Doing God's Business (with Dr. Paul Stevens‪)‬ Institute for Marketplace Transformation

Our guest today is Dr. Joseph Pai from Taiwan. Joseph has over 30 years of experience working in public communication and enterprise marketing. His most recent role was working as the Chairman of Taiwan Ogilvy & Mather, which is one of the top advertising agencies in Taiwan and a well-known global brand in the advertising world. During his 10+ years as chairman, he worked with major brands like Coca-Cola, Ford, IBM, Standard Chartered Bank, and Nokia. He’s also taught as some of the top business universities in China and Taiwan, like Fudan University in Shanghai and the Enterprise Research Institute of Taiwan’s Political University.
In this podcast episode, Joseph talks about the unexpected twists and turns in his career journey that led him to advertising. He shares why truth is so important in advertising, why it’s important for Christians to perform well in their jobs, and what it means to be a marketplace minister. Here’s our conversation with Joseph.
Highlights from the podcast:
Joseph’s unique career journey of studying mechanical engineering, getting his MBA, working at a consulting firm, studying his PhD, leading a small PR firm, and joining Ogilvy & Mather
What Joseph enjoyed most about working in advertising
The misconception that churches have about the advertising industry
How the job of advertising is to make the truth a “touching truth” which enters into people’s minds and hearts
Ogilvy’s policy that a team member does not have to take on a client that he or she does not believe in
Why Joseph says, “I’m afraid of those Christians who do not perform well, and just want to evangelize.”
What it means to Joseph to be a marketplace minister

Our guest today is Dr. Natalie Chan. Natalie has worked in finance for close to 20 years, most of that time with Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, Europe, and the US. In our conversation with Natalie, she shares how she went from a successful financial career to a nervous breakdown in a hospital bed, and how God met her in that place.
Natalie is currently the director of the Ray Bakke Center for Urban Transformation at Bethel Bible Seminary in Hong Kong. We discuss what theology of work is, how theology can be helpful for people working in high pressure jobs, why she recommends that Christians use the prayer of examen in their work, and ways to discover your calling.
Highlights from the podcast:
Natalie’s story of working in finance and Goldman Sachs as a young ambitious person
How Natalie didn’t integrate faith and work while she worked in finance, because she didn’t think it was possible
How the market crashed in 2008, causing Natalie to have a nervous breakdown and start reflecting on what is it means to have a blessed life
Natalie’s work of teaching faith work integration and training marketplace ministers
How to use the prayer of examen at work to pray continuously
The six aspects that Natalie teaches in her theology of work course
The number 1 issue that people working in Hong Kong wrestle with, and how theology of work helps people to cope with the pressure of performing

Our conversation today is with Peter Mogan who has been working as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and mediator since 1978 in BC and Ontario. Peter is known as a leading legal advisor for mid-market mergers and acquisitions, and is the founding partner of Mogan Daniels Slager LLP.
After 13 years of working as a lawyer, Peter was in vocational confusion and studied theology at Regent College. He shares how studying theology shaped him, and his journey to starting his own law firm. Peter also talks about why lawyers have a bad reputation, what Christians can do to redeem the legal profession, and what it means to him to be an ambassador in the marketplace.
Highlights from the podcast:
Peter’s vocational confusion and how he learned to lay down his identity
How Peter almost left his work as a lawyer and how re-entered law
The story of how Peter started his Mergers & Acquisitions boutique law firm
How Peter realized that all of life is ministry and started asking himself how he could serve God and serve his neighbour through my work
Why lawyers have a bad reputation
How to redeem law through empowerment, compassion, and transparency
What being an ambassador in the marketplace means

Our guest today is Jimmy Pak. Jimmy is the founder and managing director of Net-Makers Limited, which is an IT and business consulting company based in Hong Kong. After working 20 years in global corporations, he started Net-Makers with a vision of using business to serve God.
In our conversation with Jimmy, we talk about the traits of an entrepreneur, how he initially believed that faith & work integration meant evangelism, and how he now sees his business as contributing to God’s mission of reconciliation in the world.
Highlights from the podcast:
The traits of an entrepreneur
How Jimmy started his IT and business consulting company
How his previous paradigm about God’s kingdom was one where evangelism and work in the church was more important than his work in business, and how that led him to invest his evenings, weekends, and vacations to volunteer at church and go on short-term missions, which eventually led him to burnout
How Jimmy no longer feels guilty not serving in the church, because he knows that he is serving God from Monday to Saturday in his business
How Jimmy sees his calling in business as contributing to God’s mission of reconciliation in the world

Our guest today is Millie Chan. Millie is a lawyer with over 30 years of experience working in Malaysia and Vancouver. She is the founder of Legacy 127 Consulting, a senior consultant with the Canadian national law firm BLG, and a consultant with the Malaysian law firm Shearn Delamore & Co.
In our conversation with Millie, we discuss her work with helping ultra-high net worth families in Asia with inter-generational wealth transfer and her holistic approach to wealth, which includes intangible assets such as family identity, vision, values, and traditions. Millie also shares how as a newer Christian, she felt it would be a higher calling to leave her work as a lawyer and join full-time ministry, and what changed in her to allow her to see her legal work as doing God’s work.
Highlights from the podcast:
The work that Millie does serving high net worth families
Millie’s story of being antagonistic towards God and God pursuing her
The misconceptions that Millie felt about calling, feeling like she had to muster up courage to leave the marketplace to do church or ministry work
Why Millie feels privileged to work alongside patriarchs and matriarchs
How Millie’s holistic approach goes beyond the practical work of asset management, and goes deeper to the work of mending relationships between family members and facilitating important conversations

Our guest today is George Bedlion, who is the lead pastor at Whitewater Church in Northwest Washington. This is part two of our conversation with George. In the last episode George shared about how he started Whitewater Church, how pastors are servants to the servants, and how he sees his church as not grace and gospel bringers, but grace and gospel finders.
In today’s episode, George shares what it looks like for his church to help people find their vocations and callings, affirm them, and empower them. Stay until the end, because Paul and Tim have a discussion about the role of storytelling, and the places in the Bible that talk about calling. 
Here’s some highlights from the podcast:
What is looks like for Whitewater Church to support people in their vocation
The church asking the question, “What are our people stewarding?”
How the “grace vs works” line of thinking creates misconceptions about vocational work
The theme of vocation throughout the Bible
How grace is God’s activity at work through humans and through people
How Paul’s prayers in the Bible were thanking God for the callings, unique giftings, and vocations of believers