In my report at the 2024 annual meeting of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, I shared some personal reflections regarding a faith journey I have been on for the past several years. These reflections were a confession of sorts. Although I serve as president at a Baptist university, I am still a student. God continues to teach me about Himself and His purposes for His creation. I am still growing in my faith.
This journey is not only deepening my relationship with the Lord, but also my understanding of God’s purposes for creation, family, church, ministry, missions, discipleship, worship – well, just about everything. Over the past several years, I have had to re-learn, or maybe better said, learn, what the Bible teaches about God’s primary purpose for all people.
This path I am now traveling, this truth that God is teaching me, is about work – the biblical doctrine of work. And I am learning – the Bible has a lot to say about work!
I am learning that work is a primary part of God’s creative purposes for humanity – that God created us to work. We thrive when we work according to God’s purposes. Work is where we make ourselves useful to God and to others. Work is a primary way we express our love for God and for others. Work is one of the primary places where human beings experience meaningful, purposeful, and productive lives. Work is the stewardship of creation for human flourishing – for our flourishing.
As you can tell, I am learning that work is important to God. And because work is important to God, work should be important to us – to me.
The truths I am learning about the biblical doctrine of work are shaping how I view Christian discipleship. I am growing in my understanding on what it means to be a follower of Jesus in this fallen world – to live, love, and serve Him through my work. My view of biblical discipleship now incorporates a robust understanding of the role that work has for the Christian faith and Christian living.
These truths are not only expanding my understanding for the discipleship ministry of the church but also extend and apply to the mission of Christian education.
The majority of colleges and universities focus their educational efforts on the head – teach knowledge, impart information. Most faith-based colleges and universities focus on the heart and head – nurture faith, teach belief. Vocational institutions train the hand and the head – teach a skill, learn a trade.
In my opinion, these approaches are right – they just “aren’t right enough.” I now believe that, for education to be fully and faithfully Christian education, all three areas of human existence need to be intentionally and strategically addressed: head, heart, and hands.
Toward this end, we are attempting to give serious attention to the biblical doctrine of work in our mission. In fact, as I shared in a previous article, we recently revised our mission statement to reflect a commitment to educate and equip our students to live according to God’s purposes: Williams Baptist University exists to cultivate Christ-centered leaders who make a difference through their life work.
We are strategizing ways to incorporate this mission into every area of the university. We will do so in our academic programs. We will do so in our athletic programs. We will do so in our spiritual formation initiatives. We will do so in our student life activities. We will do so in our administration, our fundraising, our business operations, and so on. We believe the doctrine of work must be an integral in every expression of our mission.
As part of this commitment, I am excited to announce a new initiative that I believe helps us achieve our mission. We recently launched a new ministry called LifeWork. This initiative is a podcast designed to expand awareness of the University as well as communicate and inform listeners about the mission of WBU. I host the podcast, and our Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Rhyne Putman (a WBU alum) serves as co-host.
Part of our goal for this initiative is to serve and assist churches in their discipleship ministries. We are praying that LifeWork will be a resource that equips and encourages God’s people to live and serve the Lord where adults spend most of their lives – in their work. LifeWork is intended to provide insights and instruction on the biblical doctrine of work. We want this to be a practical resource to help God’s people live faithfully for Him in and through their work. I believe God wants our work to be our calling – our ministry. This podcast is to help the listener achieve these goals.
The LifeWork podcast is my invitation for you to join me on this journey to learn what the Bible teaches about God’s purpose for your life – to discover your calling in life – to learn what it means to live a purposeful life in and through your work. Please pray the Lord will use this initiative to expand and strengthen the mission of Williams Baptist University as well as equip and encourage churches in their Great Commission discipleship ministries.
You can access or download the LifeWork podcast on the Williams Baptist University YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/@williamsbaptistuniversity. You may watch or download the first episode at https://youtu.be/fJpRmPmzkFs?si=YRYbugytvxl_WZWu.
You can also listen or download the podcast on Apple podcasts at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lifework-podcast/id1772502010?i=1000676068175, or on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/6iFQgHztRLs0QbLBudpD8N?si=de2d155c470f450f.
Be sure to catch every episode of the LifeWork podcast by following and subscribing to our media channels!