipline and conscious energy by the Holy Spirit in faith to walk the tightrope of contentment over the pit of ruin and destruction (1 Tim. 6:6, 9).
Set up Accountability Structures
I recently interacted with a successful entrepreneur who set up an advisory board at his church to accomplish two things: First, to hold him accountable to financial commitments he pledged to make, and second, to advise him on worthy ministry endeavors to give. His advisory board consisted of a church elder, some deacons, and a couple of businessmen in his local church, and they assisted him in weighing opportunities of where to give and appropriate allocations to each need. The brother is blessed in being able to get, and in humility he recognized he needed accountability to give. This is a model worth replicating.
And while not everyone needs an advisory board, we all would benefit from accountability, because no matter your socio-economic status we must consider the downside risk of our motives. One wise way to guard oneself from the love of money is to invite a trusted friend in the church to give feedback on your spending. Our checking account largely reflects our heart, and if no one knows where our money is going, then we are more prone to blind spots. A wise fellow church member can ask questions and give constructive feedback on how you use your money.
Create a Kingdom Entrepreneurship Atmosphere
There are two parts of this idea that should be considered, the first is for existing entrepreneurs and investors, and the second is for encouraging aspiring risk takers for the kingdom.
First, it is obvious that investors love the chase of an opportunity. They will pour hours of time into researching, looking at data, evaluating statements, models, competition, markets, costs, supply chain, and more to calculate risk and asses the merit of a new venture or a value-add strategy. They will spend time with industry experts, capital advisors, and data research to identify the strategy and measure its viability. There is excitement in this pursuit and deep satisfaction when you can see the strategy have success. Our desire should be that as followers of Jesus to foster excitement of pursuing kingdom initiatives onto others in the church.
We should seek more collaboration and collective effort among Christian investors and risk takers to pursue opportunities for the kingdom. This can be funding a church plant, sending missionaries, raising scholarships for seminary education, creating grants for adoption, networking relationships, or getting a ministry off the ground and sustainable. We should encourage these investors to work together and pursue ministry initiatives to employ their experience, network, knowledge, and capital into kingdom efforts.
Secondly, others need to be taught the same, both in getting and giving. Our society is reeling from the effects of the sexual revolution, and more young adults coming out of broken and unstable homes. I encounter so many young men, for example, who did not have a father to teach them basic life skills, and yet with a little help these twenty-somethings young men can offer so much. They need to be discipled in the Scriptures, no doubt, but they also wish to provide well for their family, get established, and have something to give. So many of these young men want to learn and be mentored, but they often do not know where to go or who to ask. Creating an atmosphere to encourage kingdom entrepreneurship should also have its aim to help future generations do the same.
The earlier we can grab young believers to be part of seeing the pursuit of a venture with the primary aim for the kingdom, the more we can help them be cognizant of the pitfalls of greed, sensuality, and irresponsibility. We should find ways to create networking groups, mentorship programs, internships, and just group conversations with like-minded believers who can be a model and a gateway for both getting and giving.
Make the Connection between Risky Getting to Generous Giving
At a business lunch one day, a Christian brother said to me, “It is good to have the gift of giving, but you need the gift of getting too.” Well said. And I would add to this, “The gift of getting often includes the will of risking.” The risk of loss and failure is part of any success story, but for the Christian, it is risk by faith, and we need more risk takers for the kingdom of Christ. The reality is that it takes money to do ministry. From serving, receiving, sending, providing, producing, purchasing, payroll, to planned and unplanned expenses, it takes financial resources to do the work of ministry. God has equipped some Christians with the ability to take calculated risks to produce wealth for the beneficence of kingdom work, and we need more of them. We need more Christians in the marketplace willing to take risks and by the grace of God have some big wins to bless their local church, parachurch ministries, missionaries, seminaries, and even online publishers.
Over the millennia, the church has been blessed by the benevolent members God has raised up. Even the Lord Jesus was supported by women who gave out of their means (Luke 8:1-3). Barnabas sold real estate to fund needs (Acts 4:37). We are grateful to God for Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, who in the eighteenth century was the most prominent financial supporter of George Whitefield’s evangelistic work during the Great Awakening. Our desire should be that God continue to raise up kingdom supporters, but like any other spiritual discipline, the risk of giving must be trained. God has raised up local church leadership to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:13), and that should include a desire to raise up kingdom of Christ entrepreneurs and investors that seek to produce wealth—not for vanity, but for the Messiah’s glory. Too often, the thought of giving lags behind the risk of getting, and this dynamic is made worse by unhelpful sinful attitudes and behaviors. On the flip side, some have never been taught to pursue the risk of getting with the principle of giving built into chasing the venture. Entrepreneurs and investors want to do more than just write checks; they love to build, create, and see success in the project. Our churches need to encourage, disciple, and assist those gifted getters among us for the work of ministry.
Conclusion
I know a Christian brother who models these principles well. He meets with young men weekly at 6am. His group has ranged from four to nine over the years, and there is a new crop of guys every couple of years. I happened to call him at 6:30am one morning and did not realize he was meeting with them. He took my call and put me on speakerphone. He introduced me to the young men at his conference table. He then asked, “What’s going on brother?” I told him of a need that came up with a family we are trying to help. He asked a few questions, doing his due diligence, and then said, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help. I’ll wire the money as soon as the bank opens this morning.” Within a few hours, the funds arrived.
Think of the impact this had on those young men. They are meeting and learning from a successful businessman who is teaching them Biblical vocation, ethical principles, establishing goals, and how to get, but he not only talks about giving, he showed it. Those young men will want to do the same. I think of my son who tried to make the wakeboard feature. He had the ambition, and he was willing to take the risk, he just needed guidance to evaluate the structure he made, improve it, and then make it ride-ready. That is what my friend was doing.
After a few repairs, some reinforcements, and a good pull by the golf cart, my son’s wakeboarding grind ramp was successful. Not only that, but he is still looking around the shelters, the barns, and the grounds for “ideas” on what to build next. He has guts, but he must learn it is not for his glory. It is taking the tools of his willingness to risk and try, and direct those efforts toward everlasting ends.