The world feels a little…loud right now.
Maybe a lot loud.
We wake up to notifications. News alerts. Deadlines. Bills. Traffic. Layoffs. Artificial intelligence. Political arguments. Social media arguments. Arguments about the arguments on social media.
And then, somehow, we’re expected to walk into work at 8:30 on Monday morning and respond cheerfully to an email that begins, “Per my last email…”
It’s a lot.
And the feeling that people are stressed, anxious and disconnected isn’t simply anecdotal.
According to the CDC, in 2024 about 12% of American adults reported regularly experiencing feelings of worry, nervousness or anxiety, and roughly 19% said they had at some point been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
At work, the numbers are even more striking. Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace data found that 50% of U.S. employees experienced stress during a lot of the previous day. 22% experienced significant sadness and 19% experienced loneliness.
Think about that.
Half the people around us at work may be carrying significant stress on any given day.
The person driving the delivery truck.
The woman answering customer calls.
The guy operating the forklift.
Your creative director.
Your accountant.
Your boss.
The person sitting three feet away from you who looks perfectly fine on Teams.
Maybe you.
At the same time, something else has been changing in America.
We have become less connected to organized religion. Pew Research Center reports that 29% of American adults now identify as religiously unaffiliated—atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”—up from 16% in 2007. Only about one-third of Americans say they attend religious services in person at least once a month.
That doesn’t mean Americans have stopped searching for meaning.
Far from it.
Pew found that 70% of Americans consider themselves spiritual in some way or say spirituality is very important in their lives.
So here we are.
Stressed.
Disconnected.
Searching.
And heading to work.
Which is exactly why I created The Lord at Work.
Most of us will spend an enormous portion of our adult lives working.
In offices and warehouses.
Hospitals and construction sites.
Agencies and factories.
Schools, restaurants, dealerships, airports, stores, job sites and conference rooms.
We spend thousands upon thousands of hours alongside people we didn’t choose, solving problems we didn’t create, attending meetings that possibly could have been emails.
Work is where we celebrate promotions and endure layoffs. Where we make friends and encounter difficult people. Where our confidence grows—and occasionally gets demolished before lunch.
It is one of the great gathering places of modern life.
And I believe it can be better.
Not because everyone at work needs to become Christian.
Not because somebody needs to start quoting Scripture during the Monday status meeting.
And definitely not because your coworkers need an unsolicited 47-minute theological discussion while they’re trying to microwave their lunch.
I believe it can become better because some of the ideas Jesus taught 2,000 years ago remain extraordinarily useful for human beings trying to live and work together today.
Love your neighbor.
Forgive.
Serve others.
Show mercy.
Don’t be consumed by possessions.
Care for people who are struggling.
Treat people the way you would want to be treated.
Be humble.
Choose compassion over condemnation.
Bring peace into difficult situations.
These aren’t just ideas for Sunday morning.
They’re pretty good ideas for Tuesday afternoon.
So, who am I to be writing this?
Fair question.
I’m not a priest.
I’m not a pastor.
I’m not a theologian or a licensed member of the clergy.
I’m a Christian husband and dad who’s been married for 26 years. I’m an advertising and creative executive who has spent more than 15 years navigating corporate America, another 12 years working inside a small ad agency, and a year teaching full-time at a major university.
I’ve managed people.
I’ve been managed.
I’ve hired people.
I’ve been laid off.
I’ve presented to CEOs, argued about budgets, coached teams, missed deadlines, made mistakes, sat through performance reviews and participated in enough conference calls to have probably shaved several years off Purgatory.
And through all of it, I’m still learning.
I’m trying to become a better man, a better husband, a better father and a better Christian than I was yesterday.
Sometimes I succeed.
Sometimes…Thursday happens.
That’s the perspective behind The Lord at Work.
Not perfection.
Practice.
And there’s encouraging evidence behind the idea.
Researchers have spent decades studying religion, spirituality and human well-being.
A systematic review of research involving spirituality and religiousness among healthy adults found that 9 of the 10 included studies reported positive associations with quality of life, particularly in areas involving psychological well-being, social relationships, optimism, hope and inner peace. The researchers also noted important limitations in the evidence, so this isn’t proof that spirituality automatically makes someone happier.
Research on participation in religious communities is particularly interesting. A large longitudinal analysis of three U.S. cohorts found that regular religious-service attendance was associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and loneliness and with higher positive affect, life satisfaction, social integration and sense of purpose.
Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program has similarly studied the relationship between religious community and dimensions of flourishing including happiness, purpose, relationships and health.
The science isn’t saying, “Go to church and all your problems disappear.”
And neither am I.
Newer studies have challenged the idea that religious attendance itself universally causes better mental health.
What the larger body of research does suggest is something much more interesting:
Meaning matters.
Purpose matters.
Community matters.
Human connection matters.
And perhaps we could use a little more of all four at work.
That’s what The Lord at Work is about.
This is an invitation.
Not a directive.
Not a mandate.
Not a judgment.
And certainly not a suggestion that you walk into work tomorrow carrying a Bible and begin grading your coworkers.
The Lord at Work will explore the teachings, words and actions of Jesus Christ and ask one simple question:
How could this help us become better people at work today?
Sometimes we’ll talk about leadership.
Other times it’ll be forgiveness, anxiety, ambition, difficult coworkers, layoffs, success, failure, honesty, money, jealousy, confidence, generosity, ego, purpose, gratitude or compassion.
We’ll take teachings that can sometimes feel distant or ancient and place them squarely into situations we recognize.
What would Jesus’ example teach us about managing someone who’s struggling?
About dealing with a boss we don’t like?
About getting passed over for a promotion?
About admitting we made a mistake?
About leading when people are afraid?
About succeeding without becoming consumed by success?
And, importantly, you decide what to do with it.
Maybe you talk about your faith openly.
Maybe you don’t mention Jesus at work at all.
Maybe nobody ever knows where your change in attitude comes from.
You simply become a little more patient.
A little more forgiving.
A little less interested in winning every argument.
A little more willing to help the person next to you.
A source of peace instead of tension.
Light instead of darkness.
Hope instead of cynicism.
Love instead of indifference.
Because bringing Christ into the workplace doesn’t always require talking about Christ.
Sometimes the introduction is simply how you treat people.
And if enough of us did that?
Work might feel a little different.
So might the world.
Welcome to The Lord at Work.