The Business as Mission, (BAM) conference in Philadelphia, USA, 21st to 23rd September
City Vision has been privileged to attend three important conferences recently. Tim Coleman, Communications Director for the charity began a 10-day trip to the USA recently with the Business as Mission (BAM) conference in Philadelphia. A range of inspiring case studies were presented of city transforming businesses and projects that adhere to the quadruple bottom line principles of bringing glory to God, of making profit, of being good for the environment and of having significant city and societal transformational impact. Tim was able to spend some time with conference MC and member of the BAM Advisory Board David Skews, himself a businessman for over 35 years and now based near Liverpool. Tim also connected with Netherlands-based Mats Tunehag who chairs the BAM Global board and who ran a fascinating workshop at the conference, which looked at the top 10 issues facing BAM and businesses who follow the BAM model. Here’s a video of Mats from the conference:
Here’s another short video from Shane Claiborne from BAM who’s involved in supporting the most vulnerable in Philadelphia with projects that offer employment opportunities:
Tim then went onto the Transform Our World conference at the Marriott Hotel in San Jose, California. Over 800 delegates joined Ruth and Dr. Ed Silvoso for his annual global gathering of nations. Dr. Silvoso has written a number of groundbreaking books, including his seminal work: Ekklesia. Tim was praying about which table to sit on at the opening night gala dinner, hoping he would be able to connect with other delegates from the U.K. He felt led to a table in the corner of the ballroom, only to discover he was sharing the table with Lord Nat Wei, who’s been involved with TOW for years, together with ministry leaders from Bristol and Crawley. Over 3 amazing days of worship and prayer, delegates were inspired by stories of transformation from cities across the globe, including the Sunderland region here in the UK. Guest speakers also included YWAM founder Loren Cunningham and Bethel Church leader, Kris Vallotton. New connections for City Vision were made at the conference and we’ll be making available to you in the near future all the conference sessions and some of the city transformation story videos from the conference.
The Transform Our World conference in San Jose, California, USA, 26th to 29th September
Returning to the U.K, Tim then attended the Faith in Business conference at Bradford Cathedral on Saturday 13th October, together with City Vision Project Coordinator, Naz Masih. Taking an exhibition stand at the conference, it was another opportunity for City Vision to network with U.K ministry leaders, including John Kirkby, founder of CAP, who spoke in the afternoon’s session.
The Faith in Business conference at Bradford Cathedral, Saturday 14th October. John Kirkby, founder of Christians Against Poverty, (CAP) featured in the photo above