Losing Business Partners Over Religion
When I first started going back to church in 2008, my business partners and I were in the tender first years of running a branding agency. All of us were involved nightclub industry, either as promoters or nightclub owners. We had known each other for years! But by 2008, I was ready to make my transition out of that lifestyle and industry.
My business partners saw it immediately. I was talking, acting, and doing business differently. One time I remember putting the word “blessed” somewhere in a mass email to our clients and receiving a lashing-out from one of my partners to “please keep religion out of the business.” That’s when the conflict started.
5 years later, this partnership was over.
I was (and probably still am) hurt by the entire subject. These were my best friends. I tried my hardest to get them to visit church with me so that they see what I see. I kept telling myself ‘maybe if they knew God, we could stay together.’ I gave them a copy of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life, I prayed for them continually, I even straightened up some of my anger problems in hopes they would see a changed man and be compelled to know that Christ is real.
I’m still praying for them. I love them, I still talk to them once in a while, I accept them for who they are, they are still my brothers, but we’re different now.
Becoming a Godpreneur will not come easy in our lives, especially if you’re doing the massive switch that I did – from rockstar South Beach nightclub promoter. We run a huge risk of being ridiculed by new words you’ll use and of alienating clients, vendors, employees and partners that don’t agree with your ‘born again’ status.
But God has so much more in store for us than we could ever imagine if we…take a risk for Christ…like He did for us.
In Acts 21, 22, and 23, we meet a Paul that knows he’s at the end of his life. He knows that his time of death by persecution is coming. And you know what? He does it with no hesitation, counting it all as gain (Philippians 3:8).
Paul’s boldness, against the wishes of his best friends, is a great example of the risks you and I should be taking as Godpreneurs.
You will risk ridicule for dropping whatever business you had going on because you feel God calling you to start a different business, one that brings you purpose and meaning. Whatever that business is, you won’t feel alive until you do it.
You will risk conflict for separating yourself from business partners, employees, contractors, and vendors that no longer line up with your ethics and morals.
You will risk losing clients (and thus money) that no longer serve the target market you are trying to reach.
You will have tribulations, but don’t fear, for Jesus has overcome the world and God has your back! (John 16:33).
We have a new identity. We have a new purpose. We were born into a royal family, destined to do amazing things. Godpreneurs are the top of the ladder, the trendsetters, the oldest profession in the Bible, and the largest contributors financially to the growth of the church around the world.
Godpreneur Rule #1: Godpreneurs go out and tell the world, risking it all for Christ, unashamed and purpose driven with a God-given identity.