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In the inaugural episode of the CFWLA Podcast, Executive Director Steve Lindsey sits down for a conversation on the hopes for this podcast, the theology that undergirds the conversations, and his own reflections on how this framework shapes all he does in his own work.
Steve leads the vision and overall ministry of the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles. Prior to this position, Steve served as an aerospace executive at The Boeing Company managing satellite systems engineers and retired after 36 years with the company. Steve received his BS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Southern California, and a MS in Engineering from Loyola Marymount University. Steve also has served at multiple churches as elder, men's ministry leader, and teacher including in-depth study and research on the integration of faith and work and leading hundreds of workplace Bible studies. Steve is a Colson Fellow with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.
QUOTABLE
On His own Journey with a Theology of Work:
“Was God sharing my joy? And after a deep dive on exploring scripture, the theology of work, engagement with the world, the Christian’s call as we’re sent out into the world, I really started to realize how deeply goes does care. So when I was experiencing that joy, I’m firmly convinced today God was throwing a party with me. He had joy over my work.”
On Why Stories of Vocational Stewardship are Important to Share:
“Seeing the Bible not as a list of dos and don’ts but as an unfolding story, of which we are grafted into, provides a great template for why we’re drawn to stories. In a lot of ways we’re hardwired for it.”
On the Theology that Undergirds CFWLA:
“So we want our imaginations renewed to begin loving and serving God with just glimpses of that in this life. What a blessing that would be to Los Angeles if you had a large group of people, believers, with that kind of vision, that kind of larger picture of the gospel, embracing all that they are and do for the Lord.”
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TRANSCRIPT
Transcription for the Faith + Work LA Podcast is done by AI software, which will occasionally include typos and other misspellings.
Steve Lindsey
was God sharing my joy? And after kind of a deep dive on exploring scripture, the theology of war, engagement with the world the Christians call, as we're sent out in the world, I really started to realize how deeply God does care. So when I was experiencing that joy, I'm firmly convinced today, God was throwing a party with me. He had joy over my work.
Gage Arnold
Hello, and welcome to the faith in work la podcast. A narrative effort from the Center for Faith and Work Los Angeles that lifts up stories of everyday Christians impacting la through their daily Work. My name is Gage Arnold, and I'll be your host. This episode we hear from Steve Lindsey. Steve is the founder and executive director of the Center for Faith and Work Los Angeles. As an engineer at Boeing for nearly 40 years, we often work towards seeing how his work served God's greater purpose for the world. He and his wife Margaret established the CFWLA in 2017 to help people reframe vocation and understand how all work, no matter the industry has meaning and purpose. In this inaugural episode of the faith and work la podcast, Steve outlines his own journey with a theology of work shares the story behind the inception of the CFWLA and speaks to why stories of vocational stewardship which is what this podcast will feature are important to share. Quite honestly CFWLA is indebted to Steve and Margaret for their fervent faithfulness to see this vision through and to see it forward. And we're just so honored to have Steve joining us, and we hope you enjoy the conversation. All right, Steve, it is great to welcome you to the Faith and Work LA Podcast.
Steve Lindsey
Thank you. So excited to be here.
Gage Arnold
Yes. I'm sure you are. It's been we've talked about it for a while. And now the podcast is finally here. And so as we are launching this endeavor from the Center for faith and work Los Angeles, and you are the executive director of this organization, I thought it might be a good place to start with you recounting the story of how CFWLA came to be. So if you wouldn't mind maybe we could start there. Just provide people with a little history of CFWLA and not just how it started, but why it started would be helpful as well?
Steve Lindsey
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. For me personally, I spent about 35 years in Aerospace Engineering and Management and executive oversight of group, developing the satellite systems for a couple of large aerospace companies in the Los Angeles area. And I can remember feeling the challenge as an engineer who was passionate about the Lord wanted to serve Christ. I knew that God cared about everything we do that he was part of this creation, and he wanted everything that we do to honor him and be an expression of his care and love and lordship, over all of creation that I did not know how to connect that to being an engineer. I can remember distinctly doing very complex simulations that would take months to code and being in kind of the bowels of technical work. And a lot of it, you are kind of on your own, you know, you periodically check in with technical supervisors and leads. And then, after years of compiling results, and doing lab testing and seeing technology come together, you see it all start to work and it all starts to come together. And you feel this deep joy in your heart about this accomplishment, and you had no idea what God thought about that. You know, you know that maybe the systems we produce were in a very broad general sense, good, but you know what about all that stuff I just did for all that period of time was God sharing my joy. And after kind of a deep dive on exploring scripture, the theology of work, engagement with the world, the Christians call, as we're sent out in the world, I really started to realize how deeply God does care. So when I was experiencing that joy, I'm firmly convinced today, God was throwing a party with me. He had joy over my work in a way that I just didn't pay hadn't gotten before. And that was so significant to me to realize I've actually partnered with us for His glory in the good of the world and everything we do, and we can find ways to give expression to that and be kind of guided and steered and to love God. And our neighbors so much better. When we, we explore that and we learn about it. And we start thinking deeply about our Christian walk in that kind of vein. So that got us started on this journey to find a way to start working with other believers thoughtful professionals around the Los Angeles area. That led to discovering the work that Redeemer Presbyterian Church back in Manhattan, New York was doing with their center for faith and work, which I thought was a beautiful model. So we sort of adopted that model and launched it back in April of 2017. It was actually April 1, no joke. It was a beautiful kickoff conference we held and just launched a Fellows Program held many courses and events and saints and beautiful stories start to unfold from that.
Gage Arnold
So tell me more about I'm so intrigued by this pic word. So this word picture of God throwing a party and sharing in the joy of your work, and how that kind of fits into the overarching, like theology that kind of undergirds the mission of what you guys are doing. So could you maybe unpack that a bit more? Because as we get into these podcasts, this first season, we have six different Los Angelenos, is that the right term? Yeah, I want to make sure I say it correctly, right. We have six different stories, and they all share in this sort of collective DNA of what CFWLA is about and what you were just describing. And some Yeah, maybe I think that'd be helpful for the rest of the conversations that are going to come following this one. Is to unpack what? How can we sort of with assurance knowing that God is sharing in our joy in the work that we're doing? And how does that then begin to reshape how we view our own work, whether we're really engaged and trying to figure out how it fits and into God's unfolding story? Or if we're frustrated, and we don't see the point of what we're doing? How can we reconnect?
Steve Lindsey
Sort of our work to God throwing a party and having joy over? What we're doing? Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, what we always try to come back to is really looking at the arc of the biblical narrative. So often when we think about the heart of Christianity in our faith, we think of a very simple gospel message of it. understanding our sin and brokenness and the need for the cross of Christ and His forgiveness and redemptive love and power to renew us and restores to a relationship with God, which is indeed just super central to the Christian faith. And yet, we can easily lose the biblical arc of why were we here in the first place? What did we fall away from and sin? What did what are we repeat being redeemed back into? And what is this kingdom about? That is ultimately going to be consummated that Jesus has begun with his life, death, and resurrection and leads his disciples into. So we end up with a very truncated gospel narrative when we focus only on forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Christ and not look At creation itself, what was the creation narrative about? What was that? What was the design of this Cosmos for and then when you do that, we find ourselves back in Genesis one and two and walking through this beautiful unfolding of God's work and creating the world? He describes what he's doing, how he's doing what he's like, as he creates the world. And then he stamps. humankind is kind of the crown of his creation and calls us his image. He says, We are the very image of God and we are to go into the world and tended and cultivated and bear fruit in that world and give expression to what it means to be His image-bearers. So his picture for the world is this unfolding development of the world under the care and stewardship. the leadership of humankind in partnership with a benevolent and loving God. So that's what we fell away from. And that's the mission of God that we're being restored back into. So when you think about work and what how does work fit into this conversation about our spirituality or Christian life? Gosh, it has everything to do with our spirituality and our relationship with God. It is exactly what we are being restored for and not just saved from we kind of like, think about it that way. And the future restoration that we're all leading to is this beautiful consummation of that where we will realize our full potential as human beings to love and serve and provide creative work and productivity and industry and beauty and culture. in ways that give glory and expression to God that just go beyond our imaginations. So we want our imaginations renewed, to begin loving and serving God with just glimpses of that in this life, and what a blessing that would be to Los Angeles. If you had a learner, believers with that kind of vision, that kind of larger picture of the gospel, embracing all that they are and do for the Lord.
Gage Arnold
Hmm, that's a beautiful, beautiful picture. And I love the last thing that you were noting about the impact for Los Angeles specifically. And I know that the city is very near and dear, certainly to both of our hearts, but especially to yours. Could you maybe share why? What is good and write about Los Angeles because certainly there are areas of brokenness that can be highlighted about it. That can dominate a new cycle. But what is it specifically about la that is where you see the Lord at work and the Kingdom of God sort of breaking in with these glimpses. Right now?
Steve Lindsey
Yes. Yeah, that's so good. First, just, you know, what is the Lord done in sort of the creation of Los Angeles? I mean, today, LA is this enormous conglomeration of diverse ethnic, cultural industry sector backgrounds, the demographics, kind of off the charts in about every possible direction in terms of a people's worldview, where they come from in life. They have immense hopes and dreams when they come to LA about making a difference both professionally as well as a difference in the world and God has done that, you know, he brings people together and writes our stories and he has planted churches with visions of caring for the city and seeing what flourishing could be like if you had no greater Los Angeles is like 12 to 16 million people, depending on how you count the area. It's enormous, and the entire world is here. And anything that happens here in LA gets taken to the rest of the world. It's not only a huge mission opportunity, but it is just a kind of a central hub or for global outreach. And sector-wise, it's, it's the world's leader in many sectors, obviously the art entertainment, it has a huge technology sector. Each financial center academic I mix, Aerospace Research and Technology, all these different areas that provide huge opportunities. And there are amazingly gifted leaders in every one of those areas that love the Lord and passionately want to serve him well and are hungry for this kind of theology and guidance and in churches, unfortunately, often don't take the opportunity to disciple people with that kind of a focus. There, they're looking to staff, church projects, missions, projects, inner-city works of ministry, which are all desperately needed and good. But don't challenge and incorporate really a large part of our life's energy in many cases to the larger part of our lives and it was our careers. It's what we're doing with our lives. So LA is just a fantastic place to be doing this work.
Gage Arnold
I love the phrase you use life's our life's energy being spent most often in our vocations and our work and what we're doing and how good and right and beautiful it is when churches are unlocking the full potential of what our lives live before the face of the word can look like. So that it's not just a sort of bifurcated sacred and secular, but that it's all seen as God's truth and God's kingdom. And so yeah, it doesn't matter where we're living that out whether it's the library or a Pew on Sunday morning or an assembly line on Tuesday afternoon. It's all a space to image God into the world like you were mentioning, which we were created for but is obviously broken, and we expect Once the after-effects of that now, not as it was intended to be, but we do see it in glimpses, and we experience it and glimpses still.
Steve Lindsey
Yes, yes. And what we've learned over time, which is sort of intuitive, especially for people from LA with all the arts and entertainment is, is that capturing the stories of those that have been impacted by the gospel, and these kinds of ways are so critical. And you and I talk about this all the time telling stories from our work, DFW LA and meeting people that are doing amazing things. And maybe you could speak to that a little bit on you're sort of the curator of CFWLA stories for us on you know, why are stories so impacting and so important, which is kind of the basis for why we wanted to develop this podcast. Yeah, that's true. I'd be happy to speak to that.
Gage Arnold
So I mean, it stems back to a part of it is my own story. So, even in my undergrad experience, I was a journalism major. And so I majored in words and I majored in stories and I majored in people. And so I learned to get very good at all of those things. And I have always been fascinated with people's stories and have always seen even when I was working for the daily paper in Knoxville, while I was in college, one of the most dignifying things I could do to someone was to tell them to tell their story, and to sort of affirming that their story mattered, which sounds like such a simple thing. And it's something that we practice every day, we invite someone over to our dinner table, and we asked them what's their story, but there's something profoundly dignifying about a story and getting to be both a listener and a teller. have that. And so I know, in a lot of the work that we do, Steve, you mentioned, there are plenty of stories of good work that's happening in Los Angeles. And sort of one of the reasons that I've been so drawn to sort of telling stories is that you know, we experienced the Bible as an unfolding story. I think you mentioned that sort of this, this four-chapter gospel, even now I have a painting up on my, on my guest room wall, and I'm looking at that has sort of the four panels of the Christian story of creation, to the fall of man to the redemption through Jesus Christ, to the restoration of all things which we long and, and hope for. And so, seeing the Bible, not as a list of do's and don'ts, but as an unfolding story of which we are grafted into I think provides A great template for why we're drawn to stories. And a lot of ways we're hardwired for it. You speak of what we're created for. We're, we're story beings. And so I think that's why, why we're drawn to do this, to do podcasts. That's why we tell stories on the blog. That's why we tell stories at events through panelists that we have as part of quarterly events or an annual conference. That's why it sort of knowing your story as part of the framework experience and learning how to share that and be a good listener and in the teller of your story, and it's just embedded into all that we do is the valuing of the story just in general. And so with that in mind, I think one of the reasons or what makes me most excited is being able to share a lot of these Stories of I described him as everyday folks. Folks, that's my Southern Southern that's coming out. So my apologies, everyday people that are in Los Angeles who are living faithfully right where they're at. So there's, there's sort of a glorious or ordinariness about each of them if that's a phrase that can exist. Because it can sometimes feel a little bit intimidating to read stories of those who have made it or who have arrived, who don't have dirt caked under their fingernails from being lifelong strugglers, but I think what we sought to tell are just stories of people who are lifelong strugglers who have leaned into where the Lord has them right now, who have tried to wade through their own vocational callings and have sought to see heaven on, see it be on heaven as it is, or see it be on earth as it is in heaven. And I think that's such a beautiful thing to strive for. And honestly, I think it feels a little more approachable, as our hope with some of these conversations is that they can provide a template for what faithful Christian engagement of vocation can look like. Not that there should be this, you know, you need to create social entrepreneurship or you need to, you know, go be a Christian missionary in a foreign country That's not at all what we would hope to say, but instead to sort of glean from your own story, how you've been gifted, what are the circumstances that your The Lord has ordained and orchestrated in your life thus far whereas their needs At around you, you can sort of weighing all of these things together and, and instead to say, Okay, I can be faithful right where I am, rather than feeling the need to do something that feels more Christian. There's no such thing as a more Christian job. God partners with us wherever we're at, and whatever we're doing, and yeah, so I think that's a lot of what we were. What we are aiming for with the conversations is to maybe break down a little bit of the stigma and to hopefully unlock a vision for what faithful living and faithful work look like. Not for the 1% of the top who feel like they've, they've made it or have had their stories told time and time again, but for the other 99% of folks who are trying to wading through the big questions and want to be faithful to the Lord, and what they're doing to serve Him and love their neighbor. And we see work again, you know, is the place where we spend the majority of our life's energy. This is the place where we want to model and show what that looks like. So, yeah, I think that's kind of the heart behind why we want to tell stories, and what's our hope for the podcast? And yeah, are there? I mean, I guess I can, would it be helpful for me to provide a few examples of maybe what's to come or really, I guess before that, would you like to add any other things to what I just shared?
Steve Lindsey
No, I think that's great. And I think your point about our podcasts, blogs, events, our course or our Fellows Program, they are all about creating life stories that we can tell that show how God is revealed and at work and doing amazing, wonderful things that you know, he ends up becoming the focus of our life story in a beautiful way. So as a wonderful I love how you spoke into that.
Gage Arnold
Yeah, and I can share too. So there are some really interesting stories that are coming in but I don't want to single anyone out per se lest I elevate someone above one another. But there are. There's a small business owner who Chronicles what it was like to make a mid-career pivot and to wade through starting something from scratch starting something new and sharing the glory and the garbage of that. There is an entrepreneur who has started a hand hole of ventures vary, which honestly came out of his own frustrated theology around thinking that he wanted to be a pastor and into the pastor but realized realizing he was not a good fit pastor, and through his own kind of pivoting and life story, found a home in sort of risk-taking, and now spends a lot of his life encouraging Christians to, to lean into risk underneath the sovereign hand of God, which I think is such a beautiful sentiment. There is a teacher at a public high school in Los Angeles, who is thinking outside of the box and loving his students well and not trying to place too much of his own worth in value and how successful his students turn out or how much they liked him by the time that his tenure is finished as their professor and he just has a very redemptive view on education and what education can be. There's a journalist who works for World Magazine, who shares Gosh, all of the rigors of journalism and the beauty of it in storytelling again a lot of what I was even sharing now and how important it is to tell stories to help and keep people informed so that they can again love their neighbor better. There's another is another educator, this one in the higher ed space who is just so winsome, so thoughtful, so loving her students, but also possesses such a robust theology. of work, and has been such an ardent supporter of our work here at CFWLA and honestly wish that she was my life coach, I think she's so, so wise and filled with a lot of wisdom. And then finally, a woman who's working who's worked all her life and local government, who shares a bit on what a gospel informed and infused view of politics could look like. especially in light of how partisan political engagement can feel, hearing from someone on the local level, who has lived the ups and downs of all of it and yet still possesses hope for the system. As just I think she is a beacon example of us to what it can look like to exist in a pluralistic society. Where there are diverse viewpoints and to still love others, even in spite of deep differences and to seek sort of the common good together, I can think of no one better, than her. So those are just a small taste of what's to come. And yeah, we're really, really excited to get to share these stories and we hope that they, even if you do not find yourself in one of these vocational buckets, maybe you're a doctor or a business person or a welder, wherever you fall on the vocational sort of spectrum, even if yours is not touched on in this season, or in this batch of stories, I think there's still a lot of goodness to glean on what it looks like to live faithfully as a Christian as a worker from all of them. It's kind of Hope and that's how the conversations sort of turned out. So even if you're not represented, there's still goodness in here for you to glean from. So, Steve, did you have anything else that you wanted to add maybe as a final word as we land the plane here?
Steve Lindsey
Yeah. Now that's so good. We, we just want to reiterate how excited we are. God has been building this work and providing for us to be able to provide these kinds of resources and encourage folks to check out some of the other resources we have available along the way. There just bet everything is well laid out at faith in work la.com. We've got some upcoming events and conferences and offerings and would love to see many of the listeners here. Take advantage of that.
Gage Arnold
Welcome back. We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Steve and we hope you'll stick around with us for our upcoming reflections on faith and work through this season of the faith and work la podcast. If you haven't already, please do subscribe, download, and rate the podcast and spread the word to others on social media. It really really does make a difference and helps us out a ton as we seek to get this off the ground and to spread the word. This Podcast is a production of the Center for faith in work Los Angeles, a gospel-centered nonprofit dedicated to helping Angelenos reimagine their vocations to reshape culture in Los Angeles and beyond. If you would like to take the conversation further, feel free to visit faithandwork la.com to find events, programs, resources, videos, and blogs designed to help you reimagine your own work with the gospel in mind. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.