Bible Students

An interview with Devon Hayes, the Food and Drink Manager of Calvary Chapel Bible College, Twin Peaks

TRANSCRIPT

JACOB: All right today we have special guest Devon Hayes the food and drink manager for Calvary Chapel Bible College Twin Peaks Devon Hayes is a Christian man working in Food Service which most Christians see as a secular work environment today Devon’s going to talk about how he is a Christian man and how he’s able to glorify God in his workplace and how he’s able to disciple other people in an environment that’s not explicitly discipleship centered so Devon why don’t you introduce yourself and talk a bit about your education and your vocational background in the church as well as just where you’re coming from as a Christian man working in Food Service.

DEVON: Well I attended Calvary Chapel Bible College from 2018 to 2020 and before that I grew up in the church attended a Calvary Chapel for most of my life and uh got plugged in just serving in whatever Ministry that he had available and that just happened to tie in really well with the skills I had in food service and so after Bible College I graduated um and during covid I started working at Chick-fil-A and I worked there for about a year and a half before getting the opportunity to come back to the Bible College and get to serve here as the kitchen manager and officially as the food and beverage manager uh on top of that I think what really led to me wanting to pursue this job was uh the Lord really allowing me to see just the impact that a simple thing like making a meal for someone can have um and just the conversation that can be had around a table is really impactful um and and a great tool for discipleship so that’s where the passion for it comes and just seeing the Lord uh working through Food Service in that way is really awesome

JACOB: Yeah that is so awesome so why don’t you describe for me your current work environment and how you as a Christian are able to be a disciplemaker and glorify God in this workplace at the Bible College currently

DEVON: At the Bible College we have an emphasis in the kitchen specifically of uh focusing on prayer Bible reading and um using discipleship tools um in those times of prayer and Bible reading to get to start cultivating conversation and answering questions and and really thinking deeply about what the Bible has to say about work and how we as Christians and all that we do should be uh seeking to glorify the Lord um and so that’s what we use as just a time of at the start of every shift we like to get together and pray as as as a team uh talk through just our daily lives and what’s happening outside of work and what’s weigh on us and just using that time to go over burdens prayer requests struggles just being vulnerable with with our all of our co-workers and just discussing what the Lord is doing um and just using that as is a launching off point and refocusing for our shifts and working together to focus on on on what our goal is and in all that we do to to glorify the Lord and to honor him and so that that’s how we start it and then just carrying that through the conversations we’re super blessed in a Christian environment to be able to talk openly about the Bible to discuss questions that we may have and and just uh yeah balance our ideas off of each other and just use that time as we’re working along side each other and whatever we’re doing just to encourage one another um and yeah that’s what we get to do every day and it it’s it’s proved super fruitful in just our productivity and impacting just the morale of of the workers and and just honestly helps each of us to grow in our our own discipleship making and our our own discipleship as Disciples of Jesus Christ but also in helping others to goow on that as well

JACOB: Yeah and that’s awesome so how did that develop was that something that you came in Straight Out The Gate implementing or was that something that had to develop over time

DEVON: Yeah it definitely didn’t start as soon as I got up here and started working here um I knew that prayer was always important but honestly for the first like 6 months to a year of working here it definitely was not at the Forefront or the most important um thing and so it started to grow as we were kind of realizing alongside of just some of the other co-workers that I have just seeing that we weren’t focusing on on the Lord and how he is the reason that we’re all here working and serving um in our capacity and so as we were seeing that prayer was being neglected and and that that was really affecting us negatively just um improving over time but it definitely didn’t start like that we just started with a simple prayer at the start of every shift and that is great you can take prayer requests and and hear um just what your co-workers are going through but just adding on to that and capitalizing on that time is is a tool for discipleship and growing those around us by discussing the word um and reading it and not just praying but also getting in the word and and using whatever passage of scripture you’re going through as kind of a jumping off point into your day and just meditating it on it throughout the day and then we like to pray multiple times a day throughout the shifts that we have in the kitchen so as we’re doing that instead of just praying one short prayer um just having multiple times where we get to come together and discuss and just kind of refocus throughout the day because if you you get caught up in the in the tasks that you’re doing and you lose focus and so just using it um multiple times a day to refocus all of the team on on on the Lord and what we’re doing um so yeah it was a slow building process but just continuing to see that we have so much more time to spend on the things above and how that affects us as we’re working in our daily tasks um so just using that time to build each other up has proved to be more beneficial than using that time for other things we’re actually more productive the more time we’re spending um doing these things together so yeah it’s just proved to be a huge benefit to us in our workplace and and I think any workplace um could impliment even smaller versions of this and it would be a huge benefit to them

JACOB: Yeah that that sounds great you mentioned that you guys read the Bible on shift what does that usually look like do you have a reading plan or do you guys just pick a random section to read in

DEVON: At first we started just randomly going through books of the Bible that uh co-workers wanted to read and and that was great that was super fruitful um we’ve tried reading plans but now we tend to just stick to one book and we’ve used some resources to study that book um as it specifically pertains to working unto the Lord and and how to be a better coworker and um so we’ve just been using resources that center around a single book and then working through that together um and so that’s proved to be really helpful because everybody can be on the same page no matter where they’re coming in throughout the day or or if they’ve missed out on part of the book we get to use it as as kind of a reentering point and the book is in a series called the Bible in your work and it’s by the Theology of work project and it is a super awesome resource they have uh workbooks for almost I think they have it for almost every book of the Bible now and so we you use that we’re going through the Book of James currently and it’s just proved super fruit it’s super convicting um but it’s awesome to just be able to come together humbly um and just ready to be vulnerable and talk through the struggles we have at work and and it’s even helped us to work through conflicts that we even have as a team and so it’s it’s been really awesome to get to pick a book of the Bible and study it as it pertains to us as the workforce because we’re not all serving in Ministry but we’re all working unto the Lord no matter what we’re doing um and so that’s what we’ve been using it’s been super helpful and I think it would be helpful in so many different contexts

JACOB: Yeah definitely and I believe many of those uh the Bible and your work study series books are still only 50 cents on christianbook.com which has really shown to be an awesome resource so now that you’ve talked to us about your work context can you tell us some of the lessons the Lord has showed you through working here

DEVON: Yeah I think the big one for me currently is the Lord has just been showing me um to have just a heart of surrender towards my work um I think we can easily get focused in on all the big things that we have there’s a lot of pressure in the workplace no matter where you’re working I’m sure you are under a lot of stress and pressure with your job and so um the Lord has just really been showing me recently to Just Surrender it all to him and no matter what even if you’re in a secular workplace if you’re just praying before you go into your your day of work and and surrendering it to the Lord and just asking him to um just lead you and what he wants you to do um and just help you to have the strength to be a witness in that environment um is just really key for me because I get very stressed out about my work and I I tend to let that affect how I’m interacting with my co-workers and so if I’m allowing that to get in the way of of what the Lord is doing um I’ve just found that that is just detrimental to the whole team and so just allowing the Lord to um be in control because he is in control so just surrendering it to him and and resting in that and allowing him to to work through you and and just trusting him in the process of it because we can’t control our co-workers we can’t control our work environment at all times we can’t control the pressures that are on us but we can’t control our attitude and and where our joy and where our hope is and so if we just focus on on the Lord and trust in him um it helps everything to go a lot smoother and I think talking about lessons that I’ve learned is just over time I’ve definitely failed in a lot of ways in my past jobs especially in Food Service it it can be a very secular environment like you said Jacob and and so I I’ve definitely failed in being a light and using um just that time that you get to spend I mean many of us get to spend over like 20 30 40 hours with these people every week which is way more than you get to spend with most people in your life and so if you’re neglecting that time is a time of witness and just being able to be a light in wherever the Lord has you um you’re really missing out and I think that’s something the Lord has had to show me and I’ve had to repent of of just using um work as just a means for me to gain Financial Resources instead of allowing the Lord to show me and just being sensitive to what he wants to do um in and through me in my work and so um yeah I think you should definitely not view work as just a means for you to provide for yourself where the Lord is providing you financially and work that is part of it but I think one of the lessons I had to learn was just surrendering it to the Lord and just seeing that he has more purposes than just providing for you you in your work um and and in your work you are able to be a light to your co-workers even if they are believers like in my context um The Gospel is still just as pertinent and important to to be reminded of in that situation and so you never get to stop being a light wherever the Lord has you and so I think not getting in the way of that but just allowing the Lord to work in and through you um is just such a huge benefit and the fruit of that is is just amazing to see and ultimately it will affect your work in a positive way and and I know that the Lord is not going to um let your witness in the workplace come back void so so that’s a huge lesson for me and that’s what the Lord has just been showing me in in my past few jobs in Food Service specifically because it is such a difficult environment it’s a high strain high stress environment there’s a lot of Demands on it so I’m just using that time as as a tool for discipleship has just made it so much easier because it is easy to get stressed out and worried about deadlines and and quality and all these different things that we have to focus on in our jobs but if we’re focusing on the people first and pouring into them um it makes the little tasks so much easier to do because if we can all do it joyfully unto the Lord it it it’s not difficult to do do our our daily tasks at work so that’s really what I’ve been learning and and growing in and and I think anyone could apply simple principles to their work environment and and see huge returns um yeah

JACOB: Perfect yeah so if I’m hearing you correctly um what I’m hearing is that investing in individuals and spiritual disciplines will actually help the productivity and those more traditionally secular values of of being productive or efficient or things like that um just pouring into individuals spiritually actually adversely helps to do those things is that is that what you’re saying

DEVON: Yeah I think we’ve seen a huge uptick in production and productivity and also just the joy um in the workplace in a very tangible way I think everyone enjoys coming to work and enjoys the time we get to spend together because um it’s just an encourage in environment and so when you enjoy going to work and enjoy what you’re doing you’re just naturally going to be um you’re going to seek to do a better job and as as Believers our goal should be to be the best employees the best workers that our employers have and so if you’re neglecting the spiritual disciplines you’re going to be neglecting your work and so I think the more you can pour into your co-workers and the more you can build them up um the better your work environment is going to be just by as a byproduct of that yeah yeah and that’s that’s great because you can’t mandate someone enjoying going to work you can’t you can’t tell your inferiors to to enjoy being there but by doing something as simple as allowing us to pray or having Bible reading time that’s that’s encouraging the people to do better to want to serve the Lord that’s awesome yeah and I think even if you’re working with non-believers just asking them a simple like hey can I pray for you is there anything you’re going through like as you build a relationship with them and they see that you truly care about them I think it’s going to be even a better witness to them than anything you could say about the gospel because if they see you’re living it out and you truly love them as the Lord has called you to I think that’s a better witness than just being able to tell them what the Bible says about about the gospel because if they see you acting on it and actually doing what Christians are called to do then that’s going to really impact them I mean it is cliche but it’s true that actions do speak louder than words and so if you can do this in your workplace for those around you then they’re going to see a big difference in you and in your life and I think they’ll see a positive effect on their life as well um so yeah just being able to pray with your co-workers and if they’re having a hard day today like not coming down on them hard but asking them like hey you know like what is going on like if you feel comfortable sharing with me I’d love to hear you out and I will be praying for you and I want to I want to be there for you so any way I can support you in this um it’s just a good place to start and you never know what the Lord is going to bring out of that so yeah

JACOB: Definitely yeah so if you could go back and start over at both a secular job and at the Bible College what advice or what resources would you want yourself to have

DEVON: I think I would definitely bring more practical discipleship um resources into my work and I would want to implement those things no matter if you’re in a secular job like yeah your boss may be against you openly sharing your faith but like I said if you just want to pull your coworker aside when they’re having a tough time and just um minister to them and and just you know if you don’t know what the Bible says about certain things and you don’t know all the answers that’s okay but I think being willing to have those resources and do um just some research on your own time and then bringing it back and saying like hey like I actually found out this is what the Bible says about you know what grief and about all difficulty and and about trials and all these things if you bring that to your co-workers that’s something I wish I had done more of in the past and and something I I seek to do more of in the future just um just having the resources available and to encourage your co-workers is key and also in my past jobs I think I was just not um like I said surrendering my job to the Lord and allowing him to do what he wants to do in it and so um even in a secular environment if you’re the guy who’s always getting frustrated and super stressed out and lashing out at your co-workers they’re not going to see the gospel in that they’re not going to see Jesus in that and so if you aren’t doing these things on your own it’s going to be really hard for you to put them into practice at work so I think the spiritual disciplines are key spending time in the word praying before you go to work caring about your co-workers enough to pray for them um it at the very least on a weekly basis if not daily and just um putting in the the spiritual disciplines before you go to work is key and so I think you’ll notice that when you’re not seeking the Lord on your own it’s going to be really hard for you to to be a light in your work environment and so I wish that I had been more diligent in my own disciplines in my own walk with the Lord before trying to be a light because if you’re not being filled it’s going to be really hard for you to pour it out on those around you um and then I think in my my past I was just so focused on being efficient that I wasn’t viewing people um the way I rightly should and I wasn’t caring for them and loving them and so if you get so caught up in work and you’re not caring about those around you um it’s going to be really hard to then later be like oh yeah like I I really care about you and I want to see you um grow and I I love you and and I’m a Christian and this is what I believe about all these things it’s going to be harder for them to receive that from someone who is just harsh when they’re in the Heat of the Moment on the job and so I think you really have to be careful about how you react to things and and and no one’s going to be able to do that perfectly but I think if you can be conscious about that before stepping into work it’s going to be a lot easier to put these things into practice

JACOB: Yeah well Devon thank you so much for meeting with me and doing this interview this has been great you’ve given a lot of really good advice so I appreciate it and thank you