What would the world look like if ALL Christians accepted a call into full-time ministry? Imagine construction sites, conference rooms, classrooms and kitchen tables taking on the same passion, purpose and potential of the pulpit.
GodWorx, formerly known as Marketplace Multipliers, wants ALL people to unleash God’s kingdom wherever they are. Marketplace multipliers are “ordinary people intentionally integrating our faith into our workplace, using our influence to make disciples and unleash God’s kingdom wherever we are.” You can use your influence wherever you are.
In 2019, General Superintendent Dr. Wayne Schmidt invited Carrie Whitcher, a health care insurance executive, and Earl McJett, a U.S. government analyst, into Marketplace Multipliers ministry leadership. His invitation came at a time when both had been feeling the Holy Spirit’s prompting into deeper daily mission.
Earl’s call was validated when his pastor, Reverend Mike Rogalski, LifePoint Church, Waldorf, Maryland, commissioned his congregation to be “everyday missionaries.” Carrie was seeking guidance on how she could effectively minister in her corporate landscape from her pastor Reverend Dr. Ken Nash, when both served at Revive Wesleyan Church, Hamburg, New York.
The irony of being bi-vocational — ministry and marketplace — is not lost on the GodWorx team. Carrie notes a tension many Christians face at some point: Thinking it would be amazing to do ministry full-time and not realizing they can.
GodWorx is a reminder that ALL can do ministry full-time, because God calls each of us to full-time ministry wherever we are. GodWorx empowers individuals of all ages to make disciples anywhere and everywhere, be it workplaces (coffee shop, factory, hospital, business), neighborhoods, homes or schools. The goal, says Carrie, is to “invite everyday laypeople who ‘work anywhere’ to be influenced by God and become marketplace multipliers, who we define as ordinary people with extraordinary influence.”
A variety of individual and group resources, including podcasts covering a wide variety of topics and access to a transformational personal prayer guide, are available on the GodWorx website. And because pastors can’t reach everyone alone, GodWorx also offers content for pastors, helping them to equip their congregation for full-time lay ministry. Carrie explains, “There is power pastors have in equipping, commissioning and inspiring congregations to see their everyday influence.”
Gatherings to help fuel the movement are occurring. College Wesleyan Church, Marion, Indiana, hosted an inaugural Marketplace Multipliers Conference in April 2024. LifePoint Church in Waldorf, Maryland, will host an Everyday Missionary Conference October 11-13, 2024, and Crossroads Church of South Texas, San Antonio, Texas, will host a bilingual Hispanic Marketplace Multipliers Conference November 8-9, 2024. All three conferences demonstrate lay-pastor partnerships while introducing attendees to God’s call and their immediate ability to respond.
While acknowledging the help provided to laity through its content and other resources, the GodWorx team recognizes individuals don’t need a playbook or credentials to do what God has already given them permission to do.
“God never calls without equipping,” said Earl. “I spend five days a week, mostly online, as a non-seminary trained lay leader serving in a secular workplace loving others as Christ loves me. Skills needed are my faith in God, the Holy Spirit’s leading, seeing my colleagues as Christ sees them, and my willingness to care for and about them.”
Carrie and Earl agree that when talking about their faith with people in everyday settings, they don’t always see transformation. “We must not grow weary in our forward movement, taking ownership over our platform,” Carrie says. “We are called to leverage the authority and the territory given to us by God and say yes to making disciples of ALL nations, ALL neighborhoods, ALL workplaces.”
Earl adds, “I’ve had conversations with colleagues where the Holy Spirit speaks through me and lives are changed.” That’s the win — the one lost soul being saved in a divine anointed moment on a weekday afternoon.
In Carrie’s healthcare role, she feels the urgency of eternity balanced by the cruciality of “being open to following God’s prompts and his timing.”
She noted that every organization has its unique values and work environment; however, ALL people can be deliberate about using that existing culture to begin discipleship discussions and minister to people where they’re at, along with praying for seeds to be planted.
While “not everyone is called into vocational ministry,” shares Earl, “ALL are called to minister.”
ALL are called by Jesus to “go and make disciples,” (Matthew 28:18-20). Go, confident that GodWorx where we ALL work.