Breaking the Borders of Sunday: Jeff Wilson on Faith in the Marketplace

Sarabeth Stone
Dec 2
4 min read

Updated: Dec 3

By Sarabeth Stone

“If approximately 6% of American businesses are led by individuals with a biblical worldview, and the U.S. has about 36 million small businesses, we could assume that roughly 2.2 million of those small businesses are led by Christians. If each of these leaders intentionally engaged just 500 people annually—employees, vendors, customers, and competitors—their collective outreach potential would exceed the population of North America. Let that sink in.”

In his presentation to the South Carolina Christian Consortium, Jeff Wilson, C12 Chair for Upstate South Carolina, challenged believers to recognize the profound opportunity to affect the marketplace. His message was clear: Christian business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, and employees have a unique opportunity to impact lives, communities, and our nation overall. But how many of us are willing to acknowledge and step into this opportunity?

Simply Meet People Where They Are

"You may not have asked for this," Wilson noted, "but you have a very influential role. The marketplace represents a prime arena for believers to impact people with Christ-like leadership and faith-based values that change lives and communities for the better."

How does this integration happen? It starts with living the gospel as a real, imperfect person who demonstrates the compassion and character of Christ in everyday situations and challenges.

"Just meet people where they are," Wilson advised. "This isn't bullhorn Christianity, which is best at pushing people away and telling them what they're doing wrong. We want to draw people into a relationship with their Savior. Often, they get their first glimpse of Him through His people."

When employees, vendors, customers, and competitors encounter Christ-like leadership, they experience something increasingly rare: a place where business excellence and human dignity coexist, where profit and purpose align, where success is measured not just in financial returns but in transformed lives. As people flourish in this environment, leaders can point them to the source—the Person behind the biblical principles blessing our organizations. This is the gospel breaking beyond the borders of Sunday.

Establish a Practical Framework

Wilson shared a practical framework to help believers incorporate biblical values into the marketplace roles we fill every day:

Commit and Surrender. This initial step requires owners to release our grip of control, aligning our desires with God's will. This starts with recognizing that while our name may be on the business loan, God is the owner, so our priority should always be the advancement of His kingdom above personal ambition.
Build a Foundation. Daily rhythms that center our personal and professional lives on God help form the bedrock for faithful leadership. Scripture reading, prayer, and peer accountability helps executives gauge whether we are on track or need to recalibrate. Wilson pointed decision makers to C12’s five-point discernment tool to help bring wisdom into business issues, goals, and challenges:

Act as a Steward. This involves sharing our faith vision with leadership (while respecting legal guidelines), identifying and prioritizing how best to serve stakeholders (employees and their families, vendors, suppliers, customers, and the community), and developing measurable goals for service centered ministry efforts. Wilson encouraged leaders to engage employees to create and lead service initiatives, as data demonstrates better traction when such efforts are employee-led rather than a top-down mandate.
Retreat to Advance. Regular periods of rest allow executives to evaluate the fruit of our decisions—both spiritual and operational—helping to ensure alignment with God's purposes and organizational effectiveness.
Develop a Plan. Create a roadmap for your journey forward, assessing the current state and establishing baselines for success, identifying gaps, outlining strategic priorities, etc.
Embrace Accountability. True stewardship requires accountability. Give mentors and employees permission to hold you accountable to corporate standards and goals. This helps ensure continued growth.

Four Steps to Start Integrating Faith into the Workplace

Faith integration should not be a sidebar or a box to check on a strategic plan. It must be woven into the very fabric of business operations. Wilson outlined four steps to getting started:

First, establish a biblically-based mission, vision, and core values. This foundational step ensures that an organization's purpose aligns with biblical principles that can inform every decision and direction.

Second, provide professional, third-party chaplain care. Supporting employees' spiritual and emotional well-being ensures we are stewarding the whole person, not merely their productivity.

Third, establish a voluntary time for group prayer. Creating space for voluntary prayer groups fosters community and helps everyone acknowledge God’s presence in every aspect of work.

“It’s important to think about how you can pray over your business daily, not just when things aren't going well,” continued Wilson. “Prayer must be part of your regular rhythm in business rather than an afterthought.”

Fourth, encourage “clarity breaks.” Wilson emphasized the necessity of intentional times of disconnection from daily business operations to seek God's direction and examine the fruit of operational decisions. Whether through full-day retreats or monthly trail walks, these breaks help leaders gain perspective and discern God's voice.

Translate Potential into Action

For South Carolina's Christian business leaders, Wilson's message is both sobering and inspiring. If believers utilize our platform to engage millions of people annually, Monday through Sunday, the potential for kingdom impact becomes exponential. But potential means nothing without action. It requires the daily discipline of surrender to the One in, by and Whom all things exist, a foundation of God-centric rhythms, intentional stewardship of the people and privileges under our care, and the wisdom that comes from regularly pausing to gain perspective.

As Christians in the marketplace, we occupy a position of influence whether we sought it or not. The question is not whether we have the platform—but what will we do with it?

Sarabeth Stone is a wife, mother, and freelance writer residing in the Upstate. Her background centers around public affairs and communications work with Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit entities, and small and mid-sized organizations from a variety of industries.

Located in the Upstate, The South Carolina Christian Consortium empowers business leaders to view the marketplace as the mission field by providing the network, resources, and biblical foundation to transform work opportunities into ministry. We equip leaders to steward their unique talents as kingdom tools (Matt. 15:14-30; Mark 9:50) and foster connections that boost influence and impact.

Compartmentalized Christianity in business is ineffective—it’s time to unite with resolute purpose and set our faces like flint toward kingdom advancement (Is. 50:7). Your leadership, your organization can be the salt and light that transforms South Carolina.