Work

By Joseph Sunde

Amid the array of quaint and compelling Christmas tales, O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” continues to endure as a uniquely captivating portrait of the power of sacrificial love.

I first met Karl Fisher, founder of Alabaster Coffee Roaster + Tea Company, while dancing in a hotel lobby with a handful of college kids. It was during the annual Jubilee conference in Pittsburgh. Having made a glorious fool of myself, I looked over to see his face curiously peering from around a booth.

By Chris Horst

For two summers during college, I worked ten-hour days under the hot and humid Pennsylvania sun as a mason tender—or more commonly, as a mud boy. I mixed concrete, hauled cement blocks and attempted to assist our masons. Some days I lugged, stacked, and mixed like a champ. Other days I became the target of creative expletives.

By Joseph Sunde

The American economy has undergone a range of transitions, from agrarian to industrial to information-driven. Given our new-found status, manual labor is increasingly cast down in the popular imagination, replaced by romanticized dreams about white-collar jobs, bachelor’s degrees, and ladder-climbing of a similar sort.

By Joseph Sunde

For most musicians, the prospect of a long and stable career in the arts is a lifelong dream. For those who actually “make it,” however, aspirations can sometimes shift in surprising ways.

By Charlie Self

By Joseph Sunde

“God somehow demands of us so much more than this transactional nature. It is really about the gift that we’ve been given, and the only response we can give back is with extravagance, with gratuitous beauty.” –Makoto Fujimura

We live in a society that has grown increasingly transactional in its way of thinking. Everything we spend or steward — our time, money, relationships — must secure a personal reward or return.

By Sarah Stanley

By Anthony Bradley

By Joseph Sunde

Given the dynamics of the information age and ever-accelerating globalization, humanity faces a wave of new opportunities and challenges when it comes to creating, collaborating, and consuming alongside those in vastly differing contexts.