Business Connect leaders seek common, higher ground
May 27, 2008

By Ted Streuli
The Journal Record

OKLAHOMA CITY - At the intersection of faith and career stands a United Methodist Church, two young businessmen and an idea.
Philip Busey Jr., a member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, will launch a business mentorship group June 17. The group will meet in St. Luke's Fellowship Hall and will initially be made up of church members, but Busey said he hopes the idea will outgrow the room.
"The group is being put together for the purpose of putting young business professionals with older, wiser, more experienced business professionals," Busey said. "In a perfect world, if they can come together and start to build relationships, there's a lot of knowledge that can be passed on."
Busey's notion of pairing the congregation's experienced business people with the membership's up-and-comers grew out of conversation with Sunday school classmate Glendon Hudson, a 28-year-old financial analyst for the Federal Aviation Administration.
"There was a disconnect between our generation and the older generation," said Hudson. "We wanted to bring the two together over lunch."
But religion and business aren't usually words that go together, at least not publicly. Busey and Hudson don't see a conflict - they see a common, and perhaps higher, ground.
"It starts with the ethics," Hudson said. "I'm a ninth-generation Methodist and I've been brought up with the principles John Wesley had. It was earn all you can, but then give all you can."
Busey said that while the initial participants will all be members of St. Luke's, the group will be open to members of all communities of faith and the programs will be strictly business. The guest speakers will be high-profile business people who have knowledge to share and some audience drawing power, but they won't be doing any preaching. An opening prayer might be in order, he said, but the group's goal isn't to discuss faith - it's for the business aspirants to learn from the capitalism masters.
"We have a lot of successful people in our class, but they're all in their 30s or even late 20s," said Busey, who is the vice president of communications for The Busey Group. "There are a lot of older, very successful people in the church, but we wondered what would bring those groups together. They're great people; you have to find a way to get together with them."
There's no specific plan yet for pairing mentors with students, as some of the details will be determined after the group's size is known. There may be no specific pairing at all, but an opportunity for young business people to network with their more experienced counterparts. The first promotional blurb appeared in Sunday’s church bulletin.
"We have a hunch that St Luke's is not a rare church," Busey said. "We think there are other communities of faith that want something like this and they'll either start attending ours or develop their own. It's about bringing young and old together, with faith as a common ground, in a mentor-student relationship."
Hudson put the goals for Busiuness Connect succinctly.
"I think it all comes down to making the world a better place," he said. "There's that disconnect between generations, and we're trying to bridge that gap."


What: Business Connect
Where: St. Luke's, 222 NW 15th St., Oklahoma City
When: June 17, 11:30 a.m.
Cost: $15 for those that RSVP/ $20 at the door (includes lunch)
Info: (405) 721-7776 or philip@buseygroup.com