Authors and speakers jordan rayner We believe, and we want others to believe, that God invites followers of Christ to find holiness in secular work. Rayner, known to many as an influencer, leader, and podcaster, believes that when we show up to work with God, meaningful things can and will happen for God’s glory. believe. In a sit-down interview with Christian Headlines, Rayner revealed his desire to start a movement among Christians to bring holiness to secular activities. Rayner believes that when we bring holiness to the workplace, we are living out the gospel mission to be the hands and feet of Jesus. For Rayner, no matter what we do for a living, bringing the gospel into our workspaces is bringing Christ with us into the secular environments of our lives, and therefore It brings light and sacredness into our workspace.
Jordan: It wasn’t a moment. There were many moments where I ended up having the same conversations over and over again. I spend most of my time creating content that helps Christians understand how their work is eternally important, and then I have conversation after conversation to encourage entrepreneurs, teachers, and baristas to help themselves. We told them that our work is forever important. The most immediate reaction was “Ah.” My work is my mission field. ” That’s a wonderful truth, of course, but if that’s the only way our work will matter forever, then when we’re clearly sharing the gospel, most of us are You’ll be wasting most of it. How much time does the average person spend per week walking someone down a Roman road? I spend every Zoom meeting my tribe leaves, every Uber drive, every article written, We want to help you understand how every diaper change can be important. Many of the moments that have accumulated over time have reminded me that we must move beyond excellence, ethics, and evangelism and move the conversation around faith in work. We can show the gospel, but it’s only a small part of our lives, what about the other 99.9% of the time? Does it matter to God? And the Bible’s emphatic answer is yes. So that is my goal with this book, to help the believer understand how his 100 percent of his time is important to eternity.
CH: In your book, you mention that Tim Keller was an influence on your life. How has Tim influenced your life?
Jordan: Here’s the backstory to really understand what he meant to me. Before creating content like this full-time, I spent 10 years as a technology entrepreneur. And then, halfway through that journey, five years into his career, I was in the process of selling his second company. I was trying to think of what to do next. After selling two companies, it would be natural to start a third company, right? That was the plan. I remember going to church one Sunday. Sadly, there was a guest who preached a sermon that very many Christians are familiar with. It was a sermon that made me feel guilty. Why would you want to start another business when people need to move to mud huts 5,000 miles from home to make disciples of all nations? I felt guilty, so a conversation with a friend led me to read Tim Keller’s book for the first time, which led to my current actions. Tim is the reason I’m doing this job today. I got to know him. A few months before he passed away, we were talking and I was just thanking him for taking on the responsibility of following Jesus seriously today. But his second is the work I’m doing today. It was so amazing. He was able to speak incredible words of congratulations to me about the work I do and the importance of it. I miss him very much.
CH: You said there are four ways a person’s work can be of eternal importance. What are those four methods?
Jordan: In the preface to this book, I said that it would be foolish to call this an exhaustive list. This is not an exhaustive list of all the ways our work is eternally important. I’ve taken some notes over the past 4-5 years, and these four themes seemed to emerge to the top. number one, Our work is a means of bringing joy to God. Number 2, Our work is the primary means of accumulating eternal rewards – I don’t think this topic is talked about enough in the church. number 3, Our work is a way to erase the glimpses of the kingdom.. And of course, her fourth and most obvious is, Our work is the primary means of making disciples in this worldEspecially in a post-Christian context.
CH: Through this book, you seem intent on communicating the eternal importance of our work.
Jordan: 100%. There’s a lot of things in this book that I haven’t said before. I wanted to awaken the church. I am speaking in a more preachy way because I think this is what is needed to awaken the church to the depth of this issue. This is why the preface to this book is titled “What if the Great Commission is not all there is to it?” That is why the first chapter is called “The Complete Gospel.” I intentionally use these terms as stinking salts. The truth has become all too familiar to us. Considering the ultimate trajectory of Jesus’ life and redemption of all creation on the cross, it is likely that he spent 80 percent of his adult life swinging a hammer or carving stones. What are the facts? He may have grown up in the home of a priest like John the Baptist, praying all day long. He grew up in the home of a Pharisee like Paul, where he could have spent all day studying Torah. But God is sending us a message when Christ chooses to live in a carpenter’s house. There he would spend most of his days doing a job much like what most Christians do today. If that doesn’t add intrinsic value to the work we do in the world, I don’t know what does. I’ve been preaching on my keyboard, and I’ll go into more detail than any other book I’ve ever read.
CH: When I’m writing a book, there’s an exercise I do to keep the reader in the forefront. what is that?
Jordan: I always print out who I’m writing for and put it up as a picture on the wall. I printed out photos of people I knew would have a hard time hearing this message. I was literally looking at pictures of certain people. Tim Keller gave me the advice to read the manuscript aloud. I read it out loud and looked at the picture on the wall as I read it.
CH: Why do you think viewers relate to you?
Jordan: I’ve heard people say several things: I was not a pastor or religious expert. I try to be authentic and normal.
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