Soul enterprise Soundbites

Not everyone has a Time to go on vocation dream job. Millions of people feel unfulfi lled and unhappy in their work. Could they be looking at work all wrong?

A new documentary teaching series challenges Christians to look at work in a whole new way. Going On Vocation aims to help Christians connect their faith identity to any vocation and fi nd their calling.

Faith should not be turned off when people go to work, says Dr. Greg Foster, program director at the Kern Family Foundation. Faith should permeate attitudes and actions in every aspect of life.

“We can fi nd joy in helping people in a God-honoring way,” adds Dr. Chris Armstrong, theology professor at Wheaton (Ill.) College.

Going On Vocation uses personal stories of ordinary people at work to show that vocation or calling is about much more than a paid job. Noted scholars are joined by a waitress, a policeman, a stay-at-home father and many others to explore how God calls Christians to a life of vocation. It aims to help viewers see their work, not as drudgery or obligation, but as an opportunity to live out their faith and see daily work as a way to serve others and create blessings.

The two-part, eight-lesson documentary is produced by the Christian History Institute and Vision Video. To order ($19.99 U.S.) go to http://www.GoingOnVocation.com

But who will weigh the coal?

I enjoy telling the story about two brothers who were in the coal business. Revival meetings came to town. One of the brothers accepted Christ. For weeks he tried to persuade his brother to become a Christian, too. One day the unconverted brother responded, “It’s fi ne for you to be a Christian, but if I became a Christian, who would weigh the coal?”

Who would weigh the coal! The implication is quite clear. Becoming a follower of Jesus affects how we weigh coal.

When Zacchaeus met the Lord he started to “weigh coal” differently. Luke 19:8 (NIV) records his new business ethics: “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

If the world’s methods for “weighing coal” are off the mark, where do we turn for direction? To the inner nudgings of God’s Spirit. To the Scriptures as we study them. To our congregational gatherings as we listen to the admonitions of our brothers and sisters.

“Weighing coal” in today’s business world is a complicated enterprise. Pursuing Christian faithfulness is a lifelong journey which requires continuous openness to the leading of God’s Spirit plus lots of courage to apply his teachings in our daily business decisions and practices. — John H. Rudy, reprinted from his Auditor’s Report column in The Marketplace, December 1985

Who else works our fi eld?

We’d like to think this magazine, and the organization behind it, meets all your faith/work needs. We’d like to think that by the time you fi nish reading this magazine you are fi lled with new energy and purpose and can hardly wait to get to your job to demonstrate how God works through business to meet human needs and create business solutions to poverty.

But maybe you have an insatiable hunger for more and just can’t wait two months for the next issue or for new resources on our website (www.meda.org)

For those we offer this list of organizations who also cultivate the fi eld of business as a Christian calling. • businessasmissionnetwork. com • c12group.com • convenenow.com • faithandworklife.org • thehighcalling.org • marketplaceleaders.org • theologyofwork.org • worklife.org

Woman with a mop

Last fall I went to hospital for surgery (it was successful). I learned a lot about hospital life.

As other patients know, healing can entail a procession of technicians who drop in at any hour, blare on the lights, prod & poke, take vitals, and show off your incremental progress to an entourage of trainees.

Between their visits I had plenty of time to think about the MEDA job from which I was absent. Now, the recovery ward wasn’t much like a factory fl oor or a soybean fi eld in Ghana, but it had people showing up for work, carrying out their prescribed tasks, expressing their individual competencies and along the way maybe even fi nding some metaphysical meaning in what they were doing. I came out with a fortifi ed sense that MEDA has been right all along — our daily toil (whether in a corporation or a hospital) is a measure of who we are and what we can contribute to the world around us.

All the staff seemed to have a higher purpose — the surgeon who came daily to check his stitchery, the nurses who monitored my vitals and injected medication, the specialists who gouged holes in my fl esh and wormed a tube up into my heart, the room cleaner who mopped my fl oors.

Ah yes, the woman with the mop. She diligently swabbed tiles and wiped walls as if she were the lone buffer of defence between purity and infection. (Every year some 75,000 North Americans die from infections picked up in hospitals; that’s many times the number of Ebola deaths last year.) She may have been on the low end of the pay scale, but that didn’t seem to dampen her purpose. She scrubbed and cleaned as if my life depended on her. And maybe it did. She was a good reminder to me that our daily work, no matter how small our individual roles, can be a calling, an occasion to practice our values, to demonstrate our faith, and to be part of God’s larger ordering of things. — Wally Kroeker

Overheard:

“Nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.” — Rev. James Forbes

Turning the tables on mad-cow fears

When the border slammed shut on their prime export, the Spenst family re-engineered themselves. And business is booming.

Gary Spenst takes a visitor past a stand of silos and points south, beyond the feedlot on his family’s farm in Reinland, Manitoba.

“It’s less than a mile to the U.S.,” he says.

Here the Canada/U.S. border has no fences or barricades, but for a cattle producer it might as well have had a Berlin Wall.

Gary knows what it’s like to have his future redefined by the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.

A dozen years ago he and his

family made their living producing Angus-cross-bred cattle for the U.S. beef market. They were proud of their operation. “I love the farm,” says Gary. “That’s where my heart is.”

They raised several hundred head of cattle a year, mostly for export to the U.S.

They were in it for the long haul. Gary and his wife Connie encouraged both of their sons, Paul (wife, Felisha) and Garreth (wife, Maryanne), to get an education. Both boys went to University of Manitoba, one taking the agricultural diploma course and the other getting a bachelor’s degree in math. Both became skilled breeders, certified in artificial insemination.

Then, in 2003, came “mad cow disease.” It didn’t come to them but to Alberta, two provinces to the west. The U.S. had not before had bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), as it is technically known, nor did it want to start now. Every Canadian cattle producer was hit with the same hammer as the U.S. and other major markets slammed shut their doors to Canadian beef. The entire Canadian industry was devastated. know what to expect. Would the border closure be short-lived? Would it all get sorted out?

As it turned out, the border was closed to beef for years.

“When mad cow came, our heifers were instantly worth nothing,”

Many of Connie Spenst’s home-grown recipes find their way onto the shelves, like eight-grain bread and sweet pepper relish.

To make things worse, the Spenst family had just bought a hundred bred heifers, who now had no market. In fact, they had shipped a load the very day the hammer dropped. Farmers didn’t know what it all meant. Manitoba had never had BSE (and still hasn’t) so producers didn’t Gary says. “At that time a cow was worth $7, but it cost $10 to ship it.”

What do you do when the rug has just been pulled out from under you?

“We prayed about it a lot,” Gary says simply.

Any summer Saturday you’ll find Gary and Connie Spenst at Winnipeg’s St. Norbert Market, dishing out Farm Burgers and other products.

Son Paul, general manager, runs the farm, raising 700 head of cattle and cultivating 2,000 acres of crops like corn, canola and barley.

At first they couldn’t believe the border embargo would last; surely it was temporary. But as it dragged on and the unshipped heifers kept growing they realized they had to do something.

Their first idea was to set up a cut-and-wrap processing plant on their farm. This idea then morphed into starting a specialty meat shop in Winkler, a small city 10 minutes north of their farm. Local administrative officials agreed that this was something their growing city needed.

Working with civic rules and permits is not always a smooth path. As with any new enterprise, there were setbacks.

“We always took the obstacles as God’s leading,” says Gary. “The way things took off we were sure God was blessing us.”

In October 2003 the family opened Spenst Brothers Premium Meats in Winkler with the goal of producing food “the way mom would have made it at home.”

For the Spenst family that means home-grown beef that is raised without the use of growth promotants. “The store was built with the idea that people would come to appreciate knowing where their food comes from,” says the company website.

In addition to fresh cuts of beef, the store offers a fullservice deli with all meats made in-house every week. In keeping with the “home made” motif they do not add fillers, MSG, animal by-products or artificial color to any of their products.

Almost everything in the store is selfproduced, from meat cuts and sausages in the deli case to condiments, baked goods, potpies, perogies and various kinds of relish based on recipes from Grandma Zacharias, Connie’s mother.

Many of Connie’s other homegrown recipes also find their way onto the shelves, like her legendary hamburger and hot dog buns. “Everybody always talked about them and asked for them,” says Gary proudly.

On Friday and Saturday the first buns go into the oven at 3 a.m. “We’re pushing a product that is superior without preservatives,” he says.

There’s also a signature loaf of eight-grain bread as well as sticky bread and lemon and chocolate freezer rolls.

“Everything we sell is our own,” says Connie, whose title is product developer. On her computer screen is a list of ingredients for pulled pork, another recent offering. “We want to have a continual line of new products.”

Pizza has become a great success for them. You might think the market for that product is well saturated, but apparently not so. It’s the number one fast food in North America, and two-thirds of it is made by independents. The suggestion to get into it came from a food industry supplier in Winnipeg who said, “You have to do pizza.”

The Spenst family now makes nearly 20 different kinds of pizza,

including a breakfast variety.

“It’s our second-biggest item,”says Gary. “Fifty stores carry it across southern Manitoba, from Killarney to Steinbach.”

Schools have latched onto it as a fundraiser. “We sell them to the kids wholesale, and they can charge whatever they want for their fundraisers. One Grade 6 class in Steinbach just sold more than 1,000.”

The Spensts have not yet bothered to break into the Winnipeg market (population 750,000; 75 miles northeast) because right now they can’t supply that much pizza.

That will change when their new commercial kitchen (17,600 square feet) is completed this year. Two of the seven exterior doors are specially designed for Sprinter pizza delivery vans.

“In all my years I’ve never gone to work yet. I thoroughly enjoy every part of what we do.”

The Spenst enterprise is a

well-integrated family operation.

Son Paul is general manager and runs the farm, which not only raises 700 head of cattle for the food operation but also comprises 2,000 acres of cultivated land on which they grow corn, canola, barley, dry edible beans and hay for their own feed and for sale.

Production manager Garreth

devises new products like cranberry roast beef and jalapeno ham sausage. The cranberry roast beef came into being because the regular beef was more crumbly than he liked. One day it came to him, Why not add cranberries? The extra moisture improved the texture of the beef, and the flavor spoke for itself.

Some brainstorms start with a customer comment or request, but not every one can be satisfied. “The products have to be sustainable,” says Garreth.

He is also careful about fat content. Some people prefer more fat in their sausage, he says. “We’re a very lean deli.”

What is he most proud of? A quick contender is shish kabob; another is their smoked turkey sausage.

From June to October Gary

Son Garreth devises new products, ranging from cranberry roast beef and other sausages, to his pride and joy, shish kabob.

and Connie spend Saturdays at the St. Norbert Market on the southern edge of Winnipeg. They are there well before the sun rises with a food trailer and a freezer unit. All day long they’ll sell meat products and burgers. They are known for their Farmburger, a bun with a farmer sausage patty, a beef patty, cheese, bacon, Connie’s own pepper relish and a special sauce. Besides being a profit center in its own right, the market stall engages new customers. “People buy all winter because they saw us at St. Norbert,” says Gary. Gary and Connie also cater special events like company banquets and picnics. “I love to cook,” Gary says simply. In fact, he adds, he basically just loves his work. “In all my years I’ve never gone to work yet. I thoroughly enjoy every part of what we do.”

Church and mission rank

high with the Spenst family. Gary and Connie are longtime members of the Bethel Bergthaler Mennonite Church, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. For 30 of those years Gary has sung first tenor with the Bethel quartet.

This spring he and Connie went to Mexico for a week, as they’ve done previously, to help out with a Christian ministry that among other things offers Bible studies and educational aid to children.

Not surprisingly, there was a food opportunity for Gary — a barbecue and fiesta for local people, with kids’ facepainting and distribution of used clothing. Gary looked after cooking 2,700 hot dogs.

“I like to feed people,” he says. “What’s better than to feed hungry children?”

Gary relies heavily on what

he understands as God’s leading. This doesn’t mean every business decision is necessarily going to succeed, but there’s a sense in which reliance on God underpins daily actions.

He remembers wrestling with a business decision one day as he was making deliveries in a Frenchspeaking area of eastern Manitoba. He asked God for wisdom. In one Francophone town all the signs and billboards were in French.

Except one.

“There was a billboard, in English, from Proverbs 3:6 — ‘In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path.’

“That was a sign for me,” says Gary. “I always acknowledge where I see God’s hands.”

For Gary, running a family enterprise is like steering a ship. “When I steer that ship I need to steer it correctly. I can’t steer the ship unless I have direction from God.” ◆

Seeds of entrepreneurship

A departing staff member looks back with gratitude on an unpredictable journey

For the past three years Lauren Good, who works in MEDA’s Washington, DC offi ce, has been leading a project to develop a commercial distribution system for disease-resistant varieties of cassava for African farmers. In a recent staff meeting, he refl ected on his personal journey with gardening, seeds and entrepreneurship, and his decision to apply his skills in a larger arena.

by Lauren Good

When I was a young boy, my brothers and I subscribed to magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. I enjoyed reading the ads at the back that advertised all kinds of business opportunities. When I was seven years old, I noticed an ad by a seed company that invited youth to sell garden seeds in their neighborhoods.

This seemed perfect. We lived in a suburban area outside of Washington DC. Both of my parents were raised on farms, and we had a big family. Six kids can eat a lot, so we had a very large garden that not only fed us through the summer, but also through the winter, with frozen and canned vegetables and fruits. I couldn’t understand why so few of our neighbors had gardens. I saw a business opportunity. The story goes that most entrepreneurs are not successful on their fi rst venture, and I had already been rocked by one business failure. Two years prior, at age fi ve, I signed up to sell heirloom inscribed family Bibles. I went all around the neighborhood trying to sell them, and although a nice neighbor lady invited me in for my pitch, what I remember most was that despite my inability to close the sale, I was fed some cookies.

Nonetheless, I forged on. I bought my seed kit, and set out with my wagon to change my neighborhood through better seeds. Of course, a benefi t of buying from me was that I embedded extension services to customers, because we grew most of the crops that I was selling.

I don’t have sales fi gures from that year, so I cannot tell you any of my profi tability metrics, and I don’t recall running a Net Present Value (NPV) calculation prior to making my initial investment. What I do recall is that I sold some seeds; however, I also took note when some prospective customers objected that they didn’t have time to raise plants from seeds. So, like any good entrepreneur, I went home and adjusted my business plan. It was too late this year, but the next year I was ready.

I started all of the popular plants in our basement under grow lamps. Then at the right time, when people were getting that spring fever to get outside, I headed back out with my little red wagon, making sure to hit all of the houses where I had received the “can’t plant from seed” objection, and told them that I listened to them last year and now had the plants. “Hi Mrs. Johnson. Remember last year when you told me you never had luck growing from seeds? I brought you plants

this year.” How could they refuse now? I also decorated my wagon with a few dried gourds that I had grown the previous season, just to create the proper point-ofpurchase merchandising look. Again, I don’t have the sales or profitability data. I believe IRS only requires us to keep seven years of business records. But I do recall feeling great. I was making money while doing something that was healthy and good for my customer neighbors.

Lauren Good (left) and fellow MEDA staffer David Eagle nibble raw cassava in Mtwara, Tanzania.

This started a string of other small business ideas. My brothers and I started making dog houses, which my dad would display and sell in his building supply store. I sold subscriptions to a local newspaper. I mowed grass, shoveled snow, raked leaves around the neighborhood, and was hired to do the weekly cleaning at my church. By the time I was 14, my dad figured out that it was better just to hire me to work in the family business, and so for the next six years, I suppressed my entrepreneurial itch.

These memories flowed back last November, when I met with and interviewed 11 of our Youth Agricultural Sales Agents in Ethiopia. The changes visible in each of these youth — selling seeds and other supplies in their local villages, but dreaming far beyond — were really inspiring. I sat with one who told me his 10-year plan to finish his high school, get to a university — the first in his family — go to medical school to become a doctor, finally returning to his home community to start a health clinic. I firmly believe that he will go on to do impressive things. By the time I was in college, I was questioning disparities in our economic system, but at the same time I already understood the allure and possibility of entrepreneurship as a means of empowerment, and potentially something for social good. After two years of college, I took a break es pretty much all of what I believe about doing development well. And I have been blessed to work with so many great people. When I came to MEDA, I assumed I would finish out my career here. Unexpectedly, however, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offered me an opportunity to join a team working to improve seed systems for crops critical for food security in Africa. In a way, I’m returning to a vision of a seven-year-old with a red wagon. Seeds provide hope, to start a new business. I thought and combining them with sound busithe start-up experience, along with ness models seems to be my calling. further education, would provide me But I’m not really ready to leave skills to help others help themselves MEDA entirely. I’ll continue as a through business opportunities. member and expect to attend con-

I didn’t know MEDA then, but ventions when I am able. And I hope over time, I did, attending a few to strengthen the ties between the MEDA conventions. After one in Gates Foundation and MEDA, not Colorado, I came home and told my only within our agricultural developwife that when I sold the business, ment team, but in other ways as I I wanted to join up with MEDA to am able to make connections and use what business skills I had gained increase the visibility of MEDA there. over the years to return to my original idea of using business as a way I look back on my career with of creating social good. gratitude.

What started as my two-year I’m grateful for parents, who business experiment dragged on were businesspeople with a confor 25 years until I finally decided science. This was expressed in to make the change. At that time, treatment of employees, respect and my wife and I committed that once appreciation for customers, and by we sold our business, our next jobs building relationships with other would be about passion. So after sell- companies they might merely have ing, and going back to school to com- considered competitors. plete an MBA, I landed at MEDA, to I’m grateful for my time as a the amusement and surprise of many business owner, where I learned that friends who had heard the story but success comes when responding to didn’t believe that I would do it. customers’ needs, and through them finding new market opportunities. Now, much later, I have de- I’m grateful for a very supportive cided to leave MEDA. Why would I family — a wife and son who have supleave my dream job? MEDA embrac- ported me through various life changes and a decision to leave a successful “I wanted to use the business and follow new passions. And grateful to MEDA for giving skills I had gained to me this chance to understand the development field in a compassionuse business as a way ate way that also resonates with my predilection for doing things that are grounded in good common and busiof creating social good.” ness sense. ◆

Dispatch from a war zone

Civil disruption has not deterred MEDA from working in global hotspots. The following edited report from a strife-torn region suggests what it’s like to work amid constant danger. For reasons of security the MEDA staffer and her location are not identifi ed.

The country where I lead a women’s empowerment program for MEDA is considered one of the most dangerous on earth. Local strife has caused us to move our offi ce four times in two years. Just getting to the airport to attend a MEDA meeting in Canada was a challenge because a 12-metre hole from an airstrike the previous week had damaged the runway of our airport.

I have seen more change and disruption in two years than most people have seen in 20. Our unusual circumstances produce a high turnover, but members of my staff pledged to stay long enough to make things happen, some for a year or at least enough time to reach a specifi c target in the project before leaving. I cannot ask more. This is a hard place right now, but as long as the project components are delivered successfully and the clients are happy, then all is fi ne.

Currently there are increased challenges — power cuts, telecom failure, travel diffi culties, and threats from religious dogma. But we still

Our staff did not give up. They worked from home, in cafes, in lineups for fuel and in our bombed offi ce after a stray missile.

operate and carry out monthly networking events facilitated by MEDA staff on our premises. We are running a nationwide gender and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) survey and the women are the ones asking for this. The results will help us work on suitable business development services for them. This is our strong point; this is how we help and are there for our clients.

The spirit of collaboration and common mission is vital. When hostilities heightened and it seemed the international community was abandoning our country — along with many local citizens who could afford to leave — MEDA staff did not give up! We worked from home, in cafes, in our car waiting in the queue to refuel (some fuel lines were fi ve days long!), over the phone, online when we had power and in our bombed offi ce after a stray missile. Why? Because we are passionate about our country’s women and how what we are doing is the building block of a sound society. When women are empowered they improve the lives of people around them.

In the two years of the project so far, we have trained 200 women from various cities. We also mentored and supported hundreds of women in person at our face-to-face business plan support clinics and an equal number online. Throughout this we created a nucleus of networks for them and a place to feel safe and supported in their business entrepreneurship quest.

Their feedback speaks to why MEDA is trusted and credible in this country. Despite the strife and danger, we never left, we kept our word, we followed up and we delivered to make it happen against all odds (not always following plans to the letter but being creative along the way). This would not have been possible without us being there for each other and for the client, whether in head offi ce, senior management or in the fi eld.

Our future is increasingly uncertain. Will the status quo remain? Or will we see a diplomatic resolution and restored normality, along with more opportunities conducive to women’s empowerment? I cannot predict the future but I know I can always count on a spirit of unity and our motivation to serve the client! ◆

Sprouting upward

New Ghana project will raise the bar for cocoa, cashew, rubber and shea seedlings

In one of its most ambitious projects, MEDA is setting out to help 100,000 small-scale farmers in Ghana increase their income by establishing a robust commercial market for cocoa, cashew, rubber and shea tree seedlings.

MEDA recently received approval for a six-year, $23 million project to give tree farmers access to high-performance tree seedlings (HPTS) and a strengthened supply chain promoting the export markets.

“Agriculture comprises about a third of Ghana’s economy, and a third of that is tree crops,” says David Eagle, MEDA agriculture specialist who will lead the project. He adds that chronic shortages of highquality tree seedlings have severely constrained the country’s ability to capture added economic value.

MEDA is already heavily involved with soybean production in Ghana. This new income-generating project aims to pump life into an export industry by producing and promoting high-yield seedlings for plantations that have lost vigor over time.

MEDA’s private sector partner in the project is Tree Global, a SwissCanadian nursery firm specializing in high-performance seedlings. Tree Global will build two nurseries in Ghana, each of which can produce two million seedlings a year. MEDA will handle promotion and distribution.

“We will work on the value chain side of it, setting up distribution mechanisms,” says Eagle.

MEDA will rely on its extensive voucher expertise (used, for example, in the distribution of mosquito nets

A third of Ghana’s agricultural economy is tree crops, like this cocoa seedling.

Two new nurseries, like these, will produce four million healthy seedlings a year for African tree producers.

in Tanzania) to promote adoption. As a temporary stimulus to the end user, farmers who register in the system will be given electronic discount vouchers on their cellphones which they can apply toward the purchase of seedlings.

The project will operate in the Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti regions of western and central Ghana. By the end, it is anticipated that a network of world-class commercial nurseries will have been established in these key tree-crop growing locations. It is targeted that 100,000 farmers will have benefitted, not only from increased income but also from additional expertise and better access to finance. It is also expected that 50 small enterprises in the value chain and 25 farmer associations will be strengthened. Eagle says the bulk of the country’s tree crop production is exported to large buyers of cocoa, cashews, rubber and shea (used in cosmetics). Half of the project’s $22.8 million will come from the Canadian government and $7 million will come from Tree Global. MEDA will contribute $2.1 million, which includes a substantial prospective investment in Tree Global.

While the financing has been approved, the project is still ramping up and is expected to be in operation this fall. ◆

Falling backwards into God’s calling

When he stopped “running from computers” he felt freed up to serve — as a technologist

by Lauren Jefferson

Dan Shenk-Evans characterizes his career in technology as “falling backwards” into God’s calling. For years, every position he sought in direct social ministry eventually led him reluctantly to a computer, where he would quickly solve IT problems and streamline organizational workflow.

“I wasn’t sure I would find meaningful work in computer science. I thought I should be in direct service, and I tried to find a way to do that kind of work, but it wasn’t what I was best at,” said Shenk-Evans.

Now director of information technologies at the Capital Area Food Bank, Shenk-Evans oversees the technological systems within a new 123,000-square-foot warehouse and office that provide food to more than 500 partner agencies, which in turn feed 478,000 people in the Washington D.C. metro area. His goal is to develop technology as a strategic asset so that more hungry adults and children can be reached.

And while he may not be meeting those hungry people face-toface every day, Shenk-Evans says his work is enriching and fulfilling. “At some point, I’ve decided to be at peace with the idea that I’m a technologist,” he said. “That is how I serve. It took me 15 years to be able to say that: I am good at this. I’m not a spokesman or a fundraiser. I’m a mission-focused technologist and this is my contribution to society.”

Photo by Jon Styer

Dan Shenk-Evans: Developing technology as a strategic asset so more hungry people can be fed.

Now Shenk-Evans can tell his story of “running away from computers” with a sense of humor. In his first year of Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS), he turned down a computer teaching position in Jamaica in favor of an agency liaison position at the Capital Area Food Bank.

“Almost immediately, someone was programming a custom inventory management system and he needed help,” Shenk-Evans said. “Within a few weeks, I was the database administrator.”

At the end of his first MVS year, he requested a different part-time position and was placed in a job referral program at the Spanish Catholic Center. “Again, I was trying to get away from computers, but I have a tendency to want to make things as efficient as possible, so I developed a database so they could track applicants, jobs, and employers.”

In the ensuing years, ShenkEvans earned a Master’s of Divinity at Duke, which included taking a restorative justice course at Eastern Mennonite University, and took a two-year stint as executive director of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate. There, his true aptitudes emerged.

“No matter what I did at this small non-profit, the IT work always fell on me,” he said. “I spent two years automating our office to make our organization more efficient. I set up the first email system, [and] the first network, and implemented a database to track our mortgages.”

Finally, a friend pointed out that his strengths — administrative and IT experience with non-profits — would be useful at his company, Community IT Innovators. From 2000 to 2010, Shenk-Evans was a senior consultant with CITI. Then he returned to the Capital Area Food Bank as its first full-time IT director. Shenk-Evans now supervises a staff of three: a GIS specialist, an information systems manager, and a network administrator.

Asked what advice he would give others following in his footsteps, Shenk-Evans said: “For a long time, I had a narrow definition of what meaningful work was. I thought direct service was the most important way to help. Then when I tried to do it, I found out that I wasn’t very good at it. I had other skills. If you’re trying to do something that is outside your true skill set, you won’t be as effective at your work. Keep your mind and heart open to different ways to serve. Keep in mind that you’ll only be happy if you use your gifts to the good. Try to find the intersections between what the world needs, your gifts and God’s calling.” ◆

Reprinted with permission from Crossroads, alumni publication of Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Soundbites

Is your competitor an ally?

Most companies do not think of their competitors as stakeholders; they view them as enemies to be crushed in the marketplace. Companies commonly use war metaphors in thinking about competitors. But a more constructive way to think about competitors is as allies in striving for mutual excellence. Good competitors help a business to improve and evolve because they offer its stakeholders choices. They can coax a company out of its complacency and away from suboptimal behaviors. Competitors create and innovate, coming up with ideas, strategies, products, and services that we may not have thought of on our own. — John Mackey and Raj Sisodia in Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

Showing up

“How do I bring my faith to work?“ you ask. If you are showing up to work, then your faith is too. It really is that simple. It’s not a question of how to bring faith to work because your faith is part of you. How your faith plays out in the workplace is much less about your strategy for showing it to people and much more about the health of your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. — Diane Paddison in The High Calling blog

Saving early

I learned early to save my money in dividend earning investments. My Pop would say, “I’ll buy you 100 shares of PP&L and you can pay me back as you earn it!” I never had any money to spend because I was always paying back my Pop for all the stock he bought me! A friend in my adult years called that “contrived poverty.” — Henry Rosenberger speaking to Eastern Mennonite University’s annual donor appreciation banquet

Retire to what?

Without a purpose, retirement is a void. What that purpose is or should be is an individual choice. It can be a love of golf, a desire to travel, to do volunteer work in a developing country, to study, to be an artist or pursue a hobby, or to devote your life to a religious order or to take a more secular path of helping others. The point is that there should be a goal or a plan of possible activity or action. Just quitting because it seems possible is not only foolish, it is precarious. — Andrew Allentuck in When Can I Retire?

Creative “Wow”

There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions. You run into someone, you ask what they’re doing, you say “Wow,” and soon you’re cooking up all sorts of ideas. — Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in a biography by Walter Isaacson

Keep the change

Last week they buried Aunt Sue. She yearned to die. Now, finally, she had. This was a change she wanted.

People say I don’t like change. Well, maybe I don’t. Too many of the changes I’ve seen recently have been for the worse, not the better. I’ve been demoted, lost a parent, and stood by in tears as close friends terminated their marriages. I’m supposed to embrace change?

Business discourse is full of change talk. One Internet keystroke brings you in touch with scads of books to help you welcome, design or lead change. Only a shlep admits to resisting change.

The people who cheer loudest about change are those who have managed to turn a buck from it. Losers don’t sing the glories of change. For example, peasant farmers in developing countries who are frozen out of their traditional markets by the swollen subsidies rich nations give their own producers probably have a good case for not liking change. Globalization is fine for the rich, less so for the poor.

A preacher rebuked his congregation for resisting change. (Meaning: accept my changes.) I don’t think he meant we should change churches. Or religions.

Corporate cheerleaders like to trumpet change as a corporate virtue. I’d love to hear a CEO suggest this change: “Shrink my salary to five times the average of my employees, rather than 200 times.”

I guess the attraction of change has its limits. — Nina Palumbo