How Might You
Re-Imagine Power

By: Calvin Chin

At the 2012 Ei Forum, held on April 13-14 at the Redeemer W83 Ministry Center, we posed the question above to the 330 participants, including entrepreneurs, investors, pastors, and lay leaders from 23 states. Together we explored how we are to view, pursue, and steward power in light of the gospel. Our Forum’s theme of Re-Imagine Power was based on Acts 1:8 where Christ exhorts his people to be his faithful witnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Ei Forum, our seventh, signals an inflection point in the growing movement of gospel entrepreneurship to transform cities for the Kingdom. On Friday evening, I, as the Director of Ei, welcomed our participants. Katherine Leary Alsdorf, Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Work, highlighted the distinctive and absolute nature of gospel entrepreneurship. Friday’s key-note, Shannon Sedgewick-Davis challenged everyone to participate in the powerful work that the Bridgeway Foundation is doing to bring reconciliation, fight genocide, and promote human rights in Africa.

The Forum’s Saturday program continued with three keynote speakers—David Gibbons, founding pastor of Newsong Alliance and Xealots, Henry Kaestner, founder of Bandwidth.com and Durham Cares, and Tim Keller; six practical workshops led by outstanding Redeemer “investors” —Andrew Sobel, Leslie Van Orsdel, Kenny Jahng, Karen Wu, Susanna Kohly, Ross Barrett, Chuck Stetson, Christian Schnedler; and a manuscript study of Acts 2 led by our Gotham Fellows alumni, as well as a showcase of our business plan competition winners.

On Friday night and Saturday evening, respectively, after the programs finished, we held the Ei Entrepreneurs Showcase on the 5th floor fellowship hall where our entrepreneurs present their ventures and mingled with Forum participants in a relaxed atmosphere.

The core strengths of the Forum continue to be a vision of entrepreneurship driven by the gospel and worked out amid strong fellowship. We must begin to recognize power in all its forms—tangible and intangible—and struggle to re-imagine it in light of our savior’s willingness to give up his power for our sake. Are you an entrepreneur or an investor in a culture-renewing venture, daily seeking ways to reflect the radical power of the gospel? If so, consider being part of this growing movement and contact us at: Ei@redeemer.com and visit: www.faithandwork.org/eiforum