Footnote

Why do we want to keep God at arm's length in our work? Is it because we're afraid of what might happen if He really showed up? What can we learn from Mark 5 and the way people responded when Jesus began to demonstrate his power?

When the boat is rocking, when it feels like we've lost our moorings, how should a leader respond? When everyone is looking to us to right the ship, what should we do? As we continue our journey through Mark, Eric draws two simple principles from the end of Mark 4 that will help us lead through times of chaos.    

In today's podcast, Eric explores just who is invited to participate in God's kingdom work. No matter what your vocation, kingdom work is for those who hear and apply God's word, not just now and then, but over the long haul. Join us as we explore the parable of the sower and what it means for how we lead and work in our businesses.

Welcome to season two. Today, we go back to the heart of our message at Footnote: our work, our business and the way we lead there is ministry. Join Eric as he leads us through Mark 3:7-34, and the exposes the false dichotomy we fall far that separates ministry from business. Involvement in the kingdom of God, according to Jesus, is simply an issue of are you or are you not doing God's will.  

This week Eric jumps back into the book of Mark.  He builds upon last week's reflection from the book of Exodus as he teaches from Mark 2 and 3 regarding Jesus' interaction with Sabbath.

Eric pauses from our journey through Mark to takes us back to Exodus 16 where God introduces the concept of a Sabbath. What was his purpose and what do we so often get wrong as busy executives?

Eric walks us through Mark 2 where we see Jesus pick all the wrong people to follow him and lead his work. This insight should make us incredibly grateful. 

Why is biblical leadership too often viewed as anemic?  Eric walks us through the end of Mark 1 and shows how scripture has been twisted to skew our view of compassion and disease. Then he goes further to show us how are we undermine biblical leadership when we start with the principal then prooftext it with scripture. How can we do better?  

Your problem isn't the problem. Your problem is your thinking about the problem. When Jesus showed up, the Israelites had a problem. They thought the problem was Rome, but that's not the way Jesus saw it. Eric guides us through the opening chapter of Mark and challenges us to gain a new perspective on the problems and opportunities facing our businesses and organizations.

Eric looks at the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Mark 1:9-13 and talks about the first lesson Jesus models for leaders.

Eric transitions from the prophets to the Book of Mark with a discussion of what it means when we ask God to show up. 

Eric directs our focus to our own response when we recognize the abundant blessings we have in business. 

Eric continues to the explore the prophets and describes what it means to be just leaders, as God defines it.

Eric starts a three-week journey looking at how the prophets wrestle with how to apply the word of God. Today's episode focuses on an interaction between Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel. Bottom line: Woe to those who misuse power. A sobering message for business leaders. 

Today, Eric talk about the role of a prophet, what God expects from his prophets, and shows how we are prone to divination.

There is no difference between good leadership and Biblical leadership. Scripture is filled with leadership principles including Deuteronomy 25:17-19 where we discover how to get God on your bad side. Again, we see how serious God is about protecting the vulnerable.   

God wants his people to live and work in community and that requires trust. Today we look at how dishonesty erode community, brand trust, and leadership credibility.

Eric unpacks an obscure verse in Deuteronomy to reveal how serious God is when he says we must not exploit the vulnerable for our own gain.

This may be the only business podcast to ever talk through a Levirate marriage. From the story of Judah and Tamar, we learn that as leaders, we should seek out ways to leverage our businesses to assist the vulnerable. When we do this, we reflect the heart of God.

There was no door in the gate called the 'eye of the needle.' To claim there was, aside from being wrong, misses the point Jesus is making a statement about how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom. 

In his letter to the Corinthians (and his letter to Timothy) Paul references an ox law from Deuteronomy. We look at why he would do that and why modern business (and church) leaders are prone to break this law. 

Eric sits down with Jon Collins, co-founder of Bible Project. 

God's heart is for the vulnerable. How do we recognize the vulnerable among us?

In Deutronomy God gives us a principle for how to think about and care for the economically vulnerable. 

Genesis 11 says the tower builders wanted to make a name for themselves. Genesis 12 says God wanted to make Abram's (Abraham's) name great. What's that all about?

In Genesis 1 God told people to have dominion, ruling over creation. This episode looks at the first Man and what his work was and how that relates to our work. 

This episode looks at the purpose for which God created people and how our work fits into that purpose. 

The title says it all. 

Prior to Jesus starting his public ministry, he is led into the wilderness for forty days. At the end of those forty days the devil shows up to tempt him, and Jesus's responses can seem a bit enigmatic. This episode explores what Jesus is on about and what the implications are for successful business leaders today. 

This episode explores how God's heart is revealed in some of the more obscure parts of scripture and how leaders can best respond. 

Peter calls believers a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession. This episode unpacks what that means and explores implications for business leaders. 

In this episode we take a look at God's eager desire to bless people, how he blesses people, and how his blessing fits into his bigger plan. 

To have a kingdom, you have to have a king. Expectations for a king in the line of David were abundant in the time of Jesus, but Jesus redefined exactly what that king would look like. 

Some of our confusion about how our work relates to the gospel stems from an anemic definition of the gospel. This episode unpacks a more robust view of the gospel with an eye to how seemingly mundane work can contribute to the kingdom.