Leadercast Breakout Session Looks At Faith At Work

STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER David Roth, from left, president at WorkMatters, Shelley Simpson, executive vice president with J.B. Hunt, Mark Yount, chief operating officer with Field Agent, and Tim Broughton, vice president with McKee Foods, participate in a discussion on faith in the workplace Friday during the annual Leadercast event at Cross Church in Rogers.

STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER David Roth, from left, president at WorkMatters, Shelley Simpson, executive vice president with J.B. Hunt, Mark Yount, chief operating officer with Field Agent, and Tim Broughton, vice president with McKee Foods, participate in a discussion on faith in the workplace Friday during the annual Leadercast event at Cross Church in Rogers.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

ROGERS -- The idea of integrating faith in the workplace is becoming more widely accepted and David Roth said he wants to do what he can to help that trend continue.

Roth is president of WorkMatters, a nonprofit organization with a mission to close the gap between faith and work. The group began 11 years ago and has hosted the local site for the worldwide Leadercast simulcast.

At A Glance (w/logo)

Seven Pillars

David Roth, president of WorkMatters, said the group established seven pillars a few years ago to help simplify the challenge of integrating faith at work. WorkMatters is a nonprofit group that has a vision of impacting culture for Christ through faith at work.

The seven pillars are:

• Relationship: Abiding with God at work.

• Integrity: Wisdom and courage to do what’s right, every time.

• Excellence: Work with all your heart.

• Influence: Intentional with the impact you have on others at work.

• Serve: Lead strongly through serving others with humility.

• Calling: Align gifts, skills and experience with your vocation.

• Balance: Create sustainable work/life equilibrium.

Source: workmatters.org

More than 1,700 attended the annual Leadercast Friday at Cross Church in Rogers. Roth said the area's largest employers bought about half the tickets the 1,900 tickets sold.

About 250 attended local lunch-time breakout session that spotlighted faith in the workplace.

Leadercast is a daylong, secular leadership event held in Atlanta and simulcast to more than 750 sites in 35 countries. Roth said the Northwest Arkansas event has become one of the largest satellite sites for event.

"That really says something about Northwest Arkansas. We have companies that want their people to grow," Roth said.

Speakers on the simulcast included Desmond Tutu and Laura Bush.

Roth said for the breakout session he wanted local speakers to represent different business sectors, company sizes and stages of life. The panel he assembled included Tim Broughton, vice president of McKee Foods in Gentry; Marc Yount, chief operating officer of Field Agent in Fayetteville; and Shelley Simpson, an executive vice president at J.B. Hunt Transport Services in Lowell.

Times have changed since WorkMatters started in 2003, Roth said, adding churches didn't talk about faith at work and few groups across the country focused on the topic. Then the Rev. Billy Graham said in 2004 the next great movement of God was going to come through the believers in the workplace and more groups such as WorkMatters started, he said.

"The need has gone from simple awareness of the idea to a desire to learn how to do it," Roth said. "We need to empower the next generation."

Local executives agreed their actions often are more powerful than their words.

"I focus on living the word and reveal the word of God by my actions," Broughton said. "If you say you live by God's word but your actions don't reflect it, problems can arise."

McKee Foods, the maker of Little Debbie snack cakes, has a manufacturing plant employing about 1,400 people in Gentry. Broughton said about 40 workers were at Friday's event.

"We don't require anyone to have faith or go to church, but we do having guiding values that reflect our beliefs," he said. "We want them to be better workers, but to also be better spouses, better parents and better neighbors."

Showing respect for people, conducting business with integrity and taking responsibility for your actions are among the company's guidelines.

Yount said Field Agent is very overt in its embrace of faith at work, but acknowledged it will be more challenging as the company grows. It has about 60 full- and part-time workers.

Field Agent is a company paying smartphone users to provide location-based data and insights for retail customers.

"Most people that come and work for us now know our overt Christian beliefs, and no one yet has said it is weird," he said. "As we grow, we have to realize not everyone has those beliefs."

Simpson said she loves working in a large corporation.

"It gives me a chance every day to influence someone," she said.

Todd Waldron attended the lunch breakout session to help him learn ways to use his faith at work. He's a branch manager for J.B. Hunt's office in Minneapolis and was in town for a week of training.

"Faith at work has been a struggle for me for the past five years," he said. "Having faith-based leadership now is showing me not to worry about it and how to live my beliefs."

NW News on 05/10/2014