Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
TLDR: Discover why Small Business Saturday represents Kingdom mindset better than corporate scale, and how the Little House on the Prairie model of knowing everyone you serve creates deeper impact than chasing growth for growth’s sake.
What?
I remember growing up watching Little House on the Prairie after school each day. I was inspired by the simplicity. The doctor getting paid with chickens amused me. Charles working in the sawmill opened my eyes – even today it opens my eyes as I grow this ministry. I remember Nellie and her family running the mercantile.
Everybody knew everyone. They went to school in the church and the entire community went to church. I don’t think the frontier church did the damage that modern religion has done.
Why am I saying all of that? Well, I just discovered this week that today is Small Business Saturday. I never realized that was a thing. I’m actually tempted to go down to the local RC shop around the corner and check it out.
When I started my tech company, EvoDynamic Inc – it was first called Seim Time – I just helped out friends, neighbors, and nonprofits I knew or was associated with to launch and have a website. I actually knew the people and the organizations. We were connected. I’m humbled as a few years ago I passed off that handful, with a tear in my eye, to another provider to take care of them.
I think that’s what’s actually drawing me into coaching anxious Christian men. I actually get to be the small business again. I actually get to connect with the people I serve in a really deep and personal way. I end up knowing them more than they know me, but they know me enough to realize I can help them get where they want to go much faster than doing it on their own.
If you’re not in a “small business” in your work or vocation, what do you have? What are you building to build that Little House on the Prairie simple goodness around you today? That’s Kingdom building. That’s what we need.
Why?
I share this because Kingdom Family Leaders get caught chasing scale instead of connection. We think bigger is better, more clients means more impact, growth for growth’s sake equals success. But the Little House on the Prairie model shows us something different – the doctor getting paid with chickens, Charles at the sawmill, the mercantile where everybody knew everybody.
When I passed off my original small business clients to another provider, I did it with a tear in my eye. Not because I was moving up, but because I was losing connection. Those were friends, neighbors, nonprofits I actually knew. That connection was the point, not just a nice side effect.
Small Business Saturday isn’t just about shopping local. It’s about the Kingdom mindset of knowing who you’re serving and being known by them.
Lesson
Kingdom building happens through relationships, not just scale. The doctor getting paid with chickens knew his patients. Charles working the sawmill knew his community. The mercantile served people by name, not account number. That’s the model – simple goodness, authentic connection, serving people you actually know.
When you’re the small business, you get to connect with people you serve in a really deep and personal way. You know them. They know you enough to trust you can help them get where they want to go. That’s Kingdom impact through authentic relationship, not corporate distance.
The frontier church model worked because everybody knew everyone. School in the church. Entire community gathered together. Modern religion lost something when it scaled beyond knowing each other. We traded intimacy for attendance numbers.
If you’re not literally in a small business, the question still applies: What are you building to create that Little House on the Prairie simple goodness around you? How are you choosing connection over scale? How are you building Kingdom through relationships that matter rather than metrics that impress?
Small Business Saturday represents Kingdom mindset because it values the local shop owner who knows your name over the corporate chain that doesn’t. It prioritizes the relationship over the transaction. That’s what we need more of – not less business, but more Kingdom mindset in how we do business.
Apply
This Small Business Saturday, intentionally shop at a local business where the owner knows you or could get to know you. But more importantly, examine your own work and vocation. Where are you chasing scale at the expense of connection? What’s one way you could build more “Little House on the Prairie simple goodness” around you – knowing the people you serve, being known by them, choosing relationship over growth metrics?
You be blessed!
