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Called to Impact the Culture
Os Hillman
From: Faith & Work: Do They Mix? (Aslan Publishing, 2000)
They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism (Acts 5:6).
God is raising up a new remnant of men and women in the workplace that perform their work with an overriding ministry objective to it. Our first model of this kind of man was Stephen. In the book of Acts, we learn that the disciples needed to expand their leadership base and make more time for personal study of the scriptures. They decided to appoint others to handle a special food distribution program that was suffering because there were not enough people to service the need. The answer was to appoint more leaders to take this responsibility. Stephen was one of those appointed who was also a businessman. He also had some other characteristics spoken of in chapter 6: Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (Acts 6:8). Not long after the disciple laid hands on these men revival began to spread beyond Jerusalem. As with most moves of God, opposition arose when the power of God began to be manifested through Stephen. Not so surprisingly, it came first through the religious community. Stephen preached to the people and became the first martyr as a result. In fact, it was Stephen and the other marketplace disciples who were the catalysts to take the message beyond the borders of Jerusalem while the disciples remained in the city.
Over the last few years God has allowed me to bump into more and more men and women who understand what it means to live for a cause greater than themselves. They see their “staffs” as something God wants to use to perform miracles. There have been many such men and women who have used their marketplace experience to impact their cultures. Here are just a few of them at different periods of history.
Brigid was born from a sexual encounter between an Irish king and one of his slaves in the fourth century. She was reared as a slave girl within the king's household and was required to perform hard work on the king's farm. From the beginning, Brigid took notice of the plight of the less fortunate. She would give the butter from the king's kitchen to working boys. She once gave the king's sword to a passing leper---an act about which the king was enraged. The king tried to marry her off, but to no avail. One day, Brigid fled the king's house and committed herself to belonging only to Christ.
Brigid sought other women who also wanted to belong only to Christ. Seven of them organized a community of nuns that became known as the settlement of Kildare, a place where many thatch-roofed dwellings were built, and where artist studios, workshops, guest chambers, a library, and a church evolved. These and other settlements became little industries all to themselves, producing some of the greatest craftsmanship in all of Europe. Many of the poor had their lives bettered because of Brigid's ministry to them.
Brigid became a traveling evangelist, helping the poor and preaching the gospel. When she died in 453, it is estimated 13,000 people had escaped from slavery and poverty to due to her Christian service and industry. Her name became synonymous with the plight of the poor. She was a woman who turned a life of slavery and defeat into a life lived for a cause greater than herself. She became a nationally known figure among her people, and the Irish people still recognize her each February 1.
In 1787, William Wilberforce was known as “the greatest moral achiever of the British people,” as stated by biographer John Pollack. Wilberforce was attributed with demolishing the slave trade in England and sixty-nine different initiatives that had world-shaping significance. Wilberforce came to faith in 1785 at the age of twenty-five. As a result, he began to think that spiritual matters were much more important than secular matters. However, a converted slave trader named John Newton, who also authored the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, convinced Wilberforce that he could have greater impact as a politician than as a minister. After much consideration and prayer, he agreed. He wrote these words in his journal in 1788: “My walk is a public one. My business is in the world; and I must mix in the assemblies of men, or quit the post which Providence seems to have assigned me.” Wilberforce impacted his culture more than any man of his time.
Jeremiah Lanphier was a businessman in New York City who asked God to do something significant in his life in 1857. In a small darkened room, in the back of one of New York City's lesser churches, a man prayed alone. His request of God was simple, but earth-shattering: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 337)
He was a man approaching midlife without a wife or family, but he had financial means. He made a decision to reject the "success syndrome" that drove the city's businessmen and bankers. God used this businessman to turn New York City's commercial empire on its head. He began a businessmen's prayer meeting on September 23, 1857. The meetings began slowly, but within a few months, 20 noonday meetings were convening daily throughout the city. The New York Tribune and the New York Herald issued articles of revival. It had become the city's biggest news. Now a full-fledged revival, it moved outside New York. By spring of 1858, 2,000 met daily in Chicago's Metropolitan Theatre, and in Philadelphia, the meetings mushroomed into a four-month long tent meeting. Meetings were held in Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, New Orleans, and Mobile. Thousands met to pray because one man stepped out. Annus Mirabilis, the year of national revival, had begun. This was an extraordinary move of God through one man. It was unique because the movement was lead by businessmen, a group long considered the least prone to any form of evangelical fervor, and it had started on Wall Street, the most unlikely of all places to begin.
Samuel Morse was born in 1791 and grew up desiring to be an artist, and he eventually became very talented and internationally known. However, it was difficult to make a living as an artist in America during that time. A series of crises further complicated his vocational desire when his wife died; then his mother and father also died soon after. He went to Europe to paint and reflect on his life. On his return trip aboard a ship, he was captivated by discussions at dinner about new experiments in electromagnetism. During that important occasion, Morse made the following comment, "If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted by electricity." In the face of many difficulties and disappointments, he determinedly perfected a new invention, and, in 1837, applied for a patent that became what we know today as the telegraph. He also created Morse code. It was only later, after many more setbacks and disappointments, that his projects received funding.
Samuel Morse later commented, "The only gleam of hope, and I cannot underrate it, is from confidence in God. When I look upward it calms any apprehension for the future, and I seem to hear a voice saying: 'If I clothe the lilies of the field, shall I not also clothe you?' Here is my strong confidence, and I will wait patiently for the direction of Providence." Morse went on to create several other inventions and can be recognized today as the father of faxes, modems, e-mail, the internet and other electronic communication. (Glimpses, Issue #99 (Worcester, Pennsylvania: Christian History Institute, 1998).)
Today, God is using men and women in the workplace to impact nations. Space does not permit me to recount the number of modern-day examples of men and women who are impacting their world through Christ. However, I would like to make mention of one man who has become a good friend to Angie and I.
Dale Neill is a commercial builder in Southern California whose business has expanded to the international level. Several years ago Dale went through some major business problems and lost millions of dollars in the process. God saw him through the adversity, and Dale became fully committed to the Lord's purposes in his life because of the things God did during this time. God began to show Dale how He wanted to use business to impact the lives of others.
Dale is now President of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) -- USA, and the International Vice President of ICCC. A few years ago a door was opened that allowed a video training course to be developed for the nation of China entitled "You Can Start A Business". China selected ICCC over Microsoft and IBM for this project because they wanted ethics to be presented in the series. This happened because of some groundwork of prayer that had been laid in the nation of China through the leadership of ICCC.
Dale and Laurence Holt, another businessman with ICCC from England, were selected by ICCC to head up the video project. Most people said the project would never get off the ground and would end up getting diluted through the political system. Most said it would never air on China TV. Even though ICCC had no background in video training and production, China asked ICCC to do the project. ICCC reminded the government that they were a Christian organization and anything they would teach would be based upon Biblical principles. The Chinese response was that it would be okay, they just could not mention the name of Jesus or say it came from the Bible. ICCC responded by asking, "May we say it is written?" China agreed to allow that statement. That was the door they needed to proceed with the project. The entire series quotes scripture throughout as the basis for the business principles being taught. The series has aired several times on the second largest television network in China with a potential viewing audience of more than 240 million people. The Chinese government has asked ICCC to expand the series significantly and has even given permission to begin the ICCC in the nation.
God is using businessmen and women to take the gospel to un-reached people groups through business. It has been through much sacrificial prayer, giving of resources and time by men and women in the marketplace that this project has moved from birth, to its present state of effectiveness. The series is currently being translated into a number of other languages and will be utilized in many countries worldwide, including the inner city, the U.S.
Copyright 2000 by Os Hillman. Used by permission of the author.
Os Hillman is president of Marketplace Leaders (www.oshillman.com), an organization that helps men and women discover their God-ordained calling to their vocations, and he is the director of the International Coalition of Workplace ministries (icwm.net) which brings leaders in the faith and work movement together once a year at an annual summit. Os has authored several books including TGIF: Today God Is First; Making Godly Decisions; TGIF Small Group Bible Study; and Faith and Work: Do They Mix?