The Nashville Institute for Faith and Work is excited to welcome Jay Cherry and Kevin Roddey for our Faithfully Working Lunch on December 6 from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. We all work in industries with elements of brokenness, and both Jay and Kevin have forged unique paths to shine light in their respective fields. Taste a bit of what Jay Cherry might share at lunch by reading below about his experience with integrating his faith into his work.
Q: What have you most learned about integrating your faith into your work in the last year?
Jay: God will continue his work in us and through us, and asks that we are engaged and present. I believe He works in profound ways simply through our a) diligence and b) availability.
Q: What idols most plague you in a working environment?
J: Pride and control.
Q: How does your industry most reveal God's character?
J: We were made by a Creator who continually remakes and rebuilds. In Real Estate, we get to make, create, build, and rebuild in the physical world. In residential real estate, these physical places we build create a sense of place, become a home, and remind us all of our true longing for home.
Q: Where is your industry or work in tension with Christianity?
J: Real estate is one of the greatest avenues of wealth creation and generational transfer for most Americans, however this opportunity has a high barrier of creditworthiness, income, and understanding in order to access -- and thereby can perpetuate inequality for a large portion of society that does not have the privilege of this access.
Q: How do you think about shining light on darkness in your industry?
J: I believe that we can empower and enable more people to have a path to transact in Real Estate if we can simplify process, reduce the friction, and eliminate the opaqueness of the transaction.
Click the button below to register for the December Lunch.
Jay is currently the General Manager at Open Door in Nashville. Prior to joining Open Door, he led a team of 700+ people across 3 states as a Division Vice President with DaVita. He was born in Franklin, TN, grew up in Florida, and returned to Nashville in 2013. Jay and his wife, Diana, spent two years after college living in Haiti, where they started a business, learned Haitian Creole, and developed a strong affinity for fried goat. Jay holds an MBA from Stanford and a B.S from the University of Florida. He and Diana have two incredible kids, Finley (age 6) and Shepherd (age 3), and live in East Nashville.
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