The Faith & Work Show

Meagan Miller is my guest today. In the middle of a job transition, Meagan is navigating the realities of balancing life with working from home. Boundaries have always been important to her, and they are crucial in helping her keep her identity rooted in Christ — not in her career. Meagan has laid claim to the fullness of who she is, and who God has made her to be — and she has learned how to embrace her full identity regardless of circumstance, environment, or role.   Link: www.needleseye.org/podcast

Susie Fife sits down with me today. Susie owns RedOrange Studio, a creative and branding agency in Richmond Va. Never quite feeling like she truly “belonged” anywhere, Susie has learned how to lean into her weaknesses and turn them into strengths. A tall, lanky girl from Iowa with just enough athleticism to play basketball at the collegiate level, Susie learned she was a better leader off-the-court than on it. Taking lessons she learned along the way, she leads RedOrange with grace and transparency. A firm believer that every business has the potential to be a catalyst for good, Susie talks about how she has very intentionally leveraged her business and services to benefit the community at large.   Link: www.needleseye.org/podcast

Today, we’re joined by Tony Wilson. Tony has been retired for 10 years now from a career in Sales & Marketing. Looking back over his career and his life in retirement, Tony feels like God is closer now than ever before. In retirement, Tony has found new ways to explore his relationship with Christ and understands now more than ever just how much he truly matters to God. In his career and retirement, Tony has learned that faith means peace, a peace that God will always put you right where He wants you. With that peace, Tony has found the courage to walk into opportunities he never would have picked for himself. For more info, visit www.needleseye.org/podcast

Jasmine Turner joins us today! Through her work in journalism, Jasmine has established herself as a trustworthy source for local news and a familiar face all around the Richmond area. Jasmine often finds herself approaching strangers during some of the hardest moments of their life, and she has learned that empathy matters above all else. In helping them to tell their story, she strives to treat every interview with the respect and dignity every Image-Bearer deserves.   Living so much of her life in the public eye, she has truly learned how important it is to treat herself with the grace God has given her. The more ‘perfect’ she tries to be, the less real she becomes. Now, by the grace of God, she has learned how to be fully herself in her every sphere of her life, including her work.   For more info, visit www.needleseye.org/podcast

Van-Neisha Burton (formerly Johnson) sits down with us today. A Richmond native, Van-Neisha started her career in education, serving as a teacher first and then a community liaison for local Public Schools. In the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, she made the switch to Real Estate - her first real experience selling anything.   Making a transition is never easy, but Van-Neisha truly believes God was in hers. The ‘grace,’ as she puts it, was gone from teaching — and God was readying her for something new. She may be in a new job, but Van-Neisha is confident she is still a teacher — God has just called her into a different classroom.   For more, visit www.needleseye.org/podcast

Scott Kennedy joins us on the show. Scott is born and raised in Richmond, VA, and discovered a passion early on for marketing - or, as he puts it, helping people clarify their message. A bit of a chronic entrepreneur, Scott describes the ups and downs of starting his own business, shifting to a more ‘corporate’ space, and all that he’s learned along the way. Scott used to view his work as something that only blessed himself — provide him the money he wanted, the freedom to enjoy life on his terms, and get him access to the people that could take him where he really wanted to go. Overtime, he came to learn that the best work is work that blesses others as well as himself. The more Scott focused on blessing others, the more he realized he no longer had to worry so much about himself. God has called Scott to connect with people, and help them connect with others in a fulfilling and healthy way. Marketing just so happens to be the avenue most suited to allow Scott to fulfill his God-given call. 

Lee Mitchell is a Bi-Vocational Pastor of a local church, and a Senior Vice President at a commercial bank. Lee shares with us some of the realities of being bi-vocational, the blessings as well as the challenges. From putting extra strain on his wife and kids, to trusting God when it doesn’t make sense — Lee talks about how he’s learned to hear from God and follow Him faithfully with some of the biggest decisions he’s made in his life — from marriage to career to taking the lead role at a local church. Lee also candidly talks about the ways he has failed his family over the years and has had to learn how to prioritize his home above all else. For more information, visit www.needleseye.org/podcast

"God, Finances, & Prosperity of the Soul" with guest Salathia Johnson     Salathia joins us today to talk in-depth about the false beliefs she held about her own worth as a human being, and about her relationship with God and money. Though seemingly successful, mature, and “in-control” on the outside, Salathia was battling shame, financial insecurity, and self-worth internally. Through a process of lament, grief, and repentance, she reframed her understanding of who God is and how much worth God has placed within her. This process changed her life, and now she dedicates her work to helping others escape false beliefs around money to reclaim control over their finances — and ultimately, to acknowledge that all things belong to God.   Finance is often an area of shame for people, and an area few people are willing to admit they need help. Salathia was delivered from her shame when she began to learn who God says she is, and offers a pathway for others to learn who they are in God and how God can take away their shame.   For more information, visit www.NeedlesEye.org/podcast

Melanie Roberts joins us today. A financial advisor and single mother, Melanie has navigated multiple career shifts in her efforts to discover what was best for her family and what fit the call God had placed on her life. Facing multiple tragedies and crises throughout her life, Melanie always saw God in the midst of her struggle, believing God was creating opportunities for her to move forward.   Moving from politics to wealth management with multiple spots in-between, Melanie learned something new in each transition that served her in the next. Above all, she learned how much trust is a currency in relationships that can never be taken for granted. God leads her to serve, and she finds incredible fulfillment in helping her clients walk through some of the hardest and most challenging phases of life with dignity, confidence, and peace. After all the transitions she’s faced, Melanie believes she is finally exactly where God wants her to be right now.

Monique Washington-Jones and Rasheedah Nevers join us today. Both Monique and Rasheedah are passionate about women, and see it as their calling to empower women and to help women help themselves. Be it through real estate, martial arts, mentorship or coaching, obedience to God for both of them looks like leveraging their wisdom, experience, knowledge and resources to lift women up higher than they knew they could go. Self-worth is at the core of what Monique and Rasheedah do, using their respective careers to help others learn the inherent value within.   Trust in God is the bedrock of their businesses — believing God to be faithful, consistent, and good! Throughout their journeys, God showed up time and time again — and the day came for both when they finally stopped being surprised at God’s faithfulness and began to trust it. They share their own stories, and give sage advice on what they believe everyone can learn from their experiences.   Check out more episodes at www.needleseye.org/podcast Donate to Needle's Eye at www.needleseye.org/donate

Today, we are joined by Tim May — business owner, overly-serious 6-year old, and husband. Tim opens up about the emotion of realizing that for most of his life, Tim was leading Jesus rather than letting Jesus lead him. As much as Tim was accomplishing in God’s name, Tim learned that what God wanted most was his heart — the one thing Tim had never fully surrendered to the Lord.   A successful and gifted business-person, Tim started a profitable Travel Agency catering to current and former Professional Athletes. On the outside, his life looked perfect — successful career, supportive spouse, and active in his church. But internally, Tim was wrestling with financial burdens no one could see, and spiritual doubts he had never experienced before. In a moment of surrender, Tim finally learned that God was there the whole time — and it completely changed how he viewed his business, his giftings, and his outlook on life.   Check out more episodes at www.needleseye.org/podcast Donate to Needle's Eye at www.needleseye.org/donate

Jeremy Woltz, Host of the Needle’s Eye Faith and Work Show will sit down with people from our community and learn about how they are finding purpose in their work and hear stories of what it really looks like to live out faith in the workplace. Join us for each episode as we meet someone new and hear their stories of how they became who they are, where God has joined them on the journey, and how their work has been transformed because of it.