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Uplifting Tale

In 1998, when I became vice president of human resources for Focus on the Family, I accepted the position with a sense of calling to prepare the second generation of the ministry's employees. But how?

After hearing that the Walt Disney Company was a leader in developing committed employees, I was surprised to learn that three of our employees had once worked for Disney. Perhaps they could teach me something. Once in my office, it was clear they shared a strong bond with their former employer. In fact, given their unlimited capacity for swapping Disney trivia, I could barely get the meeting started.

They walked me through the Disney staff training and amusement parks, and then the conversation turned to  "theming." They explained, for instance, how the buildings on Disneyland's Main Street were intentionally created shorter to set off the perspective and grandeur of Cinderella's castle. Even the garbage cans were themed around their particular setting.

I nodded in silence like an early Disney cartoon. All along, I grew more and more frustrated.

"You know, I really don't get this business about theming." One of the three picked up on my comment and her response literally changed my life and work. She said, "Theming is so you can know your part in the story."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I realized that Walt Disney didn't see his organization as an organization—he saw it as a story. Every day, every person at Disney has the chance to come to work and be part of that story, to write his or her own chapter in the larger Disney story. Suddenly, I realized every theme park employee, every theme park visitor has a character, a distinctive, important role to play in Disney's ongoing drama. And to think the central attraction of this larger story is a mouse!

This sudden insight bloomed into an epiphany. If people could be connected to a fantasy, I thought, how much more could they be connected to the reality of God's larger story?

God changed for me that day. Instead of being the CEO of the world, he became an author, sculptor, artist, the crafter of an incredible story of human tragedy and Christ's redeeming triumph. This powerful lesson in framing our work at Focus led me to the natural question: "How could we orient every current and future employee so they understood his or her unique purpose and role in God's larger story?"

As our hr staff met, the Lord showed us two things. The first was defining our employees' dual commitment to calling, our vertical relationship with God, and a commitment to community, our horizontal relationships with each other. Calling and community convey the reality of God's creation. A person who demonstrates the fullness of both discovers his or her unique place of purpose in our ministry. "Don't think of Focus as a place you come to work," I said. "Rather, think of your work as an act of worship to the Lord."

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