CFW Blog Author - Tim Watson

How Do You Define Your Work?

Recently, a LeTourneau University staff member was shopping at a Longview furniture store and struck up a conversation with the owner. Happy to learn about his customer’s faith and connection to the university, the owner shared about how he enjoys traveling around the region with his father-in-law who is an itinerant minister. “When I travel with him to churches,” he commented, “people assume that I’m a minister as well. But I’m always quick to tell them, ‘I’m not a minister. I am just a Christian who owns a furniture store.’”

Maybe the comment, “I am just a Christian who owns a furniture store,” seems harmless to you—and even familiar. You may not have articulated your thoughts like he did, but have you ever said to yourself, “I’m just an entrepreneur,” “I’m just an engineer,” or “I’m just a school teacher?”

For the Kingdom of God to advance and the Great Commission to be fulfilled, those of us who are Christ-followers need to remove the word “just” from our vocabulary when we discuss our role in the Kingdom of God.  Sometimes we are guilty of thinking that God views His servants on a spiritual ladder.  Missionaries are at the top rung. Then come preachers, pastors and other full-time vocational ministers. Further down the ladder are the rest of us who are just accountants, office workers, sales managers or students.  This mentality runs counter to biblical mandates about connecting our faith in Christ to our vocation.

The vision statement of LeTourneau University reads, “Claiming every workplace in every nation as our mission field, LeTourneau University graduates are professionals of ingenuity and Christ-like character who see life’s work as a holy calling with eternal impact.”

If all of us could get this vision embedded into our DNA, just think how our workplaces could be transformed by the power of God.  Instead of dark places filled with people whose values are totally different than ours, what would happen if we committed ourselves to being the hands, feet and presence of Christ to non-believing co-workers for whom Jesus died?  If we got serious about seeing our life’s work as a holy calling with eternal impact, we could never go to work on Monday morning with the same attitude.  If we made a commitment to see our workplace as our mission field, we could never say, “I’m just a _________ (you fill in the blank). 

You are not in your workplace by chance, accident or coincidence.  You were put there by God and bless those around you by offering them the hope they so desperately need and can only be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

When was the last time you heard someone say, “I’m just a _____________?” How could you encourage people to see just how important their work is to God?
 

Tim Watson

Tim Watson serves as the Director of Church and Campus Relations for the Center for Faith & Work as well as Assistant to the University President For Outreach. While coordinating the Center's activities on the Longview campus, Tim also builds relationships with pastors and churches and will use his extensive experience in the pulpit to share messages that encourage believers to live out their faith in their daily work. He also provides help to pastors and church leaders who desire to develop workplace ministries. Read more about Tim and his speaking schedule.

Pastors, Don’t Get Caught Living In The Ivory Tower: Rub Shoulders With Your Church Members In Their Workplace.

One of my parishioners was one of the most Christ-like employers I’ve ever met. Tom was co-owner of an oil and gas well service company that employed approximately 100 people. He was not only involved in and supportive of our church, but really wanted to make a spiritual difference in his workplace.

One day Tom invited me to attend his annual employee Thanksgiving luncheon, an event held in a large metal building located on the company’s property. There I sat among men and women of different races, socio-economic backgrounds and cultures. A few mid-managers were included in the crowd, but mostly roughnecks with grease under their fingernails were seated at the tables.
As I observed Tom offer his employees hugs, handshakes and gentle pats on the back, it was clear they loved and respected him. Not only was Tom an excellent employer who met a financial need in the lives of his workers, but he understood that his oil and gas well servicing company was his very own mission field and a place of ministry.

Tom had shared with me on more than one occasion that the many hours his employees worked in the oil patch put extra stress on his workers and their families. To help in this area, Tom and his co-owner Dan built extra money into their operating budget to allow employees access to professional counseling when personal and family stressors arose. Tom also enlisted the services of many competent ministers in the area to act as company chaplains. They would counsel, encourage and invest in the lives of Tom’s employees, performing important rites of passage for them, such as conducting weddings, funerals and rendered pastoral care during an employee’s illness. Being present for these workers at such critical junctures in their lives opened doors for future ministry opportunities.

I was invited to several functions by this caring church member who saw his workplace as his mission field. I must admit, there were times when I was extremely busy with my own ministry’s “To Do” lists, and wanted to spend my time doing the things on my agenda. However, I now see that the best stewardship of my time was attending those luncheons at his place of business.
The benefits were many.  I got to see and hear about Tom’s challenges that he faced on a daily basis in trying to run a business from a Christian perspective.  I witnessed firsthand the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of some of the roughest people in a difficult industry, due mostly to the spiritual tone set by the company’s owners. I felt that I was in a better position to minister to Tom as a church member because I was willing to get out and rub shoulders with him in his workplace environment.

Today, I encourage pastors and ministers to take time away from their computers, and make a commitment to regularly go into the workplaces of their church members. It will not only encourage those church members, it will pay immeasurable dividends to pastors and ministers, as well.

Have you invited your pastor to visit your workplace? If you're a pastor, have you visited a church member’s workplace? What did you learn?

Tim Watson

Tim Watson serves as the Director of Church and Campus Relations for the Center for Faith & Work as well as Assistant to the University President For Outreach. While coordinating the Center's activities on the Longview campus, Tim also builds relationships with pastors and churches and will use his extensive experience in the pulpit to share messages that encourage believers to live out their faith in their daily work. He also provides help to pastors and church leaders who desire to develop workplace ministries. Read more about Tim and his speaking schedule.