Doing God’s Work in Unlikely Places - Carolyn Thompson

Carolyn Thompson - Advertising and Marketing Specialist

“I need to quit my job.”

That was my prevailing thought as I sat among other Christian women as we talked about the career paths they’ve chosen: nurse, teacher, counselor. They were clearly helping people and showing God’s love to others. But me?

“I’m a brand strategist,” I said. “I figure out what drives you and use that to help companies sell you their products, like the show Mad Men.”

It was almost embarrassing, really. Everyone else was using their talents to love others and build them up, and I was at an advertising agency helping big brands sell things like diet soda and tires.

God, I’ve messed up, I thought.

I was a new Christian, having been baptized only six months prior, and I thought I couldn’t serve the Lord in my career path. My dream of becoming a Chief Marketing Officer suddenly felt so…pointless.

So, I prayed. I prayed every day, asking God if He wanted me to leave advertising, and if so, to do what? But God used this moment not to lead me out of advertising but to show me He can work all things for good when we surrender to His call on our lives.

After one week of daily prayer, a new client approached our agency: The American Bible Society. I immediately asked my boss to put me on that account. From that point on, a stream of faith-based clients kept landing in my lap: The Salvation Army, College of Biblical Studies, OneHope, He Gets Us, and even John Houston Homes, just to name a few. Instead of just tracking the number of units sold, I was now monitoring the number of Bibles in hand, people served, and skeptics persuaded to reconsider Jesus.

I learned two lessons from reflecting on how God moved in my career. First, when we feel called to help others know God, it can be tempting to think we have to quit the secular marketplace and take up a full-time ministry role. And God may ask us to do that at some point. But we can serve God right where we are, and He can use the marketplace to give us skills vital to a thriving church or ministry. I strongly believe it’s often helpful to work in the marketplace before inside the walls of a church or non-profit. Many secular companies excel in marketing, budgeting, and organization, skills that churches and faith-based nonprofits desperately need. When we fully embrace our mission, regardless of where we work, God will open the right doors at the right time.

The second lesson is that we often put a godly career in a box. As Christians, we think we should work in a role where we can tangibly serve others, like pastors or nurses. And those are beautiful, godly career options. But the Apostle Paul was a marketer. If giving Paul such a secular career title seems strange, perhaps it’s because we’ve put a godly career in a box. But it’s true; Paul figured out how to “sell” a Jewish-based religion to a non-Jewish audience. God was able to use Paul while he was stuck in a “back office” prison and made him the greatest marketer of the Gospel (arguably, the best marketer of all time). If God can do that with Paul, God can use your “secular” skill or “backend” career–web developer, accountant, HVAC tech, etc.–for His purpose as well.

More recently, I’ve made another bold move following what I believe is God’s next calling on my career: I quit my job to help my husband build up our electrical contracting business. Once again, I’m in a role where it’s hard to see how I can serve God in the “back office” marketing electrical services. But John Houston and his team at Suit & Shepherd have reinforced how God can use us and our business to do God’s work through our relationships. By running a “secular” company, we’re constantly interacting with those who don’t know Christ, building solid relationships with them, and showing them the love of Christ. And we believe this is exactly where God wants us.

Aligning our professional lives with God’s purpose has rich potential. It may seem daunting, but we must remember that God’s ways are not our ways, and our careers don’t have to be or look a certain way to be used by God.  So, as we navigate the complexities of our vocational journeys, pray constantly for direction and draw strength, knowing that God can unlock His potential within us to serve Him in the most unlikely of circumstances.