The Poor People’s Campaign and Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs

The Poor People’s Campaign, in carrying on the work started by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, has planned a National Call for Moral Revival that will culminate in a Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, DC on Saturday, June 20, 2020.

The issues we will address include systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of Eurocentric religious nationalism.

What makes this Moral March on Washington special is that the people directly affected by poverty will be speaking for themselves. So, with this in mind, what’s the connection between the Poor People’s Campaign and Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs? I’m so glad you asked!

To begin with, most Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs were poor when they started their businesses. In fact, it was their poverty that pushed them to discover what was in them that they could do for themselves to earn a living for their families. Most of these entrepreneurs remembered the depths from which they arose and are still providing jobs and opportunities for poor people to earn a living wage as employees in their successful companies.

Given the above, there are two (2) distinct ways in which the Poor People’s Campaign and Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs are connected, and a third way that must now emerge.

The first way we are connected is through the original shared experience of poverty. The second way we are connected is through Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs who provide living wage jobs to poor people so they can have a better life. But, the third way that must now emerge is Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs’ joining with the Poor People’s Campaign to encourage poor people to start their own businesses!

We must make it crystal clear that starting a business is not a money or financial issue: it is a mindset, thinking and awareness issue. We must help poor people change the narrative in their heads that they are doomed to poverty just because that's all they've ever known. We must help them see that they are not their current or past circumstances. They are free moral agents who have the power to change their own lives for the better.

While the issues that confront poor people are very real and very systemic, Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs must take the leading role in helping poor people to understand that they have the power within themselves to change their own lives as they advocate for social justice. The Moral March must be backed by Moral Businesses created by poor people who have become aware of the resources within themselves. It is this Witness that must be shared as we walk hand-in-hand with those who will be going with us to Washington, DC on June 20, 2020.

It is Economically Urgent that Socially Conscious Entrepreneurs lead poor people out of a dependent-on-others mindset and into an independent self-determination mindset. Our encouraging people to think differently about who they are and Whose they are will go a long way toward sustaining authentic, grass-roots social change by the people most affected.

And here is your Call to Action: If you haven’t already done so, register now to join the Poor People’s Campaign at www.poorpeoplescampaign.org and decide to become a Socially Conscious Entrepreneur today!

On My Mind and My Thinking

“My mind is a center of Divine operation. The Divine operation is always for expansion and fuller expression, and this means the production of something beyond what has gone before; something entirely new, not included in past experience, though proceeding out of it by orderly sequence of growth. Therefore, since the Divine cannot change its inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner in me; Consequently, in my own special world, in which I am the center, it must move forward to produce new conditions, always in advance of any that have gone before.” -Thomas Troward

Troward begins by making a spectacular announcement: “My mind is a center of Divine operation.” He speaks for himself and for me here. (You alone must decide whether he speaks for you.) My mind is a center—a deliberately chosen central place—where God has actively chosen to live and operate in me—to be, do, and perform His Divine purposes through me. Troward doesn’t suggest that God’s presence in my mind is there because I asked for it, or because I went through some elaborate set of tests, trials and examinations to make me worthy of God’s activity there. He states it as an unquestioned fact, inerrant, sure and as absolute as Eternal Law. I AM worthy because I AM created in the image and likeness of I AM that I AM. My worthiness preceded my birth on this planet. It is an eternally closed issue.

Building on this unalterable truth, Troward goes on to describe the Divine operation as always seeking expansion and fuller expression. Thus, just as scientists have discovered that the universe is constantly expanding, so also the Divine operation or working within and through me is also expanding and seeking further expression in me and through me. This expression is manifested in my desire to be, do and have more—that nagging sense of restlessness I feel that accompanies my settling for the status quo of mediocre sameness and its attendant ennui. Spirit is forever expanding, enlarging, evolving into what is new, different, distinct from what was and what currently is, although it has grown from what was and superseded what is.

In the same way that Spirit works in an ever-expanding universe, it works in me by the Law of the Spirit of Life—Eternal Life; life ever more and more abundant ad infinitum. Consequently, Spirit must move in me to make me grow, expand, increase and manifest a better me, a fuller me, a more productive, loving me. Thus, if Spirit is in me, I cannot remain the old me: I must become a new creation, an enlarged creation at every level of my being. This means that I reflect the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ—i.e., I look more like Jesus and act more like Him. I think like God thinks because I have the mind of Christ who has the mind of God. I love like He loves because I AM one with the Father and the Son. My compassion towards people is His compassion towards people. I AM that I AM because I AM that I AM has made me thus.

Because I AM that I AM, I AM creating new external conditions that manifest themselves through the working of God’s Divine operation within me. These conditions are manifested first in Spirit and then are transmuted into material forms—forms that are different from the old, past forms; forms that are new creations from new ideas, new thoughts, new creative musings that are the operating, working, and constructing principles of God at the very center of my being.

All that I AM is in my mind (heart, Spirit). And what is my responsibility in all this? I must work the works of God (operate God’s operations), think God’s thoughts after Him, and manifest the material conditions of those God-thoughts while I AM conscious and aware that today is still today. The night is coming when I will no longer be in this space, on this plane to function as the Son of God in the center of my mind. I must show forth the praises of Him who has brought me out of darkness into His marvelous light; and I must be who I AM so that others are drawn to the light of Christ within me. Only then will I be able to make disciples—disciplined ones—who will maximize their development and highest and best use of themselves, the resources they receive and the resources they create for themselves and others. In short, I AM to be an agent of Transformation to manifest God’s creative and redemptive purposes on this earth.

Who are YOU, and what is YOUR purpose?

Get Clear About Your WHY

Many people talk about wanting to own their own business one day. Their reasons go from wanting to be their own boss to living the lifestyle to which they want to become accustomed. But most people who talk about owning their own business one day will never do more than talk about it.

People, who are serious about owning their own business, research different business opportunities, read up on the businesses they have an interest in, and begin the process of deciding which business is most compatible with who they are as people. This work of investigation that they do helps to focus their desire to own a business and to fuel their enthusiasm to find the right business to own.

This is the process that most business owners go through. They use their minds, they get the facts, and then they make a definite decision about which business option they will choose. What many people leave out of the process is an understanding of WHY they go into a specific business in the first place.

It has been estimated that 96% of all businesses started will fail within 10 years. With such an alarming statistic like this around, one wonders why anyone would go into business against such odds. If everyone who started a business believed that she or he had only a 4% chance of success, there would be no new businesses started and the economy would immediately grind to a halt.

However, people are going into business every day, going against the odds that they will probably fail. It would seem that the 4% who succeed in business over the long haul know something that the 96% don’t know—they know their WHY and it guides them to prosperity.

When you talk to successful business people, you will find that their WHY is greater than just wanting to make money, or to become a millionaire. If the reason you are planning to go into business is just to make money, you will probably end up in the 96% failure group. Although earning money is important and necessary, it is not enough of a WHY to get you past the 96%.

Your WHY must come from inside you—it must be greater than merely making money. It must be so deeply thought through that it will sustain you in hard times and difficult circumstances. Your WHY must be so strong that it motivates you to get up every day, face the “no’s” and other rejections you will face, and yet empower you to get up the next day and the next day after that until your business blossoms, buds and thrives.

Knowing your WHY is so powerful that it will catapult you into success, regardless of the odds against you. So, invest the necessary time in thinking about your WHY and make sure it is large enough to see you through to success.