I was recently introduced to an organization called The Fellows Initiative which currently operates programs in 22 cities around the US. A Fellows program is a nine to ten-month spiritual and vocational leadership program that prepares the graduate to live an integrated life of faith. The content presented in the program includes the theology of work, vocation, calling, cultural engagement,…
Eleven years ago Jena Lee Nardella was a graduate from Whitworth College with the dream of eradicating HIV/AIDS and delivering clean water throughout Africa to those who desperately needed it and were dying without it. These dreams, along with the passion and support from Jars of Clay, led to the formation of Blood:Water Mission. I have been familiar with Blood:Water…
The Green Room welcomes Joseph Sunde with his review of the NIV Faith and Work Bible, reprinted from the Acton PowerBlog. Joseph Sunde is a writer and project coordinator for the Acton Institute, editor of the For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles blog and content manager of the blog Oikonomia at Patheos.com. He resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and…
One of the issues highlighted by the election, and all the noise surrounding it, is a growing lack of civility in our society. There are plenty of examples of the ingredients contributing to its continuing decline. Facebook has curated content to fill people’s timelines with stories that affirm their existing opinions. Social media itself has become a venue for debate, often taking the place…
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…
In addition to featuring thoughtful commentary on the future of the faith and work movement, The Green Room periodically wants to share reports from faith and work meetings you may have missed. (Don’t want to miss any more faith and work meetings? Check out our event calendar.) We recently had a report on the Avodah Summit at Trinity International University:…
The Green Room Blog welcomes Lisa Slayton with her review of A Woman’s Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World by Katelyn Beaty. Slayton joined Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation in 2005 to develop a leadership offering, the Leaders Collaborative, that integrated a biblical worldview with vocational discipleship and organizational effectiveness for the flourishing…
By Jeff Haanen What will allow more pastors to see the importance of work for their church and its mission? How might the faith and work movement help pastors and seminaries to embrace ministry models that equip men and women to serve Christ in the wide array of professions in our culture today? And why is this so difficult? Last…
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.
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