Denver Institute for Faith & Work is excited to welcome Marcy McGovern as our newest board member. We recently spoke with Marcy about her background in nonprofit leadership and financial planning, and her passion for faith and work. The conversation below has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
DM: How has Denver Institute helped you personally in your vocation?
MM: The first word that comes to mind is “encouragement.” The quality of the content that Denver Institute creates–from the speakers to the panels to the discussions–is just so good. My experience with DIFW has been encouraging, realistic, challenging, and it has shown me that I’m not alone when it comes to wanting to integrate faith and work.
DM: Why do you care so much about the Denver Institute mission?
MM: We need to stop separating faith from the entirety of our lives. Denver Institute for Faith & Work is so important because it reminds us as Christians that our faith influences everything that we do. If we’ve been trained or taught to keep our faith separate from other aspects of our lives, we need a reminder toward integration. DIFW provides tangible tools, teaching, and conversations around how our faith and work specifically integrate.
DM: How would you say you live out your calling?
MM: For me, calling is where passion and skills converge. If we think of calling like a river, it’s not just a sudden point in time, since “calling” is continually moving. I live it out by trying to walk with Jesus every day. He’ll keep guiding my calling. If you would have told me 20 years ago that I’d be doing work in financial planning, I would have said “No!” But we grow and we change. Things become opportunities that you never could have imagined because you think of yourself in a certain box God does not have boxes, He is always moving.
DM: How is serving God in nonprofit leadership similar to financial services?
The two are similar because you’re working with people, you’re listening, and you’re hearing their stories. There’s also some similarities of mission. For someone, the question might be “What’s their personal mission?” as opposed to what the organizational mission is. When we’re fundraising in a nonprofit, we have limited resources, and we have to decide where to put them. It’s the same when we look at someone’s personal finances. Where do we use those resources? How does God want us to steward them?”
DM: What are you most excited about in Denver Institute’s future?
MM: What a fun, fascinating time for DIFW, with the founder transitioning in such a healthy and strong way and the pandemic, in a lot of ways, behind us. The sky’s the limit! Where does God want to take Denver Institute? The opportunity for DIFW is following the need around integrating faith and work. It’s a privilege to come alongside such a strong organization in the Denver area and continue to encourage people to keep their eyes toward Jesus.
Dustin previously served as the director of communications for Denver Institute of Faith & Work, with prior communications and marketing experience at the University of Colorado Boulder and Wycliffe Bible Translators. He holds an M.A. in Communication from the University of Colorado Denver and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida. He and his family attend Storyline Church in Arvada.
