SLEW-Monday: Sharing our faith in the workplace

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” -- Matthew 5:14-16

Renita and Jason Shelly have a lot in common—which you would expect, since they’re married and all. They both went to Penn View Christian School; she went to Dock (’93) and played field hockey, while he went to Pennridge and played football. They both followed their parents into the family business; she into the Bergey network of car dealerships, he into the trucking business. They have three kids (see photo, below)

Both feel strongly that faith needs to be lived out on a daily basis, based on the passage from Matthew 5 (above) that Renita quoted during their chapel presentation on the first day of Spiritual Life Emphasis Week.

“We need to be conscious about sharing our faith in the workplace, because there are a lot of opportunities that can be missed if we’re not looking for them,” Jason said. Both he and Renita gave examples from their work settings.

Jason told a story about a homeless man that came up to him at a truckstop years ago and asked if he could clean Jason’s truck. “Now anyone who knows me realizes my truck doesn’t need to be cleaned too often, but I wanted to help this guy out,” he said. Jason went in for dinner and when he came out he noticed the man had been crying; he asked him what was wrong. The man asked Jason, “Are you a Christian?” and when Jason said he was, the man said, “As soon as I started working on your truck, I felt the presence of the Lord.” Jason read to him from the book of Romans while he finished his work.

Renita said she has many opportunities in the course of her work as a car salesperson to speak into people’s lives about her faith. A customer wanted to take a test drive one time and Renita put a Christian music CD into the car’s player. When the woman returned with the car she told Renita how one of the songs she listened to had really spoken to her situation. The woman bought the car, and Renita threw the CD into the deal!

“We need to take Jesus to work,” she said, “and we need to be ready for him to use us.”