Praying For Profits

CHRISTIAN ENTREPRENEURS ARE MIXING BELIEF WITH BUSINESS. ARE THEY CROSSING A LINE--OR WILL THEIR RELIGION PAY OFF?

DAVID PETERSON FOR TIME

Mark Gadow was successful in starting a Christian driving school using distinctively marked cars

When Deborah Williams received the devastating diagnosis of Parkinson's disease last spring, she needed spiritual support. She also needed a haircut. She got both at Classic Body Image Salon & Day Spa, a Christian beauty parlor in Blacksburg, Va. When Williams told owner Cindy Griffin about her illness, Griffin, 35, and another hairdresser ushered her into a massage room where, Williams says, "we all just held hands and we cried and we prayed together."

Griffin, the salon owner, says the business was her calling. "The Lord just kept putting in my heart that this is what I needed to do," she...

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