Guest Post by Bonnie Lewis. Bonnie is Dan’s daughter, a junior at the University of Kentucky and a Younglife Leader at Bryan Station High School in Lexington, Kentucky.
About a month and a half ago, I had the privilege of attending the National Student Leadership Forum in Washington DC, which was a weekend full of discussions about how and where the Christian faith intersect with leadership.
Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. Dad had told me about it, but neither of us had a lot of information concerning the specifics. So I was pleasantly surprised by the weekend—every part of it was full of interesting and important people who used their platforms in their jobs to glorify Christ.
I know this is probably said a lot, but Christian culture today really glorifies the professional missionary—not to say that there is anything wrong with being one—however, some of the greatest platforms for sharing Christ are out in the daily grind of real life. It was refreshing to hear from Politicians, Governors, Vice Presidents, CEOs, Architects, and Media Journalists talk about how their faith was an integral part of their “secular” job. They were all given talents by God and are working in places of great influence where they use their talents. I needed to have this idea reinforced, the idea that God wants us to do what we are good at, because I lose sight of it often. I can get caught up and weighed down thinking that I have to be pushed to the extreme—that the only way to love God is to be doing something I don’t want to do. But really, I think God just wants us to do things that glorify him and draw us closer to him.
I am reminded of the scripture in Colossians…
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17
This weekend was a wonderful glimpse into the professional world and I got to see how this scripture was carried out in real life—how this scripture was possible in real life.
I was challenged to think about what spots in my life I was failing to recognize a platform I had that I could use for Christ’s glory.