Reformation Ministries International Corp

Mission Statement:
We of RMIC are committed to discovering, inspiring, training and facilitating those in the Kingdom of God who are gifted in business, to exercise those gifts in the expression of their calling, as part of the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.

Business as a calling with transformational impact:
God calls and equips people to do business. Business is a ministry in its own right. So if God has called you to business don't lower yourself to become a pastor - or vice versa. BAM is to do business with excellence, professionalism and integrity. BAM is manifesting the Kingdom of God in the Market Place. BAM is people being transformed spiritually, economically and socially. The business of Business as Mission is to reveal Christ through business.  When this is done effectively, the outcome is transformational.

Goals:
Using BAM as a catalyst, Reformation Ministries International, Corp (RMIC) has been initialized for the express purpose of taking the vision, doctrines and the principles of the sixteenth century Reformation into the whole Western Hemisphere, with beginning efforts and focus on the Spanish speaking countries and the USA.  As opportunity presents itself we will expand into Canada, Brazil and countries outside of this hemisphere as we are called to do so.

Getting the Perspective:
In order to better understand the dynamics of this self conscience intent one must stand back a bit from what is the present method of spreading the gospel among the majority of reformed and evangelical churches, whether associated with a denomination or independent.  Presently, there is a great emphasis on the four to five year training effort for each man who wants to become a minister.  There is considerable emphasis made towards the learning of Hebrew and Greek.  All of this is very good and for sure we need a continual supply of men who have this in-depth training.  Even, as our military needs to continue sending young men, to West Point and to Annapolis for the professional development of our future military officers.  The difference is our military produces only one professional commissioned officer for about every 100 soldiers of the line.  In the case of the modern reformed churches we are producing more professional certified pastors than we are soldiers for the Lords army.  Indeed, many in today's church would not even consider one a fully trained and qualified soldier in the Lords army for ministry who did not have a degree and was a certified licensed pastor.  Many, I'm sure who will read this will say: "So, -- and why not?"

As I said, it takes a little stepping back from the scene of what has become the "normal" to get a better picture of the present day situation the church is facing.

Business as Mission in the First Century:
When the persecutions began in earnest in the first century prior to the fall of Jerusalem, the believers went out from there into all of the surrounding areas of the Roman Empire.  We could say that these were the first missionaries and we could also say that they were the first examples of BAM.  No one called it that, but the results were exactly the same.  Most of those living in Jerusalem who left during the persecution were those who had come there to worship and had been drawn by the Spirit unto faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.  These and many of the original inhabitants of Jerusalem, who also departed into other areas of the Roman Empire as a result of the persecution, were for the most part tradesman and business people.  These went everywhere preaching the word and sharing their testimony.  More importantly, they were able to exemplify and give life to their testimony in honest business and trade practices.  Which history has shown was spiritually and culturally transformational.  This is much more than mere secular business people trying to make a profit.  Consider Lydia who took the initiative to conduct studies and prayer groups while exercising her profession as a seller of cloth.  Can anyone doubt that Lydia, Paul and other first century players in this grass roots Christian entrepreneurial exercise, set examples of fair trade, excellent workmanship, work ethic, and economic integrity?

Bottle Neck:
Continued training of pastors to go out and start mission churches is not a bad thing.  However, as the only method of representation of the Kingdom and the message of the whole church with the whole gospel to the whole world, it is much too narrow and in fact is a sad example of sacerdotalism gone array.

Whereas, the "clergy:" as we have come to identify those who preach the word from a pulpit, is a small fraction of the total church family.  Contrary to this narrow perspective of God's soldiers for the cross, the bible tells us that we as the family of God are all a Royal Priesthood in Christ.  It is precisely this clarity of understanding that propelled the early believers and those who fled the persecution in Jerusalem, to testify and live boldly their faith in a time and place where such action could be taken as against the Empire.

BAM is not a replacement of congregational ministry methods of preaching the gospel, it is simply one of the most under emphasized and little understood by today's believers.  The greater majority of first century citizens of the Roman Empire were either, small agrarian farmers, tradesmen and or business people who were in effect small business entrepreneurs all.  By contrast we in the 21st century are 95% hourly wage earners and only 5% entrepreneurs.  As a result we have lost almost all understanding of how important business was and is to the spiritual and cultural transformation of individuals and countries.  See: Conferences/Surrendering to Purpose with Faith

Through the teaching and equipping of thousands of young entrepreneurs, men and women of faith and grace, the church can uncork the bottle neck and send a great wave of spiritual and cultural transformation across many lands and many people, even as the first century Christian did and which was also done in the wake of the Reformation. 

Strategy:
RMIC has hundreds of open doors to go into remote areas of Mexico, Central America and South America with small well disciplined teaching teams to hold 2-3 day bible conferences for young native pastors, elders, deacons and heads of families and to teach them the basic truths of the gospel and the principles that this leads one to embrace.  The fact is we could reach the majority of these native leaders in a time span of less than ten years if we were to do so in a manner befitting the opportunity.   This in effect, if it is actually done, would be the greatest discipling of the nations since the time of Luther and Calvin.  Yet, the present method of discipling the nations with the snails pace of developing the front line elements we now suffer, will never make even a dent in this opportunity.

Action:
So-if you want to take advantage of such an opportunity as this what do you do?  Well, you don't throw the baby out with the bath water, that's for sure.  That is, you don't stop training men to be well equipped as pastors.  But, what you do differently is, you take only a very few of these well trained individuals, along with all of the hugh library of great literary works from those reformation leaders of the past and present, and you have them train native men of the elect, called of God, in the basics of the reformation doctrines and principles and then you take these men into these rural and remote areas of the third world countries of this hemisphere and you teach 2-3 day conferences.  This abbreviated training approach by the few for the many should not take longer than three months for the first level of teaching.  Then after a little experience in the field a return to the class room for another three months of training will keep the native individual growing at the same time they are being used in a most practical and effective manner.

This approach will eventually reach a level of dozens if not hundreds of teaching teams, flown into these areas on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and at the end of ten years through the administration of the Holy Spirit in all things, there will be a great transformation made, especially at the grassroots, in these countries.  God willing our own country will receive a great blessing in the process, as there are thousands of these very people, from these same areas, migrating to our country every year.  The flow of immigrants will not soon stop, but the quality of the immigrants that do come can be greatly impacted for the better.

Did I say fly?  Yes, I did.  Most of these areas are very difficult to reach by any other means.  The time and energy to do so is more costly in man hours and over all expense than it is to fly teams into these areas for 2-3 days of conference and then fly them back to their town of origin and give them time to be with their families, regroup and get ready for the next trip.

RMIC's Business as Mission Training Center:
Currently RMIC has property in the Sacramento Mountains in south central New Mexico, USA, where we are making plans for a large missionary training center.  This center will be comprised of several diverse but compatible operations.  In addition to the daily need for shelter and sustenance there will be a complete curriculum of bible and character building studies.  There will also be theory classes in many different vocational skills.  More importantly there will also be real on the job work and training to put the class room work into practice.  These jobs will be managed by our own independent companies that will work in conjunction with the training center.  The mountain community where this will all take place is high mountain country with four seasons, lush timber and more remote than most other communities in this part of the state.  It is ideal for the kind of training center we are putting together.

Each student will attend under a student visa and will have part-time working privileges.  Each student will have fifty percent of their income deposited in a capital savings account.  Each student will be paid the going rate for the position they fulfill, in the trade and or service they are working. 

The required qualifications for the individuals who apply are for them to be first Christians and also to have a good testimony within their own family and local church community.  Secondly, formal education of at least the elementary level is necessary but advanced education, although appreciated and accepted, is not required.  A successful period of monitoring some training, orientation and testing for general knowledge, Christian principals, moral foundation and work ethic will precede any official enrollment in the complete program.  This is all done in the community of residence of the individual making application.  The complete training, entrepreneurial skills and capital acquisition program will all be done within the USA.

There is a large packed gravel and dirt airstrip, 5,000 feet long at an elevation of 6,830 feet above sea-level.   From this high mountain strip we will train native Mexican men and women to be missionary bush pilots.  After they earn their pilots license, part of their training will consist of performing many hours of co-pilot flying duty, to service the greater Sacramento Mountain communities.  This mountain flying will prepare them for their more difficult challenges as bush pilots in Mexico, serving in the ministry.  Small planes are one of the key elements of access to many of Mexico, Central and South America's most rural areas.  So, this aspect of our mission outreach is critical to our overall success.

All the various company and training positions will be filled with qualified professionals from the ranks of the many men and women who are seeking to fulfill their goals and dreams of service and ministry. 

The whole Sacramento Mountain Range is filled with many communities that need skilled labor for new construction, remodeling, maintenance, forestry, logging, small business services and small plane transportation service.  Our training center will train dozens, then hundreds and even thousands of young Mexican men and women from mountain villages and rural areas.  After two to three years when their training is over, we will return them to their villages with new skills and with new business capital to provide for their new entrepreneurial adventure.  The personal and financial mentoring will be continued after returning to their native communities where they will be furthered assisted and supervised in the establishment of their new businesses.  Thus, although no one can guarantee another's success, the required mentoring follow-up insures that each new enterprise is as successful as possible for the new entrepreneurs.

Rejoining their local congregations, family and friends, they will have the opportunity to become very key elements in the future spiritual and economic growth of their communities.  They will take with them the team support, experience, knowledge and spiritual maturity to be leaders, goal setters and visionaries, in Christ's Kingdom.  They will be inspired to teach everything they have learned to others within their community.

In the Action section above we discussed training men in the Word to become part of a teaching teams.  These teams will also include those who have accepted their calling to business as well as those who feel led to only minister in the spiritual matters.  The call of the Spirit is to the whole church for spreading the whole gospel to the whole world.  Our commitment in the Business as Mission Training Center is to open the opportunity to all, both men and women, and through a combination of instruction across the board in biblical, vocational and business, we trust the Spirit to make the more defined personal call for each one.

Conclusion:
Some will ask:  "Who are these congregations that you speak of; I didn't know that we had that many reformed congregations in those countries?"  You are correct; "We" officially do not.  But, God has His elect everywhere in every tribe and nation.  Denominationally speaking, these congregations will tell you that they are from many different origins of what passes for today's church.  The truth is that their needs for training are great! They have a need for further biblical studies plus their need for every kind of vocational knowledge and entrepreneurial experience within their respective communities is great!  More importantly, they are self consciously aware of this and they are willing to listen and to work with any who will come and teach them the doctrines, principles and the vocational skills they are lacking.  The thousands of young pastors, who have only received a very token education in the Word-when even at all-are hungry for the truth.  We who have the truth cannot possibly escape the Lord's discipline if we fail to answer the obvious call that such an historical opportunity provides.  Are we to say that all of these developments are mere matters of circumstance and we therefore need not take them personally, as being directly related to us?  We who do not believe in mere circumstances, but in God's sovereign will in all things, cannot maintain a good conscience should we decide thus.

RMIC will need many individuals to join us and to be a part of this new chapter in missions.  We hope and pray that some of you will one day join us in this great undertaking.  RMIC is one of your ministry and missionary options, and in this case even to utilize your own BAM Company as part of the team.  To learn how see Business as Mission