Catalyst Track: Trade Up // Day One

This track comes from Dean Niewolny’s new book, Trade Up.

In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Remember that verse. In it, Paul (writing from a prison, by the way) says we are born to be part of something big. But what? And how can we know?

One starting place to know is the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell what moved Jesus: his “giants,” you might say, of sickness, poverty, injustice, lack of mercy, hunger and thirst, imprisonment, alienation, suffering. The Gospels also reveal that Jesus identifies personally with sufferers: “Inasmuch as you do it to the least of these—my brothers and sisters,” he said, “you do it to me” (Matt. 25:40, paraphrase). As we attach ourselves to Jesus Christ, our hearts increasingly hurt with him.

What does it take to feel good—and do good—in work? It's not more money. Money falls short, says Dean Niewolny, whose head-turning career, houses, boat, plane, and paycheck still left him restless.

So what is it?

In this 3-day track, Dean provides leaders the opportunity to evaluate how kingdom purpose is being lived out in their lives and take the next steps to make those goals a reality!

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Day 1 – Life and Death

 

A raft of research backs me up on saying that life’s riches reside in people and purpose. One article I keep on file quotes the Mt. Sinai Health System’s statement that a life with purpose actually reduces death.

Wait a minute: “reduces death”? With one notable exception, mortality is 100 percent. But to quote from the Mt. Sinai report: “. . . a high sense of purpose is associated with a 23 percent reduction in death from all causes and a 19 percent reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, or the need for coronary artery bypass.”( 2. Mount Sinai Medical Center, “Have a Sense of Purpose in Life? It May Protect Your Heart,” ScienceDaily.com, March 6, 2015, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150306132538.htm.)

How about that? Purpose keeps us here longer.

Wherever you find people, you can find the amazing, life-giving power of purpose. Even among those who have been in the workforce for many years, there is often a willingness to change careers to gain greater purpose.

We come with a DNA-driven desire, a physical compulsion, to know why we exist and to act on it. And the majority of us, however we define success, come to a time when having it for its own sake pales next to the real trophies of true direction: our effects on other lives, a chance to make a difference.

 

REFLECT: Answer the poll below.

How purpose-filled do you feel in your current leadership contexts?

1. I regularly know and feel that I am impacting people positively
2. I don’t feel purposeful but I am actively seeking to change that
3. I don’t feel purposeful and I don’t know where to start
4. I don’t think that making a difference is relevant for me right now