I recently had the opportunity to speak to our local Chamber of Commerce. I’ve made a few additions and modifications to the transcript for context and to make it more readable, but here’s what I shared with this amazing group of community leaders.
Sometimes I meet “regular ol’ business people” (that’s what they call themselves), and they want to know what they can do to serve. Sometimes they want to know how they can serve God. At other times they want to serve the community in a bigger way. But often, the sense is that they are not sure their for-profit work is good work. They may even struggle with low grade guilt for making more money than they need when so many people around them need more than they can make.
So let’s be clear. If you are in business, running a company or working in the area of commerce in any capacity, you are already doing a good work—God’s work. If you weren’t doing great things, my pantry would be empty. And not because you support local food pantries, which are very important, but because you are doing your job. When you do your job well, I get paid and my kids get to eat supper every night (and sometimes Double-Stuffed Oreos).
Cultivate and Keep
My faith is important to me and it’s rooted in the Bible. So if we go back to Genesis 2, we discover that God created man and woman, placed them in the garden, and told them to cultivate and keep it. If anything good is going to grow, we have to cultivate the soil.
That’s exactly what you do every day. You turn the soil and sow the seed. You add fertilizer and water. You do that because the image of God is stamped on your heart. You do that because you care about people. And because you do, people like me have the opportunity to flourish. So hard work is not a curse. Good business is God’s gift to us that helps us all live little more whole.
Soul Care
Before you think your work is just about material things, let me ask you a question: Have you ever walked into Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee? It looks and feels like walking into Disney World because we all know that getting a person whole isn’t just about fixing their body. In the same way, when a person doesn’t have food in her pantry, it’s not just her stomach that hurts.
My family and I watched the GRAMMYs award show on a recent Sunday night. (Don’t judge me. My daughters, and I think my wife, have an unhealthy affection for Harry Stiles). More than one award winner, however, during that show talked about how music was a refuge for their soul during the pandemic. Their work not only provides material benefit to themselves and to many other people, but it also, in a small way nurtures their souls—and ours.
That’s why I’m here. Your charitable contributions to local nonprofits are important for a hundred reasons, but more important than that is the for-profit work you to do every day to tend the garden. Because when you till the soil you give hope to hungry souls.
So Everyone’s Wilson is a network of Jesus loving churches working together for the good of everyone in Wilson County. With the help of community leaders in 2018, we identified four pockets of vulnerability in Wilson County: hunger, addiction, safety, and education. So pastors came together and affirmed four strategic priorities of our cooperative efforts. In Wilson County, we want Everyone Fed, Everyone Free, Everyone Safe, and Everyone Ready.
What We’ve Done
Since that time, we’ve hosted pastor and leader luncheons, we raised over $180,000 for a school partnership initiative we hope to launch this fall, we mobilized thousands of volunteers and allocated thousands of dollars for tornado response and recovery, we purchased two John Deere side-by-sides for our local Fire Department, we’ve led out in racial reconciliation conversations in order to get people together to talk about important things, and we’ve hosted prayer events. We have big dreams for the future, but we’ve already seen God’s favor.
Spheres of Influence
As you know, every community has eight spheres of influence: (1) commerce, (2) education, (3) healthcare, (4) communication & technology, (5) arts & entertainment, (6) government, (7) agriculture, and (8) nonprofits. You may ask, “What about the church?” The church is already there. The church is already here, in the room.
What We Will Do
So our goal is not to create new things, but to clear the pathways so that people who are already doing good can get to people who need good. We do that in a few different ways:
1. We pray —God cares about our city, and He is the source of our hope and healing.
2. We inspire —We tell the stories of what is possible.
3. We connect —We gather around collaborative tables and build solutions together.
4. We equip —We provide good information as well as effective, proven ways to serve.
5. We mobilize —We unleash you, and get out of your way.
We’re an upstart nonprofit that believes Jesus still rescues and restores people. But we need your help dreaming the dream. We need your help discovering local solutions that move the needle. And we need your help in making our community a place where everyone can thrive.
Let’s Do Something Great Together!
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