What to do....

OK. So I must come to admit that I generally don't have anything entertaining or interesting or provoking to say.

So, I'll just write about my experience as a Christian, currently attending The Ross School of Business a the University of Michigan, trying to figure out what I should be doing with this short breath of air we call life.

The Aspiration
I came to business school desiring to find the intersection of these three things (in priority order):

1) Missions to unreached people groups
2) Ministry to the impoverished
3) Act as catalyst at the intersection of (another) three things:
a. Private Enterprises / Business
b. Faith-based non-profits & Churches
c. Government

My Lostness
The tricky thing is there isn't really a clear path towards any of this. It's not like many other professions. I had a much better idea of what to do when I wanted to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. Enough people are pediatric neurosurgeons for one who is curious to be able to learn how to follow in their footsteps. If I wanted to be a pastor I would go to seminary and then interview at different churches for a job. But to do what I want to do will, for better or worse, take a lot more than schooling and passing tests and getting matched to a hospital or accepted into a church. There are some real finance issues I need a grasp of - should I start of going into investment banking for a few years? There are strategic issues - should I go back into strategy consulting for a bit? There are theological issues - should I be taking seminary classes now / soon as well?

Won't Missions Agencies Tell You What to Do?

To be sure, there are some missions organizations taking a really strong look at Business as Missions (BAM), and some have formal divisions dedicated to BAM. However, from what I understand, those are still very much a work in progress. In contrast, missions organizations have pretty thorough and well-documented processes for sending a vocational missionary into a mission field. I think lots of headway is being made in BAM, and getting towards a real understanding of what it is and how it can be used effectively. For now, I think most people have a very vague or narrow notion that revolves around IT, consulting, or setting up coffee shops. And its not micro-finance...even Christian micro-finance.

Where To Go From Here?

Well, first, I'm always a fan of books. There are a couple of books coming out soon:
1) Business As Mission
2) The Missional Entrepreneur

So, hopefully I'll read those.

Second, yes I'll probably attend the Business As Mission Track at Urbana if I can go. I attended the last Urbana. It helped in the sense that I found people that were trying to figure out the stuff I was trying to figure out. Perhaps, like any good conference, I had more questions by the time I left than at the time I came.

Third, I've still got to learn to balance trusting in God and being disciplined and impassioned about pursuing what I currently believe to be my calling. Sometimes I think I can use "trust in God" as an excuse to be a bit lazy. On the flip side, I can get into this mode where I feel that everything rests on my shoulders...when in fact God holds the entire universe in his fingers, and is sovereign over all.