Bob Norsworthy #1

This morning mirrors what my partner Bret and I have seen around the world.

The advance of his kingdom has been stymied by wrong paradigms.

I think it all wraps around the issue of identity.

20 years ago I graduated from Multnomah College of the Bible. I was a leader with ISI. We worked with foreign students in the US. I did that for 15 years and then my vision expanded and I began to struggle with how these students would fare in the marketplace.

Students would crater when they would return home and try to lead in their churches. They would be captivated by Greed in the market place.

I began to spend time with a friend and build a plan to meet with city leaders. Our funding was lost in the dot com crash.

God put us on our faces and we struggled with our identity. God was putting our lives on a shelf, or so it seemed. I began to awaken to the lies that I had stored in full time ministry.

I came to the point of brokenness and began to ask different questions about who God uses.

We are beginning to see God break down the caricatures of what ministry is. Now partnerships can be released in an unprecedented way.

Equip is a ministry that focuses on business people and the market place. Equip has the vision to bring a transformation of identity in the lives of business people. Brett founded equip 3 years ago and founded a process to bring transformation in their lives.

www.repurposing.biz

To download an overview of Equip and their program, click here.

Satan has immobilized a great cadre of people in the church.

The Great Scandal

Lethal Lies that immobilize:

• There is a God ordained Division between Clergy and Laity.
• The church operations primarily inside a building on Sundays
• Christians involved in the business world cannot be as spiritual as those in the Pulpit or Pastoral ministry.
• There is something inherently dirty or worldly about business
• The Main role of business people is to make money to fund the vision of those in "the full-time ministry"
• God can really use you if you quit your job and become a fulltime minister or career missionary

We ask business leaders to give up 4 hours a week for 10-12 weeks. We build community. Cultivating Identity Leaders have to commit to go to other nations to help other leaders around the world when they are done with the process.

20 people, training in US, South Africa, India, SE Asia.

Go for the Big Aha!

Pray for the Kairos Moment:

• That business people are not second class in their Kingdom… but are just as much ministers as their pastor.
• That God can use all of their business skills and acumen to minister deeply to other business people
• That their company does not belong to them, it belongs to God and they are his Jr. Partner
• That they can trust God for Marketplace Miracles
• That their company is one of the greatest assets God has given them to bring transformation to their world.

Leaders experience great passion and impact when they discover how God can use them.

They learn how to evaluate their business in light of God's priorities.

Unique Elements of Equip Consultant Experience

-Create Community Among 20 business people over 15 weeks

Equipping believers to transform societies

We do this through repurposing corporations

• Discovering their real purpose
• Usually staring with Business and the market place
• 20-40 corporations per metro each year for 5 years
• Served by multi-national teams of highly trained business people
• Examining and implementing eternal principles
• Creating a rising tide of corporate leaders, organizations and faith communities
• Resulting in a practical transformation of that society

Society has 10 domains or spheres:

Business; Capital/ Education; Family; NGO's; Church: Healthcare etc.

Sphere Sovereignty: "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" - Abraham Kuyper

What's the scorecard for your company that is measured by eternal things and the heartbeat of God.

Get 3 or 4 business from each of 5 spheres at each Consultation:

3 Capital markets companies at one; 3 media companies at one; 3 law firms at one; etc.

Over time all 10 Spheres will be deliberately transformed.

-Approximately 20 organizations serving each of the 10 spheres

We will seek transformation.

New life requires new wineskins

• Every generation has the responsibility to discover the wineskin for it's time
• Our contention: the wineskin is the operating model
• If you have new things (real life0 going on, then you will need a continually renewed wineskin
• If you are a leader of a kingdom venture that has kingdom life -be it a business, local church non-profit, or govt. Agency- then you have a mandate to renew the wineskin
• And you have a responsibility to understand what this means in practical terms.

It's about reconciliation

-God is first, to put it simply

• Everything else has to be reconciled to him
• Our ministry in the marketplace is one of reconciling all things to God
• We regard no none [nothing] from a worldly point of view
• He has given us this ministry of reconciliation
• There is a plumb line for your corporation
• We are to make sure that the entire…

A transformed society encompasses character [personal transformation] and competence [corporate repurposing]

If a leaders live is not aligned in terms of character the whole company will be compromised. Alignment personally and corporately.

Repurposing corporations:

We help them develop a balanced scorecard for their business. We help them to learn and evaluate their business.

We did an exercise with a S. African animation company to help them discover their purpose. We asked them to pare down to the bare essence of their purpose: Captivating the hearts of Kids with values that glorify God. "That's what we are all about". That was pivotal. Once they got their purpose all the other pieces became aligned. The purpose became their true north around which everything is guided.

A large kitchen remodeling company executive realized that they were throwing out kitchens from wealthy homes. He heard God tell him to install these kitchens in places where they are needed and train others to help: Transformation.

In Jakarta, a Sim card company devised a way to allow customers to ask for prayer and then follow up with their phone number. The process clarified purpose and developed mission.

Postgame Analysis:

What did you hear?

"I have seen the same thing with business leaders": Leaders awakening to their God given purpose.

Signs and wonders are for businessmen too.

Is there anyone who targets pastors to train them how to work with businesspeople? Not that we know.

Are pastors included in the groups of 20 that receive training? Not yet.

What does it mean?

Business people have a wound of feeling like life is wasted.

Most pastors are afraid of business people for reasons of ignorance and competition.

This has the potential to reconcile pastors and business leaders.

Others doing some of this: Anointed for Business; Crown Ministries

Reemphasize Eph 4:12 and equipping the saints. Pastors train in the Bible, Business leaders reach those in business.

Pastors tend to see business leaders as an opportunity to build financially. Often they are neglected spiritually. They can be a churchgoer but not a growing Christian because of the financial benefit that comes with that person.

Business leaders often don't understand the culture of the church.

It is a matter of theology and heart in understanding pastors. In European culture pastors see themselves as leaders in one sphere who need to connect with leaders in another sphere. It is necessary to touch leaders in all spheres, not just business.

Pastors tend to equate the church with the Kingdom.

The idea of pastor is larger than only a full-time paid position.

Often pastors meet with business people to help them with pastors agenda, not
to develop the business leader.