February 2024 | Keynote 2 “Spiritual Calling”

[00:00:00] All right. Welcome back. So one of the things Jeanna alluded to earlier is we originally planned for Holly Betenbough to give this keynote and She is not sick. She’s sitting right back in the back of the room Last night around 7 or 8 p. m She came up to me and told me she felt like God had showed her that I was supposed to give this talk and she Said I’m so sorry, but she still feels like she should be here and connect with people But I mention this because it’s a real live example of us leaning into this.

Uh, sometimes, uh, the person that God calls might be the least prepared. That’s another kingdom principle. But it’s not about being prepared. What we need is the power of God to rest on us. And then whoever is standing on the stage doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter how prepared they are, you know, uh, one time I was sitting [00:01:00] right back there and Holly leaned over to me and she was about to come up and give a talk and she said, I feel like the Lord told me I’m not supposed to say all this and pointed to her notes and she walked, they called her to the stage, introduced her, she dropped her notes in that trash can and walked up here.

And I go, holy crap, I could never see myself doing that. Uh, she helped me take one more step closer to that. Uh, I’m an engineer who thrives on being prepared. Uh, but when Holly told me that last night, I was supposed to give this talk. I immediately had peace about it. Um, which is supernatural. Also immediately knew I wasn’t supposed to stay up all night preparing for it.

That would not honor God or show that I was trusting him. That’d be trusting in me. It also wouldn’t have honored God if Holly wouldn’t have asked me to do it. Like worried that I don’t want to put too much pressure on him that also wouldn’t honor God or me. So thank you for that

You [00:02:00] know, I’d given a somewhat similar talk before. So I thought, Oh, maybe I can do something like that. And before I left the office last night, I went and looked and Nope, like major sections of it, I was like, Nope, Gina covered that there. And that would be in that talk. Oh no. So when I left, I really didn’t have a plan, but I went to bed at my normal time and I woke up in my normal time, came to the office at the normal time.

I said, look, Lord, you’re just going to have to do it. But you know, before.

Before I even had my clothes on this morning, the Lord started talking to me about things that fit in this talk that I’d never thought about before, that I’m so excited to share with you guys. Before I even had my clothes on, I was in tears in my closet. And that’s how this works. Um, I was scheduled to give the talk, the last one about the kingdom and the next one about the kingdom leader.

And I felt like in December, the Lord showed me, told me a couple of things I was supposed to include in that stories. And I was having a hard time actually fitting them in there, even as late as last [00:03:00] night. Like I don’t know how that fits. And today when I came in, it all clicked together. It was effortless, crazy.

Uh,

that’s what the Lord can do. And I tell you that not because, uh, well really because you have front row seats, uh, to see how this thing goes. Uh, sometimes I think of this as the great experiment we’re seeing, like, like if, if we actually do this stuff and try to follow God’s prompting and stuff, how’s this all going to work out?

So welcome, uh, watch God’s faithfulness and you’ll know, this is not us. Um, I’m so excited to see myself. All right, when I first came to Beaton Bow to work here, it was 2006, and honestly, I did not think God cared anything about what I did for a living. I did think He cared about how I led my family or what I did in my personal time, but I saw work as separate.[00:04:00]

In fact, if you would have asked me when I walked in the front doors, if I thought God cared about my work, I’d have probably had some sarcastic comment. Like, yeah, does he care if I have tea or coffee in the morning or something like that? Because I just didn’t believe it. Um, so I know what some of you are thinking, because I’ve thought it.

Does God even care about our work? Isn’t that like a secular thing, not a spiritual thing? And I’m so glad you asked. Uh, you know, most Christians see work as a means to an end. Like a necessary evil that I’m going to do until I retire and then maybe I could do something meaningful then or at least not have to work anymore.

And they’ve bought into this pagan notion that leisure is good and work is bad. They’ve been misled by this sacred, secular distinction that teaches only working in the church is real full time ministry. Did you know that that hasn’t always been the [00:05:00] case? If we, like, look back through history, that’s not always the way they’ve seen this.

But in the ancient Greek world, work was considered a curse. And they believed society was organized so that a few could, uh, experience the blessing of leisure while those in the lower socioeconomic classes had to have the burden of work. Uh, everyday work was demeaning and something actually you should try to avoid if you could at any cost.

And there were cert, there was certainly nothing spiritually meaningful to it. But in scripture, did you know Jesus gave no general call for all Christians to give up everyday work? And much of his teachings, I might even say the majority of them, drew on everyday themes from the marketplace. They were about farming or someone out in the marketplace looking for something.

Um, Paul also emphasizes this like positive view of work, [00:06:00] commanding all Christians to continue in their work, but to do it differently than they might see someone else do it. It actually is apparent in, in three different books of Paul’s own writing that he never gave up his job as a tent maker. That he continued that even after his, quote, call to full time ministry, Paul continued in the occupation he had before.

It was actually one of the places he interacted with people that he could talk to. This actually seems like a primary pattern for the early church. We see Christians giving glory to God in and through their occupations, but doing the same jobs as unbelievers, but doing them in a distinctly Christian way.

The early believers Uh, live the entirety of their lives differently. And they actually thought how they, how, how they do their work differently would invite their labors to act their, their neighbors, to actually see how deep their faith penetrated to see it lived out. And Martin Luther taught [00:07:00] that we actually respond to God’s call to love our neighbors through our work.

That’s a place it would play out for most believers. Through our work, we could love our neighbor. And here is a direct quote from Martin Luther. The work of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the side of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks.

All works are measured before God by faith alone. With that view like the platform of business can become the primary place our faith plays out. It becomes action each time We make a decision or perform a task. It’s an opportunity to show employees or customers or our business partners something different we can model the love of Christ Through the sacrifice of self, of self in service to another.

The Bible has a lot to say [00:08:00] about work. Did you know that in the different, all the different forms of the word work, it’s mentioned in the Bible 800 times. I like to count things. 800 times in the Bible. That means it is, it’s pretty, pretty often. That is more than, uh, the words used to express worship, music, praise, and singing.

Work matters to God. He has a lot to say about it. In fact, the Bible starts with this. In the beginning, God, this is an easy one, created. Created, or that’s one translation. He created. Y’all, he went to work. The week of creation was the first work week. In the opening passage of scriptures, you don’t have to read past the first verse to come across the inescapable truth that God himself is a worker.

It’s in his very nature, and that’s why he put it in ours. [00:09:00] In Genesis 2, we read this, The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Did you know that man, uh, God gave man work to do before the fall? This is Adam and Eve, he gave them important work to do before the fall.

This Garden of Eden wasn’t a vacation, it was a vocation. Sometimes we, we mix it up and we think that work is a result of the fall, but actually the result of the fall is that sometimes our work would be frustrating and seemingly meaningless, but God sees work as a good thing. That’s why he did it here.

This was his ideal world, the way it worked best before sin entered the world, and he gave work to Adam, meaningful work. Work was viewed as a gift from God. You know, ancient Jews had this deep understanding of, of how faith and [00:10:00] work came together in their lives. Uh, and it probably wouldn’t be surprising that if you look back at ancient Hebrew, which is the language of God’s chosen people, they use the same word for both work and worship.

How weird is that? I’ll bet you they get confused on which one are you talking about there? Uh, I want to introduce you to a Hebrew word. It’s called Avodah. Again, that’s how we say it in West Texas. Um, this word jointly means work, worship, and service. All three things in one word. Isn’t it crazy that they only have one word to describe all those three things?

You know, the various uses in scripture of this word, avodah, uh, shows us that God’s original design and desire was that our work and worship and serving would be a seamless way of living. There’s no need to make a distinction [00:11:00] between them. He has no need to make a distinction between them. In some verses, the word avodah means work, like, meaning labor in a field, like, sweaty your brow, working.

Uh, and in other verses, it means worshiping or serving the God Most High. And, don’t take my word for it, here’s the first mention of this word. The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it, behind that word work there is avodah. And when translators looked at this said, well, he’s in a garden, so he must mean work there.

But it could have said serve or worship, but they, translators chose work there. It makes more sense. I agree. Uh, the second passage here, Exodus eight. This is, uh, Moses talking to Pharaoh. He says, Pharaoh, this is what the Lord says. Let my people go so that they may worship me. The word behind worship right there is avad.

It’s the verb form of avadah. Same word. They could have said, you know, [00:12:00] work with me or serve me. In fact, if you read it this way, this is what the Lord says, let my people go so they may work for me and with me, not you Pharaoh. Do you now understand why he might have had a problem with that? Reads a little different.

Um, finally, this one. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua could have said, me and my family, we will work alongside the Lord. Or we will worship the Lord. But here they chose serve. You see, Joshua would likely say he meant all three. In fact, Joshua would be confused why we have three words to describe the same thing. Ancient Hebrew also doesn’t have a word for secular and sacred because even a small Hebrew boy would know there was nothing apart from God, which is what secular means.

Something apart from God. There’s nothing apart from [00:13:00] God. And if God wanted to teach his chosen people that there was a difference between things, he would have done it and they would have a word to describe it. But there isn’t one there. He didn’t need to draw a distinction. Avodah is like this beautiful picture of an integrated faith, a life where work and worship come together, and they’re from the same root.

You know, Rick often shared this funny picture. He said he, he, this got stuck in my head. He, he, he would see God up in heaven, and I think he was on clouds and in a recliner with his feet up. And he said, uh, angels would like rush over there to him and say, Hey, God, you gotta come see this. Your people down there are really worshiping you.

And it was like a fragrance to God, and he wouldn’t get up, he would just lean over and give it a big sniff, just And he would say, or are they working? Because it smells the same to me. Here’s my point. Our [00:14:00] work matters profoundly to God. Our service to God has to go well beyond teaching Sunday school, or serving in a soup kitchen, or praying before meals.

Honestly, through our faithful labor, we imitate God’s own creativity, uh, His appreciation for order, for excellence. We live that out. That’s part of Him in us. Through this redeemed view of work, God can and does change culture. So we’re supposed to seek the kingdom, right? And take an active role in expanding it.

And that even includes our work, which God cares a lot about. So what does God’s emerge, uh, kingdom emerging in a business look like? Well, a lot of things, and we’ll give you a hundred examples before you leave. What it doesn’t look like is religion. So if you were worried that you were [00:15:00] coming to a workshop that was about installing religion inside of your business, you can relax.

That is not what this is about, but at the same time, this is way deeper than running your business with Christian principles, way different. And it’s also way different than having a check writing ministry out of your business. That is not what we’re talking about. The Lord has so much more. That’s what we’ve learned.

Um, Can I share how this started for us? In 1992, uh, Rick Beatonboe had a big vision for a home building company. Through streamlined systems and processes and also fanatical cost controls, he, he wanted to offer the lowest price home. Um, him and Holly had just bought a home for 27, 000 or something, is that what it was?

Something like that. And he was like, that is the coolest thing ever. I want to do that. And he, uh, he invited his dad, Ron, to join him and partner, uh, in that business. And Ron would sell [00:16:00] them and Rick would build them. Um, but Ron had some prior experience in real estate. He’d already made a fortune and lost it.

He lost it all. Um, and in that season where he had nothing, Ron found something. It was a relationship with God. He had, he had been out to San Diego and when he returned to partner with Rick, Rick noticed something was different. And they said in their first meeting together, uh, when he and Ron got together to talk about this new business, Ron said this, Hey, while I was out in California, uh, I got closer to God and I want to propose something.

And Rick said, he didn’t have a clue where this was going. He said. The dad he knew always went to church, and Rick went to church a lot. Uh, Rick would say he knew a lot about God, but he didn’t have a relationship with God, and he didn’t even understand there was a difference. As far as Rick knew, his dad was the same way, so he was confused.

So, he said, Dad, what are you even talking about? [00:17:00] And Ron told Rick, The first time around in business, I was building my thing. And this time around, if we have success, could we honor God? He even proposed it kind of like a deal. Ron was always a deal maker. Rick said he remembered thinking what in the world is he talking about so he said dad What in the world are you talking about and Ron said I don’t know maybe it means You know, if, if we have a profit, we’ll give some of that weight, good Christian causes around the world or, or, I don’t know, we’ll just be generous with what we make.

And Rick said he remembered thinking, I’m still not sure what he’s saying. Uh, and I’m not sure what God would care about a home building company, but we could use all the help we could get. So sure, I’ll do it. And guys, that was an important thing. They didn’t realize it in the moment, but they just made a covenant with God and invited him into this.

And he was so excited to get started. Um, [00:18:00] when Rick and Ron founded this business, they established it would be God’s. So it is. The people leading here today believe the same thing, and that’s what makes it a kingdom business. God has refined that original commitment to honor God and deepened our understanding along the way.

It’s been like a progressive thing. Today, we have, uh, several companies. Uh, a 30 year old home building company, and a tile company, and a cafe, an event center that you’re in today, a distribution company, a natural farm. Like, what’s that about? The Lord has led us on some adventures. Uh, but that’s Those companies all do something different, but we believe this is why they exist.

This is our current purpose statement. It started with honor God and the Lord has refined it to this, to reveal God and his kingdom through our work in the marketplace. What do you guys think about that?

We believe that’s why each business exists. Each has [00:19:00] a different mission or what they do. But that is the unified purpose behind it. That is the true North for our senior leaders. If we’re deciding to turn left or right, having said all that, would it surprise you if I told you we are not a Christian business?

In fact, we don’t even like that phrase. We feel like Christian was only ever intended to describe a person, a Christ follower, not music or a movie or a business. Um, in fact, if we say our business is Christian, we might accidentally be saying that it is exclusive and only people who think like we. Think belong here.

That’s never what Jesus did. You should know a lot of employees in our companies are not Christians They don’t have to agree with this purpose statement to join in with with us. We say that Specifically and overtly now that this is what those of us on the board and our leaders who are deciding the [00:20:00] direction of the company Belief, but you don’t have to believe that to join us or be part of the family here You know when Jesus called the disciples He didn’t say, Hey guys, first, I need, can we just sit down and talk about a few things, you know, about the way you think about this or, you know, is it okay to.

Drink wine in public or stuff like that. Like he didn’t get caught up in any of that crap. He just said hey Why don’t you follow me and and I’ll get to know you you’ll get to know me We’ll do some stuff and we’ll see how this thing goes Now I’d like you to hear from Rick and Holly directly about a really pivotal moment one of those Game changing moments, a milestone in our company that turned out to be this huge catalyst of the kingdom breaking out in our business.

And of course, um, you know, the Lord is so good at orchestrating perfect storms. And, uh, we had adopted kids when they were six and a half years old, twins, a boy and a girl. And whenever our twins. Um, got into high school. Our son just literally went [00:21:00] off the rails. He just went off the rails and he went off hard, very self destructive behavior, um, completely out of control.

And, um, we were just crushed, completely heartbroken. One of our employees had his beaten by home shirt on logo on, went into a business establishment during his lunch hour. And the owner of the business said, Oh, you work for beaten by homes. Well, let me just tell you about their son proceeded to tell him everything that our son was kind of walking through, which honestly, at the time, um, We were just becoming aware of all the different layers of things that were going on.

Wow, that took a lot of courage for him to come in and tell us that story. So he came back to work, sat across from us and just told us, I thought you might want to know, um, what happened during my lunch break today and what I heard. And we were crushed. And in that moment, We knew we had to come forward and share this information with our employees.

We didn’t want anybody else that worked with us every day to hear this story on the street. As this young man had, we were convicted by that. Um, and the Lord essentially was saying, I’m going to need your pride. [00:22:00] It was our pride that was wounded. You know, we had this business that had our name on it. It had been established in this city, and here’s our son out there wreaking havoc and, um, Man, it was just a really tough time.

Um, the enemy of course starts attacking you with thoughts like, as soon as everyone hears this story, there’s going to be a mass exodus. They’re going to say, if you can’t keep your family together, how in the world can you keep a business together? We’re not following you anymore. What kind of leader are you?

You can’t even lead in your own home. Right? Those are the lies and the accusations of the enemy. And that was happening to us too. And uh, the next morning we came to work and we knew what God was asking us to do. And every step of the way, those lies, those lies of the enemy just pounding us. But we went in and we had established a jumpstart, which is kind of a Bible study every morning.

And um, we were just broken and just weeping. And we just told him, we said, guys, here’s the deal. These are the things we know. I’m sure there’s more to the story we don’t know, but we just need your prayers. We didn’t want you to hear it on the street. We wanted you to hear it from us. And wow, that invisible wall that we had allowed to be built up really [00:23:00] had erected ourselves to keep everybody at arm’s length in that moment.

God just crushed that wall. And although we had known these people and worked next to him every day for years, in so many cases for the first time, we were looking at each other eyeball to eyeball and seeing each other in truth for the first time. It was amazing. They surrounded us. They prayed for us.

They loved on us. Um, yeah. We had a line of employees at the end of it, of people who were impacted by it. Um, one of those employees came up to us and he said, that’s my story. That was my story. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been arrested. And I’ve come to work every day in fear that you would discover who I really am.

And you wouldn’t want me here anymore because I know you’re Christians. I know what you stand for. Wow. We’re looking at this young man who is such a powerful contributor to what is happening in our company. And in that instant, God restored our hope for our son. He let us see our son beyond this point.

How see through this point that we were in with him, [00:24:00] how redemptive that was. It just restored our hope. And for him, it set him free. He was free and invited to be fully who he was. And we got to tell him, you make such a powerful contribution here. We can’t even imagine doing what we’re doing without you.

And so I just, the freedom, the freedom to not wear a mask anymore, to fully be who you are, you know, and, and of course, after that, it did open up. all kinds of problems and all kinds of things in people’s lives, you know, and we were really getting to know people quite well. And then as leaders, again, of course, what do we have to resist the urge to do to fix it all?

You know, here we are trying to, well, how do we fix that? How, and you know, and the Lord’s like, wait a second, there’s just one me. All I’m asking you to do is be a splint. And if you know when you have a broken finger and you put a splint next to it, that splint doesn’t bring the healing. It just supports the limb while God does the healing.

And so there’s no pressure on us leaders to have it all figured out. There’s no pressure on us to be able to solve every problem for every employee. [00:25:00] All God’s doing is asking us to be willing to walk in truth and vulnerability and transparency next to them. And offer support, and offer love. What a story.

And one thing they didn’t share is the young man they were talking about was actually me. So, I’m the one that’s been arrested more times than he could remember. Been to jail, I would see friends in there, that doesn’t happen the first time you go. Um, I’m a recovering alcoholic and drug addict and drug dealer.

And, that story is such a great example of what it looks like. When God’s kingdom breaks out in the middle of a business, it’s, it’s one where the highest rank, those with the highest rank have to take the lowest position.

That’s what real life application looks like. They shared their weakness and brokenness, and God used it to restore their hope for their son, and it set me free. [00:26:00] You know what else happened? God used it to begin to heal my relationship with my parents. As I started walking closely with Rick and Holly, I started to see what I put my parents through, through the eyes of my closest friend, which was a gift from God.

My defenses weren’t up. I could see it. How else could God have given me that perspective? That is poetic. Do you see what God did there? And did any of that sound like religion? We often say we want people inside our organization to feel this more than they hear about it. If you were someone who came to work and joined into our family of companies and you had no faith element to your story.

Here’s what this all means to you. We hope you feel loved. Love is the secret sauce. We want to get to know you, the real you. More than surface level, you aren’t just a project for us, and [00:27:00] we aren’t trying to force anything on you. We won’t hide who we are, the real us, including our struggles and our faith.

And everyone is free to be exactly who they are. That’s what it should look like. It’s about being authentic, both in our relationship with God and being authentic in our relationship and love for each other. So, what does that look like on a daily basis? That’s actually what we’re going to talk about the next couple days.

Uh, but often it comes down to asking God that question. God, what does this look like on a daily basis? And learning to listen and apply what He says. But I’m, I’m going to bet it doesn’t start with a Bible study. Or rolling out some new program. When you get back, the first step might actually involve you getting to better know God and connect with him.

And then you truly connecting with your people, treating them as a priority, being vulnerable with them, caring for them beyond what they can do for your [00:28:00] business before you try to share your faith with them, do you know? Did you ever notice that Jesus called most of his disciples straight out of the marketplace?

They became known as the apostles, uh, but they were all, almost all of them working everyday jobs when he found them. Many were fishermen. One was a tax collector. Virtually none of them were qualified or had seminary degrees. That’s part of what confused people about them. In fact, look at this verse. When they, and that they is the Sanhedrin here.

The Sanhedrin is like the established governing religious party of the time, the ones with the seminary degrees. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men. They were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Now, I’m not saying a seminary degree is a bad thing, or God can’t use those people.

He can. He can. [00:29:00] But it certainly isn’t a prereq to being used by God, either. Those unschooled, ordinary men don’t somehow have a higher calling than a pastor, but they also don’t have a lower calling, and neither do we.

We believe Jesus is still calling people out of the marketplace, anointing disciples and kingdom leaders right out here in the marketplace, just like he did in the Gospels. It wasn’t about people having the proper religious training or accolades then, and it still isn’t today. In fact, God often prefers to use the most unlikely people.

Like if you read through scripture, you’ll see that’s his MO. Here’s what I believe. You are specifically called and anointed by the king. It’s a spiritual calling. It’s actually why God Brought you here today, this whole thing’s a setup [00:30:00] because he needed you to hear that.

We see some business owners, uh, catch a vision of what God, uh, is doing. And they’re supposed to head in this direction. And the first thing to do is go hire a pastor. Please don’t do that. Like, I’m not saying that might not be where God leads you at some point, but you can’t outsource the spiritual part of this.

You are a spiritual leader.

Scripture tells us there’s no authority except that which is established by God, and that includes your authority in your, at your work, with your family. It’s not by mistake or coincidence that you heard all this. The God of the universe knows your name, and he personally is inviting you on the greatest adventure you’ll ever experience.

And if you’re feeling especially inadequate, like you’re like, oh, Cal, you don’t know my story. Well, we did something really special for you this time. Every speaker who will be up here is also Extremely [00:31:00] inadequate. Every table coach, at every table, is also inadequate for this calling. And you can ask them how that plays out.

We’ll tell you. Sometimes it’s crazy. But that’s the kind of people God loves to use. He loves using broken people. He uses crooked, crooked sticks to draw straight lines. Just like me. That’s, that’s what he loves to do. And not just the me that was the addict me. The me that’s still a mess today, right now.

God still chooses to use me. I hope you’re encouraged by that. As I, as I said, I felt like the Lord gave me fresh revelation just this morning on this very topic, which seemed huge to me. And I’ll end with that. So, so what stops us from becoming the person that God had in mind when he created us? What stops us from becoming that?

You know, it’s not him. Um, it’s things in you that whisper [00:32:00] to you that you can’t be the things you hope for. It’s actually not prohibitions, it’s inhibitions, like internal limitations on yourself. What stops us are the lies that we believe about who we are. What stops us are the wounds we have that still are unhealed because they were never exposed.

We buried them. What stops us are the games that we play to protect us from the reality that might grow us. Do y’all do that? You act like you didn’t hear that or you explain away why you, you wouldn’t be qualified for that. That’s the games we play with God to avoid the things that might grow us. What stops us is we don’t believe the very things that God speaks over us.

Um, He is the only one that has the right to name you, to tell you who you really are. He’s the only one whose [00:33:00] commentary really counts. God gave Jesus to Mary and Joseph, and he gave them the right to raise the child, and even discipline the child. You ever think about that? But he didn’t give them the right to naming.

His name will be Jesus. He gave John the Baptist to Elizabeth and to Zachariah. Gave them the ability to raise a child and discipline it, but did not give them The ability to name it. His name will be John and he calls you by name and he gives you gifts and he instills within you unique dreams and talents and joys and the journey of your life is to discover those things.

That’s the adventure he sets before you. But if your dream is not beyond you. If your calling is not bigger than you can accomplish in your flesh, then it’s offensive to God. If your calling isn’t bigger than what you can accomplish in your flesh, it’s offensive to God. [00:34:00] It’s just a to do list. It’s busy work.

If you don’t understand that God delights in fulfilling your dreams and passions, then you’ll never be fulfilled as a child of God. Because He loves it when you attempt things. He loves it when we try it. When we step into it and say, Lord, I don’t know how this is gonna go, but I’m gonna trust you.

And he wants you to go after those things and honor those things, even if the Lord doesn’t, even if the world does not honor those things.

If we don’t do that, then we misunderstand the nature of the God that sees us, that honors us, that hears us, that calls us. This time together over the next three days is about anything. It’s about understanding that our work and what we do every day is alongside the Lord, not apart from, alongside. And he cares about it deeply, and he wants to talk to you about every single thing, every part of it.

He wants to help us as leaders. And [00:35:00] influencers with our everyday work. He’d love to be alongside us every day as we advance his kingdom, not, not our kingdom through our work. So Lord, we thank you again for this opportunity to gather and enjoy each other, to worship you in the middle of the work week.

Lord, will you continue to speak to us? I pray that you whisper to each of us individually and help us understand this calling and anointing more deeply. Give us the courage to respond and step into your calling in our life and to continue responding to that calling. Lord, bless the rest of our time together.

In Jesus name. Amen.