George explaining his vision for ISO Graphics
In all
you do.
Kingdom business. Gospel centered business. Biblically based business.
What do all these really mean? Shouldn’t business and Jesus be kept
separate?
Keep church at church and work
at work? What can a small business owner
do on the mission field? These are
questions that I have grappled with since
starting a business some 15 years
ago. After nine months in Africa there
is
an answer to all these questions emerging.
People. Yes, people. Business
is relational. Jesus gave us some commands to be lived
out. The first is to
love God with all
our heart, mind, soul and strength. The
second one is to
love our neighbor as our self.
There are many more life directions from Jesus,
but these stand
apart. How do we bring glory to God and
show our love for Him?
By loving
people. Can it really be that
simple? Yes. The temptations in business
are to lie, steal
and cheat our way to success. If there
is a shortcut to riches, take
it. It all
comes down to loving ourselves more than others.
God has given us
work. He worked to create our
Earth. He loved us and shared
the joy of
work with his prized creation, people.
Unfortunately, because of sin,
work now has more challenges as the weeds
are constantly growing, but it is
still a gift that we can bring glory to God
through. I have found joy in working
with a few young followers of Christ, who also happen to be bright, young
entrepreneurs.
I met George and Henry on
the streets of Soroti Uganda. Henry
fresh out of
college and George busy working in a one room shop making sign
posts. Both
of these young men are in
their twenty’s and will tell you that they love God
so much. They love to share His word and desire to see
the community of
Soroti grow in their love for Him and each other. As our relationships grew
we discovered we
all shared a passion for business, God, and had compassion
for the
oppressed.
George grew up without a
father and had to fend for himself and “make his
own way”. Here in Uganda that means doing small work
wherever you can
find it to have enough money to eat that day. George found out that God had
given him a
gift. The gift of ideas. Give him a book and it will be devoured
in
only a day or two. He will take the
information and share it with those he
knows the information could help. Whenever he has a few extra shillings you
can
find George sharing it with the boys living on the streets with no mothers
or
fathers. George has a smile. It is as wide as the ocean and when he is
smiling it just lifts your spirits. He
loves people. With a little business
building knowledge like a working business plan, a knowledge of keeping
your
business finances and personal finances separate, where to get start
up capital that won’t penalize your
business and cash flow management
George was off and running. I stopped in the ISO Graphics (In Salvation
we Overcome) office he is working out of
today. His smile was big as ever.
Work is coming in. People are taking note of his
professionalism, his honesty
and his genuine love for them and their
businesses. God is glorified.
Henry is one of 12
sons. His father and mother have done a
fine job raising
their children in the village of Obule Lira. They have spent their evenings
pointing their
kids to Christ. His Dad was one of the
first Christians in the
area. Henry
recently graduated from a business school and was excited to
begin
working. In Uganda the attitude is that
when you graduate you need
to make your own way in business because there are
no jobs. In other words
you need to create
your own job. There are many talented
graduates who
don’t have the resources to do this and soon find themselves idle
and doing
small jobs to get by. There
was a training in Soroti teaching people a new
method of farming called Farming
God’s Way. Henry and his brother Fred
accompanied me at that training. We
learned so many principles, including
taking care of God’s world and the soil. There is no plowing or burning in
Farming
God’s Way! Henry led a team in his
Father’s village to begin a
garden utilizing the information we learned. Today we harvested the popcorn.
It was a celebration of what God has done and
what the future will hold for
this family.
Henry was also open to an idea of drying mangos with the use
of the
sun. Henry wasn’t sure there would be a
market for this in Soroti,
but decided it was worth a try! Partners Worldwide is an organization
out of
Grand Rapids Michigan. Henry, Fred,
George and myself took an
overnight trip to Gulu to meet them and see what they
were doing. It
was so inspiring for all
of us. They met a man named Timothy
Jokenne
who owned several successful businesses. He emphasized how
important operating a
business with integrity was. This lesson
was an
important one to see. Success can
come and does come with honest
business practices. You don’t have to lie, steal and cheat! After returning
we scheduled a business
training with a gentleman from Kampala Uganda
that Partners Worldwide endorsed
to teach lessons on starting Biblically
based businesses. The training was very informative and Henry
implemented them, quickly finalizing his business plan he was able to
secure a
market at the local supermarket for his dried mangoes. Village
Foods is now looking into what other foods
they can pack and sell. Henry
has
partnered his business with his brother Fred and his wife Ruth’s vision
for
helping orphans in their community. So a
portion of the income from
the sale of mangoes goes to help these children with
school supplies, fees,
and other necessities.
Henry and Fred
What a joy it has been to be used by God as a
Christian businessman
here in Uganda. He
doesn’t waste His gifts. They can all be
used to expand His kingdom and bring glory to His name.
Henry
and George are living out Matthew 5:16 “In
the same
way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see
your
good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven
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