How do we discern what work we are called to do right now? How do we hear God’s voice as we consider our next career move? With the empty promise of “finding a job you love and never working a day in your life,” how do we decide on our next step? We will dive into these questions at The Building Blocks of Career Discernment Workshop on April 30, offered at two different times.

• Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2019

• Times:

  • Lunch Session: 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (a light lunch will be provided)

  • Evening Session: 5:45 – 7:00 p.m. (appetizers will be provided)

• Location: The Nashville Institute for Faith and Work Office (2535 8th Ave. South, Ste. 101, Nashville, TN 37204)

• Cost: $10

Special guest, Dr. Chip Roper, president of the VOCA Center in New York, will lead the workshop where you will learn how to connect your gifts, strengths, and interests with the opportunities available in the real world.

The VOCA Center empowers clients to discover and follow their work-life calling.  Chip is a certified executive coach through Columbia University, and he also is a consultant, speaker, and writer. You will leave understanding the four building blocks of calling while developing your next steps towards greater vocational clarity.

Dr. Chip Roper

Dr. Chip Roper is the President and Principal Consultant of The VOCA Center.  VOCA makes work better for individuals and teams by transforming secular jobs into sacred callings.   Dr. Roper provides coaching and advisory services to executives, professionals, company teams, and the pastors who serve them.  In addition to coaching, Chip produces The Calling Workshop, a quarterly event in Midtown Manhattan, the annual Executive Summit, and facilitates a monthly peer mentoring experience entitled The Executive Circle.   He writes the column Marketplace Faith for Patheos.com.

You can learn more about VOCA’s faith-based offerings at vocacenter.org and their professional services at vocacenter.com.

Certified in Executive Coaching by Columbia University, Chip tackles the vocational challenge from 30 years of experience as a small businessman, a pastor, a career coach, and a business consultant.  Dr. Roper’s executive clients can be found in firms such as J.P.Morgan, BayCrest Capital, Google, Target Health, Previnex, Hangang Assets, the Ugandan Permanent Mission to the U.N., CNBC, and the New York Property Insurance Underwriters Association.

Chip and his wife of 30 years, Audrey have three daughters, the youngest of which is a freshman in college.  They live along the East River in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City.

Click below to add your name to the waitlist.

One thing we know about work is that most of us aspire to do work that is meaningful.  But the tense rhythms of planning for the future, prioritizing daily demands, and navigating the feeling of discontent in our roles can cause us to forget the reason we work – to partner with God in His unfolding story.  It’s time to evaluate your work and life through design thinking with DAVE EVANS, the instructor of Stanford University’s most popular class.

• When: Thursday, March 28, 2019. 5:30-8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 5 p.m.)

• Where: Wellspire Center (907 Gleaves St, Nashville, TN 37203)

• Food/Drink: Light dinner and beverages will be provided.

• Schedule:

  • 5:00 – Doors open

  • 5:30 – Dinner/networking

  • 6:15 – Program begins

  • 8:30 – Program concludes

• Cost:

  • Early bird - $69 | valid only through March 7, 2019

  • General admission - $89 | valid March 8 through March 28, 2019

    Tickets include admission, light dinner, and beverages. Limited tickets at a discounted rate available for nonprofits and full-time students. Please email Shauna for more information.

Register for “Designing Your Life: Faith. Work. Rhythms.” with Dave Evans, co-author of a #1 New York Times Best Seller and instructor of Stanford University’s most popular class.  Dave will teach you how to apply design thinking to strategically and practically evaluate the ways you spend your time.  Learn how to lean into the life God has for you and steward your gifts, abilities, and passions to enrich the common good.  Come learn from a leading expert in design thinking to live with intention and see the ways you can hone your career and live out your faith.  This seminar is for people in any industry and at any level. Whether you are an executive, a student, or an artist, this workshop will benefit you if you want to more fully integrate your life.

Dave Evans

Dave started his fourth career teaching “how to apply the innovation principles of design thinking to the wicked problem of designing your life” in the Stanford Design Program in 2007.  Prior to Stanford, Dave spent 15 years in several company leadership roles in Silicon Valley, including heading up the first mouse and laser printer projects at Apple and co-founding Electronic Arts.  In 1990, Dave became a freelance management consultant, primarily working with high-tech founders and start-up teams addressing the challenges of explosive growth and change.

Dave delivered the keynote on “God’s Design for Work” at Yale’s inaugural Believers in Business conference 2011 and taught on “Spiritual Innovation” at the 2014 national conference of Redeemer Church’s Center for Faith & Work in New York, where he also served as CFW’s first ever Entrepreneur-in-Residence in the Spring of 2016 and again in 2017.  Dave serves as a strategic advisor to Fuller Seminary on Vocation and Formation, to the Praxis Labs entrepreneur Fellowship program, and to the Veritas Forum where he facilitated the prototype Veritas Salon. Dave’s been contributing as a national thought leader on faith and work since the 80’s when he served as a dean, teacher, and mentor of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship’s Marketplace Ministry conferences.

Dave is the co-founder of the Life Design Lab of the Stanford Design Program, and co-author with Bill Burnett of the book Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life.  He holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford and a graduate diploma in Contemplative Practice and Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Dave lives with his wife Claudia and their adorable dogs, Jack and Daisy, on the coast in Santa Cruz where they enjoy sailing the Monterey Bay on their sailboat the good ship Lolly-Pop.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

We all face decisions, big and small, in our day-to-day work. And according to research, half of managerial decisions made in business are “bad” ones. The push and pull of wise decision making can make the sacred-secular divide all the more evident. God is concerned with what decisions we make, but even more with how we make them. Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to lead our decision-making at work? How can we listen to the Spirit as we decide whether to invest in a company, hire or fire someone, choose a new supplier, or confront a dysfunctional relationship?

Workshop Details:

Date: Friday, March 1, 2019

Time: 8:30 AM - 4 PM (Lunch Break from 12pm - 1pm)

Location: The Engine Fueled by Ankura (2963 Sidco Dr., Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37204)

Food: Continental Breakfast and Coffee (A one hour lunch break will be provided for you
to grab lunch on your own.)

Josh Hayden, leadership consultant and professor, will share some practices you can implement tomorrow to apply a spiritual model into your daily and even hourly decisions. This workshop will draw from both Ignatian discernment practice and evidence-based strategies for making wise decisions. We will also be joined by special guests who will share their journey of faithful decision making, as well as how they guide others to make better decisions in their work. Special guests include Richard Perko, CEO of Lee Company, Morgan Wills, CEO of Siloam Health, and Gail Pitt, Founder and Spiritual Director of Dovehouse Ministries. Join us for an interactive, inspiring and applicable session on Friday, March 1st.

At the end of the day, you will be able to:

• Recognize the characteristics of bad decision making, including the forces that keep you from wise decisions.

• Assess your own assumptions and theology of discerning the will of God in everyday decisions.

• Apply the Ignatian rules for discernment and spiritual practices for faithful decision making.

• Adapt evidence-based tools and strategies to your own work context.

• Practice guiding others through making a tough decision.

Josh Hayden has almost 20 years administrative and university teaching experience and is a leadership consultant awaiting his departure to work as an educator in Western Europe with Global Scholars. He is an alumni of the Gotham program, NIFW’s nine-month faith and work intensive.

Guest Speakers

Richard Perko

Upon earning his degree in 1996, Mr. Perko was hired by Lee Company as a project engineer where he engineered, developed and sold mechanical and plumbing systems for healthcare, industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities. Working alongside Lee Company’s Construction teams, Mr. Perko became heavily involved in Construction Management and moved into Construction as a Project Manager where he was promoted to Vice President of Construction in 2001.

In 2004, Mr. Perko was given additional companywide responsibilities and was promoted to Executive Vice President. In 2009, Mr. Perko was promoted to President and is now responsible for all company sales, operations and strategic planning for its business units. His current focus is on broadening Lee Company breadth of services and offerings and completing the company’s transition from a traditional mechanical contractor and residential HVAC provider to a comprehensive Facilities Solutions and Home Services provider.

Gail Pitt

Gail Worsham Pitt has been a follower of Jesus since 1972, and has a great desire to work with those who long to know Jesus and grow in relationship with Him. She has been a spiritual director since 2003 and a therapist in private practice over the last 27 years. She has a Masters in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania at Shippensburg and a Masters in Biblical Counseling from Colorado Christian University. She holds a certificate in Spiritual Direction from The Jesuit Center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. Gail works with individuals, small groups, and church staffs in spiritual direction, spiritual direction groups and directed silent retreats. She has led many people over the last 8 years through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in Daily Life, and began a three year training program for those who are called to the ministry of Ignatian Spiritual Direction in 2015. She lives in Nashville, TN and is the mother of four adult children, one daughter-in-law, one son-in-law and has five grandsons and one granddaughter, and twin grandchildren due in October.

Morgan Wills

Dr. Morgan Wills is the President & CEO of Siloam Health, a faith-based, nonprofit health center serving Nashville’s uninsured—especially the immigrant and refugee communities. A Nashville native, Dr. Wills earned his BA in history from Princeton University, his MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and an MA in Marketplace Theology from Regent College (Vancouver, B.C.). He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2000 and was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians 2006. An award-winning clinical faculty member at Vanderbilt, Dr. Wills is also graduate of Leadership Nashville and the Nashville Health Care Council Fellows program. Dr. Wills hones his cross-cultural skills at home with his Canadian wife Heather and their three teenage children.

Do you wonder if you are faithfully working in your sphere of influence? Join us for teaching, tools, and stories about practicing work faithfully as we host dialogues with professionals from various industries.  

• Date: Thursday, February 21, 2019

• Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

• NEW LOCATION: The Engine Fueled by Ankura (2963 Sidco Dr., Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37204)

• Food: Full-course lunch

Join us for an interview with Patrick Woodyard, CEO of Nisolo, a visionary CEO trying to move the fashion industry towards valuing exceptional design, the producer, and the planet just as much as the end consumer. Through the tribulations of starting and sustaining an online retail business with counter-cultural operations, Patrick has experienced a personal leadership transformation around control and dependence. Come learn with Patrick as we reframe the idea of leading a company at our NEW lunch location: The Engine Fueled by Ankura (2963 Sidco Dr., Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37204).

About the Lunches
We use a practical theological framework to identify the inherent goodness of work, its outcomes, and the deeper questions it asks of us. The gatherings provide glimpses into common struggles and philosophical differences, and seek to foster the hope that emerges when we come to expect more from God within our work. Let’s work on faithfully working at work.

Patrick Woodyard

Patrick is the Co-Founder & CEO of Nisolo, an E-Commerce Footwear & Accessories brand striving to push the fashion industry in a more sustainable direction. Patrick graduated from the Croft Institute and Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at Ole Miss, where he studied Global Business, Latin American Studies, and Spanish. After graduating, Patrick took a microfinance job in Peru, where he met a group of shoemakers who, regardless of their talent, faced the grim reality of low wages and unsafe working conditions that many people within the fashion industry face today. Patrick co-founded Nisolo with the vision to offer customers high quality products at competitive prices and manufacture them in a manner that champions people and the planet in the process. The brand has since sold products in all 50 U.S. states and 60 countries around the world and currently supports the livelihoods of over 800 individuals throughout its supply chain. For his work with Nisolo, Patrick has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, an “Innovator Changing The South” by Southern Living, and a Global Accelerator Entrepreneur by the United Nations. Patrick resides in Nashville with his wife, Sally Ward, and newborn daughter, Anna Campbell.

Do you wonder if you are faithfully working in your sphere of influence? Join us for teaching, tools, and stories about practicing work faithfully as we host dialogues with professionals from various industries.  

• Date: Thursday, January 24, 2019

• Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

• Location: Adele's (1210 McGavock Street, Nashville, TN 37203)

• Food: Full-course lunch

Join us for a conversation on paradigm shifts, insidious idols, and new perspectives about faith and work. NIFW Executive Director, Missy Wallace, will interview Marten Fadelle, who worked as a white collar professional most of his adult life, but is currently working as a contract janitor. Marten will share his journey over the past two years since leaving his white collar job and the difficulty and freedom he's experienced along the way. While we are not all called to radical job change, we are called to radical faith. Come learn with Marten as we reframe the idea of “important” people and "important" work.

About the Lunches
We use a practical theological framework to identify the inherent goodness of work, its outcomes, and the deeper questions it asks of us. The gatherings provide glimpses into common struggles and philosophical differences, and seek to foster the hope that emerges when we come to expect more from God within our work. Let’s work on faithfully working at work.

Marten Fadelle

Marten comes to Tennessee from his native Canada, and has a rich, international vocational background in the fields of environmental consulting, education, healthcare, and community development. He is passionate about justice, equity, healthy, inclusive and sustainable community development, learning through relationship, and disrupting perceptions through novel perspective shifts. Marten is the Board Chair and founding Board member of The Church of Another Chance. Currently, he consults on issues pertaining to community development, connects people who would not likely be connected, and works as a laborer in the service industry. Marten and his wife, Beth, live in Brentwood, TN.

What: The Entrepreneur Support Group is a confidential time with other CEOs, a pastorally-trained executive coach, and a curriculum focused on Christianity and entrepreneurism.

When: Wednesdays, 7:45-9:00 a.m., Jan. 23 - April 3 (Plus “Quiet Day” in Mid-April)

Price: $675

Working outside the home, working inside the home, married, single - with so many important roles to fill, why are women criticized and discouraged for their work-life choices?

Faith, Work and Women: Encouraging One Another

• Who: Women of all ages and stages

• Date/Time: Tuesday, January 22, 6-8:30 p.m.

• Location: Cabana (1910 Belcourt Ave, Nashville, TN 37212)

• Food: Buffet provided. Cash bar available.

• Price: $10 per ticket

Join Women's Ministry at Christ Presbyterian Church and the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work for an honest conversation aiming to empower and encourage all women that their work - paid, unpaid, volunteer, or in-the-home - matters to God. We will provide a space where women of every age and stage can connect to listen and discuss the standards, pressures, and misconceptions they experience regarding their work-life choices.

The program panel will consist of women in the following areas: a mom who works full time outside of the home, a mom working in the home, a single professional without children, and an empty nester who is transitioning into a new season of work. Our hope is that women will leave not only confident in what they do, but also motivated to encourage other women to know that no matter where they are in life, their day-to-day work carries dignity and purpose.

Timeline of Event

• 6:00-6:30 - Registration and Networking

• 6:30-7:00 - Dinner is served

• 7:00-8:00 - Program begins

• 8:00-8:30 - Q&A

We look forward to seeing you there.

Do you wonder if you are faithfully working in your sphere of influence? Join us for teaching, tools, and stories about practicing work faithfully as we host dialogues with professionals from various industries.  

• Date: Thursday, October 25, 2018

• Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

• Location: Adele's (1210 McGavock Street, Nashville, TN 37203)

• Food: Full-course lunch

Join us as NIFW Executive Director Missy Wallace interviews James Granberry, Partner at OakPoint, and Erick Goss, CEO of Creative Trust, about the ebb and flow of entrepreneurship. Both professionals bring a breadth of knowledge and various experiences working faithfully to start and run organizations in distinctly different industries.

About the Lunches
We use a practical theological framework to identify the inherent goodness of work, its outcomes, and the deeper questions it asks of us. The gatherings provide glimpses into common struggles and philosophical differences, and seek to foster the hope that emerges when we come to expect more from God within our work. Let’s work on faithfully working at work.

James Granberry

James is a founding partner of OakPoint Investments. His efforts center on managing the company’s $350 million investment portfolio across the US, in addition to maintaining relationships with investor partners.  He is a Texas native, Furman graduate, and Vanderbilt MBA holder with expertise in portfolio and asset management, financing, acquisitions and dispositions.  James is married with three girls (2,4, and 6) and when he isn’t working or attending tea parties with his girls, he likes to read, play golf, or listen to his latest favorite podcast. 

Erick Goss

Erick is CEO and Co-founder of Creative Trust Ventures where leads all retail, e-commerce, online video, and mobile operations.  At CTV, he launched JellyTelly, a new children’s digital network, and subscription video-on-demand platform and, in partnership with VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, launched the bestselling video series Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible?. 

Before co-founding Creative Trust Ventures, Erick served as Chief Marketing Officer at Magazines.com, an Internet Retailer Top 500 Company, and as Senior Manager of Books at Amazon.com.  At Amazon, Erick managed North American Book Buying, Marketing Data Mining, Customer Loyalty & Retention, and Books Product Management. He was instrumental in the launch of Amazon’s first e-book and print-on-demand businesses, Amazon’s Visa Card and the Super Saver Shipping program. 

He began his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy where he flew helicopters and was a Pentagon spokesperson.  He graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in Computer Science.  He has an MBA with honors from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in International Relations with honors from Troy University.  Erick serves as an Adjunct Professor for Internet Marketing at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.  He is married and has three daughters.

Influence. Regardless of our industry, our hierarchical position in an organization, or our family role, we all have influence. But, do we consider it a resource to steward?

Stewarding Influence, featuring Andy Crouch

• Date/Time: Thursday, October 4, 5:30-8:00 p.m (Program begins at 6:15 p.m.)

• Location: Clementine (4710 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37209)

• Food/Drink: Heavy hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer, and soft drinks

According to esteemed author and former editor and producer at Christianity Today, Andy Crouch, "Two common temptations lure us away from abundant living—withdrawing into safety or grasping for power."

Do you grasp for power? Do you withdraw? Can you leverage your influence for the good of all?

"True flourishing travels down an unexpected path: being both strong and weak."

Come explore your influence and understand how you can be both Strong and Weak. Andy Crouch will provide the tools to help you marry both your authority and your vulnerability in ways that will create opportunities for those around you to flourish.

Reserve your spot and invite a friend to join you today.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

Andy Crouch

Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His two most recent books—2017's The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place and 2016's Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing—build on the compelling vision of faith, culture, and the image of God laid out in his previous books Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.

Andy serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He served the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae's 2014 single "Non-Fiction."

From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.

Do you wonder if you are faithfully working in your sphere of influence? Join us for teaching, tools, and stories about practicing work faithfully as we host dialogues with professionals from various industries.  

• Date: Thursday, September 20, 2018

• Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

• Location: Adele's (1210 McGavock Street, Nashville, TN 37203)

• Food: Full-course lunch

Greg Adams has earned the respect of many, first as a long time executive at IBM in posts around the globe and more recently as the Chief Operating Officer for the State of Tennessee.  Throughout his career he has extensively pondered what “working faithfully” looks like. Join us as NIFW Executive Director Missy Wallace interviews Greg about his various positions and the opportunities and tensions he has experienced as a “faithfully working” leader.

About the Lunches
We use a practical theological framework to identify the inherent goodness of work, its outcomes, and the deeper questions it asks of us. The gatherings provide glimpses into common struggles and philosophical differences, and seek to foster the hope that emerges when we come to expect more from God within our work. Let’s work on faithfully working at work.

Greg Adams

Greg Adams serves as Chief Operating Officer for the State of Tennessee.  He joined the governor’s senior team in July of 2013 after working for IBM for 36 years.

Adams was a member of the company’s senior leadership team, most recently as a managing director in the financial services sector.  Throughout his time at IBM, he held positions in sales, marketing, operations, reengineering & quality, and general management.

Early in his career he spent two years in Knoxville as branch manager of IBM’s East Tennessee operations and then moved to Nashville where he was regional manager of the Mid-South region.  After that he served as managing director of operations and board member for IBM Japan in Tokyo.

In 1994 he moved to New York where he held a variety of senior executive positions related to IBM transformation initiatives.  His 11 years in New York included roles from general manager of process industries for IBM North America to vice president of small and medium businesses for Canada, United States and Latin America.  He moved to Atlanta in 2005.

In the governor’s ongoing effort to make Tennessee the best managed state in the nation, Adam’s role is to work with state departments to ensure they’re operating in the most efficient way possible.

Working outside the home, working inside the home, married, single - with so many important roles to fill, why are women criticized and discouraged for their work-life choices?

Faith, Work and Women: Encouraging One Another

• Who: Women of all ages and stages
• When: Tuesday, September 4, 6-8:30 p.m.
• Where: Cabana (1910 Belcourt Ave, Nashville, TN 37212)
• Food: Buffet provided, Cash bar
• Price: $10 per ticket 

Join Women's Ministry at Christ Presbyterian Church and the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work for an honest conversation aiming to empower and encourage all women that their work - paid, unpaid, volunteer, or in-the-home - matters to God. We will provide a space where women of every age and stage can connect to listen and discuss the standards, pressures, and misconceptions they experience regarding their work-life choices.

The program panel will consist of women in the following areas: a mom who works full time outside of the home, a mom working in the home, a single professional without children, and an empty nester who is transitioning into a new season of work. Our hope is that women will leave not only confident in what they do, but also motivated to encourage other women to know that no matter where they are in life, their day-to-day work carries dignity and purpose.

Timeline of Event

• 6:00-6:30 - Registration and Networking
• 6:30-7:00 - Dinner is served
• 7:00-8:00 - Program begins
• 8:00-8:30 - Q&A

We look forward to seeing you there.

Interested in learning more about Gotham, our flagship nine-month faith and work intensive? Join us for a morning interest meeting on May 8 at the offices of the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work.