Generosity and Business Loss in a Time of Crisis

The year 2020 was to be the best yet for our travel business on the field. We had already hired new employees and trained others to become managers.

Then came the pandemic, and our plans for the business went south. Every day brought another postposed event or canceled trip. Suddenly our office went from preparing for more than a thousand travelers who had booked spring tours and events—to working overtime to process refunds.

The day we closed the office and started working from home, we reminded our local staff of something we had always told them: “This company belongs to God. Just as always, we trust Him to care for all your needs and to show us how to get through this crisis.”

Then we cried and laughed together and awkwardly waved goodbye, social-distance style.

Each of us felt an undeniable sense of futility as everything was canceled.

For more than a year, our office staff had been working hard to put tours and events together. Now each of us felt an undeniable sense of futility as everything was canceled. So much effort, and for what?

When the disciples saw Mary pouring expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, they thought, “What a waste!”

Jesus corrected them and commended Mary for honoring Him with something so priceless.

I shared this story with our staff during one of our online meetings. “Your work hasn’t been wasted,” I said to them. “Your efforts are seen and counted by God as you pour it out as love to Him. He knew all along that these events would be canceled, and He still gave us that work to do.”

Soon we realized that we needed to start making hard decisions to keep the company afloat. God reminded us of the fishes and loaves in Matthew 14. Jesus took them as offerings, gave thanks, and multiplied them to feed thousands.

“God is asking us to do the same,” we told our staff. “He’s asking us to take what He has provided, give thanks for it, and share it.”

Then we told them that even though we didn’t know what the future held, we had enough left to pay their salaries for that month.

“This is so radically different from what my friends are experiencing at other companies,” one employee said. “Everyone else I know is being laid off without pay.”

We shared how Jesus had a dozen baskets left over after feeding the thousands. Our accountant responded, “I’m going to keep an eye out for how God might give us 12 more of something than we need!”

“He knew all along that these events would be canceled, and He still gave us that work to do.”

Before the pandemic, we had seen our Muslim friends and local employees go through real hardships. We tried to walk through their trials with them and to speak meaningfully into their lives.

But try as we might, our privileged circumstances kept us floating above their realities, and they knew it.

Now as our business suffers extreme loss, we feel the pain of having to put half our staff out of work, drop the salaries of others, and take a tremendous hit to our own finances.

We grieve and wish this weren’t happening.

But we also know that if we are going to live in this Muslim country to incarnate the Gospel, then we wouldn’t have it any other way. We don’t want to be untouched by the pain our local friends and employees are now experiencing.

As we are hit by the painful uncertainties and financial crashes, we’re leaning into Jesus. And in His grace, He’s allowing us to participate in the lives of Muslims by grieving more sincerely, loving more deeply, and living more genuinely among them.

• Please pray for Frontiers field workers as their livelihoods are affected by economic downturns.
• Ask the Lord to provide for workers in ways that exalt the name of Jesus Christ and shine His love into the lives of Muslims.
• Pray that Christians around the world will rejoice in every circumstance and testify to God’s unfailing love and provision.