Olivet College of Business (OCB) invited two Christian experts on the topic of business as missions.  Dr. David Gill and Dr. Paul de Vries provided their insights to the biblical foundations of free market and how to apply Ten Commandments into business leadership and management.

In the three hours lecture, Dr. David Gill, the author of “It’s About Excellence: Building Ethically Healthy Organizations” and “Doing Right in the 21th century”, showed how to set up effective relationships among leaders and followers, family members through obeying the ten principles root in the Ten Commandments.

“Here are the ten expressions of love, justice and freedom,” he said, “it shows how God wants to be treated and the way people want to be treated.” Based on his 25 years of research and experience on business ethics counseling, he explained the profound biblical theories in a simple way. For example, for the first commandment of “You shall have no other gods before me”, he explained it through getting the right God (Jesus Christ) on the throne of your life and career; giving employees and co-workers a unique & valued place of respect.

“I was really inspired by the lecture. I learned detailed principles to guide my relationships with others.” Bin Wu, a students in the course commented.

Dr. Paul de Vries, the president of New York Divinity School, introduced the Biblical foundation of Free Markets, which is part of the core idea of his work, “Bible-based Leadership at the Foundations of American Social-Political Structures and Policies”. He pointed out that according to Adam Smith, the author of “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of nations”, economics, ethics and theology are inter-related. Dr. Paul de Vries also considered economics as a subdivision of ethics and ethics as subdivision of theology. And justice, love and accountability are three necessity of free market.

“I find it very useful and it gave me lots of insight into the US history. It was very inspiring to me to read and understand how the social-political and economic system was created,” student Lucia Bendzalova shared. “Also to see the impact of Christianity throughout the years was very fascinating. Even though I studied history before, I wasn't aware of the incredible impact of Christianity on the economic and social- political life in the United States.”

The lectures were being offered as part of “Business as Missions (BU600)” offered in the Spring 2010 semester.  OCB Dean Dr. Tom Cowley is teaching the course which has been an important topic for the global mission field.  The course will continue until the end of the semester and include research into detailed strategies and case studies.