In this session, we will speak about our experience of starting both a business and a ministry and how we have biblical examples and examples from the history of our church in such endeavors. We will also talk about strategies and some of the blessings and difficulties of starting either a ministry or a business for God’s glory.

ASI 2025 Conference: Investing in Eternity

In this session, we will speak about our experience of starting both a business and a ministry and how we have biblical examples and examples from the history of our church in such endeavors. We will also talk about strategies and some of the blessings and difficulties of starting either a ministry or a business for God’s glory.

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

Young Professionals

Paul Dysinger

Pressure Points

So as Ashwin said, my name is Paul Dysinger.

And a quick little introduction for those who may not.

Well, just a very short little background.

Tomorrow we're having a gardening seminar.

So when I came out of high school, I went to our family farm.

My dad had partnered with his uncle to run a family farm.

It was a small, organic farm where we were growing 50 to 70 different varieties of vegetables, herbs, and berries.

So I worked with the family farm for many years.

And then I branched off and started teaching people how to grow their own food.

And that has since then evolved into now we build gardening and farm planning software.

But This morning, we're going to be diving into just some very real and personal stories of pressure points in life.

Stories of my experience, our experience, facing how do you balance family, faith, business, or work all together in 1.

So we're gonna go through 4 stories this morning, and each 1 has somewhat of a theme for each of these stories.

A particular pressure point that some of you may relate to particular ones, some of you may relate to all of them together.

These are areas that I've personally faced at different levels in starting my own business and running my own business and working with the family as well.

But let's start out with story number 1 here.

And this is what I'm going to call the fretter.

How many of you know what it means to fret?

Unnecessarily worried, stress, there we go.

Complaining, anxiety, anxiousness, right?

I'm going to tell you a story of when we, I was, this is the very first time that I started my business.

You'll actually get to see a picture in a second here.

And I was launching this online business because I had spent quite a bit of time working with the family business on the family farm.

And I didn't feel particularly called to go into commercial agriculture.

And so I said, hey, why don't, actually, through some mentorship and some counseling with other godly counselors, 1 of them was my father-in-law or future father-in-law at that time, I was looking at, OK, what are my skills?

And how could I package those together into making a living?

Because if I'm not going to make a living farming, I've got to make a living somehow, right?

So the concept, the idea came out, why don't I start an online business teaching people how to grow their own food.

I had a little bit of web development skills, so I knew how to make a website and all that kind of stuff.

And I had a camera that I could use to film.

So I ended up connecting with a friend of mine, Dave Westbrook.

And he had been running an online business, teaching people how to move to the country.

And so he had a whole online course, and he would do webinars that he would then pitch his course to.

And people would sign up, and he would walk people through the process and the steps of how to move from the city, what you should be looking for in country property, how to go navigate that whole scenario.

So he said that he would be willing to mentor me in starting my own business, teaching people how to grow their own food.

And I remember, actually, the first video that I made was called 5 Keys.

I'm going to forget what it was titled now.

5 Keys to Grow Vegetables That Look Beautiful and Taste Amazing.

So I just set up a camera in the hoop house on our farm and did this little video.

And the goal was to build an email list, to build an audience of people that were interested in gardening.

But then we needed to monetize those people somehow, because if you're gonna make a living, you've gotta make what?

So, and This is where the whole thing ties into entrepreneurship and business.

Even for those of you who may not have your own business or are working for someone else, that business has got to make money, right?

All of these concepts flow into the whole business sector as young professionals.

Here's what Dave Westbrook suggested that I do.

He said, why don't you set up a webinar, it's an online class, and we'll do a training.

You can do a training on gardening, and then at the end you can pitch a gardening course that you have not created yet.

This actually can be a good principle, is You can test the water to see how many people are actually interested in this, right?

Because if you get nobody to sign up, you haven't put all the 250 hours into making it, right?

But if people sign up — and By the way, you'd be up front with people about it.

You'd say, hey, I'm planning to put together this course.

If you would like a special deal and get in on the beginning, I'll roll it out to you over the next 12 months.

I looped my father and my uncle in and I said, hey, can you help me put together this webinar?

We sat down, I put together the slides, I recorded it with them, and Then I recorded my sales pitch at the end.

By the way, I absolutely am not a natural at sales.

It's something that I have had to learn to grow and cultivate and learn.

It's 1 of those learned skills, at least for me.

They just, boom, it just comes off and it's smooth and it's nice and people buy, right?

I sat down and I watched Dave Westbrook's webinar with his sales pitch at the end.

The way this was going to work was he had a large email list of people that were interested in country living.

He said, I'll affiliate with you and we'll split the income 50-50.

By the way, that's a standard commission in the online course industry.

That might sound like a lot, but online courses are almost 100% profit because you don't have a lot of upfront investment, right?

Anyways, that's the way that affiliate marketing works.

So he was going to promote it, and we had like 1, 200 people register for our webinar, which is fantastic.

And it was building my email list, right, of people that are interested in gardening.

So the day of the webinar comes, and I get it loaded up onto my website.

This was just the time was going to come where we would post it, and then people could watch it at that time.

So we were emailing people and telling them, okay, it's gonna go live, but it's gonna be live on the internet at such and such a time.

Chad Kreuzer

Faith-Driven Business: Blending Ministry with Entrepreneurship

Our session this afternoon is Faith Driven Business, Blending Ministry with Entrepreneurship.

And just to tell you quickly who I am, my name is Chad Kruiser.

I have a YouTube channel called Health and Homestead.

And my wife and I, we've made a living making documentary films for a number of years with archaeologists, historians, theologians, scholars, and we now are just about to start a Lifestyle Center for anybody but mainly for the Amish.

We're in the second largest Amish community in the United States, probably in the world, in Ohio, and we are, God willing, starting in September our first session inviting folks out from the community and having an 18-day lifestyle program for people with heart disease, diabetes, depression, different health issues.

So we're gonna be starting that very soon.

And before I begin, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to study together.

Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would guide, that Jesus would be uplifted in all that we say and do in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, it's always good to begin with some controversy.

And to share with you a little bit about this controversy, the idea that the Bible is a book of male domination and women hiding in their tents is not biblical at all.

The reason I say that is because I was thinking, I was thinking, okay, looking through the Bible at entrepreneurs or people who start businesses, the person that is spoken of more than anybody else on entrepreneurial work, strangely enough, is women.

You probably heard the Proverbs 31 girl or the Proverbs 31 woman.

So it's saying, listen, if you want to find an amazing woman who is priceless, What is she like?

It's interesting, it says in verse 15 and 16, she rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household and portions to her maidens.

With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.

So this woman, notice you get the idea that women in the Bible are not people who don't make any decisions because women can't make decisions and the Bible is an old antiquated book.

The Bible, when it says, listen, you want to know what a virtuous woman is like?

This is a lady who can, she can look at things like land and she can discern that is a good piece of property.

That would be something I would like to buy.

That would be something I'd like to make a living off of.

So this woman, and not only that, she has the ability to make this decision.

Her husband's not like, oh woman, don't you know this is the Bible and the Bible doesn't allow women to make decisions.

And then it says in verse 16, she considers a field and she buys it with the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.

And then as we go on further, it's interesting, it says she makes linen garments and she does what with them?

Now, I don't wanna get too political here, but she's a capitalist.

A virtuous woman in the Bible is a capitalist.

It's not as if a virtuous woman doesn't believe in trade and selling things.

No, a virtuous woman sees land and she's like, I wanna buy that land.

And then on top of that, She's making things and she's selling them and she delivers sashes to the merchant.

It says, she stretches out her hand to the poor, yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.

So this is not some kind of capitalist who is taking over the world and crushing the little man, she is simultaneously using the means that she has been able to acquire by the work that she does as a successful woman business woman, And she does what?

She actually helps people out in society.

Now is there rape and all kinds of terrible things that happen to women in the Bible?

Are there terrible things that happen to men in the Bible?

Because terrible things happen in history, and the Bible tells us about those things, but in reality the Bible tells us that a virtuous woman, I don't mean that every single woman needs to be an entrepreneur, but it's interesting that the woman, when it's talking about like the apex of a woman, this woman is able to do these things and she helps out the poor and needy simultaneously.

Verses 25 and 6 say, strength and dignity are her clothing and she smiles at the future.

Because she's diligent and has become successful, she's not a woman who's just like, well, I came from a rough life and life is rough, and you know, the little man can never get ahead.

No, she's become so diligent regardless of her background and the trials she's gone through in life.

And she's like, you know, I've gone through difficulties, but you know, there's things I can do.

He's given me the ability to do things, and I'm going to go forward anyway." And because of her diligence and her experience with God in the past, she smiles at what the future is going to bring to her.

And it says she opens her mouth in wisdom.

Her children rise up and call her blessed.

It's interesting, this woman, though she is a businesswoman, she also has children.

So she hasn't like forsaken 1 of the greatest joys a human could experience and that's having children.

Because someday, you know, I mean if Jesus comes, okay maybe you'll never have children, but in reality that's 1 of the greatest joys you could have.

That you have children come out of you and those children have children and someday you could see all these people that have come forth from your bowels, as the Bible might say.

I mean, she has family, she has a husband, she has children, and her children call her blessed.

And by the way, blessed means to be truly what?

She's not some kind of cranky, angry woman.

Her like, her children are like, our mom is amazing.

She's so happy and she brings happiness to the family.

So here's the thing, this woman not only can run a business, she can also have children and a relationship with her husband.

Now, not to get too controversial today, but it's a common thing today.

And by the way, women make more money today than guys do on average.

You may not know that, but the shift has changed.

More women graduate from college today than men do.

And so we're in a whole new world that we're living in, and so women have an opportunity to do anything.

Start a business, you say, but Chad, yeah, more men are CEOs and businessmen.

That's because more men have started businesses, not that women couldn't.

And today, you have the opportunity to do anything you want to do.

And 1 thing I would challenge you, if you do become successful as a woman, 1 of the things you hear on the internet, often women will say, I make enough money, I don't need a man.

But imagine if a man said, I make plenty of money, I don't need a woman.

I don't need my children, because I make plenty of money.

Series

Young Professionals

Faith-Driven Business: Blending Ministry with Entrepreneurship

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Excellent Service

2h 2m

ASI 2012 Seminar: Evangelism

Gospel-Medical Evangelism: 1891-1900 and Today

1h 9m

Esther

For Such A Time As This

46m

True Riches

44m

Faith and Finance

Session 1: Planning Your Life for Success

43m

Does God Want Me to be a Millionaire?

1h 2m

Seminars

Our Best Year Yet Sharing Jesus

1h 16m

The Unjust Steward

48m

Surprise Attacks, Part 2

1h 16m

Transformed

Only by His Spirit

1h 17m

ASI 2011 Seminar: Nonprofit and Business

The Master Plan and the Master’s Plan

1h 12m

Morning Devotional

1. Off to a Good Start

58m

Sound Doctrine