A Fruit Farmer’s Journey To Becoming A Missional Leader USA By Mark J.H. Klassen & John Ervin
In the 1970s, Vince Balakian’s family started a fruit farm in Central California. The farm thrived and the business of selling fruit prospered. In the 1990s, a larger packaging facility was added and the enterprise became Fruit Patch, Inc., which quickly grew into a major exporter of tree fruit to markets all over the world. Vince’s primary responsibilities with Fruit Patch were in the areas of packing, cold storage and shipping. He gave himself wholeheartedly to the company, but he knew there was more to life than running a successful business. “Over the years, we took on more and more farmland and kept expanding our production,” said Vince about Fruit Patch. “It was very prosperous, but also very demanding. My work was virtually seven days a week, and we took very few days off during the year. I still loved farming, but the business side of things was consuming one hundred percent of my time. Eventually, we started to look for a way out.” In the mid-2000s, the Balakian family sold Fruit Patch. However, the new owners asked if Vince would stay on to help with some of the operations and to oversee export sales. “I knew it wasn’t my long-term goal,” said Vince, “but I agreed to do it.” His new role with Fruit Patch introduced Vince to a life that he had never known: “In 2000, I didn’t even have a passport. I had never traveled, other than flying to Hawaii for a vacation. I really never needed to go anywhere. I was chained down to a packing house and a farm.” For the next few years, Vince travelled all over the world with Fruit Patch on export-marketing trips, promoting their products and dealing with international buyers. In the 12 | witness
process, he discovered something that surprised him: “I found out that I actually enjoyed traveling, and that I was good at it. I mean, I enjoyed building relationships with people from all over the world. I learned to appreciate their food and their culture. It was fascinating.” Back then, Vince listened carefully to something that his mother told him. She didn’t like the idea of him traveling so much, but somehow she believed it was for a purpose. She said sternly, “Vince, make sure you do something with this someday.” Those words stuck in Vince’s mind, and came back to him later when he and Fruit Patch decided to part ways, as the transition to the new team was complete. It was a major turning point in Vince’s life: “I remember that day so clearly. I didn’t see it then, but God had all of this planned.”
“I remember that day so clearly. I didn’t see it then, but God had all of this planned.” Not long after that, Vince received a call from Mark Thompson at Multiply in Fresno. (He and Mark were related through marriage—their wives were first cousins.) “Mark invited me out for lunch,” Vince recalled, “and he asked me a simple question, ‘What are you gonna do now?’” At the time, Vince didn’t have an answer for Mark. In fact, he was dumbfounded by the question. “I was forty-five years old,” Vince said, “and really, I had no idea. I assumed I would keep farming, but I didn’t know what else to do.”
