For the Christian, the key to being wildly productive is realizing that you don’t need to be productive.

As Christians, we can’t say we are seeking to love our neighbor as ourselves and then do our work with mediocrity. Think of the extreme example of a Christian doctor.

The movie honoring Mister Rogers’ life, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, premieres in one week on November 22! Read Jordan Raynor’s thoughts here as he highlights Mister Rogers as an influence for Christ 🙂

We love to share our top picks with you and here’s a list of 10 books for a faith driven entrepreneur like yourself! Harry Truman said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” We think the same is true of entrepreneurs. If you want to be good at what you do, it helps to take a cue from the best.

There is an unbiblical theme permeating the Church today which elevates the callings of pastors and “full-time missionaries” above “secular” vocations. If you’re an entrepreneur, photographer, artist, salesperson, doctor, musician, lawyer, or janitor, you have likely sensed this often unspoken hierarchy of callings.

But… The highest calling on your life isn’t necessarily being a pastor or missionary; it’s glorifying God and serving others in whatever work God has called you to do. “Calling” is one of the most confusing ideas in the Christian life. How can your work feel like a vocation—a true calling on your life? What does the Bible have to say about the work God has uniquely equipped you to do? What are the best questions to ask when discerning your calling? Read more to find out…

As Genesis 1 shows us, the first thing God revealed about Himself in Scripture is not that He is loving, holy, omnipotent, gracious, or just. No, the first thing God showed us is that He is creative! For the first six days, God revealed His creative spirit by speaking stars, animals, and oceans into existence. Then, on the sixth day, He created man “in His own image” and called Adam to create, thus reflecting God’s image to the world.

To call a human being “creative” is redundant. We are all made in the image of the Creator God. But as Romans 12 makes clear, each of us has “different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” Some of us have clearly been granted more creative talents than others. Perhaps no Christian in the 20th Century provides a better example of this than C.S. Lewis, the acclaimed scholar, theologian, and author of masterpieces such as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and of course, The Chronicles of Narnia.

Growing up in Ireland, Lewis appeared to be most comfortable when buried in a novel. But not only did Lewis consume literature; at a very early age, Lewis had begun writing and illustrating his own stories. Lewis obviously had a passion for writing, and it didn’t take long for others to validate his giftedness at the craft.

As Christians, is it possible to be ambitious in our work and still have our self-worth and identity firmly rooted in Jesus Christ?

The world tells us that ambition is essential to accumulating wealth, fame, and glory for ourselves. The meta-narrative of work today is that it is the primary means by which we make a name for ourselves in this life and prove to the world that we are important, valuable, and worthy.

Of course, this is nothing new. Since the Fall, human beings have been using work to make a name for themselves, rather than to glorify God and serve others.

While Scripture makes clear that creating to make a name for ourselves constitutes improper ambition, the Bible makes equally clear that ambition can indeed be God-honoring, so long as it flows out of a response to the work Christ did on our behalf on the cross. That is the subject we will turn to in tomorrow’s devotional.

The first thing God reveals about Himself in Scripture is not that He is loving, holy, omnipotent, gracious, or just. No, the first thing God shows us is that He is creative. In Genesis, He brings something out of nothing. He brings order out of chaos. He creates for the good of others. In short, God is the first entrepreneur.

“Entrepreneur” is a title thrown around so much today that it has become very difficult to define. I would submit that an entrepreneur is anyone who takes a risk to create something new for the good of others.

Jordan Raynor explains why calling a Christian a full-time missionary is redundant.

This is the craziest time in my life. I recently wrote and released a book, born out of leading more than 250,000 Christian entrepreneurs and creatives in the Called to Create ministry. I also lead a venture-backed tech startup called Threshold 360 where we’re on a mission to map the inside of every public location on earth in 360°. And then there is the joyful work I do at home laboring alongside my wonderful wife to raise our two young daughters.

Huge opportunity for impact… How can faith driven entrepreneurs can get involved in supporting entrepreneurship in Africa.

— Karibu Nyaggah

When I was a child, I emigrated to the US from Africa with my family and never looked back. When I finally did go back in college, a deep desire was planted, growing stronger with each subsequent trip, to use my position of privilege and the skills I had gained to make an impact on the continent. On one such trip to my native homeland of Kenya, I met Courtney Rountree, one of my co-founders at Sinapis, and we began discussing the pressing problems we were seeing in front of us and how we could leverage the power of business to create positive economic and social impact. Although we did not know it at the time, Africa was truly on the cusp.

Indeed, its coming ascendance is well researched. In June 2010, McKinsey released a seminal report on Africa that projected by 2020, Africa’s GDP would reach $2.6 trillion, up $1 trillion from 2008. With increasing urbanization, Africa’s labor force is projected to reach 1.1 billion by 2040, overtaking China and India. By 2020…

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?

This is what we do. We create. We can’t help ourselves. We’re hardwired, hand-built, wonderfully created to create. It’s because we’re fashioned in the image of the Creator. The One who breathes new life into dust, speaks cosmos into existence, and never ceases in making all things new.

He created. He creates. We’re created. We create.

We spend about a third of our waking lives at work. And yet, for the majority of people, work is not much more than a paycheck. We feel lonely, especially men. We feel like there’s a gap between our job responsibilities and our own potential. We often feel exhausted and question whether our work is making any meaningful difference.

Mentoring in retirement sounds like a wonderful idea. “Invest in the next generation. Share your life experience. Feel a renewed sense of purpose.” But in reality, far too often mentoring feels awkward for both mentor and mentee. The best mentoring relationships often look more like intergenerational friendship.

We’re huge fans of DIFW, Jeff Haanen, and their podcast The Faith & Work Podcast. They recently interviewed New York Times columnist and best-selling author David Brooks about his new book The Second Mountain. We highly recommend you listen in!

DIFW shares stories to exemplify just some of the ways Christians can enter into the crisis of work to make a real, tangible difference every day. Watch the video below to hear Eduardo and Josh share their experiences as participants in The Master’s Apprentice job skills training program.

Join William and Henry in the Mile-High city as they talk to Jeff Haanen from the Denver Institute for Faith and Work. His article, God of the Second Shift, made waves in the faith and work world, and we’re excited to have him on our podcast today to talk more about how we can move this conversation around theology and business from the corner office to the manufacturing floor. Tune in to hear what Jeff has to share about what a theology of work means for those in the working class.

The theology of work conversation is thriving. Why are most workers missing from it? Jeff Haanen shares his thought on why almost two-thirds of America’s workers are not heard in his piece featured on Christianity Today.

“What really motivates us as entrepreneurs? … The freedom for the faith-driven entrepreneur is that in Christ, all the work is finally finished. Our work, then, is simply to listen, obey, and to tend the vine given to us. And when it grows, to marvel at the handiwork of the Gardener. “

Jake Thomsen shares the do’s and don’ts of fundraising based on his experience analyzing deals for Sovereign’s Capital.

One of the challenges we have as a society is that, as individuals, we have difficulty expressing the difference between our Opinions, Beliefs, and Convictions.

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…

This article was originally presented at the Christian Economic Forum 2019. “Few organizations achieve goals in the face of uncertainty like the US military. There are many reasons for this, but one input often credited with enabling the necessary, singular focus during military operations is the “commander’s intent.””

Faith-and-work content consistently beats the drum of affirming that marketplace vocations are as important to God as professional ministry. That message is crucial, as resources like this one give those of us with non-church giftings the confidence to pursue our callings. But we can’t stop there. Even if all believers in the marketplace one day know that our vocations matter, we still need to understand why. Otherwise we may run successful businesses guilt-free, but miss the motivation and focus that come from knowing our place in God’s story.