Best Christian Workplace Institute Includes Harvest Bible Chapel on Best Places to Work List

I have a new entry for “best actual headline that could be a Babylon Bee headline.” My last post on Mark Driscoll and this one are in hot competition for winner in that category.

Yes, something called the Best Christian Workplace Institute has certified Harvest Bible Chapel as the newest best Christian place to work.

Was it the on again-off again lawsuit? Was it the regular turnover of staff? The tell-all articles in the newspapers by former volunteers and members? Was it the peacemaking process which began with the abrupt firing of a ministry “partner?” Was it the need for a peacemaking process at all?

Generally, BCW Institute doesn’t get responses to tweets — except this one. So far, 32 responses have been left for BCW asking how a church with such public difficulties can be rated as a great place to work. I sent BCW president Al Lopus an email and a couple of tweets asking questions about how churches can earn the rating. No answers as yet.

These ratings are often used by organizations to prop up their image. Gateway Church was rated highly the year they laid off 30% of their staff. Insiders tell me that the staff have to fill out the forms and are monitored. In other words, it would be quite possible for an organization to cook the books. Perhaps, Mr. Lopus can enlighten us.

Oh, maybe this is the reason why HBC is such a great place to work — free therapy.

Seriously, don’t do this. This isn’t how exposure therapy works. It may have been staged, I don’t know but if not, this isn’t a safe way to work.

A commenter pointed out that the church has already added the seal of approval.

25 thoughts on “Best Christian Workplace Institute Includes Harvest Bible Chapel on Best Places to Work List”

  1. I just now saw the closing punchline. What an advertisement, “Employee benefits include unlimited free therapy for psychosocial trauma suffered on the job.”

  2. Having been involved in a company’s attempt to get on a (as in any) best place to work list, I can tell you these lists often involve “consideration” for the magazine/staff. They are not on the up and up.

    Favors, meals, ad purchases, and other incentives are all part of the process.

  3. Sorry for the off topic video link, but I found this so fascinating! This appears to have been created by Biola University and describes what the estimated probability of just one simple small protein assembling itself by chance. Watch to see how truly improbable that is and remember that a single cell life form is much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much more complicated and astronomically less likely. I find arguments for abiogenesis to be the most ridiculous thing that otherwise smart humans will ever say. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_KEVaCyaA

    1. Have you seen Harvard’s “The Life of the Cell”? A single cell is like an entire spherical city, it has highways, porter proteins carrying freight with their hands and feet on those highways, to and fro, six cylinder generators (atp synthase) providing power, factories making new proteins from plans, etc. It looks like a fantastic alien city inside. Check it out, it’s more convincing me to me than the 10^164 argument (which is still really convincing).

  4. Have a little faith, maybe BCWI made a good decision in naming HBC a great place to work.

    Just suppose that: After all of the scandal surrounding HBC, HBC made a concerted effort to change their ways, clean up their act, and become a more hospitable work environment.

    And suppose that, BCWI’s recognition is a reflection of their success in doing this.

    I don’t know if that’s what happened, but just suppose it is?

    It wouldn’t be good for you make fun of HBC for successfully repenting of their earlier errors and becoming a good place to work.

    1. If you know of any indication of repentance and transformation (vs manipulation), please share!

  5. The video was clearly just a prank on one of their pastors (and not staged), and as church-made videos go, it’s actually pretty bad. I’ve seen some pretty lame efforts over the years.

    They do use an unlicensed copy of the “Chariot’s of Fire” theme, which is a violation of copyright law, which isn’t a good look for a Christian organization, though people usually brush this off as of no consequence. (The theme is linked in the description, but this was done by YouTube’s automatic content-id tools, not the creators).

    1. Prank though it is, if the guy is truly phobic of snakes, this isn’t helpful.

      1. Well, the guys who made the video do know him, and I’m guessing it was only posted with the consent of the victim. Not that it’s a big deal either way compare to everything else that’s going on, but in this case I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

      1. 8th grade science teacher for me, please. Based on this video evidence, the science experiments you could conduct would be amazing.

        1. But would never pass the Institutional Review Board – oh wait they probably don’t have one.

  6. If this is one of the best places to work then I hate to see the worst. If the best place has a man shooting at pictures of employees who have point values assigned next to their heads and the same man taking a knife to an old picture of a fired employee in front of other employees, then what does a bad place to work look like? If the best places have psychopaths in charge, what do the worst do? This is Wittenburg Door material! I think I would rather be unemployed and homeless then have someone like JMac shooting at me while assigning how many points a head shot is worth!

  7. A little math:

    One BCWI tweet sez 177 recognized “best” Xn workplaces
    Nuther BCWI tweet sez “About 60% of the organizations who surveyed their employees in 2018 are now recognized as a Best Christian Workplace”.

    So… about 300 organizations paid (safe assumption?) to play in 2018 and 40% lost. That’s 300 out of how many Christian workplaces in, say, the US?

    Congrats to the shining 177 who rose above the bottom slice of organizations who thought a BCWI survey might be a a good idea.

    Were rescue teams dispatched to the 40%?

    1. They’re called peacemaking consultants, and they’re very expensive, so you know you’re getting your money’s worth.

    2. They’re called peacemaking consultants, and they’re very expensive, so you know you’re getting your money’s worth.

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