CEF Minnesota

💡 Work Was Not the Curse 💡

Before sin entered the world, work was already there.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Genesis 2:15

That matters.

Work was not God’s punishment for a broken world. Work was part of His design for a good one.

The frustration, exhaustion, politics, pressure, and thorns came later. But work itself was created before the fall. It was meant to be fruitful, ordered, entrusted, and good.

That changes how Christian leaders should see Monday meetings, payroll decisions, customer problems, hard conversations, growth plans, and the quiet weight of responsibility.

Your business is not just a platform for ministry someday.

It is part of your stewardship right now.

This is why Caleb’s upcoming conversation with CEF matters. “Business for the Glory of God” is not a soft idea. It is a serious question for every leader building something with people, resources, influence, and accountability attached to it.

God cares about the work.

So lead like it.

Join us June 24th at Westwood Community Church.
christianexecutivefellowship.org
Media

What a morning with Laura King last month.

If you were in the room May 27, you know. If you weren't, we missed you.

Now we're looking ahead to June 24, and honestly, we couldn't be more excited.

Caleb Spitler is one of the most sought-after communication experts in the country. He's worked with the NFL, Amazon, Disney, Google, and TEDx helping leaders grow their influence through better communication. But what he's bringing to CEF on June 24 isn't a communication masterclass.

He's coming to talk about why your business exists at all.
"Business for the Glory of God." Why did God make humans? How do you find purpose in your work? How do you use what you build to further glorify Him?

These aren't soft questions. They're the ones most leaders never stop long enough to answer.

Join us June 24 at Westwood Community Church.
christianexecutivefellowship.org


Rick Walters Samuel Rodriguez

Today’s Christian Executive Fellowship is underway and the room is already full of meaningful conversations, bold leadership, and Kingdom-minded encouragement.

Grateful for leaders who choose to be equipped, fortified, and encouraged alongside one another. Iron sharpens iron, but only if it actually makes contact.

“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
-Hebrews 10:24

We are 24 hours out!

Tomorrow morning, Laura King will lead us through a timely and necessary conversation:

Leading from the Inside Out.

Because leadership is never just about what people see on the outside. It flows from what is being formed, healed, guarded, and surrendered on the inside.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

For leaders who are building companies, carrying responsibility, leading teams, making hard calls, and trying to stay faithful in the middle of pressure, this matters.

You can have strategy, skill, and momentum and still be hollow if the heart is neglected.

Tomorrow is about slowing down long enough to let God deal with the part of leadership we cannot fake: the inner life.

Christ-centered. Rooted in Scripture. Strengthened through worship, prayer, and fellowship.

christianexecutivefellowship.org/upcomingevents

Come ready.

Joshua 21:45

This week you rolled it over. You listened for the next step. You led from weakness instead of pretending you had it all together.

Now it's Friday. Look back.

"Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass."

Every meeting you walked into unsure. Every decision made with incomplete information. Every moment you chose faith over performance.

Not one word failed.

That's not a motivational finish line, that's a record. A track record that belongs to God, proven again this week in your work, your leadership, your life.

Close your laptop a little lighter tonight. The One who established your plans, directed your steps, and showed up in your weakness didn't miss a single promise.

He never does.

Have a great weekend, CEF. See you next Wednesday.

christianexecutivefellowship.org/upcomingevents

Proud to be in the room this morning.

Bethany’s Excellence in Leadership gathering brought together some sharp, faith-driven leaders – and CEF was honored to show up and support. This is exactly the kind of community we love being part of.

When Christian leaders gather to sharpen one another, something moves. That’s not a tagline – that’s what we’ve seen over and over in the Twin Cities.

Grateful for the work Bethany is doing to develop leaders who lead with conviction.

christianexecutivefellowship.org

2 Corinthians 12:9

Monday you surrendered the plan. Tuesday you started walking. By Wednesday, the weight is real.

And that's exactly where God meets you.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Every leadership culture tells you to project strength. Hide the uncertainty. Absorb the pressure. Never let them see you sweat.

But Paul is saying the opposite. The leader who acknowledges their limits isn't failing -- they're creating the exact conditions where God's power shows up most clearly.

Your weakness isn't a liability. In the right hands, it's the whole point.

The strongest thing you can do this Wednesday is stop pretending you have it all together. CEF exists for leaders who are done performing and ready to lead from a place of genuine dependence.

christianexecutivefellowship.org/upcomingevents

Yesterday, you rolled it over. Now what?

You listen.

Isaiah 30:21
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

Notice the image. The voice isn’t ahead of you, mapping out the whole plan. It’s behind you – steady, close, speaking into the next step as you move.

Executives want the full roadmap before they commit. God often gives you the next step, and the confidence to take it.

Stop waiting for the whole plan. Walk, and listen as you go.

This is exactly why we gather. Christian Executive Fellowship exists for the leader who is willing to surrender the plan, tune out the noise, and walk by faith in the middle of real decisions with real stakes. You’re not doing this alone.

Proverbs 16:3
“Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Monday morning is typically a planning meeting with yourself. Priorities, goals, outcomes – all mapped before 9am. Sound like your typical Monday morning or even Sunday night?

But there’s an order problem most leaders never catch: we build the plan, then ask God to bless it. The verse flips that. Commit first. Then watch what gets established.

The word “commit” here is the Hebrew galal – literally, to roll. Roll your work onto Him. Like a burden too heavy to carry alone, you transfer the weight before you take a single step.

What would change today if you rolled it over before you picked it up?

Most leadership development hands you a system and tells you to execute.

Laura King asks a different question first.
Not "what's your strategy?" But "who are you becoming?"

Her 4A Framework has guided thousands of executives through that shift. Four movements that don't just improve your leadership. They reorient it.

Awareness. Acceptance. Action. Accountability.

It starts with seeing clearly. What's actually driving you. What fears are quietly running the show. What God has been trying to get your attention about.

Then it moves. Not in giant leaps, but in what Laura calls "micro-moves." Small, deliberate, faithful steps that don't look like much from the outside but compound into something you can't ignore.

The leader who finally has that honest conversation. The one who stops performing long enough to pray. The one who says yes to the nudge they've been avoiding for two years.

That's how trajectories change.

Not in a moment. In a series of small ones.
"Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:17

May 27th. Westwood Community Church. Come ready to move.

christianexecutivefellowship.org/upcomingevents