Deepen your faith and develop your career in the Workmatters Institute. Now accepting applications.

Workmatters Institute

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Work with purpose. Live on mission.

The Workmatters Institute is a faith and leadership development program for young professionals interested in integrating their faith and work. Regardless of industry or sphere, embracing the whole story of God is the key to conquering the practical challenges of growing a career and growing leaders who have eternal impact on the world.

Through three months of weekly classroom training and twelve months of mentoring provided by an executive leader, the Workmatters Institute provides a unique discipleship and career development experience based on biblical principles. At the intersection of theology, leadership and community, it is 100% spiritual formation and 100% professional development.

Past participants have gone on to create design concepts that empower those who lack privilege, drive initiatives that support the local community, and lead startups built on workplace authenticity.

Theology

Community

Leadership

The Workmatters Institute brings clarity to the purpose of work, and the personal and professional development is mind-boggling. You can never approach your work the same.

Kali Davis

National Account Manager, Harvest Group

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Spiritual Formation

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Professional Development

Hear real stories of life change from the participants themselves.

Executive Leaders on Call

Connect with world-class speakers and mentors.

Uniquely positioned in Northwest Arkansas—home to three Fortune 500 companies, including the world’s largest retailer, and with a corporate presence of more than 1,300 national brands—Workmatters draws from executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders from every industry you can imagine, each with a unique faith story and calling to serve Christ in the marketplace.

As a participant in the Workmatters Institute, you will have the opportunity to take part in a mentoring group with one of these leaders for ten months. Build life-long friendships and a career-anchoring faith foundation for work.

Cheryl Bachelder

Cheryl Bachelder

Former CEO of Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen

Donnie Smith

Donnie Smith

Former CEO of Tyson Foods

Shelley Simpson

Shelley Simpson

EVP; Chief Commercial Officer; President, Highway Services at J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.

Henry Ho

Henry Ho

Cofounder & Partner at Field Agent

Elise Mitchell

Elise Mitchell

Three-Time CEO, Leadership Strategist, Executive Coach, Author and Speaker

Mitch Bettis

Mitch Bettis

President of Arkansas Business Publishing Group

Live Digital Experience

Join early-career professionals from across the country.

As a participant in the Workmatters Institute, you will take part in a weekly Zoom classroom experience to discuss topics covering the theology of work, addressing brokenness in the workplace, and what it means to be a Christ-centered leader.

You will also hear from top-level executives, leadership experts, and entrepreneurs as they share their own stories and how they have integrated faith into not only their day jobs but the rest of life.

Each weekly two-hour class session contains a teaching, group discussion, and Q&A. In addition to the class sessions and your mentoring group, you will also be charged with developing a project that addresses an area of brokenness in your own workplace.

See and hear what it is like to be a part of the Workmatters Institute from the participants themselves.
Project Highlight
: Lunch on Purpose

Uncertain about his calling and where God wanted him to be, Nic Taylor spent most of his time as a senior art director at Walmart speeding from one task to the next. Nic took what he learned at the Workmatters Institute and began having “lunch on purpose” with individual coworkers. His intentionality around work and with those he leads helped him realize that God was at work around him all along. This has created lasting impact on his team and how he leads.

Schedule and Cost

One year to jump start a whole new take on work

The learning phase Spring 2021 Workmatters Institute will kick off on February 22 and run through May 17. Following this phase of the program, participants will continue the experience by meeting with their mentor group and working on the workplace transformation project for the nine months that follow. View the full schedule.
Participant cost for the Workmatters Institute is $1,000. This includes the weekly facilitated learning phase, coursework materials, and twelve-month mentoring program. Participants can pay for the program via monthly payments or in one lump sum at the start. However, if cost is prohibitive to your participation, please let us know. Scholarship information, including the 1st LT John Boyett Memorial Leadership Scholarship, is available upon request.

My ultimate goal before WMI was just to accelerate and get results…but that is only one side of what work is.

Dwayne Houston

National Account Executive, Procter & Gamble

Learning to see work as part of God’s plan for the world really impacted how I come in to work every day. I highly recommend the Workmatters Institute for anyone looking for meaning and purpose in their work (with the added bonus of networking with other young professionals and making lasting, meaningful friendships)!

Lauren Sova

Customer Experience Representative, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.

WMI opens your eyes to the influence you have, with personal examples of how your lifestyle can be a major part of your testimony in real and practical ways.

Will Ford

Executive Vice President of Operations, Westrock Coffee

I believe that the theology and tools that Workmatters equips people with have the potential to reignite the passion in your job, find balance in your life, and enrich your working years to come. Workmatters has helped me find peace in my work.

Katherine Mitchell

User Experience Designer, Tyson Foods

I now feel equipped with a solid foundation of how to be a faith-based leader and how to appropriately and effectively be an ambassador of Jesus in the workplace. I’m grateful for my newfound knowledge of the faith-and-work theology, for my new friends and peers who share this journey, and for the structured mentorship from a local business leader.

Parker Stewart

Customer Development Manager, SupplyPike

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Join the Mission

The Workmatters Institute is growing.

We believe that God desires to redeem and renew all cultures, and that every work of renewal happens at a local level. For 16 years, Workmatters has seen global impact while cultivating deep roots in Northwest Arkansas. We deeply desire to make the Workmatters Institute experience available in other places, joining other influencers in cultivating and stewarding faith-and-work movements in their cities.

The vision for Workmatters Institute is to equip a generation for biblical leadership, confident that leaders who are connected to God’s purposes will transform the marketplace and strengthen the community fabric of their city.

If you are interested in joining our mission by planting the Workmatters Institute in your city, contact Ben Kirksey at bkirksey@workmatters.org.