Most people think about careers in one simple way:
Pick a job.
Make money.
Build a life.
But during Monday’s podcast episode, entrepreneur Wade Preston shared a perspective that flips that idea upside down.
Instead of asking, “What job should I choose?”
He learned to ask a different question:
“What mission has God placed on my life?”
For Wade, that mission was simple:
bring people together.
That calling eventually led him to co-found Prevail Coffee, a company with coffee shops across the Southeast and partnerships with farmers around the world.
But the business itself was never the real point.
The mission was.
Wade described the difference like this:
Some careers are transactional.
You do work, someone pays you, the interaction ends.
But a calling is transcendent.
It creates something bigger than the transaction.
For Wade, that looks like coffee shops where strangers become friends.
Relationships with farmers across the globe.
Spaces where real conversations and community happen.
The work matters—but the people matter more.
And that’s an important lesson for seniors getting ready to step into the next chapter of life.
Your future career doesn’t have to be separate from your faith.
Your job can become one of the ways you live out your mission.
Teachers build futures.
Nurses bring healing.
Engineers solve problems.
Entrepreneurs create opportunities.
Different careers.
Same opportunity to serve God and others.
So as you think about majors, jobs, and next steps, remember this:
Your career is just the vehicle.
Your mission is the destination.
And when those two begin to align, work becomes something much bigger than a paycheck.
It becomes a way to help change the world.
