Bob came to one of our workplace trainings because the local church he attended hosted one. His pastor, Rob, was bi-vocational working also as an airline mechanic. At his airline job, Rob was part of an group of Christians that met over lunch breaks. He decided to host a workplace training at his church and extended an invitation to anyone working in or outside the airline industry. Bob worked in a management position at a food processing plant with several hundred employees. As the training progressed, Bob’s eyes were opened to things that he had not considered about his workplace. By the end of the training, he knew what steps of faith he wanted to take considering his time limitations at work. He told us he only had ten, maybe fifteen minutes available during a break time, but he was willing to start there and see what God would do. One week later Bob called to tell me that he had two others who were interested in meeting for prayer during their 10-minute break once a week. I could hear the excitement in his voice. Two weeks passed then Bob called again. Enthusiastically, he told me that some others had joined and now there were eight at the weekly meeting. I received his third call a couple weeks later asking if I could meet him for lunch. He went on to explain the reason for the lunch meeting; the General Manager of the plant wanted to meet me. At that lunch meeting Bob introduced me to Phil, the Plant Manager. I learned quickly that Phil was a Christian. He wanted to thank me personally for teaching this training because he could see the transformation take place with only a few Christians in his plant. He went on to explain that for years he watched Christians draw attention to special events or issues that were important to them, but he had never seen a group of Christians take such genuine interest in the people and circumstances at their workplace like this group. Phil was so encouraged and impressed that he wanted to be part of it though he needed to be cautious due to his position. Bob told of the variety of prayers the group was praying for; personal needs, machines breaking down, challenging relationships within the company and many others. He wanted the other several hundred employees in the plant to feel a part of their prayer meeting, realizing that most of these employees probably couldn’t attend due to the different break times. He decided to send out a company memo letting employees know that they could drop off their prayer requests. He dedicated one of the big whiteboards in his office and invited any employee to come at anytime and write his or her request on it. As time went on, the board was filled with more and more requests, most of which centered on situations at the plant and personal needs.

I met with Bob and Phil again and they had further news to tell me. There were now two prayer groups that were meeting weekly, one in the evening and the other in the morning. Phil shared that he shows up unannounced at the prayer meetings when his schedule allows. Then Bob informed me that he was beginning to make contact with some employees at another plant whom he thought would be interested in forming prayer groups. Just think, in the beginning all Bob knew he had were ten to fifteen minutes during his break time, but he was willing to take steps of faith and trust God to do the rest. Do you see any possibilities around you at work? Are you willing to take steps of faith that require you to trust God to work through you?

I commend the courageous faith of the men and women who have been used to connect Christians together in the workplace. Their worthy efforts may not be fully realized, but the results are more than the eye can see and someday they will be fully rewarded. My prayer is – May their numbers increase!

(Excerpt from Paul’s book: When God Shows Up At Work; pp.131-132)