According to The History Channel, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as All Saints Day. This was a time to honor the saints and martyrs of the Church. However, Celtic traditions believed that on October 31st the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. As Rome took over the Celts, their traditions began to be ...

Professors Denise Daniels and Elaine Ecklund developed a Faith at Work Matrix for the different ways we can live out our vocational calling. The final way, that Denise Daniels believes is sometimes overlooked by the faith at work movement, is serving others beyond work. Our work has an additional benefit from the intrinsic value of the work itself. In short, ...

Professors Denise Daniels and Elaine Ecklund developed a Faith at Work Matrix for the different ways we can live out our vocational calling. The third way we leverage our work is to realize that work serves the common good. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA. When he asked a janitor who was sweeping a floor what he did, ...

Professors Denise Daniels and Elaine Ecklund developed a Faith at Work Matrix on the different ways we can live out our vocational calling. The second approach is by serving others at work. These researchers discovered that one common way that we can use our work for God’s glory is by leveraging our workplace as an opportunity to serve others. Joseph’s ...

A significant research project on faith at work was conducted by Professors Denise Daniels from Wheaton College and Elaine Ecklund from Rice University. From the surveys and interviews conducted, Denise Daniels created a Faith at Work Matrix. In this series, I’ll address four methods of work Professor Daniels believes can benefit the Kingdom of God. The first method reflected in ...

In business, one tough decision I’ve struggled with is whether to quit doing business with an existing supplier due to price. Sometimes, I’ve received quality service, but over time, vendors increase prices until they’re no longer competitive with other similar vendors. This leaves me with a dilemma. Do I stay with the vendor due to our relationship, or do I ...

The advent of cryptocurrency billionaires and successful tech investors can make us feel like everyone else is obtaining untold riches in weeks, if not days. A sense of “FOMO,” or Fear of Missing Out, can make us feel like maybe we’re not working hard enough or not taking the right risks to get ahead. But God’s economy is different. God’s ...

As a manager, Angela advocated that “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission.” Her team loved the mindset of acting first instead of working through a bureaucracy to get approval to move. Effective business leaders find ways to move through or around risks that might stop others. But that penchant to act shouldn’t exclude consulting God for his ...

In the competitive work world, maybe it’s inevitable that workers are always monitoring colleagues to see who is moving up the ladder faster than they are. I can recall many times when I was disappointed to see a colleague advance when I felt my career was stalled. Yet, with hindsight, I saw how I was still growing in experiences and ...

John Wanamaker built a famous department store in the 1870s designed to embrace his Christian values. Although Wanamaker was very focused on his customers, he did not overlook his employees. John Wanamaker & Company offered its employees free medical care, recreational facilities, profit sharing plans, and pensions—long before these types of benefits were considered common. During an era when many ...

I was struggling with a decision about taking on a new work assignment. The project seemed interesting, but the team seemed to be in disarray, there was no clear executive sponsor, and it was unclear if the company was committed to the project’s success. I explained my struggle to a Christian friend, and he said simply, “God is not a ...

In the 1870s, John Wanamaker built a famous department store designed to embrace his Christian values. Wanamaker constantly innovated new marketing ideas, but one expensive idea was the Wanamaker Organ. Designed for the St Louis World’s Fair, Wanamaker installed an organ into his department store. This organ had over 10,000 pipes and cost $105,000, which was equal to millions today. ...

Prior to 1871, America’s retail stores relied on individual price negotiations with each customer. In October of 1871, Philadelphian merchant and Quaker, John Wanamaker, instituted the one price system. Wanamaker started his department store with a desire to build his store on Christian principles. He created many innovative ideas in alignment with his faith that led to him growing the ...

Jason tells of a period early in his work life, when he worked in food service. One feature of that experience was that he frequently came home smelling like the food from the restaurant. Later in his career, he committed that when he went to work, his colleagues would “smell Jesus” on him. Acts 4:13 describes: “When they saw the ...

Even if you’re not a CEO, at any level you can still have incredible influence on your team. A recent Harvard Business Review article titled, “Every Team Needs a Super-Facilitator,” highlights longtime NBA player, Chris Paul, as a super-facilitator. Four times he’s joined a new team and within two years each team experienced their best record ever. Chris Paul is ...

An online scammer used the email address of one of Phil’s customers to order $325,000 of computer equipment. Once the computers had been shipped, Phil discovered that the transaction was a scam. Against the advice of others, Phil chose to pay his vendor rather than file bankruptcy. This left his small business with a huge financial hole. Around Christmas time ...

Weekly, my wife, Kathy, calls business leaders to ask how our team can pray for them. A common request has become, “Please pray for my son or daughter. They have severed relationships with us over politics.” A recent survey conducted by The Argument asked if having opposing political views is ever an acceptable reason to cut off contact with a ...

Mark owned a chain of dry-cleaning stores. One day Mark discovered a valued employee had been stealing money from his business. His initial reaction was anger and a desire to fire her. But Mark decided to gain understanding first. Mark learned that this employee’s husband was an abusive drug addict, forcing her to steal money to support his drug habit. ...

Occasionally I’m asked, “What do you wish you would have known earlier in your career?” Although I rarely reflect on the past, there is one issue I usually bring up – Investing in others. When I’m totally honest with myself, I spent too much of my career focused on me, and very little time investing in those around me. If ...