This month’s post is from Derek Kessen, Managing Partner of Heron Ventures. He wrote this story shortly after his trip to Africa earlier this year. A meaningful exchange with company founders led to convictions about stewardship and the need to make sure we are pursuing God’s plans and not just our own.

Meet a Tanzanian company that provides natural skin care products for all people, but especially for those whose skin has been affected by working daily in the sun, bathing in dirty water, and the resulting irritations. Most people in Tanzanian villages and interior areas do not have soap, petroleum jelly, and lotions, and those that exist are chemically based.

We have fallen into a trap of thinking that donations to charity or to missionaries are considered sacred and investments, because they are connected to business, are secular. We pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, but do we invest to achieve that goal?

This company’s successful technology platform has created a platform for bringing salt and light of the gospel to a place where the name of Jesus is little known. Marshall and his team are living proof of the value of incarnational ministry as he lives as a follower of Christ. The seeds of the gospel are planted gradually, in the context of business relationships, and are carefully watered through each interaction he has with his clients.