Confess your sins to one another talk to each other about what’s going on in your life. And that will keep you in a place of freedom.

CEO of Cultivate What Matters and C12 Member Lara Casey-Isaacson, shares her story of re-focusing sights and energy to grow things that matter and realizing when it’s time to prune to truly flourish.

With any change, you cannot keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. You must change your mind and your actions.

Drew Ann Long was a mom of three who had a problem: how to navigate the grocery store with three young children, one of whom was disabled.

Jewel Burks Solomon has an impressive resume: co-founder of Partpic, managing partner of Collab Capital, and current head of Google for Startups.

Lilian Radke reduced turnover from 85% to less than 14% all while being a young mom of little kids doing a business she was told was a “mans world” and winning small business of the year in Massachusetts for 2018 and woman owned enterprise of the year for new England in 2018.

Sara shares her story of being welcomed into her neighborhood, and her team’s work to build a venture that aims to create generational change for its neighbors within a six-block radius.

I never saw it coming. I started my business part-time in January, 2000, and I completed my MBA in September of the same year. I purchased my second new construction home. Things were going well, and I could not have been happier.

“When things get hard, remember God is with you and equips you to work. Remember that He calls you to ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (Joshua 1:9). Remember the joy you feel when you see others realize that their work has dignity because God allows us to be His representatives.” Katie Adkins, founder of Adkins Talent Solutions, shows us how our work is ultimately fueled by our faith and our “why”. Every now and then we need to remind ourselves of the “why” of our work.

Our most recent podcast guest, Diane Paddison, founded 4Word, a nonprofit mentorship program and community for professional Christian women. In this post, she recounts her experience mentoring someone whose life looks almost nothing like hers. Diane felt God’s call to connect with Lopez Lomong, a South-Sudanese, two time Olympian, male athlete. Though she thought they were an unlikely pair, the experience of mentoring Lopez has enriched her life beyond belief.

She never became a high school choir director, but at Popeyes, Cheryl Bachelder has become a conductor of people. Her personal commitment to Jesus’ model of servant leadership has transformed the culture of a corporation. The impact of her faith can be felt throughout the company—from the executive offices to the restaurant’s front counter in the words “How may I serve you?” That’s music to Cheryl’s ears.

She might not be the person you would expect to see seated at the top of a company in a male-dominated industry. But Dina Dwyer-Owens, Executive Chairwoman of the Dwyer Group, is very comfortable at the helm of a company operating across the fifty United States and seven other countries around the world. She earned the position and re-earns it, every day in every way.

In today’s short video, from the WorkMatters FUSE Forum, Shelley Simpson suggests leaders try integrating their work, family, and faith in order to live and work more authentically throughout her career at J.B. Hunt.

“Our cultural obsession with passion as a prerequisite for work threatens to cut vocational formation off at the head. In other words, if we insist on using passion as a measure for what we ought to do—or worse, proverbially prostrate to passion as if it were the holy grail of work—we will stunt the rate at which we try things, iterate, and reflect. Trying things, iterating, and reflecting are some of our greatest tools for learning about how God is forming us and fitting us for this world.”

In this Monday’s video, we take a look at Weifield Electrical’s amazing work to end poverty in Denver — through its hiring. The company offers 4 years of job training and a long career to those out of the penal system. A win for the company’s own workforce development but as Karla Nugent (Partner and Chief Business Development Officer) emphasizes — it’s a second chance for someone to get their life back on track!

How did Jesus spend his last hours before the cross? He ensured His “Executive Leadership Team” had vision, clarity, and line of sight on essentials and prayed for their cross-functional unity!

Faith-based enterprises transforming economies intuitively makes sense but its potential has yet to be realised. Why is this the case?

Whether it’s in your culture alignment, marketing effectiveness, or simply in increased profitability, we’re dedicated to helping your business to reach new heights.

You may be surprised to learn that situation analyses including market reports and competitive assessments are not just modern-day inventions and practices endemic to the business world. They are not new to God. He designed them!

Are you more wired as an enterprise leader or an entrepreneurial leader? Read more on why both types of leaders are needed in most successful organizations.

As a Christian business owner, are you are attempting to integrate biblical principles into every aspect of your business? How about your retirement plan? Is it even possible to honor God through your 401(k) plan? If yes, how?

After working with literally thousands of leaders and companies, I’ve discovered there are three stages for any business or enterprise growth. Don’t think days and weeks; instead, think growth and maturation.

Early on in a start-up’s life, one must be prepared to iterate…a lot. To think you have got it right on the first try is naive. You don’t have it right. You will need to duck, dodge, and weave your way into the right business model and solution for your target customer. Enter the “good idea fairy.”

Have you ever looked up the definition of pivot? What if I shared with you that we as leaders are the “Pivotman/woman” for our organizations?

In a business world that prioritizes productivity, speed, and profits, Christians may feel like Monday through Friday belongs to the world while Sunday belongs to God. But Scripture beckons Christians toward a more holistic lifestyle. “Whatever you do,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “do it all to the glory of God.”

When we (C12 Group) first began to release information, resources and guidance on playing offense in regards to COVID-19 in February there were some reports of “what’s the big deal, it’s not effecting my city, business, industry.” Those delusions are quickly fading. As a global economy, human race, and universal Church everyone is and will be effected in one way or another.

“Creativity must be accompanied by a process to uncover and test the best ideas… With the surplus of good ideas, we knew we needed a process to help us systematically prove out the ones that would solve real problems, and help us avoid expending valuable resources and talent with nothing to show for or learn from at the end.” In this video, we hear from Kevin Miller, C12 Vice President of Marketing, who describes how C12 developed its Innovation Sequence.

Chris Horst and Claire Stewart share their Christianity Today article “The Christian Roots of the Fair Trade Movement” with us. Beneath the buzzwords around sustainability, transparency, and ethical sourcing we find something far more important than consumerism: Christ-centered love for our neighbors.

What does stewardship look like in our lives today? What does it look like in our businesses? Unfortunately, many Christians today only associate the idea of stewardship with sermons, church budgets and building programs. The idea of biblical stewardship is much more expansive. It is where the concepts of faith, work, and economics intersect.

C12 Member, Todd Stewart, and CEO of Gulf Winds Intl, decided a 50% employee engagement rate was not acceptable within his freight and shipping company. He and his Key Player executive team purposed to engage each employee by listening to their needs and delivering exceptional employee care.

Originally published by WRAL TechWire — Bandwidth , a Triangle-born provider of communications-related services that has grown into a venture with global reach, might be riding high at the moment after recently hitting the $2 billion valuation mark. But as its founder and CEO David Morken can attest, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. He credits one thing for getting him through: his Christian faith.

The Lion’s Den, with their conferences in Dallas and Birmingham, have been partners in the Faith Driven Entrepreneur movement for more than 5 years.  Think “Shark Tank” meets the Kingdom of God and you have a sense as to what happens at these events.  This video is about building your business for God and creating a culture that is Christ based.

From time to time we leave the world of faith driven content to highlight a piece of wisdom from a secular author that has inordinate wisdom and application for you, the faith driven entrepreneur. Enjoy this great blog post from Marc Andreesen!

Originally published by Fast Company— When entrepreneur Chris Chuang moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a job, he expected to be there for two or three years at the most. Instead, he wound up staying and built a successful tech company.

This article was from a collection of whitepapers compiled for attendees of the CEF’s 2018 Global Event. We share Darin’s whitepaper in anticipation of 2019 CEF whitepapers launching soon! Read Darin Owen’s view on how to start, build, and grow prosperous companies.

“There are other ways of writing about the stages of business development. I’ve done it myself, but I find quantifying it in this way—0 to 1, 1 to 5, and 5 to 50—makes sense to a lot of my clients. It works in any industry, any style of corporate culture, and every market I can think of.”

Originally published by Fast Company— Corrie Conrad, Head of Social Impact at Sephora, shares about Sephora Stands Together (financial support to Sephora employees), Classes For Confidence (workshops for women trying to reenter the workforce) and Sephora Accelerate, its startup incubator.

C12 shares their video on Gary Archer’s story. He shares on the impact of working with a workplace ministry group that encourages and challenges you in your walk with the Lord and how it integrates with your business. 

We understand that we are created in God’s image, that he was a creator and a designer and therefore we are the same.  As entrepreneurs we inherently get this at some level, but I think that we are well served by tapping in to this Biblical truth regularly as we look for an encouragement in our work.  No one does a better job of this, in my opinion, than Jerry Bowyer. 

Originally published by FORBES — The Millennials, who were born into the age of information, have been described as lazy, narcissistic, entitled and unable to stay in one job, but also as the most purpose-driven and potentially the most entrepreneurial of all previous generations. Why?

Today, we share a high-caliber podcast series from NPR! How I Built This with Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world’s best known companies & movements and the innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists leading them.

Jon Kontz shares his insights on hiring the right people (as individuals and as part of a team) using tools like The Team Dimensions Profile 2.0 but also by simply knowing the momentum and scarcity of resources based on the size of your own company.

If an entrepreneur truly wants to help his pastor, he must first win trust with him. Pastors can be an untrusting lot; it takes time to gain collaborative access. At the outset, this puts many entrepreneurs off because they tend not to have much time and want things to move quickly.

Many of us entered entrepreneurial work to find a sense of satisfaction, meaning, and significance. Eventually, though, we all realize we can’t find those things there.

“The global Church must embrace economic development and job creation as an integral part of Christ’s prayer that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven.”

How might we leverage the resources we have for the most good for the most people? and How might we catalyze individuals to live in the fullness of their faith and calling?

What happens when people lose work, have little option of finding a traditional job, but (paradoxically) have access to significant capital? Last year gave us the answer: they start businesses.

Learning history is less about not repeating past mistakes; it’s much more about understanding the incredible story God has been writing—a story in which we are fortunate enough to be one small chapter.

But I thought you were a Christian!? How could you fire me? You’re not actually going to enforce that contract are you? But I thought you Christians were supposed to love everybody – where’s the grace in this?

A leader’s responsibility, as circumstances around us change, is to speak, live, and make decisions in such a way that the horizons of possibility move towards shalom, flourishing for everyone in our sphere of influence, especially the vulnerable.

God builds godly character in us by guiding and enabling us to choose righteousness throughout the years of our lives. The internal effect of godly character is that it reforms our mindset and our will.

These three phrases — reconciliation, economic wisdom, and the church — belong together. Why? Let’s begin with a definition of reconciliation. Brenda Salter McNeil’s book, Roadmap to Reconciliation: Moving Communities into Unity, Wholeness and Justice, helps us.

When I attended theology school the professors never discussed business. When I attended business school, the professors never discussed the Bible. I can’t blame my professors for not helping me to develop a well-formed theology of business. In most cases, they simply didn’t have one themselves. Their own professors probably didn’t have one, and their pastors likely didn’t have one either.

Recently I was asked to speak on a panel on the topic of ‘Meaningful Work’. I loved the title, and the opportunity to breakdown some common misconceptions Christians have about work.

In the midst of uncertain times, Luke Roush and Jake Thomsen of Sovereign’s Capital provides a framework for how Christian business leaders can think about the unusual power and leverage the present circumstances have afforded them…

Could a plague of biblical proportions be America’s best hope for religious revival? As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, there is reason to think so.

Between 250 and 270 A.D. a terrible plague, believed to be measles or smallpox, devastated the Roman Empire. At the height of what came to be known as the Plague of Cyprian, after the bishop St. Cyprian who chronicled what was happening, 5,000 people died every day in Rome alone.

What does it mean for the “Kingdom of God,” or more contemporarily the “Jesus Administration”, to intersect the American Marketplace? What would it mean for followers of Jesus in the marketplace to embrace the scandalous invitation of the Lord’s Prayer in business? Using The C12 Group’s 5 Point Alignment Matrix, Mike Sharrow shares how business must be intentionally and lovingly integrated into faith that permeates our leadership development efforts as an organization.

One of the best definitions of entrepreneurship is that of Harvard Professor Howard Stevenson (1983): “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the tangible resources that you currently control”. This short yet powerful definition has three components, and each is worth deeper consideration, particularly if you are a follower of Christ.

We love the work of Seattle Pacific University and their online courses at Faith & Co. These courses provide an opportunity to explore deeply the themes, concepts, and questions raised by the Faith & Co. films. Check out their latest course, Serving Employees, here!

Jeff Haanen, founder and CEO of the Denver Institute for Faith and Work, discusses the danger of not seeing sin within systems.

How do you grow as a leader? Read books, meet over coffee with like-minded friends, listen to God, get a life coach? Each of those are good but none of them alone is likely enough… Real learning and growing happens over time and within a community.

She might not be the person you would expect to see seated at the top of a company in a male-dominated industry. But Dina Dwyer-Owens, Executive Chairwoman of the Dwyer Group, is very comfortable at the helm of a company operating across the fifty United States and seven other countries around the world. She earned the position and re-earns it, every day in every way.

Made to Flourish shared their year-end video, reminding us to ask ourselves what role we will play in building God’s Kingdom—and building a better city—in the next year.

Andy Crouch discusses the power of informality in the church and how we can best recognize and use it.

Chris Horst and Claire Stewart share their Christianity Today article “The Christian Roots of the Fair Trade Movement” with us. Beneath the buzzwords around sustainability, transparency, and ethical sourcing we find something far more important than consumerism: Christ-centered love for our neighbors.