Video Transcript: Introduction to Enterprise

Hello. My name is Steve Elzinga, and I'm going to be your host in this  introduction to enterprise. At the time of this taping, we're just beginning this new program. We hope to have business experts that we interview people that  actually are out there in the business world doing enterprise. You may wonder  why, then I am doing the first course here the introduction to enterprise. I'm a  pastor, as many of you know, in a church, and I work here at Christian Leaders  Institute. So what do I know about enterprise? And maybe the question that you  have is, what does this have to do with Christian Leaders Institute? I think that  you are probably one of two different people. Maybe you're a person of  enterprise, you have a business, or you're employed somewhere, but you want  to spend more time in ministry. You want some of the things that you do to have  eternal consequences. And so you're starting to take courses at Christian  Leaders Institute, and you hope to do more and more ministry. Well, this whole  enterprise degree in this program and this course is then to help you do your  enterprise better, so that you can have more time and energy for missions and  ministry. Or perhaps you're a person who really wants to do ministry, you'd love  to do full time ministry, make that your actual occupation. But so far, that hasn't  happened, and maybe it won't happen in the foreseeable close future. Here,  maybe you can start part time or something like that. We're going to talk about  that in a later video, how you can perhaps even get a job like that. But the need  for Christian Leaders is so great, and the resources to pay all of these Leaders  is not there. And so if we're going to actually succeed at the mission God calls  us, we're going to need people who do ministry, on the one hand, but also take  care of their own needs and their family's needs. So you might be a person in  business wanting to do more ministry, or you might be a person in ministry who  needs to make a little money, at least on the side, and hopefully this course is  for you. So why would I teach this class? I've been in ministry, full time ministry,  for many years. Currently, I'm 50% time at my church, or at least my church  pays me 50% I work here a little bit at Christian Leaders Institute as well, but the rest of my income actually comes from my enterprises. I have several  enterprises that I'll talk to you in some later things. Videos. I was raised in a  enterprising home. My father probably started 18 different businesses. He was  very entrepreneurish as a kid, I remember driving around and he would see a  farmer out in the field and a tractor, and he'd flag him down, and he would start  asking him about the field and what he was growing and and what the yield was  and how much it cost to rent an acre and and he was just curious about  everything when, When he saw problems in our society, his mind always went  to, how are people making money off from this problem? When I was five years  old, I had a bank account with my father, and we kept track of the little things  that we made. You know, I was, I think he was paying us a penny a weed to pull  in the yard and and then we would record it in the book. I learned very early  what interest was and how interest works. My father, you know, taught us the 

value of money, what it really means, what things really cost, that when you buy  something at the store, it is not the price that you pay. There's the getting there  and back. There's the transportation costs and how much a car really does cost  

you. And then there's the taxes that you had to pay on the money off the top.  And so anyway, my point is, I grew up in a culture of money and how money  works. I thought everyone grew up like that, and I thought everyone understood  how money works, but since becoming an adult and running into different people and being the pastor of a church, I realized that most people didn't grow up the  way I grew up. And. Some of the things that I took for granted, the things that I  understood about how money works, a lot of people just don't understand. So I  think I am a perfect choice here for this introduction class. You know, all the  complexities of enterprise will lead to the experts in enterprise, but I'm sort of  that mixture of enterprise and ministry, which is probably where most of you are  at. So in this introduction introductory video, I just want to ask basic questions  about this word, enterprise. Maybe it's a new word for you. What does it even  mean? What is enterprise? So from a theoretical point of view, enterprise is a  project or an undertaking, typically one that is difficult or requires effort. Some  synonyms are undertaking, endeavor, venture, exercise, activity, operation, task, business, proceeding, scheme, plan, program, campaign. So there are all these  words give you a little taste of what it takes to get involved in enterprise. It's not  something that's easy, it's something that's difficult and requires effort. If it  doesn't, if it's not difficult and it doesn't require effort, it's probably one of these  quick, rich schemes that usually ends in failure. Number two, initiative and  resourcefulness is part of this word, enterprise. Some cinnamon synonyms,  imagination. Entrepreneur ism, ingenuity, inventiveness, originality, creativity,  cleverness, enthusiasm, dynamism, drive, ambition, energy, boldness, daring,  courage, leadership. Get up and go and notice all these words that relate to  enterprise also relate to ministry. You have to have the same qualities, and that's why enterprise and ministry can be very closely related. If you don't have drive,  ambition, energy, boldness, daring, courage, leadership, get up and go and  oomph in your ministry, then your ministry won't go anywhere either. So the  same qualities that you need to do ministry are also the same qualities that you  need to do enterprise number three, a business or a company. That's generally  how people tend to think of an enterprise. An enterprise is a business, or starting a business, or getting a business going, or helping a business thrive and  succeed. And it can be a big business. It can be a small little thing that you're  doing. What is enterprise? From a practical point of view, all those are sort of  theoretical things, but from a practical point of view, enterprise is all the ways  and means that people employ engage in to make money. So I want to talk just  a little bit about money. What is money? Money is primarily a medium of  exchange, or means of exchange. It is a way for a person to trade what he has  for what he wants. In human history, money hasn't always existed before people

invented this thing called money there was just bartering or trading. I need  someone to make a fence for me. So then I go find someone that that knows  how to make a fence, but he's not going to do this for free, so I have to pay him  something. And let's say I'm a shoemaker, so I'm going to go to the guy that that  that knows how to make a fence, and I'm going to say, hey, I'll make you a pair  of shoes if you build my fence. And if he needs shoes, it works out perfectly. I  have what you want and you have what I want, and we can just exchange our  work. The problem with the barter system is, you know, I go to the guy that  knows how to make a fence, but he doesn't need shoes, he needs something  else. So now I got to find someone that makes that something else. And then we have and it gets really complicated. It's complicated because we don't have a  common denominator for which we can all trade for the same thing and and in  our modern culture, we all live such different lives. In the ancient cultures,  people were, let's say, farmers, and everyone had the exact same needs. So in  in the United States, we have an Amish community that still lives like 100 years  ago, and they're all farmers, and they all need a barn. So they all come and help and build your barn, and then they come and help and build someone else's  barn. And it works because they all want and need the exact same thing, so they can barter and trade for it. But in our modern culture, people have so many  different jobs, we don't even know where to begin. So what money does is. Is it  takes all the different jobs, and we translate all those jobs. So if I make shoes,  we translate that into money. And if someone builds a fence, we translate that  building of the fence into money. And we figure it out over time, what is worth?  What? How many hours does each one take who's skilled, who is unskilled, and  how much should they get paid? So we've, we've virtually taken every  occupation, every task, every product, every service, and we've, we've sort of  made it into one common language, which is the language of money. And  because everything is a common language, we can now talk to each other. We  can trade with anyone. We convert whatever it is you do into money. That  person that you want to trade with converts it into a money, and we can now  exchange it. Makes it so much easier. Recently, my father died three weeks ago, and we had all the stuff that he has in his house, and you know, we're going to  give some away. But we also have, I have three other siblings, so there's four of  us. We have all the grandkids. And so we tried to figure out how we can divide  this. And we needed a common denominator. We need a language with which to do this. So some suggested we use the emotional language. Everyone goes  around and says, Well, this book, you know, was very important to me, you  know, I remember my father reading it, and I have all this history with it, so I'm  using the currency of emotion. And so now you tell a better story, and so maybe  you get it because you have a better story. And I said, Well, let's not use  emotion as the common language that we share these things with because  some people are better at telling the story than others, or some are more bold 

and some are less bold. And then emotion is the thing that we're using, and then people get hurt and upset. I said, Let's just use money. Let's just put a you know, we bid on everything, and if you really want it because you're emotionally  attached to it, then you bid more. And that's exactly what we did, and it worked  beautifully, because money is a good common denominator that you can you  can take your emotion and you can translate it. You can take your work, you can take your effort, and it can be translated into money. So what's the purpose of  money? I mean, why do we even bother with this whole thing? The number one  purpose is to provide for your family. I Timothy 5:8, But if anyone does not  provide for his relatives, especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. So number one, you work, you do this enterprise. Maybe you're doing ministry, but you have to take care of your family. You have a wife, perhaps, or a few kids. They need someone. Needs to take  care of them. Number two to teach dependence on God money. Money can  teach dependence on God. Deuteronomy 8:10, when you have eaten and are  satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be  careful that you do not forget the Lord your God failing to observe His  commands, His laws and His decrees that I'm giving to you this day. Otherwise,  when you eat and are satisfied, when you when your herds and flocks grow  large, and your silver and gold increase, and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast, dreadful  wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land with its venomous snakes and  scorpions. He brought you water out of the Hard Rock. He gave you manna to  eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble  and test you so that in the end, it might go well with you. You may say to  yourself, my power and my strength of my hands have produced this wealth for  me, remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to  produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your  ancestors as it is today, it teaches money can teach you dependence on God  now, often it teaches you dependence when you lack money. But this verse is  suggesting that even when you make money, when you make money, you  should realize that it wasn't you. God has given you the ability and the  opportunities that are before you. He is responsible. What is the purpose of  money? Number three, to teach the true costs of goods and services and the  true value of work I mentioned. I was raised by a father who had a keen sense  of what money is and how it works. So when I was five, six years old, I had a  brother that was one year younger. My dad would find work for us to do around  the house. We had to pick weeds, for example, out of the yard, and he'd give us  a penny a weed. We had to count them out and bundle them and hand them to  them, and then he'd write it down on a piece of paper. I remember the first  purchase I made. He came my father came home with two baseball gloves. 

Baseball is a pretty popular sport in the United States, and he came home my  brother was left handed and I was right handed, and he came home one day  with a left handed glove and a right handed glove, but he didn't give them to us.  He said, I have these two baseball gloves, and they will cost you $2 now they  probably cost more than $2 but he was going to sell us those baseball gloves  and he sort of marketed them to us. He said, Now you can buy them or not buy  them, but it's a good deal, and if you don't buy them, I'll sell these baseball  gloves to some of the neighborhood kids. So it's up to you. Well, of course, we  bought those gloves. Now every time we use that glove, we realize that the  oldest glove costs 200 weeds that you got to pick. In other words, I understood  the value of the money that I used to get the mitt because I realized how many  weeds that I had to pick to get the money to get the glove. So a glove is not just  a glove. A glove is all the work that it took to get the $2 to get the glove. Money  is there to teach you the value of your work and how hard it is, and to not just  waste it and not just throw it away. And we'll talk more about that in another  video, the true value of what money is and what money isn't. What is the  purpose of money, number four, to support other people's needs to provide for  their families. Ephesians 4:28, anyone who has been stealing must steal no  longer okay. Now you're taking from people, but must work hard doing  something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share  with those in need. So the fourth purpose of money is not for you and not for  your family, but to share with others who have needs too. II Thessalonians 3:10,  for even when we were with you, we gave you this rule, the one who is unwilling  to work shall not eat. And I put that verse there because in Ephesians, it says  you know that you should do something useful with your hands so that you can  share with others. Sharing with others doesn't necessarily mean just handing  them money. Okay, my father had that idea, you know, when we were young. He didn't just hand us money. Didn't say, Well, here's the $2 I'm gonna buy you the  mitt. No, what? What he how he shared with those in need, which was his own  kid, is he provided an opportunity to make the money. So Paul says, you know,  Paul had these people who just wanted a handout. He said, No, if you're not  willing to work, then you're not going to eat that working somehow goes with  that. So the complexity of trying to help someone we I make money, but I don't  want to just hand it to someone. You know, sometimes that's what's needed. It's  an emergency. People need it, and you just give it. But in the long run, how do I  help people ultimately make their own money? So how do I use my money, my  opportunities, to help others do the same in their own lives? What is the purpose of money to support the kingdom work God's kingdom. God is making  something happen, and we make money in order to support those things.  Exodus 36 and the people continued to bring Free Will offerings, morning after  morning they were building, you know, the tabernacle at that time, so all the  skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were

doing and said to Moses, the people are bringing more than enough for doing  the work the Lord commanded to be done. I just love this whole section. And  Moses gave an order, and they sent this word throughout the camp, no man or  woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. And so the  people were restrained from bringing more because what they already had was  more than enough to do all the work. Can you imagine? Can you imagine, at a  church where the pastor gets up and says, All right, we're going to stop the  offering because we've got too much. I've never heard of that. But isn't that the  way it should be? We're here on this planet because God is trying to do  something in his kingdom, and he gives us the ability to do stuff and work and  get this money. And the whole point of being here is God's kingdom and his  work. Why are we ever short of money for God's kingdom. I Chronicles 29:14,  and yet, who am I, and who are my people that we should be in a position to  make voluntary offerings like this, for everything is from you, and we have given  to you what comes from your own hand. I mean, the writer here is just, it's  incredible that we have the opportunity to make money that we can now give  back to you because it's yours already. It's a whole different way of thinking  about money. Proverbs 3:9-10, Honor the Lord, with your wealth, with the first  fruits of all your crops. What were the first fruits? It's the first part of the harvest.  In other words, you are giving God his share. Before you even know whether  you are going to get yours, you have to trust that the rest is going to come. And  then what will happen? Then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your  vats will brim over with new wine. If you put God first, then God will bless you.  Number six, to the measure your success. To measure your what is the purpose  of money to measure your success in meeting the needs of the people around  you? Money is a good way to keep track of things. It's an accounting kind of  thing here in II Chronicles, every year, King Solomon received over 25 tons of  gold. In addition to the taxes paid by by the traders and merchants, King  Solomon also had 4000 stalls for his chariots and horses, and had 12,000  Calvary horses, some of them he kept in Jerusalem, the rest he stationed in  various other cities. In other words, things were counted. And if you notice, in  the money world, things are counted, you go to the bank and they tell you, you  know, this is how much you have. You know, when you have expenses, you can  write them down. You can subtract. It's an it's a math kind of thing, and it's very  exact. When you play a sport, if you're playing soccer or football, as it's called  around the world, we keep score. And when the goal goes in, the ball goes in,  we give you a one, and then the other side, they get a one, and we keep track.  And because we can keep track, you know, the stands are going crazy. It's one,  one, and there's only five minutes left, left in the next person, score is probably,  probably going to win. That's the way money is too. It's very you can keep track.  I just have gone through my father's stuff, and he kept track of what his  everything that, you know every month he had, what he was worth, his assets, 

everything that he was making, all his expenses, and he added it and subtracted it, and there was a bottom line. And he could compare, you know, one month's  bottom line with the previous bottom line. And we'll talk about some of the  dangers of money because of that whole thing, but it helps you keep track of  what you're actually doing. Well. How is money made? How do you make  money? Basically, there's three ways. Number one, selling products. You have  something that you made, something that you buy, and now you're selling to  others at a higher price. There's some product that you're selling. Or, number  two, we offer services. You know, if I paint your house, then you'll pay me so  much money. So it's something that we do for people. And the third way to make money is by investing in other people's products and services. So now you're  just taking your money and trying to help somebody else out, and then they pay  you a little bit from what they make. Well, how does one acquire money made?  You know, there's money out there. People have made it. How do I get some of  that? Number one is inheritance. My father died, he left some money. So there's  inheritance you can, you know, get that because of the work of someone else.  Number two, most people are employees. They work for someone else, and  they're either salaried, where they get, you know, this is what they get every two  weeks, and they're supposed to do certain things and but the hours are sort of,  you know, here or there, a lot of salaried people actually do more than 40 hours  a week or hourly. A lot of people just, you know, you put in an hour, this is what  you get paid per hour. Number three, people acquire money through their  spouse. You know, my wife works a little bit, and the money that she makes  goes into our account. I know there's some spouses that keep it separate, but I  am a firm believer that, you know, if you're married together, you know, hers is  Mine, mine is hers. We're in this together, and you really have to be on the same page in terms of money. By the way, fights over money is probably the number  one thing that people break up in their marriage is over and because it has to do with your values and what you're trying to. Do in life. I I was raised in a family  that understood the value of money, you know, my father, very early on, said,  You know, I was, I was living in the country. In my first church, it was like a 10  mile drive to the town. And sometimes we would drive, you know, to town and go to McDonald's. And my father very quickly, said, okay, you know how much that  costs? It's 10 miles to town and 10 miles back. It costs you 50 cents a mile to  drive your car. So that's 10, that's that's $10 to drive to the town and back, plus  whatever you bought at McDonald's. He said, You know what? You could just  buy a T bone steak next time you're in the store, since you're there already, and  it will be cheaper than going to McDonald's. So I understood very early on the  value of money, and I married someone who came from a family that was  exactly the same. So my wife and I we know how hard it is to earn it, so we don't spend it, and we're on the same page with that. Some husbands and wives are  on totally different pages. Someone believes in saving, someone believes in 

spending, and then it's a never ending fight. Number four, the fourth way to  acquire money is through investments. Investments are where you invest in  somebody else's activity. They want money to do whatever they're doing, and  they, in a sense, borrow from you. You become like a bank. When you go and  borrow money from a bank, the bank gives you the money, but then it charges  you a certain interest. So we'll talk more about that too. Benjamin Franklin once  said, A penny saved is a penny earned. Saving money is it is equally as good as making money, and every dime that you save is actually money that you made.  And so we'll talk about how you can save and how you can be the one who  makes the interest instead of paying the interest. Number five, you can acquire  money by business. Business, again, is you're either selling goods or a product  that you have, that you have access to, or that you make, or that you acquire at  a wholesale price and selling it at a higher price, or it's a service. You know, you  paint houses and I will come, I will offer you this thing that I will do for you in  exchange for money. So those are the ways, basic ways of how to acquire  money. Well, what does all this have to do with students at Christian Leaders  Institute? Sounds like more of a business class. Again. Number one, some of  you want to work in Christian ministry, but you will not, at least at first, be paid,  and you need to take care of you and your family. And so the better you can  manage your own money, the better you can save money, the better you can  have a plan for your life, and the more money that you can make on the side,  the more time that you will have for ministry. You don't take care of your family,  and you're running around doing ministry, people will see right through that.  They will see that, yeah, you talk about love and caring, but you don't even take  care of your own family, so that's something you have to do. Or number two,  some of you are in business already, but you really want to spend as much time  as you can in ministry, and so you want to learn how to do business better. If you could do the business that you're doing right now better, then you could have  more free time to actually do ministry. So I think it's going to be interesting.  Some of you maybe were raised in a family like I was, and you know some of  these things, it will be good review for you, but I know many of you were not  raised like I was, and so some of the things that I just took for granted my whole  life will be new things for you, so I think, I think it will make a tremendous  difference in your family and maybe in your whole outlook. I hope that when  you're finished with this class, you'll be encouraged that you'll see more hope  and more opportunity to do ministry in the future.