The Gift of Work

I heard a sermon this morning called “Jesus & Your Job” by Nancy Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.

This is a wonderful example of a powerful message delivered in a powerful way. It contains an excellent description of what makes good leaders and how to derive the maximum value from one’s work. I doubt that you can spend twenty minutes in much better ways than listening to or watching this sermon.

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Comments

[bdecker]

Way to go Guy! And you just illustrated another great way to use video.
Bert

[Owen]

Looks like to save bandwidth the site removed the link.

I also tried this URL that was posted, and they took the main files down as well:
http://data.mppc.org/sermon/mp3/070304_nortberg.mp3

Anyone have a cached version they could post to YouTube or another place we could get this? It is very possible I am blind and missed where else to get it.

[Adam]

Guy, thanks. People often forget that for Christians our faith is an integral part of our lives. I can see how this sermon touched you and how you can relate it to what you do.

This is a subject that I have been thinking about a lot lately. I thought her point of job satisfaction was very interesting. I don't know many people who are satisfied with their jobs, which is sad.

Keep up the good work and always be willing to discuss how your faith interacts with your day job.

[dave]

wow, this is *exactly* what's wrong with internet blogging and soi-disant social commentary and journalism...as a non-christian i was not actually offended by the mention of jesus at all (though clever to hide it from your blog title guy! that would have pissed off way more people)...what upsets me is that most days you are writing on topic, and then you go off the deep end with a spiritual agenda of some kind....

please, stick to the subjects and themes that are relevant to your readership and spare us the "i know what's best for you in all vicissitudes of life" thing...in return, i won't tell you to how to take of your family and all of that...

************

Dave,

Did you watch the video?

Guy

[Alister Cameron, Blog Coach]

Thanks for this guy.

I think you've overloaded their server!

I am amazed at the prickly reaction of some to your post here.

You can talk about anything you like but the minute you talk about something faith-related there are some who want to accuse you of all kinds of nonsense.

Proves there's gotta be something in it!!

BTW, if you want (what I think is) a brilliant example of faith-meets-marketplace-of-ideas blogging, then maybe take a look at www.billmuehlenberg.com. Bill is prolific as all get-out, and a compelling apologist.

Disclaimer: I'm his blog coach.

- Alister

[courtney]

I need to know about Jesus and my job. Guy, please use your influence to convince them that Jesus can reach us through this medium. Please make the video available for free, for the love of the sweet baby Jesus.

[Russ N.]

Thanks for taking the risk in sharing this today. (I listened to the entire message and did hear her talk about venture capitalists...)

Great way to start the week and has challenged me in several areas as I head to work tomorrow.

[Decio]

After the "digg effect" and words as *slashdotted* and *farked*: their site was "Guy'd".

I hope to see the video back online in few days.

[Brian Mullins]

I'd be interested in knowing how many hits they had on their site today, thanks to you, Guy. Probably crashed their server!

[Elsbeth]

Cool and dandy but you have to pay for it ! very church like don't you think?

E

[dmain]

Yes, I wish they would have been willing to continue giving this great sermon away. I think it would have been a very powerful testamony.

Dennis

[Marcin]

For some reason the sermon is not available as mp3 now. Any advice? M

[Bil Corry]

It appears they have pulled the video offline. It is now only available for purchase.

[Leslie]

Guy,

Kudos on The Gift of Work post. We can attest to the fact that there are plenty of busines professionals whose need to stay spiritually focused doesn't stop at the office door.

Thanks for your continued support of In the Company of Prayer (www.companyofprayer.com). Our inclusion in your "BlogScratching" has lead many readers to us for such simple, daily reminders.

Thanks and many prayers,
Leslie

[Don Ettore]

Kevin,

Thanks for posting the link from Jeff Benedict. As Marc pointed out, it will be interesting to get another perspective.

Guy - Thanks for the post. We all need to be reminded periodically that there work can be a blessing, even if the job isn't.

Don

[Benson]

If you're having trouble finding the sermon on the site, here is a direct link:

http://data.mppc.org/sermon/mp3/070304_nortberg.mp3

[Andrea Baker]

Thank you. It was great to listen to and really energized my day.

[aaron]

All-
as a recovering ex-religious type, I listened to this with some trepidation. (christianeese gives me hives)

To Guy's credit - he nailed it. The universal truths are about leadership and the value of work. (christianity is just their particular api)

I don't have to agree with all of christianity to appreciate universal truths presented. Challenge yourself and listen for the wisdom beyond the framework of the faith.

peace!
aaron
(zen baptist)

[Kevin Schiess]

Guy,

Thanks for this post! Good for you for not being afraid of sharing some of what has made you successful. People will always have an opinion on religion but I am a firm believer that it should not be left out of conversation and business. On that note, I am posting a link to an excellent PODcast. I hope that you enjoy it. Copy and paste this into your browser. http://www.jeffbenedict.com/staging/Mormon%205%20min%20v%204.wmv
It is only 5 minutes long.

Enjoy,

Kevin

[Joe Suh]

Awesome sermon and outlook on work. Looking at work as meaningful redemption, a nobility in serving, an opp to improve oneself and the world... good reminders regardless of religion.

Great way to start the week...

The River Church in San Jose did a very similar series recently. Even used the same clip from Office Space :)

Another good resource on this topic is a book by Pat Gelsinger, former CTO of Intel.

[Marc Duchesne]

Ooops ! I shall never run in multi-tasking mode when posting a comment on Guy Kawasaki's blog. Please read "For the sake of the modern goddess : money, and her sales rep : the stock market."
_marc

[Marc Duchesne]

to Albert :

> Why would I want to waste 20 minutes of my life listening to fictious doctrines invented over 2000 years ago?

Because it's always good to listen to what other people have to say.

> Your time is much better spent listening to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyPdQ-VRjA0

Why would I want to waste 20 minutes of my life listening to fictious doctrines invented a couple of years ago ?

Sans rancunes,
_Marc

[Marc Duchesne]

Hello Guy,

Thank you for the heads up. So many things to be said on that very subject...
The one thing which come up to my mind right now is this (how stupid, from a guy - me -who pretends to be an entrepreneur and a manager): maybe we've all lost it. Faith. The World is going crazy. All over the Planet, employees are just ID numbers in the corporate' database. For the sake of the modern goddess : money.
Perhaps the combat against Global Warming will help us to do a Global Reset : for the first time since centuries, we have to act for the sake of the future generations. That is a religious attitude.

ps : have you noticed that such a topic raise few comments compared to, say, everything "Apple" (your iPhone post : 16 comments to date, vs. 6 for this one)...

_Marc

[Albert Francis]

Why would I want to waste 20 minutes of my life listening to fictious doctrines invented over 2000 years ago? It's time to grow up and get over it: There is no santa claus, there is no monster under you bed, and no, there is no God!

Your time is much better spent listening to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyPdQ-VRjA0

*******************

Albert,

No one is forcing you to read my blog.

Guy

[bvgirl]

What a wonderful sermon filled with valuable leadership lessons. I plan to share this with folks at my company. I look forward to going back to this site to listen to Nancy's other sermons. Thank you for posting this and giving me a great start to my week.