Letting Good Things Run Wild: The Integration of Faith and Business Creating a Deeper Faith, a Better Business, and Greater Impact

By Greg Gilbaugh

A practical, yet powerful resource that integrates personal faith with business interests to help readers deepen their faith while building a better business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781631957604

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Larry (not his real name) and I had started meeting over coffee and our conversations centered around being a person of faith in the marketplace. After working through a few topics and getting our next refill, Larry began to open up about some of his struggles. He told me how he feels that people in his community group at church just don’t understand some of the real issues that he faces as a business owner. He is carrying a weight of responsibility that many others in the church do not have, and as a result, he feels a little isolated . . . not understood . . . and to be honest, alone. He reports similar feelings in his business environment. Larry has a deep faith and allegiance to God that most in his business world do not share. He wrestles with bringing aspects of faith into his business decisions, but again, he feels isolated, misunderstood, and very much alone.

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this story. I want to forget the number of years that I have lived this story. This is a common reality to many people of faith, who find themselves living in the world of business leadership. When someone cannot connect the most important aspect of their life (their faith) with the area of their life they spend most of their waking hours in (their business), the results are enormous. Enormously bad. The outcome is the loss of potential impact and productivity. Indeed, I have seen this movie before, and it usually has the same familiar ending.

My parents moved to a nice retirement area in Florida several years ago, and I had been there to visit quite a few times. While with them, I met some of their friends, neighbors, and my dad’s golfing buddies. A number of these men had impressive business backgrounds prior to their retirements: a C-suite position for a major automotive manufacturer, a regional director for a restaurant chain covering twenty states, an insurance entrepreneur who owned multiple offices and had numerous agents working for him—so much so that I truly believed if he blew his nose, the green stuff that would come out would be one-hundred-dollar bills. These men also went to church with my parents. They, too, were people who had loved Jesus for years and still confessed allegiance to Him in their golden years. And yet, in this church of 1000 people, these men and women’s spiritual acts of service were limited to handing out bulletins on Sunday morning or maybe leading a men’s Bible study.

What an absolute waste.

In the season of life that can potentially be the most influential . . . the most fruitful . . . the most impactful, so many of these saints are sitting on the bench, falsely believing that the life God has given them—along with the skills, talent, and experience that He has led them through—and their value to the Kingdom have become nothing more than handing out paper and writing a monthly check to the church.

Finishing strong has been replaced by coasting along.

And guys like Larry are going to be joining them soon.

This is the common theme of those who struggle to connect their faith with their business interests. Lots of potential that never quite gets potent. And it is not for a lack of wanting to light this fire; it’s that they don’t quite know how.

This book is an attempt to change that and offer a match.

There is a profound connection between theological truth and your business interests. There is a wise way to grow a business, one that gets somewhere rather than running around in circles and taking you along for the ride. There is a way to grow in leadership, influence, and impact, from the time you are preparing to enter the business field all the way until the day before your funeral. There is a way to bypass the isolation, questioning, and deep frustration many face and instead, experience passion, purpose, fulfillment, and impact.

Leave the bulletins to someone else. You were created, redeemed, gifted, and enabled for so much more!

Letting Good Things Run Wild is divided into three major sections. The first is Deeper Faith. Here, we will look at some of the theological doctrines that intimately apply to our business interests. This serves as a solid, bedrock foundation for us to build our business upon.

Next is a section called Better Business. This is where we will explore a blueprint for developing and growing a business. Not just any business. Your business. Not just an average business. A better business. Better businesses are those that know what they are about, where they are going, exactly what they need, and have their organization rowing in the same direction. They are healthy, growing, and impactful. Sadly, they are also rare. But it is exactly the kind of business that yours can become.

The final section focuses on you: Greater Leadership Impact. God has placed you in a unique environment to have a tremendous impact on others. We will look at the opportunities to mature and flourish in leadership roles that begin in your early years—before you even began your business—all the way into your latter days. We will look at how God takes you (all of us) through various growing and changing seasons of life and how leadership and influence cannot only grow deeper but also spread wider to impact a continually larger sphere of people.

So, why read this book? After all, there are numerous great books on theology. Amazon has thousands upon thousands of books on business. Probably the same for leadership. So again, why read this book? Because even though there are countless books on theology, business, and leadership, there are surprisingly few that show the intimate and powerful integration of all three. I want to provide you with a solid foundation upon which to grow and develop the most important business that you know. Yours!

Faith, business, and leadership are best implemented together. Take one of them out of your business equation, and the foundation for growth and impact becomes compromised. As Solomon wrote, Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves, but a cord of three strands is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12). We hear this verse commonly used in wedding ceremonies because it’s so vital to the strength, vitality, and success of the marriage relationship.

It is just as true for business.

Did you know that the triangle is the strongest and most stable geometric shape? The three sides provide an incredibly stable base, and shear forces are distributed throughout the entire shape making it exceptionally ridged. The triangle is the geometric shape of choice for architects because of this strength and stability.

Our businesses could stand to benefit from such properties.

The integration and interconnection of theology, business knowledge, and leadership provide for a great foundation. And foundations are meant to be built upon. With a proper understanding of the foundation, you will be able to sort through all of those numerous resources on theology, business, and leadership, and you will know how they specifically fit into the stewardship and thriving of your business.

Let’s get started on connecting your faith with your business interests. It is a connection that will impact a great number of people. However, the one that will be impacted the most is you.

Let us explore how to build a deeper faith, better business, and greater impact. You will never regret doing things God’s way. Take it from me: Your only regret will be waiting this long to do it.

SECTION ONE

GAINING A DEEPER FAITH THAT WILL IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS

The Grand Canyon is one of the most breathtaking sights in all of America. As it spans several states, there are areas where it’s over one mile wide and other areas that are so deep, it would take you a couple of days of travel to get to the bottom. It is so big that every year, several people get lost in it. And every year, some of them are never found. It is indeed the biggest gap in the American landscape.

There are other gaps in America. They may not be as big, but a lot of people are getting lost in them. Spiritual truth that is given out on Sunday mornings at church may never make it to the workplace on Monday mornings. There is a huge gap that exists for too many people between Sunday and Monday. And too many things are getting lost.

What happens when a man can’t connect real faith with 80 percent of his day? He’s in a big hole.

What happens when a man understands the interconnection between real faith and his work? Some serious holes are filled up. And things are not getting lost anymore.

This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage I good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.

Titus 3:8

Chapter One

THE THEOLOGY OF WORK: Starting Off on the Right Foundation

I stood before a group of guys, who had signed up to go through an eight-week series on the theology of work. I had taught this series every year for about fifteen years, and I always started out by asking the group a few questions.

How many of you have ever heard a sermon series on the topic of work?

No one raised his hand.

How many of you at your church heard one good message entirely devoted to the topic of the workplace?

Again, not one hand went up. And this scene was repeated over fifteen years.

It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum. Bad theology loves a vacuum since it will rush in and take over to influence the thoughts, intentions, and actions of people because the truth has not been given a chance to even get into the fight. There are so many people of faith that share in some common views of the value of work. The problem is that even though they are very common views, they are also wrong.

And wrong theology has yet to produce anything of value for anyone.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the common (yet wrong) views about the spiritual value of work.

Work Has No Spiritual Value

The view that work has no spiritual value comes from the belief that work is the result of the curse of sin found in Genesis 3. As a result, work is viewed as something negative and cursed. This view says work has no intrinsic value. No meaning or purpose. No real fulfillment or satisfaction. Work has become nothing more than a means to obtain a paycheck and some benefits. Work is something that must be endured until that blessed event when God will rapture his people out of the workplace and put them into that blissful state called retirement—where they will be free from the curse of work and can play for the rest of their days (yes, sarcasm is one of my love languages).

Work is the world of nine-to-five, Monday to Friday. The good life happens during the rest of the week. Work is seen as something that keeps us from the really important issues of life, like family and church. After all, that’s what people are repeatedly told when they are at church.

Work is viewed as something greedy, corrupting, sinful, and competitive. It has no spiritual value at all.

Work Has False Spiritual Value

This common view of work affirms that work has a great deal of value. However, it’s the wrong kind of value. Instead of being godly or righteous, it is really idolatry. And it’s deadly.

This view of work believes that work is what gives us our identity, power, and wealth. Work is what will make me a success. When left unchecked, this leads its followers into putting work on a pedestal, and it becomes the idol to which they bow down and give their allegiance.

Let’s take a quick look at Isaiah 44:12–15, where the prophet talks about some of the craftsmen of his day.

The man shapes iron into a cutting tool, and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers, and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. Another shapes wood, he extends a