When I was growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, it was common to retread automobile tires, sometimes called re-tire. It is the process of replacing the worn tread on a used tire with new rubber, giving the tire a second (or third) life instead of sending it to a landfill. That issue described me as I approached my mid-sixties, about twenty years ago.
At that stage of life, I contemplated teaching in college, or opening my own coaching business, or becoming a long-haul trucker, or driving a school bus, or fishing for fun, and even living in a mountain cabin and writing my memoirs. None of that happened.
Even in the latter years, God can use personal events or even world events to direct us into something useful for His Kingdom. Certainly, the world changed radically by the beginning of the 21st century. Most of the world’s population found themselves living in countries that said to the world, “No missionaries allowed.” Much of the world was still trapped in poverty and victimized by unjust and corrupt political regimes. More than 30% still had not heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of this in the context of the Great Commandment to love our neighbor and the Great Commission to make disciples of Jesus. How could I just go fishing?
God in His grace allowed me to arrive at this “soon to retire” stage at the time that the term Business as Mission (BAM) was coming on the scene. As more and more missionaries were being expelled from countries and new recruits turned away from their visions, I jumped at the opportunity to study the phenomenon (which was not new, only rebranded) and see how it fit with my theology and where God might use me. I am thankful to the mission agency, Crossworld, where I was serving as Vice-President of Operations, which encouraged me to see where BAM might be something to contemplate and activate in our operations.
Our mission agency was experiencing change in other ways, so as a home office staff, we studied books like, “Who Moved My Cheese” and “Good to Great” and “Leading Change.” That led me down a path of BAM and other books like “Great Commission Companies” and “The Other Six Days,” and “When Helping Hurts,” and “God is at Work.” I was in the process of being retreaded when I thought I would be retiring.
People have asked me what gets me up in the morning. What am I supposed to say when the wisest of them all said, “So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work” Eccl. 3:22? I began to see that Business as Mission was something we needed in the North American church, and we needed it in Crossworld. I wanted to do my best to lead the way.
Well, I didn’t really lead – others like Mats, Jo, Craig, Mike, Patrick, Dwight, and Bill led the BAM movement. Bob J, Ken, Don, and Bob B guided IBEC (which I founded in 2006), as we continued to grow into a premier BAM coaching group. I did my best to keep up and did so because it became obvious that God was at work in different ways in faraway places, and we needed to be a part of it all. I wanted to do all I could to provide help for those in difficult places, and I wanted to find God’s people in my homeland who could join me in providing encouragement and practical help. I am grateful to God to have had a small part of something really BIG.
Larry W. Sharp, BAM Support Specialist, IBEC Ventures
Larry.Sharp@ibecventures.com