- Chuck Colson

This morning when I arrived at work I looked up at an old fridge we have in creative services and saw the Ford logo.

It’s difficult to see, but in the picture below taken on my Treo, if you look to the right, you can see the fuzzy Ford logo.

With a near bankrupt economy wavering out on the horizon, I can’t help but to notice the parallels between the state of the economy as compared with the state of the “lost connection” between church and home.

Over the last 30 years, we have become so preoccupied with church attendance and with the kinds of cool events our churches are hosting, that we have failed to stay true to one of the central pillars of the church, which is to make disciples of our own families.  God’s plan for this is found all throughout scripture (not just in Deut. 6).

Large church attendance and cool events are wonderful!  But if they don’t fall in line with an overarching philosophy and strategy that is birthed out of scriptural principles, than we are falling short of God’s great plan for both the institution of the Church and the family.

Churches must make an immediate turn or shift in their mission and re-tool their ministries to equip parents to be the headquarter of spiritual formation, and allow the church do be that second center of discipleship, encouragement, and equipping.  If we don’t shift now, we will continue to see the same results…droves of students leaving the church each year after high school graduation.

There is an event in 09 that will be addressing the Church and family crisis.  This event is called D6.  The D6 Conference is a Kingdom event that will pull together churches from all denominations to tackle this central issue in the church.  The question can be asked several different ways:

• How do we connect church and home?
• How can churches partner with parents?
• How do we stop the mass exodus of students leaving the church each year?
• How do we transfer faith from generation to generation?

Again, there are several ways this question is being asked, but the one thing that remains true is that this is the central issue in the church today.

I hope to see you at D6.  Come and join in on the conversation as we explore God’s word and share about what’s successes we are experiencing in the body of Christ in this critical discussion.

Yet, so many of us can control our own destiny (I am using that term lightly…obviously God is in control.  James 4:13 – 16).  I am no historian, but even during the great depression 75% of employees kept their jobs.  Now, a 25% job loss is HUGE.  No doubt!  Yet, three out of four had an up side!

75% three point range in Basketball – Unheard of!

75% close rate in car sales – You will soon be VP!

Giving 75% of your income to charity – What a worthy goal!

My point is, even though a lot of people are loosing jobs, even more are keeping their jobs (even during the great depression).  So I think the question really becomes, “what can I do to ensure that I keep my job?”…assuming you want to keep your job!  So, I’d like to add my two cents.  Here it goes.  It’s really simple.

Work harder, smarter, more effectively, and more productive than anyone else in your company/organization.

That’s it.  Pretty groundbreaking, huh. Although it sounds so simple, I wonder how many people have been called into the bosses office in the last 30 days and been let go simply because the company had to “trim” down a little and the least effective/productive person had to go?   In this kind of market, it occurs far more frequently than we want to imagine.

As believers in the job market, we ought to work with diligence simply because productivity should be a central part of our pursuit to be like Christ.  Additionally during difficult times, one would think more people would take the hint and kick it into high gear so that “if someone has to go, it will not be me…my family needs the resources this job provides.”

I guess my challenge to anyone who listens is to do a self-evaluation.  Are you bringing your “A Game” to work each day?  Are you the one in your office who raises the bar for everyone else around you?  Are you the most productive person on your team?

These are bottom line questions.  However, if you really value your job, these are valid assessment questions.

Let me add an quick addendumn.  If you work in a production plant, I understand/realize that you can loose your job no matter how good you are because job cuts in this arena are usually do to strategic business moves, executive decisions, and even poor executive leadership.  On a separate note: if you are bringing your “A Game” to work and your company is still cutting your job, do not loose heart.  There are plenty of organizations out there looking for “A List” people like yourself.  This is the time for your valued rolodex (actual or virtual).  Play the Kevin Bacon game and work your relationships to find the work you love.  I have noticed that God tends to honor smart work, hard work, and faithfulness.