RESOURCE CATEGORY: Resources

VIDEO: A Stone Table Christmas

For those of you who may not know, I’m a huge Indianapolis Colts football fan. In fact, my family gets a little concerned about me during the games, during the autumn football season, because I can get pretty intense. Weather I’m physically at Lucas Oil Stadium, you know yelling and screaming, or if I’m in my own living room screaming, the dogs underneath the table in fear or making my neighbors wonder if they should call the police for a domestic disturbance.

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Workism and Redemption

Workism and Redemption

Workism and Redemption   Workism can be briefly defined as “yielding your source & sense of identity to your work”. It is a practice, almost a religion even in the Western world, that is defined by a constant need or desire to work, a collapse of self without...

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Workism in Ecclesiastes

Workism in Ecclesiastes

Workism in Ecclesiastes   In reading the book of Ecclesiastes these past few days, one of my favorite books in Scripture, I discovered some new insights from the Preacher, King Solomon, on work and the labor of man. While these insights may come across pessimistic in...

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Workism and the Righteous

Workism and the Righteous

Workism and the Righteous   Paul was described as a tentmaker in Acts 18:3; someone who labored hard with his hands and worked leather into creating tents. Realistically, he could have made a heck of a living off that. Not that I know the state of the economy then but...

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VIDEO: Thankfulness

You know every Monday morning at our housing company, CRF Affordable Housing, we have a conference call where all of our staff across the state of Indiana can call in and kind of give updates on things that are happening at each of the properties, share stories, and we’re able to share things with them as well. But, the way we have committed to start this call every Monday morning is that everyone shares a win; everyone shares something good that’s happened. Maybe at their property, within the context of their work, or even within their own family or something personal that’s happened.

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Holy Mess

Holy Mess

Recently, I bought a decorative small canvas that artistically displays, "Embrace the imperfections, the chaos, the holy mess of your beautiful life.” I was drawn to it because of the adjectival phrase “holy mess.” Having gone through several months of what could...

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VIDEO: Can I Enjoy My Work?

You know one of the things we talk about here at The Stone Table is how our stories, the story of our life, the story of our careers, really the story of everything as a follower of Jesus, is really part of a much greater story. We talk about our work and the great story and I’ve had some folks ask me, you know, “What does it look like to engage my work and my career and my vocation through that great story? Is it ok if I like my work? Is it ok if I pursue a career that excites me? Is it okay if I make money and profit from my work? Or, does embedding my story in a greater story mean that I can’t enjoy any of those things?”

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Workism and the Hustle

Workism and the Hustle

Workism and the Hustle   Workism is a concept that has been touched on several times at The Stone Table. It is something that continues to pervade our society and work environments daily, and something that appears likely to continue to creep up in increasing measures...

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VIDEO: To The Pastors

I just wanted to take a second and talk to all of my pastor friends out there today. You know, I spent 12 years in full time ministry and really, I think over this this last year and a half, have felt such a pull and a longing to encourage my pastor friends because I think this season of COVID and 2020, and now into 2021, has been one of the most difficult seasons to be a leader of any kind but especially a spiritual leader in our polarized world where everything seems to create conflict even within the context of our local churches.

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VIDEO: Audiobook Promo

We were so excited here recently to launch this brand-new book, this resource, from The Stone Table called Missional Marketplace: Finding Your Everyday Work in God’s Eternal Plan and want to let you know that the paperback has been available for a little while now, but now the kindle book, and also the audiobook, of this is available now at Amazon and at other retail distributors. So, if you’re into audiobooks, I can actually read this book to you as you kind of go about your business. So, if you’d like to hear me read this book to you, you can download the audiobook right now as well. So, Missional Marketplace: Finding Your Everyday Work in God’s Eternal Plan, go pick it up right now and we pray it’s an encouragement to you.

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OUR MISSION
The Stone Table Exists to Mobilize Marketplace Believers for The Great Commission.

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VIDEO: The Great Commission Belongs to You | Erik Cooper at the Truth at Work Conference

So, what is the Great Commission? Do you know? The Great Commission is Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples as he ascended into heaven. These instructions weren’t just for professional pastors and missionaries. Jesus’ words were aimed at all of us who call him “Lord,” including those of us with marketplace jobs. Look at Matthew 28:19. It says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” It says “go,” to move out, to train up followers of all nations. And the Greek word here is actually ethnos. It’s ethnos or a people joined by similar customs or culture. We can better translate this word, not as geo-political nation states, but as people groups. And Jesus said to go make disciples of all of them. But the Joshua Project estimates there as many as 7,400 unreached people groups in the world today. These 7,400 people groups total 3.1 billion people or 42% of the global population. And for many of these people, were not just talking about a general disinterest in Christianity, we’re talking no access to the Gospel. If you are born into this 42%, there is a good chance that you will live and die without ever as much as meeting a Christian let alone hearing the life-giving message of Jesus. And this should disturb all of us. See, if you belong to Jesus, the Great Commission belongs to you.

VIDEO: Erik Cooper at the Truth at Work Conference!

That’s why two recent Barna surveys on global missions and evangelism really shocked and troubled me. Maybe you saw these. According to Barna, over half of all churchgoers, 51%, are completely unfamiliar with the concept of the Great Commission. But I think even more disturbing, they found almost half of practicing Christian millennials believe that evangelism is wrong. And perhaps these responses reflect a rejection of some historical missions’ missteps that were rooted more in western colonialism than the gospels full redemptive work. Perhaps, but I fear something worse. I fear God’s people may actually be losing God’s heart for the nations. I fear we’ve turned the Great Commission into more of a great suggestion. If we really love people, won’t we move heaven and earth to tell them how their sins can be forgiven, how they can find union with their heavenly father, and how they can function in the fullness of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. The answer is yes, and we passionately believe that mobilizing entrepreneurship, business, and the marketplace is a vital part of that Great Commission calling.

VIDEO: The Gospel is Power

You know when we talk about the gospel, we often think about something kind of ethereal and in over here. It deals with our spiritual life and so, when we go to work every day, when we engage in the realities of our everyday life, it’s like we know those two things go together but kind of you know the gospel is more spiritual. It’s over in this realm and you know then I gotta deal with my business, I gotta deal with my work and strategy and marketing and finance and all of those different kinds of things. And we don’t really connect to those things, but I was reading in Romans one this morning. In Romans one there’s this famous verse says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God.” The gospel is the power of God. I just got to thinking about that within the context of our everyday lives, including our everyday work. You know the gospel is not just some other good moral philosophy, it’s not just another interesting religious story. The gospel is literally power. The gospel is power. The gospel actually does something in us and around us and through us. The gospel is intended to be fuel for everyday living, our faith, our work, our home lives, our finances. The gospel is power; the gospel is not just another interesting moral philosophy. The gospel is power. So, I just want to encourage you with that this week, to think about how you can tap into the gospel. The power of God. It is there as a gift for you, it is not just some spiritual aspect of your life to be relegated to the spiritual or ethereal realm. It is the power of God for real everyday living. You can tap into it; your work can tap into it. It is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.