Truth@Work is the result of a vision that was birthed in the heart of Ray Hilbert beginning in 1997. That vision was a culmination of personal, professional, and spiritual experiences that he experienced over the course of a decade after graduating from college with a business degree in 1988.
A brief summary of those experiences will place the content of this paper into proper perspective as the T@W organization faces substantial challenges and opportunities in the coming months and years.
Upon graduating with a marketing degree from Anderson University in 1988, Ray took a sales position in a family owned business. The business was founded upon Christian /biblical principles, and the President of the company had been one of Ray’s Sunday School teachers as a young boy. Ray had the opportunity to observe a business man making decisions on a daily basis that integrated his Christian faith.
After two successful years in that position, Ray was recruited by a national firm to work in their sales/management field. This gave him the exposure of working in a large company that was not being operated on biblical, but rather on “secular” methods, where “winning at all costs” was the standard model.
Ultimately, Ray was then recruited to work for an international firm where he was exposed to even greater diversity in hiring and business practices, that while acceptable in the world’s eyes, conflicted in many ways with his Christian faith and value system. He felt as though he were living in two separate worlds- the “real” world of his work and career, and the “Christian” world of his church, Bible Studies, etc. He felt no real connection between the two, and sensed a tremendous isolation that he was not successfully living for God in and through his work. Candidly, Ray dreaded his career, and every Sunday evening would feel very discouraged as he had to “gear up” for the work week ahead. This would prove to be a relevant part of the foundation of what would later become Truth@Work, which will be described later.
Partly in response to this conflict in values, along with a growing internal desire to start and own his own business, along with a partner, Ray launched his own company in 1991. The company proved very successful. It produced and marketed apparel with Christian and pro-family values printed on hats, shirts, etc. It was this experience that allowed Ray to use his business for ministry purposes, as he was able to print and donate products for churches, ministries, etc. promoting their messages. Additionally, with a different partner, Ray launched a “buy-here pay-here” auto dealership named “Golden Rule Autos.” Ray learned first hand that this was a business that would test his commitment to live out his Christian faith in the way he conducted business as it required disclosure and transparency with customers that ultimately in many cases cost him a lot of money. So in these two business ventures Ray learned first hand that commitment to integrating one’s faith can be both rewarding and challenging.
Through the combination of these work and career situations, Ray gained a rich and diverse understanding of opposing viewpoints of running a business-ones of running them on biblical principles vs. running them on worldly ones. These experiences began to shape the early foundations of what would become the vision of what is now T@W.
Then, in the fall of 1993, a very profound thing happened. Ray was asked to help promote the Promise Keepers conference that was to take place in Indianapolis in the summer of 1994. Eventually, Ray sold his stakes in the two businesses to take a full-time position on the staff of Promise Keepers, and he was responsible for the work of the ministry in the Midwestern part of the country.
From 1993-1998, as Ray traveled America in his role with Promise Keepers, he talked with hundreds of men who were struggling to integrate their faith in and through their work. He recognized a pattern of these men who were frustrated and bored with their careers, not seeing any eternal significance to what they did 40-60 hours per week, or any connection to their Christian faith being lived out in the marketplace on a daily basis. Ray could certainly relate to this feeling, as this perfectly describes his own experience from a few years earlier when working for the large international firm. It was in 1997 that Ray decided to submit an outline of an idea to the leadership of Promise Keepers, looking to see if the organization would be willing to launch a marketplace ministry initiative within the structure of the Promise Keepers organization. The primary premise of the concept presented to Promise Keepers was to develop an ongoing discipleship/ coaching model that would encourage men to live out their faith in and through their work and careers, while equipping them to make biblically based decisions in the midst of the daily challenges in the marketplace, while earning the right to share the Gospel with customers, vendors, employees, co-workers, etc. After learning Promise Keepers was not interested in pursuing such an endeavor, and feeling a call of the Lord upon his heart, Ray resigned his position at Promise Keepers to pursue the vision. It was in the fall of 1997, when Ray approached Indianapolis businessman Matt Peelen with the idea of partnering with him in launching this new marketplace ministry endeavor. Matt was in the process of selling his successful packaging business, and was seeking what the Lord had for the next chapter of his life as well. So, after much prayer, counsel, and thought, Ray and Matt created a non-profit corporation that is now Truth@Work in the early part of 1998. While it was not clearly known exactly how the new organization would function on a daily basis, or precisely what this new marketplace discipleship model would look like, Ray and Matt felt confident the Lord would direct their steps.
The duo of Hilbert and Peelen were facing two critical issues: (1) The model that the new ministry would offer that would provide ongoing, life-changing discipleship in the lives of Christian business leaders, and (2) structuring the fledgling organization so that it could develop a sustainable revenue model that would allow it to flourish and impact an increasing number of people.
So in March 2000, Ray and Matt held an initial interest luncheon where they invited 25 Indianapolis based business owners to participate in an vision casting lunch meeting. By the end of March, 10 Christian owners had signed up to participate in the first Roundtable Group, and the group held its first meeting in April 2000.
New Cities & Markets
In addition to growing its Indianapolis base of membership, in 2006 T@W began to set its sights on developing expansion plans to establishing itself in new markets. As it had packaged its program through a variety of brochures and curriculum books, the organization felt it was positioned to see if what it had developed could be duplicated in other markets. Thus, the ministry began identifying, recruiting, and training Local Chapter Presidents in markets and cities across America, and perhaps eventually internationally.
In May 2006, T@W launched its first long-distance market when it held its initial meeting of the Fort Wayne, Indiana group.
In July of 2006, T@W, in partnership with At Work On Purpose, a Cincinnati, Ohio based marketplace ministry, launched its first group in that market. That group quickly filled up, a second group has been launched and is now full, a third group launches in June 2007, and based on current trends the third group will likely be full by August, allowing a fourth group to be developed by the end of 2007. It is believed that by the end of 2010, the Cincinnati market will fully support up to ten groups, matching the current Indianapolis market.
In January 2007, the organization launched a group in the Mobile, Alabama / Pensacola, Florida market. While still growing, the 9 members in that group are developing a very strong bond and it is believed that by the end of 2007, two groups will exist in that market, with a potential of four groups by the end of 2008.
An additional new market of Fort Meyers/Naples, Florida has launched in 2007.
Several additional cities are currently in the process of coming on board as Local Chapters of Truth@Work.
T@W has developed a 3 day training/certification program to equip Presidents for building the model in their local markets, and several additional cities are currently in the process of coming on board as Local Chapters of Truth@Work.