Madetomatter.org was founded in 2007 as the flagship site and public face of Desired Haven Ministries, Inc. The chief aim of Desired Haven Ministries is to help people get to a place where they're able to recognize and consider the great love of God. Madetomatter.org contributes to this goal in two ways:
For non-Christians and new Christians, as well as mature believers who may be struggling with their faith, Madetomatter.org works to express the principles of faith in the language of the workplace. So, for example, a worker who completes one of our Bible studies about how to choose which job to take next will not only learn that Scripture provides principles to help with that decision, but they will also learn when God hears prayer and when He does not. This effort to express faith in the language of a culture is consistent with the rich traditions of the Body of Jesus Christ to share the Good News in whatever language best reaches people unfamiliar with Scripture.
For mature believers, Madetomatter.org seeks to increase their ability to make their faith a practical and an integral part of every aspect of their lives, including the work they do. This requires workers to have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and a working knowledge of the Bible. Madetomatter.org helps workers cultivate the intimate relationship while teaching them how to know and apply Scripture.
Our Team
Randy Kilgore is our Senior Writer and Workplace Chaplain. A workplace chaplain for nearly a decade now,Randy received hisM.Div. in 2000, from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (including two years of study at Covenant Theological Seminary) after a twenty-plus year career in business, most of which was spent in senior human resource management positions. Randy returned to seminary to equip himself to (a) write to pastors, in the language of faith, about the stresses workers face in the 21st century; and (b) to write to workers, in the language of the workplace, about what the Bible has to say about their roles as workers. Serving three Governors on state education commissions, Randy was also part of a coalition of human resource managers honored for their work on worker/childcare issues; and was part of a team receiving one of the federal government's first-ever series of workplace literacy grants. He co-founded the Greater Rutland (VT) Area Personnel Executives, and co-founded the Rutland (VT) Dependent Care Collaborative. As a writer and chaplain, Randy has released six volumes of workplace Bible studies, and two books:Made to Matter: Devotions for Working Christians (Discovery House Publishers: 2008);andTalking About God in the 21st Century Workplace. His writing also appears regularly in magazines and online.
Cheryl Kilgore is President of Desired Haven Ministries, and as such is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the ministry. Also experienced in business (marketing and administration), Cheryl began her career as a public school teacher. Before her work at DHM, Cheryl served as Children's Ministry Coordinator for a church in Massachusetts. Cheryl was the driving force behind the idea of a Christian school in central Vermont, and she and Randy joined three other couples to found Rutland (VT) Area Christian Schools, now a thriving part of that city's education alternatives for nearly fifteen years. Cheryl also serves as the Project Administrator for the Theology of Work Project, a multi-national effort to develop a database of work/faith principles and to make workplace theology a vibrant part of the Body of Christ.
A list of the board members of Desired Haven Ministries, Inc. is available by request.
What makes us unique:
- While hundreds of workplace ministries exist, very few are producing the materials those ministries need to serve their constituents. We do.
- We're one of the few ministries writing Bible studies for workers, helping them hear God directly through His Word. We already have dozens of studies available (thousands are downloaded every month!), and we have hundreds more in outline form, waiting to be written and distributed.
- We produce one of the most widely-read work/faith devotionals in the world, reaching over 100,000 different readers from at least 124 countries in the last calendar year.
- Readers have come to count on us for Biblical integrity. We let Scripture deliver the punch line in our Bible studies because we want readers to admire God's wisdom, not ours.
- We move readers from our words to God's Word. Our devotionals are the doorway to spiritual adventure: (a) for growing and mature Christians, our devotionals are designed as invitations to go deeper, or challenges to work harder, or encouragements to persevere; and,(b) for a rapidly growing segment of our audience, we've become their lone contact with the faith. Disenchanted or disaffected, they're not yet ready to give up on Christianity, but they've given up on Christians. For these readers, our goal is to move them to the Bible studies, where they can hear God directly, then to move them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and then to move them into a relationship with a body of believers in a church near them.
Why we focus on work?
One of God's first assignments to human beings was the task of caring for and managing His Creation. (Gen. 2:15). We were made to matter to the people where we live and work; we were also made to matter to the work itself. God calls us each to an active faith; a faith that makes a difference in our culture, our community and His Creation. Made to Matter exists to help you discover the great love of God, and to help you respond to that love by making your work and life a useful and vibrant part of your worship and spiritual service. We do this, primarily, by helping you unlock the truths embedded in Scripture so those truths can be applied by you in ways that please God and serve others.
We invite you to explore the articles, tools and resources on our website, and to discover anew the joy of serving something, and Someone, bigger than ourselves.
Interested in more information, or perhaps in supporting us financially? Start here!
Why the name "Desired Haven"?
Desired Haven Ministries takes its name from a passage of Scripture found in Psalm 107. In the Psalm we read four episodes where God makes himself known in the storms of life. At DHM, we've discovered three areas where people seem most willing to hear about God: (1) During the storms of life, both personal and professional; (2) At transition points in their work and home lives; and (3) In and through the eyes of children.
Our three ministries target these areas. Desired Haven, the flagship, has as its particular focus the human side of workers' lives. This includes the trials they face not only as workers, but as spouses, parents, and even as adult children. One of our more ambitious goals is to discover ways to enable local churches to partner with organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, who deal with children at risk. With her years of experience as a public school teacher and children's ministry coordinator, Cheryl Kilgore heads up the work at DHM.
MadetoMatter.org has workplace ministry as its' major focus, continuing the work Randy Kilgore has been doing as a Senior Writer and Workplace Chaplain for nearly ten years. The author of six Bible study volumes and one workplace evangelism title, Randy also publishes the weekly Internet devotional Made to Matter (formerly Marketplace Moments). In 2007, Made to Matter reached over 100,000 readers in 124 countries.
The final branch of DHM will be TenMinuteChristian, an initiative that teaches Christians how to have an impact on the people they meet during the hectic ten-minute encounters typical in busy lives today.
For a better understanding of DHM's guiding principles, we invite you to explore the following information, taken directly from our incorporation papers.
The purpose of the corporation is to engage in the following activities:
To develop and provide information, resources, inspiration and encouragement to Christians seeking to understand how to integrate their faith into every area of their lives, including their working lives;
To inform and encourage people who are not Christians to see, understand and embrace the great love of God;
To provide spiritual information, encouragement and instruction to working Christians in the form of Bible studies, devotionals, online and in-print publications;
To train local churches to actively participate in the care of children in foster care systems and at risk;
To encourage local churches to work with government agencies to assist those agencies, within legally defined parameters, in meeting the needs of children in foster care systems and at risk;
To engage in evangelistic outreach;
To engage in discipleship training.
