Please oh please oh please.
For those that are working in the so-called “corporate america” and for those trying/considering leaving the “cube life”… I challenge you to consider that option carefully.
But you already knew that, right?
I woke up this morning (actually I jolted awake) thinking madly about the decade and a half of experience living in the cube farm, working for “the man” and climbing the ladder of corp to an executive at a Fortune 50.
I wished I was still there.
But only for a second. Where God has called me now is exactly where I need to be. But, if it were humanly possible, I’d “live” in both. And since I can’t, I’m challenging those who are to keep on truckin’.
Here’s why (in my very limited opinion):
You are a part of a large system that is developing products, technology, and strategies that I (at this point in time) will never see, touch, nor smell (and play with) until they’ve made it through the bureaucratic mess of management and executive budgeting. You’re a part of a larger body of “innovation”.
This is a good thing.
The simple fact is that these large-scale businesses have access to money and incredibly gifted thinkers and strategists that we (the Church) need. But we NEED YOU to be the voice, and we NEED YOU to share those things with us, those that no longer live in that world.
I wish I had this perspective when I was there. I could have done so much “good” with it. And now, those ideas are stale, gathering dust, or completely forgotten… and I had no one to share them with (or rather, I didn’t think about sharing them).
So, from a very admittedly selfish perspective, please don’t leave Corporate America and the Cube… just make sure you share with us what’s going on at the “farm”.
//rantoff
I don't know about this one. I spent 30 years in the corporate world and while we need voices in Corporate America, the same can be said about the reverse. Those who come out of Corporate experience and into a ministry of some kind can connect with the business world in a way those without any experience of that sort can.
I can speak to people up and down the corporate ladder now that i am out with a credibility my experience has gotten for me. And with time to ficus on ministrering thatg I would not be able to if I was still in the game.
But that is just my perspective and I am open to discussion.
We need to remember that just because we are in the corporate world does not mean we are not in ministry. Being in the corporate world actually gives us access to people we can minister to that we would be unable to reach if we were working at a Church or an official 'ministry' job. We need to look at our jobs as a place where we can do ministry while we are there, not just later if we accept a ministry job somewhere.
Jeff: I agree that we work for Christ first and companies second, and we should be in ministry when we are in the workplace. But i feel there is also a role for full time ministry for someone who has come out of corporate as much as someone doing it while in corporate. I find that different doors open for someone who is now outside working in as opposed to inside working out.
definitely.
all called differently on this one. gotta find your right "place" and trust in God to guide you there.
definitely don't disagree with you! i sat up this morning and had this thought… had to jot it down.
i'm totally down with people in ministry too. both sides are needed… i'm just offering some thoughts about sticking to it.
Sticking to ministry is key, whichever side of the aisle you minister from.
It is not a black/white issue in my mind in that neither one is always the answer. Full time ministries can benefit from someone's corporate connections/expertise/etc. The "corporate world" needs Christians doing ministry from the inside. Obviously, it depends on what God is calling you to do or be.
Either way, the Church needs the cross pollenation of people that can operate in both mediums. We need innovation to flow from corporate to Church and we need it to go from Church to corporate.
1 Corinthians 12 speaks to this, I believe, in Paul's discussion about spiritual gifts. He uses the metaphor of parts of the body to explain how we need all the gifts and not for everyone to have the same gifts.
"But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." (1 Cor 12:18 – 20)
Peace.
darn. i'm digging the cross pollination idea. brilliant.
that's what i had in mind… just had this pop in my had this morning…
there we go.