God’s gift of community is designed with God at the center with people of prayer who have made Him their Senior Partner. This gift of community is like a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, which has the potential to grow into a tree. It is like the yeast which a woman kneads into dough, producing something that grows into a whole lot more than at the start. It reflects both the standard and the means to release the supernatural to operate. It reflects the model operated by the father of the Jews, Abraham. It is a community that is simultaneously God-centered and entrepreneurial.

In a world where the perception is the reality, with terrorism and corruption poised to challenge honorable opportunity and the innocent, there is a need for safe places. The issue is power and a culture designed to preserve the righteous. Since God has had a people, the struggle of the righteous was never designed as a retreat. Good and evil do not blend. While this conflict has often involved a remnant operating against overwhelming odds, the equalizer in the equation has been God. It is within this context that God has given His people a gift to help them not only to overcome, but to thrive. That gift is community.

Entrepreneurship is about opportunity and risk and the response in terms of strategy. We have suggested that at the core of Jewish business secrets is a different way of thinking. Part of this difference in mind-sets is the entrepreneurial way of thinking. Entrepreneurial thinking is just as valid for startups as it is for multinational corporate enterprises.  Now, in keeping with embracing new mind-sets, I’d like to describe what can happen when making God your Senior Partner. It affects not only your destiny but the way the spiritual supersedes the natural with the operation of our enterprises.

Many mistakenly view entrepreneurs simply as people in business. Entrepreneurs are a great deal more. In taking a closer look at Jewish business secrets, it is important to understand the distinction. Entrepreneurs are change artists. They create and innovate. They are people of discipline who spot opportunity and know what to do about it. They build, establish a new order of things and in so doing they bring increase. They challenge the status quo with better solutions to problems and they know how to do so at a profit. The Jewish perspective in viewing these prime entrepreneurial characteristics, of creating and bringing increase entails even more.

We’ve taken a look at the foundations, the model and gifts that are vital to understanding the dynamics of what have given Jews the renown of being a people of business. Now, before we start digging into the dynamics of entrepreneurship, I want to cover some background about Jewish culture. This background will provide keen insights into the uniqueness of entrepreneurship from a Jewish perspective. 

God gives gifts to men. Ancient Jewish writings elaborate that a person’s gift makes room for them and brings them before great people. When vital combinations of these gifts are nurtured within a trust community, it provides ripples of opportunity and a dynamic that strengthens the community. Business is about providing a product or a service to customers. It involves outperforming competition with that product or service. What is required is developing excellence, becoming the best in what your business offers. That is where the gifts, the talents on which the business is based, come into play.

In the last session I talked about the ancient model established Abraham: the God-centered, entrepreneurial community. I began telling you about a friend of mine, with a most unusual story of how this model can be applied, how this model can work in the most adverse of circumstances. Globally today, two thirds of the world has little to no middle class. These are people who live on less than $2 a day. Well-intended humanitarian efforts, as well as the efforts of many church-related groups to alleviate poverty and hunger have simply not changed things. So let’s look at a real-life example of how this ancient model applied can change things.

What are the ways of the Jews that have enabled them to overcome the many instances of adversity and persecution over the millennia to become a people known for their disproportionate achievement? It is more than a set of principles, although the principles involved are important. It involves a way of thinking as well as models that strengthen and protect the community. During this session, we’re going to take a closer look at the model that consistently has been applied by the Jewish people.