6: Healthy Conflict with God

6: Healthy Conflict with God

Have you ever been sitting in a church service, looked down at the bulletin to see the morning's scripture reading, and internally gasped, "Oh no, not that passage?" Whether it is a dense theological directive on submission, the daunting call of the Great Commission, or Jesus' uncompromising standard for radical forgiveness, we all have scripture tripping points. We encounter instructions that cut directly against our personalities, our anxieties, or our deepest wounds. In those moments, it is incredibly easy to nod politely on Sunday morning while quietly locking that part of our heart away from God for the rest of the week. We assume that to be a good disciple, we must simply swallow our hesitation and pretend we are entirely on board. But what if the road to genuine commitment actually requires a healthy dose of conflict? In this episode of our A Mysterious Business series, Chris Easley looks at an unlikely tool to diagnose our spiritual sticking points: Patrick Lencioni's business model, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. While Lencioni designed this model to help corporate teams execute their goals, Chris demonstrates how it can also function as a diagnostic for our internal walk with the Lord. When we find ourselves experiencing a lack of spiritual fruit or a total avoidance of accountability in certain areas of our lives, the root issue is rarely a lack of willpower. More often, it is a fear of conflict. We treat God like a fragile boss we can't disagree with, rather than a loving Father big enough to handle our unfiltered honesty. Looking at the deeply reverent yet astonishingly blunt prayers of lament in the Psalms and the prophets, Chris invites us to stop hiding our doubts. God doesn't demand a meek, performative agreement; he invites us to wrestle. It is only when we bring our actual arguments, anxieties, and frustrations into the open that we build the deep vulnerability required to move into true, uncoerced commitment. Whether you are struggling to voice your questions or trying to summon the strength to forgive someone who deeply hurt you, this episode is an invitation to step into the ring. Discover the interior freedom that comes when we trust God enough to engage in healthy conflict. Sources: 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%203%3A5-7&version=NIV] Psalm 44:9-12,17-19,23-24 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2044%3A9-12%2C17-19%2C23-24&version=NIV] 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%203%3A15-16&version=NIV] Pat Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (New York: Wiley, 2002). [https://www.tablegroup.com/topics-and-resources/teamwork-5-dysfunctions/?srsltid=AfmBOorhqtJ-LU1hmoIahQSVxjAuxJ9wIKqO-GzZ56nz2if-rHKZa6-n#5dbook] The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: PDF from The Table Group [https://files.tablegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/11224029/FiveDysfunctions.pdf] TRANSFORM YOUR 9-TO-5 We believe your work is one of the primary places God wants to meet you and shape you. If you're ready to move beyond the daily grind and discover how your vocation can become a vessel for God's love and justice, we invite you to take the next step. 👉 Join the Finding God at Work Course: https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/ [https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/] STAY CONNECTED Spiritual formation is a journey best taken in community. Join us as we explore what it looks like to live with redemptive intentionality in every sphere of life. 🔔 Subscribe for reflections on faith, leadership, and the art of following Jesus at work. 🌐 Explore our resources: https://missioncentral.church/ [https://missioncentral.church/] 📸 Follow the journey on Instagram: @teammissioncentral [https://www.instagram.com/teammissioncentral/] #FaithAndWork #MissionCentral #SpiritualFormation #PatrickLencioni #HealthyConflict #WrestlingWithGod #Vocation #TheologyOfWork #ChristianLeadership #MarketplaceWisdom #FiveDysfunctions

5: Facilitating Love (Tim Cool of Smart Church Solutions)

We have a habit of building beautiful, sacred structures and then assuming they will take care of themselves. In our excitement to build the "new, shiny thing," we frequently forget the quiet, unglamorous work of taking care of what God has already entrusted to us. We build sanctuaries for worship, but we leave the deferred maintenance to pile up until the structure itself begins to dictate, and limit, the ministry we can actually do. As Winston Churchill observed [https://www.denverinstitute.org/why-architecture-matters/], "We shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us." In this episode of the A Mysterious Business series, Chris Easley sits down with Tim Cool, the founder and CEO of Smart Church Solutions. Tim has spent decades assessing tens of millions of square feet of church buildings, helping local congregations transition from viewing their properties as a line-item expense to treating them as vital tools for ministry. Tim shares how his business operates as a "structure for love" in real-time. Drawing on his long-standing involvement with C12 and the concept of Business as a Ministry (BAM), Tim explains why true organizational health necessitates caring deeply for your internal team with things like thriving wages and robust support programs, so that love can naturally overflow to the clients you serve. Tim blends marketplace execution with a deeply pastoral heart. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur counting the cost of a new venture, or a ministry leader rethinking how an old 1950s Sunday school wing can better serve your neighbors today, this episode is a refreshing look at how the nuts and bolts of property management can become an active conduit for the presence of Christ. CONNECT WITH TIM COOL & SMART CHURCH SOLUTIONS * Smart Church Solutions [https://www.linkedin.com/company/smartchurchsolutions/] on LinkedIn * Connect with Tim Cool [https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcool/] on LinkedIn * Follow on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/smartchurchsolutions/] * Follow on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/smartchurchsolutions1] Sources Numbers 1:47-53 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%201%3A47-53&version=NIV] Dallas Willard, Called to Business: God's Way of Loving People Through Business and the Professions (Agoura Hills, California: Dallas Willard Ministries, 2018). [https://dwillard.org/resources/books/called-to-business] C12 Business Forums: Christian Business Leadership Coaching [https://www.joinc12.com/] Mission Central Blog Post: "Voluntary 'Poverty' and Freedom from Possessiveness" [https://missioncentral.church/2025/02/19/voluntary-poverty-and-freedom-from-possessiveness/] Fram Oil Filter Commercial- 1972 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHug0AIhVoQ] Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (New York: Penguin, 2009). [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/304046/start-with-why-15th-anniversary-edition-by-simon-sinek/] TRANSFORM YOUR 9-TO-5 We believe your work is one of the primary places God wants to meet you and shape you. If you're ready to move beyond the daily grind and discover how your vocation can become a vessel for God's love and justice, we invite you to take the next step. 👉 Join the Finding God at Work Course: https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/ [https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/] STAY CONNECTED Spiritual formation is a journey best taken in community. Join us as we explore what it looks like to live with redemptive intentionality in every sphere of life. 🔔 Subscribe for reflections on faith, leadership, and the art of following Jesus at work. 🌐 Explore our resources: https://missioncentral.church/ [https://missioncentral.church/] 📸 Follow the journey on Instagram: @teammissioncentral [https://www.instagram.com/teammissioncentral/] #FaithAndWork #MissionCentral #BusinessAsMinistry #SmartChurchSolutions #FacilityStewardship #MarketplaceMinistry #ChristianLeadership #SpiritualFormation #Vocation #RedemptiveBusiness #KingdomEconomics

4: Measure What You Can to Treasure What You Can't

Not long ago, Chris and his wife Katie—a hospice nurse practitioner—were watching an intense emergency room drama called The Pitt. In one scene, the doctors run a series of lab tests on a critical patient and one of them calls out the results: a potassium level of 12.2. Katie immediately gasped in horror. Chris, completely unfamiliar with medical metrics, assumed 12.2 sounded low, perhaps out of 100. In reality, a healthy level is between 3 and 5. A 12.2 is deadly. Sometimes, a single number can change everything. Numbers matter. In fact, they have an entire book of the Bible named after them. From the meticulous census of the twelve tribes in the wilderness to the sophisticated data tracking of the modern marketplace, measuring the details of our reality is an act of stewardship and obedience. Yet, there is a shadow side to numbers, too. In this episode of our A Mysterious Business series, Chris Easley explores the delicate boundary between measuring out of obedience and counting out of anxiety, drawing on the tragic census of King David, the healthcare wisdom of surgeon Atul Gawande, and the creative leadership of Ed Catmull. Chris discusses the danger of what thinker Skye Jethani calls "vampire churches"—institutions so consumed by buildings, attendance, and budgets that they drain the life out of the very people they are meant to empower. As 2 Corinthians 4:7 reminds us, our structures and traditions are merely "jars of clay." The metrics can describe the shape of the jar, but they can never fully quantify the treasure inside: the mysterious, transformative presence of Jesus Christ. Whether you are analyzing a corporate spreadsheet, tracking inventory, or filing a ministry report, the invitation remains the same. We need discernment to count what is necessary without letting the data warp our mission. We learn to measure what we can, so that we can treasure what we can't. Sources: Numbers 1:1-4,44-46 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%201%3A1-4%2C44-46&version=NIV] 2 Samuel 24:1-4,8-10 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2024%3A1-4%2C8-10&version=NIV] 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 (NIV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%204%3A5-7&version=NIV] Atul Gawande, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance (New York: Picador, 2007). [https://atulgawande.com/book/better/] Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer, Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2010). [https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/transformational-church-P005285106] Skye Jethani, Immeasurable: Reflections on the Soul of Ministry in the Age of Church, Inc. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2017). [https://www.moodypublishers.com/immeasurable] Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ, 20th anniversary ed., (Carol Stream, Illinois: NavPress / Tyndale House Publishers, 2021). First published 2002. [https://dwillard.org/resources/books/renovation-of-the-heart] Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (New York: Random House, 2014) [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/216369/creativity-inc-the-expanded-edition-by-ed-catmull-with-amy-wallace/], as quoted in Jeffrey S. Russell, Wayne P. Pferdehirt, and John S. Nelson, Technical Project Management in Living and Geometric Order, 3rd ed. (Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2018) [https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/technicalpm/chapter/personal-and-organizational-project-management-growth/], shared under CC BY 4.0 [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]. Corrections: In the podcast, Chris says Skye's book was published in 2009; it was published in 2017. Chris also calls Ed Catmull a former CEO of Pixar; he co-founded Pixar and served as President, not CEO. TRANSFORM YOUR 9-TO-5 We believe your work is one of the primary places God wants to meet you and shape you. If you're ready to move beyond the daily grind and discover how your vocation can become a vessel for God's love and justice, we invite you to take the next step. 👉 Join the Finding God at Work Course: https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/ [https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/] STAY CONNECTED Spiritual formation is a journey best taken in community. Join us as we explore what it looks like to live with redemptive intentionality in every sphere of life. 🔔 Subscribe for reflections on faith, leadership, and the art of following Jesus at work. 🌐 Explore our resources: https://missioncentral.church/ [https://missioncentral.church/] 📸 Follow the journey on Instagram: @teammissioncentral [https://www.instagram.com/teammissioncentral/] #FaithAndWork #MissionCentral #DataAndFaith #ChristianLeadership #SpiritualFormation #Vocation #TheologyOfWork #EdCatmull #AtulGawande #DallasWillard #MarketplaceWisdom #MeasureWhatMatters

3: Business as Blessing

If you grew up in church, you've likely heard about the noble woman of Proverbs 31. She is a staple of Mother's Day sermons and home-decor plaques, usually praised for her domestic devotion and tireless care for her family. But if we look closer at the text, we find a description that sounds less like a domestic archetype and more like a savvy CEO. This woman is an entrepreneur. She considers a field and buys it with her own earnings; she plants a vineyard; she perceives that her merchandise is profitable. She isn't just managing a household; she is leading an 'oikos', a vibrant economic venture that provides for her family, creates blessings for her community, and generates a surplus for the poor. In the third episode of our A Mysterious Business series, Chris Easley explores how business can be a fundamental structure of love in the kingdom of God. Drawing on insights from scholars Hannah Stoltz and R. Paul Stevens, Chris looks at how being motivated to make a profit and the fear of the Lord are not at odds. Instead, they can work together to create blessing for the community, embodying God's covenantal blessed-to-be-a blessing intention for us. We often distinguish between "ministry" and "marketplace," as if only one of them is truly spiritual. But the Bible concludes its book of wisdom by pointing to a woman running a profitable business as the ultimate example of a life filled with the presence of God. Whether you are an entrepreneur trying to scale a startup or a professional seeking to work diligently in a corporate office, this episode is a call to embrace the blessings that business provides. When our work is motivated by an affectionate reverence for God, our businesses become containers for His grace to reach the world. Sources: Proverbs 31:10-31 (ESV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2031%3A10-31&version=ESV] Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2012%3A1-3&version=ESV] Dallas Willard, Called to Business: God's Way of Loving People Through Business and the Professions (Agoura Hills, California: Dallas Willard Ministries, 2018). [https://dwillard.org/resources/books/called-to-business] Hannah Stolze, "Surprising Lessons from the Noble Woman of Proverbs 31," Eventide Center for Faith and Investing, April 14, 2022. [https://www.faithandinvesting.com/journal/surprising-lessons-from-the-noble-woman-of-proverbs-31/] R. Paul Stevens, Work Matters: Lessons from Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012). [https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802866967/work-matters/] TRANSFORM YOUR 9-TO-5 We believe your work is one of the primary places God wants to meet you and shape you. If you're ready to move beyond the daily grind and discover how your vocation can become a vessel for God's love and justice, we invite you to take the next step. 👉 Join the Finding God at Work Course: https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/ [https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/] STAY CONNECTED Spiritual formation is a journey best taken in community. Join us as we explore what it looks like to live with redemptive intentionality in every sphere of life. 🔔 Subscribe for reflections on faith, leadership, and the art of following Jesus at work. 🌐 Explore our resources: https://missioncentral.church/ [https://missioncentral.church/] 📸 Follow the journey on Instagram: @teammissioncentral [https://www.instagram.com/teammissioncentral/] #FaithAndWork #MissionCentral #Proverbs31 #ChristianEntrepreneur #Vocation #MarketplaceMinistry #RedemptiveBusiness #SpiritualFormation #KingdomEconomics #TheologyOfWork

2: The Structure and the Substance

When Chris was in the fourth grade, he traveled to Texas for a cousin's wedding and experienced a minor ecclesiastical crisis. Having grown up in an Anglican tradition, Chris was used to robes, incense, and liturgy, and he was deeply disturbed to find the Baptist pastor at his cousin's church wearing a simple three-piece suit. To a ten-year-old Chris, it wasn't just a stylistic choice; it felt like a violation of how church was. We all have similar internalized structures we believe are universal. In business, it might be the way we track our time, the hierarchy of our office, or the "how we've always done it" policies of HR. But as we move between traditions or companies, we are forced to ask a difficult question: What is merely a cultural structure, and what is the actual substance? In the second episode of our A Mysterious Business series, Chris Easley explores the biblical pattern of structure and substance. From the precise cubits of Noah's Ark to the meticulous curtains of the Tabernacle and the pillars of Solomon's Temple, God has always cared about the details of the structure. Yet, the structure is never the point. Noah built the Ark, but God shut the door. Moses erected the Tabernacle, but the Glory of the Lord filled it. Drawing on Jesus' teaching about new wine and old wineskins, Chris looks at how we must prepare our structures in obedience so that they can be filled with something they cannot produce on their own: the presence of God. Whether you are drafting company bylaws or planning a worship service, the goal is to create a structure supple enough to hold the expanding life of the Kingdom. How much of your work life is tied to the essence of your mission, and how much is a structure that might need to change to hold the new wine God is going to pour out? Listen to the full episode at the link in our bio, or search for "Finding God at Work" on your favorite podcast app. Sources: Genesis 6:13-16, 7:11-16 (ESV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206%3A13-16%2C7%3A11-16&version=ESV] Exodus 26:1-4, 40:16-18,34-35 (ESV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2026%3A1-4%2C%2040%3A16-18%2C34-35&version=ESV] 1 Kings 6:1, 8:10-11 (ESV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%206%3A1%2C%208%3A10-11&version=ESV] Matthew 9:14-17 (ESV) [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%209%3A14-17&version=ESV] TRANSFORM YOUR 9-TO-5 We believe your work is one of the primary places God wants to meet you and shape you. If you're ready to move beyond the daily grind and discover how your vocation can become a vessel for God's love and justice, we invite you to take the next step. 👉 Join the Finding God at Work Course: https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/ [https://missioncentral.church/faith-at-work/] STAY CONNECTED Spiritual formation is a journey best taken in community. Join us as we explore what it looks like to live with redemptive intentionality in every sphere of life. 🔔 Subscribe for reflections on faith, leadership, and the art of following Jesus at work. 🌐 Explore our resources: https://missioncentral.church/ [https://missioncentral.church/] 📸 Follow the journey on Instagram: @teammissioncentral [https://www.instagram.com/teammissioncentral/] #FaithAndWork #MissionCentral #NewWine #ChristianLeadership #SpiritualFormation #Vocation #TheologyOfWork #StructureAndSubstance #KingdomBusiness #MarketplaceMinistry