Extremely thought-provoking Bible Study (part of the Scriptural Roots of Commerce Series) regarding the meaning of work to help users understand and discover God-created purpose of work.  The meaning of work is a critical foundation for any missional enterprise.    

"We spend most of our lives working.  Do our jobs mean anything to God?  The Meaning of Work offers a hopeful answer to that question.  Early in the story, we discover a God who works with passion and love, and who has designed us to work.  We explore the truth that all work done in faith is sacred and purposeful.  The study then helps us discover how our professional lives can be integrated with God’s work to restore a broken world.  It closes with an investigation of physical and spiritual rest in the context of our stressful times."

– Global Commerce Network

Much has been happening for Second Story Coffee Roasters, including small-scale renovation of the shop location, the pre-open of our business, the launch of our website allowing customers to join a coffee subscription club, and the planning for our grand opening event on June 4th.  This has required all of us, all days of the week.  (Though I usually spend at least one day fully in my PJs, drinking coffee and reading, to make up for it!)  We had heard that starting a business requires the investment of your heart, your time, and your finances, and it is totally true.  We are excited for what we have begun, but it is up to God now whether or not it will flourish.  We still have not been able to find investors, please pray that God would provide them.

Because we are deep in the details and processes of starting a new venture, which one of my favorite people once described as "trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant," it is easy to forget the WHY of what we are doing.  We have taken a time or two together as Second Story staff (Rob, Tara, and Masayoshi) to discuss, debate, and pray about what God has in store for us as a shop and business within the community of the Oya neighborhood of Shizuoka, Japan.  

​The vision statement of Second Story Coffee Roasters is the following: 

God is already moving within this vision, giving us relationship with the workers of the cafe next door to us, a few of whom seem drawn to us and with whom we have been able to discuss:  What is the meaning of life?  Why were humans made?  Why do we exist?  We are grateful.

But we are also exhausted, us and our fellow Second Story workers.  Really, we experience the truth of 2 Corinthians 12:9, where Paul recalls God's words to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  We are a weak and motley crew, four of us not native to the language and customs, none of us experienced in business, six children between us, some of us living with illnesses of varying kind, but ALL of us being brought to a place where we remember by WHOSE strength any of this is possible.  Several times a week, I have the thought, "What we are doing is CRAZY.  Why would God choose us for this job?  For the job of living in Japan even?"  But the answer to that is never far behind, when I am reminded softy of the heroism of our Creator, who challenges his people to daily pick up their cross and follow Him, to be willing to be a weak tool in His strong hand, for ends and goals known mainly to Him alone. Following Jesus into the unknown of faith is the job of every Christian, and we are greatly encouraged by thoughts of His people around the globe, doing hard things for Him. 

Please pray with us for the success of this business, so that it might open doors to the Kingdom for the people around us.  We long to see the impact of Jesus's love on this Oya neighborhood, where we have lived and labored since our move to Japan nine years ago.

Previous posts from Jamie and SSCR.

​What are you dreaming about these days?  Does it seem like an impossible task?  Is it a big dream that you could give your life to?  Then maybe that dream is from God!  Two years ago, Navigator Ralph Gatti began to dream about having a L´Abri type of center in Central Europe that could be a think-tank for the Global Enterprise Network (GEN), the Navigators expression of business as mission, where interested entrepreneurs from around the world could come and dream about how to carry out the great commission in the marketplace where they live.  It seemed an impossible dream.  It would require all the Navigators in a city coming together to support such a center, hosting visitors from around the world. It would mean putting together a robust curriculum of the current thought in the business as mission movement while still holding true to the Navigators vision, mission and core.  And of course, it would take financial support to get the center up and running. Could such a dream become a reality?
 
Thankfully, God is into the impossible. The Agathe Center for Entrepreneurship, just an idea in the hearts of our Navigator family in Central and Eastern Europe over the last eighteen months, is now “open for business” in Bratislava, Slovakia.  The Agathe Center is a ministry of the Navigators dedicated to serving committed laborers from around the world who want to advance the kingdom of God through missional enterprise.  The founders of the Agathe Center believe that businesses should not only make a profit, but also change society for good. That is why it is called the Agathe Center for Entrepreneurship - in Greek, "Agathe" means "Good".   The mission is to provide holistic support to existing and aspiring entrepreneurs as they know Christ and make Him known.

​Bratislava, Slovakia was chosen as it has been a focal point for missional enterprise over the past twenty-five years.  There are experienced practitioners to draw upon, as well as good business examples in the city to study in order to understand what a missional enterprise should look like.  God, in His goodness, has also brought together a great international team and provided a space well-equipped to meet the needs of the center.  Those who serve at the Agathe Center are convinced that an enterprise should hold in creative tension the priorities of a triple bottom line: financial sustainability, social impact, and spiritual transformation.  The center services include mentoring and coaching, trainings and seminars, as well as intensive immersion experiences that involve spending extended time with the Agathe team.  You can read more about each of these services at the Agathe Center website.  The goal is to make personalized, individualized training and consulting available at no charge to entrepreneurs intent on advancing the Kingdom of God through business and social enterprise platforms. 
 
If you or someone you know would like to know more about utilizing the Agathe Center’s services, you can engage with Agathe through the website to start the process. The Agathe Center is now ready to receive “clients” and begin the in-depth work of helping young and aspiring missional entrepreneurs build businesses that advance the Kingdom.  Whether the enterprise has already been launched, or is still just a dream, the Agathe Center can help move it forward to the next level.  “Come and See” what God has done and how He will use the Agathe Center to advance His Kingdom around the world.  God has accomplished what Ralph dared to ask or even dream of, and He has done the work infinitely far beyond Ralph´s highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes.

What dream is God laying on your heart today?

Back in the 1980´s, the Navigators in Africa began making small loans to help African disciples launch businesses that would provide much needed income for their families.  Today, there are hundreds of enterprises across the African continent run by business men and women who have been trained by the Navigators in evangelism and discipleship.  With more and more “missional enterprises” springing up, Navigator representative Wanjau Nduba (who resources this network), saw an urgent need to have many more trained mentors and coaches who could help these business practitioners stay focused on a triple bottom line of financial sustainability, spiritual transformation, and social impact. This need led to the birth of an initiative called “Venture Villages”.

After 16 months of development, the first Venture Village was launched in Nairobi, Kenya in November of 2016 as a joint initiative with Naventure (the Navigator African business network led by Wanjau), Agora Enterprises (a US based ministry that promotes international entrepreneurial accelerators), and the Global Enterprise Network (the resource team that serves Navigator missional enterprises around the world). The goal is to launch dozens of successful startup missional entrepreneurs around Africa in the next few years.

One essential ingredient in this Venture Village process is to recruit and train successful Christ-centered entrepreneurs as business coaches and mentors who can walk alongside new and existing Navigator business practitioners.  These mentors and coaches will empower Navigator entrepreneurs to stay focused on pursuing the triple bottom line that is being used in the Global Enterprise Network (GEN). 
 
In this first Venture Village nine mentors, who were trained in the techniques of Lean Startup and coaching skills, met bi-weekly with nine aspiring entrepreneurs.  Prize money was awarded at the end of the three-month course to the three entrepreneurs with the best business ideas. Investors will be reviewing all nine business plans for potential capital investments. The next Venture Village, which will begin at the end of September 2017, will train a new cohort of mentors to work with more new entrepreneurs so over time there will be a growing number of mentors/coaches to serve the ever-increasing number of missional entrepreneurs in Africa.

The operative principle behind training new business mentors/coaches is Ecclesiastes 4:9 - “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.”  By having trained business mentors/coaches working with new Christ-centered entrepreneurs to pursue a triple bottom line, God will ensure there will be a good return for their labor.  This will enable the gospel to flow out of these businesses into communities around the world as business men and women live out their faith daily in the marketplace.
 
Says Matt, who trained the coaches, “Our passion is developing missional entrepreneurs to become lifetime laborers who can be fruitful in the marketplace where they will spend most their time.”  Feel free to contact us  if you would like to learn more about how to become an entrepreneurial mentor/coach.

Can sweet, organic honey impact the world for Christ and advance our calling into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost?  Is that even possible?  Just have a quick conversation with smiling Paul from West Africa, and you will say a resounding “yes!”  Paul and his wife, Mary, have an exciting ministry with the farmers of their country.  Paul was burdened for the rural poor who had little means of income, including a way to pay for their children´s schooling.  In central West Africa, where there are consistent attacks by cattle herdsmen (the remaining active arm of a militant group) on the poor villagers, the possibilities are scarce. As Paul thought and prayed about how to reach these people for Christ and disciple them, he was guided by the philosophy: “Don´t give them fish.  Don´t only teach them how to fish.  Go fishing with them.”  That makes sense to us as Navigators as we walk with people through life, but how could he do this in rural Africa? 

One day, after a visit to a beekeeper in Zambia, God gave Paul an idea about beehives.  If he could provide beehives to people in the rural villages and let the bees make honey, he could then buy the honey from the people and sell it for a profit.  This would create a business that was financially sustainable that could also fund the ministry in the future.  If he could organize the villagers into beehive groups, where they could watch over their beehives and be accountable to each other, and if these beehive groups could also double as savings groups that provide a forum for them to save their money, loan it among themselves to start or grow enterprises, and pay their children’s school fees, this would create a business that was having a great social impact.  And if he could share stories of Christ in their regular beehive groups, trusting in the Holy Spirit´s work in each heart to bring the person to faith in Him, this business would have a transformational spiritual impact.  Thus, the Honey Value Chain Experience was born with grants to Paul from two Navigator sources:  the British Navs for the honey processor, and NavPartners Children Mission for the beehives.  He began his business under the care of the Africa Navigator Global Enterprise Network (GEN).
​
Paul and Mary serve together in this endeavor as they wrestle through ways to protect the beehives from theft (deciding to give the people the beehives for free), to wrestling through ways to ensure that there is a spiritual generational impact.  They carefully watch and pray that the Gospel is shared in a natural way as discipleship is taking place. They have mobilized 233 villagers and are working with them in two groups. Forty-five of these people have either started or are growing their enterprises in West Africa. Five young people are also being discipled and have been trained as apicultural technicians. They have also now trained the six group leaders with Insider skills to be leaders in this transformational ministry. Paul says that the Gospel is shared more frequently now and better understood by the rural people. He and Mary are excited about how God is using sweet, organic honey and His powerful Word to transform lives and advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the Nations.  His Word is going forth, and it is good!

Second Story Coffee Roasters (SSCR) wants to take care of people. "We want to be a resource to our friends and neighbors, helping them to move closer to who they were made to be.  We believe we can do this through coffee, which is the second most traded commodity in the world.  Within this large market, we would like to create a business where taking care of people and their stories is as valuable as the quality of our product."
​

Bryan and Jamie launched SSCR to be a relationally-sourced, primarily single-origin coffee roaster located in Shizuoka, Japan.  Currently, they operate on a subscription basis, mailing and delivering coffee to our customers weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, in addition to occasional pop-up coffee stands in the Shizuoka area. They also roast for wholesale and commercial accounts and hope to open a retail location.

Japan is one of the  leading consumers of specialty coffee in the world.  

​Bryan and Jamie have a passion for the art of the craft and take great care to bring precision to every part of the process.  But beyond the roast and the cup, they brilliantly illuminate the stories of life... from the plantations, consumers, and themselves.  They are also deeply interested in the "second story" that is being written every day.  

​"SSCR strives to buy direct and fairly traded high quality coffees roasted on location with full knowledge of the story behind each bean.  We strive to connect with your story, the 'second story,' as we introduce you to the countries and producers of your daily pleasure, even offering the opportunity to travel with us and experience the communities that produce your coffee."

Their own story to launch SSCR has been written over many years.  Read more about a first leg in their journey to launch, "Our Story to Become Missional Entrepreneurs."   

A second phase is currently taking place to raise capital needed to secure a new roaster and continue the story.  Follow SSCR on Facebook and Instagram, or contact us for more information about Navigator Missional Enterprises and Business as Missions (BAM).   

On the first weekend of October, 22 aspiring missional entrepreneurs descended on the Springs for an intense weekend. Each Entrepreneurial Readiness Workshop (ERW) is designed to teach and equip participants on impacting the nations through business and other missional enterprises.
 
The ERW moves at the speed of a startup. On Saturday alone many participants invested full 14-hour days learning and preparing for their team’s Sunday missional enterprise proposal. On Sunday an experienced panel reviewed all the teams’ proposals and announced a winner. In the meantime attendees learned, laughed and discovered more deeply how God may be asking them to reach the nations in a sometimes chaotic entrepreneurial context (click on video here).
 
ERW organizer, Jennifer of the gendesk.org, says that a Nav alumna who attended the previous ERW was so excited about the event that she brought several friends along to the October ERW.  “It was the best Nav event I’ve ever attended,” she said the EDGEr.
 
Let us know if you or someone you know would like to find out more about the ERW and missional enterprise as a pathway to the nations. We are tentatively planning future ERWs for New York City, Minneapolis and College Station.

-- NavMissions Communications Director

Our goal is to propel entrepreneurial teams as integrated and holistic lifelong laborers in business start-ups around the world.  The Entrepreneur Readiness Workshop (ERW) is the first step to prepare for ministry as a Navigator missional entrepreneur.  Missional enterprise is the Navigator’s Business as Mission (BAM) context to living out our calling.     
 
ERW Details:
September 30 – October 2, 2016
Navigator HQ in Colorado Springs, CO
More info and Registration at www.gendesk.org/erw
 
This workshop is for you if any of these apply to you...

• Seriously thinking about opening your own business either internationally or in a US cross-cultural context…  
• Desire to make holistic Kingdom and social impact where God is calling you...
• Passionate for the nations and realize that non-traditional missions is necessary for the future of global missions… 
• A college senior or 20s with an eye toward exploring missional enterprise in the next 5 or 10 years…

 
FAQ:

• Should I come if I don’t know how to start a business or have business experience?  Yes, this workshop is geared to helping both those with some business salve and others with little experience.  You will be teamed together to uniquely utilize your strengths just like on an entrepreneurial team.  Actually, some of the best entrepreneurs are those who currently don’t know anything about business.
• After the workshop, what’s next?  The ERW should give you a good sense of “missional enterprise is great, but I could never imagine myself doing this…” or “I could see myself as part of a team.”  In either case, you’ll have an opportunity to reflect on whether or not missional enterprise is for you.  If so, we have a team who can walk with you through next steps here in the US or somewhere internationally.      
• How certain do I need to be about serving internationally?  The ERW is meant to be a starting point.  You may still be 5-10 years out from moving around the world, possibly.  There is no need to commit to a timeline or location just yet.  Although we discuss international contexts, missional enterprises can even be started in the US.  The Navigator’s I-58, Nations Within and NavMissions already have missional enterprises.

 
Where are they now?
ERW Alumni are currently starting new ventures around the world in places like Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the US.   

On a busy corner in Guadalajara, Mexico, the scent of fresh bread beckons pedestrians into a rustic bakery.  Once inside, however, the pleasing aroma of Christ draws customers to the bakery's mother and daughter owner-operators, Myriam and Adriana Sanchez.

Rogenbrott was founded in 2014 as a missional enterprise to share Christ among the lost.  The Sanchez family had a dream of starting a business where they could use their God-given talents as bakers, provide for their economic needs, and share Christ with others.  That is what is happening as God is fulfilling their daily prayer of “Lord, let us be a fragrant scent here; may You be who attends to the true needs of our clients and providers.”

The bakery sells homemade artisan bread to the community, and its impact is felt daily.  Clients come in to purchase bread, and are charmed by the family who naturally shares Christ with them.  Clients have learned that they can find a listening ear and someone who will pray for them.  One client loves coming into the shop because she admires their peace and joy.  When asked how they could always be so joyous, mom and daughter responded that it is Christ in them. 

The bakery's providers are also being reached with the Gospel.  Over the past year, the Sanchez family has developed a relationship with one supplier.  Although he comes from a religious family, he didn´t understand the Gospel.  The Sanchez family believes in making Jesus known through their daily lives, so it wasn´t long before their provider asked them to pray for his sick relative.  They rejoiced together when the relative was restored to health.   After, their new friend began to come to them for counsel, and they began studying God´s Word with him.  The Sanchezes hope that this is just the first of many who will come to know Jesus as their Savior because of the bread store dedicated to the Lord.

The Gospel is being lived out in this bakery,  and the pleasing aroma of Christ is fragrant to all.  Will you take a moment and pray for this missional business, for the Sanchez family, and for other businesses serving to make Christ known around the world?  “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”  (2 Corinthians 2:15 ESV)

– GEN Desk Contributing Author