Timothy Keller - Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to Gods Work

Every Good Endeavor

A LSO BY T IMOTHY K ELLER

THE REASON FOR GOD: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

THE PRODIGAL GOD: Recovering the Heart
of the Christian Faith

COUNTERFEIT GODS: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex,
and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters

GENEROUS JUSTICE: How Gods Grace Makes Us Just

KINGS CROSS: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus

THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE: Facing the Complexities
of Commitment with the Wisdom of God

Every Good
Endeavor

Connecting Your Work
to Gods Work

TIMOTHY KELLER

with Katherine Leary Alsdorf

DUTTON

DUTTON

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First printing, November 2012

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright 2012 by Redeemer City to City, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and Timothy Keller

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any
printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of
copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Some names and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of the
individuals involved.

All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV), except where noted.

Figure on page 250 copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church

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ISBN: 978-1-101-60033-7

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While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses,
and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author
assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher
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websites or their content.

To the staff and volunteer leaders of Redeemers Center for
Faith & Work, who have helped our congregation see that
the gospel really does change everything.

CONTENTS

Introduction

During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD....

This album is a humble offering to Him. An attempt to say THANK YOU GOD through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor.

John Coltrane, excerpt, liner notes to A Love Supreme

FOREWORD

I n 1989 a colleague prodded me to come to her churcha start-up in Manhattan called Redeemer Presbyterian Church. I had been thoroughly inoculated against church years before, having determined that the religion of my familys church was more form than substance and that any leanings I might have had in that direction were easily overcome by enlightened thinking. But Redeemer caught my attention in a few ways: The pastor was intelligent and talked like a normal person, he seemed to take the Bible seriously, and he tried to apply it to parts of life that were important to melike my work.

A few years later I decided it was time to commit to faith and give my life to the truth and promises of the Bible. I was worried, I admit, that this commitment might put an end to my career ambitions and material comforts because, in fact, two of my brothers who had become Christians had been called to be missionaries overseas. One lived in rural Africa without running water or electricity. If I was going to really put God first I had to be open to him calling me to serve him anywhere. And he did. A few weeks after my decision, I was stunned by the sudden illness of my boss, the CEOand his request that I take over leadership of the company. Given the circumstances, I took it as an indication from God that he wanted me to play my part not in the third world but in the world of business.

For the next decade, I served in executive leadership in several entrepreneurial tech companies in New York City, Europe, and Silicon Valley. In each job and each day I wrestled with what it means to be called to serve God as a leader in business. Redeemer and its senior pastor, Tim Keller, had given me good grounding. Id learned that I was supposed to be changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore be used by God in my relationships with others, and maybe even be distinctive in the way I led companies. Nice concepts, but what did they look like in practice?

The models were few and often seemed remnants of an age when most of America went to church. One CEO would share that he kept a Bible on his desk and that occasionally someone in the company would ask about it. Another prayed and the company thrived. Many viewed their corporate jobs primarily as a means to make lots of money to give away to charities and organizations they cared about. When I asked pastors and businesspeople how their faith related to their work, they often answered that a Christians primary, if not sole, mission in the workplace was to evangelize those with whom they worked. But most businesspeople would quickly add that evangelism was not one of their gifts. And none of these approaches addressed the issue of how Christians faith should affect the way they worked.

The start-up tech world, especially in the 1990s, was rather full of itself. Entrepreneurs and engineers were viewed as gods in our culture, and technology was the answer to all the worlds problems. My employees had more evangelical fervor about the vision (and technologies) of the company than the people in any church Id ever seen. And the hope of an IPO was far more tangible and motivational than the ethereal imaginings of heaven as portrayed by the Christian world. Much of the time I worked with really good peoplemature, admirable people of character who worked hard to contribute significantly to the world and who didnt seem to need church or the Jesus of the Bible to do it. I learned great lessons about joy at work, patience and hope, teamwork and truth telling, from people who didnt share my faith. My staff who went away for a meditation weekend seemed to come back more refreshed than those who worshipped together on Sunday at a Christian evangelical church. I started to see my work more as a crucible where God was pounding and grinding and refining me, rather than as a place where I was actively and effectively serving him.