The Benham Brothers Headline NGU’s Business Symposium
Posted on: March 15, 2021
Tigerville, SC (February 23, 2020) The Benham Brothers, identical twins David Benham and Jason Benham, headlined the plenary sessions for North Greenville University’s (NGU) Fifth Annual Business Symposium held Friday afternoon, Feb. 21. The brothers, best-selling authors, speakers, real estate entrepreneurs, and former Minor League baseball players, along with a host of local and national Christian business leaders, were presenters for the “Courage to Create” themed event.
The Symposium is designed for NGU students to hear from Christian leaders who are changing the world and glorifying God through business and entrepreneurship.
After a welcome and opening prayer by NGU President Dr. Gene C. Fant, Jr., the Benham twins told the story of how they stumbled into entrepreneurship and emphasized the importance of working and innovating as a form of worship:
“You were created to create. God put creativity inside us so we could glorify Him,” the brothers said to the room full of future Christian business leaders. “The primary form of worship is the work that you do.”
The Benham brothers also opened up about their experience with HGTV. The channel canceled plans for the twins to host their own show in 2014 after they spoke out openly about their Christian values.
“It’s going to take courage to bring voice to [your Christian] values,” the brothers explained. “But the blessings of God are found within His boundaries. And when you remove those boundaries, the blessings are replaced with burdens.”
The brothers went on to recommend that Christians should do their work “with a heart to please God” and then leave the results to Him.
“This year’s Faith at Work Business Symposium is probably the highlight of my 14 months with NGU,” said College of Business and Entrepreneurship Dean Dr. John Duncan. “The “Courage to Create” theme was linked to our College’s mission of honoring God by transforming students into innovative thinkers and entrepreneurial problem-solvers while creating value that leads to human flourishing.”
Duncan said the Benham’s “captivated the audience and challenged students to apply four foundational principles in their work: (1) be an appetite creator (2) be faithful in little things, (3) be a fountain, not a drain, and (4) give more in value than you take in pay.”
The ten breakout speakers included CEOs and other Christian leaders who shared how they see God working in the marketplace and how they live out their faith at work.
“The messages were informative and potentially life-changing. My prayer is that everyone who attended will begin to apply at least one principle that they heard at this year’s symposium to help change our world,” said Duncan.
Ryan Kirk (expected ’20), a sport management major and a member of NGU’s baseball team from Kannapolis, NC, found the Benham Brother’s story very interesting because they both played professional baseball.
“The most interesting thing about their story was that one of them decided to stop playing professional baseball and became a janitor at a high school. He hated it, but he felt like God wanted him there at that moment, so he kept going and forced himself to do his very best in that job and worship the Lord through his work,” said Kirk.
The most impactful takeaway for Kirk is a quote by one of the Benham Brothers. They said “You’re a minister, you’re on mission, and your work is worship.”
“I thought this was an awesome way to look at things because we often don’t involve the Lord with our work, but one of the Benham Brother’s decided to take Colossians 3:23 to heart and worship the Lord through his work as a janitor, by doing his work with all his heart,” said Kirk.
David Benham later spoke in the second plenary session about the importance of Godly character as our foundation.
Josh Kimbrell and Exodus Aircraft was the door prize and VIP lunch sponsor. Premier Sponsors were His Way at Work, Jeff Lynch Appliance, RonaldBlue Trust, and Styles Contracting.
For information about NGU’s College of Business and Entrepreneurship and degree programs, visit go.ngu.edu/cobe.
