Jeff Haanen
Colorado Needs a Renewed Vision for Craftsmanship

Colorado needs a renewed vision for craftsmanship.Lately everybody is talking about workforce development. In September, the Biennial of the Americas featured a discussion on this topic. Careerwise Colorado continues to make headlines placing youth in apprenticeships across the state. The Denver City Council’s economic and workforce development group is hosting a series of roundtables to […]

“DealMakers”: A Documentary Look at Labor and Hope in America

I often imagine what collective impact between business leaders, churches, government, nonprofits and ministries might look like. What would it look like for us partner together to make a permanent, generational impact on American society?When it comes to work, in many ways, our society is hemorrhaging. The labor participation rate for men age 24-55 is […]

Case Thorp
Andy Crouch, What Does the Faith and Work Movement Need to Hear?

In early February, I probed the thoughts of Andy Crouch, author, blogger, and speaker. Crouch had just resigned as executive editor at Christianity Today and moved to the John Templeton Foundation as a communication strategist. His books and speaking engagements have made him a thought leader on culture, and connected him notably to the faith […]

Christianity Today Debuts “The Work of our Hands”

 Jeff Haanen, Denver Institute’s past executive director, and Chris Horst, a board member and VP of development for HOPE International, are the writers behind “The Work of Our Hands,” a new column at ChristianityToday.com.The editors describe the column this way: “The series will spotlight Christians bringing truth, goodness, and beauty to their workplaces and sectors of influence. […]

Jeff Haanen
Want an Affordable Home? Thank a Craftsman

 What is causing soaring home prices in Denver right now? This is the question on many would-be buyers’ minds. In June of 2015, the average home price in Denver was $366,419 — the highest in Colorado state history.The Denver City Council has spent significant time trying to find solutions to the shortage of affordable housing. […]

Jeff Haanen
Stories of Hope: A Reason to Be Generous

Today is Colorado Gives Day, Colorado’s biggest one-day event to give to your favorite nonprofit. As I take a look at the past year, I can see all kinds of reasons to give to Denver Institute for Faith & Work. (But hey, since I’m the executive director, I’m biased!) Perhaps one of the best reasons to […]

Jeff Haanen, Chris Horst
The Handcrafted Gospel

Recently I bought a small, red cabinet for my wife and kid’s homeschool books. It was from IKEA, so how hard could assembly really be? Yet in only 20 minutes, I had managed to drill three holes in the wrong side of the red cabinet door. My wife took the project away from me, and […]

Jeff Haanen, Chris Horst
How We Lost the Craftsman

It was a crisp, winter morning and I stood outside Manual High School, traditionally one of Denver’s lowest performing schools. Along with twelve other seminary students on an urban ministry site visit, we listened to our professor. “Manual is one of Denver’s oldest institutions,” he said, pointing to the brick edifice. “It opened in 1896, […]

Jeff Haanen
Knotted Dreams

Josh Mabe led me behind his shop. “It’s a mess back here,” he said. What I saw was not your typical Home Depot fare: old railroad carts, wine barrels, deserted barn doors, discarded flooring from 19th century homes, planks from the bed of a semi-truck trailer – each piece had a common theme: it had […]

Chris Horst
Productivity and Grace: Management and Labor at a Denver Manufacturer

There’s a simple reason why manual laborers are called “blue-collar”: The color blue, it turns out, hides dirt better than the white seen in office buildings. But “blue collar” defines more than work apparel, of course. It defines industry, even a way of life. And its stereotypes are often unflattering. But a metal products manufacturer […]

  • 2