Decatur deacon, business owner combines work, faith

The workplace is not always a welcome place for Christianity. 
  
In fact, many references have been made to a “Sunday-Monday gap,” describing the disconnect between faith and work.
  
A Decatur businessman is doing his part to bridge that gap with his book, “Taking Care of the Basics: 101 Success Factors for Managers.”
  
In his book, Davis Woodruff provides tools for business leaders to use in developing and strengthening their leadership skills. The book has an interactive format, inviting the reader to apply 101 leadership principles each introduced in a short presentation. 
  
What sets this book apart from most other books on leadership is that it includes a Scripture reference with each principle to help the reader take the concepts beyond the secular and into the spiritual realm. 
  
Richard Wilmoth, plant manager at CGR Products in Decatur and a client of Woodruff’s management consulting company, said, “The Bible says in Proverbs 27:17 that ‘Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.’ I see this work as a valuable tool … in that sharpening process.”
  
Another of his clients, Wes Jones, president of Metal Component Manufacturing in Tuscaloosa, reported that he was on his third copy of the book. “When I told people about it, they wanted to borrow it,” Jones said. “Funny thing is that they never bring it back.”
  
But the concept of mixing faith and business is not new. In fact, in 1857, a man named Jeremiah Lanphier announced a weekly prayer meeting during the traditional lunch hour, targeting businessmen. The meetings eventually ignited a revival movement that resulted in about 1 million salvations in New York City. 
  
More recently, the organization Christ@Work reported that workplace ministries have experienced growth in recent years. “Twelve years ago we could only identify about 25 formalized workplace ministries,” its Web site reports. “Today we have identified more than 1,200 non-profit workplace ministries, colleges, and churches that are making faith at work a primary focus of their agenda.” 
  
Woodruff is one of those merging faith with the workplace even beyond his book. 
  
He is a deacon and Sunday School co-teacher with his wife, Lynn, at Central Baptist Church, Decatur, in Morgan Baptist Association. Woodruff founded his business in the early 1980s as a “step of faith,” two years after beating lung cancer.
  
“I had been a Christian since I was 11,” he said. “At a time like that, you really learn to trust God.”
  
In the years since Woodruff founded his business, he has conducted seminars and training sessions for 130 companies across the United States and abroad. 
  
“Just about everything we hand out has a Scripture reference on it,” Woodruff reported. “I have had people ask, ‘How can you do this?’ I tell them that it’s my company and I can put anything I want on it.” Besides “it’s the truth,” he said. 
  
Woodruff has also written a number of nationally published articles, training programs and an audio training series. He recalls the words of a church consultant who told him, “When you have lived in the faith dimension, you can’t live any other way.” 
  
And Woodruff agrees with those words. “I have had the opportunity to work with so many people with so many needs. Through the ups and downs of business cycles, God has always provided.”
  
“Taking Care of the Basics” is available at bookstores or online at Amazon.com, Booksamillion.com and barnesandnoble.com.