Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

• 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).
• What Can We Learn from the Repair Shop? Russ Gehrlein writes “I pray that you will see the work of restoration that is done by others (or yourself) in a new light. My desire is that ordinary Christian workers experience God’s presence at work every day and that they remember that their work matters for eternity.”
• A Leader Worth Following. My new book A Leader Work Following: 40 Key Leadership Attributes and Applications to Masteris available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. Read a sample of the book (found under the book cover in the above link).
• Hints of Hope: A Conversation with Steve Garber. On this episode of the Faith & Work podcast, enjoy this conversation with Dr. Steve Garber as he explores the profound connection between story, vocation, and faith, using Tolkien’s hobbits and biblical narratives to illustrate how understanding our meta-narrative shapes our life’s purpose and resolve.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More links to interesting articles
• The Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week
• Faith, Work and Leadership Book Review – The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do (4^th Edition Revised and Expanded) by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller
• Quotes from the book Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Workby Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels

• Horizontal Legalism: Scotty Smith, Pastor and Author. “Longtime pastor and author Scotty Smith — founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, and author of the daily prayer blog Heavenward — joins Dan on this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast for a conversation that starts with grace and ends up somewhere more personal. They dig into what Dan calls “horizontal legalism”: the subtle habit of keeping a mental ledger of the good we’ve done for others, and quietly expecting it to be repaid in favor, attention, or love. From there the conversation moves into what that looks like at work (bosses, firing, being “the boss God gave you”) and at home (grandkids, marriage, aging out of a leadership role), before Scotty opens up about growing up as what he calls an “emotional orphan” and how that shaped the way he — and many high-performing leaders — chase approval without realizing it.”
• Sabbath Rest: A Communal & Radical Vision of Flourishing. “Sabbath rest is one of the most elusive Christian practices today. The demands of modern work make it increasingly difficult to truly clock out, even as “work-life balance” is widely celebrated. For Christians, the challenge is to recognize the ways we’ve been shaped by the systems we work in—and to discern where God is calling us to reshape them instead. In this video, Michaela O’Donnell invites us into that work—to take Sabbath seriously, embrace God’s radical rhythm of rest, and cultivate workplaces and communities where everyone has the opportunity to truly flourish.”
• AI and Work: What Happens When AI Can Do Your Job Better? “What happens when AI promises not just to help us work but to help us become the selves we most want to be? That question runs through this episode of Silicon Spiritualities with Rachel Gilson, director of theological development and culture for Cru and the author of Born Again This Wayand Parenting Without Panic in an LGBT-Affirming World. In our conversation, she brings unusual clarity to the question of work in the age of AI: not simply what these tools can do but what they may be doing to our integrity, our vocation, and our sense of ourselves.”
• Work, Rest and Play. Uli Chi writes “Taking time to rest is important because it reminds us that God is God and we are not”.
• The 7 Types of Rest We Need. Meryl Herr writes “We asked which of the seven types of rest comes easiest. Physical rest topped the chart. The data also indicated that mental and emotional rest may be the most difficult to find.”

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Top 10 Faith and Work Quotes of the Week

• You achieve true mastery when you identify the few things God has created you to do most exceptionally well and work at them “with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Jordan Raynor
• All honest work is sacred when devoted to the glory of God. Daniel Doriani
• Following Christ means viewing our entire life (including our work) as service to God and others rather than as a means of getting something from this world. Jordan Raynor
• Our work should be done in a way that honors and worships God and that serves God and others. Kara Martin
• If we believe our work is a calling from God, we will “work heartily, as for the Lord,” seeking to glorify God and love others well by being the very best nurse practitioners, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, carpenters, and executives we can possibly be. Jordan Raynor
• The leader cannot spend time on secondary matters while essential obligations scream for attention. A day needs careful planning. The person who wants to excel must select and reject, then concentrate on the most important items. Oswald Sanders
• Work is not simply a means to an income. It is about stewardship, productivity, fruitfulness, relationships, for the good of the world, and for the glory of God. Kara Martin
• When we begin to see that there’s dignity in every vocation, we realize that every job has a purpose of serving others and bringing glory to God. Bryan Chapell
• Our work can only be a calling if someone calls us to it, and we work for their agenda rather than our own. For the Christian, this means working for the sake of our Savior. What is his agenda? To glorify God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Jordan Raynor

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FAITH, WORK, LEADERSHIP BOOK REVIEW:

The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do (4^th Edition, Revised and Expanded) by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 176 pages. 2026
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In this newly revised and expanded edition, written as a business fable, we meet Debbie Brewster, a new leader. A year ago, she was on top of the world. Today, she is holding on for dear life and might lose her job as her team is not performing well.

She decides to apply to join her company’s new mentoring program. She is accepted into the program and to her shock, she finds out that her mentor will be Jeff Brown, the company’s President and CEO.

Debbie asks Jeff to teach her what the secret of great leadership is. They meet monthly over the next year. Jeff tells her that the secret is, great leaders SERVE. He teaches her five essential ways in which every great leader serves, which he calls  the fundamentals. He does this by teaching Debbie the secret of great leaders using the acronym SERVE. Jeff tells Debbie that a key question she must continuously ask herself is, “Am I a self-serving leader or a serving leader?”

At the end of each meeting, Jeff gives Debbie some “homework” that she works on before the next meeting. Slowly, as she applies what she is learning, we see the performance of her team improve as she becomes a better leader. Her team also had a new energy and enthusiasm that truly amazes her. Debbie learns that leading at a higher level includes focusing on both results and relationships.  Debbie’s team worked to ascend from “Worst to First” and create raving fans of both their salespeople and their customers.

As I re-read this book, I realized that Debbie’s transformation as a leader matched mine as I embraced that fundamentals of servant leadership. I highly recommend this book. With the Facilitator’s Guide, Study and Discussion Questions and Self-Assessment, it is a book that can be read individually or with a group.

Below are 20 helpful quotes about leadership from the book:

• Everything rises and falls on leadership.
• True leadership has nothing to do with one’s position in the organization.
• A person can serve without leading, but a leader can’t lead well without serving.
• Leadership is about taking people from one place to another.
• Values are a big deal. They are the cornerstones of the culture the leader is trying to create.
• Values are the beliefs that drive our behavior.
• Seeing the future is one leadership responsibility that cannot be delegated. It can be shared, but it’s the leader’s job to make time today to ensure that there is a tomorrow.
• Getting the right people in the right jobs is the first part of Engaging Others.
• The best leaders invest in the development of their people.
• Helping people leverage their strengths is one of the most rewarding parts of the leader’s role.
• If you stop learning, you stop leading.
• We have a stewardship responsibility to maximize our God-given talents. We can only do that as we continuously learn and grow.
• Profits and financial strength are the applause we get for a job well done.
• People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
• A great leader doesn’t throw people under the bus when there’s a mistake, but they’re eager to give them the spotlight when things go well.
• The best leaders cultivate the ability to think about others first.
• Debbie had learned how great leaders make time to get to know people.
• Leaders learn from the past, but we don’t live there. Leaders are the architects of the future.
• Role models can be a source of inspiration. They demonstrate what is possible and motivate us to serve better.
• Leading at a higher level includes focusing on both results and relationships.

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

Working for Better: A New Approach to Faith at Work by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels

Please join us in reading this book on faith and work.

From the Amazon description:
“In a world where workplaces are becoming increasingly diverse, Working for Better by Elaine Howard Ecklund and Denise Daniels offers a timely guide for Christians navigating the modern faith-at-work landscape. Drawing from over twenty years of research and personal insights, Working for Better presents a groundbreaking exploration of how to express Christian faith in professional settings without compromising beliefs or alienating others.
Through detailed studies involving focus groups, surveys of more than 15,000 workers, and interviews with over 300 individuals, Ecklund and Daniels identify five key tensions in the faith-at-work movement. With compelling stories and practical applications, Working for Better addresses the need for Christian workers and leaders to adapt to cultural shifts, offering guidance for a more redemptive presence at work. Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking questions for individual reflection or group discussion, making this book an essential resource for anyone seeking to integrate faith with their professional life. Whether you’re a Christian worker, workplace leader, or pastor guiding others, Working for Better invites you to consider how to flourish in a rapidly changing world.
As workplaces continue to evolve, the ability to maintain one’s spiritual values while contributing positively to the organizational culture becomes ever more crucial. Working for Better not only equips readers with the wisdom and tools needed to face such challenges but also inspires them to become agents of change, promoting a more inclusive and harmonious work environment.”

This week, we look at Chapter 6: Focusing on Individual Responsibility. Here are a few helpful quotes from this chapter:

• What do Christians mean when they talk about the importance of personal responsibility for ethical behavior at work? In our interviews with Christians from a variety of workplaces, they tended to talk about it in two main ways: avoiding what is wrong and doing what is right.
• It was common to talk with Christian workers who had never thought about ways their faith might play a role at work.
• Christian workers we interviewed want to hear their pastors and other faith leaders talk more about how Christians should act at work and how they can develop a personal ethical approach that is consistent with their faith.
• Pastors could prioritize reaching out to congregants whose jobs they are least familiar with to learn about what these workers experience on a regular basis. They could also ask congregants about the specific tasks, interactions, joys, struggles, challenges, and fears associated with various kinds of work.
• Christian workers told us that churches could offer tailored small groups for members who work in the same field and thus would better understand the specific challenges and ethical dilemmas they may face in the workplace due to their faith.
• One final recommendation is for clergy to visit church members in their workplaces. This would allow church leaders to better understand a range of job experiences as well as the workplace ethical issues their congregants sometimes face. It could also help Christian workers see connections between their work and their faith.