iWork4Him Podcast

If there is one thing I know is that the more things remain the same, the more things are changing all around us.  At iWork4Him, we have had to pivot many times and today is a momentous time where we shift once more.  We realized that the everyday Christian working woman needed a show dedicated to her and the unique challenges she faces every day.  Today we introduce you to sheWorks4Him, a podcast we will soft launch on August 16th of this year and hard launch on September 6th.  This podcast will be dedicated to Christian working women everywhere hosted by Martha Brangenberg, Catherine Gates, and Nadya Dickson.  sheWorks4Him podcast is dedicated to empowering Christian working women to live out their calling at work so that the world knows sheWorks4Him.  Learn more about this show at www.sheWorks4Him.com with new content every week beginning August 16, 2021. Today the hosts of sheWorks4Him will share some of their personal stories, how they have learned to connect their faith to their work and most importantly WHY they have decided to start this new show.  3 great stories of Christian working women shared to inspire others to embrace their calling.  Welcome to sheWorks4Him.

How can you evangelize at work? Mollie Yoder with PTL joined us to not only detail the original story of The League, but she also invited some colleagues to share how they’ve saved souls with this amazing little book.

Coffee, It used to be a simple staple. Black, or add cream or sugar or both. But Today, a simple cup of coffee is hardly ever acceptable. It has to be on ice or whipped or frothed or sugared up. There are so many ways to have your coffee. But how do you turn serving coffee into a ministry and do it among the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Today we head off to Long Beach Island NJ.  The bastion of peace and prosperity that used to be the playground of the everyday family. Long beach island is THE barrier island off New Jersey that millions flock to every summer and that hundreds of thousands call home or their beach home. Dan and Lori Malay grew up on Long Beach Island and decided to stay and make an impact right in their home community.  They are here to share their story. Dan & Lori Malay with www.howyoubrewin.com

Dan and Lori Malay have a high school sweetheart story.  Although they may differ on their recollection of the details, we know this – they fell in love and got married.  Dan actually led Lori to a relationship with Christ early in their dating relationship. Dan’s career has had many facets, law enforcement, vocational ministry, and entrepreneur.  He thought that he had “arrived” when he took a job within a church.  As a business owner, Dan knows that they are just as involved in ministry in the coffee shop as he was at the church. 

Lori has a huge role in ministry in the coffee shop, www.howyoubrewin.com. She knows that the customers and staff deal with many issues daily, and they never know how God will use a smile, a kind word, or deeper conversation to draw others to Him. 

Dan and Lori have started a coffee shop, acquired an existing one, and rebranded their business into one name, “How you Brewin.”  Being involved in the coffee industry, they have learned the value of building relationships with the regulars and getting to know their heart in the process.  Dan and Lori continue to grow in Christ and see how that has led them to be very people-focused and invest in their staff.  Dan pointed out that they start with real training around their core values and mission before the team ever learns to make a coffee.  They emphasized that they begin with trust and tell the employees that trust is critical in their relationships at work.

Fun fact, this interview came about due to a couple of employees from How you brewin’.  Grant and Grace Carvin have been lifelong friends of ours and told us about how Dan and Lori live out their faith in their business.  But the Malay’s don’t make it a practice only to hire Christians.  They know that their staff is their mission field as well as the customers.  They may get calls or texts about complex circumstances in their employees’ lives throughout any given day.  What a privilege to be able to walk beside their staff and counsel them from a biblical perspective. 

Teaching their staff to execute with excellence, gratitude, kindness, and integrity are just a few ways to learn to represent the heart of Jesus.  We didn’t get to mention it on the air, but the Malays offer a weekly staff Bible study that is a safe place to come and ask questions and for them to invest personally in each other. 

Being an entrepreneurial couple is hard.  When we asked Dan and Lori how they protect their marriage from their business and vice versa, they were refreshingly honest. It’s hard, and they need to be better at it. It’s trying to figure our balance versus integration.  Dan and Lori, you are humble servants using coffee and business as a way to be a light to the world.  Thank you for serving so well.

Do you know about the temptations at work? Have your eyes opened about the eleven temptations to avoid at work from authors Steve Reynolds and David Winters. Hear what the number one temptation is and what you can do to avoid it!

Virtue – the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness. When we were kids Virtue was held in high regard. IS Virtue still held in high regard?  Where do we find virtuous people?  Where do we find people even talking about virtue? Anywhere? And the ultimate question, where do we find those leading virtuously?  Well our guest today is in search of those leading virtuously around the country. He is interviewing them, studying them, and sharing their insights with others in his Leading Virtuously Podcast as well as putting their virtuous insights into practice in his business Spirit Consulting.  Today we talk with Christopher Gomez, a man on a mission from God to find those Leading Virtuously.

Christopher Gomez was no stranger to religion but from age ten to thirty he really didn’t think much of it.  One day God intersected his life in a very real way and Christopher was drawn back into a relationship with our heavenly Father.  He started attending a non-denominational church where as a musician, the music really drew him in.  Fast forward to Chris’ recent experience where he was really seeking to understand what sphere of influence he was supposed to impact and was repeatedly pointed to business.  He has been working in business for years and truly started being intentional this past year or so in allowing his walk with the Lord to impact his everyday.  This interview with Christopher gives some great examples of how God has used him with clients as well as during the work hours just praying for someone he and his wife encountered that needed healing.  God can use us every hour of the day if we allow Him to be in charge.  Through his own podcast, Leading Virtuously, Christopher has met and interviewed some great leaders that teach not only the listener but also the show host.  His audience loves to hear the lessons and allow them to impact and challenge their own lives.  Listen to this complete interview and allow it to impage you today.

An interview with an unlikely CFO. Martha B. and Caroline M. take the reins to chat with a faith-based leader, Lisa Zeeveld, CFO of Belay Solutions, a hip virtual-assistant, virtually-run company.

The Urban Islands Project in conjunction with NextWave.community posed a question to us. “How do you plant an iWork4Him church?” “How do you do this in an urban environment?”  We tackled these questions and more as we spoke to the NextWave.community about iWork4Him and how a church focused on work and the value of work can transform a community by meeting the needs of the community before you start inviting people to church. Enjoy the challenges we offered in this conversation. If you are a pastor of a local church, some of these conversations may cause you to look at things differently. Be warned.  Its always fun to see what God is doing all over the country and this group of church planting pastors is a dynamic group trying to meet the needs of rural communities and urban communities.

Our theme for the month is Reinventing Church Funding. In preparation for our interview, I’m posting a article entitled “Lean Staff, Robust Mission.” The point of the article is to help our audience of church leaders expand their imagination concerning the purpose of the people they lead. We want to help them shift from seeing congregants primarily as volunteers for staffing church programs to viewing them as activated disciple makers serving Jesus where ever they go. I believe your core message is in perfect alignment with this shift in thinking.

* Tell us about your family* 3 kids – all married – 6 grandkids – all over the country, MN, MO, Northern Fl.* * Tell us about your experience with the Church * Both of us grew up in the church* Both committed our lives to full-time Christian ministry at 13* Both had an entrepreneurial call on our lives* Tried to enroll in seminary and twice the Sr. Pastor of our church came and said – Church leadership is not a good fit, we need more “Lay” ministers* Lived our lives as entrepreneurs having been told “church is church and business is business – they have nothing to do with each other” and “business is a necessary evil” – did those pastors know Jesus was a business guy??? Did they ever read the bible?* * Tell us about your podcast* iWork4Him is a show dedicated to unlocking God’s purpose for Christ Followers in their work. We highlight workplaces faith testimonies, great written resources and ministries that are actively involved in discipling workplace believers at all levels of an organization.* 8 years running* 1800 shows* 3000 guests* Daily 1 minute all over the nation* Weekly podcasts* * You have said (something like) the most underutilized missionary resource of the Church are the church members themselves. Talk to us about what you mean by that?* What I said is this, churches are designed around what pastors have been taught in seminary. Build a little kingdom and get lots of subjects. The bible talks about the church as a manufacturing plant. Everything produced is useless unless it is put into production. NO WHERE does it say in the scriptures that ONE person has everything the Holy Spirit has to say for the week. Pastors rarely know lost people. Workplace believers are surrounded by them – we need to send them on mission.* * What are some healthy ways that church leaders can interact with high capacity parishioners?* Love them* Live life with them* Earn their trust and admiration* Invite them into your life* Let the Lord lead them to give you money.* They are tired of being asked all the time. They want to invest not only their money, they want a place to invest their money where they are wanted for what’s in their life too.* * If you were starting a church from scratch, what habits would you build into the rhythm of the church?* Throw all the old ideas away* Stop thinking of church being on Sunday and realize that The Church is in action all 7 days a week* Stop thinking a building is the central focus and realize it is a tool and often an ostracizing one at that* Love on your community – learn about it, what it needs,

A business as ministry by cleaning offices. Tune in to hear Office Pride owner, Todd Hopkins, introduce us to franchisees, Dre & Karie Truitt, whose story will make you laugh and truly consider how you can build the Kingdom with your business.

Its fun to share about the exciting things God has asked Martha and I to do with iWork4Him over the years. With this year rolling out two new podcasts – iRetire4Him and sheWorks4Him as well as the new www.AwakenPodcastNetwork.com. In addition, we will be rolling out 3 new books, our first ever, all in the names of our podcasts – iWork4Him, iRetire4Him and sheWorks4Him. Mike Henry host of the Follower of One podcast found on the www.AwakenPodcastNetwork.com wanted us to tell his audience what was going on with iWork4Him and then we turned the tables on Mike and talked to him about his Marketplace Missions Trips and his Marketplace Missions Trip in a Box. It’s a great conversation with one of the many collaborators from within the Faith and Work Movement.

Mike Henry is the real deal.  God allowed us to meet Mike several years ago when we all just started being obedient to discover our purpose in the Faith and Work movement.  His genuine desire for collaboration keeps us coming back for more.  Have you ever gone on a short term mission trip, raised your funds, prepare for the travel, have an amazing time serving and come back home changed?  This is a wonderful experience and we encourage everyone to do it at least once.  What we fail to realize is that our workplace is a mission field we can prepare to visit every day!  Listen to our conversation as we talk with Mike Henry from Follower of One about his aha moment about his mission field and now 100s of Christ-followers have gone on missions trips to their work.  God can use each of us every day in our fully funded mission.

Follower of One and Marketplace Missions Trips

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Is your perspective tainted? Hear the story of one leader – Tom Harper, CEO of Networld Media Group – who learned from finding the trees in the forest as he shares from his latest book, “Through Colored Glasses”.