I wrote this last October after my partner Jo Anne and I attended the Christian Professional Network conference in Baltimore at the BWI Hilton. I left the conference thinking a lot about God as the center of our business. As often happens when I am thinking and praying on a subject, God keeps putting scripture in front of me that provides answers and direction. Around that tiime I watched a podcast of Perry Noble from New Life Church preaching on marriage. He pointed me to Philippians 2 as follows:

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This speaks to the essence of service with the key word being humility. God gave us the greatest example of humility by coming to live among us in human form as Jesus. He could have used any number of grandiose techniques but he chose the humble entrance of a baby in a manger. This humble servant put our interests ahead of His and gave His life so that we can live.

For some time I have been speaking about the transition I have made in my professional life from a self-serving ego based architect to a client-serving service based architect. This transition is directly correlated with the growth of my relationship with Jesus. As long as we put ourselves first we can’t fully serve others nor can we truly serve God. We must strive to be more Christ like. Jesus is our model, in our marriages, our families, our businesses, our lives.

Yours in Christ,
Greg