How do you discern your vocational path? How do you decide what your contribution to the world will be? What is your vocational calling? These are big questions. How we understand our work and the contribution we make to the world is vital from our earliest days of vocational discernment on through adulthood. It is vital for teens as they consider potential pathways for further education and future work. It is vital for adults as they work to make ends... Read more
By Trevor Lee I had the opportunity to attend a Leadership Journal event called Redeeming Work, which focused on the meaning and importance of our work as image bearers of God. Events like this focus on the idea of vocation, which is our call into every part of life, not just the job we get paid for. While this focus does not comprise the whole of the Christian life or the Gospel, it is an essential piece that has been too often... Read more
By Caroline Cross April in the District of Columbia is a magical time of year. Washington welcomes a cloud of pink petals amidst the blooming cherry trees at the tidal basin. Signs of spring aside, April also holds another reason to celebrate. The month is commemorated as Jazz Appreciation Month. This singularly American genre of music originated in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century. Just a few notes of the genre’s distinctive rhythms evoke the smell of... Read more
Back with a poem for a holiday (what did you expect?) This time, since we have several great posts about Mothers’ Day on the Faith and Work Channel (at Oikonomia and Profession of Faith), I’m just going to share with you my mother’s favorite poem. You can make the faith and work/whole-life discipleship/vocation applications yourself. I think there are some. 🙂 By Edmund Waller Go, lovely Rose— Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When... Read more
After her harrowing experience at the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, a marketing executive chose to leave her job and employ her skills on behalf of artisans in developing nations. Here’s her story: Originally published at the blog Made to Flourish. Read more
By Mike Coyner Recently the left rear tire on my car starting losing air. My car has a warning light to let me know when a tire is low on air pressure, so each time the warning light came on I would stop at a gas station and put some more air into the tire. With modern tires it is almost impossible to tell a tire is low just by looking at it, so I was grateful for the warning... Read more
Attending the Q Conference in Boston this past week, I was reminded that almost any evangelical who wants to leverage their vocation to change the world takes William Wilberforce’s Clapham group as a sort of knights-of-the-round-table paradigm. But few seem to know much about this remarkable group. So as a public service, here’s my . . . 10 Things You Don’t Know about the Clapham Sect First the basics: The Clapham Sect was a group of aristocratic evangelical Anglicans, prominent... Read more
By Bill Peel Tracy Taylor is Founder and President of Move It Management, LLC and a 40-year veteran of the self-storage industry. He has owned and/or operated over 100 self-storage properties and is one of the industry’s most respected and well-known leaders. Move It develops, acquires and manages income-producing properties in Texas, Tennessee, the mid-south, the southeast and southwest U.S. The company is recognized as a Top Operator in the self-storage industry. More than 70 people are employed at Move It’s 30-plus sites. The mission of... Read more
This post is part of a symposium between the Catholic, Evangelical, and Faith and Work Channels on spiritual disciplines for work. It started over 20 years ago, the weekly walk to the front of the room. I was a lonely, somewhat puzzled seminary student, seeking something sustaining. Worship, certainly. I had worshiped my whole life. Growing up Methodist meant a lot of that worship was singing, “lustily and with good courage.” Prayer, certainly. I had prayed my whole life. Growing... Read more
By Malcolm B. Yarnell III Today we use words like “calling” and “vocation” in association with jobs and tasks. However, these are external circumstances that the world can change or take away. Martin Luther’s experience can help us appreciate how our true vocation rests at a deeper level, one that can never be taken from us. In a critical moment of his life, Martin Luther was afflicted with difficult questions of purpose that continue to afflict the consciences of well-meaning... Read more
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