The Redemptive Lab is designed by Praxis, licensed and taught by TrueWorks, and crafted for the local context.  This lab is designed for the specific purpose of addressing the needs for those in the professional services space.  TrueWorks designed this version of the Redemptive Lab based on their experience with founders and leaders of other businesses.

Hosted By

TrueWorks licenses the “Redemptive Lab” from Praxis Labs, the thought leader in applying the Christian faith to our work environment.  Based on TrueWorks’ experience running labs for non-profit and for-profit founders we are innovating and extending the platform to professional services.  Through mentoring, peer community, and spiritual discipleship, the professional service leader will be challenged to new levels of integration of faith and life. Our content is anchored in the Praxis Redemptive Frame: with dimensions of strategy (what we build), operations (how we build), and leadership (why you build).

This lab is by invitation only and the invitation is non-transferrable. If you have a recommendation for an attendee for the lab, please email us: events@trueworkshouston.org.

The cost for the lab is $3,000 and covers all materials, lodging and meals. In addition, your registration helps cover the cost of our fall labs for non-profit and venture start-up leaders, which means $1,000 of your registration is tax deductible.

Register for Lab

Lab Overview

Welcome!  We're excited to get to know you and learn about the industry you are working in.  We want to walk with you wherever your feet are today!  Through mentoring, peer community and spiritual discipleship, we aim to strengthen and encourage the growth of you and the organization you are a part of.

Before we dive into the specifics of the Professional Services Edition, it’s important to understand where you fit within the Praxis story.

Below you will find helpful information about the Lab experience and how best to prepare to ensure you get the most out of our time together.

We strongly believe that there is a way of building practices, teams and businesses that is largely under-practiced, undefined, and full of promise. In our conversations, most redemptive business leaders (YOU) have a hunch that they are called to a more comprehensively faithful and sustainable approach to their work of venture building and impact creation. But the aims and practices of such an approach are unclear—mostly because they just haven’t seen it practiced. We believe the Praxis community can and will create a line of sight to just such a way of leading and building—which we call redemptive entrepreneurship.

We’ve invited you into this community because we believe you show considerable redemptive promise, and that you’ve demonstrated an openness and eagerness to operate more fully through a redemptive lens.

When we call something redemptive, it means someone is giving or sacrificing to restore something or someone to its proper place. Redemptive leaders (read: YOU) are those who, being deeply spiritually formed, generously surrender their personal and organizational power for the sake of others. A redemptive enterprise “spends itself” on behalf of the world more than on its own behalf. Organized to “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61),  the redemptive enterprise seeks to embody these truths to its customers, workforce, and partners. Redemptive leaders are led by the Spirit to create sustainable value while leaving opportunity for others (gleaning), and to operate regularly with grace and forgiveness.

Our time together will be built upon deepening your imagination and accelerating your practice of redemptive business in the dimensions of strategy (what you build), operations (how you build), and leadership (why you build). No truly redemptive organization or leader can ignore any of these, as they all must work together for redemptive purposes.

We encourage you to take 15 minutes to read through the 2022 Praxis Community Letter for greater context and for clarity of the vision we have for you as you enter this community. All of your Praxis experiences are built on this foundation.

(Note from the TrueWorks Team:  although this is aimed at venture leaders and builders, we still hold that these principles are helpful in the professional services context and we will be speaking to this when we meet together).

Program Overview

The Redemptive Lab experience is designed for your specific needs and opportunities while providing as many meaningful interactions with your peers, mentors and program team members in our limited time together.

“Our people are our greatest asset” – is a common phrase heard in many business settings.  But what if people are your ONLY asset? Professional services businesses take human capital and create value-added services for their clients. For the professional services business, human resources and creativity are the only things it has to offer the world. Thus, recruiting, training, motivating, and developing these resources is the core economic engine of the business, and in many firms, it is under strain.

TrueWorks believes that the Christian story offers a unique and compelling perspective for the professional service business.  TrueWorks has used this platform to inspire the leaders and founders of early-stage for-profit and non-profit ventures. Now, we are innovating and extending the platform to professional services.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

3/21

Friday

Arrivals and check-in.

4:30 PM

Program Opening - Introduction to the Lab experience.
“It’s not a formula; it’s formation.”

5:30 PM

Dinner and Story Telling
“Why are we Here?”

7:00 PM

Night Cap

9:30 PM

3/22

saturday

Breakfast & Worship.

7:30 AM

The Redemptive Frame

8:30 AM

Break

10:30 AM

Leader Presentations

11:00 AM

Mentor Team Arrives

12:15 PM

Lunch

12:30 PM

Panel Discussion with Mentor team - “Imagination, Change, Leadership, and Patience”

30 Minute Case Study - Case Study: “Home by Dinner Time”

1:30 PM

Break

3:00 PM

Table discussion groups - “Your paradigm of Leadership – Rule of Life is Rule of work.”

30 minute case study: “Redemptive employment – a different way of seeing a unique workforce.”

3:30 PM

Break - Reflection Time for Participants

5:00 PM

Dinner and Story Telling - “What did I learn today?”

7:00 PM

3/23

sunday

Breakfast & Worship.

7:30 AM

The Leader – Personal Formation & Rule of Life

8:30 AM

Break

10:00 AM

The Practice of Leadership – The Lab Experience - “Loving the Neighbor we know and loving the neighbor we do not know and will never meet.”

10:30 AM

Lunch

12:30 PM

Reflection & Synthesis

2:00 PM

Close

3:30 PM

Expectations

PRESENCE: We have so much to cover in our days together, and we want to make sure you get the most out of your time in the program.

It will be important for you to go ahead and block the dates in a way that allows your team and family to know that you will be unavailable while you are away. Programming is scheduled from early morning until the evening, and it will be frustrating to you and to those depending on you if you think you can run up to your room to tackle emails in between sessions. You will have just enough time to make a quick morning or evening phone call home each day, but that’s about it!

We host a tech-free environment during the program so that you can be fully present with each other and the content. We will provide workbooks for each gathering and you can certainly bring your own notebook/journal of choice. We consider it a gift to retreat from our devices as we engage in deeper thought, conversation and fellowship with one another - we hope you will, too!

Participation

The quality of the cohort and mentor experience is largely dependent on the level of participation from each of the participants.

With your cohort, we will have a few intentional times of group sharing and reflection, and have found that this format is key to building your shared experience together. We know that there are varied comfort levels here, but we encourage you to be an active contributor in both sharing and active listening.

With the mentors, you will be in small group sessions and one-on-ones, and they will look to you to drive the questions and discussions.

During informal times and meals, take the initiative to walk with or sit next to a mentor you’d like to get to know better. They will welcome it!

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

01

HonestY > FEAR OF VULNERABILITY.

Vulnerability is hard. But honesty is how our mentors can help you.  They won't have all the answers for every context, but they will have helpful perspective. Our mentors expect to help with your biggest challenges and they understand not everything is working perfectly. And confidentiality is a key component here.

02

Consider your cohort.

There’s an intentionally humble way amongst our community and you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons. If you’re long winded, be concise to create space for others. If you’re typically first to speak, make sure to listen. If you’re ‘in the majority’ in some way, create space for the voice of others.

03

Value diversity.

Don’t assume everyone’s theology, socioeconomic, social or other background is exactly the same - in fact, assume that it’s not! Our central hallway is belief in and pursuit of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and beyond that, we are hopeful to widely represent the body of Christ and learn from each other in humility.

04

Act virtuously.

We believe our community’s collective witness is best understood by our way of life, not merely the work we do. We hope that our events and program are a clear representation of a group of people that embody the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love and the cardinal virtues of wisdom, moderation, courage, and justice. This applies to everything as lofty as the courage to have an abundance mentality with donors and connections to hyper-practical decisions such as moderation of alcohol consumption at a Praxis event.

What if We Could Reenchant the World?

Rachel Quan

events@trueworkshouston.org