Missional Business at Work: A sports technology bridge to personal relationships

Christian BusinessGreat Commission
Written By Donald Simmons, CFP®

Marshall Benjamin grew up traveling all over the world as a military kid, giving him exposure to different cultures from an early age. He has always been involved in sports and church and, in high school, Marshall realized that sports can form a bridge through which he can form impactful relationships.

Now, in his professional capacity as the Middle East representative for a sports technology company, Marshall is building those bridges.

Coveted Sports Technology

Marshall’s company has developed an agility training platform used by athletes in their training and by both athletes and non athletes recovering from injury or illness. The platform consists of a pressure-sensitive floor pad that connects to an iPad and an app that interfaces with the device to present drills to the user and collect and display feedback showing their reaction time, speed, and balance. Think of it like a data-driven “Just Dance” game for professional athletes, trainers, and physical therapists.

The platform has been scientifically proven to increase agility, reaction time, and quickness. The user focuses on the iPad rather than looking at their feet, and receives real-time feedback of their performance, motivating them to improve their personal best score. In addition, because the software allows athletic trainers and therapists to customize rehab protocols based on patient population and injury type, the technology is particularly appealing to sports medicine facilities. Many top athletes including major league baseball, basketball, and football players as well as world-ranked tennis players are currently using this technology.

Market Presence

Marshall has been part of an increasing number of meetings with athletic teams, fitness facilities, hospitals, and rehab facilities in his region of the world. He has made several sales and secured free trials of the technology to clinics and hospitals in two major cities.

Potential markets in 2022 include a massive jiu jitsu gym and several military bases, both of which have seen the technology and believe its value for improved physical performance and injury recovery. In addition, he was an exhibitor at a conference for school suppliers to show school decision makers, principals, and teachers new and exciting educational innovations and curriculum. The exhibition helped get the company’s foot in the door with more schools as part of their physical education program.

Relationships in Jesus’ Name

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 has regular opportunities to live and work and exemplify his beliefs in Jesus among a population where followers of Christ are a minority.

His business allows him to interact with professionals who might not otherwise have an opportunity to know a Christian. He interacts with nationals as well as expats from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, and other Arab nations as he meets with his clients in a wide variety of settings: schools, rehabilitation and training facilities, military bases, and major hospitals.

The official state religion in Marshall’s region is Islam, and the government subsidizes 95% of all mosques and employs all Imams. However, freedom of religion is allowed and therefore his city has large communities of Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and followers of the Baha’i faith and Buddhism. Non-Muslim groups can own their own houses of worship where they can practice their religion freely. Marshall is part of a local body of Christians for spiritual support while he gains professional access to many individuals in his region.

The Impact

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. Many unseen, but real, connections are bridging sports and faith in a creative, sustainable way.

Donald Simmons, CFP®

Don has over thirty years of experience building and managing a boutique investment firm in upstate New York that he founded in 1988. A CFP® Professional with a degree in counseling and post graduate training as a portfolio asset allocation specialist, Don fuses professional portfolio strategy with investor psychology and behavior to provide a well-informed perspective on our role as Christian steward-investors.  With nearly a quarter billion dollars of assets under management, his firm consistently ranks among the top 1% of financial advisor practices in the United States. 

Being a fiduciary of his clients’ assets has enlightened Don’s understanding of our role as God’s “oikonomos”—His designated asset managers.  Additionally, Don believes that business itself is an incarnational witness, much like the ministry of Young Life through which Don began his own personal relationship with Christ and with which Don has been involved as staff, volunteer, and committee chair for over four decades.  

While serving as chief operations officer for a London-based Christian economic development fund,  Don observed firsthand the great chasm between societies where capital is hoarded in abundance compared to locations where it is in short supply and desperately needed to fulfill God’s redemptive plan. Don was responsible for coordinating a global management team that deployed dozens of mentors and coaches and financial capital to transformational businesses across more than twenty countries and among the most impoverished communities in the world. Furthermore, as he has traveled extensively both personally and professionally to dozens of frontier market countries since 2003, he’s gained an awareness of the physical and spiritual poverty that are too often met with ignorance and apathy of American Christians regarding their plight. 

Don’s passion for meeting these needs through the expansion of business as mission, as well as being a long-time steward of his clients’ assets, has led him to not only help his clients prepare for retirement, manage their wealth, and consider charitable giving, but also to help investors match their investment decisions to God’s purposes.  

Don has been married to Amy since 1989. Their home is a hub of activity for their four children and a steady stream of guests. In addition to family, Don’s passions include flying an antique (1948) seaplane, cooking pizza in his wood-fired pizza oven, and serving as a board member for numerous charities.

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