The Noble Tradesman

Every faithful generation must give itself away for the next.

It’s true in your family – in your church – and even in your work.  It was true for your parents, and it will be true for your children.  Holding on to what we can’t keep only diminishes our legacy and weakens our larger cause.  He who would save his life must lose it.

As Idaho’s only Christian center for trade entrepreneurship, Working Faith Institute is an apprenticeship-driven experience where Christian students and mentors team up with faculty to learn how to build rugged and resilient business owners for tomorrow.

Working Faith Institute embraces a larger cause: The Great Commission.  When you share this vision and join us, we will remind you routinely about our larger cause, and help you to give yourself away wisely.  It’s what we do.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus Christ. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything He has commanded you. And surely, He is with you always, to the very end of the age.  (Matthew 28:18-20)

This is our commission.  And it is also our great privilege to receive marching orders from our ever-present Captain.  But, as in all of the greatest feats, it takes more than our lifetimes to accomplish it.  That’s why we must give ourselves away to see it through.

To our core, Working Faith Institute is a community of Christian Believers centered around the trades, spending ourselves to teach, learn, mentor, and network so that we can grow economically resilient households enlisted into the Great Commission.

So, I’m happy to get this on the table with you right now.  To enroll in the Great Commission, and to bear the family resemblance to our Father in heaven, we must sacrifice.  As He Himself has done, so must we pour ourselves out, and give ourselves away for others.  To reflect the image of Christ, we must endure the cross for the joy set before us (Hebrews 12:2).  There is no other godly path.  

One sacrifice I would ask each reader to consider is the sacrifice of trade mentorship:  Teaching a Christian young person how to create value in the world by doing what you do.

Are you a cook?  A builder?  A landscaper?  

Do you keep a home?  Keep books?  Keep fixing things?  

Do you work with your hands and your head and your heart?  If so, we need you.

We need three more professional mentors to join us by offering apprenticeships in their fields.  Not everyone can do this.  If you can, would you?  We have students waiting to learn.

At Working Faith Institute, we labor to make your investment count.  Just as our partnering professional mentors are screened through a simple application process, we also screen our students – your apprentices – by Christian commitment, by regular church attendance, and by pastoral accountability.  We also monitor them by regular class attendance and regular reporting on their progress at work.  We expect that the students we offer will be outstanding learners, eager to serve faithfully while they learn, and that the mentors we offer will be outstanding teachers, patient and demanding while they model their work.

We have completed our prototype Term Zero, and are launching Term One (Nov-Dec 2021) in the days ahead.  God is blessing this work, and you can join us in the effort.  How would you like to be involved?

Deep and abiding blessings on you all!

Dr. Casey Christopher, President

Working Faith Institute – A School of Hard Knox