Do you have a passion for business or a zeal for entrepreneurship? Do you feel like there is still more to life than business, no matter how much you get out of it? If so, there is a pretty good chance that you have a deeper calling on your life, one that can only be fulfilled through  life purpose transformation. What is a Mission Based Entrepreneur? You might be one and not even know it. Is it possible that God gives passion and vision for a reason beyond ourselves?

Eric Bahme, the executive pastor for Eastside Foursquare Church in Portland, OR., examines how business can play a vital role in mission-based movements. He speaks beyond theory and shares the experiences that he and his Church endured leading up to, purchasing, and operating two hotels in Portland Oregon. A Church owning a hotel, what gives? Beyond operating a hotel Eric highlights how the decision has brought ministry staff in contact with over 33,000 people a year and has annual sales of over $2 million. Eric writes with much enthusiasm “Last year we reached tens of thousands of new people with out leaving our Church grounds!”. What gives is that over time Christian strategy changes, but the message that Jesus Christ loves you and is seeking reconciliation never does change.

Up to this point it may sound as if the book only speaks to what Eastside Foursquare Church has done. Not so,  in great part Eric shares the qualities, challenges, and potential of MBE’s in the future, this is only the beginning. The book is written from the heart and when you finish the book you may realize a couple things. First of all you may realize that Mission Based Entrepreneurship isn’t about the entrepreneur, it’s about being faithful in what God calls you to. You may also walk away understanding that through Christ anything is possible and the Glory of two hotels owned and managed by a Church in Portland Oregon goes to God. You may even walk away with a renewed hope, passion, and desire to allow God to be the center of your life in everything that you do.

Through the development of economic engines (say like a hotel) it’s possible to take your mission to new heights. What are you passionate about? What mission is on your heart or what ministry do you feel called to? While the book isn’t going to give you all of the answers it’s going to give you a renewed hope. Read about how one leader and his congregation have spearheaded The MBE Revolution in Portland Oregon. Greater things really are yet to come.

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The book covers some of the early foundations that led up to creation of what is now the Grameen Bank. Likewise is covers the need for change within social systems in order to alleviate poverty. In many cases poverty is not the result of inaction,  it’s the result of the lack of opportunity. In Bangladesh (and most of the world) credit is extended to people if they have some form of collateral to back up the loan. This automatically disqualifies a great number of people from getting traditional credit to begin with.

The result of a lack of credit is presented within the book. People’s only option for credit is limited to money changers in a local economy. Money changers sometimes charge huge amounts of interest on a daily loan causing the borrower to work all day for mere pennies. With one loan an individual in poverty can break the cycle and start using their own daily savings and start generating a return that leads them out of poverty.

From the earliest days of loaning $27 U.S. to a small community to loaning over $6.5 billion combined to date; the Grameen Bank has grown into a very successful micro-lending institution. The success of Grameen didn’t stop with a lending institution. There have been many different businesses created through Grameen, including a joint venture with Danone yogurt to provide nutritious, affordable food to the poor.

Bangladesh, a country roughly the size of the U.S. State Louisiana, is the 7th most populous country in the world with over 160 million people. Regardless of the high density of people living there it is also recognized as being one of the Next Eleven emerging economies. Since 1991 the poverty rate has fallen over 20%, some would suggest that this reduction in poverty is due in great part to micro-credit, I would agree.

Granted, this book isn’t for everybody. If you’re similar to me and interested in understanding how global economies and trade work this would be an interesting read for you. The author, Pietra Rivoli, goes into much painstaking detail about how tee-shirts are brought into the market…and beyond.

This book covers everything from the history of cotton growing, including the invention of the Gin by Eli Whitney, to shredded t-shirt bi-products and global re-selling of used shirts in specialty shops and Africa. It’s quite interesting to see how tee-shirts are made and distributed, a great read for sure.

If you consider that a pack of tee-shirts can be purchased at your neighborhood retail outlet for under $10/pack it does make you wonder “how is this possible”. You may even consider the possibility that the tee-shirts are manufactured by some 12 year old locked into a factory. I’m not saying that they always are, I’m just saying that tee-shirts are inexpensive, and there has to be some margin for profit.

If you have any interest in global markets & trade this is a book you should consider reading. Likewise if you have previously read and enjoyed books like “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman, you’ll most definitely enjoy reading this book as well.

One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

On the way to Central America this year I stopped into a borders bookstore in the Huston airport and purchased a couple of books for the journey. One of the books was “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson & David Relin, here’s a preview of the book. A couple of things about Greg caught my eye as I hungrily launched into the book. Greg and I had a couple things in common. We were both Army Medics and we both attended a Concordia University.

Of course there are plenty of things that we don’t have in common. Greg is almost 4 inches taller than my 6′0. He was a mountaineer, climbing a great portion of K2, the second highest peak in the world. Likewise he doesn’t seem to have a problem with being late. Suffice it to say that we had a couple things in common.

What’s so Awesome About This Book?

It’s written very well and tells a true story of how one “infidel” has made a huge impact on the people within Pakistan and eventually Afghanistan. The book took place a few years prior to, during, and a few years after 9/11/2003.( Do you still remember (never forget!) the resultant war in Afghanistan and Iraq that took place shortly there after? ) Greg was in Pakistan and saw first hand the impact that war had on the people of the region during and after the initial attacks on Afghanistan.

You see, Greg was there building schools and relationships with a diverse group of people before, during, and after the attacks. He saw the human suffering that engulfed the people of the region as a result of the our retaliation for the attack on the twin towers. Out of the chaos and uncertainty that the attacks created Greg, as a result of his perspective, was able to view the Muslim people like they were. He was able to share his perspective and h

Greg’s work in the region resulted in over 55 schools being built for people when the book came to an end. The work isn’t finished either. The non-profit Central Asia Institute is still at work in the region.

In Reflection

I was, like many Americans, unable to see the human side of Central Asia after the attacks of 9/11. When Bush said “dead or alive” I didn’t hear him talking about real people, he was talking about “terrorists”. It wasn’t until I was actually sent to Iraq that my understanding began to change. In fact my understanding hasn’t stopped changing as a result of my experiences there. In short I met a lot of really good Iraqi people, they were not terrorists.
Conclusion

There are a variety of things that could still be mentioned, certainly there are a lot of questions raised, when you reflect on how our individual perspectives can miss seeing so many details as covered in a book like this. Three Cups of Tea was a chance for me to reflect on how one man (or woman) can have such a large impact and bring about so much good, even amidst so much chaos.