Books on Work: An Introduction to Every Good Endeavor

September 22, 2014 By The High Calling

In the foreword to Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work, Katherine Leary Alsdorf shares the story of how she became acquainted withRedeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, through an invitation to attend from a colleague. When she found herself committing to a life of faith, Alsdorf—a business leader—worried about what such a decision might mean to her future. …If I was going to really put God first I had to be open to him calling me to serve him anywhere. And he... Read more

How Reverence for God Leads to Honest Business Practices

September 21, 2014 By The High Calling

Leviticus 25:1-55 Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 25:17 In recent years, we have witnessed many situations in which powerful and wealthy corporations and business leaders have taken advantage of people. Precious investments and pensions have disappeared because financial moguls have failed to be honest and fair. The result has been devastating for the world’s economy, not to mention millions of people who have lost jobs or... Read more

How to Know if You Are Doing a Good Job

September 19, 2014 By The High Calling

Last Friday I spent a couple of hours thinking about my job instead of actually doing it. I mulled over all that is going on, what I’ve been accomplishing, where my time is being spent, what my priorities are, and so on. I guess you could say I was reflecting. This may sound like a colossally asinine waste of time, but self-reflection is actually one of the defining qualities of a high-performance leader. Which I am attempting to be, and I hope you... Read more

The Work of a Storyteller

September 8, 2014 By The High Calling

I first recognized a particular wordsmithing challenge when I visited one of Nairobi’s slums three-plus years ago. As I sat before my laptop to write about the visit before the city’s unreliable electricity could interrupt me, I was daunted by the difficulty of a challenge I don’t remember learning about in my college journalism classes. Beaming blog posts about my slum visit back to people at home who had never experienced Africa, who perhaps had never conversed with someone from Africa, or... Read more

Trusting God in Spite of Your Circumstances

September 2, 2014 By The High Calling

Psalm 13:1-6 But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the LORD because he is good to me. Psalm 13:5-6 There are times when it’s fairly easy to trust in God’s love, to rejoice in his salvation, and to sing because he has been good to us. I think of times in my life when I was overwhelmed by God’s blessings, when I could hardly believe how good my... Read more

Will Technology Shape Your Identity and Your Faith?

August 29, 2014 By Marcus Goodyear

As a kid, I created whole worlds in my bedroom out of Legos. For my tenth birthday, I asked for more Legos to expand my building power. I wanted to conquer bigger and better worlds. My son just turned ten. His surprise gift was a virtual world in Minecraft Realms, an almost infinite digital space for him to share with close friends. He lets me play with him there too. We have building competitions. (I lose.) He creates jump-scare digital haunted houses.... Read more

[INFOGRAPHIC] Reconsidering Retirement

August 26, 2014 By The High Calling

Not ready for retirement? Yeah, most people aren’t these days. There are two ways you can respond to this realization. One way is to freak out, and scramble to put together some plan that’ll help you get ready. For some that means being intentional about saving and investing better. And with others it means scoping out which of your kids is most likely to take you in late in your life. The other way is to embrace the reality of not... Read more

Learning to Value the High Calling of Your Daily Work

August 21, 2014 By The High Calling

It’s a little strange to have your first 8-to-5 job at an online platform called “The High Calling.” Working for a website about work is weirdly meta, like a teacher teaching teaching skills or a salesperson selling sales tactics. I find myself writing sentences like “God inspires us synchronize the work of our hands, minds, and hearts to the Rhythm of Reality” and wondering: Am I exemplifying this attitude? Am I working to the rhythm of his sacrificial love or... Read more

Everything Matters: Hospitality as a Cultural Act

August 18, 2014 By The High Calling

Foundationally, rock-bottomly, one of the reasons Christianity calls so deeply to me is that everything matters. This includes hospitality. Eating together matters. When we ask people to join us in this deeply human ritual, it can be accompanied by blessing without regard to person, place, or wealth. The first time I connected a meal with the power to cross cultural boundaries, to nourish, to restore wounded hearts and bodies, I was 22 years old, married with a three-month-old. Before that moment,... Read more

A Warning for Self-Serving Leaders

August 11, 2014 By The High Calling

Ezekiel 34:1-10 Human one, prophesy against Israel’s shepherds. Prophesy and say to them, The LORD God proclaims to the shepherds: Doom to Israel’s shepherds who tended themselves! Shouldn’t shepherds tend the flock? You drink the milk, you wear the wool, and you slaughter the fat animals, but you don’t tend the flock. (CEB) Ezekiel 34:2-3 Today’s news is full of stories of leaders who care more about themselves than about the people or institutions they lead. They seek their own... Read more