Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• How to Go Beyond the Business Suit as a Young Female Professional with Kailei Carr. On this episode of the Crush Your Career podcast, Dee Ann Turner sits down with Kailei Carr to discuss what it means to show up as your best self professionally.
• Jim Talent Part 2: Exercising Our Democratic Authority. On this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast, we hear the second segment of a two-part interview with former Senator Jim Talent. Senator Talent and Dr. Doriani talk more broadly about the American political system, the role of citizens in a democracy, and what Christians ought to expect from their elected representatives.
• The 5 Lies of Corporate Culture with Ginger Hardage, Part 1. Creating and maintaining corporate culture can sometimes feel intangible or insignificant, but healthy organizational culture doesn’t just boost team morale, it can drive bottom-line results. On this episode of the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, Stanley and Ginger Hardage discuss some misconceptions that stand in the way of healthy corporate cultures.
• Called to Lead. My book Called to Lead: Living and Leading for Jesus in the Workplace is available in both a paperback and Kindle edition. Read a free sample (Introduction through Chapter 2).

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• My Review of The Five Temptations of a CEO, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
• Snippets from the book Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson

• Further Reflections on Joseph. Russ Gehrlein writes “If God’s presence was with Joseph in such a powerful way in his secular job, this points out that as far as God is concerned, all work matters to Him.  He can use us wherever we happen to be, as long as we look to Him to sustain, empower, and use us as His representatives in the place of employment that He has sent us.”
• How to Make Your Ministry Experience Matter in Any Job. In this first article in a series, Jeff Eads writes “The source that identified these eight transferable skills is based on national research.”
• Mark Miller on Chess Not Checkers. In this short video, Mark Miller talks to leaders about elevating their game.
• Trust is Hard to Gain and Easy to Lose. Dave Kraft writes “When trust is gone, authentic leadership is gone. There is nothing worse than individuals on your team, or in your family, telling you that they don’t trust you anymore.”
• The Case *Against* Work-Life Balance. Luke Bobo gives three reasons why we should bury the statement “Striving for a work-life balance”
• 10 Key Bible Verses on Work. From Crossway, enjoy these 10 Bible verses about work.
• How Ministry Experience Develops Critical Thinking. In his ongoing series, Jeff Eads looks at the important skill of critical thinking.
• Engaging Unbelieving Coworkers with Scientific Proof of God. Hugh Whelchel writes “Return of the God Hypothesis by Stephen Meyer is a must-read for any Christian who wants to have a significant discussion with one of the new atheists in your workplace, your neighbor who is contemplating the origins of the universe, or your daughter’s science teacher. The book is indeed reassuring news for those of us who labor every day at the work for which our Maker has called us.”
• The Only Recession in Which Startups Grew. Matt Rusten writes “Like aspen groves cropping up after a forest fire, last year saw a surge in new business startups. Faced with the reality of no work and few job openings, many people created jobs for themselves.”
• The Pearl of Vocation: Why I Bring My Whole Self to Work, Including My Faith. Jeff Haanen writes “Why should we bring our whole self to work, including our faith? Well, for the Christian, there is no other option.”
• He Turned His Business Over to God: Stanley Tam’s Story. Randy Alcorn tells the story of Stanley Tam, founder of United States Plastic Corporation.
• Three Ways to Increase Our Awareness of God’s Presence at Work. Joshua Nangle writes “God’s presence is never in question, but our awareness of his presence is what makes the difference between a job and a calling.”

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• In the Western mind, we work five days to earn the right to rest and play on the weekend. But God tells believers to start the week with rest before we work. In Scripture, rest is a gift, not a reward. Dan Doriani
• It’s impossible to be what God has called you to be and do what he’s called you to do without the grace that was given as part of his call. Paul Tripp
• The life of faith is all about rest and work. We rest in God’s presence and constant care (vertical), and we toil with our hands, busy at the work we have been commanded to do (horizontal). We rest in our work and work in our rest. Paul Tripp
• The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. Frederick Buechner
• Any work that is useful to others and done with excellence is deserving of honor. Tim Keller
• There is no ideal place for us to serve God except the place He sets us down. Charles Spurgeon
• God has not called you to be awesome. He has called you to be humble, faithful, and free. Leave the awesome to Him. Scott Sauls
• All work is meaningful and can be used by God at any time, in any situation, to accomplish his will. Jordan Raynor.
• Don’t let success go to your head. Don’t let failure go to your heart. Tim Keller

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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

The Five Temptations of a CEO, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni. Jossey-Bass, 166 pages. 2008.
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This anniversary edition of Patrick Lencioni’s first book will be relevant to not only CEO’s, but to all leaders. If you are familiar with Lencioni’s books, he tells a story via a “leadership fable” and then ends the book with a non-fiction discussion of the “Model”, and in this book he also includes a self-assessment.
In a new “Introduction”, Lencioni states that the book is just a reminder of simple concepts that we already know and have possibly known for a long time. He wrote it for real people in imperfect organizations who are hungry to be better leaders and managers.
Lencioni tells us that being the chief executive of an organization is one of the most difficult challenges a person can face in a career. But it is not a complicated one. All chief executives who fail—and most of them do at one time or another—make the same basic mistakes; they succumb to one (or more) of the five temptations.
Andrew O’Brien has been the CEO of Trinity Systems for a year. Tomorrow will be the first board meeting in which he will be accountable for the results of an entire fiscal year. And the results are certainly not positive.
Andrew works late, and since the bridge he needs to take back home closes at midnight, he is forced to take mass transit for the first time in a long time. On the train he meets Charlie, an old man who is the janitor on the train. Charlie senses that something is wrong with Andrew, and asks him what is bothering him. That leads Charlie to begin teaching Andrew about the five temptations, which briefly are:

• Temptation 1: Choosing status over results.
• Temptation 2: Choosing popularity over accountability.
• Temptation 3: Choosing certainty over clarity.
• Temptation 4: Choosing harmony over conflict.
• Temptation 5: Choosing invulnerability over trust.

Charlie tells about lessons that he learned from his father, who was the CEO of the railroad. Later, they meet The Tall Man, The Stylish Man and The Bald Man. But did Andrew really meet these four men on the train late at night, or was it all a dream.
The book then takes us to the Board Meeting that Andrew had been dreading the next day, and later updates the story three years later.
In the “Afterword”, Lencioni tells us that leaders fail because they are unwilling to put their temptations on the table for others to see. He tells us that it is only by bringing their temptations into the open that leaders can enlist the support of subordinates who are in a unique position to help. The key is to embrace the self-examination that reveals the temptations and to keep them in the open where they can be addressed.
In discussing the model, Lencioni offers “simple advice” for CEOs for each of the five temptations. The book concludes with a self-assessment that leaders can take to see where they stand with each of the five temptations.
Like all of Lencioni’s “Leadership Fables”, the fictional story is easy to follow, illustrating the points that he summarizes at the end of the book. Highly recommended for all leaders.

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Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson

Drawing on years of research, ministry, and leadership experience, in this new book Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson explain why Sunday morning worship and Monday morning work desperately need to inform and impact one another. Together they engage in a rich biblical, theological, and historical exploration of the deep and life-giving connections between labor and liturgy. In so doing, Kaemingk and Willson offer new ways in which Christian communities can live seamless lives of work and worship.
This week we complete our look at Chapter 7: The Prophets Decrying the Destruction of Work and Worship. Here are a few takeaways from the chapter:

• Israel’s worship contributed to unfaithful work and worship in a variety of ways.
• Although Israel’s future is grim, Hosea closes with words of hope. On the day of the Lord the people will once again be reconciled to a holy marriage of fruitful work and worship.
• According to Isaiah, the integrity of a person’s work directly impacts the integrity of their worship.
• Isaiah goes further than the other prophets before him. He declares that the fair treatment of workers is actually a form of holy worship. Promoting justice in the workplace is a holy sacrifice, an act of worship that produces a pleasing aroma.