Barry-Wehmiller is a multimillion dollar global engineering/manufacturing company you’ve probably never heard of and yet “touch” multiple times each week. Close to 95% of all the cardboard used in the U.S. is made on a BW machine (that’s virtually every cereal box at your grocery store). 80% of the world’s medicines pass through a BW-engineered centrifuge. BW holds the patent…
At Work on Purpose engages over 8,000 working Christians in Cincinnati, Ohio—across church homes, denominations, zip codes, and ministries. This presentation introduces the citywide marketplace ministry model of At Work on Purpose, a contemporary workplace expression of the 1st Century Ekklesia for post-Christian America. Learn about the identity, infrastructure, and initiatives that collectively form the foundation for citywide marketplace ministry…
Dr. Joshua Chatraw has been named director of New City Fellows (NCF) in Raleigh, NC effective July 1, 2018. NCF, a pioneering and intensive program that equips young professionals for meaningful and sustainable integration of faith and work, was launched in 2016 by Holy Trinity Anglican Church and two downtown church partners – Christ the King and Vintage. Dr. Chatraw…
The purpose of the Faith@Work Summit is to gather active participants and leaders in the faith at work movement from every industry sector to learn from each other and work together to extend Christ’s transforming presence in workplaces around the world. The 2018 Faith at Work Summit, held in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare on October 11th-13th, is now open for registration! The early bird pricing for registration is now available at $179 per ticket, so be sure to purchase soon.
The economic machine that is America continues to move forward but too often leaves many behind. While the Dow roars towards unprecedented heights, the poor and powerless reach new lows. But there is a solution that is both obvious and obscure: business. Business has changed lives of the less fortunate in the here and now when leaders and shareholders look beyond their own pocket. The principles and the experiences of the Greyston Bakery social enterprise in Yonkers exemplify this power of business to change the lives of individuals, families and the neighborhood itself. Deuteronomy 10:18 tells us that God “administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.” The people of God are called to do the same.
Julius Walls (BS, Concordia) is the pastor of Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church in Yonkers NY and the President of Greater Centennial Community Development Corp, the non-profit arm of a 5000+ member church. Rev. Walls has worked in business, academia, and the church, serving, in addition to the previously mentioned positions, as Chief of Staff of Greater Centennial Church, CEO of Greyston Bakery, a $7 million social enterprise, as VP for a $23 million chocolate manufacturing company, as an adjunct professor at the business graduate schools at NYU and BGI and serves on several local and national non-profit and government boards. He is the co-author, with Kevin Lynch, of Mission, Inc. The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Enterprise.
Reflect/Respond
Can an unethical for-profit business yield a God-desired result?
Can a “Double Bottom Line” (financial and social) enterprise really work? Is it sustainable?
Resources
William Eggers, The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society’s Toughest Problems (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013)
Marc J. Lane, Social Enterprise: Empowering Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs (ABA, 2012)
Social Enterprise Alliance https://socialenterprise.us/
Julius Walls, Jr., and Kevin Lynch, Mission Inc.: A Practitioner’s Guide to Social Enterprise (Berrett-Koehler, 2009)
by Edward L. Lee, reprinted from Living God’s Mission Tom and Brenda Ray Little notice has been made in The Episcopal Church of the death of Tom Ray on February 6, preceded just three days earlier by that of his wife Brenda. Tom was the bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan from 1982 to 1999. Both died quickly after…
Leadership Network’s Reggie McNeal has written another crisp, insightful, and wonderfully practical book for Christians desiring to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” As is his usual pattern, the book is highly accessible and marries principles with real-life application. The book rests on McNeal’s theological conviction that “God is at work in every domain of culture.” He longs for church…
Over the years, I’ve often received the question How did you do that? That is, how did you start Denver Institute for Faith & Work? The founding of DIFW was a one part grace (both God’s and others’), one part luck, and one part perseverance. The great thing about our story is that we didn’t need anybody famous to make it work.…
The purpose of the Faith@Work Summit is to gather active participants and leaders in the faith at work movement from every industry sector to learn from each other and work together to extend Christ’s transforming presence in workplaces around the world. The next Summit will be in Chicago on Oct. 11-13, 2018. Go to fwsummit.org to sign up for updates and to learn more about the Summit. Register for the Summit here!
William “Bill” Pollard joined ServiceMaster in 1977 and has served not once but twice as its chief executive officer. During his leadership of the company, ServiceMaster was recognized by Fortune magazine as the No.1 service company among the Fortune 500, and also was included in its list of most admired companies and achieved market leadership in each of its markets and substantial growth in shareholder value.
He is the author of several books including: The Soul of the Firm, The Heart of a Business Ethic and Serving Two Masters? Reflections on God and Profit. In April 2004, he received the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Business Ethics at Notre Dame.
Albert M. (Al) Erisman is the Executive in Residence and the past Director for the Center for Integrity in Business in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. He teaches business ethics and business and technology both at the undergraduate and the graduate level. He is also executive editor of Ethix magazine. In April 2001, Dr. Erisman completed a 32 year career at The Boeing Company.
“It’s not enough to just build tools. They need to be used for good,” said a repentant and scared Mark Zuckerberg before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees. Facebook embodies today’s cultural zeitgeist, and its disregard for privacy coupled with its mammoth influence have caused our nation to question how its unhealthy practices are impacting culture. Makoto Fujimura, surely, is…
The purpose of the Faith@Work Summit is to gather active participants and leaders in the faith at work movement from every industry sector to learn from each other and work together to extend Christ’s transforming presence in workplaces around the world. The 2018 Faith at Work Summit, held in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare on October 11th-13th, is now open for registration! The early bird pricing for registration is now available at $179 per ticket, so be sure to purchase soon.
Gloria Nelund spent nearly 30 years on Wall Street as one of the most successful executives in the international investment management industry. After retiring from Deutsche Bank, she co-founded TriLinc Global; an investment firm dedicated to creating impact investment products that will attract significant private capital to help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues. In 2013, TriLinc launched a $1.25 billion impact fund for U.S. retail investors to provide growing businesses in select developing economies. Gloria is also Chairman and Independent Trustee for RS Investments mutual fund complex, and a frequent guest lecturer at several top business schools. She writes about her talk here at the 2014 Boston Summit:
I spent almost 30 years on Wall Street, with a very successful career in the investment management industry. While I live by a personal commitment to honor God in all I do, I always felt guilty about having a career in business – especially one which I enjoyed and that brought me significant personal rewards. In 2005, I retired to finally be able to “serve God,” and after an almost three year “wilderness” journey of desperately seeking my purpose, God demonstrated that my job had been my very own mission field. I highlight my personal journey, disclosing my three “secrets to success” (working hard, solving problems and helping people) in navigating a career in some of the largest organizations in the world, offering some insight for being the only woman in the male-dominated investment industry, and revealing the one book that influenced all of my actions and perspectives.
The Green Room 