I’ve owned three businesses in the last few years. I’ve also held high-level executive positions that have had me on the road on a very regular basis. I know from experience that it can be harder to live on mission in everyday life when you are in a different city or country every week on business. Or when you have to run to Costco in the middle of your missional community gathering to grab milk for your coffee shop because they ran out.
I’d like to share a few things with you that were helpful to me when I was on the road and/or very busy at work. Remember, these only apply if you are not working too much or neglecting your relationship with Jesus and your family.
1. Use your gifts and skill sets to benefit your church family. If you own a commercial real-estate business, represent your church family. If you’re an attorney, draft documents they’ll need. If you own a coffee shop, help your church’s coffee shop become the best coffee shop in town.
2. Mentor and/or coach key leaders in your church family. If your church family has an elder or deacon that leads in operations/finance/HR/organizational strategy, these guys are, often, the lone rangers on a church staff team. Identify who these leaders are and offer to meet with them once a month.
3. Your financial gifts are important. If you’re the vice president of of a large company, you probably won’t be at all the training opportunities, Sunday gatherings or missional community gatherings through the year because you might be closing business deals in Asia or Europe. However, your large paycheck helps support the advancement of the church’s mission. Please remember to model tithing for your church family every month.
