Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• Scottie Scheffler wins Masters, says “reason I play golf is I’m trying to glorify God”. Fifty-six days ago, Scottie Scheffler was a 25-year-old beginning his third full season on the PGA Tour, ranked 15th in the world but still seeking his first victory on the game’s top circuit. As of March 27, after winning three of five events, Scheffler shot up to No. 1 in the world. As of the evening of Sunday, April 10, Scheffler is now a Masters champion as well.
• Dealing with Disappointment at Work. John Kyle offers five specific suggestions that might help if you or a friend are dealing with disappointment at work.
• We’re Not Having a Work Crisis; We’re Facing an Identity Crisis. Denise Lee Yohn writes “For many of us, recent times have revealed the shortcomings of our current work.  But that doesn’t mean we should take our job and shove it.  Work remains a path toward fulfillment, but we’re better off pursuing it as a path toward formation.  Work can be a way that God forms us into the people He intends for us to be – we just need to let Him.”
  

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• Should an Employee Ask for Health Insurance? Charlie Self responds to the question “I work for a Christian nonprofit that doesn’t provide health insurance for its employees. On the one hand, I know health insurance is very expensive, and I don’t want to seem greedy or faithless by asking to be insured. On the other hand, I don’t want to be fiscally irresponsible. I know that it just takes one accident or major surgery to bury a family in debt for decades. Should I ask for insurance? If so, what would be a gracious way to ask?”
• How Can I Think About the Billy Graham Rule? Courtney Powell responds to the question “My job involves occasional one-on-one meetings with people of the opposite sex. Should I use the “Billy Graham Rule”? Are there other ways to protect others and myself, particularly in ways that are cognizant of my sin nature and don’t treat others as the problem?”
• Is Business Always Kingdom Business? Andy Jones writes “The challenge of integrating faith and work is especially challenging for business owners.”

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• My Review of Mission Possible: Go Create a Life That Counts by Tim Tebow with A.J. Gregory
• Snippets from the book Discipled Leader: Inspiration from a Fortune 500 Executive for Transforming Your Workplace by Pursuing Christ by Preston Poore

• Vision: A Conversation with Frank Blake, Part 2. Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say. On this episode of the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast, Stanley and Frank Blake discuss how to create an environment for honest feedback.
• 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).
  

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• Self-Control in the Workplace. In the final installment of his series on the application of the fruit of the Spirit in the workplace, Joshua Nangle focuses on the characteristic of self-control.  
• Pastors, Remember What Story You’re Living In. Tom Nelson writes “We are called to live before our audience of One, causing our time horizon to be recalibrated by the eternal God in his temporal plan for us.”
• A Reflection on Procrastination. Russ Gehrlein writes “To begin, let me provide some background about my experiences with procrastination, at home and at work. Next, I will explore some biblical principles that relate to this topic. Then, I will focus briefly on what may be the root cause of procrastination. Lastly, I will share one practical idea from a seminary class taught by a favorite professor from many years ago that may be helpful to you.”
• Why We Need Adult Education on Faith & Work. Hugh Whelchel writes “The Fellows Program is a secret weapon to get pastors interested in the faith and work movement. Let’s make it not-so-secret.”
• The Call and Challenge of Women’s Work. Clarissa Moll writes “The world needs all of our labors in his name. No work location is remote from God’s intention. We can praise him in both places.”
• The Good News of Your Limits. Kelly Kapic, author of You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News, joined Collin Hansen on the Gospelbound podcast to discuss the good news of limits, living in the moment, the fear of the Lord, and our identity in Christ.

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• I lead because of what I can do for other people. That’s the best motivation to lead others. John Maxwell
• Every morally good task has dignity, whether the laborer sweeps floors or runs a company. Dan Doriani
• Any kind of work that leaves people, places, or things in better shape than before—that helps the city of man become more like the City of God where truth, beauty, goodness, order, and justice reign—is work that should be celebrated as good and ‘of God.’ Scott Sauls
• When you’ve hung your hope on the Lord and not success, failure doesn’t cause you to lose your way. Paul Tripp
• God is more concerned for your character than your career. Steven Lawson
• Having a good understanding of what it means to be a coworker with God as He works through us to meet the needs of our customers, fellow employees, subordinates, and supervisors makes all the difference in how we approach our jobs every day, no matter what job we have. Russ Gehrlein
• When you answer God’s call to use your gifts in work, whether by making clothes, practicing law, tilling the field, mending broken bodies, or nurturing children, you are participating in God’s work. Hugh Whelchel
• Godly character is a compass that teaches us to navigate the landscape of work. Dan Doriani
• There is no greater freedom than to live inside of the purpose for which you were created and recreated in Christ Jesus. Paul Tripp
  

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Mission Possible: Go Create a Life That Counts by Tim Tebow with A.J. Gregory. WaterBrook. 199 pages. 2022
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In this encouraging book, Tim Tebow’s aim is to help us find our purpose. He tells us that Scripture gives us one shared and big-picture purpose, which is to glorify God. Within that greater purpose of glorifying God, we find our purpose in what we do every day. He tells us that simply put, purpose is about being mission driven in our ordinary life. Whatever we are tasked with in the everyday—even what we believe is the most trivial of duties or responsibilities, or a boring job we are always complaining about—we should find a way to invite purpose into that space.
When we live mission possible, we live a life that counts because of what God has done and is doing through us. It’s not about what we can do; it’s about what God can do through us. He writes that when you determine to live mission possible, you will not look back one day and wrestle with regret or painfully wonder what you did with your life.
Tebow tells us that a mission possible life has less to do with us and more to do with others, and mission living means being motivated by something other than yourself. He tells us that if God is prompting us to do something, He will equip, empower, and encourage us, and see that mission to completion. We should stop focusing on what we can’t do, and remember that nothing is too hard for God.
He challenges us to ask what can we do, starting now, to begin to live a mission-possible life. He encourages us to use what moves us, what God has put inside our heart, and take one step forward in mission-possible living. He tells us that the impact we make will be worth every ounce of effort, every minute of work, and every question and challenge we are likely going to face. A question we should ask ourselves is “Does my life change other people’s lives for the better?”
Throughout the book, Tebow shares stories (sometimes uplifting and sometimes heartbreaking), along with illustrations from Scripture. Topics included in the book include significance, developing a mission statement, passion, sacrifice, comfort, investing in eternity, convictions, choices, and making our lives count.
Companion resources available are Mission Possible Goals Guide: A 40-Day Plan to Making Each Moment Count, Mission Possible Bible Study: Go Create a Life That Counts, and the children’s book Bronco and Friends: Mission Possible.
Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

1. Living a mission-possible life means executing the good works that God has already prepared for you to do.
2. God has a plan for you to love and care for people. You honor Him through that mission.
3. When we choose to trust God with our lives, we have a sense of a higher calling. We recognize that significance matters more than success.
4. Wherever we are, in whatever we are doing, we can always do something to transcend what can start out as seemingly insignificant.
5. You may be in a role or situation that is not the entire expression of your purpose, but you are still meant to carry your purpose into those places.
6. Living a mission-possible life, in whatever our hands find to do, is an act of worship.
7. Be the light Jesus has been to you wherever you may be.
8. One of the greatest enemies of living a mission-possible life is the pursuit of comfort.
9. Live today and each day forward with a forever mindset. Focus on doing things that will leave a legacy after you’re gone.
10. A work ethic is pointless without a purpose. Working hard is not the end goal; we work hard to get to the end goal.
11. You have a vision of who you are and who God created you to be. You understand that your time on earth is limited and live with an underlying sense of urgency. You focus on what you need to do now and what you need to do next.
12. Living mission possible means living with an eternal mindset, knowing that our work on earth is to accomplish something of eternal value.
13. What matters more than the fun we have or the stuff we accumulate is what we did with the time we were given.

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

We are reading through Discipled Leader: Inspiration from a Fortune 500 Executive for Transforming Your Workplace by Pursuing Christ by Preston Poore.

Discipled Leader provides struggling, stuck, or merely surviving Christian business leaders with a framework to grow their influence through becoming a redemptive (i.e., change for the better), Christlike presence in the workplace and living a more fulfilling life.

This week we look at Chapter 9: Yield. Here are a few takeaways from the chapter:

• The challenges you face are opportunities to learn and grow. What counts is how you respond. It is a choice.
• Discipled leaders have a growth mindset—the belief that they can learn, grow, and get better through developing their talents, strengths, skills, and abilities.
• The exchanged life does not guarantee that God will fix your problems, but it promises that he will use such challenges for your sanctification and will give you the strength to be victorious despite them.
• The exchanged life is not easy, but it is the only one worth living.
• As a disciple, exchange your life. As a leader, live and learn.