THE CALL TO SIERRA LEONE - 12 Mar 2008

Sierra Leone is poised at a significant time in her history.  Beautiful yet devastated, poor in the midst of untold natural riches – she indeed is in a kairos window.  Her people, who have been patient are now pregnant with expectation.  The new democratic government has to deliver.  A Call to Business and many others really believe in our hearts that Sierra Leone can and will be transformed.  We are involved in a growing number of activities in the country including:

Mercy Projects

• Education – we have plans to build a secondary school and a number of skills training centres
• Orphanage – we support an orphanage for disabled children run by an amazing disabled lady
• Medical support – we have recently set up a scheme to provide ‘top-up’ wages to encourage medical personnel to relocate to remote rural areas where there are no medical provisions.

Commercial Projects

• Seed financing – we support local entrepreneurs by providing seed capital and are in the process of arranging skills training
• Agribusiness – we are advancing discussions for partnership in a fruit processing business which it is hoped to start later this year
• Exploratory plans for
  • Commercial agriculture
  • Fisheries
  • Tourism
  • River transportation
  • Rural Mobile Telephony
  • Other potential opportunities

FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS - Ailish Singlehurst - 29 Jan 2008

I grew up in inner city Limerick in a time where few people in Ireland actually had money.  I left Ireland at the age of 19 and travelled around Europe, where I met God and eventually joined a missionary organisation called YWAM, where I met my husband Laurence.  We had a family together and I very much enjoyed being a mum of three children along with the responsibilities I had in YWAM.

I always knew where every penny was and I made sure that I never paid more for anything than I needed to!  I always loved figures and was never without my calculator.  I started procurement for YWAM and managed to raise over £1 million of M & S food for the missionary organisation, all of which helped to develop my administrative, financial and organisational skills using the talents God had given me.

Looking back to my childhood I can see now that I always had the skill of making money!  I was known amongst the nuns and priest to be a great raffle ticket seller and every Friday after school (the day the men were paid their wages) I went to Limerick railway station and did my weekly sales pitch to them, as well as spending Saturdays on the streets selling raffle tickets.  I loved the buzz this gave me and always had money in the Post Office!  When I went to Dublin and got my first job at age 18 I needed money for travelling, so as well as my office day job I sold encyclopaedias door to door in the evening and was the top sales person.

During my time in YWAM I did a psychometric test, which reveals your deepest motivations.  The trainers said mine was one of the most interesting they'd seen for years because my motivation was to make money!  One said to me "whatever you do, lady, one day you must go into business".  I held that dream for 10 years, when the opportunity finally presented itself.

I've always been interested in houses and began to look at the town of Luton where house prices were a third of the price of my own town.  My research highlighted the very good rental market for students and by borrowing £50,000 I bought my first rental property, got five students in there and loved it!  I would go weekly to collect the rent and chat to the students, all the while continuing my research with estate agents and students, finally realising that I could very easily manage several properties.  I loved the administration and the personal contact with students.

However, in spite of my success so far, no bank would give me a mortgage based on our missionary income.  Finally I heard about buy-to-let mortgages and discovered that I could borrow 90% of what I needed, regardless of income and so went ahead on this basis, borrowing a total of £500,000 - which meant 10 more houses!!

My husband was away during this week - and at that time there were no mobile phones!  On his return I told him I had bought 5 houses and had the money to buy another 3.  He  paled and said "What is Plan B if you can't make the mortgage payments of half a million pounds?".  I replied "There is no Plan B!  Plan A has to work and if it means I stand outside Luton University begging people to live in my houses then I wil do it!"  And that's exactly what I did.  I photocopied hundreds of leaflets and during the following weeks got 50 students to fill the 10 houses I had acquired.

The thing about being an entrpreneur is that there is no Plan B!  This makes the big risk the big risk!  I'm glad to say it paid off and my portfolio has continued to develop.

Where does my Christian faith interact with this?

I aim to be a very fair landlady and provide a good service, treating my students in a good way and giving them real value.  At times, as in all businesses (particularly where you're collecting money) this can be tough and you need a measure of toughness as well, but it's great to see the fruit of what you do.

So I have learnt - keep your dreams alive, hold on to them.  I've always dreamt about business.  Develop your basic talents, take the opportunity that comes, be prepared for the big risk (it's always the big risk) and as a Christian seek to put your values into what you do!

MY CALL TO BUSINESS - Wilben Short - 21 Dec 2007

I am Head of Transport at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.  I have the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the provision of transport for over 50,000 competitors, Games officials, the media and sponsors during the Games.  I have been involved in the planning of the Games since 2004 and was a member of the team that won the bid for London in July 2005.

Before joining London 2012, I worked as a consultant in the rail industry. I also held a number of senior management roles in London Underground including six years as General Manager of the Northern Line.  When I was appointed to the Northern Line in 1993, one newspaper wrote – “Mr. Short has taken on one on the most difficult jobs in the capital.  He will need all the help from above if he is to turn round the fortunes of the line.”  Within a year, the government of the day approved the first major Private Finance Initiative within the rail sector in the UK, as a result of which over half-a–billion pounds were invested during the following six years!  This reversed a period lasting several decades of underinvestment in the line.

I have been a committed Christian since 1976 and have always seen my calling as being a witness in the business world. From the moment I became a Christian, I started receiving invitations from Christian organisations to go into “full-time ministry”.  Yet even during my early days as a Christian, I knew God wanted me in business.   These invitations were particularly tempting as I was working for a tobacco manufacturing company at that time.  At the right time, God made it clear it was time to leave the tobacco industry.  I left Sierra Leone, where I grew up, came to the UK with my family, and enrolled on the MBA programme at Cranfield Business School.  I was recruited to London Underground from Cranfield in 1989.

Throughout my Christian life, I have served in a number of leadership positions in church and para-church organisations.  However my passion has always been to see the kingdom of God at work outside the church.  Jesus did not insist that people were converted before they were healed! He touched them and then said “go and sin no more”.  I long to see more examples of God touching the lives of those who are not Christians through the witness and service of Christians in the workplace.

Recently this has resulted in a desire to promote Jesus’ principles and style of leadership (Servant Leadership) within organisations. Jesus was, is and will always be the most successful and effective leader there has been. He must have been doing something right.  Organisations of all types and descriptions will be transformed when leaders see themselves as servants of their followers, lead them with integrity and consideration, rather than the self-centred manipulative form of leadership that most people toil under today.

I identify very strongly with the vision of “A Call to Business”.  There is no true answer to the problems of this world other than Jesus and his representatives in the world of today. 

One theological view of the Four Winds of Revelation 7:1 is that the four winds represent the power great powers that have ruled the earth

a.       The first wind represents the military powers that ruled until the time of Emperor Constantine

b.      The second wind represents the religious powers such as Catholicism and the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

c.       The third wind represents the political powers, starting around the time of the Magna Carta and lasting till the mid-20th century.

d.      The fourth and final power is economic power.

It is therefore more important than ever for Christians who operate within the “economic power system” to understand the potential of business to transform lives in these last days.

A PASTOR’S JOURNEY TO A MARKET PLACE UNDERSTANDING - Terry Diggines - 20 Nov 2007

My name is Terry Diggines and I was born in Leytonstone in the London Borough of Waltham Forest and in 1970 moved to the London Borough of Newham.  I am married to Pat and we have two daughters and six wonderful grandchildren.

With a background in Retail Management I moved into “full-time ministry” and for 25 years was pastor of Plaistow Christian Fellowship.  For the past 10/11 years I have been on a journey which has radically changed my thinking.  Much of this journey was God engaging me in a two-way conversation which led me into a different understanding of “full-time ministry” and the importance of the marketplace.  He has been very patient and gracious as we have journeyed together and revelation has come. It has been exciting and challenging and is not over, as God wants to go to even greater heights or depths or both!  The journey has challenged me to the pit of my stomach and has created a deep passion which sometimes can border on frustration.

At a personal level the challenge has been to step up to the podium and take responsibility for what I have heard and do something about it.  It has including unexpected healing of areas in my life that I was not even aware of, and healing that has also come in unexpected ways.  There have also been major attacks of the enemy because he knows the power and potential of the marketplace.  It has been a journey of humbling and in some cases tears, as I have had to repent to God and say sorry to marketplace people on behalf of church leadership for the way in which, on the whole we have not valued, supported, encouraged or released people into their ministry in the marketplace.  Although at times difficult, it has been followed by a sense joy both for me and those I have said sorry to. 

I have sensed the sadness in the heart of God I as I listened to the sense of frustration in many marketplace people over not being understood or valued, feeling isolated and in some cases a just a cash-can to keep the church going.  The other side of the coin has been the great sense of joy both in God and in people as they have been assured that the sense of calling in their heart as a work place ministers is also in the heart of God and it is OK!

In January 2007 this journey led Pat and I to move out of church leadership and set up an organisation called AYG (As You Go) which is based on two scriptures:

1.     Matthew 10:7 – “Jesus said ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; as you go preach the good news of the Gospel’.”

2.     Matthew 28:19 – “Jesus said ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’.”  The tense here is as you go or wherever you go make disciples.

Our passion is to see the people of God equipped and encouraged into their calling and anointing to serve in all areas of society with a particular focus on the workplace and so fulfil the great commission as a lifestyle rather than a project.

My passionate plea (and truly this is passion and not frustration) is particularly to my fellow Pastors and church leaders to please look afresh at God’s people and see the hidden, neglected army in your charge.  There is a wake call to church leaders to be more Kingdom minded, to see that primarily our role is to release people and equip them into their spheres of influence in the marketplace.  I believe this is going to happen - why not be in vanguard of this move?  But be warned – it will cost you!!