Many Halftime Alumni are entrepreneurs. 

The thought of joining a nonprofit could sound suffocating, and not a sustainable culture fit for them. So they lean into their entrepreneurial skills to launch or build a new for-profit company – where there is freedom to run fast and free. 

There is another alternative, which often is much more fulfilling…

Starting or taking the helm of a social enterprise that is self-supporting, runs on business principles, and produces profound transformation in the lives of others may be the best option for you. 

But how should the gospel fit into all that?

In this 30-minute webinar, Doug Piper will open a conversation with HT Alum, Harvard MBA, and Chairman/Co-Founder of Edify, Chris Crane.

Together they will discuss the best advice from Chris’s experience – how to use your entrepreneurial skills to make 100X impact for God in your next season.

CLICK HERE to watch or listen to the recording of our conversation.

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During our time together, Chris identified 3 Principles for Pursuing Gospel-Centered Entrepreneurial Leadership:

1. Identify your style as an entrepreneur:

    • Visionary and Inspirational: entrusts management to professional managers.
    • Start-up: loves the challenge of starting from scratch.
    • Ramp-up: comes into an existing social enterprise and scales it rapidly from the existing base.
    • Turnaround: brought into a troubled social enterprise with the hope of returning it to firm footing, then either continues to grow the organization rapidly or moves on to another turnaround organization.

2. Keep the gospel front and center:

    • Gospel-centered social entrepreneurship is about building a counter-cultural organization for the common good.
    • Gospel-centered means you and your team operate from the central belief that Jesus’ death and resurrection is good news – and that it is the only source of living hope for everyone you serve.

3. Remember that only Jesus can overcome the systemic problems in nations:

    • The integrity taught by Jesus will overcome corruption.
    • The servant leadership taught by Jesus will overcome self-serving leadership.
    • The peacemaking taught by Jesus will overcome tribal and political violence.
    • The love of Jesus will overcome hatred.

Ready to put these principles into practice? Check out Executive Influence: Impacting Your Workplace for Christ by Chris Crane & Mike Hamel. The Faith Driven Investor as well as the Faith Driven Entrepreneur may also be great resources for you. 

At Halftime, our programs bring greater impact, purpose, and joy for the whole family. 

Getting connected with a group of like-minded peers and a Halftime Certified™ Coach to discuss how to use your unique skills to make 100X impact for God in your next season could be a great next step.

It is our privilege to walk with leaders like Chris as they navigate all the ups and downs that come with pursuing maximized Kingdom impact. How could our support system best come alongside you?

ABOUT OUR FEATURED ALUM, CHRIS CRANE:

Chris Crane worked 25 years in for-profit businesses and the last 19 years in social entrepreneurship. He co-founded Edify in 2009, which makes loans and/or provides training to 7,000 schools educating 2 million children living in poverty in 11 developing nations. 

For the seven years before that, Chris was CEO of Opportunity International, the world’s largest Christian microfinance organization, which then had 10,600 direct and indirect staff, and operations in 28 countries with 1.5 million active clients. 

Earlier, Chris acquired and served for eight years as CEO of COMPS InfoSystems. He led it through two rounds of private equity, an IPO and acquiring 13 other companies, before selling COMPS to another public company. For this, he was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999.  

And earlier, he was a venture capitalist. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Chris transitioned from CEO of Edify to Board Chairman two years ago. His new venture is Faithful Mentors, which matches Christian social entrepreneurs with Christian mentors.

Chris connected with Halftime Institute more than 15 years ago and has been involved ever since.

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The Halftime Institute is the leading authority on creating a next season defined by joy, impact, and balance. For more than 20 years, we’ve served thousands of men and women from varied backgrounds. The concept of ‘halftime’ was born out of the best-selling book, Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance, written by Bob Buford. Following the popularity and resonance of his book, Bob founded the Halftime Institute in order to provide a hands-on process and community for growth, support, and learning for people walking through their own season of ‘halftime’. Since then, the Institute has expanded to include world-class Coaches, Staff, and Resources – equipping leaders all over the globe. Interested in gaining clarity for your next season? Fill out the contact form below!