March (Web-only) 2003

ARTICLE TOOLS

Find similar articles E-mail this page

In late February, Christianity Today announced the results of the first Best Christian Places to Work survey, a landmark study commissioned by CT and administered by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute. It is the largest survey ever conducted on the attitudes of employees at Christian workplaces, with more than 8,500 respondents across a range of industries.

A panel of independent judges selected four companies in ten categories for special recognition. For two weeks CT is saluting the first place organizations in each category.

Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas
Multnomah Bible College and Seminary, Portland, Oregon

Dallas Theological Seminary and Multnomah Bible College and Seminary not only share a common mission (to prepare men and women for a life of ministry) but also a common philosophy on how to manage employees—which may explain why the two institutions are tied for first place in this category.

Fittingly for schools offering Bible-based curriculum, employees at Multnomah and Dallas try to practice what they teach. "Because we are committed to God's Word, we take a spiritual approach to how we honor people," says Jim Thames, associate academic dean at Dallas. "We are not perfect, but when we make mistakes, there's an honest attempt to say, 'I was wrong, please forgive me.' "

Multnomah president Dan Lockwood agrees. "You can't really talk about wanting to train people in the Word unless you've got faculty and staff who are mentors in that process." As a result, employees at both institutions are devoted to their workplaces. "We live in a time when people change jobs very frequently," says Ray Keen, technical services director for Multnomah's marketing. "But I feel ...