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YOU MAY FIND IT impossible that a Hollywood studio executive is also a devout Christian. But it’s not a contradiction. In reality, my business is not very different from your own. There are opportunities, politics, unspoken expectations, and a set of rules for advancement that are very different from the Lord’s rules. No matter what line of work you find yourself in, you may feel that being a Christian is holding you back. You may feel caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, if you don’t toe the company line and put your career first, can you still call yourself a company man or woman? On the other, if you ignore the Word and set aside the precepts of your faith when it’s convenient, can you still call yourself a Christian? Sometimes, it feels like we’re walking on a tightrope and below us there’s no net, just a big, dark abyss.

I’ve got great news. I’ve found that it is possible to put Christ first and have a thriving career. In fact, I believe it’s necessary. My favorite scripture is Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” God is our strength; his love, demonstrated through us, can move mountains and change hearts. Being a Christian is actually a competitive edge… provided that you place your faith first above even your professional aspirations. Even if in the past you’ve compromised and slid partway down that slippery slope, it’s still possible to find your way back. If I have learned anything, it’s this:

I know writing this book is definitely part of my journey to become who God wants me to be. Some would probably say I’m crazy. The common practice when you’re in business is that you write a book after you’ve either reached your goal and accumulated some power and prominence or left your industry altogether. I’m in neither place. I’m just like most of the people reading this book: still climbing the corporate ladder and/or right in the middle of my career pursuit. Yet I believe God has called me right now to share my unique experiences and this urgent message with you, so I must be obedient to his will.

The message? During my time in the film industry, I have put my faith front and center for everyone to see. It’s my experience that people handle the intersection of faith and career in one of two ways. Some conceal their beliefs at the workplace, dumping their Christian principles on the kitchen table like a spare set of keys when they leave the house in the morning. Others refuse the command to be “in the world but not of the world” and work only in environments run by and for other Christians.

Both approaches are problematic. If we lock our faith in the closet from nine to five because we’re afraid of ridicule or questions about our loyalty, what governs our choices in climbing the career ladder? Will we lie, cheat others, or stab people in the back, then go home at the end of the day and put on our “I’m a Christian” clothes again? Plenty of people do exactly that because they fear that if they go public with their faith at work, they will be perceived as weak, divisive, or unwilling to do whatever it takes to succeed. But if we make such a choice, what does that say about our faith?

On the other hand, as believers we sometimes shun the secular world and limit our job prospects to a select group of potential employers or industries that we believe will be Christian friendly. But by doing so, we can lock ourselves in an echo chamber of ideas and beliefs just like our own, so we never really stretch or grow. Sometimes, we come to regard the world outside our bubble as the enemy.

When some Christians learn that I’ve worked in entertainment for over ten years, I can feel them take a mental step backward, as if they feel I’m sleeping with the enemy. I’m not offended; to many Christians, Hollywood is a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah. This business is probably the last place most people expect to find a young Christian visibly and vocally expressing his faith while progressing in his career. But the truth is that not only has relying on my faith not harmed my career prospects, it has actually enhanced them.

Thrilling opportunities to work with the most dynamic people in the world have come my way precisely because I have been uncompromising about my Christian principles and making service to God the centerpiece of my work. Over the course of my career I have developed a set of guiding principles that I live by:

I base every career decision, big and small, on these precepts. That’s not an easy thing to do. There is a lot of temptation in every business from finance to academia to take the quick and easy path to success—to violate our values for promotion or because no one will ever know. I’ve felt pressure on numerous occasions to abandon my commitment to Christ, but then I remember the words of Jesus when he asked, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”

I can truly say there is nothing in this world worth giving up what I believe in.

I’m amazed at the number of people of all faiths I’ve met who don’t understand that their faith is not an obstacle to fulfilling their dreams but the path to them. They don’t understand the power that a total commitment to God grants them.

I spent a great deal of time not long ago with a young aspiring actor who talked about his career struggles: going to auditions, trying to get in to see casting directors, exhausting himself, not knowing what to do, going to church to try to hook up with this or that individual. I listened for a while and then said, “Where do you think God is in all of this? Have you prayed and looked for where he is leading you in your aspiration?”

He hadn’t.

He was a Christian, but it never occurred to him that God had a place in his career pursuits.

I know from many of my own experiences that if you put your career in God’s hands and trust him, you can’t account for all the ways he will bless you. But you have to take that leap of faith, and even if you consider yourself a believer, that can be the hardest part. God’s love is unconditional, but we need the faith to silence our own voice and listen to his. Then we can really hear what he’s been trying to tell us about our careers all along.

I’ve written Produced by Faith to help you make that leap of faith. By sharing my story and my testimony of how my faith has actually been the greatest asset in my advancement, I hope to inspire you to take a new view of God’s role in your career. At the end of the day, you don’t have to choose between your faith and your work. Faith and works are two sides of the same coin.

© 2011 Devon Franklin