We continue to count down the Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs with…
Os Guinness has penned a classic reflective work on life’s purpose. Far bigger than our jobs and accomplishments and higher than our wildest ideas of self-fulfillment, our calling does more than give purpose and meaning to our lives-it completes God’s plan for us.
Click on the book cover to check out the Reviews and Purchase at Amazon
Article originally hosted and shared with permission by The Christian Economic Forum, a global network of leaders who join together to collaborate and introduce strategic ideas for the spread of God’s economic principles and the goodness of Jesus Christ. 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 the new 2019 CEF whitepapers launching soon!
— by Darin Owen
OUR VIEW ON HOW TO START, BUILD, AND GROW PROSPEROUS COMPANIES.
– What makes your company distinctively Christian?
– How do you integrate spiritual principles into your company?
– How are you maintaining your Christian focus while adapting to cultural changes?
– Is God’s way of doing business different to man’s way?
– Does God’s way work in business?
– What is business excellence?
– Are there ways for us to challenge ourselves to a Godly business excellence?
I know there is an obvious answer to the question, “Is God’s way of us doing business different from man’s way?” I believe the first thing we must be absolutely clear on is that “GOD’S way of doing business IS DIFFERENT to man’s way.”
Once we have a deep and real understanding and belief of this, we will naturally put into practice what the Word says about how we should do business- and this ranges from how we handle ourselves, to how we influence people in our place of business. You would be astounded, however, by the number of businesses run by amazing Christians who believe that church and business are separate, who believe that faith and the presence of God is exclusive to Sundays, and don’t integrate what the Word says about work in their businesses. The incredible thing is that, when we apply God’s principals to our businesses, we see God supernaturally open doors and His hand on our workplace- moving powerfully right throughout the week- Monday to Friday.
Having had the privilege of running my own businesses for the last 30 years, I must say, that the understanding of seeking out the understanding of Jehovah-Jireh has changed my attitude and outlook; and how I engage in business. I now know and have a confidence that my Lord, our Lord, is my Provider, not only in my family life, but in every aspect of my life- including my daily business life.
This belief has freed me to lean on God- whether it be in simpler straight-forward decisions or in extremely difficult business decision making- it has been an incredible rollercoaster of fun,that has built and increased my faith in Him. He is a good GOD. He loves us. He wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives and when we understand this, and understand that all of our success comes from Him, we will realize that all the glory and all honor is His.
With this somewhat obvious, and yet sometimes not so obvious revelation in hand, I started doing some practical things in my offices/companies. 10 years ago, I decided that I was going to run my businesses on God’s agenda- on His plan and provision- so we implemented the following actions:
We put large signs up that said “Thank you Lord for our business, from grateful hearts.” I wanted our staff and the companies we deal with, to know what we stood for. In so doing, they would hold us accountable.
We started prayer meetings in the office twice a week for half an hour. The whole company was invited, but it’s not compulsory. We found that those who were Hindus and Muslims joined us, as we stood praying to Jesus Christ, to have his hand on our company, companies, the staff and their families.
Everyone on our workforce knows that we are a Christian company. This means that where there was a grey area before, it doesn’t exist for our company anymore. If an employee, at any stage is confronted with a bribe or commission, he is now absolutely clear on our standing. In most cases exposure soon follows, and we as a company are given the opportunity to offer Christian counseling and lives are changed.
When we face a crisis or difficulty, there is comfort in knowing that all we can do is pray. This has been such a testimony to those who work around us, especially the non-believers. Perhaps the single most important thing that has impacted the spiritual integration of our business has been the testing of the tithe.
This testimony is one of ours, and it is in no way meant as a form of condemnation: We have owned and run one particular company for 24 years. For the first 15 years the turnover of this company was ± 10 million consistently each year. It experienced profits of approximately 500 000.00 a year. Understanding the nature of that business, we as partners were content with their ability to generate this amount of profit.
Nine years ago, I asked the company’s board if they would consider tithing from the company. I understood that we tithe personally on post dividends, so this would possibly be considered a double tithe. However, I had no agenda in doing this, but to express sincerity in honoring of our Father God. The company had profited for years; it was a great little company and all was good. Still, I simply asked the question, “What if we tithed out of the company and honored our Dad in heaven, just because we can”.
We are all familiar with these words from MALACHI 3:7-11 “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? …“ I shared these verses with my board excitingly, but a little reluctantly they/we decided to tithe as a company on the net profit annually. It was a huge step, as not all of the board members were active believers.
Immediately we started seeing a supernatural growth in the company. I am not talking about one year good, one year bad here. Rather, year on year our profits miraculously increased between 30 to 37% per year. Let me emphasize, however, that nothing had changed in how we did business from the previous 15 years.
We had the same customer, same business, same product, same staff; but suddenly increased orders started rolling in. It was nothing short of a miracle. That company, now 9 years later has never missed an increase of profit of between 30% and 37% consecutively year on year, compounded.
This experience has been the most incredible joy. It has been and continues to be the most incredible journey. We were, and are, so excited! Tithing is happening now in three of our companies. We are so encouraged at how alive, active, and real, the Word of our Lord is.
I have been in many different businesses over the last 30 years. My personal business principles have been molded into:
1 – Engage with a posture of humility and gratefulness (honoring our Provider), Jesus Christ always;
2 – Put the Lord and His word, first, above any business expertise; and
3 – Ensure you are always building an atmosphere and environment of generosity and generous hearts, by measurable giving, tithing and open hands within companies.
We have seen incredible impact and growth in our businesses. We have been left with no other explanation, but to continue to say “OUR KING, IS ALIVE AND GREAT, HE IS FOR ME, NOT AGAINST ME”. Always, everywhere, Monday to Sunday.
——
[Special thanks to Miguel Bruna on Unsplash for the cover photo]
This article was originally published by Made to Flourish and can be found here.
If Illinois were your best friend, she’d be asking to borrow some money. And you’d be wondering what she did with the money you already loaned her.
The state hasn’t had a balanced budget since 2001, every year sliding deeper into debt as it scrambles to cover expensive pension promises to public-sector workers. For nearly 20 years, lawmakers have borrowed and rearranged finances to cover the enormous obligation — the amount needed to pay off promised retirement benefits now stands at more than $200 billion, or about $50,000 from each Illinois household.
At least one pastor is sounding the alarm for what that might mean for churches.
“What worries me is that I think most Illinois churches are unprepared for what will happen — i.e., in an effort to meet pension obligations, legislators will raise taxes and reduce social programming, which will shift the safety net to churches (and other NGOs),” Chicago-area senior pastor Mike Woodruff wrote in an open letter to Illinois pastors this month. “To all of this I add that it seems likely that this will happen during a time when giving to the church is declining.”
It’s hard to see a bright economic future for Illinois, at least before a serious reckoning. Already so many people are leaving (more than 45,000 in 2018 alone) that the trend has been named the “Illinois Exodus.”
That means fewer taxpayers to share the burden, which likely leads to higher taxes, which likely leads to more departures. (This is also a trend in California and New Jersey.)
For churches, that means fewer bodies in the pews, fewer checkbooks opened, fewer staff members employed. And, as Illinois looks at cuts to social programs it already struggles to fund, more people are looking for help.
But that doesn’t mean pastors should be scooting across the border to Wisconsin or Indiana.
“Remember that the months and years ahead will provide a wonderful opportunity for the church of Jesus Christ to proclaim the good news and engage in good works,” Woodruff wrote. “Challenging times are often times of great ministry.”
Pastors in Illinois are struggling to figure out how to respond to a crisis of this kind.
“The underlying problem is that for several generations, pastors have not seen these issues as something they need to know anything about, so now they’re unable to do much because they don’t know anything,” said Greg Forster, director of the Oikonomia Network at Trinity International University. “We need to play catch-up and fast.”
Three years ago, Woodruff was one of those pastors. Until he ran across an article in the The Economist on Illinois’s pension woes — the magazine ran four that year—and at the same time, happened to glance up at the airport TV screen.
“It was showing rioting in Greece,” he said. “I had an epiphany. I thought, Okay, they’re having riots largely because of pension issues. Oh my goodness, will there be riots in Illinois?”
Of course not, he told himself. Settle down.
But the thought lingered — after all, Chicago isn’t a stranger to riots.
And The Economist itself had drawn the parallel a few months earlier —”Illinois is like Greece in one obvious way: it overpromised and underdelivered on pensions and has little appetite for dealing with the problem . . . Illinois will either sink further into a Greek-style morass of debt or start its long-delayed rehabilitation.”
“I was trying hard not to be a fear-monger, but if there were riots, I had no idea what I’d do,” Woodruff remembers. “If I’m a Christian leader, supposedly part of a societal safety net, I should know what I’d do.”
He started calling his friends, many of whom were pastors at large churches in his area.
“Have you thought about this?” he asked them. “To a person, they said no.”
It wasn’t surprising. Pastors “tend to see people hurting and move in that direction,” Woodruff said. “Anticipating what is coming has not been a strong suit of evangelicals.”
Looking for advice, he picked up books and articles by Martin Luther King Jr. He pulled together a few dozen people to talk about the future. He wrote a book called Future View: Gaining Perspective on the Rising Waves of Change. And he spent three days in Detroit, asking pastors how they managed through that city’s bankruptcy.
“For some people, life goes on as before with just a few new hassles — e.g., the potholes are larger, police response times are slower, and the Department of Motor Vehicles office hours are reduced,” Woodruff explained in his letter. “For others — and here I mean, home and business owners, the poor, students, bond holders, and perhaps public pension holders—the pain is much greater. How a specific church would be affected depends greatly on who attends the church and where it is located.”
“A lot of pastors don’t want to think about it or get very depressed,” he told TGC. “And yes, social programming and stability will go down, and taxes and pensions will go up. But still, it will be better here than in 175 other countries. So don’t panic.”
Don’t panic, but maybe get creative.
In some parts of Illinois, it’s too late to prepare. Brian Dye, a pastor in Chicago, has been living and working in underresourced neighborhoods for decades.
“The poor and disenfranchised have been here forever, as Jesus promised,” he said. “They have lived in the context of what [Woodruff] is describing as coming in the near future. The church has always been called to use our resources to be a blessing to the poor and disenfranchised.”
Deryk Hayes pastors in Freeport, a town of about 24,000 — and dwindling — near the Wisconsin border.
“Many of the parishioners I serve were farmers, or their employment had something to do with farming,” he said. As family farms consolidated into corporate farms, and as factories shut down or moved, the economy in Freeport dried up. Today, the median family income is a little more than $37,000. Nearly 22 percent of people live in poverty.
“The average age of my congregation is 68, so most of them are on Medicaid or Medicare,” Hayes said. “One of the members is in limbo about Medicare and insurance. The state isn’t paying Medicare, and the feds aren’t paying Medicare [during the shutdown], but if he pays his medical bill, it’s considered double-dipping, and his insurance is all out of whack.”
He agrees with Woodruff’s advice to pastors: “Our next steps need to start with prayer and expand into preparation.”
In other words, think like Joseph: When you know lean years are coming, it’s not a bad idea to store up funds — and not just for your own congregants. But don’t save too much, or for too long.
“My main concern is that the problems are so overwhelming and macro in scale that the average pastor will think that there is nothing to do but hunker down, get a handle on the church’s budget, and pray that the state’s disaster days occur after one’s retirement or relocation,” said Bryan Chapell, TGC Council member and pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria. “A paradox of sorts is that the more pastors and church leaders are warned of an impending crisis, the more they will turn inward to shore up their own resources, facilities, constituencies, and future.”
Hayes has seen this happen.
“Once you start saving for a rainy day, you don’t realize those rainy days have come,” he said.
He counsels pastors to save 10 percent of their offering and to invest another 10 percent in the community. He also encourages them to think creatively.
“We have a kitchen here that is never used,” he said. “Could we start a café that creates jobs? We also have a gym. Could we start some type of volleyball tournament that can create revenue? We live in a food desert. Could we turn some of our land into an urban farm? Our [parsonage] sits empty, and we have empty classrooms. Could we offer space to entrepreneurs?”
Pastors might also want to think about ways to supplement their income. “Most of the pastors I know in this area are bivocational,” Hayes said.
Woodruff also suggests developing lay leaders and building connections with other church community leaders.
“If things do turn south,” he wrote, “it will be important for churches to help each other and to work hard not to duplicate efforts.”
“I’ve always wanted to leave Illinois and move to Texas,” Hayes said. “But when I had an opportunity to either go to Texas or serve this church, I felt called and burdened to serve in this area. . . . You have to be willing to be in those hard places, if those are the hard places God wants you to be.”
He counsels pastors to pray and to lean on God’s providence. “Whether in Illinois or Alaska, he’s going to provide for his servants.”
Woodruff agrees.
“There will be an opportunity for pastors to lead well and offer hope,” he told TGC. “Don’t build barriers and retreat inside and just take care of your own.”
In difficult times, the church has a chance to show generosity, to open doors.
“We can be gracious and loving and cheerful,” which is easier to do when the disaster isn’t a surprise, he said. “I always do better with 10 minutes of advance warning, whatever it is.”
That’s why Woodruff is offering his own warning, “because I would want someone to alert me.”
But he’s also offering encouragement. “Please be reminded that many things are going well, that God remains fully in control, and that his church will prevail,” he wrote. “I have written this because I suspect we are headed into some white water. The waves are going to knock us around a bit. But our foundations are strong.”
This article found originally at The Gospel Coalition.
[Special thanks to Ryan Spencer on Unsplash for the photo]
This content was originally published here by DIFW.
Jeff Haanen is our podcast guest this week and we wanted to highlight some of the great work coming out of his organization, Denver Institute for Faith & Work (DIFW). It was founded in 2012 to bridge the gap —the gap between faith and work, public and private, church and city. A network of churches and professionals came together to dream of what a broader vision of the gospel might look like for our own lives – and for their city.
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.
Good Jobs | The Master’s Apprentice from Denver Institute on Vimeo.
[Special thanks to Vance Osterhout on Unsplash for the cover photo]
This was originally published on the Appreciation at Work website.
Big thanks to Paul for sharing!
— by Paul White
The news is repetitive and blaring: employers are complaining about the inability to find qualified applicants for positions that need to be filled. The discussion is rather ironic — having 10+ million workers who can’t find work, while employers report they can’t find potential employees who meet the needs they have.
The issue impacts multiple industries. The key term to understand: qualified applicants. “Qualified” does not just mean educated or trained; it also involves character. As one employer told me, they can’t find workers who can meet all three conditions necessary to work there: a) they have the training necessary to do the job; b) they will show up regularly for work; and c) they can pass a drug test.
Let me help those of you who manage, supervise and hire, and give you three suggestions that will, over time, solve the problem:
Solution #1: Keep the good employees you already have. We know for certain that staff turnover is one of the highest non-productive costs to employers. The cost of lost productivity, damaged customer relationships, finding replacements, training new employees, and the impact on others in the organization is huge. AND we know that one of the most influential factors for employees choosing to stay or leave their current employer is how much they feel valued and appreciated by those with whom they work (both supervisors and colleagues).
So stop the revolving door through which many have exited. You know the position or areas where people seem to flow through like the wind. Analyze the situation. Figure out what is wrong — why do people leave? And then support, encourage and show appreciation to those who work in, around and with those positions. (Check out my video on “Why Employee Engagement Isn’t What You Really Want” for more on engaging current employees.)
Solution #2: Train and mentor employees who have potential but need to grow. We often have employees who are “ok” but who have an area of deficiency or a character quality they need to grow in and develop. A key issue to understand: People are more willing to accept corrective feedback when they feel valued and that you are “on their side”.
Work on encouraging and showing appreciation in those areas which are their strengths; also cast the vision for them growing and stepping up into more responsibility in the organization. After a period of time (at least, some weeks), ask them if they would be willing to hear some ideas you have on what they could do to make it more likely for them to be seen as a candidate for moving up in the organization. But make sure they first know that you value who they are and the good things they currently do in their position.
Solution #3: Make your organization the place where people want to work. The word gets around among front-line workers, supervisors and professionals about where the good places are to work (and where the bad ones are). And, it is not all about who pays the most. Become “the” organization (or department) that will draw the limited pool of qualified applicants in your community or industry. Create a culture of appreciation and encouragement, where team members feel valued and value one another. A positive snowball then begins to build – the negative complainers leave over time, and you replace them with energetic, “can do” staff, and your organization begins to “hum” with successful, productive activity. Trust me, it happens!
— —
[Special thanks to Appreciation at Work for the cover photo]
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.
As you’ll hear, Jeff asks and answers the same questions he posed in his article for Christianity Today. Have we been blind to the “daily humiliations” of those whose work we depend on each day? Have we been interpreting Scripture through our own professional class bias and failed to ask how working-class Americans think and feel about their work? The honest answers to these questions may provide the exact conviction we need.
Listen to hear what a whole new side of the conversation around faith and work might sound like.
Useful Links:
Articles/Books Mentioned in This Episode:
God of the Second Shift – Christianity Today
An Uncommon Guide to Retirement by Jeff Haanen
*Some listeners have found it helpful to have a transcription of the podcast. Transcription is done by an AI software. While technology is an incredible tool to automate this process, there will be misspellings and typos that might accompany it. Please keep that in mind as you work through it. The FDI movement is a volunteer-led movement, and if you’d like to contribute by editing future transcripts, please email us.
Henry [00:02:54] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. We’ve got a special guest today, Jeff Hanan from the Mile High City, Denver, Colorado, at the helm of the Center for Faith and Work in Denver. Actually, it’s not the center SAE Institute, right, Jeff?
Jeff [00:03:08] That’s right. Denver Institute for Faith and weren’t close enough.
Henry [00:03:11] So we know that you have having spent several years in working in co-laboring together and encouraging and collaborating together, we’ve come to understand about you and your work and your heart. And we want to make sure that we get a chance for you to share what you’ve learned over the last several years with our audience. But most people are going to know about the institute and they’re not going to know about Jeff Haanen and start us off. Please tell us who you are, where you come from. What in the world the institute is now?
Jeff [00:03:38] Well, you should know, I’m a father of four daughters. I am the husband of a beautiful wife living in Littleton, Colorado. And direct educational nonprofit called Denver Institute for Faith and Work. So there’s a lot of these kinds of organizations around the U.S. We’re pretty regional, but our mission is to form men and women, to serve God, neighbor and society through their daily work.
[00:03:57] And so we really focused ourselves in the great commandment. We asked what are the implications of loving God with every moment of our lives and serving the needs of our neighbors with our work. And we would broadcast to God the Faith werent podcast. We have on a learning platform called scattered dot org for individuals and small groups at public events. The young leaders program as well.
Henry [00:04:15] How’d you get into this?
Jeff [00:04:17] Yeah, well, you know what the truth of the matter is? I learned I was an entrepreneur. I love creating things. I love making new things. I got into this exhilarating miss theology. So I came from the Seminary of Worlds, from Ministry of World, realizing that work is not only the context for evangelism, but it’s the place for other civilizations. And communities are healed or they’re deeply, deeply broken. So I got into this and started 2012/2013. Steve Garber, formerly at the Washington Institute for Faith. Vocation Culture, has been a godfather of so many of us in this who’s really influential on me. And we’ve put together something for our city. And it just started from there.
Henry [00:04:52] What kind of interaction do you have with entrepreneurs and business owners? And the reason I wanted to ask you that question is because much of what I want to talk to you about actually doesn’t have to do with business owners directly. We’re going to be talking about the workers that we have in our companies. A group of people that are oftentimes overlooked in the faith and work conversation. And yet you also have a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners that come to your events. Tell us about some of your ministry to them before we get into some of the people they employ.
Jeff [00:05:22] Yeah, we work with business leaders all the time, every day. So I lead a nonprofit Summize fundraising. But when I do that, I’m probably not a very good fundraiser and that I mostly just interested in hearing about people’s work. And I have heard hundreds and thousands of stories of people leading companies and serving God, a neighbor through their work. So we have a public event every year called Business for the Common Good. We have a quarterly gathering French Neuse that’s really focuses on a deep spiritual and emotional health of entrepreneurs, because we think that’s really critical in an overlooked aspect of our startup community here in Denver, Colorado. And then, you know, sometimes we do end up talking about aspects of a business, everything from investors to customers to employees and life for employees. And it was actually that tension point really led to the writing of this article. God of the second shift.
William [00:06:06] Amazing lead in. Jeff, this is William. You can listen to all of our podcasts if you want to all 60 to verify the statement. But very rarely if I read an article that really reframed just a lot of what I do. You know, I work with a lot of mainstream businesses. That is my role as an investor is to find great mainstream businesses and invest in them and try to continue to for release steward what the leadership team has been doing for a long time. And it just really made me pause. You know, I also get to go to a lot of faith and work conferences. And so I am so grateful for the insights you wrote in the article. And then our audience gets to hear, I’m so in love for you to go in to God of the second shift. We’ll link to it in the podcast. You can find it pretty easy if you Google Jaff and go to the second shift in Christianity today. But walk us through how did you come across this idea and how did the article get going?
Jeff [00:06:52] Yeah. So it came from a distention in my own life and work a little bit. So, you know. We’ve done tons and tons of events. We’ve convened people from doctors and lawyers and business leaders for years here in Denver, Colorado. But you don’t see a lot of home health care workers, craftsmen, janitors come to our events. So I ask the question, OK, well, why not? Why not? And so as I started talking with others around the movement, there’s this sort of growing tension. I think that perhaps we have pretty strong class bias inside of the faith and work movement and that we’re really talking to a certain slice of work. And for me and my own story, I started Denver Institute for Faith and Work, in part because of a book I read called Working by Studs Terkel, written the 1970s. It’s an amazing book. He’s a oral journalist and he basically recorded all the stories of people working really in either blue collar manual labor, but some white collar jobs as well. But jobs you wouldn’t always think about. And, you know, he has this quote that I put in my email signature. Terkel says, Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread for recognition, as well as for astonishment rather than torpor and short for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying. He says that in the intro, but he also said something that I don’t think we look at, is that when he was looking at this back in the 70s, a lot of people’s work, he says that work also is about violence. Violence to the spirit, as well as the body ulcers as well as accidents about shouting matches, as well as fist fights about nervous breakdowns, as well as kicking the dog around. It’s above all or beneath all about daily humiliations. When I read that and thought about this and it’s a little bit more studying about the growing economic divide in America, I realized that my experience of work and what I’ve become is very different from a lot of people’s experience of work. And so I wanted to dig a little bit more into what that meant.
William [00:08:41] And where did it take you? You know, talk us through a few of the high points, the article. And where did that journey end for you as you started digging into this?
Jeff [00:08:50] Well, hasn’t ended. Honestly, it’s just beginning. I’ll probably turn this into a book simply because I feel like I need to learn so much more about it. But really, the beginning for me is starting to read a little bit more. I read a book called Our Kids by Robert Putnam, and he’s a Harvard sociologist talking about the growing economic divide in our culture. What was stunning about that was a couple of different things. One is that when you take a look at the growing divide in America, you don’t see that every category. You see professionals doing even better. And you see the working class doing even worse. It’s not only economically, but you see it with regard to health issues regarding growing divides in educational equity. You see this divide. And I think after the 2016 election, you had a lot of talk about the white working class, you know, and a lot of people saying, wow, who are all these voters that voted for Trump? I didn’t know anybody. And that was my experience, too. I didn’t know anybody. And this actually made me think maybe actually I’m only talking to people that already think like I do and already think about their work like I do. And it made me want to dove in to say, OK, what is work like for the working class? And I define an article. This is two thirds of Americans. What I mean is people without college education, what is life like for them? You know, something to want to learn a lot more about.
William [00:10:02] And walk us through maybe some differences. Right. Of what maybe our listener base is thinking about the faith and work movement that has been growing. And I think we’d all say that’s great. That’s not a negative. But walk us through maybe the differences you found with some of these conversations you had and maybe some conversations you’ve seen from the stage or participated from from the stage at some of these other conferences.
Jeff [00:10:22] Yeah. So let me give you some contrast. And I think one thing that we talk about is different views of work. This is something that until I started to dig and do some research and talk to folks, I didn’t really understand. So, for instance, professionals tend to see their work in terms of discernment, like how can I stay inspired for the day to day grind? Right. The working class sees their work more in terms of discipline, like how do I keep my job this week and not get fired? Or I could give you another example. Professionals tend to see their work in terms of achievement, like how can my work make a big impact? And I think that this is pretty typical among entrepreneurs as well. The working class in terms of struggle like how do I get through this week considering the relational and financial and work demands? I have a lot of people in the working class. Not only have one, but sometimes two or three could be part time, could be full time jobs and life is a continual struggle. One of the things in my research to that that was interesting, I do fundraising, some constantly connecting with new people entrepreneurs is actually pretty good in raising capital as well. Connecting with new people in a lot of professionals see that work in terms of network. So you ask questions like who can you connect me to? Right the working class? I had the contrast between networks as they see their work more in terms of real work. Right. Like actually making the physical stuff our world like you’re actually making the better. You’re actually making your table. You’re actually making the stuff. And I think those are things that we don’t notice. We don’t notice the working class. We don’t notice their work as much because we tend to look at invisible work like the big tech startup, whatever. Like that’s the real thing. But there is all sorts of things that we depend on every single day that we don’t look at. So I think the ways. Look at work. And one of the things I wrote about an Article 2 is even this idea of creativity. Entrepreneurs tend to see their work in terms of sort of a creative outlet for them. Right. The working class tends to see their work more in terms of dependability. I need to be able to be dependable to show up on time and have a good attitude to be able to. I keep my job to get my kids out of the rat race, which is what a lot of working class families are thinking about today.
Henry [00:12:21] So I think you’ve done a good job of explaining it. There’s actually there’s a difference between way different groups of people and workforce view their work. We spend most of our time looking at one of those groups, the business owner, the feature of not tomorrow, the one that is directing culture, the one that has been charged with be fruitful and multiply and come up with a creative solution to be able to hopefully restore God’s kingdom in some way. Along with that comes power. You end the article talking about power and you do that through the lens of a frame that Michael Lindsay from Gordon Collins talks about, knowing that there is these differences in the way that people view their jobs. Talk to us about power. How do we as entrepeneurs Stewart and shepherd our power, do we give it up? Do we use it different? How do you think about that for the entrepreneur listening to this?
Jeff [00:13:07] Yeah, I interviewed Michael for his book View from the Top when he interviews over 500 elite executives in government and business, the nonprofit sector. It was about that power. Michael, let’s work on that as well as Andy. And I think it’s really important that when I interviewed Michael about that, he says, look, power is not to be ignored. We shouldn’t say like we don’t have power. We need to recognize that we do have power and not necessarily feel bad for it. But Michael says that is supposed to be used. Sacrificially, right? Powers not for my cumulation. It’s for the well-being of others, particularly those who don’t have it. So I think realizing this is something as a CEO myself is that even in my own small organization, I don’t always realize how much power I wield and how much power I do have. Thinking about even my organization and my employees in terms of those who have the least amount of power is something that sometimes doesn’t get to the top of my list. But I think it’s really necessary. One of the things I talk about that I think is really relevant to the face of an entrepreneur is thinking about job quality in America. So there are literally millions of open jobs in a tight labor market across the United States as well. But a lot of them, they don’t pay well. They’re unstable schedules. They’re very difficult people to get out of basically becoming working-class poor. And so there’s conversations growing around America that I’m very encouraged by workforce development. The Aspen Institute, they’re thinking about how do we raise the quality of frontline jobs, as well as provide more ladders for workers to be able to advance in their career as well. So power is one of those things that if you have it, recognize it and think, how do I then leverage this really for a beautiful view of business that says how does business benefit all stakeholders, investors as much as frontline employees?
Henry [00:14:49] Give us some stories. Give us some examples of people that you’ve come to know with time that have used their power in a way to love their neighbor and love their workers. That brings dignity to their work. Give us some examples.
Jeff [00:15:02] Yeah, there’s a few that I mentioned article, but we’re trying to collect more and more of these at Denver Institute. So, for instance, my friend Carla Nugent, she’s a chief business development officer at Wakefield Group Electrical Contracting. One of the largest electrical contractors here in town. And she was the founder of the company.
[00:15:16] And she has leveraged to her power to create an apprentice program for entry level apprentices that otherwise would have some sort of barrier to employment. So it could be coming from addiction. It could be coming from a prison background. But she says, hey, we believe in a god of grace. What does this look like in our company? And she created a very good entry point for somebody with a barrier to employment, but also very clear verticals. After four years, they’ll pay for the education. They’ll allow somebody in their company to become an electrician that’s making really good wages. So, Pete Oaks, I know you guys know Pete Oaks. You’re in favor of an entrepreneur. He has created seating inside of a medium security prison.
[00:15:53] He created a business and he used the opportunity to not only employ guys, that others making a few cents an hour to be making minimum wage, which is a lot of money when you’re actually behind bars and uses an opportunity to do life lessons with guys behind bars and here in town or friends over at S.P., you did a recent video story that can be coming out sume of a company here in town called ELEANOR Pallette, their pallet company. And one of our fellows, Adrian, works there as the culture and care team director. What’s interesting about this company is they were having a hard time in a tight labor market, finding people to make pallets, as you might imagine. So they found their niche in hiring Burmese refugees. They have over six languages spoken. And there’s all sorts of challenges that a refugees coming from a refugee camp in mind MA to Denver, Colorado, is experiencing.
[00:16:40] But they have taken H.R. and they’ve put it on steroids and they’ve done everything from looking at transportation to housing to raising the wages so they can afford a very expensive housing market in Denver, Colorado. And they’ve said loving our neighbors is core to how we see business. And they’re leading the way in many ways and in many ways. They feel lonely because not enough other business leaders, they feel like are willing to join in. In our town at least.
William [00:17:04] That’s really good. I just sit here pondering I feel like a lot of the faith and work conversation probably focuses more on Joshua one 9.
[00:17:12] Be strong and courageous or Jeremi 20, 9/11. God’s got plans for it. You know, these big dreams and hopes. And as I’m listening to you, I’m reminded of Martin Luther King’s quote of if a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painters, Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven on earth will pause to say here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well. And that is such a contrast of what work is in God’s creation in God’s world. Right, of what I feel like I’m hearing from two different lenses and they can live together in harmony as well as you would think about those two different views where you think God would be saying from his word, you know, that we’ve missed about work maybe or loving people that find themselves in the working class, not fully formed. Questions you can tell, but maybe just go with me for a little bit.
Jeff [00:18:02] Yeah, well, you know, one of the things I think that when you think about is not that we’ve missed stuff, but perhaps we haven’t emphasized the right things with the right community. So you mentioned MLK there, right? It’s interesting that he says even if you’re sweeping streets, do it as if your Shakespeare writing a play. Right. Or Michelangelo painting a ceiling because the need to sing if you’re in the civil rights movement and you’re in the south. Right. And you’re a black person, you’re sitting under the thumb of oppression. Right. But there is intrinsic dignity that comes out in our work. Right. Whether you’re cleaning underneath the fridge at a restaurant or you’re creating a company as well. So one of the things I wrote about in the article is emphasised. So I talked about emphasizing the fall with the powerful and creation with the vulnerable. So oftentimes we talk about Genesis One, an ability to create culture in the faith, the work movement with those who have power. And that really resonates. But my friend Jim Collins, who grew up in a working class family in Arizona, who’s a pastor now says that almost is like a proof text for what you already believe about your work. You know, he says what we really need to emphasize that is with the goodness of work and being made in God’s image with working class, that they have oftentimes not felt that they have not felt that they have the ability to do to make create, to exercise that kind of agency in the world. And perhaps we haven’t emphasized enough Genesis 3 with the powerful of that work and individuals as well as systems that we inhabit. They’re deeply broken. So when we work with business owners as well. I want to give them both of say business is good, wealth creation is good. This is something that we need to hold attention saying what you’re doing is a good thing, a way of loving God and loving neighbor as well. But don’t underestimate the systems, even your business, your organization, but also even broadly, a business culture. American general. How broken this and how at the bottom of the pyramid people can suffer on that. So, you know, I think those are important emphasis for us to think about. And it’s not like you go into a meeting with the CEO and talk Genesis 3 about how broken your work is. But as you develop friendships with people. Friendships should be based in truth and reality. And honestly, the world is part Genesis 1 and part Genesis 3. We got to be able to have eyes to see both.
Henry [00:20:11] So my sense is that most of the audience is tuned in for this isn’t running a sweatshop and isn’t running kind of a chain gang type of approach. So there’s some amount of preaching to the choir and yet there’s probably also a number of businesses that haven’t taken it to the level that maybe Pete Oak’s is seeking has as a business owner listeners distances. You know what? I think I’m partially convicted here. I don’t know that I’ve done as much to really come alongside my line worker and understand how they view life and what their hopes and their dreams and their fears are and how they think about their work and how I can create the right type of environment for them to flourish. What are some tangible next steps that somebody might go ahead and say, you know, I want to do a little differently going forward. But what do I do next?
Jeff [00:20:56] You know, I think that’s a great way to put it. I actually think that first thing is listening. You know, when you listen to people story where they grew up, the challenges they’ve overcome. Even people in the front line of your company, the people that I’ve seen really change in this are people that have really listened well to other people’s stories. Because if you’re able to hear people’s humanity that we all share, some of the institutional changes start coming saying, wow, I didn’t realize you grew up in an abusive home and you’re living on the streets when you’re, you know, 15 years old, when you see that for the first time and you start to listen, I think that’s really powerful.
[00:21:28] The second thing is that I don’t feel like we should be overwhelmed by this as well. There is a growing divide and there is a growing problem with Low-Wage America and people that basically are unable to get out of poverty because of the wage cliff. Essentially, the wage cliff means you’re not able to earn enough money to basically not have it adversely affect your income at a certain point because of government benefits. But I think it’s not to not take it too intensely and say there’s there’s practical things that I can do to say how are we going to care for our community better? Right. And so one of the papers that I really recommend for business owners to read is called the. Pinkerton papers. There’s a job quality series in the last one there is sort of a job hierarchy. And they talk about the things right now. You can do to listen to employees and says, what does it look like for my employer to be kind of deeply healthy and have a holistic life? And they’ve got everything from professional training to benefits to transportation to a sense of pride and dignity in their work as well. So it’s really just taking that step to listen in and say once that one next thing that I can do to love my neighbor. Well.
William [00:22:34] That’s great. Really practical. And if we come back to the article a little bit you published a while ago. What are some maybe conclusions that, you know, every time you write something, you look back and you want to change something, maybe something that’s come up that’s new and fresh for our audience as well as maybe you mentioned writing a book, maybe go a little deeper into what you want to continue digging in on. You know, that the article was actually just the beginning.
Jeff [00:22:58] Yeah. I think one of the things that I want to keep talking about is broadly the faith at work movement. Obviously, I’m a part of it. I’m a big fan of it. And I think we’ve made a lot of good progress. And what faith means for work in different industries and business. I actually think it’s becoming more of an expectation in local churches. And so I’m very encouraged by it as well. My growing concern and something that I want to see us grow in is do we have professional biases not only in the faith movement, in our local churches? So I’ll tell you a story. After the article was published, I put it up on my Web site and this guy had a comment on my Web site. Jeffie, did that come about? The article says, Magin, if you went to church and there was a bunch of copiers decorating the wall behind the worship set, how would you feel about a bunch of copiers up there?
[00:23:42] Well, how do you think I feel when there’s a bunch of palettes behind the worship set that are cool and trendy, but probably just for those that are doing a start up on a laptop. He says, you guys don’t you don’t see you don’t know what life is like for us. And I even think about local churches. I’m not trying to be overly critical, but in local churches, a lot of them have master’s degrees and went to seminary. Right. I think there’s a long ways to go for us to really listen and to notice workers that don’t have power. And we’ve had, I think, somewhat of an assumption that if you reach the top person, the organization will trickle down. And I don’t know if it always does trickle down. There is a cultural gap oftentimes between management and frontline employees that I’ve worked with business owners. And it’s difficult because we see the world differently. And I think we could do more to pay attention to that cultural gap. And really trying to understand our neighbors.
Henry [00:24:34] William is brings to a close here and a little bit. And when we ask about the ways that God is speaking to you recently. But before we get there, I’d love for you to talk a little bit more about this doing faith and working community. You’ve run something called the Denver Institute of Faith and Work, and I’d probably mess up the name again. But maybe part of that, because I know there’s one in Nashville and there’s one out of Redeemer Church in New York. What does this movement look like of local communities coming together and really wrestling with what scripture tells us generally about faith and work, but how to put that in a local context and somebody might be listeners. It’s in Fargo, North Dakota, or Topeka, Kansas, or Donitz, Montana. And they’re thinking, gosh, this sounds great. There needs to be an institute in billing sort of Seattle. Tell us more about that community. Yeah.
Jeff [00:25:19] So we’re a small nonprofit and we have several programs and we are principally focused on the Denver metro area. There are media stretches beyond that. What it started was really early on, started with a governing board of people, different sectors saying what does the gospel mean for work? And then we got together about 10 churches. So we weren’t a ministry of any one particular church. But we said, how can we serve you when it comes to resourcing and equipping the saints for works of service in different areas. And so what we did is kind of started our model. We pulled different things that we thought we could. We have several groups. We eventually got a fellows program going together and we started just grew it from there. I made the typical entrepreneurial transition from raising capital and doing everything to leading teams. I’m still raising fundraising but made some of that transition. We also tried to be pretty responsive to the culture in our town, in our city. It’s one of the things that early on we said we were obviously big fans of our friends. David Kim and Catherine Lay all staff at the center faith and Work. But also New York is very different from Denver. The cultural elements are very, very different. And so, for instance, we did an event on what we called God in the great outdoors because outdoor retail industry is huge in our city because nobody wants to be in our mountains. So we said, what does it look like to serve God there, whatever rhythms of work and rest that people in Denver can really embrace as well. So some of it’s just the challenge of starting something new. And some of those really paying attention to say what are the particular needs in my area? My friend Steve Lindsey, who leads the Center for Faith and Work, Los Angeles. Take a look at finance and law in the entertainment industry. And those are really important to them. So I think it needs to be really responsive to where God is leading you. And what are the needs of your community?
William [00:26:55] It’s amazing. And as Henry mentioned, doesn’t come too close. Well, we always love to ask is what does God have you right now? What is maybe coming alive at his word to you in a new way? Maybe today, maybe this week, maybe in a season, right. Does he have you in a place in his word that he’s kind of showing you new worlds and maybe seeing something fresh for the first time?
Jeff [00:27:14] Yeah, we just actually thanks for the question. We just talked about this and a staff meeting. We do spiritual formation once a month with our staff because who we’ve become is more important than what we do. And we talked about where do you sense God’s invitation right now? And one of the things workwise I talked about clarity for the future. As an entrepreneur, I’m constantly thinking about all the things I want to do and build. And sometimes my mind can feel a little or harried of all the things I want to do in a short period of time. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, at least the ones I hang out with here in Denver, feel that. So I think the key thing for me in God’s word was a breath. Prayer is be still and know that I am God. God doesn’t need me. God invites me into what he’s doing. He invites me into the kingdom that already exists. And I think the journey of Christian formation is a hard and long and slow one. But what we’re really trying to do in Denver is get more people thinking about vocation, which essentially means loving God and loving neighbor and loving God with all my heart minds on strength is a continual challenge for me. So be still and know that I am God. I think that’s the good word for me right now.
William [00:28:15] Amen. Thanks so much for sharing. Jeff has just been awesome. This has been an incredible experience like that. I know you’ve got other writings and you just released a book on retirement as well as some other things that people check out, Jaff. And then what he’s up to. It’s like you push the logged on Jeff Haine and dicom that maybe spell your last name for us. I don’t want to butchered for you, sir.
Jeff [00:28:36] H A A N E N.
Henry [00:28:37] And then it also is great to have you on, Jeff. And I’ve been looking for this for a while. Mention the name of your podcast again, too, so people know where to find it on i-Tunes.
Jeff [00:28:46] Yeah. It’s the Faith and Word podcast by Denver Institute for Faith and Work. So just that we touch on faith to work across all sorts of different sectors and industries and topics.
Henry [00:28:55] God bless you, brother. Very good being with you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
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