Episode 25: Faith + Women + Work

Oct 1

Written By Rachael Wade

An interview with Dr. Joy Dahl

Dr. Joy shares her 'in process' story of how God called her to Faith + Women + Work.

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The Seeds

Name: Dr. Joy Dahl

Age: 53

Where do you call home: Dallas, Texas

Relationship Status: Married

Season of Work: Paid; Executive Director of Polished Network, Inc.

Hobbies: International Travel, Beach Getaways, Hiking, Camping, Gardening, Creating Adventures

Jesus Journey:

I grew up in the Washington DC area, in a family that went to church every Sunday and prayed to God. I believed I was Christian, but I had no concept of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. My dad knew Jesus and he taught me to memorize Scripture. Every night before bed I climbed up in his lap as he sat in his favorite chair, and we would talk about my day and pray. My father died when I was 13 and my life shattered. He was my hero and I wanted to be just like him. My final promise to Dad as I looked at him in the casket was, “Daddy, one day I’m going to make you proud.” To me, at age 13, making him proud meant becoming a success. So I spent the next 20 years doing all I could to become rich and successful in the world. By age 33 I became CFO of a regional broadcasting company in NY and by the world’s standards I had it all – prestigious career, big house, party lifestyle – but behind the mask, I was broken and alone. I was divorced and coming out of an abusive relationship. And I just kept thinking, “There has to be more to life than this!” Then a co-worker gave me the book, “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren and it prompted me to go back to church. I found a church where the pastor was on fire for Jesus, and Sunday after Sunday I went back to hear these life-giving words. Then one Sunday after church I stood in my room facing Jesus. I pulled off my old life like a wetsuit and walked forward to my Savior, promising I would never go back to my old life. And I never did.

The Branches

Dr. Joy, before attending Seminary School (where you received THREE degrees) you had your CFO consulting practice and focused on start-ups and high-growth companies. What led you to make this shift in your career and going to Seminary?

I moved to Dallas and continued to grow my CFO consulting practice. I was also leading a small group and teaching a Bible Study at my church, and I felt God say, “If you want to be a teacher of many, you need to be better equipped to handle My Word with care.” This prompted me to begin considering seminary. I don’t believe God calls everyone out of their workplace to go to seminary, but I did believe He was asking me to transition out of my consulting practice and go to seminary. This was a pivotal time in my faith walk because it’s not easy to step out of a thriving career to go in a completely different direction – especially when I didn’t know what end game God had planned. For a planner like me, this was very difficult. Full transparency – I tried to do both my consulting practice and full-time seminary the first year and it was clear that I had to decide to go “all-in” to what God asked me to do. So I did. About halfway through my master’s program I started learning about the Theology of Work. It prompted me to continue into my doctoral work focusing on Theology of Work and the integration of faith and work.

Currently, you are the Executive Director of Polished & the Visionary behind the Boldly Conference. Both ministries help women explore their faith and navigate the workplace. How has your experience working in consulting helped you in your current ministry roles? In this season, how do you feel called to support women in the workplace?

Many women – whether they know Jesus or not – are struggling to find meaning and purpose in their everyday lives. Like I did, they feel, “There has to be more to life than what I’m experiencing right now.” I know the challenges of leading in business as a woman – both before Christ and after Christ. I understand the struggle to develop an authentic community with like-minded working women pursuing Jesus. And I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to dig deep into God’s word and uncover the treasures of Theology of Work. As women, we’re made in the image of God who works. As believers, we’re called, equipped, and strategically placed by Jesus in our workplace mission fields to live and work as His ambassadors. I believe God is raising up His workplace daughters in a new way for such a time as this.

There are a few Faith + Work conferences out there, why did you and your team create a conference just for women taught by women? What is the Boldly Conference and why is the timing right?

Over the last few years as I completed my doctoral work and came to Polished, God kept impressing upon me that there are no faith and work conferences specifically for women. There are many faith and work conferences – which are awesome. But there are very few women on stage, and the sessions generally aren’t geared specifically to women, our challenges, our needs, and our desires. As I begin praying through 2021 planning, I felt God say, “This is the year! This is the year for a faith and work conference BY women, FOR women!” And so I began developing the BOLDLY Conference which launches on October 8th. Although Polished is the primary organization behind BOLDLY, this isn’t the Polished Conference because this is much bigger than Polished. BOLDLY is a collaborative effort between organizations and speakers across the country who all support, equip, and empower working women. Being a CFO by trade, I love statistics. And the stats show that 45 million women in the United States identify as Christian, but less than 1/3 actively engage in a faith community. BOLDLY is an opportunity to come together – to not only inspire but to interlock shields of faith as sisters in Christ and take next steps. BOLDLY is designed for women to gather in small groups in their communities – in businesses, homes, churches – to participate together in this live virtual event. Not only do we have 20 mainstage national speakers sharing their expertise on faith and work integration – speakers like Jo Saxton, Hosanna Wong, Megan Alexander, Denise Lee Yohn, Chrystal Evans Hurst – but every ticket holder also receives a digital swag bag full of “faith and work” content and resources provided by every speaker and sponsor AND they have full access to 30+ breakout talks as well. The three sessions include:

Created BOLDLY with purpose – how we’re created in the image of God who works and who we are as Christ’s ambassadors
Leading BOLDLY with faith perspective – as Christ-followers, we’re all leaders in our circles of influence. How do we incorporate our faith into our daily work
Living BOLDLY with passion – what does it look like to live out our faith in the whole of life

We’ll cover topics like:

Imposter Syndrome

Christian Ambition – is this good? Is ambition different for men than women
Trading perfection for excellence to the glory of God
Taking a seat at the table – why women of faith must take their seat in business, in culture, and in life.

Purchase tickets to the Boldly online conference HERE.

Why is it important that we as followers of Jesus integrate our faith & work? What’s your thought on why some keep their faith “outside the workplace?”

Many of us – whether intentionally or unintentionally – have ascribed to this concept of a sacred/secular divide, meaning that the church is sacred and anything outside the church in the world is secular, or not sacred. Accordingly, if we want to do something important with our life or if we want to work for God, we have to quit our job “in the world” and go to work in the church or for a mission agency. Unfortunately, the sacred/secular divide is bolstered by churches saying “come into this sacred space” or “leave your life behind and come here to worship.” But scripture does not support a sacred/secular divide. It’s not the church versus the world. All of creation – everything in the world – was created by God and all that He creates is good. Certainly, we experience the effects of sin and the fall, but work is intrinsically good. If you study God’s word for work in the Hebrew, Avad, it also means service to God and worship (Gen 2:15, Num 3:7, Psalms 100:2). Most of us have never been taught that God has called us, equipped us with our gifts and talents and experience, prepared specific work for us to do in this very season (Eph 2:10), and commissioned us as His workplace ambassador (2 Cor 5:17-20) to join His work in the world. We keep our faith outside the workplace because we don’t understand that we truly are to live as whole-life disciples – living out our faith in the whole of life. And yes, I didn’t understand what it meant to live out my faith at work until I started learning about theology of work. I wanted to live out my faith through work – I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know that I could do that in my everyday workplace.

At ‘Olive Us’ we are about the ‘in-process’ story. Even though we know we are ‘in process’ ...some women might feel stuck in their current jobs/roles or just flat out don’t feel supported to make changes,speak up, or start something new. What wisdom would you give this woman? How could attending the “Boldly Conference” or a Polished Network help this woman today?

It’s very hard when we feel stuck,stagnant or beat down. Work can be very challenging. First, I want to say, for anyone who feels this way, you are not alone. Other working women know how you feel, and have navigated similar seasons, challenges, and pitfalls. BOLDLY is an opportunity for us to come together – to connect, to learn, to be encouraged, and to develop next steps – both individually and in community. From my experience, there are three things I would share:

1. Pray. Prayer opens conversation with God. Prayer unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives and our situations. Prayer turns our thoughts to Jesus and allows Him to begin speaking as we wait and listen. Pray for God to show you where He is already working in your workplace. Pray for your coworkers, bosses, customers – even the difficult people. Ask Jesus to help you see others as He sees them. Pray for wisdom to see divine interactions in the day-to-day interactions you have with others.

2. Dig for treasure in God’s Word. Spend time in Ephesians 2:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. Download the “Working BOLDLY Guide – 5-day Bible Study on Lydia of Phillippi”. It’s a free resource on boldlyconference.com. You can go through it alone, or ask a friend/co-worker to go through the study with you. See how your work matters to God – regardless of the type of season you’re in, and even if you’re in between jobs right now. All women work in some capacity because we’re created in the image of God who works. *This bible study can also be found on YouVersion.*

3. Connect with like-minded working women who want to live out their faith. Cultivating community can be difficult, but we have to take the next step – whatever that next step is. We need one another to encourage, pray, seek wisdom and walk together. As Ecclesiastes says, 2 are better than 1, but 3 are stronger than 2. We need to interlock our shields of faith as sisters in Christ. BOLDLY provides an opportunity to connect with other women. You can participate by yourself and you’ll have the opportunity to connect with various organizations around the country that support working women. Ask a friend or co-worker to participate in BOLDLY with you. Check out PolishedNetwork.org – we gather women to navigate the workplace and explore faith together in authentic community. We would love for you to join us.

So: Pray, Dig in God’s Word, and Connect.

‘Olive Us’ was created for women to share their ‘in-process’ experiences and their "Only God" moments so that we can remember we are connected through Christ and that we're not alone. Why is this important?

We cannot flourish alone. We can’t. We’re created for life shared in community. As women, we need to find women who know us and love us –especially when we take off our masks. Research affirms that happiness increases when we have a sense of belonging – when we feel seen, heard, and loved. Sisters, we need one another. I love ‘Olive Us’ and the opportunity to talk openly about the hard places in life – the mud pits. And sometimes we need to take off our shoes and get in the mud pits with a sister in need. None of us has arrived in life – we never will. We’re on a lifelong journey of spiritual transformation that will take us to mountaintop highs and dark valley lows. Again, 2 are better than 1, and 3 are stronger than 2.