USING BUSINESS AS A PLATFORM It is one thing to profess to be a Christian in the marketplace, but resolving to operate a business with an eternal focus, based on biblical principles, is something much more. In 2013, Chris Close and his father, Kevin, determined God was calling them to pursue the latter. The question was, how should they go about doing that? Since 2002, they and Rod Converse had been working together as partners in Close Converse in Brainerd, Minn., a commercial real estate and business brokerage company. Being men of faith, “we wanted to incorporate our faith more effectively in our business. Otherwise, it would not have any real, lasting purpose,” the younger Close said. “We were looking for other like-minded people committed to serving the Lord through their businesses.” Finding an abundance of marketplace ministries to choose from, each with a somewhat different focus, Close and his father began a quest to discern which aligned best with their desire to make the Gospel a central part of their mission. Initially they became active in a ministry geared for top executives and business owners, but after discovering CBMC, the father and son knew they could stop looking. “We saw a ministry that puts the Gospel first and business
Being in business school, I realized so many people all around me were lost and God was calling me to an amazing mission field. second, understanding the Lord uses our marketplace skills as a tool, a platform, for glorifying God and getting to know Him better,” Close observed. After learning about CBMC’s twofold mission of evangelism and discipleship, they agreed to start a “pilot” Trust-
ed Advisor Forum in Brainerd, a community of about 20,000 people located about 100 miles north of Minneapolis. Chuck Scherer, a CBMC leader from Grand Rapids, Minn., agreed to speak at a vision meeting to share his own experience as a CBMC Trusted Advisor. Chris Close
To recruit prospective members for the new group, Close drew from a list of “45 guys, well-connected in the Brainerd area who were solid in their faith.” Scherer, an executive of Nelson Wood Shims, told about the impact being a Forum participant and facilitator has had on his business, personal life, family and community involvement over the years. After that introductory gathering, the first Trusted Advisor Forum was formed in Brainerd. In the years since, four other Forum groups have been established and the CBMC ministry has multiplied. Don Hoffert, a CBMC staff director in the Twin Cities, served as the original facilitator for the first group, but Close took over the leadership role to free Hoffert from having to make the time-consuming commute each month. The Trusted Advisor Forum has more than met his expectations. “As Christian businessmen, we need to be iron sharpening iron,” he said. “As the Bible says, we’re foreigners in this world, but there are not a lot of business and professional men really living out their faith in an intentional way. Being surrounded by like-minded men is so encouraging for all of us.”
