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How to Identify Your Marketplace Influence

Part of stepping into Kingdom influence in the marketplace is understanding your current role and what God has called you to. Throughout our work with people both in and out of the church, Shawn Bolz and I have distinguished four key roles that people are called to within the marketplace. You may have experienced one or all of these roles or find that you are fulfilling several at once. Different seasons and careers will also shift you into different roles. These are not finite, but are created to help you identify your current position for marketplace influence.

  1. Carrying Culture: Culture is the composite of behavior evaluated in several areas of life. In the marketplace, there is the invitation to adapt to the prevailing culture of an organization or industry or bring our own. Our role in the marketplace is to bring a culture of love and not fear, as well as Kingdom core values such as honor, liberty, and excellence, to name a few. Culture starts from within and is walked out in every conversation and action we take. Sally, for example, goes to work at her accounting business and brings the Kingdom to work by hearing God and implementing great ideas for her team, building a culture of excellence and innovation.
  2. Stewarding Resources: One primary role in the marketplace is stewarding great resources. This, of course, refers to the accumulation, distribution, and the legacy of wealth. Marketplace people are called to build up and create resources to shape lives and change the world. Resources refer to things beyond money, as well, to include anything that can be stewarded: assets, skills, time, and relationships. Whether we are working with tangible or intangible resources, our role as stewards is to bring maximum returns.
  3. Service: “The greatest among you will be the one who always serves others from the heart” (Matthew 23:11, TPT). We are called to serve the needs of society. Once we realize and practice the role of servanthood, all of our relationships will begin to change for the better. A true display of humility is the secret to customer service, vendor relations, employee retention, and promotion. All business is about relationships, and in those relationships our reward is to meet the needs of others.
  4. Hearing God for Solutions: As marketplace leaders, we have a mandate from heaven to listen to what God is doing in our lives and industry and to incorporate His heart and mind in all that we do. For example, say that John asks for a creative solution for a problem that his boss is having with a client. He hears from God, gives his boss the suggestion (without telling him God gave it to him), and the solution solves the problem and increases business.

We have made the church the focal point for hearing from God, but God is the creator of all things. Wherever we go, He is there also (see Isaiah 41:10). He is not just in a church building on a Sunday; He is the Church, and we are His body as we go about our lives and share the love of Christ “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Our role in the marketplace is to hear God and bring supernatural and natural solutions, business plans, inven-tions, divine strategy in corporate meetings, and even personal solutions for co-workers and employees. We can hear God for our business or industry problems and opportunities. 

We all have a job to fulfill, a place of influence. Understanding our current role in the marketplace is vital to knowing how to live out the full potential of and purpose for our lives. Which of the four forms of influence above do you identify most with in your current season? How does that play out? I would love to hear about it in the comments below!

The above excerpt is from Wired to Hear, Chapter 3. To continue reading, you can find the full book on Amazon or Bobhasson.com.

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