Are you an Entrepreneur? Long Beach.

‘Seems I barely get home from Long Beach and I am missing being with my people, and I begin to ask God for the next week’s message. ‘There’s something more . . . I just know there is . . . at least, there ought to be,’ I was thinking at the start of this last week. I was feeling unsettled inside.

‘Lord, show me why I feel this way about Long Beach,’ I prayed. You see,

I have learned that when God stirs the waters in ministry, it usually means he is about to give a greater vision. There is no doubt that God has clearly been showing up at Long Beach, meeting us in prayer, answering our prayers, changing hearts and changing lives. Being part of what he is doing there is one incredible experience! But then, Scripture teaching combined with Spirit-filled prayer is a dynamic combination to bring about change, so that is not surprising! But for folks who are so poor, I do not feel that just bringing these to them is enough. I sought the Lord, and then I flashed on a passage I have taught several times: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”1 Hmmm . . . my thinking continued.

I pulled a book from my shelf that had stoked the flames of vision six years ago, and reread it—Entrepreneurial Faith;2 it was even better than I remembered it! Two godly men talk about having an entrepreneurial attitude toward rallying the Christian to get out of the church and into his community. (What an endorsement for taking our Sunday learnin’ out to others in creative ways!)

Many of us have entrepreneurial spirits… whether they have been stretched or not, or used for Christ, is the question. See, entrepreneurship is about seeing, sizing and seizing opportunities. The entrepreneur then is the one who is not satisfied with the way things are, refusing to stand on the sidelines doing nothing about it. Combine that fire with a passionate faith in Christ, and well, maybe that’s what Jesus was talking about when he told his followers that they would do even greater things than what he had done on earth.3 Jesus said, I can guarantee this truth: Those who believe in me will do the things that I am doing. They will do even greater things because I am going to the Father.

I went to the beach to pray, and asked God to show me next steps. ‘I’m listening, Lord,’ I prayed. ‘Then let’s talk about Long Beach… in order for some of those folks to get their lives back, they need more. Things you take for granted, like being able to bathe regularly, like having friends, like not having to always looking over your shoulder . . . ‘anything you can do about those things?’ ‘I dunno, Lord—there’s just so much I don’t know—‘ ‘Then go find out—there is no excuse for ignorance, Child.’

No one better to tell me what I needed to know than the Duke of Earl. So I asked him to take me to Lincoln Park, where many lay their heads down at night. He made me rehearse before we entered the park. ‘Listen, Kris-teeen, you’re gonna see people you know from prayer meeting—you can’t hug them . . . not out here. You put out your fist, like this—they know that means to stay an arm’s length back. Now, try it.’ So, I did. On the busy downtown street under the watchful eye of tall county buildings, I extended my fist, and he met it with his big dark knuckles. ‘There, that’s it. That’s all, I’m serious,’ he looked at me sternly. ‘Okay, I’ve got it.’ And with that, we entered the park, and sure enough, I saw folks I knew just sittin’ around talking and hanging out. In the beautifully landscaped park, I saw where bedrolls are hidden and sandwiches are distributed and also where a lot of drug deals go down; Lincoln Park is filled with evil-doing, especially at night.

From there, we went to the Village, a place I had been desperate to see—having heard about it and read about it in The Soloist. ‘Hydro’ (yes, his street name) proudly showed me around, while the Duke trailed watchfully behind. I saw so many of my friends, and again, it was quite remarkable how happy they were to see me on their turf. The Village gives desperate people second chances—with mental healthcare, vocational classes, a place to bathe, study, eat, get clothes, and log on to an old computer. Seeing the Village reassured me that help was around and readily available, if people wanted it.

‘Okay, Lord, show me next steps, show me how to do it—I’m listening.’ And with that, a tune came to my mind from high school choir 35 years ago. ‘The words that fit that tune? “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray…” I looked up the verse to get it straight, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” ‘Get my people praying . . . I mean, really praying.

Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit? Have you used it to further God’s work? Start praying about doing just that, won’t you?

Christine

PastorWoman.com


1 James 2.15-17

2 Entrepreneurial Faith: Launching Bold Initiatives to Expand God’s Kingdom by Kirbyjon Caldwell and Walt Kallestad

3 John 14.12-14

4 2 Chronicles 7.14