Episode 18: Business as Mission

Have you ever considered that business could be a powerful tool for mission and ministry? Gina's guest today does because he’s ALWAYS thinking about this. As a seminary-trained pastor and church planter, Pat Dirkse, is using his catering company in Compton, CA as an intentional tool for not only making money for his family but also for providing jobs for those in his neighborhood and for making disciples. Pat and his wife, Julie, planted City Church in Compton over a decade ago, but Pat soon recognized that most of the pastors in Compton were bi-vocational, so he decided to do the same. Together with his love for people, desire to make disciples in his neighborhood, and his passion for culinary arts, Pat started City Catering which now employs several people from the community and feeds the homeless there on a weekly basis. Pat also now coaches others who desire to marry business with mission, and he’s here with Gina to tell his story.

See more about the mission of City Catering and the innovative space Pat and City Church are developing in Compton called "The Lab" at www.citycateringcpt.com.