The weekly TGCvocations column asks practitioners about their jobs and how they integrate their faith and work. Interviews are condensed.
Jason Boyd is a lending officer with North Dallas Bank & Trust in Dallas, Texas. Formerly a coach and a teacher, Jason takes a unique approach to banking. In his role, Jason makes credit decisions on loans and manages deposit accounts. He also helps coach his high-earning clients as to how they can best manage their money.
How would you describe your work?
I am a one-stop shop for my clients—physicians, lawyers, consultants, business owners, and more—who need our lending services for any and all of their commercial and personal needs. Many of our clients earn high incomes, and our goal is to help them steward that income into wealth. We help them with all of their banking needs and introduce them to necessary individuals, like estate planning attorneys, wealth managers, accountants, and others.
As an image-bearer of God, how does your work reflect some aspect of God’s work?
We have a unique culture at my bank. We’re empowered to make sound, compassionate, and even biblical decisions, with the understanding that this may mean we miss out on business. For example, if a young doctor asks me for a loan for a vacation home that she’ll rarely use and that will strain her financial picture, I may respectfully advise her not to make the purchase. This means we may miss out on immediate business—should she need my counsel—but it’s for her good.
How does your work give you a unique vantage point into the brokenness of the world?
I see both the brokenness and the beauty of what money can buy. I’ve seen what it looks like to pursue a lifestyle of luxury, power, and prestige, and how this pursuit of material things can lead to chasing the wind. On the other hand, I’ve also seen countless beautiful examples of what God-centered personal finance can look like.
For example, we have one client who, despite his sizeable income, drives a vehicle nearing 400,000 miles and lives in a modest home. Why? He’s content in the Lord. Another gentleman takes his $150,000 bonus check and sits it on the table in front of his wife and kids so they can discuss and pray as a family how best to use it for God’s glory.
Jesus commands us to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” How does your work function as an opportunity to love and serve others?
I consider my clients and coworkers both to be my “neighbors.” I hope that my internal joy in Christ manifests itself with a smile at the office with everyone I meet. My hope is to serve my co-laborers by encouraging them and, by God’s grace, to image God in some way through my work. I believe the best way to serve my fellow human being is to point them to Jesus Christ.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
