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Zech 6:12 . . . ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ NIV

This morning as I was reading my Bible, I read this verse. By some, it’s considered to be a Messianic prophecy. This is the heart of what ministry should be. Faith laying over the world. The secular and the sacred merged. This is what I try to spend my life doing as a pastor. What does it look like? Where can you see an example? No doubt about it, in terms of fulfilling this merger of faith and work, Bob Buford may be the single most significant man in the past 30 years to see this come about.

He focused on getting pastors together to discuss their issues and improve their ministries. He’s touched the “temple of God” all over America. But, his greatest legacy will not be that--it will be that he redefined how “half-timers” use their lives for ministry in work. The whole “marketplace ministries” concept has been driven from him.

Yet, there are others, as well, who have been out on the front lines also doing significant things. Bill Pollard, who just wrote Serving Two Masters, a new book on what to do with profits. Kent Humphreys, an author and a ministry for businessmen. Brett Johnson is doing it globally. Graham Power has done some awesome stuff in South Africa. Books are starting to emerge on this all over the place. My own book, Transformation, has been read by many businessmen and many of them have contacted me on how to engage the world. I could list at least a dozen others off the top of my head that I know personally.

Preachers, missionaries, and other “religious” workers are trying to get in the game. They shouldn’t. As a pastor, our game is to equip and raise up people to use their “marketplace” skills to be raised up to play in the game that God has placed them. This is making disciples at its best. What a powerful verse and a powerful mandate for a pastor. This is missions at its most viral. It’s not when religious professionals make the secular sacred that the world be changed, but when the “secular” vocations are filled by “sacred” people who live a single wholistic life.
Links to Bob Buford and Kent Humphreys:

www.christatwork.com