His mother named him Paul. But the Marketplace Movement knows him as Apostle Buddy. Whatever you choose to call him, Dr. Paul “Buddy” Crum was born for such a time as this. A time when God is restoring apostles and prophets to round out the five-fold ascension gifts that equip believers for the work of the ministry – in the marketplace.

But Apostle Buddy wasn’t always a Full Gospel minister. He was a prosperous marketing consultant before he and his wife, Mary, founded Atlanta-based Life Center Ministries in 1987. By 1990, at the age of 50, God prophetically called him to lay down his thriving business and start building His Church full-time.

God is using Apostle Buddy’s diverse background in administration, finance and business to bring the marketplace revelation to the saints in a practical way. The Lord has given him a strategy to help local churches establish self-funding marketplace ministries that train believers to deal with business issues and Gospel issues outside the local church. He is also working with Beacon University in Columbus, Ga. to introduce Marketplace Ministry as a course of study at the college.

THE VOICE caught up with Apostle Buddy to learn more about marketplace ministry, how it fits into the apostolic reformation, and how believers can prepare themselves to take the Gospel into schools, supermarkets and business centers in the uttermost parts of the earth.

THE VOICE: What is marketplace ministry?

Apostle Buddy: Marketplace ministry has sometimes been referred to as Workplace Ministry. The marketplace is where you have a sphere of influence, from your family to out in the workplace and everywhere in between.