As an owner of a fourth-year BAM coffee startup in Northern Thailand, my wife Rebecca and I find ourselves hyper-focused on our own world day in and day out. That means trying to control costs, boost marketing, improve employee contact and relations, contact new prospects, inspect products before shipping, preparing loan payments for investors, receipts, accounting, etc. etc.
The list is long and as our old friend Jo Plummer stated, you thought you were empty nesters, and now you have a toddler! She was referring to the new coffee startup which seemed a spot-on image of the relentless work, attention and care that a new company requires. If it were up to us, we never would find ourselves in this stage of the business saying, “Hey we really should go to a BAM conference in Philippines to learn, grow, and sharpen our purpose for why we are pursuing this adventurous calling.” That’s why we realized four years ago that we needed a business coach to help us see the areas that we can’t see clearly.
Enter Business Coach Bob Bush with IBEC/Triventure. Bob has been checking in with us monthly to review the pulse of how we’re doing spiritually, mentally and physically, give us space to process ideas, check business reports, ask questions about different parts of the business, offer advice and keep a running list of priorities to revisit for the next meeting.
Last and never least, he offers a prayer for us, our work, and business. Looking back over these four, mostly chaotic years, I see a lifeline that God has used to keep our sanity intact, our eyes focused and our hearts calm in the presence of the Lord’s leading. I’ve always said, “God always seems to work through His people”. He certainly has through this relationship with Bob, our shepherd-coach.
It was Bob who said, “You guys really need to go to this BAM Leadership Forum in Manila.” Though we had plenty of excuses to bow out, both Rebecca and I felt a Spirit-nudge to clear our schedule and attend, especially since the Philippines is only a three-hour flight from Thailand.
The Forum was a tremendous time of growing together through collaborative thoughts and ideas being shared as a community. More than 3-dozen countries were represented, with well over 100 attendees.
Our first night, we randomly sat at a table that had BAM representatives from Nigeria, Brazil, India, Philippines and Thailand! The discussions were amazing and so encouraging to hear the stories of how God is working in and through His big family all over the world! The BAM global ecosystem is alive, diverse, multilingual, multicultural, multinational, and infused with flavors and aromas of God’s Spirit working in millions of different ways for His purposes and His glory.
What can you gain from our experience? For one, I would recommend a business coach who understands the need to balance mission and business operations and goals simultaneously. Second, if you have an opportunity to attend a Business as Mission event, do it. Whether you are a practitioner, investor, consultant, connector or any other part of this amazing Kingdom ecosystem, you will be blessed and encouraged towards your next steps.
Ryan Stowell
Seed of Hope Coffee Co., Ltd.
Larry W. Sharp, BAM Support Specialist, IBEC Ventures
Larry.Sharp@ibecventures.com