This week’s book featured in our review section was the excellent ‘Transform Your Work Life’ by Dr. Dion Forster and Graham Power. Dion is an ordained minister in the Methodist church, and currently serves as a consultant and spiritual adviser / Chaplain to the Global Day of Prayer and Unashamedly Ethical movements and their founder, Graham Power.
‘So What’ caught up with Dion to find out more about him and his latest book.
SW: Dion, please tell us a little bit about yourself and how this book in particular came to be.
Dion: OK, I'm a husband and father of two. I am a Methodist minister who came to work in a 'corporate' setting after many years in pastoral ministry. This book came about as a result of two primary influences. First, my co-author (Graham Power) is a deeply committed Christian businessman. Graham owns the largest privately owned Construction, Civil Engineering and Property Development company in South Africa. He came to know Christ in 1999 at the Church where I was a minister, and from that time we started asking what it means to be a Christian who serves Jesus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We developed a slogan - 'While every person is called to full time ministry, not every person is called pastoral ministry'. The second reason for the book was that whenever Graham and I were asked to speak at events and gatherings people often wanted some 'teaching' or 'training' to help them to develop their own calling and ministry in their work life. So, in 2009 Struik Christian Books approached me to start writing it.
The book itself is a mixture of testimony (what has happened in Graham's life, and the lives of other Christians at work), teaching (so we try to explain how and why we do things, relate them back to the Bible and what we believe as Christians), and then some practical encouragements and examples (this is mainly to help the reader to try a few simple things that will get them started on their journey as a 'minister in the Marketplace').
The actual book was written between October and January of 2009-2010. It was then edited, published and launched in May 2010.
SW: Why do you think this topic is so important for Christians to hear?
Dion: I think that the message of this book is critical for Christians!
First, it is important because the 9-5 window (where we spend our working hours) is one of the least reached places for the Gospel of Christ, and it is right under our noses! God has such a strong desire to bless and love people in every place, for every hour of their week. Sadly we have tended to think that our faith only has to do with particular times (Church services, Bible studies etc.) and particular places (our Church building, or a Christian meeting). Paul told is that 'Whatever our task' we should 'work at it as if you're working for Christ and not for people' (Col 3.23-24).
Second, the message of this book helps us to realise that God's intention is that we should find blessing and fulfillment in every part of our lives. Far too many people see work as a curse! They dread going to work. The message of this book helps us to see how work can be a great blessing, in fact more than just blessing it can be a powerful, life changing, calling.
SW: What role does writing play in your busy life? Has it always been an essential part of your calling, or is just something that developed out of the blue?
Dion: I spend a great deal of my time writing. God has called me to be a teacher and preacher. Because of that calling I will make use of any means that I have in order to speak of His goodness, and to encourage people to find their place within God's loving will. I write for a number of different 'audiences', so to speak. I have an active blog for which I try to write a couple of posts a week. I have been doing this for years and I am grateful that I get between a few hundred and a few thousand visitors a day. My two blogs are rated in the top 5 blogs in 'religion' in South Africa by the Mail & Guardian's amatomu.com aggregator.
I also write more 'formal' pieces. I have published 7 books (most of them are academic books which were written as a result of theological research), and I still hold academic posts at the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch. As a result I write scholarly articles for publication in academic journals.
But, at the core all of the writing has the same intention - to tell of the wonders of God and His loving will. I simply vary the style and length based on the audience that I am trying to engage.
SW: Since the book was published, what has the general response from the public been? Has it achieved all you hoped it would?
Dion: The response to the book has been far beyond what I have expected! We are truly thankful to God that this little book has done so well. In truth it is not a 'groundbreaking' text, it is just a sincere collection of stories, some practical teaching, and some examples. It has sold thousands of copies in Southern Africa, it was translated into Arabic (for sale in Egypt), Bahasa for sale in Indonesia, and Mandarin for sale in Taiwan and China, and Portuguese for sale in Brazil. We have been invited to do 'Transform your work life' workshops all across South Africa and to speak at hundreds of Churches, business, and events as a result of people who have read the book. This year we were in Hong Kong twice to speak about the message of the book, Malaysia once, and Graham was even invited to speak at a conference in Hawaii last month. We have also had the opportunity to visit Kenya, and we were invited to do two sessions on 'Transform your work life' as part of the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that met in Cape Town in October.
In 2011 we will be in the USA in March and June, and back to South East Asia in April and May (Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia).
We've had the privilege of many persons doing interviews, such as this one, that have blessed us and helped us to spread the message of finding blessing in the world of work! We have done lots of radio and television interviews.
All of the proceeds from the sales of the book go towards our Unashamedly Ethical campaign (discussed in Chapter 12 of the book). So, it is a great blessing that the message is spreading so well, and that we are able to support Unashamedly Ethical in part through the royalties from the sales of the book.
SW: Do you have any writing projects you are currently working on? Without giving too much away, can you give us a general idea what to look forward to?
Dion: Yes, I am working on another project. I have a book that will be published by Cambridge Scholars Press in the United Kingdom that is more of an academic text bringing together some of the work I did in my doctoral research - it deals with some of the more technical aspects of cognitive neuroscience and the formation of identity through relationships and faith.
I have also been approached to write a short book of encouragement for parents whose children have serious or terminal illnesses. I am praying about that at the moment. I'm a little cautious to say anything about this since my own experience with my little girl Courtney is still a little too emotional and I am not sure that I can add any concrete value in this area. But, it may be that I start working on that topic towards the middle of next year.
[Dion's book is for sale at Christian Republic on special for R88. Also on Kalahari.net for R95 and then in Wordsworth books, Exclusive books and CUM books (for between R100 - R115)].
Christian Republic: http://www.christianrepublic.co.za/catalogue/Transform-Your-Work-Life.htm
Kalahari.net: http://www.kalahari.net/books/Transform-Your-Work-Life/34923/37717631.aspx
‘Transform Your Work Life’ is published by Struik Christian Books.
(Image is of Dion with his wife Megan).