Book Describes Principles Behind Successful Spiritual Enterprises

by Allie Martin
August 30, 2004

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(AgapePress) - The pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the United States says it is vital for Christians to take risks in order to make a difference.

KirbyJon Caldwell is pastor of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas. When he began preaching there, the church was small, with only 25 members. Today, however, the congregation meets on a 200-acre campus.

Caldwell is co-author of a new book called Entrepreneurial Faith: Launching Bold Initiatives to Expand God's Kingdom (Waterbrook, 2004). He says Jesus was the ultimate entrepreneur, a person who performed God's primary will because He "saw what God wanted Him to do, and He did it. He believed that God -- His Father -- could do it, and He acted like it."

The Texas pastor describes the entrepreneurial mentality as a three-fold combination -- a profile he calls "ABC," or "the ability to see it, the belief to know that God can pull it off, and ... the courage to pull the trigger on it."

According to Caldwell, the entrepreneurial spirit is not first and foremost about pursuing financial gain, as many people mistakenly assume; but rather, it is about taking on challenges in a new way. He says often, when people hear the word entrepreneur, "They think, 'Oh, boy, that must be about money, must be about business.'"

However, as the United Methodist minister explains, that is not necessarily the case. "In fact," he says, "initially, the word entrepreneur was used to refer to pulling together the right people to pursue common goals so that the community could be improved. So from that standpoint, Jesus is, was, and always will be the ultimate entrepreneur."

Caldwell co-authored Entrepreneurial Faith with Walt Kallestad, pastor of the Community Church of Joy in suburban Phoenix, Arizona. Through their book, the two ministers are encouraging pastors, laypeople, and communities to dream big when it comes to pursuing God's plans for their lives and ministries.