We are playing a different game. Different is good.

In third grade, I wanted a trampoline really bad, but I had a problem - my parents wanted me to help pay for it. I had made a whopping $2 a week doing chores around the house, but as every great entrepreneur does, I thought there has to be a better way. If I wanted a trampoline before I turned 83, I needed a new solution. So, I started my “first business” selling homemade stress balloons. Before third grade was over, I was jumping higher than the biggest bullfrog in the pond. This trend continued in high school. If I wanted a truck with a solid floorboard, paint that wasn’t rusted, and AC, then I needed to earn money, and that is what I did. Owning a business has always been the career path I knew I wanted to take.

As I’m sure you all know, the path looked different, but different is good.

Twelve years ago, my wife and I were blown away to find out (at that time) 18,000 kids die each day from starvation and malnutrition. We were saddened and sickened by this stat but at the same time, confused.

What can we do, how can we help?

I knew I was called to the business world and that God created me to run a business, but how do we do that and fight hunger? God has a funny way of answering these questions. He called us to open a restaurant that donates a meal for every meal we sell, Meal 4 Meal. The ironic thing is (and a total God move) he called us to do this even though we had never worked in a restaurant a day in our life.

As we have embarked on this faith journey of serving God by running a for-profit business, we have had to get very comfortable with being different.

Hey Entrepreneurs, Be Different!

I have a great group of friends who own and run restaurants. These guys are awesome, and although we sometimes compete, we all care about each other and truly want the best for each other's restaurants. When I first met these guys, I often felt very underqualified. These guys grew up in the industry. In fact, several are second-generation restauranteurs. I, on the other hand, am a complete outsider.

The first day we opened our first restaurant was day one for me in this industry. I have learned so much from them, but one of the things I had to learn the hard way is to not be like them.

This isn’t because they are not great guys – they are – they run restaurants I would be glad to have my boys work at. They have been extremely successful. So, why should I not be like them?

God had to gently remind me that I’m playing a different game.

Do I enjoy their friendship? Yes. Do I learn something new every time I talk to them? Yes. Has Tacos 4 Life gotten better because of these friends? 100%. But I’m not playing the same game. The beauty of God speaking this to me is that I can learn and let the insecurities fall away.

In a mission-focused business, we have to look at business peers and ministry peers and learn from each, but we do not fit either category. We have a clear and strong mission to feed kids while running profitable restaurants. Both are equally important. One cannot outweigh the other. If we only look at our business peers, we will tend to lean in that direction. If we only look at our ministry partners, we will tend to lean in that direction. Instead, we have to hold both as equally important.

We have to be ok being in the middle and listening to God’s direction.

Be different!

How Do We Become Different? Embrace Your Calling

The first time I went to Africa, I had a friend speak into my life in a way that forever changed me. We went to Africa to see the food that has been raised from donations at our restaurants in action. We partner with an incredible Christ-centered organization, Feed My Starving Children. We had been in business for two years at this point with our first restaurant, and you would have thought I would have been so excited to go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa, but I didn’t want to go.

No, I was tired, burnt out, and a little angry with God. Ashton and I had done this radical thing of opening a mission-based restaurant, and it was failing, and I was being a sore loser.

I went on this trip, and I guess my anger was evident to the others on the trip. During one of our long van rides across the beautiful countryside, a friend leaned over to me and told me to read Romans 4 in the Message version. He then pointed out what Paul said about Abraham, the Father of our faith. Eugene Peterson does such a beautiful job helping us see how significant this chapter is. Paul shares that Abraham was first named a father and then became a father. He trusted God to do what only he could do.

I love that God called Abraham a father long before he became a father. Isn’t that just like God? It’s not just Abraham, it’s David, Joseph, Gideon, and on and on and on. I love what Dallas Willard says, “The most important thing in your life is not what you do. It is who you become.” So stop focusing on your own inabilities and focus on God. He’s the one who has created you, named you, and is growing you into who you are becoming.

Being Different in Business Means Winning Different

I grew up in Arkansas, and being in the land of Walmart, I grew up hearing stories about these wise old sages who sold cattle, cashed in retirement funds, or just simply went all in to buy Walmart stock. My parents have a neighbor, and he was one of these wise guys. Apparently, he sold a trailer load of cattle back in the late seventies and used his earnings to buy Walmart stock. Brilliant! I think we all want to be that person.

So, what is the next great stock pick from the perspective of a faith driven entrepreneur? Let’s take a look at the greatest return for us as Christ followers and entrepreneurs.

Jesus talks to us in the Sermon on the Mount about storing treasures in heaven, but what does that mean? I would argue that we could trace back to Proverbs 19:17: “Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays those loans back in full.”

Wow, why don’t we talk about that more? I certainly don’t hear about this, and if I do, it’s often related to blessings now on this side of eternity. Maybe that is when the loan is paid back, or maybe it's in eternity, but think about how we invest in businesses. We bet on leaders and strategies, so why not put our investments with the creator of the universe? Jesus so winsomely invites us into this. I guarantee you this will be better than selling cows to buy Walmart stock 50 years ago.

You Have What It Takes to Be a Different Entrepreneur. Let’s Realize This Eternal Return.

Why does all of this matter? We are created in God’s image. As entrepreneurs, we have the creativity within us that the creator of the universe possesses. We are uniquely gifted and called to serve him and build the kingdom through business, but we have to stop playing the same game as everyone else.

Stop comparing yourself to traditional businesses. Remember, it’s not what you have done; it’s who you are becoming. Go for an out-of-this-world return. Jesus invites us into a counterintuitive way of being. Take the invite, and stop playing the safe, normal game everyone else is playing.

Be different. But don’t be different alone.

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