few Christians really spend all that much time in their Church buildings and most don't Minister there they get ministered too where they spend most of their time and have their most opportunities to have an impact on others is the workplace we're going behind the scene at some of America's businesses to show you why Marketplace Ministry may be God's next big move the average time that an American spends in business 46 hours a week so the the opportunity for influence through the marketplace is just phenomenal Terence Chapman heads up a worldwide effort to help businesses led
by Christians take their rightful place partnering with God it's called The Fellowship of companies for Christ International fcci Bobby Mitchell helped start it up four decades ago Billy Graham made the statement uh about 10 years ago that he believes the next great move of God will be through the marketplace there are 5 million churches worldwide but far more businesses you're talking 90 million businesses around the world 28 million businesses here in New York as how important even sacred is your work to God well so much so that the Old Testament word for both worship and
work is the same avidar is the Hebrew word for work and worship Mitchell says he loves spreading through fcci this truth that worship and work and Walking with God should all be rolled up together Robbie Thompson head of conkin Metal Industries likes the way Ecclesiastes sums it up there's nothing better for man than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work and that is a gift of of God and really it's the gift from God every day Thompson has these goals for his company in life honor God with how I work how I
deal with employees and co-workers uh and to glorify him really in all that I do and to create a company where people can find that satisfaction but bosses can't force their workers to convert and if they want to accept Christ and that's great we would encourage them to do that but we would would never pressure him to do that they can however talk about Christ and his ways to those who want to hear about him he really is the answer to every problem uh whether it's whether it's depression or addiction or worry or you name
it uh he he is the answer and he wants to be the boss's boss God is the owner of your business he's in the corner office what if every decision is taken to uh God the Father before you even do make any decisions fcci began with Mitchell one Christian businessman wanting to live his life with Integrity my life did not reflect what I said I believed then he was shaped by the book in his steps in which an evangelist gave a church a famous challenge face every issue in life by asking what would Jesus do
and to act accordingly as the head of George's applied Ceramics Mitchell and other bosses began meeting in 1977 around Atlanta to see if they could head companies like Jesus would soon they started fcci and now it supplies videos materials and case studies to help all its members in 139 countries do business God's way we just streamed some material to 30 million people in Pakistan but their core is meeting weekly in small groups of Business Leaders this is an opportunity to come together talk about real business issues and challenges so we're not a Bible study we're
a real business uh type of organization and I've seen people sell companies buy companies uh totally re-engineer companies based on the input they got out of these small groups for Business Leaders it's often Lonely at the Top which is why it's good there's small groups just for them where they can do life together learn from each other be held accountable by each other you know a CEO's job is probably the lonliest one in the world I mean who you going to complain to right you got you got a board you have a a staff you
have you know uh you have nowhere to kind of kind of release and that's what the fcci small groups offer a safe environment that they can be transparent can be open they can talk about these business issues and challenges they want to uh honor the Lord they want to get it right it's really talking about how do you operate a business in a way to glorifies the father Mitchell says it's the best way to live I'm a pure entrepreneur but the most exciting part of my business career has been walking with the Lord through this
business wherever God has planted you you need to blame Paul strand CBN News reporting from Norcross Georgia
