Here are two questions recently posed to me about the impact of my   secular work experience on ministry and my "stream of consciousness" answers.

How has your secular career helped you in ministry? Click here for "Secular Career Details"
  
Generally speaking, I think it has prepared me to serve and work with people from a great many walks of life.  I've interacted and worked with high-ranking government officials, business execs, entrepreneurs, field technicians, engineers, Ph.D.s, maintenance people and everything in between.   I've managed dozens of employees in a big corporation, a small staff in a small business and worked as a one-man show serving many clients.  I've spoken before hundreds and negotiated one-on-one.  I’ve had the chance to be the guy “up front,” and had the pleasure of being able to step aside and watch someone I’ve mentored spread his/her wings.

While I’m not a great orator by any stretch of the imagination (just sincere), I've been able to practice and hone the skills of public speaking, "presenting," and facilitation.  I've also been known to put together a pretty mean PowerPoint presentation.  I've also had to stay a little ahead of the curve on communications technology, such as HTML-based electonic newsletters, which has proven useful when it comes to creatively staying in touch with people in my ministries.

I've learned both appreciation for and patience with volunteers by serving as a volunteer, volunteer leader and as the executive director of an association; I’ve had the opportunity to work at the policy shaping level of federal and state government (big picture) and crawled around rooftops looking for ways to optimize building systems with technology (feet on the ground).

I've designed, recruited teams, managed and executed both short-term and long-term projects, and steadily chipped away at my objective: “To increase the quantity and quality of energy management in America.”
 
I’ve made some wonderful friends along the way who have unselfishly helped me accomplish whatever good that I’ve done.  I’ve learned that trying to change the world (or even a tiny little corner of it) can take a really long time, can only be done with the help of others, and can be an extremely satisfying way to do life.

How has it hurt?

I don't think my secular experience has hurt.  My life is fairly integrated, so lessons learned in business have been applied in ministry AND visa versa.  My marketplace career was, while more covert than overt, my only ministry until 1993.  At a SIngles Ministry Leadership Retreat that Summer, Dr. John Bash introduced me to a concept foreign to most of us in attendance.  He was able to contrast relationship-driven ministry from event-driven ministry. The concept was introduced to about a dozen of us, and as I sat there and listened, it seemed almost the antithesis of what I had been taught in business to that point.  The goals of relationship-driven ministry aren't necessarily measured in terms of how many people come to the Christmas dance, or show up for Sunday school class.  It's not as much about body-count as it is about discipleship and "being" a biblical community.

While my business "experience" hasn't hurt, I do think trying to do a "full-time's worth" of consulting at the same time as I was trying to do a "full-time's worth" of ministry wasn't very realistic.  It took a bit of a toll on me.