Conversations that Matter - Post Pandemic Marketplace Ministry
The Pandemic drastically changed where, when, and how we work. The challenges of the last two years provide a chance to rethink work and how we approach it as followers of Christ. Tune in to an encouraging conversation with Denise Lee Yohn - Director of Faith & Work Journey, and Roy Tinklenberg, Co-Founder of Faith & Work Movement to discuss how Church leaders can approach the question, " What does Marketplace Ministry look like post Covid?"
Conversations that Matter - Faith and Work
For many of those attending our churches, work is either the primary place to find a sense of identity and self-worth, or the place to tolerate until something better comes along. How does integrating faith with work lead to a better understanding of the role of the believer in the workplace?
Panelists Dr. David Gill, author of Workplace Discipleship 101, Denise Lee Yohn, Director of Faith & Work Journey, , and Andrew Hoffman, lead pastor at Solano Community Church discuss practical ways that your church can engage your marketplace leaders.
VC Kevin Compton on Rules of Success
“Treat others as you want to be treated”
1 of 5 Rules of Success from VC, Kevin Compton
Last night, we joined Mark McGovern and Experience Church for the first Lifework DinnerTalk. We ate delicious food from Aracely Cafe, made new friends, and talked about what it means to be a Christian Marketplace Leader.
If you missed it, check out Kevin's Rules of Success below and be sure to follow us to stay up to speed with more events just like this one!
Kevin Compton's 5 critical rules for success:
Live by the golden rule – “Treat others as you want to be treated” as expressed in the Bible in Matthew 7:12. “If you put this rule in practice for just a few weeks, it becomes a habit to live by".
Have a sense of urgency –“If possible, I take care of things right away. If you work hard to get things done right away, people will appreciate it. They will realize that their need is a priority for you".
Make an effort, knowing that results will vary – “It’s better to just try rather than only trying when you know you won’t fail or waiting until everything is right". Keep in mind that perfection is not the goal.
Think big – Kevin discussed the importance of BIG DREAMS (and acting on those dreams). He shared a story of former San Jose Shark’s player, Jonathan Cheechoo, a native from northern Canada who dreamed of being a San Jose Shark one day. Cheechoo had to overcome many obstacles, including a serious injury to play for the Sharks for 8 years. “Not only did Cheechoo, a devoted Christian, think big, but he firmly believed that God also believed in that dream for him”.
Think small – “The difference between success and mediocrity,” says Compton, “is attention to detail". Compton begins every day by reflecting on the previous day and often writes hand written notes to thank or encourage people.
VC Henry Kaestner - Living out your Faith in the Workplace
1 of 10 tips from Henry Kaestner for living out your faith:
focus on the kingdom first
This March, we joined Mark McGovern and Experience Church for our third Lifework DinnerTalk. We ate delicious food from Aracely Cafe, made new friends, and talked about what it means to be a Christian Marketplace Leader.
Work on the Altar of Heaven: Are you getting the answer right, but living it out wrong?
Stepping into the simple and warmly lit Aracely café, nearly 40 pastors and business leaders shook off the rain. Several immediately pulled out their phones and started searching for a connection. It seemed appropriate though that in this far corner of Treasure Island, in this place whose name means altar of heaven, that if you want to connect with God, the rest of the world needed to go silent.
Some had driven nearly two hours to hear Henry Kaestner, managing partner of Sovereign’s Capital. Wearing the ubiquitous VC uniform of a muted sweater and button up shirt over jeans, Henry did not endeavor to stand out. If anything, he hung back a little when introduced. Sitting on an industrial metal stool, he stated sincerely and humbly, “The most important thing in my life is faith. Work fuels the fire but is not as important as family. So, my priorities are faith, family, work, and fitness.”
Henry and his founding partner David Morken originally came to Silicon Valley to raise capital for a telecom startup. While they didn’t have a fish on their business cards, they made it clear to investors that they worked for the glory of God. They went 0 for 40. No one bit. It was later that Henry realized they weren’t seeking God, they were being willful. In the end their friends and family funded Bandwidth.com which went on to build one of the largest nationwide IP networks. If you’re making a call on Skype, chances are you’re doing it on the network Henry helped create.
Henry and his partner grew their success on the foundation of an intentional faith-based work culture, proving that Christian businesses can compete but finding that the VC business didn’t get that. This led Henry to start Sovereign’s Capital in 2012, a venture capital fund for Christian led businesses. Henry shared, “The worst part is saying no to 99.99% of companies which is why we then started faithdrivenentrepreneur.org to encourage faith driven enterprises, not just in tech but for anyone looking to create jobs, love on customers, and build community.”
Henry has observed through his investments in faith driven entrepreneurs that when asked if success is critical to salvation, all would get the answer right and say no, but they would live it out wrong. 34 out of the 36 entrepreneurs he has invested in have high levels of anxiety, much more than most Christians. Grace was lost on them.
“It’s a problem of identity. You get caught up in the narrative of the world when you have success. Your identity turns from Christian to successful tech founder, lawyer, fill in the blank. No one continues to grow 20% month over month.
We help them to understand there is a God who loves them, who doesn’t need their money, who just needs their hearts. It is hard to get them to understand.”
Henry himself grappled with this. When his son Benjamin got sick for over a year, he was really thrown. During that time, Henry could not be more than two miles from his son’s school. “It was really depressing. I realized that my identity was based on being a successful entrepreneur and venture capitalist. It was a season that God loved on me as I struggled through it. It was one of the most spiritually rich times of my life though at the time I didn’t see it at all. A God who loves is all that matters. If we tap into that then we can respond by bringing all we are to the altar.”
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10 Tips for Living it out Right
Focus on the Kingdom first (Matthew 6:33). Henry’s strategy to balancing life and work is to put God first. “It was hard to do but the decision was easy. Some people think they can focus on earthly success for this season in life, then can focus on heavenly success in the next season – this is dangerous. When you focus on success first you often fail, but when you focus on God’s Kingdom first, earthly success can often follow. This takes trust in God.”
Sabbath is a litmus test. Many entrepreneurs work 7 days a week, telling themselves that’s what it takes to succeed. This tempts you to think it’s all you. It leaves you hallow. An entrepreneur Henry knows confided, “I’m doing awesome because I started taking Sundays off.”
Commune regularly with the living God. “You may think of yourself as working for God but that fosters a performance mentality versus letting God work through us.” Staying connected with God through prayer, scripture, and fasting ensures the right mentality. Like anything else, it takes discipline to make time for God. Henry reads a chapter a day along with nine men who then group text each other. When driving the kids to school, 5 miles a day, 5 days a week, they listen to sermons. As a family they pray together daily.
Seek God in your decisions. “When making decisions you want to be intentional, seeking God’s wisdom through things like prayer, fasting, and the wisdom of others. Ask, ‘Lord is this a season when I need to do this? Help me understand how long this lasts.’ When we made mistakes, we were being willful instead of seeking God. There’s a difference between being willful and being faithful.”
Invite your spouse into it. Once Henry started telling his wife about his business, he found, “God can speak through her on something I was trying to figure out on my own.”
Meet regularly with people who hold you accountable. “There is something powerful about being in relationship with people like you, who are going through the same battles. Look for people with spiritual wisdom. Help each other be holy and to wrestle with blind spots. Ask each other questions like, ‘What does success look like for you?’” Taking inspiration from C.S. Lewis’ Inklings group, Henry meets on a Tuesday morning once a month, with others who will both criticize and encourage his work.
Partner with a believer. You want the best person for the job and sometimes an unbeliever looks like the best person at first. “As I read Hebrews, I became convicted that I needed to be equally yoked as I started the business. When starting a new business make it non-negotiable.” What if you are already in business with an unbeliever? As the Bible says about marriage, don’t divorce them, but pray for them.
Make your culture, goals and values public. “Our success came from these values - faith, family, work, and fitness. Business is all about acquiring and retaining customers, which is all about retaining your employees, because when you train them to retain customers you don’t want to lose them. A wife of one of our employees told me she loves this place because her husband gets home at reasonable time – she’ll never let her husband leave!” When you publicly say family is a value then it becomes hard not to let employees go home at 6. In Henry’s company, it’s considered a “fire-able offence” if you call or email while on vacation. Making it public makes you accountable.
Be salt and light at any level. When reaching out to others in your workplace, do so with gentleness and respect. “I know a lawyer who works for American Express. She found a couple Christians in the company and they started to pray every Wed at lunch. She got a little nervous and asked HR if this was ok. It ends up there is no law against this. She felt emboldened to put up signs. 130 joined. It got big enough that American Express noticed. They came and asked, ‘Will you serve as a focus group for how products fit for faith-based groups?’ If a mid-level legal in a large company can be salt and light, we all can.”
Serve sustainably. Be part of a church community and serve. Start by asking, “Where do I feel most alive with God?” Ask your senior pastor, “How can I serve here?” If the pastor understands how God is working in your life, they will foster that instead of just assigning you to serve where there is an urgent opening. This is the only way service is sustainable.
Before the DinnerTalk, Henry spoke to a small group of Bay Area Pastors in an effort to help to equip them in engaging their marketplace leaders. For a small glimpse of this GOLD session, watch the videos below!
Henry on Identity
Henry on Commissioning Marketplace Leaders
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Quotes from guests
“This is really moving me. You said something powerful - ‘I want my employees to go home at 6.’ I wanted to stay later for my business, for myself, and for the optics of staying.” - Darren Allarde
“What he said was so powerful. It convicted me that my idol is being understood.” – Macie Peterson.
“Priorities was a big takeaway. Faith, family, work, and fitness. We don’t always arrange it that way.” – Rick Blanco
“So many nuggets!” – Sun Oh
“He has great perspective. A lot of us measure our success in terms of wealth. God doesn’t measure in terms of wealth. Can we be satisfied with enough?” - Lee Bartolomei
“The intersection between faith and work is so misunderstood. It’s a balance between doing well and making sure not to put too much emphasis on myself, to really give God the glory.” – Johnny Shiu
Treating Your Workplace as Your Mission Field - Aaron Vogel, Co-founder @ District Donuts
"I want to be an example of what business can and should look like"
On Thursday, November 9, we joined marketplace leaders from around the Bay Area to grow and be inspired by Aaron Vogel, co-founder of District: Donuts, Sliders, Brew. We ate delicious food from Forager Tasting Room and Eatery, made new friends, and talked about what it means to view your place of work as your mission field.
If you missed it, check out the summary below and be sure to follow us to stay up to speed with more events just like this one!
The Sacred in the Secular
What started as a bi-vocational entrance into the hospitality industry eventually drove Vogel and his wife to a moment of decision: return to full-time ministry or pursue a career as an entrepreneur.
“Should we plant a church or a business?” Vogel asked, not realizing how similar the two options really were.
“When a pastor leaves the ministry, people always ask, ‘Why are you getting a secular job?’” said Vogel. “But there is something sacred about the work that God gives us [no matter what it is].”
Mission in the Workplace
Vogel learned from his father—a hard-working man who held down three jobs at a time—how to “preach the gospel in street clothes.” Though he was never employed by the church, Vogel’s father set an example for his son of how to be Jesus to the people he encountered each day, from the familiar mailman to an eccentric male dancer.
“There is a mission in the workplace,” said Vogel, who instills the Christ-like hospitality that he learned from his father into each of the employees who work at the five District locations. He leads his business with one question: What real good work can be done in this industry?
A Different Kind of Community
Vogel and his wife extend their hospitality beyond the four walls of the coffee shop into their own home, where a smattering of 20 and 30 somethings regularly gather to experience authentic community.
“The people we shepherd aren’t a community of believers,” said Vogel. “I get to tell a better story—the right story—to all of these people about Christianity.”
Local Impact
After setting up the first District, Vogel began making regular efforts to care for the neighborhood—picking up trash, pulling weeds, and generally looking for ways to be a force for change and for good.
“We are particular people in particular places at particular times,” said Vogel, encouraging attendees to consider their own opportunities for impact. “Think more thoroughly about your business. How does God want your industry to be?”
Growing for Good
Vogel and his team have opened five District locations in the past four years, and have plans to keep growing. But it isn’t about building an empire for Vogel. “We’re a donut shop, but we try to do and be more and better,” said Vogel, who invests portions of his proceeds into partnership with a faith-based nonprofit that facilitates foster care.
“I want to grow exponentially because I want to be an example in our nation of what a business can and should look like,” he said. “We’re creating a new category in our city of what we do.”
AN Interview with Aaron Vogel
On Business World View
On Future Vision
On Employees
On Lesser Work
Santa Cruz Cohort Video-Using Unique Skillsets to Help Others
What does it look like when a group of individuals with very unique skills and experiences come together to tackle the homeless problem in Santa Cruz County?
