Finding God at Work

Firing someone is always an instance of disappointment, right? Whether you hired that person or someone else did, somebody had hopes that this person would thrive in their role, that it would be good for them and good for the organization. It’s tough to do firing well. But when you have the responsibility to hire and fire, the Christian thing to do is not to avoid firing people, but rather to take responsibility for the thriving of the whole team and the whole organization—which sometimes, sadly, includes letting people go. If we ever need to fire someone, we need to learn to do it well. That applies whether it’s formally firing someone from a job or asking someone to step down from a volunteer team or committee. When we handle these conversations in a Christlike spirit, we can actually love people through the process. Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org. Sources: Mark 1:32-38 (NIV) Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, 10th anniversary rev. ed. (New York: Church Publishing, 2017). Bobb Biehl, Firing Star – Video, Tools, Organizational Development Series. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #CareerChanges #Firing #FiringSomeone #EdwinFriedman #SelfDifferentiation #DifferentiatedLeader #BobbBiehl #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Chris interviews Clare VanderWeele about her decision to leave a relatively cushy gig as a marketing executive in order to become a birth doula and to homeschool her children. Hear how Clare began to discern God’s voice calling her into something that, at the time, felt logistically and financially impossible. With the help of her spiritual director and church community, Clare and her family realized they could take the leap. Clare shares, “It was very much this transition from, Okay, not only am I 'running away from something,’ but I'm running toward something else. That felt like a massive shift for me. I'm not just looking for another job. That's not what this is about. As unhappy as I am, I would stay here if that was where I was called to be. But suddenly I felt this calling in this other direction.” Clare VanderWeele homeschools her three kids in the western suburbs of Chicago and is a trained birth doula through ICEA. She previously served as the VP of Marketing Operations at Echo Gravity. You can find Clare at Gathered Nest Doula Services.  Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org. Sources: Romans 13:11-14 (ESV) Derek Roberts, “Romans 13:11-14: The Fourth Sunday of Lent,” Trinity Anglican Church (Littleton, Colorado), March 30, 2025. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #CareerChanges #Marketing #BirthDoula #Doula #Bitterness #Career #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

What can you do when the fire has gone out in your career? When you’re bruised by injustice or burned missed opportunity, it can feel like the deck is stacked against you. Sometimes it’s easier to resign yourself to the situation than to keep fighting for an ever-more-elusive dream. But when we find ourselves feeling resigned about our career, it may be an opportunity for a renewed experience of God’s grace. Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org. Sources: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) Alan Noble, You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2021). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Resignation #AlanNoble #YouAreNotYourOwn #Bitterness #Career #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

“This isn’t what I signed up for.” Have you ever had that thought about your career? When our careers don’t go the way we dreamed or planned, it’s easy to slip into bitterness, resentment, and anger. But those feelings can also be a clue, a starting point rather than an ending point. As we get honest with ourselves and with God about our unmet expectations and desires, it can lead to real spiritual growth. Take the course at FindingGodAtWork.org. Sources: Romans 12:3 (NIV) Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV) Elisabet Beseran, Juan M Pericàs, Lucinda Cash-Gibson, Meritxell Ventura-Cots, Keshia M Pollack Porter, and Joan Benach, “Deaths of Despair: A Scoping Review on the Social Determinants of Drug Overdose, Alcohol-Related Liver Disease and Suicide,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, September 29, 2022. Karen Miller, Strengthen Your Leadership. Jen Pollack Michel, Teach Us to Want: Ambition, Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2014). Arlie Russell Hochschild, “The Outsourced LIfe,” Opinion, The New York Times, May 5, 2012.  Charles Coppens, S.J., The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: Adapted to an Eight Days Retreat (St. Louis: Herder, 1916). #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Bitterness #Career #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Chris interviews Dr. Meryl Herr about her new book, When Work Hurts: Building Resilience When You're Beat Up or Burnt Out. Hear about how the biblical story of Nehemiah gives us a paradigm for faithfulness in a toxic work environment, how our sense of calling can be a double-edged sword, and how to discern when it’s time to leave. Meryl Herr (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) owns and runs The GoodWorks Group LLC, a consulting firm specializing in educational program planning and evaluation. She previously served as director of research and resources at Fuller Seminary's Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where she conducted research and created resources to help Christian marketplace leaders integrate their faith with their work. You can subscribe to Meryl’s Substack to get a free Work Hurt Assessment. Sources: 1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV) Nehemiah 4 (NIV) Meryl Herr, When Work Hurts: Building Resilience When You're Beat Up or Burnt Out (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2025). Donald Sull, Charles Sull, William Cipolli, and Caio Brighenti, “Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Culture,” MIT Sloan Management Review, March 16, 2022.  Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1970).  Alison Cook, I Shouldn’t Feel This Way: Name What's Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabatoge into Brave Action (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2024).  #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #MerylHerr #WhenWorkHurts #ToxicWorkplace #Nehemiah #EverydayFaithfulness #Disappointment #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

It’s so frustrating to be underestimated by your boss. It can be demoralizing, even humiliating. But there’s also spiritual opportunity there: opportunity for Christ-like self-advocacy, and for letting love overcome resentment. Sources: Romans 12:16-24 (NIV) Acts 24 (NIV) u/Dangerous_Sundae3138, “How to deal with a boss who is constantly putting you and your skillset/experience down?” r/ManagedByNarcissists, November 12, 2023. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Underestimated #BadBoss #Opportunity #SelfAdvocacy #Resentment #Love #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral  

Our careers don’t always keep pace with our capacities. After years of developing a specific skillset, we sometimes find ourselves stuck in a job that doesn’t use it. Or, as we’re growing, we just don’t get the chance that we know we’re ready for. When you’re in that situation, you feel the hit in your finances, your reputation, and your sense of vocation. But could that painful place also be a place of spiritual opportunity? Sources: Romans 12:15-16 (NIV) Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV) Revelation 14:12 (ESV, NIV) Brandon Tucker, “Ukrainian doctor sidelined from Canadian health care due to high exam cost,” Community, Parksville Qualicum Beach News, March 13, 2025. Tom Nelson, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2011). Gretchen Filz, “Read St. Teresa of Avila's Famous Poem, in Her Own Handwriting,” Catholic Company Magazine, October 16, 2015. #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

Losing your job can be one of the most miserable experiences of adult life. But could it also be a moment of spiritual opportunity? Sources: Romans 12:15 (NIV) Proverbs 22:29 (NIV) Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (NIV) Romans 12:3 (NIV) Mathew 6:25-27 (NIV) Luke 15:28-32 (NIV) Note: In the podcast episode itself I accidentally say “Romans 12:12” instead of “Romans 12:15” and “Matthew 5” instead of “Matthew 6”. An off-day for my reference memory, I guess! #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

We kick off a new series with this episode—Divine Disappointments: Facing Pain and Sorrow at Work.   Work isn’t just hard. Often, it hurts.   It hurts when we’re stuck in toxic workplaces, when we’re fired or laid off, when we struggle with burnout, when we get overlooked, when we fail, when we face loss of reputation.   It hurts when your career doesn’t go the way you dreamed it would.   But your pains and sorrows at work can become the places where God meets you. To put it crudely, God understands exactly how much your job sucks.   When we welcome the Holy Spirit into those places so that he can do his transforming work, we discover that they can become the places of our deepest spiritual growth and most fruitful mission. Sources: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26 (NIV) #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Vocation #Disappointment #Burnout #Disillusionment #Layoffs #LaidOff #GettingFired #Quitting #MoralInjury #Failure #DreamJob #ToxicWorkplace #ToxicBoss #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Pain #Suffering #Sorrow #FeelingEmpty #Lament #SufferingWithChrist #Perseverance #Healing #Purpose #Redemption #Restoration #DivineAppointments #MissionCentral

If you want to engage the conversation about faith and politics more deeply, check out these thinkers and leaders. Sources: Proverbs 3:33-34 (ESV) Bonnie Kristian, Staff Editor at Christianity Today Michael Wear, Founder, President and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life Justin Giboney, Founder and President of the AND Campaign Matthew Soerens, VP of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief Feeding America Eugene Cho, President/CEO at Bread for the World Curtis Chang, Executive Director at Redeeming Babel #FindingGodAtWork #FaithAndWork #Politics #FaithAndPolitics #BonnieKristian #ChristianityToday #MichaelWear #CenterForChristianityAndPublicLife #JustinGiboney #ANDCampaign #MattSoerens #WorldRelief #FeedingAmerica #EugeneCho #BreadForTheWorld #CurtisChang #RedeemingBabel #TheAfterParty #UnitedStates #Conservative #Liberal #RightWing #LeftWing #Neighbors #CommonGood #FaithHopeLove #PoliticalPower #Allegiance #Idolatry #Resurrection #Witness #Eschatology #ReturnOfChrist #ChristTheKing #Parousia #SecondComing #PoliticalIssues #Immigration #Abortion #FoodInsecurity #AwkwardConversations #TakeAStand