In early February, I probed the thoughts of Andy Crouch, author, blogger, and speaker. Crouch had just resigned as executive editor at Christianity Today and moved to the John Templeton Foundation as a communication strategist. His books and speaking engagements have made him a thought leader on culture, and connected him notably to the faith and work movement. I was…
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis has been read and reviewed in countless outlets from Barnes and Noble to Hearts and Minds Books and the New York Times. There’s a reason why. It’s a well-written memoir describing the circumstances, deep challenges, victories, and struggles of a culture in crisis. This culture has been neglected in popular media…
Following up on a recent post about the 2016 election as a faith and work crisis, our friends David Gill and Al Erisman passed on this video from CBS News interviewing Mike Rowe about the value of blue-collar work. Food for thought!
For the first post in this series, click here. Faith@Work 101 needs now — and will always need — to be actively promoted and taught in our churches and all other Christian contexts. These five basics need to be constantly and creatively promoted. But we also need to move beyond these shared basics as leaders and teachers. I want to…
Chris Horst is the vice president of development for HOPE International. He is passionate about issues of faith and entrepreneurship. He is also the author of Mission Drift and Entrepreneurship For Human Flourishing. He blogs regularly and has recently posted an article reflecting on his early jobs and the importance of work. Horst discusses a job he had at a friend’s…
By Greg Forster; part three of a series. Here’s a faith and work leader who knew how hard it was to help people endure suffering and also challenge the sources of their suffering: I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some…
By Greg Forster; part two of a series. How do we help people suffer without helping them suffer? That is, how can we help people persevere through suffering, and even “rejoice in our sufferings,” without becoming complacent about their suffering or even – God forbid! – contributing to social conditions that increase suffering? This is a paradox the faith and…
By Greg Forster; part one of a series. I just dropped off my daughter at ice skating camp. Normally my wife does it, but not today. Today is a pain day. It’s the kind of day we need to talk about more in the faith and work movement. My wife is a hard-working woman, when she can be, but she…
My husband Ralph had a daydream when he was 15, to one day own an orchard and help kids in India. But early into our farming years, our labor force radically changed from white, U.S. citizens to Latino immigrants. We realized that our employees must become our first focus of mission, if we were ever to help kids in India. The work provided a common focus that compelled us all to show up every day and do our best. But our new employees not only needed skills. They needed affordable housing, dependable childcare and year-round jobs if their kids were going to stay in school and flourish. Most of all they needed to feel safe. We have found that practicing the core values of love, compassion, respect, community and purpose helps us care about each other. We take better care of our place, which in turn takes care of us, with a surplus of love to export.
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Cheryl Broetje and her husband Ralph, founded, own and operate Broetje Orchards – a vertically integrated apple growing, packing, shipping, sales company located in the southeastern part of Washington State. Its five million trees produce fruit that is exported around the world. Its mission is to be “…a quality fruit company bearing fruit, fruit that will last.” Cheryl also founded The Center for Sharing, a non-profit, faith-based servant leadership development organization whose mission is “… calling forth the gifts of all persons through Christ-centered community.” Cheryl serves as its executive director. Her passion is in bringing people and resources together to build kingdom structures.
Faith@Work Summit 2014 by fwsummit.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at fwsummit.org.
By Blaine Crawford Humanizing Work” was the theme of the Center for Faith & Work’s annual conference this year [2014]. During the opening session, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was mentioned. Maslow, a 20th century American psychologist, studied people’s motivations, eventually developing his infamous hierarchy. His model was comprised of five needs, beginning with basic (physiological) needs before ascending to…
The Green Room 