Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the iWork4Him Power Pod. I'm Michael Miracle producer for iWork4Him, the voice of the faith and work movement. We are on mission to transform the workplace of every Christian into a mission field. Each quick listening Power Pod is designed with you in mind and jam packed with Kingdom resources to help you connect your faith and work. How will this impact your work? Let's find out right now.

Jim: Just really wanna make sure that you, that you understand why are we at DaySpring in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Well, we're here because they're one of the very few companies around the globe that is specifically feeding into Christianity tools, giving us tools and resources for living out our faith in all aspects of life, especially work.

Martha: That's exactly right, Jim. And what people may not even realize is that almost everywhere that you can go and get a greeting card, you're gonna find a DaySpring card. And the significance of that is that they have been [00:01:00] able to integrate with our secular retail in such a way that scripture is available for people to pick up at any moment.

Now, don't get me wrong, DaySpring is way more than just greeting cards, but that is really their connection in the retail space in America. And I just wanna make sure people hear that, that, you know, every single one of their cards has some scripture in it. And like we said, we've never heard of anybody that's, you know, rejected getting a card.

Jim: So today we're talking with Stephen Bos, he's the VP of marketing strategy and e-commerce at DaySpring. And I'm gonna put a private plugin in between the breaks. It's not gonna be on the air. I'm gonna put a private plugin that they should have a whole iWork4Him Line. I think that would be phenomenal.

But we're gonna talk with Stephen Bos about branding and the power of our personal brand because who we are at work, at play in the neighborhood at church, we should all be the same person. We should be consistent wherever we go. [00:02:00] And that's our brand. So how does your personal brand impact your ability to live out your faith in your work?

You know, if we have a reliable, kind, and gentle brand, it really helps. But if you don't have those things, people won't be attracted to the Jesus inside you. So here to talk about the value of your brand at work and at church, and I might add, our neighborhood is Stephen Bos, VP of Marketing Strategy and e-commerce at DaySpring here in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

Stephen, welcome to iWork4Him. How did you learn that your faith in your work are intrinsicly connected?

Stephen Bos: Yeah. You know I've been here at DaySpring for a long time and early in my career as a young business graduate and a bit of a, I guess a go-getter or something, I, I sort of viewed it as this "either or" proposition.

In my twenties and straight As, I'm gonna go make a fortune and then go do something. And you can't, you know, you can't serve two [00:03:00] masters and all that kind of thought process. And it was really under the tutelage of some wise man and some people that had gone before me where I began to not see those two things as sort of competing forces, but a kind of tension to be managed and really worked through.

And I'd say, you know, through my twenties, as I was working as a young business professional began to - God really changed my heart to understand that it was a tension to be managed and not a a kind of either or proposition. And particularly working here at DaySpring through those years, serving alongside men and women who love the Lord, wanted to serve kingdom purposes, but also wanted to do that with, and felt called and really skilled in, business excellence. And so I feel fortunate. I think my life could have taken a different turn if I perhaps had gotten into some, I don't know cutthroat investment banking or something...

Jim: The investment bankers just called and they said you know we're not all cutthroat.

Stephen Bos: Yeah, sorry. You're right. That's right. . But in a different environment, I think, I think it could have done [00:04:00] better or it could have gone a different way.

So I'm incredibly thankful for those years and I remember having knockout drag out discussions and arguments about this isn't either or, and it's gotta be one or the other. But as, as with many things in my life with time and good counsel and looking at people that have gone before, looking at scriptures, I think I really came to understand that through my twenties and into my thirties and, and still learning about it today.

Jim: You said you had arguments with people about this whole thing. It's either one or the other. Ministry or, or business. Like where do those conversations happen? Because people are still having those conversations today.

Stephen Bos: Absolutely. And you know, fortunately around here and with other people that were really, frankly, working through some of those same things themselves. People that have come maybe from full-time ministry backgrounds that we're dealing with. Well no, you can't be a business person. And the only way to, to do this... you know, you at some point you're gonna have to choose between money or ministry and, and I just had people around my life, there are people here at, at the office that were really trying to wrestle, wrestling with things like, maybe, maybe I need to go overseas. [00:05:00] Maybe I need to go do something you know, real ministry.

And so those discussions. And we just have an environment here. And I'm thankful again for the relationships in my church with other men and women that I was around at that time in particular that would challenge and had different points of view. I was definitely I had the leaning towards, well, I need to, need to just go do something, you know, completely ministry oriented and I think again, through council and conversations and, and I don't know that we ever like completely - they weren't arguments. I guess you could say we were just wrestling through and working out how that how that applies in our lives at different stages. And so it was good.

Martha: So let me ask this question in the context then of where you are now at Dayspring, do you feel that you are working in the calling that God gave you?

Stephen Bos: Yeah. Great question. The short answer is absolutely, I think that I'm incredibly thankful to work in a place and for an organization that brings the whole person and welcomes the whole person here.

And for, for me [00:06:00] personally the alignment of what it is we do and what we like, say what we get to do here. With my personal conviction just makes for a very reconciled whole person. That's not to say it's not hard. You know, a lot of days it feels like work. We deal with performance and hitting goals and all those kinds of things, but it is very satisfying to go home and know that those, those things are not in battle. But a tension again that we, we need to manage not sort of overcome.

You know, at Dayspring, we talk about we want brand pillars. These are the things if, when you guys came here to our offices, what are the things you're gonna walk away and say, man, I feel like I can describe them. You know, we use terms like biblically true, spiritually relevant, inspired, creative, uniquely insightful life-giving. We sure hope when you, after you've been here, you feel like it's life giving. It's not life draining. What are those attributes as a brand? That when people interact or experience DaySpring that those are the things they walk away with?

Jim: You're surrounded by people, right? There's people. How many people are here at the DaySpring headquarters?

Stephen Bos: it's just [00:07:00] over 200 here.

Jim: Yeah. 200. Just in the main building or over the warehouses too?

Stephen Bos: All together.

Jim: Yeah. All together. 200 people. So there's probably conflict here and there. I mean, people are people. So it's not just like guaranteed to be like heaven on earth, right? I mean, it's just not gonna be that way, right? So, what's the power of a personal brand as you live out your faith in your work?

Stephen Bos: Yeah, I think, you know, you touched on something that's really important and, and despite the fact that I get to experience some great things and unique things about DaySpring, there are other contexts in which I'm engaged in community and church and as a soccer coach and as different roles and responsibilities where that confronts a world that doesn't quite have the same expectations or the same understanding.

And so for me, a lot about having a personal brand is really just helping people to understand where you're coming from. You mentioned we live in a time when inconsistencies and things are exposed all the time. We see it on the news. We find out this, we find out that. I think having a personal brand that really allows people to understand and [00:08:00] anchor to some place that's stable.

We talk about our children. They need stability. The stock market, it likes stability. All manner of people - they need to know where are you coming from? And I think that as Christ followers, as believers, we have an opportunity to project and to essentially rebrand the church.

There are a lot of misconceptions. In many cases, as believers, we've abdicated that opportunity to be Christ to the people that we come into contact with at work. That doesn't mean we're, you know, walking around with a Bible and thumping it, but how do we really reposition for people that probably don't have exposure to other believers or may only have that exposure in a business context?

How do we reframe that conversation? And a personal brand and what you bring to the table in your whole self is really critical to that process.

Martha: So, for me, for Jim, for our listeners, I mean, how do we actually develop that? How do we - Where do you even start?

Stephen Bos: You know, I think for most of us, just like it is in a, in a [00:09:00] business setting, it's saying, what are the things we want to be known for? How do we become intentional when a person does interact with you in a business deal or you're working with somebody or working alongside somebody in your day-to-day work? What do you want them to really think about when they leave you and they go talk to their spouse or their friends or whoever? Hey, I met this guy. This is what he's like.

What do you want to do? Being intentional about that - that's like my challenge. I meet with some young guys all the time is like, what, what are people gonna say about this group of friends? Or, you know, we go back, it wasn't that long ago, I guess we were in high school.

And you think, what did they say about these guys? What's the reputation of the jocks or the geeks or the whatever? What is it that people are gonna say about you? So I, for me, a lot of it is about thinking about you know - there's an exercise I've heard a lot of people do. They write their own obituary. And really think about, we all get reflective sometimes at, at funerals.

Say, what are people gonna actually say? Oh, he was really into trains or really into soccer. Is that really what you want them to say? Think [00:10:00] about that in today's context. When people go home, say, Hey, I work with this guy, worked alongside this guy all day, digging a ditch. This is what he was like.

Jim: Stephen Bos, we talked about the personal brand. I don't know about you. You've been here for 25 years. What happens if you, I don't know, you screw up your brand?

Stephen Bos: That does happen. And how do you fix it? Yeah. You know, one of the great truths about being a Christ follower is that old bumper sticker: I'm not perfect, just forgiven. You know, a lot of times when I think about that in my own life, places where I've fallen short of what my greatest hope and being really focused on delivering on that brand promise. I think in many cases it comes back to being real, being authentic. In today's world it is nearly impossible to fake it.

Every detail of our lives is captured on social media or camera. The myth of sort of being anonymous or the words that we say, they're captured. And so I think that in many cases it's really about being sincere about, Hey, I [00:11:00] messed up. The damage control exercises, certainly there's things that as we think about in a business setting, You know, we wanna make sure that we're being in front and being intentional about the communication...

Jim: But deny, deny, deny doesn't work anymore. Not for a Christ follower. Well, for a Christ follower, it's not what we're called to do.

Stephen Bos: Yeah. And honestly, as a Christ follower, it's not on brand. We know that we fall short. We know that we make mistakes. We know when we hit our thumb with a hammer some unholy utterance may come out. These are things that as part of our humanness, that's a part of our reality.

And I think actually, it's important. The world does not need greater perceptions of perfect Christians and these people that live unattainable lives and float off the ground and speak in king James.

Jim: Sounds like a book in the making!

What kind of resources does DaySpring have to be able to prompt those kind of conversations?

Stephen Bos: Yeah, absolutely. You know what, one of the things that really excites all of us here is that a lot of times we use the phrase DaySpring gets to bring little cups of water. Our resources, whether it's cards or [00:12:00] mugs or products that just contain the truth of scripture, it's not a, it's not a hammer. It's not a 12 point sermon. It's nothing of that nature.

But these small messages that really help at the right time and at the right place can bring a message of hope and truth. And so the metaphor of cups of water not fire hoses, not we're not pouring buckets on people, but the you know, a mug brought to work that speaks truth about how God feels about you could really speak to a colleague in the office. We have some t-shirts. We have some greeting cards. You know, we have in, as you mentioned, hobby lobby all over the US and even internationally, small words of encouragement.

There's two things that I've found in my own life. I've never been turned down when I say, Hey, can I pray for you? And I've never been turned down when I say, Hey, I have a greeting card for you. I have a message of hope, right? We don't create cards that make fun of you or that hurt you. These are, these are words of affirmation, of joy, of hope, and and they're little words, but with big impact.

Jim: You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. [00:13:00] Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately iWork4Him.

Outro: Thank you for listening to the iWork4Him Power Pod with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. Want more? Hear the full broadcast at iWork4Him.com. Stay connected and receive power packed content when you sign up for our blog at iWork4Him.com, or follow us on social media @iWork4Him.

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