Faith in Business: A Godly Approach to Company Culture and Leadership

Discover the synergy of faith and business as Deanna Kenisell engages in a profound conversation with our visionary founder, Tim Webb. We're discussing the difference between the secular and the divine, demonstrating through Martin Luther's teachings that every aspect of life in Christ is sacred—yes, including your day job! From the dawn of creation to the Tower of Babel, we're gleaning ancient wisdom for today's leaders, seeking to infuse our businesses with purpose that goes beyond profit and serves a grander, God-honoring mission.

In our pursuit to shape business cultures, Tim Webb lays out the blueprint for Christian business leaders to cultivate a workforce that thrives spiritually and professionally. We tackle challenges head-on, like the skilled labor shortage, by championing job training programs steeped in strong ethics and Christian values. Plus, we're spotlighting your success stories, drawing inspiration from the shared triumphs in redefining business practices. So, tune in and be inspired to transform your workplace into a testament of faith, stewardship, and community betterment.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hi, I'm Deanna Kennesell, director of Texas Leadership Summit. I'm here today with our founder, tim Webb. Welcome, thank you. We're going to dive in a little bit today about our business pillar and explain how it stands and why it's so important to be one of our four pillars of Texas Leadership Summit. Great Thank you for being here today.

Speaker 2: 0:25

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:27

So let's just start off. You say with a business pillar that it stands for how it stewards life. Yes, so I'm just going to let you just dive in and explain that to us.

Speaker 2: 0:37

I love this one, because for too long the church has separated businessmen and women from the church as if they are secular and the church is sacred. Luther addressed this whole issue before the Reformation, where he acknowledged that all of life is sacred and what had happened was because the church, the pastor or the bishop typically those were the people who could read. They didn't have Bibles that were in print for the mass of humanity, those for the church, everyday believer, and so if they wanted to know the word, they had to go to the pastor, they had to go to the bishop, they had to go to church to hear the word, and so those individuals were in the church, considered sacred. Those individuals were in the church, considered sacred, and so if you felt led to be a pastor for life, or you wanted to serve vocationally in the church, you had a sacred calling. That's where that calling comes from. We have so many people that say I'm called to do this or I'm called to do that, called to do that, and we put this emphasis as if the holiness of God has come down and affirmed to us this one special, sacred way of life.

Speaker 2: 1:52

Well, luther addressed this. He said, you know, as he reviewed scriptures. He addressed this and said no, all of life in Christ, all of life is sacred, of life is sacred. And so what we saw, especially as this age of reasoning and thinking, what we saw were scientists, mathematicians, we saw businessmen and women doing things as unto the Lord. We saw this awakening, if you will, of wait a minute. You mean I'm sacred too. You mean because the spirit of Christ, I have the spirit of Christ, I'm in the body of Christ, I am. The church is not the building, it is the people, right, okay, so if that's the case, then what do I do with this life? You mean God. My work matters to God, absolutely it matters.

Speaker 2: 2:44

So we're we're about advancing the kingdom and so for too long now, the church has separated and so businessmen and women, you know, just get here on Sunday, give us your money so that we can keep doing the work of the church and go back and make more money and be in the secular world, if you will. Well, that's not the case. When we did our business pillar, I started out by apologizing and asked for forgiveness on behalf of pastors in the church to all of our businessmen and women out there who are serving the Lord faithfully and they're passionate about their businesses. There are people who get up and they love their job, they love what they do and they go to work and they should know that God sees their work and it matters to God and that workplace is an opportunity. If you're a business owner, you definitely have an opportunity to influence and advance the kingdom and be about the Lord's affairs Monday, throughout the week, friday, whatever your work week is, but also your employees and you know, in the stewardship of your business, how can you help your employees, how can you help those in your community?

Speaker 2: 3:53

And so stewarding life, this whole issue, really, it goes way back, deanna. This goes all the way back to Genesis, at the rebellion of Adam and Eve. They rebelled, they sinned against the Lord. Sin enters the world and we go down this trail. They deserve judgment. It's delayed, right? They go out, they're taken out of the garden for their protection and they begin to multiply. They begin to be fruitful and multiply. And the seed of the woman, the seed of the serpent, what we see happening there is there's enmity, great enmity is placed between the two and we have those, this remnant.

Speaker 2: 4:34

As we follow the story along, we see those who begin to call upon the name of the Lord and they're looking for the Messiah to come. We're following that genealogy. But then there's the seed of the serpent. And what's the seed of the serpent doing? Team Satan? Well, there are those who, instead of going out and being fruitful and multiplying and waiting, looking for the coming Messiah, they decide, right after the flood, they decide to build their own city and make their name great. You remember the story of the Tower of Babel? They all spoke the same language and so they wanted to develop who they were. We see the first great false religion really taking off. We don't need God, we can aspire to the heavens. And so we see this build our city, make our name great.

Speaker 2: 5:25

Now, what is interesting is that we have people in the church today that take that same mindset. They forget that this is about advancing the kingdom, that there's only one king. There's a dictatorship coming, he's going to return, and this dictator, though, is one who is all loving, compassionate, merciful, slow to anger. He is so good and gracious, and he is going to establish his throne on earth. There'll be a new heaven and a new earth, so, with that, we're looking forward to that as the church. So, in the meantime, how I endure and how I live my life should be for the advancement of this king to his glory.

Speaker 2: 6:13

Right, not the elevation of my name, not the elevation of my kingdom, and, unfortunately, we have pastors that have great intentions, their motivations hey, we want to get the gospel out, and if we have more resources, but what happens typically is it becomes about one personality, the buildings, the campus, and the focus is turned in on that. You remove that one personality leader of the church. What typically happens? Division, scatter, and so that's why what we want to be about in leadership TLS, we want to be about empowering the everyday leader with this courage, tools and hope to ignite a revival of Christian leadership. We want the advancement, the growth, development of all leaders, from moms and dads on up, to be able to steward this life, and so our businessmen and women are vitally important to this, and so we're not to be using their gifts to do something else. We are saying hey, you're part of the team, we're all on the same team, if you will. Okay, I hope that makes sense yeah, so define stewardship.

Speaker 2: 7:32

Well, stewardship is something that okay. So it simply means that what I have I don't own and I am to manage, I am to grow it, I'm to utilize it in a way that is for the best interest of the one who does own it. Okay, so if we say that the Lord owns everything and I even belong to the Lord, then all of this stuff that I have it doesn't belong to me. I can fool myself into thinking it does, but when you breathe your last breath, you go in the box and all the stuff goes in the box and stays here and another box and someone pulls that box out, they open the lid and someone else

Speaker 2: 8:18

is playing with your stuff and you have no control over it. So someone else owns the stuff and so we have deceived ourselves in thinking that we own it and that we can control it after we die, by saying you're required to do this, whatever. We're simply managing what God has entrusted to us Every breath, every thought, every action, this body. If our leaders woke up and said, lord, how am I going to steward this life and the things you've entrusted with me today? How am I going to steward these things? How would that change? What can I do for the betterment of others? What can I do to advance the gospel? What can I do to be a blessing to the people in my church family, my care group, my small group, my Bible study? What can I do, definitely, as a parent we know this. It is very sacrificial.

Speaker 2: 9:15

Okay, lord, when I get up today, how can I pour into my spouse? How can I if I'm a single parent? How can I pour into my kids? How can I join in with my larger context of family? And then, beyond that, I try to tell our families here in our church, I try to encourage them to say, if we can't do it in the context of our immediate family, the stewardship thing. If I can't do it in the context of my immediate family, how am I going to be able to do it beyond, in the church family, our extended family, church family, and so we need this is a great training ground in the family, the context of the family. So there are those who've said well, you should have a family pillar. And I'm saying the church sustains life and church is where we find the truth for marriage, for family and all those things. So let's don't create something separate outside the church. That's where we find how to sustain life and so it all works together. But stewardship, I'm simply managing the things that belong to someone else.

Speaker 2: 10:15

That God has given us that God has given us and trusted to us.

Speaker 1: 10:18

So we're kind of this just kind of came to me while I'm sitting here listening we're really trying to encourage business owners and then even people that might not own the business but maybe they run a team within the business. That sort of thing that the true CEO and the true boss is the Lord.

Speaker 1: 10:35

Oh, absolutely so we want to wake up and ask Him like what are we doing with our company? What are we doing with these dollars? What direction are we going? It doesn't have to be a Christian company per se. What direction are we going? It doesn't have to be a Christian company per se, but we want to have the Christian values within it. You don't have to be selling Bibles is what I'm trying to say Right, right.

Speaker 1: 10:53

When I say a Christian company, it doesn't have to be selling praise and worship music, that kind of thing. It can be an everyday business that is needed for all of us to go to, but we're looking for those Christian values in there. And how can you empower your employees and encourage them in a biblical way as well?

Speaker 2: 11:15

Well, you're absolutely right. The Apostle Paul I'm going to go back to the Word the Apostle Paul would say several times different locations in Scriptures. He would talk about that you're to no longer steal, but you're to work with your hands, not only to provide for yourself, but also so that you'd have something to give to someone in need. He would tell the church at Thessalonica the same thing he who does not work does not eat. So the issue of entitlement or the government, raising, rearing and feeding that's what the church is supposed to do. And so we allow the government to take this role from us, the church, and say, oh yeah, we're good with the government doing this. Instead of us showing kindness, mercy, compassion, the character of God, instead of the church and the everyday believer leader demonstrating what that looks like, we said, yeah, well, just give a little more money to the government and they can be the church. Well, what are we talking about here? So I don't know if that quite answers that question or addresses what you were talking about, but that's what we see happening.

Speaker 1: 12:31

So what are some opportunities? Business owners or those that have leadership positions within businesses, some examples of things that they could do with their employees to advance the kingdom.

Speaker 2: 12:44

That's a great question because this ties to what we were just saying earlier and they kind of go together and just to kind of complete the thought, if you will. So I have a businessman, businesswoman, they own their company. Okay, how can I be a steward? Advance the kingdom with my company, advance a kingdom with my company. One way in which you can do that is just provide a culture to grow faith your employees. Do you provide opportunities? Do you encourage them to grow in their faith?

Speaker 2: 13:21

The culture of the office what is that like? Do you develop your people? Do you have this culture where when you come to work here, we know that you may not stay for your whole life, but as a godly business, we want to make you better by the time you leave? What are we doing to pour into our people, if you will? And so just the culture of your business does it give the glory to God? Does it acknowledge that Christ is the head of the church and you are members of his body? Are you afraid to use that kind of mindset culture in your business? Are you afraid to basically live out your faith with what you own? And so that can be a radical shift.

Speaker 2: 14:14

We have a local businessman who this got a hold of him. He said man, I can't ignore this. I have been using my business for my own selfish gain. I want to create a culture within my business that glorifies God and I want to develop a team that they know what we're about, and so that was a radical shift for him and it was definitely radical for his family to see that happen. So, the culture you can also develop teams within your business.

Speaker 2: 14:44

Okay, how can we come up with some community impact ideas? How can we impact our community in a great way? It's not again, you mentioned selling Bibles. It's not that your company goes out on the corner and you're handing out Bibles. That's not what we're talking about. How can we impact our community from our faith to help improve? How can we present solutions to problems within our community that are driven by the Word of God and the character of God and just formulating those teams and opportunities to be creative with the business.

Speaker 2: 15:17

Also, job training We've got a huge need right now for skilled labor. Yes, trades People just don't want to work anymore. So the skilled trades you're trying to find contractors that can do the work, and so now we've had this major shift in society that if you're going to make something of yourself, you need to go to college. Well, that's produced a lot of debt, a lot of crisis situations for families, and so now we are short. You know the welders, the electricians, the plumbers, the carpenters, and there are young men and women who have gone that route with the trade, the skilled labor, and they are doing very well.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Very well Financially. I mean pretty much right out of the trade school, and some of them are doing it while they're going to high school, so then as soon as they graduate high school, they're out there making what a lot of these kids that are coming out of college aren't able to even do, right yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:13

Well, it's a great opportunity. It is so job training. What better way to produce employees that will advance your business for the glory of God, than to bring young people in and train them, equip them, establish them? What we want to look for is the character.

Speaker 2: 16:32

If I can find people who have a strong work ethic, who have character, godly character. They show up on time, they're willing to do their part, they don't make excuses when they make mistakes. They own their mistakes and say, yeah, this is how we learn. And so we apply ourselves and say, hey, would you help me work through this? How do I navigate through this? Teach them how to ask for help, not to be afraid and just not to be afraid of correction and growing and discipline, which is the Lord says. He disciplines those he loves. And so if we're going to love our people, if we're going to love our employees, what better way than and again, part of that culture is how can I produce this culture where it is safe to say, hey, you know what. I thought I knew how to do that. You have strong work ethic, but apparently I don't know how?

Speaker 2: 17:21

to do that or I made that mistake. So how do I keep from making it again? Right, that's huge, because most of the time, if we speak up in the workplace, we're admitting defeat. I can't do something that we're not good enough.

Speaker 2: 17:32

We're not good enough. And so then, hey, I've got to lie, I've got to cover, I've got to make excuses. That's not what we want as the owner of the company. It may cost you more. Here's what we know about leadership, leadership costs. I want to stay on focus with the stewardship pillar, but I want our listeners, our viewers, to understand leadership costs. Either that leader will pay the price for great leadership do the homework, do the work, apply themselves or the followers will pay the price for failed leadership. Either way, somebody's going to pay. Somebody's going to pay. Yeah, either the leader or the follower.

Speaker 2: 18:22

Now, what do we want is godly, biblical, christian leadership. We want them doing the work, the hard work, and it is hard being a leader. It is a very lonely place at times when you find yourself standing there and you're the one having to pay the bills, to cover the costs, the expenses of your business, or you're the one in the church, the pastor or the leader in a church, and other people aren't getting it. They're not stepping forward, they're not walking in the ways of the Lord, and you're sharing the word. You're sharing the word and you're going. Why don't they get it? Why don't they get it? We forget that we do have an enemy. We have an enemy who is about deception. He's about deceiving and destroying and destruction and death, and he wants to take God's people and he wants to take their witness for Christ and he wants to use that to shame Christ and not glorify Christ. And so it does cost a leader. It's hard work, but when our motivation is out of love for our Savior, look at what he did, look at the price he paid. It cost him dearly.

Speaker 2: 19:36

Why should I not expect just the same? And so that's what we talk about Again. That comes kind of full circle here with this stewardship, and it may get about my life it's not my life. How do I steward this life that has been trusted to me for the king? And so community impact, ideas, job training, the culture and the business? There's multiple factors in that, and so I just want our people, our leaders, to begin thinking okay, yes, I need to make a living, yes, we were looking for prosperity with this business, but how do we steward that wealth? How do we manage it for the kingdom? Yeah, the kingdom Not about me, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:25

I went to an entrepreneur, faith-based entrepreneur group last week a meeting last week, a meeting and something that they said that really stood out to me. Which kind of wraps this exactly? What you're saying is that your employees might not step foot in a church. I mean, ultimately, that's our goal. We want them to, but you know you have all walks of life that are in your business. You might be the closest thing to them. Hearing the word Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Because they might not go to a church. So live your life according and have the business culture to where they then go. Hey, I want to go to church, or I want to know more about this Living by example.

Speaker 2: 21:08

Yeah, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but you're really striking a nerve here. So you said go to church. What I would love for our businessmen and women to understand, you are the church.

Speaker 1: 21:18

Right, that's what they were saying. What if we framed it this way?

Speaker 2: 21:22

What if we framed it this way? What if we said you know, because we are the church and the way we live our life Monday through Sunday, every seven days a week the way we're living is that we're extension, we're living out our faith in the workplace, in everyday life, and these people I'm interacting with, they're seeing my faith, they're hearing about my faith, we're having conversations about faith and we're walking this out throughout the week. And then we just say, hey, you know what, not I go to church with me, but hey, we worship Jesus Sunday at 9 o'clock and 1045. We serve other people, we gather together and we worship, we take some time out of our week and just we sing songs to glorify the Lord, we have some time in the Word to get strengthened and refocused and we get caught up with other brothers and sisters in the faith and this is a great time of fellowship. And then we continue that fellowship in other ways throughout the week.

Speaker 2: 22:21

What if we framed it that way? Again, what Luther said secular versus sacred no, all is sacred. So why don't we move that sacred time of going to church? What if we move that sacred moment into the week and then see what God does with that. Wouldn't that be amazing. We have some great conversations in the workplace.

Speaker 2: 22:43

Not that we're cheating our employer from our time on the clock. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a conversation coming and going, as we're doing life along the way you know.

Speaker 1: 22:53

And it's not about shoving it down people's throats either. It's about sharing it in a way of more of a testimony and your everyday walk and them seeing it Right. Yeah, just walking it every day and not just living it on Sundays.

Speaker 2: 23:08

I hope this is coming together, that people are seeing what we're talking about as we focus on these individual pillars, because they have the creativity. I don't have to give you a methodology, right? Okay, so you have been entrusted as a steward, you're a businesswoman, you've had your own businesses and you've done well and you've applied your faith. You have the creativity, you have the opportunity, as you're walking out your faith and be encouraged with other brothers and sisters, how can we collaborate the businesses Right? How can we collaborate with another business? How can we pull together and so work together? So I know there's healthy competition and that's okay, but I think it's just a great opportunity that we have in front of us. Like never before In this age, with the technology, social media, the church has a great opportunity. As chaotic as it seems, as wicked as the world seems and it is the devil's been running the nations for centuries, but even so, we have a great opportunity right now, like never before, to be the church.

Speaker 1: 24:19

Yes, yes, I love that. Okay, anything else in closing, or are we-?

Speaker 2: 24:22

I think that's good. I think that's good.

Speaker 1: 24:24

I think we hit the nail on the head on that one, I would love for our listeners, those who are checking this out and engaging with us.

Speaker 2: 24:31

Who are checking this out and engaging with us? I'd love for them to respond to you email. You send questions, bring topics to you that we can address.

Speaker 1: 24:40

For sure.

Speaker 2: 24:41

If they have people that they want us to interview or get on the podcast. And just again, we want to raise this awareness. We want to provide this service so that the church can be the church, so that we can ignite this revival of leadership and bring these solutions forward to better our communities, bring people to faith.

Speaker 1: 25:02

Also, tell us things that are working. Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 2: 25:04

How is this working in the?

Speaker 1: 25:05

culture of your business. Absolutely yes, Let us know We'd love to share that with other people and give them other ideas and stuff and let us know those wins as they're going and making this part of their everyday life. So, we love hearing from everybody. I love getting those emails.

Speaker 2: 25:23

Well, thank you for having me today.

Speaker 1: 25:25

Well, thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing y'all again next month and reach out to us. Let us know how things are going and how we can help. Thank you, dear, thank you.