November 11, 2015

Equipping God’s People for the Workplace (Part 5)

By John Spadafora

Blog

Read the series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Whether you live overseas or work in an office downtown, you’ve learned that the disciple-making mandate is for all of God’s people — wherever He calls us to live and work. We conclude this series with a true story from Fawn Brents, a disciple-making real estate agent in Kansas City.

Making Disciples as a Real Estate Agent

by Fawn Brents

Some of the most significant opportunities for me to make disciples have come through my job. As a real estate agent, I interact with people facing change. A new baby, financial problems, or a divorce: all of these can play into someone’s decision to buy or sell a house.

Each morning, I desperately need God to come through for me. While driving to appointments, my prayer is that God will help me discern who is open to the gospel.

Conversations quickly go deep into family and finances when the topic is listing a house. It’s amazing how much people appreciate an offer of prayer. I will say, “You know, this situation has to be so difficult for you. I don’t know how comfortable you might be with this, but I wonder if it would be helpful for me to pray for you right now?” No one has ever said no.

Sometimes clients have just moved into town. If God is prompting, I will sometimes ask, “Since you’re new here, have you thought about looking for a church? Would some suggestions be helpful?” Often, the couple’s answer has been, “Well, neither of us is very religious, but we are expecting a baby next year. We’ve always thought it would be good to have our kids go to Sunday school.”

I’ve had the experience of working for a larger real estate brokerage and now I own my own company. While being in charge offers opportunities to shape company culture, there were also lots of open doors while working for someone else. My goal has always been to excel at my profession, which helped give me credibility. I had the opportunity to lead a Bible study for some of my coworkers. God worked in their hearts, and, over the years, several of them came to faith in Christ.

Crossworld’s dream of disciple-makers from all professions resonates with me because it is true to my experience. Going to work each day has opened more doors for me to make disciples than anything else.