Emily Davis is an executive assistant at one of the top ten firms on the Fortune 500 list, where she works closely with five senior level lobbyists who represent a variety of the company’s business interests. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she is an active member at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. She blogs at hopeisourhome.com.
“I find great satisfaction in helping my managers succeed and anticipating their needs before they ask for them. I’m a very organized person, and I’m great at long-term and strategic planning. That being said, I hate being treated like a servant—cleaning up their trash and mistakes. I also don’t like that there is no career ladder. After nearly five years, the learning curve has plateaued, and I’m restless for new challenges and opportunities. The hardest part of my job, though, is telling people what I do. Washington is filled with smart, talented, and ambitious people. Being ‘just’ an assistant feels embarrassing, and I struggle feeling like others have more value because they have more important jobs. The Lord, however, has definitely used my work to humble me and cause me to seek to honor him in all things. And even though my work may not be the most challenging, its relational aspects encourage me. I see how God is using this time in profitable ways.”
Anne Kemp is president and founder of Kennedy Kemp Enterprises, where she assists clients with their bookkeeping, financials, and business consulting needs. Her clients come from a wide variety of industries, including commercial real estate, offshore oil and gas, church management, medical, landscaping, engineering, manufacturing, and retail. Anne has two adult children and lives in Houston, Texas.
“My marriage of 22 years suddenly dissolved 18 months ago when my husband left our family. Within six weeks, my daughter moved to another city, my son left for boot camp, and my house was sold. I had no home and felt completely alone. I had no idea, though, how powerfully God was acting on my behalf. Three weeks after the house closed, a prospective client asked me if I could help organize his company’s finances. The CFO had died unexpectedly, and he and the other owners needed to get caught up to speed on the financials. As I started digging in, I discovered that their numbers were incorrect and, in some cases, fraudulent. They were hemorrhaging badly and didn’t even know it. Within six months, we turned the company from losing almost $100,000 to profiting almost $1 million. God used that project to heal me, show me that my work was meaningful, and remind me that he had gifted me in ways that could help people.”
Laura Smith is a document control specialist for a major pipeline company in the oil and gas industry. She enjoys reading, photography, writing, playing golf, Italian food, and being outdoors. She is married and has one son. She is a member of First Baptist Church of Mont Belvieu, Texas, where she serves on the women’s ministry team and in other various areas of the church as needed. She loves to watch sports and listen to live music. You can follow her on Twitter: @Laura_Unchained.
“I love what I do, but it wears on me. As a female working in a male-dominated industry, men often look down on me or stare at my body. My co-workers often use filthy language. Additionally, since my husband does shift work, I’m the primary caretaker of our 10-year-old son. This means that I’m up at 4:30 a.m. so that we can get out of the house by 6:00 a.m. I commute an hour each way, driving about 80 miles roundtrip. When I get home around 6:00 p.m., I often help my son with his homework, cook dinner, do laundry, and/or take our son to swimming. Although I serve on the women’s ministry team at our church, my schedule leaves little time for volunteering. I feel like there are probably opportunities to share my faith at the office, but I’m not sure how. I’m what you call a ‘baby Christian’; I was just saved a year ago. I know God has put me in this position at this company for my good and his glory; I would love to learn how to grow and share my faith through my work while I’m here.”
Nneka Campbell is senior computer programmer at a law firm, where she loves to use her God-given gifts and share her faith. She also creates a comic strip, DrawLight, whose mission is to reveal the truths of the gospel in a humorous way. She and her husband, Stuart, live in South Florida with their son.
“I am the only female developer in my department. For the most part, this has been the case throughout my career. Frankly, you don’t see female computer programmers with my seniority. It’s a male-dominated field. Even more rare is the fact that I’m African American. I have faced many obstacles because of my race and, especially, my sex. At times, I have wished that I had a ‘regular’ job—something ‘typical’ of a woman. I have faced sexism on the job and even criticism from a church I once attended that felt women weren’t godly unless they stayed home and took care of their kids. Yet these obstacles have been used to glorify God. I get to share my faith and inspire others, especially my son. I thank God for that.”
Meghan Bruner grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma, where she met her husband through Cru. They planted a church alongside friends in Denver, Colorado, where they now live with their two children, Ben (4) and Evie (2). They love working in the yard, taking walks in their city, and hosting the occasional spontaneous dance party.
“I am a bean counter. As a tax supervisor in public accounting, I take ugly financial statements and create a product that can be understood and used by my clients to make informed decisions. In redemptive terms, my work creates ‘cosmos from chaos’—that is, God came to redeem a world in disrepair, and my daily task is to repair and create something beautiful from a complete mess. When I crunch numbers, I really feel like God is using me to redeem part of his world for his glory and the joy of all people. I went into this profession because I like things to be wrapped up in nice pretty packages . . . including people. As God has moved through me to recognize my own sin, though, it has been amazing to see how he has opened doors for me to share the gospel with my colleagues. Most of them cannot believe that my husband is a pastor because they are misinformed about who God is and what he has created the church to be. Through our common messiness, though, it has been my honor to walk alongside some of my co-workers as they have considered the good news of Jesus.”
