In praying for those I worked with, serving them above what my job required me to do and in developing real relationships with them outside of “Work”, I began to notice when their demeanor changed and they were having a bad day. I learned to ask, “How are you doing today?” I really wanted to know the answer. They would respond with “I’m Fine”, then I would respond, really? Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional? Really, how are you doing? Then I would be quiet and let them share what was really going on because they knew I genuinely cared. When they were done sharing, I learned to say, “Thanks for sharing that with me, can I pray about that with you right now?” I never got turned down. Mind you this took a couple of years to develop but you can do it too. You can start by simply asking “How are you doing today?”

God taught me how to shift the paradigm of work into a place of work interlaced with ministry, a workplace mission field. I prayed for those I worked with, I served them over and above, I befriended them, and I prayed with them. But I realized, none of these actions mattered if my work wasn’t excellent. If I wasn’t a great employee, with great work production, and great work relationships, no one would care about my faith. Others needed to see that my faith was real and that it applied to all of my life. Excellence needs to define who we are at work. Looking back, I made mistakes but I prayed with tons of people, made lifelong friends and even participated in leading one of my bosses to Jesus and another to rededication. iWork4Him was born out of this story, can you say iwork4Him?

• Martha: When Jim & I were 13 we committed our lives to full-time Christian Ministry. So naturally I thought I would be a pastor’s wife or a missionary.

• Jim: I thought I was going to be a youth pastor.

• Martha: When we got married, I naturally thought that ministry was in our future.

• Jim: Martha was right about that. But we were both wrong about the location of our ministry. We kept thinking we were headed for church ministry.

• Martha: But Jim and I are both good at business and we ran an insurance agency. We didn’t know our ministry was right there in front of us. We treated people well.

• Jim: But we never saw it as a ministry. In fact, no one ever spoke into our lives that we could have a ministry in our workplace.

• Martha: But we were in ministry and our workplace ministry calling perfectly matched our God given gifts, talents, and abilities.

• Jim: So, are you committed to full-time Christian Ministry? You’ll find it at your workplace today!

• Martha:  For more about iWork4Him and the iWork4Him podcast, go to iWork4Him dot com.  That’s iWork the number 4 Him dot com.