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Where People, Place, and Context Shape Your Calling
14 Plays15 days ago
In this episode of Buried Talent, Ken and Patrick unpack one of the most overlooked questions about calling: Where does God want me?
Instead of chasing the American dream or simply following comfort and status, the conversation dives into a deeper, gospel-driven view of place. They explore how Scripture, real-life examples, and global stories show that “where” isn’t just about geography—it’s about obedience, faithfulness, and community.
From Daniel in Babylon to Esther in the palace to modern entrepreneurs fighting human trafficking in Nepal, this episode challenges young professionals to rethink how God might be calling them to stay, go, or serve right where they are.
Whether you’re discerning a global mission, investing in your local city, or wrestling with how your career fits into Kingdom impact, this episode will help you clarify your next step.
Resources Mentioned
- Clarity of Calling Assessment
- Solving the World’s Greatest Problems
- Praxis Labs Opportunities for Redemptive Imagination
- Eagle Venture Fund
Timestamps
- 00:02 – Welcome & episode intro
- 00:33 – Why “where” is a critical part of calling
- 01:13 – The false belief of chasing the American dream
- 02:24 – Gospel-driven wealth vs. prosperity/poverty mindsets
- 03:50 – The danger of the broad and easy path
- 05:06 – American dream disguised in church culture
- 05:59 – Biblical example: Daniel in Babylon
- 06:42 – Seek the prosperity of the city (Jeremiah 29)
- 07:27 – Modern example: engineer fighting trafficking in Nepal
- 08:53 – Staying faithful in the U.S. context
- 09:36 – Introducing the Clarity of Calling Assessment
- 10:23 – Esther as a model of “being placed”
- 10:56 – The importance of people, not just place
- 11:31 – Three rapid-fire modern examples of calling lived out
- 13:42 – Financial advisors & stewarding wealth for the Kingdom
- 14:12 – Local solutions to global problems (sex trafficking & pornography)
- 15:49 – Startups dismantling toxic industries
- 16:29 – Practical steps: discern, assess, and act locally
- 17:56 – Closing thoughts & preview of next episode
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Bury Talent and Hosts
00:00:08
Dan Sanchez
Welcome to Bury Talent, the show for young professionals that tears down false beliefs about faith and work so you can unbury your God-given talent right where you are. I'm Ken Freire, and with me, my co-host, Patrick Lowndes.
00:00:23
Dan Sanchez
And today, we're talking about...
Understanding Calling and Cultural Narratives
00:00:26
Dan Sanchez
Drumroll, Patrick!
00:00:29
Dan Sanchez
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
00:00:33
Patrick
want to call that obvious logistic out. I don't know, man. What do you think?
00:00:37
Dan Sanchez
Oh my gosh, maybe there's like a button.
00:00:38
Patrick
But the drum roll is, today we're talking about where your calling is and specifically how it ties in with people, place, what context, all those things that shape
00:00:52
Patrick
where your calling works out. So this one, i mean, you could do like 10 episodes just on this one topic. This is gonna be a hard one to keep short.
00:01:00
Dan Sanchez
Yeah, absolutely. And the reason we're having the conversation about where right? Because we're not just talking about geography. The reason we're talking about this is because many times, young professionals have this false belief, right? Of like, I need to work where I'll get the highest paying job and have the easiest life.
00:01:17
Dan Sanchez
That's what culture tells us, right? Like we got chase the Joneses or like get the American dream. But today we're asking ourselves like, well, what if your calling is less about where you think you should be in status or financial and more about faithfully showing up where you are today.
Wealth and Success in God's Eyes
00:01:37
Patrick
Yeah, it's a big question because a lot of us, if we say we follow Jesus, then 100% of us, we are on the hook for saying yes to what it means to live a ah self-sacrificing life.
00:01:52
Patrick
It's like literally the opposite. It's not like we're going to be impoverished beggars and never try to make money. like That actually is a big problem globally in different parts of the world. that church teaches money is bad.
00:02:03
Patrick
But in America, we're so comfortable with the idea a ton of money and being generous and that we we kind of we don't even let we don't even give God the chance to speak into the question of the the the where and even the who.
00:02:19
Patrick
So we're going to get into some examples today of that. So as you could tell, I'm a little bit fired up about this one.
00:02:26
Dan Sanchez
it's great. It's great. And because we need that balance, right? Of like, of not the poverty mindset, not the prosperity mindset, but like gospel driven wealth mindset.
00:02:40
Dan Sanchez
But the reason why we have to address this is that like, man, that lie that tells us, hey, just go pursue the American dream, chase the Joneses, just get as much money as you want, that feeds our flesh.
00:02:52
Dan Sanchez
It makes us feel good. It makes us think that we're making an impact and we're making. And when we get influence, it makes us feel like we're doing something great. But what if what God wants us to do is something vastly different?
00:03:06
Patrick
Yeah.
00:03:06
Dan Sanchez
And I'm not saying don't get. kingdom wealth, right? I'm not saying don't ever make money. What I am saying is we have to have a priority stream and let's not assume that like wealth is the successful indicator to God that we've made it or we've arrived somewhere.
Following the Narrow Path of God's Kingdom
00:03:25
Patrick
Yep. Yeah. And we, I think we, I think just to jump in one more, one more point on that, Ken, I think we too quickly, settle for, for what looks like a good Christian path and the enemy is like, fine.
00:03:26
Dan Sanchez
So
00:03:39
Patrick
Yeah, sure. Good. Please go do that. Like go, go get some more, go maybe cut check, maybe make a donation. Like, let's just try to box as many Christians into that as possible. And this goes into like bearing your talents.
00:03:50
Patrick
Like, And if you have a a a bunch of skills and giftings to could really make waves in God's kingdom locally, geographically around the world, the enemy wants nothing more than for you to take the road, the broad and wide road that most everyone's traveling.
00:04:06
Patrick
Does that remind you of something that Jesus talked about? So we should be careful about looking at that broad and wide path and asking, letting God be Lord over the question of where a true test that if you're actually a Christian.
00:04:21
Patrick
think it's a big test, quite honestly. I'm coming out swinging here, Ken. I got to come out with a little bit of passion on this.
00:04:28
Dan Sanchez
I know you're like, it's passion and the hot takes for the clips, right? But it's true though. Like if you think about this and the reason why we're probably hitting on this so much is because man, young professionals, if you're listening to this, everything in our society is telling you to go down a certain path.
00:04:45
Dan Sanchez
So when you're trying to figure out your calling, it's really hard to figure out and get clarity on it when the normal, thing you hear is go pursue X, go pursue the dream, go pursue this, feel good, live a long life. It's all about you.
00:05:04
Dan Sanchez
And God is saying, no, no, no, it's a different way. And not a lot of people are talking about
Scriptural Examples of Calling
00:05:07
Dan Sanchez
that. Even in churches, sadly, it's couched in the American dream, right?
00:05:14
Dan Sanchez
And it's like, man, we got to step away from that and just say, Lord, where do you want us Is God the ruler of your life in all aspects of life? Or is he just a nice little shiny object that you have and you take him out whenever you feel like it's a good time to do it?
00:05:29
Patrick
Yeah.
00:05:30
Dan Sanchez
ah ah So in order for us to say, man, I want to have a calling, we need to be at a place where we say, God, wherever you want us, with whoever you want us to work with, and how you want us to work with,
00:05:43
Patrick
yeah to
00:05:44
Dan Sanchez
Show me.
00:05:44
Patrick
So Ken, tell us, I'm going on a couple examples from today, but tell us what are some examples you see in scripture where we see God putting people in a certain place and location?
00:05:55
Dan Sanchez
Yeah, a great one is like Daniel, right? He's a prophet. He served in Babylon. And it's a place that couldn't have been less godly. It was like completely debaucherous.
00:06:07
Dan Sanchez
And most people have been like, Daniel, at some point, you know, he was like second in command and different things or governor. And he did a lot of different things, right? And he could have probably made ways for him to leave Babylon and go back somewhere else or do something else.
00:06:22
Dan Sanchez
And he's like, no, he stayed faithfully there. and change history. And a lot of us have to have that mindset, right? Like that we're living in Babylon and we're gonna try to redeem and renew our cities.
Stories of Global and Local Impact
00:06:35
Dan Sanchez
And instead of just trying to say, it I'm gonna run away from our lives.
00:06:38
Patrick
Yeah. I mean, the verse comes to mind, like he was seeking the prosperity. God said, seek the prosperity the peace of the city that you're So it goes back to that last episode where we're talking about the greatest problems of our day. And, you know, what are the opportunities for redemptive imagination?
00:06:53
Patrick
yeah you see that again. to bring it full circle here. So the reason why we started with like what you're called to, and then we get into the why and kind of the problems around it, because sometimes your problem that you get really convicted about that God is like, this is the thing that breaks my heart and it breaks your heart too.
00:07:00
Dan Sanchez
Thank
00:07:10
Patrick
You might be like, there is this engineer guy who is in, he was in Colorado and he and his wife discerned like, wow,
00:07:20
Patrick
What's breaking my heart is all of the sex trafficking and just the exploitation of people and women and girls and particular. And that broke his heart badly.
00:07:30
Patrick
And he could have stayed in Colorado and donated to a lot of nonprofits. He could have done that. But he asked, he and his wife together said, God, where do you where would you have us solve this challenge and be part of the solution to this problem?
00:07:43
Patrick
And the answer was in one of the biggest like Kathmandu and one of the Nepal, one of the biggest red light districts in the world. And so he went there and he actually didn't go there already with an idea, knowing about the what he was going to do.
00:07:58
Patrick
But he open handedly learned and figured out, hey, there's some pretty big needs. And he actually created a manufacturing company that now today literally employs hundreds of people.
00:08:09
Patrick
And many of those actually are survivors coming out of trafficking industry. And so what's crazy, Ken, is if he just stayed back and was like, I'm going to help a few more nonprofits and just make money here.
00:08:23
Patrick
Like, what about the hundreds of people that have actually found their way out of the trafficking industry? Because one guy and his husband and his wife, one couple said yes to this question of where.
00:08:35
Patrick
So that one just sears in my mind. But Ken, I know that's like a that's a global one. What about people that stay? There's there's the other side of that coin, too. Right.
00:08:44
Dan Sanchez
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think there are people who say like us, right? Like you and I, we're here, we've stayed, but but we feel like God has called us to mobilize individuals, right?
00:08:55
Dan Sanchez
We're called to like help people fulfill God's mission in not just our story, right?
Community, Discernment, and Collaboration
00:09:02
Dan Sanchez
It's about his story and how we fit into that.
00:09:04
Patrick
Yep. Yep.
00:09:06
Dan Sanchez
But one of things that I actually, Patrick, was thinking about was there's a lot of people who are wrestling still where? Like they hear the story that you just talked about a guy who went to Kathmandu and they're like, well, maybe I should go somewhere.
00:09:18
Dan Sanchez
Maybe I'm compelled. I got to go somewhere or maybe I need to stay. don't know what to do. And if you're wrestling, let me share two things.
00:09:26
Dan Sanchez
Number one, wrestling. create a free tool called the Clarity of Calling Assessment. So if you're trying to figure out like, man, am I even in the right place? This assessment helps you process not just the what and the why, but also the where of your calling.
00:09:40
Dan Sanchez
And the links are going to be in the show notes and it only takes you a few minutes. So it's a diagnostic tool. You can start using that. You start processing through that and see if this is in the right place where you're at.
00:09:51
Dan Sanchez
But the second thing is that I want demystify this myth. that sometimes you may have, because I know some of you may be stuck here where you're like, oh my gosh, I need to go somewhere else.
00:10:02
Dan Sanchez
Again, going back to that story of your friend, Kathmandu, like some of you, God has you in this place right now where you're at for a reason.
00:10:12
Dan Sanchez
Just like Esther, right? She was there where she's at. She's working at a palace. It's a hard place. Like no one would have ever dreamed that she would been there. A lot of people would have thought I'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but ah ah that's exactly where God wants her.
00:10:25
Dan Sanchez
And the only way you can discern whether you are in the right place is by asking God himself.
00:10:33
Dan Sanchez
Making sure you're discerning from him, what do you want to do? Going back to what you were saying, Patrick, the what and the why. Making sure those are in place going to be vastly important.
00:10:43
Dan Sanchez
And the last thing I'll just add is the people.
00:10:47
Dan Sanchez
Many times I have found for me personally, it's not about where I go or what I do, but it's who I do it with. And I want to be with a group of people who are just as kingdom minded and kingdom driven as I am.
00:11:01
Dan Sanchez
Because if I'm not, what's going to happen is that it's going to start to slowly dull my senses into hearing the Holy Spirit and where he wants me to go.
00:11:09
Patrick
Yeah, that's good. That's good. I got three more like i to get some rapid fire examples because I want to round this out.
00:11:13
Dan Sanchez
Like,
00:11:16
Dan Sanchez
absolutely, go for it.
00:11:17
Patrick
This is there's so many ways that this could flush this stuff out. So I'm going to give three real quick. So same company, right, that was in the other side of the world. They actually needed salesperson to sell the product they were manufacturing. And guess where that person lived?
00:11:32
Patrick
They were actually on the West Coast of the United States. And it's like they actually need people. Some of these companies with high impact and hundreds of jobs and right on the front lines, they actually need distribution globally.
00:11:44
Patrick
I mean, we live in this globalized world and and market.
00:11:44
Dan Sanchez
Yeah.
00:11:46
Patrick
And so in some ways, the world, this is the paradox that we live in today. The world is so vastly large, complex, different cultures it the one hand. And on the other hand,
00:11:58
Patrick
it's also so small at the same time. Like the number of people that care about God's kingdom and want to see it permeate the marketplace, there's actually not that many people that are doing this around the world.
00:12:12
Patrick
There are certainly lots of pockets of Christians all over the world, but There's not as many. There's a growing movement coming through the faith-driven entrepreneur kind of movement, praxis movement, other movements we could we call out.
00:12:25
Patrick
But the thing I'll say is the other two examples are there's people that have their big redemptive issue of the day is refugees and what do do if people are displaced? So I know some people in Dallas that are working at a really cool ah ah nonprofit that are using their skillset to help refugees integrate into our culture.
00:12:44
Patrick
I'm actually invested in an apartment complex that primarily works with refugees, and they're all about resettlement, and they're using their skills here to bless people from all over. And then I'm going to pick one that's even maybe the last example is like, I'm actually called to work with a certain type of person like Ken you were talking about. and I'm called to help really rich and wealthy people be good stewards of the assets that God has entrusted to them.
00:13:10
Patrick
And maybe your job is to be like a financial advisor and to work with some of the people that have resources and means and influence and they need help on how to steward that. And you might be a financial advisor living in Georgia.
00:13:24
Patrick
or in in know Minnesota or Michigan, right? So there's all different kinds of ways that this works. You don't have to go to the other side of the world, but at the same time, let's let God be the Lord of the question of where.
00:13:38
Patrick
That's, I think, the main thrust of the episode here is is don't just quickly pick that and don't let him you shut his voice out.
00:13:45
Dan Sanchez
Yeah, absolutely. Because all the problems that
Openness to God's Direction
00:13:48
Dan Sanchez
you may see around the world may be right around the corner as well.
00:13:53
Patrick
That's right.
00:13:53
Dan Sanchez
And I think about, you know, like a a big thing in my heart for for many people who might not know this, I have a huge heart for overcoming or defeating human sex trafficking.
00:14:07
Dan Sanchez
And there's so many ways that people are doing it. But one of the ways that I have found that I believe the Lord has put in my heart is like, how do I help men? overcome less than sexual addiction, right? If you take out from from like a business standpoint, right, there's buyers and suppliers, right? Supply and demand.
00:14:23
Dan Sanchez
If you take out the demand, the supply may go down, right? And the only way to do that is get men's hearts to change for the gospel. So like I've done a a lot of things over the years in my ministry to just help men overcome sexual addiction.
00:14:39
Dan Sanchez
They overcome sexual addiction. They overcome pornography. You overcome pornography. That's what one less people watching pornography, less women getting into the the industry. Right. And there's this trickle down effect for it.
00:14:50
Patrick
Yeah.
00:14:51
Dan Sanchez
And you don't have to like, again, I'm thinking about sex trafficking overseas. I'm thinking about all these people who are getting hurt. And I'm like, how do I help the people right now? I'm not in Kathmandu. I'm not in those places, but I know this.
00:15:05
Dan Sanchez
I know that that industry is a $97 billion industry.
00:15:09
Patrick
Yeah.
00:15:10
Dan Sanchez
a lot of that money is coming from the United States. So if I could start stopping, I could stop funneling the money here in the States by solving men, that could solve ah ah problems over there.
00:15:21
Dan Sanchez
Like, so there's just so many ways for you guys to look at this.
00:15:22
Patrick
That's right.
00:15:25
Patrick
That's good.
00:15:25
Dan Sanchez
As we wrap up.
00:15:26
Patrick
And also say, I got to also say before you wrap up, like, Ken, you're working at it really early and the, in the cycle. There's also, like you just mentioned the dollar amount, the guys at Eagle Venture Fund, the whole team there is working on a bunch of different startups that specifically are targeting how to cut the legs out and the revenue model out from underneath these companies.
00:15:32
Dan Sanchez
Yeah.
00:15:45
Patrick
So like they are, they're bringing like Pornhub down and things like that. and lots of really interesting startups that are like finding some of this stuff. and stopping it at all different stages of the cycle.
00:15:55
Patrick
So like, again, find a problem and then ask where and how do you want me to deal with that? So how should people figure that out, Ken?
00:16:05
Dan Sanchez
I think one, use our calling assessment. That's helpful. number two, I think discerning and asking the Lord, Lord, do you want me to be here in the States? Do you want me to go somewhere else?
00:16:16
Dan Sanchez
And just having your heart very open to that. I think many times people will be like, oh, no, I don't want, like, it's too scary to go somewhere else. And it's like, no, the Lord just wants people who are willing to go wherever you you you have them to be.
00:16:33
Dan Sanchez
And
Practical Steps to Discern Your Calling
00:16:33
Dan Sanchez
that's to me the biggest thing. And then the most practical thing, because I know there's a lot of logistical people out there who are listening to this. They might be like, I want to hear from God, but also need some practical steps.
00:16:46
Dan Sanchez
Here's a practical step. If you have not taken the assessment, take the assessment. And then from there, whatever problem you feel at that has kind of come up and bubbled up, just start looking around your city and see if your problem is being solved there.
00:17:03
Dan Sanchez
and join it.
00:17:03
Patrick
That's right.
00:17:04
Dan Sanchez
Volunteer. Work there. Just start doing something. You don't have to be in the sidelines. and and And if you can't find that yet, man, like, just keep working. Be faithful where you're at. The Lord's going start opening doors.
00:17:18
Patrick
That's good. We're going to start talking about the how on the last, this is part four of this little mini series here. And also we're going to start to talk about, you can discuss these with us live on our community.
00:17:30
Patrick
So we'll tell you a little bit more about that in the last episode in this in four part series. so So see you next time.
00:17:37
Dan Sanchez
See ya.
00:17:38
Patrick
Got it.