Zebedee and Sons Fishing Co.: Business Advice from the Bible - Hardcover

Struble, Philip W

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1512783358 ISBN 13: 9781512783353

Publisher: WestBow Press, 2017

Synopsis

One favorite story in the Bible is Jesus calling his first disciples along the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately, when Jesus called James, John, Peter, and Andrew to a life of ministry, he called them away from their business partner Zebedee. Zebedee, a first-century fisherman, devoted Jew and entrepreneur, watched his partners choose to walk away from their business obligations and follow Jesus to become fishers of men.

As Christians, we are taught to turn to the Bible when we are in need of guidance. When we are lost, confused, seeking growth or opportunity, God's Word is our source of strength and understanding. And even though we may believe and practice Jesus's teachings - we have unfortunately learned to separate our Christian values from our workplace. We turn to self-help books on management, workshops about accountability, or seminars on increasing our business traffic. We seek guidance from those successful in our industry or other experts in the secular world.As company leaders, we all too often forget that the most valuable source of information we have is from the Creator himself, and is found in His Word which is designed to guide us through all of life's journeys. This includes even our businesses.

This book is looking at our 21st-century business world through Zebedee's eyes. It demonstrates that the biblical knowledge from the first-century is applicable to our business world today. Zebedee will show us how we can better understand how God wants us to run our businesses, even in the face of struggles, despair and confusion. He shows us how to establish sound business practices based on His Word, and how to lead our businesses in the way God has called us. The Bible is really the only book we need.

About this title

Review

KIRKUS REVIEW A debut business guide and memoir applies Judeo-Christian philosophy.
For the organizing focal point of his manual, small business owner Struble has chosen one of the least likely parts in the entire New Testament: the Galilean fisherman Zebedee. He's mentioned glancingly in the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew as, in Struble's words, "the proud owner of a small fishing company that operated several fishing boats on the Sea of Galilee and employed at least four men." Zebedee's partners were Simon Peter and Andrew, and his fellow fishermen were his sons James and John--and all four of them left the business to follow Jesus, presumably leaving Zebedee high and dry. "I imagine him smelling of fish and sweat while staring off at the backs of five men walking away," Struble writes, in the kind of charming detail that fills this book. The author muses that Zebedee was thus forced to rethink his careful business plans completely. On such a slender foundation, Struble manages to construct a dense and consistently thought-provoking treatise on team building, accountability, employee discipline, negotiation, and dozens of other aspects of the modern business world. The author has absorbed a wide variety of the most popular business books written in the last 20 or 30 years, but from the start, he stresses that the orientation of his own work stems from a far older source. "Instead of looking at Fortune 500 companies or other twenty-first-century business studies that evaluate employee impacts on business success," he writes, "I will look at that twenty-first-century issue through the lens of the Bible." He deftly examines a wide spectrum of Scripture to draw lessons that can be applied to contemporary businesses. But his emphasis always returns to poor Zebedee, suddenly left with no partners or employees, marvelously dramatized by Struble as a template for small business owners everywhere. "As employers and employees, we are first and foremost the children of a gracious and loving God," the author reminds his Christian readers and fellow professionals.
A remarkable business manual that delivers useful advice based on biblical passages.

Edition details

• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1512783358
• ISBN 13: 9781512783353
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 274