Timothy Stoner

My Business: My Mission

Posted on 28. Oct, 2010 by Tim Stoner in Books, My Business: My Mission

My Business, My Mission tells the story of a movement that is changing the lives of tens of thousands of people in the most impoverished nations on earth. It is also transforming businesspeople in the northern and southern hemispheres by exposing them to a revolutionary paradigm: the idea that God has called them into mission through business. Through the work of a remarkable organization called Partners Worldwide, North American businesspeople and entrepreneurs in developing countries are joining together to fight poverty. Their mission is simple: to expand their businesses, create wealth, and provide jobs for the poor in Christ’s name.

In 2008, I was asked to write this biography of an amazing ministry that has had a hand in creating tens of thousands of jobs in desperately poor countries in the developing world. It is a collection of stories about partnerships between North American business owners and entrepreneurs in Africa, Central America, Haiti, and the Philippines. In it I tell about some of the most inspiring people I have ever had the privilege of meeting.

I began this project with a certain bias. I found out from the successful business people I interviewed that it is one shared by many Christians. It is the secret suspicion that in order to become a High Net Worth Person one must have bought in, at some level, to the narcissistic mantra espoused by Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street: “Greed is good!” That much money is a dead give a way that mammon not Christ must be god, or so one concludes.

My first interview made me question that damaging prejudice. It was toward the end when this uber wealthy business owner, who has bought and sold a score of businesses, told me in passing that he and his wife give away 97% of their money. His joy he said was seeing his money turn into jobs for the unemployed.

In the book you will meet more than a dozen men and women who have that same passion to use their gifts in business and the capital God has entrusted to them to bless the poor in Jesus’ name. It transformed me. I tell about its impact in my blog “Confessions of an Anti-Capitalist” posted on July, 2009.  

Endorsements

“These stories will inspire, challenge, encourage, and equip you to join God in his amazing work through the ‘business as mission’ movement”
—Dr. Ken Eldred, author of God is at Work

“This book will challenge and change you. If you equate business owners or entrepreneurs with greed and self-interest, you will be surprised. If you are a Christian who believes a wealthy person is incapable of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, you will be enlightened. If you are convinced the rich care nothing for the poor and cannot play a signifiant role in helping overcome world poverty, this book will be a revelation.”
—Richard M. DeVos, co-founder of the Amway Corporation, from the Foreword.

Tags: Business, business as mission, capitalism, compassionate capitalism, creating jobs for the poor, developing world, entrepreneurs, greed is good, Partners Worldwide, Rich DeVos