A man looking at his phone while reclined and smiling

Our Blog

Grow in your faith and professional life.

ALL ARTICLES

  • Navigating the Uncertain Road of a Young Professional

    Navigating the Uncertain Road of a Young Professional

    By John Sutherland

    “It’s the worst thing I have ever seen. They are about to enter the employment market at a time when absolutely nobody knows what to predict.” Jane Oates was quoted saying about the 2020 graduating class in a recent Los Angeles Times article called “Pour one out for 2020 grads. It’ll be hard to find a job in this market.”

    As a graduating senior, these aren’t the words I want to hear. Graduating college is supposed to be a celebration and bring excitement about the future. Instead, articles like the one above, make it feel like I am walking off a cliff and falling into an abyss of uncertainty.

    I don’t want to lose optimism about the future no matter how uncertain things get. I think that means taking things one step at a time. No one knows exactly how the business world will change after this pandemic is over but all we do know is that it will likely never be the same. This means that instead of being in a state of discouragement, I have to be as careful as possible. I need to seek advice from people who have already been working in the world for years instead of trying to make it on my own. Proverbs 15:22 says “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (ESV).

    When I asked John Harrison, the National YP Coordinator for CBMC USA, what advice he would give his younger self, he said this:

    “Get a mentor ASAP. Get in a peer group ASAP…
    Trust in God’s timing and not your timing.”

    I tend to like to do things on my own. I rarely ask for help unless it is absolutely necessary but now is not the time for me to be independent. I need guidance from people much wiser than me in order to try and navigate unprecedented waters. I need to let others help guide me on the right path even if I would rather try to handle it on my own. I would encourage myself and others in my graduating class to help each other out and seek out older mentors in these chaotic and confusing times.

    I want to remain stable and trust in God’s timing in the midst of this pandemic. I don’t know what my future looks like but I am still confident that He has a plan for me and everyone else in my graduating class. He may be testing us earlier than we wanted but He will not leave us out to dry. That reason is enough to keep hope.

    This is not to say that students don’t have the right to be discouraged. I understand how disappointing and frustrating it can be to have a promising internship or job taken away because of something that is out of your control. I have several friends who worked hard to have jobs lined up for themselves once they graduated, only to have to go back to square one. Discouragement is not going to propel anyone forward and we have no choice but to keep moving forward.

    As a Christian, I believe this is an opportunity to be an encouragement to my peers in a wave of discouragement. We can be a light amid all of the darkness. Harrison said: “The coronavirus gives us the opportunity to illustrate Matthew 7:24-27 [where it] talks about the parable of the two builders. The smart builder and the foolish builder. It talks about when the wind came, the waves rose and the house built against the sand was torn down but the house that was built on the rock survived… We have had the opportunity to maintain and people to say ‘wow, what is different about you?”

    I will not ignore what is going on in the world around me but I also will not let it drag me down with it. This doesn’t me I plan on conquering the world despite entering the worst job market for a graduating senior possibly ever. I understand that most of this is out of my control. What it does mean is remaining steady in what I can control and trusting in God with what I can’t. It may just mean being positive. Or just remaining patient. Or humbling myself to accept an opportunity that doesn’t reflect what I’ve worked hard to earn over the past four years. Whatever it looks like, I need to put all my faith in God and trust He has a bigger plan for me than I could ever understand.

    I plan on keeping my house on the rock and keeping it there no matter how strong the winds and waves get. As long as it remains there, I have no reason to be discouraged and will continue to march on as my professional journey begins.

    John Sutherland graduated Covenant College in May 2020 as an English Major with a writing concentration. He will be joining Digital Creative Institute’s digital marketing apprenticeship program starting in June. John was CBMC’s marketing intern from February-May 2020.

    CBMC Webmaster

    ,

  • The Privilege – and Challenge – of Making Disciples

    The Privilege – and Challenge – of Making Disciples

    By Robert J. Tamasy

    If someone you cared about deeply were going away and wanted to tell you something very important before leaving, wouldn’t you pay close attention? That’s exactly what Jesus Christ did. Moments before He ascended to Heaven. He gave His followers specific instructions – the mission He was delegating to them:

    “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”

    –Matthew 28:19-20

    Known as Jesus’ Great Commission, it was simple then and remains so today – make disciples. I became involved in CBMC nearly 40 years ago, and when I learned that making disciples was a central part of its mission statement, I eagerly wanted to participate in that. The problem was, I didn’t know how to get started.

    Even though I had been a church member for most of my life, I was fairly new in my faith. My walk with Christ had gotten its jumpstart when I became part of a small group discipleship program, but CBMC’s one-to-one disciplemaking model was totally unfamiliar to me.

    Reflecting on the years I spent attending churches without knowing Jesus, I wished that I had benefited from having a “Paul,” a spiritual mentor to help me understand the Scriptures. Especially in how to integrate my faith into my career, as well as my personal life. Lacking that example, I started looking for someone to disciple me. My boss, the most spiritually mature man I knew at the time, had a different idea.

    When I asked Duane to take me through Operation Timothy, he suggested instead that I take another man through it so we could learn about the process of discipling and disciplemaking together. What a daunting thought! I felt still wet behind the ears spiritually; who was I to start trying to disciple another man? As it turned out, my boss was right.

    Not long after that, I took my wife and children to a CBMC family conference where the daily Bible teacher was Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, who spent the week expounding on a passage about an obscure fellow named Jabez. The content from his messages later became his best-selling book, The Prayer of Jabez, but it was the central theme that stuck with me.

    You might be familiar with the passage, 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, which says:

    “Jabez was more honorable than his brother. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.”

    Those two verses comprise everything that we know from the Scriptures about this fellow Jabez. Why was he singled out in the middle of a very extensive genealogical listing? Wilkinson’s book, if you haven’t read it, seeks to answer that question. But as I listened to him expound on the passage, one truth jumped out for me: It’s okay to ask for personal blessings – as long as the motive is to bring glory to God.

    Jabez asked God to bless him and to enlarge his territory. Or as another translation phrases it, “expand my borders.” Some might read these words and conclude, “Hey, that’s great, now I can pray for that fancy car or the big house we’ve been wanting!” But I took them to mean something entirely different. Jabez was asking God’s blessings to increase his influence, his impact on the world around him – and when he prayed that, the Lord granted his request.

    There I was, thinking about becoming engaged in CBMC’s mission to make disciples, when it occurred to me that I should pray about it. So I did. I asked God to bless me and expand my borders by bringing one man into my life that I could begin discipling, using Operation Timothy.

    I don’t remember the exact words, but know I didn’t pray for fame or fortune. Even though I was a writer with dreams and aspirations, I didn’t pray to become a best-selling author. I prayed something like this: “Lord, I would be thrilled to help another man to grow in his walk with You. And in the process, to grow myself. Would you please give me a man – just one man – that I could disciple?”

    This is the kind of prayer God delights in and is eager to answer. The next month, a friend and I were following up on a guest at a CBMC outreach luncheon earlier that week. We met Sam, an executive who didn’t have a church background. He had prayed with the speaker at the meeting, but I recall him saying, “It can’t be that easy.” After further discussion, Sam and I agreed to meet and talk more about this thing called Operation Timothy.

    We didn’t start immediately, however, because his wife was pregnant and due to give birth within the next couple of weeks. And since it was the holiday season, Sam’s business commitments for the next two months would be all-consuming.

    The following month my CBMC friend and I visited another outreach luncheon guest who worked at a local investment firm. This man, Gene, was a believer but quickly admitted he was not where he wanted to be spiritually. He would welcome help in growing. When I explained what Operation Timothy was about, he was excited. “When can we start?” he asked. “How about next Wednesday morning,” I suggested.

    We did meet the following week, and that began a discipling relationship that lasted more than two years. It was a joy to be used by God to help Gene grow – discussing Bible passages, learning how to apply these truths to different areas of his life, and also discovering the benefits of memorizing Scripture passages – “hiding God’s Word in his heart,” as Psalm 119:11 tells us.

    In the meantime, I kept in contact with Sam, and true to his word, he and I began going through Operation Timothy after the first of the year. How amazing it was to experience the fulfillment of the simple “Jabez prayer” I had silently expressed just a few months earlier. I had prayed for one man to disciple, to “enlarge my territory,” and God had responded by giving me two!

    There’s a truism in discipling: No two people are alike. That’s not an exaggeration, as I quickly realized. Gene and Sam had been at different places in their lives; one was an immature but very receptive believer, while the other was trying to get past his former religious skepticism. With each man, there were starts and stops, bumps in the road. But both grew into mutually beneficial relationships. I found I was growing as much – or perhaps more – than my “Timothys” were.

    When guys ask questions you can’t answer, or perhaps have never considered before, it causes you to dig deeply to seek those answers. “What do I believe about that? And why do I believe it?”

    Decades later, God continues to bring business and professional men into my life to disciple and mentor spiritually. More than a couple dozen overall. Some have met with me “for a season,” then we have lost touch. I’ve stayed in contact with others for many years. In fact, Sam and I still talk regularly and resumed meeting every few weeks or so, living out Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one many sharpens another.”

    Some of these men have gone on to disciple others, who then have proceeded to disciple other men. This is in keeping with 2 Timothy 2:2, which shows us the multi-generational dimension of discipling: “And the things that you [Timothy] have heard from me [Paul], entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others.” In each case, I believe, God has used me to make a spiritual contribution into their lives – as they have in mine.

    Another of my favorite verses says, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4). Being the father of biological children is a wonderful experience, without question. Especially when they come to know Jesus and commit to following Him. But it’s also a source of incredible joy to be a spiritual parent – and to see one’s spiritual children walking in the faith.

    There’s an interesting parallel here: Raising children isn’t an easy task, whether they’re part of your physical bloodline or an extension of your spiritual lineage. Sometimes they grow slowly, other times their growth astounds you. They have problems that you try to help them work through, and at times they disappoint you. They don’t turn out exactly as you expected – but much of the time, they turn out to be far more than you could have ever hoped.

    I see it as an investment. Discipling other men has taken time, energy, and sometimes even financial resources. But the “dividends” have exceeded my expectations. Years ago another friend in CBMC pointed me to a wonderful verse that talks about this idea of investment and return. In Isaiah 43:4, God says, “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.” I can’t think of a better deal!

    Robert J. Tamasy is a former publications director for CBMC, and writes for The Connector newsletter. He has written numerous books, including Marketplace Ambassadors: CBMC’s Continuing Legacy of Evangelism and Discipleship; Business at Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace; Tufting Legacies; The Heart of Mentoring, coauthored with David A. Stoddard; and has edited other books. Bob’s biweekly blog is: bobtamasy.blogspot.com.

    CBMC Webmaster

    ,

  • What Does it Really Mean to be a Christian Businessman?

    What Does it Really Mean to be a Christian Businessman?

    By Robert J. Tamasy

    When we talk about being a Christian businessman, what does that really mean? How can we effectively integrate faith in Jesus Christ into our vocations?

    These are questions I wrestled with years ago after leaving the world of newspapers to become editor and publications director for CBMC. My quest for answers launched me on a journey of discovery that continues to this day. Especially because the ever-changing, post-Christian marketplace seems to make the intersection of faith and work more challenging than ever.

    As the editor of community newspapers, even after committing my life to Christ, I had regarded what I heard on Sunday morning as unrelated to the issues and pressures I dealt with in the newsroom the rest of the week. Kind of, “What happens in church, stays in church.” So when I started to meet strong believers through CBMC who recognized their everyday roles as witnesses for Jesus – “ambassadors for Christ,” as 2 Corinthians 5:20 describes it – that was a revelation.

    These were successful, accomplished, even powerful business and professional leaders who, like the apostle Paul, could attest, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). While not pretending to be perfect, these were “men of the book,” people who not only read, studied, meditated on and memorized the Scriptures, but also strived to apply them in their daily lives. They practiced what James 1:22 admonishes, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” And they were convinced that teaching was as relevant for the workplace as any other area of life.

    Not all professing Christians in the workplace shared that vision, however. I remember interviewing a CEO well-known in his community for his faith. After hearing the story of how he had come to know the Lord, I asked how his company – widely regarded as a “Christian firm” – differed from secular counterparts elsewhere in his city. I hadn’t intended this to be a “gotcha” question, but he seemed noticeably uncomfortable in trying to come up with an answer.

    After several uneasy moments, the executive turned toward a plaque in his office that featured a well-known Bible verse and then pointed to a Bible he had placed strategically on the corner of his desk. Then he told me about an annual letter his firm sent to clients during the Christmas season with a spiritual message and noted that several religious tracts were available in the reception area.

    Those were all good things, I thought, but did they comprise what makes up a “Christian business”? To his credit, this CEO suggested that I meet with the managing partner of his firm, who proved much better prepared to articulate the biblically-based principles and practices that helped to guide their company.

    Another time I was having lunch with a friend in the financial planning industry. Out of the blue, he blurted, “I’d give anything to go full-time for Christ!” I stared at him for a moment, and then replied, “What makes you think you haven’t already done that?”

    He looked a bit puzzled, so I explained that the notion of “full-time Christian service” – making distinctions between “sacred” and “secular” life – was an invention of the institutional church, not a concept taught anywhere in the Scriptures. After all, there’s no such thing as a part-time Christian, and we’re all called to serve the Lord and others. So from that perspective, we’re all in full-time Christian service.

    Colossians 3:23-24 admonishes,

    “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

    We all have a “boss” we report to, whether it’s a supervisor, the company president, a board of directors, or individual customers we must please. However, as I have reflected on those verses, it’s like walking into the office on my superior and a nameplate on the desk that reads, “Jesus Christ.”

    Over the years that I served on staff with CBMC, I had the privilege of meeting many hundreds of devoted followers of Jesus, each determined to live and work faithfully for Him in thought, word and deed. They were not only “ready always to give an answer to anyone who asks you the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15), but conducted themselves in such a way that those kinds of questions were being asked.

    We spend much of our time in an environment where competition, the profit motive, and personal advancement often result in casting aside virtues like integrity, compassion, fairness, generosity, humility, and honesty. However, many of the people I met were glowing examples of these and other positive, God-glorifying values. When CBMC introduced its “Living Proof” training series on evangelism and discipleship, we could point to many examples of men who indeed were living proof of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    This was not just through their words, but through their everyday lives and approach to their jobs as well. They exemplified the words of the apostle Paul, who said, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

    They had a firm grasp of the understanding that when Jesus instructed His followers to “go into all the world” (Matthew 28:19 and Mark 15:15), the marketplace wasn’t excluded from His commission. In fact, the Lord had recruited many of His closest disciples from the workplace, and that was where much of His earthly ministry took place.

    And yet, the false dichotomy of sacred vs. secular persists. From time to time I still hear of people wanting to “surrender to full-time Christian service,” meaning enrolling in a seminary to become a pastor or worship leader, or going to the foreign mission field. These are worthy pursuits, certainly. But the Bible doesn’t convey that they are more noble or godly than being a sold-out follower of Christ running a company, undertaking an entrepreneurial venture, building a successful career in sales, or any of countless other roles in today’s business and professional world.

    One day I came across a verse that was exciting, daunting, and humbling, all at the same time. It declared, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). The first time I read that, all I could think of was “Wow!” Being a “fellow worker” with God – what an honor, such a privilege! And for me, the words “God’s field, God’s building” seemed to connote wherever we went to fulfill our godly calling as business and professional people.

    Whether we have an office in a lofty skyscraper in a metropolis; work out of a small building in the suburbs; travel from one city to another as a sales representative, or maintain a home office, we are God’s fellow workers. No matter where we go, we can cling to this wonderful assurance: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). How’s that for a job description?

    Robert J. Tamasy is a former publications director for CBMC, and writes for The Connector newsletter. He has written numerous books, including Marketplace Ambassadors: CBMC’s Continuing Legacy of Evangelism and Discipleship; Business at Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace; Tufting Legacies; The Heart of Mentoring, coauthored with David A. Stoddard; and has edited other books. Bob’s biweekly blog is: bobtamasy.blogspot.com.

    CBMC Webmaster

    , , ,