By Dr. JoAnn Flett | Executive Director | Center for Faithful Business
Whenever I am asked the question, “What are you thankful for?” It affords me a moment to pause and reflect. Upon reflection, my answer would be, I am thankful for meaningful work, with amazing colleagues here at SPU.
A recent Barna Report entitled “Trends at Work” from Spring 2025 noted, “…as traditional institutions have evolved or weakened, increasing pressure and expectation have been placed on work and workplaces to fill basic human needs.” Notably Barna’s report posits that institutions no longer provide the foundation they once did for engagement because of the corollary of family facing disestablishing, religion facing disaffiliating, work experiencing disconnecting, education being devalued, and government seen as dividing.
This report makes me even more thankful for Center for Faithful Business and its vision to promote a Christian understanding of business. Simply because this is such good AND meaningful work. I am thankful for colleagues like Ashley Alter, the Center’s Program Coordinator, whose positivity coupled with her “can do attitude” makes everything we undertake a joyful success. Colleagues across campus like Dr. Brittany Tausen whose vision for collaboration around Character education made for a delightful Fall term whereby SPU could host Dr. Ed Brooks from the Oxford Character Project at Oxford University. I am also thankful to Drs. Helen Chung and Paul Yost for their willingness to collaborate on new research coming out of CFB on the Christian Middle Manager and how we might support middle managers in their work.
For some reason this year has felt fast moving. I can hardly believe it is November already. Soon the Thanksgiving holiday will be upon us. So, I’d like to encourage you to pause and reflect on what you are thankful for, in this fast-moving, ever-changing season. We would love to hear from you about some of the things you are thankful for this season. Feel free to email us at cfb@spu.edu.
