Christianity Today

Living Intentionally No Matter What

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 15:25:16 +0000

Gordon Govier

Living Intentionally No Matter What

When MBA student Liz Dong was asked to help plan and moderate a Believers in Business conference panel on dealing with disappointments, she had plenty of experience to draw from.

After immigrating from China to the US in fourth grade, Liz studied hard and excelled in school. But her hopes for future success were devastated when she and her mother discovered paperwork mistakes by their immigration attorney left them without proper documentation. Liz and her mother trusted in God though and, as she explained in a Christianity Today testimony, God miraculously opened the doors at Northwestern University, where she graduated in 2011.

Finding work was difficult because of her immigration status, even with a college degree. As soon as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was implemented in 2012, which provided Liz and many other immigrants a temporary work authorization, Liz took a marketing job with a small eCommerce company. Then, as she took the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course through her church, she began to discover ways to apply her faith and use her own immigrant background to help other immigrants.

She moved into an apartment complex in suburban Chicago and joined a small intentional Christian community that was living among and serving their many immigrant and refugee neighbors. On nights and weekends, Liz gave rides, worked with children, and offered other practical support. “We were neighbors and friends,” she said. “I helped them, but I was also blessed by my immigrant neighbors.”

Then she changed jobs to work with World Relief and the Evangelical Immigration Table, advocating for immigration issues from a Christian perspective and drawing from her rich background of experience.

Back in School Again

Liz dreamed of going to graduate school to study management. Chances did not look promising as she tried to make ends meet on her non-profit salary. But she reconnected with the same foundation that had supported her as an undergrad at Northwestern, applied at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and found herself admitted.

Her focus on management could have led her to stay in the nonprofit world or to a job in business. Either way, she knew she wanted to integrate her faith with her vocation. After a conversation with a missionary who was visiting her church she decided to learn more about that integration by attending Urbana 15, ��ñ��’s Student Missions Conference in St. Louis.

At Urbana, Liz discovered other business students who shared her conviction. “The Business as Mission track was highly applicable and practical for understanding the theology of work and that all work is ordained by God when it's done in a way that honors God,” she said. That was also where she met Mark Washington, who directs ��ñ��’s MBA Ministry.

Mark urged her to join Christians in Business, ��ñ��’s fellowship at Booth, where she eventually became one of the leaders. He also recommended the annual Believers in Business (BiB) conference that’s held in New York City each winter (This year’s dates are February 21-22).

Believers in Business

The first time she went to BiB, Liz found it refreshing and challenging to hear from business leaders who shared about their work experience and how they integrated faith into their workplace. The second year she went as a finalist in a Business as Mission competition. Her team helped a Christian company grow its profitability, invest in the communities where it employed workers, and advance other objectives that supported God’s kingdom. She described it as an enriching experience. Her team placed third.

Although the Booth MBA program normally lasts two years, Liz worked full time and went to school part time, stretching it to three years and allowing her an additional opportunity to attend BiB. For her third year, Liz served as a planner and moderator of the panel on dealing with disappointment.

“That topic was important to me,” she said. “It’s good to showcase more than just the successes. In our failures and disappointments, we discover God sees success differently than how we see it.”

Today, Liz no longer lives in the midst of an immigrant community. She also has a new job, working with a financial advising service. But she still advocates for immigrants and refugees in her spare time.

Liz is thankful for the path that God has led her on, particularly through the challenges of graduate school.

“I knew that everywhere I went, whatever I did, I wanted to somehow integrate my faith with the thing that I did, in the place where I was at,” she said. “Christians in Business, the campus fellowship at Booth, provided me a means to do that.”

Looking back at the seemingly insurmountable challenges she faced before both her undergrad and graduate school experiences, she sees God’s faithfulness.

“Each step of the way that God has led me, God has opened doors. Sometimes even unbeknownst to me at the time, God has prepared me for the next step. But I also know that God has used and is using all of my experiences in the past to prepare me for what he will have me doing next.”

Support ��ñ��’s MBA Ministry

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MBA Ministry

Believers in Business

University of Chicago

Booth

Northwestern University

Christians in Business

��ñ�� Press Honored With Multiple Book of the Year Awards

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:58:24 +0000

News

��ñ�� Press Honored With Multiple Book of the Year Awards

��ñ�� Press is consistently recognized for high quality titles that are published annually. Again for 2018, IVP books have been honored for their content in a variety of categories.

Christianity Today recognized five IVP books for their 2019 Book of the Year Award:

Preaching as Reminding: Stirring Memory in an Age of Forgetfulness by Jeffrey D. Arthurs, Book of the Year in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category
Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered: Millennials and Social Change in African Perspective by Wanjiru M. Gitau was Book of the Year in the Missions/Global Church category
Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women by Elaine Storkey was Book of the Year in the Politics and Public Life category
An Extra Mile: A Story of Embracing God’s Call by Sharon Garlough Brown, was Book of the Year in Fiction
The Morals of the Story: Good News About a Good God by David Baggett and Marybeth Baggett received the Award of Merit in the Apologetics/Evangelism category

More information on each of these five award-winning books can be found in a news release on the IVP website.

Three ��ñ�� Press books were among the 2018 honorees recognized by World magazine.

Last Call for Liberty: How America’s Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat by Os Guinness was recognized in the Understanding America category
Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering by Kelly M. Kapic was recognized in the Accessible Theology book category
Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age by Alan Noble was also recognized in the Accessible Theology book category

More information on each of these three award-winning books can be found in a news release on the IVP website.

In addition, Christianity at the Crossroads by Michael J. Kruger was the 2019 Gospel Coalition Book of the Year for History and Biography. And Birthing Hope by Rachel Marie Stone made Library Journal’s list of Best Books for 2018.

Plus, two of the above recognized books and three more were lauded for their cover design and graphics. These five books and all of the other award winners are listed on the IVP Award Winners web page.

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��ñ�� Press Takes Top Book Award

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:03:19 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

��ñ�� Press Takes Top Book Award

The quality of books published by ��ñ�� Press has been consistently recognized by Christianity Today magazine and other award programs. This year Christianity Today has recognized four IVP books for their outstanding quality, and chosen Jen Pollock Michel’s book Teach Us to Want as its 2015 Book of the Year.

The other three books receiving Awards of Merit were: Visions of Vocation by Steven Garber in the Christian Living category, The New Parish by Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight Friesen in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category, and Called to Be Saints by Gordon Smith in the Spirituality category. A news release from IVP describes the unique qualities that were recognized by the judges for each book.

Like to sample the Book of the Year? The Christianity Today announcement includes an excerpt from Teach Us to Want. You can also find reviews, a video interview with the author, study questions, and other resources at the book's ��ñ�� Press website.

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��ñ�� Press

Christianity Today

Christianity Today

Living Intentionally No Matter What

Living Intentionally No Matter What

Back in School Again

Believers in Business

��ñ���� Press Honored With Multiple Book of the Year Awards

��ñ���� Press Honored With Multiple Book of the Year Awards

��ñ���� Press Takes Top Book Award

��ñ���� Press Takes Top Book Award

��ñ�� Press Honored With Multiple Book of the Year Awards

��ñ�� Press Honored With Multiple Book of the Year Awards

��ñ�� Press Takes Top Book Award

��ñ�� Press Takes Top Book Award