"My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his business."1
I like food, and it's even better with friends. I met up with a friend at a local restaurant. I offered CynShea's as a place to eat because the food is great. Even more important it is also owned by a Christian, another reason for me to support it. Cynthia is a friend, and a discipler of people. A restaurant owner a discipler of people, you say? You can see in her mission statement and values, that this is a ministry to her. If we count the number of hours we interact with our staff throughout the week, then we can see the opportunity for ministry in our organizations.
Training staff can be discouraging at times; you train someone only for them to move on, often to better things. I think especially in the restaurant industry, it seems to have a high turnover but I have experienced this with key players in my business, you take on this burden to teach them, only for them to go on. But isn't this the point? For them to go? Go into all nations... Cynthia to me is in the "thick of things", people's lives, she is disciplining on a relational level so much like Christ. By her example, I do realize the opportunity in "business" to impact lives for the kingdom of God. This to me is intentional disciple making.
Jesus came "not to do his own will, but that of the Father."4 He said His food was from heaven, and that he was here to finish God's work or business. When we talk about mission statement within our organizations, it's soul purpose is to be about the Father's business. Such is not an easy thing and how we put forth our core values, how we treat others in the process is very important. Jesus emphasized relationship. Mentoring very nature is relational, your success in doing so will be relative to time invested.
Looking to the beginning, begin with the end in mind, "unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."6