It can be helpful to think about what God calls you to as the intersection of three circles:

• What You Desire (Your Deep Gladness)

• What the World Needs (The World's Deep Hunger)

• An Economic Engine (God's Practical Provision)

Sometimes, a single brilliant job hits all three areas. More often, we need a combination of jobs, responsibilities, and projects that help us hit all three. And that's okay!

We can give that over to the Lord and say, "Lord, here's my combination. Here's my job and my side hustle and my service at my church." He'll meet us there, even when things are less than perfect.

Sources: Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)

Ezra 7:27 (NIV)

2 Corinthians 8:16-17 (NIV)

John 3:16 (NIV)

Proverbs 13:4 (NIV) Kevin Miller, "Called," Work That Pleases God (sermon, Church of the Resurrection, Wheaton, Illinois, April 4, 2014).

Jim Collins, "The Hedgehog Concept," Concepts, JimCollins.com. Originally published in Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't (New York: Harper Business, 2001).

Frederick Buechner, "Vocation," Quote of the Day, The Frederick Buechner Center, July 18, 2021. Originally published in Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (Harper San Francisco, 1973).

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #KevinMiller #Called #Passion #Need #Provision #EconomicEngine #Grace #FrederickBuechner #JimCollins #HedgehogConcept #Passion #Motivation #Engagement #WorkEngagement #HighEngagement #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

Chris interviews Dr. Karen Swallow Prior about her new book, You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful. Hear about how "follow your passion" is terrible career advice, how doing ordinary things well can deeply honor God, and how calling can transcend profession and pay. Regardless of what we do for a living, all of us are called to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty as we do it, and in the rest of life.

Karen Swallow Prior (PhD, SUNY Buffalo) is the author of The Evangelical Imagination and On Reading Well. She is a frequent speaker, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a contributing writer at The Dispatch, and a monthly columnist at Religion News Service. You can find Karen's writing at her website or on her Substack, The Priory.

Sources: Karen Swallow Prior, You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2025).

Cal Newport, "On Passion and Its Discontents," CalNewport.com, June 30, 2018.

Dorothy Sayers, "Why Work?" in The Mind of the Maker (London: Methuen, 1942), Villanova University.

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Vocation #KarenSwallowPrior #YouHaveACalling #TrueGoodBeautiful #TheTranscendentals #DorothySayers #CalNewport #Passion #Motivation #Engagement #WorkEngagement #HighEngagement #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

The language and idea of "calling" sometimes gets thrown around a lot in Christian circles. Not everything we tend to think or say about calling in our particular Christian subculture is necessarily rooted in the witness of Scripture. In this episode, Chris tackles four myths about calling that sometimes surface:

• Myth #1: You only have one, lifelong calling.

• Myth #2: Calling is first and foremost about what God wants you to do.

• Myth #3: Calling and passion are the same thing.

• Myth #4: Calling is about what God wants, not what I want.

When we take a critical look at these myths in the light of Scripture, we see that God is inviting us—and calling us!—into something better.

Sources: Nehemiah 6:15-16 (ESV)

Luke 1:30-31 (NIV)

Philippians 3:14 (ESV)

Romans 1:7 (NIV, ESV)

Ezekiel 4 (NIV)

John 21:17-19 (NIV)

Nehemiah 2:1-2,12 (NIV)

Geoff Horton, "Joan of Arc: I Was Born to Do This?" Fauxtations, January 6, 2019.

Grace Thierfelder, "What Did Joan of Arc Mean When She Said, 'I am Not Afraid…I was Born to Do This'?" The Catholic Company, May 30, 2023.

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #JoanOfArc #Nehemiah #Philippians #Romans #Ezekiel #Motivation #Engagement #WorkEngagement #HighEngagement #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

We kick off a new series with this episode—Meaningful Work: Calling, Formation, Service, and Love.

Work often feels meaningless. So what can we do both to find the meaning that's already there, and to make the work as meaningful as it can be?

As disciples of Jesus, we mean something in the world; we communicate the reality of who God is when we live in love. "As he is so also are we in this world" (1 John 4:17 ESV). That high calling gives us a way in to find meaning in our work, too:

• Calling: The call of God on our lives imbues our work with meaning.

• Formation: God uses our work to conform our character to Christ's.

• Service: Our work itself serves human needs and good human desires.

• Love: The way we do our work and relate to others at work demonstrates God's love.

When we step into work in this way, we find it forms part of the meaning of life, both for us and for the people around us.

Sources: 1 John 4:16-19 (ESV)

Michael Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966).

Bruce Barton, What Can a Man Believe? (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1927).

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Meaning #Polanyi #Michael Polanyi #TacitDimension #TacitKnowledge #Communication #Semantics #Grace #BruceBarton #ChristopherWren #Motivation #Engagement #WorkEngagement #HighEngagement #Calling #Formation #Service #Love #Vocation #Boredom #Mission #CommonGood #Character #DifficultWork #HardWork #EasyYoke #MeaningfulWork

Chris interviews executive coach and author Melissa McCormick about her unexpected career journey. In her years as a leader at the Taylor Company, Melissa was known as a Christian for going on mission trips. But when it came to work itself, she would "leave Jesus in the car" after her morning commute. Her approach changed when she realized she could take Jesus to work with her. When she invited him in, Jesus led her into a new way of doing work, and eventually, into a new work adventure.

Melissa McCormick leads the Grace & Salt Leadership Academy, helping executives "get out of their own way" to lead well. She is the author of Grace & Salt: 12 Biblical Lessons to Transform You and Your Team into Better Leaders, and you can find her podcast Top Floor, Please on Spotify and YouTube.

Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org.

Sources: Colossians 4:6 (NIV)

Andy Crouch, The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World (New York: Convergent Books, 2022).

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #BonusEpisode #Interview #MelissaMcCormick #GraceAndSalt #Burnout #Overwhelmed #Stressed #StressedOut #Resentment #Love #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Chris and Katie wrap up the Divine Disappointments series by sharing how God has brought them through a season of desolation and confusion into a place of hope and anticipation. In the Joseph story, the dream came true in a most unexpected way, working out God's saving purposes not just for Joseph and his family, but for the whole world. For Chris and Katie, even though the future is unknown, it's clear that God is keeping his promises and that his dreams for work, church, and family life are coming true.

Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org.

Sources: Genesis 41:14-17,37-43 (ESV)

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Chris and Katie continue to reflect on how the life of Joseph provides a paradigm for their own "journey through the desert" of work and health challenges. Joseph's dream already looked dead when he was sold into slavery in Egypt, but it "died again" when he was imprisoned on false charges. Similarly, even after a significant health crisis and a season of real healing, Chris and Katie realized that it was going to be a longer road than they had first expected.

Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org.

Sources: Genesis 39:20-23 (ESV)

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Disillusionment #Dream #Joseph #Marriage #HealthCrisis #EatingDisorder #Addiction #Therapy #Healing #LeavingMinistry #VocationalCrisis #Burnout #Overwhelmed #Stressed #StressedOut #Resentment #Love #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Chris and Katie continue to reflect on the life of Joseph and their own vocational journey. Joseph's dream looked dead when he was sold into slavery in Egypt. Chris's dreams of pastoral ministry and fatherhood looked dead in the middle of a physical, mental, and spiritual health crisis for Katie. For Katie, life was simply falling apart.

Yet in the middle of all that, the Lord showed great mercy. Even in the desert, there was life.

Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org.

Sources: Genesis 37:17-27, 39:1-4 (ESV)

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Disillusionment #Dream #Joseph #Marriage #HealthCrisis #EatingDisorder #Addiction #Therapy #Healing #VocationalCrisis #Burnout #Overwhelmed #Stressed #StressedOut #Resentment #Love #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

To wrap up our Divine Disappointments series, we're doing a four-episode look at the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis, with Chris (and Katie!) sharing how their own vocational journey has reflected the pattern we see there:

• Dream

• Death of the Dream

• Double Death of the Dream

• Resurrection

Sometimes, our dream has to die before it can come to life in God's time.

Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org.

Sources: Genesis 37:5-11 (ESV)

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Disillusionment #Dream #Joseph #Marriage #Burnout #Overwhelmed #Stressed #StressedOut #Resentment #Love #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Chris interviews Ben Kraker about his vocational journey from youth ministry to tech sales to managed IT and app development, and how he grew closer to God through each shift. His work with youth, while fruitful, grew out of a sense of obligation to others' expectations. Eventually, he ended up on empty: disillusioned and driftless.

But then, after shifting to a "secular" career, Ben discovered space to make room for his own desires and voice, finding healing in being seen by God for who he really is, not who others expected him to be.

Ben Kraker is a technologist in the managed IT space, founder and lead developer at SEEN:app, and a spiritual director in training.

Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org.

#FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Disillusionment #LeavingMinistry #IT #Tech #SeenApp #Journaling #Burnout #Overwhelmed #Stressed #StressedOut #Resentment #Love #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral