Faith & Vocation: Ron McCollum

As part of a year long project focused on faith and vocation we are highlighting various parishioners by having them answer seven questions.

Meet Ron McCollum.

How long have you been in Seattle and what do you most enjoy and struggle with about living here?

I have been in the Seattle area since 1963.   My wife and I bought our home at Green Lake in 1965.  I feel Green Lake is like a little oasis, quiet, with everything close at hand.  Seattle is a completely different city from when we moved here.  I believe the Smith Tower was the tallest building in Seattle at that time excluding the space needle.  The traffic was very manageable and there was very little crime compared with what is happening today. We really like the area and have no plans to move.

How long have you been at your current place of work and do you see this as a place of longevity? Why or why not?

I have been retired for many years but I spent most of my working life in industrial sales, calling on both small and large businesses. The last fifteen years my wife and I had our own business working with all types of industry in the Pacific Northwest.  I enjoyed the industrial world with all the complexities that come with it and the constant innovations that are needed to compete in our very competitive world.   

Do you see your calling and your career as the same or different?

I was not a Christian when I began working so for me working was just a way to meet my financial needs, really nothing more or nothing less.  I was just sort of drifting through life, really without much purpose.  That all changed when I accepted Christ and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I knew I had found my calling and my purpose for life.  I had this overwhelming desire to share with others what I was experiencing, that you could know Jesus and have a relationship with Him and with the Holy Spirit.  I now found my workplace to be a venue where I could share my faith with co-works and clients. I guess you could say my work and my purpose for life came together as part of God’s plan after I became a Christian.

What are some of the things that you find most enjoyable about your work?

Since the work place had also become my mission field, the most enjoyable thing I was able to do was to share my faith with the people I met and worked with. Regarding my work itself, I enjoyed working with clients in solving the many and varied problems that they faced in their everyday operations..

What do you find particularly challenging?

One of the most challenging things was when we had to come up with an answer to a problem regarding something new that had never been done before.  Another one was just the constant competition with the other companies on a daily basis and later, the challenges my wife and I faced owning our own company.

How do you see your faith intersecting with your work?

My work gave me the freedom to both provide for my family and an opportunity to share Christ in the work place.  I found that as you worked to make friends with co-workers opportunities would come up for a chance to witness to them about your faith in a non-threatening way.  My greatest joy was seeing people respond to Christ’s message, some in small ways, and others becoming his followers.

If there was something the church could do to support you more, what might that look like?

Most of us spend a large part of our life in the market place with people who have no relationship with Christ.  This applies both locally and internationally.  I found the marketplace to be a wonderful mission field.  The market place allows each of us to have a worldwide ministry as witnesses for Christ that we never had before.  I would like to see a venue where those in the workplace who desire to witness to their co-workers, here and abroad, could come together for fellowship, prayer support, and encouragement.  I believe we need each other as the early disciples did, especially in these days of unrest and anger.  I have heard many people say that Seattle is a very hard place to share your faith as a Christian and I agree.  Secular humanism seems to dominate the culture here and is not open to the gospel as other parts of the country appear to be.  You can be a witness in this type of environment on your own but it sure makes it easier with support from others.