Help 65,900 Unemployed

Last night at the Billy Graham headquarters in Charlotte NC, Crossroads Career founder and volunteer director, Brian Ray, cast vision before 200 business and ministry leaders to come together to help the 65,900 people who are unemployed and looking for jobs in the area.

The Barnabas Group Charlotte, a local membership of Christian business leaders, hosted the dinner meeting…

• Presenting 10 marketplace ministries together for the first time.
• Featuring the Crossroads Career ministry for special consideration.
• Finishing with keynote from Dan Brokke, CEO of Bethany International.

Since 2000, The Barnabas Group and its members have powerfully impacted both local and global ministries. When Barnabas member’s personal passion, network, time, resources, unique abilities and gifting converge with a Kingdom-minded ministry, the return on investment is exponential.

Watch video here:

Why Crossroads Career Selected

The process of being qualified for select took months, beginning with our being sponsored by a Barnabas member. Ministries must complete an application with history, operational and financial details about mission. A group interview analyzes Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Once approved, the selected ministry goes through a refinement process including hard questions about messaging, results and what help is needed.

At quarterly Barnabas membership meetings, a qualified ministry has 15 minutes to present their purpose, vision, mission, the progress they are making and the specific help they need.

Why they picked us? “For such a time as this, crisis in someone’s work life can lead to eternal life realized.” See the summary report.

Help 65,900 Unemployed

After introducing the opportunity to help people through crossroads in their careers, highlighting the ministry over 30 years, and sharing stories of people helped, the challenge turned local and personal. (see slide overview)

In the 10-county Charlotte Metro Area, there were 65,900 people unemployed looking for jobs as 2017 started.  The impact on each and every person and their family can be catastrophic because the average duration of unemployment is over six months.

What would it be like if the faith community – especially those engaged in career ministry – collaborated with community nonprofits (like Goodwill), government agencies (like NCWorks) and local employers – to help people find a job, career and God’s calling?

Might we cut the length of unemployment? Would the total number drop? How relieved and renewed would one person and his or her family be? What if we could make a difference for just 1% of those unemployed – 659 people. Maybe we could do it for 1% every month.

This summer, Crossroads Career ministry is committed to reach out for connections, coordinating communication, and seeking cooperation throughout all 10 counties so jobseekers can find help and hope.

In the fall, we are planning to launch a metro-wide communication of events, meetings and resources on a monthly basis.

If it works as well as we hope and pray, we will share next year with other metro areas what we have learned.

In the meantime, please pray that we hear and follow God’s calling every step of the way. If you would like to help, email support@test.crossroadscareer.org.