Laborer Highlight: Nick Burrows
Nick Burrows came to Christ during his last year at the University of North Alabama. He extended his time in Florence by attending graduate school and remained involved with Campus Outreach. When the option of joining staff was presented to Nick, he prayerfully considered it before following Christ’s call to Chattanooga, TN, and the world of business.
The transition from a college campus to “ordinary life” is dramatic. There is less free time and fewer opportunities for ministry initiatives (pick-up basketball, midday meet-ups, midnight conversations, etc.). Through the years, Nick has seen the lie of “just going to work” transform into a vision for integrating work, church, and home and redeeming the spaces God brought him to.
He considered the principles of ministry he learned through Campus Outreach, specifically “more is caught than taught,” and looked for application opportunities at work. Nick is president of a manufacturing company with the vision to “strengthen their families and the communities where they reside by providing a workplace where men and women can grow professionally and personally.” The company is 100% employee-owned as of June 2024, and Nick says, “We are influencing society and culture by providing good-paying jobs, good benefits, and hope for the future.” This selfless approach stands out as different, which is being caught by co-workers.
The multiplication principle dictated a different approach as Nick and his wife labor together in their local church. Through the years, they have led in different places, but the core purposes of each group are life exchange and biblical, practical life application for where people are on their journey. Both meet with individuals one-on-one. “I have realized that one man a year is a good pace. We meet once or twice a month for real-life conversations. They are definitely catching stuff. And then I challenge them to find a younger man to meet with and do the same.”
Speaking of “catching stuff,” the two children and wife who share his home are catching the most from observing the ordinary rhythms of Nick’s life. He strives to SHOW THEM what it means to follow Jesus by opening the word in their home, prioritizing meeting with God’s people, and living with integrity in the world.
“This is my calling,” says Nick, “To labor in the ordinary: working as unto the Lord in my business and among His people.” This commitment to be a lifetime laborer exemplifies a life worth emulating. To God be the glory.