--- id: 20190601_teaching_with_your_walk title: BLOG - Teaching With Your Walk category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: workplace-witness-to-lived-example sentiment: Convictional emotions: - Encouraging - Practical - Challenging keypoints: - Work and family are tied together; workplace witness rests on home example - Proverbs 4:26 warns against feet that follow evil - Jesus sent disciples with authority to teach and heal among the people (Mark 6) - Coworkers learn by seeing the gospel lived, not only by hearing talk - Dean's Air Force flight-instruction analogy — demonstrate the maneuver, then expect performance summary: > Dean Rush argues that Christian witness at work begins with example at home. Citing Proverbs 4:26 and Mark 6, he urges believers to walk the walk as well as talk the talk, illustrating with his experience instructing student jet pilots — they could not perform a maneuver until they saw it demonstrated. tags: - blog - marketing - workplace - discipleship - example - mark-6 - proverbs-4 - job-32 - family - dean-rush sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 8 entropy: 3 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: blog created: '2019-06-01' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: BLOG prefix: BLOG enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: BLOG_2019-06-01_teaching-with-your-walk.md source_kind: blog_article proposed_topic: Wisdom lane: Wisdom voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: Wisdom content_status: active date: '2019-06-01' share_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/teaching-with-your-walk source_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/teaching-with-your-walk site_category: Marketing archive_month: 2019-06 description: > Dean ties workplace gospel witness to home example, citing Proverbs 4:26 and Mark 6, and urges believers to demonstrate Christ at work the way a flight instructor demonstrates a maneuver. --- # Teaching With Your Walk! **Author:** Dean Rush **Original post:** [deanrush.net/blog/teaching-with-your-walk](https://deanrush.net/blog/teaching-with-your-walk) **Archive month:** June 2019 · **Site category:** Marketing > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's article** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned of HTML/image artifacts only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Dean insists that workplace witness is inseparable from the example set at home, and that people learn Christ by watching as much as by hearing. The enrichment below does not replace his argument; it shows the wider biblical frame that makes his counsel coherent for someone opening a Bible for the first time. | Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Keep your feet from following evil | Guard the path of your feet (Proverbs 4:26–27); walk wisely before outsiders (Colossians 4:5) | | Home example underwrites workplace witness | Faithfulness begins in one's own house (1 Timothy 3:4–5); let your light shine before others (Matthew 5:16) | | Disciples are sent with authority to reach people | Jesus sends the Twelve two by two (Mark 6:7–13); go and make disciples (Matthew 28:18–20) | | Example teaches when words alone fail | Be imitators of me as I am of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1); show yourself a pattern of good works (Titus 2:7–8) | --- ## Dean's article ### Teaching at Work ![Leadership image from Dean's original post](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/08/29/13/14/leadership-913043__340.jpg) We often believe our jobs are separated from our home. As I stated in another blog article, *First Things First,* work is very much tied to your family. The foundation for being able to reach others for Christ in the workplace is tied to your example to your family. When you go to your job, it is easy to get sidetracked by the world. Proverbs 4:26 says, *"Keep your feet from following evil."* Your example at home is reflected by every action at work. You are involving your family in every communication, transaction, and decision. If there are ramifications from any of those actions, they will reflect on your family. > **Scholar sidebar — Feet, path, and household** > Proverbs 4:26–27 calls the wise to ponder the path of their feet and not swerve to evil — a whole-life ethic, not a Sunday compartment. Paul later tells the church that an overseer's credibility is tested partly by how he manages his own household (1 Timothy 3:4–5). Dean's link between home example and workplace witness sits in that same biblical logic: private discipleship funds public credibility. ### What you practice at home is reflected at work! You can set and example by talking about you family's reliance on Christ when you are at work. People watch and listen to their peers. When Jesus wanted to teach His disciples to carry His message to the masses, He gave them the authority to reach people where they lived. In Mark 6 is stated, *"Then Jesus told them, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family."* His way of overcoming the problem also works in our office or job*. He said, "And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler's bag, no money. He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes."* He gave them authority to teach and heal. Those gifts are also given to us. We can show our lives to others and, thereby, teach and heal. When Jesus sent out his disciples, they were not sent to their own villages. They were sent into the population. They were asked to reach people by spreading the gospel and showing their own belief. > **Scholar sidebar — Sent into the population** > Mark 6:7–13 pairs authority with dependence: the Twelve go with power to confront evil and with empty bags that force trust. Dean applies the sending pattern to ordinary workplaces — not as an ordination ceremony, but as a reminder that Christian presence among coworkers is intentional mission. Matthew 5:16 keeps the method clear: good works that make people glorify the Father, not self-promotion. ### Walk the Walk as Well as Talking We often believe it is different where we work. The people there will not listen to the gospel message and we feel uncomfortable talking to our coworkers about it. We fear it is "politically incorrect". As disciples, we can show the gospel as well as talk about it. People see and learn as well as hear and learn. When I was instructing student pilots to fly jets in the Air Force, I found they needed to see me demonstrate a maneuver before they could understand the actions necessary to perform it. I could talk about it until I was out of breath, but they were never able to complete the process correctly until they saw the actions necessary to complete it successfully. You are exactly like that in the workplace. Your example is more important than just talking. *"Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom."* (Job 32:7) Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). *Holy Bible: New Living Translation* (Mk 6:7–9). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. > **Scholar sidebar — Demonstration over lecture** > Job 32:7 voices the hope that years teach wisdom; Dean pairs that with a flight-instructor's discovery that students need to *see* the maneuver. Paul models the same pedagogy: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1), and Titus 2:7–8 urges a pattern of good works so opponents have nothing evil to say. Dean's point is not anti-speech; it is that talk without a visible landing pattern leaves the cockpit empty. --- ## Takeaways 1. **Home funds the workplace.** Dean refuses to split job and family; workplace witness rests on household example. 2. **Guard your feet.** Proverbs 4:26 is applied as a daily check against worldly sidetracks at work. 3. **Sent with authority.** Mark 6 supplies Dean's sending pattern — disciples carry gospel presence into the population, including the office. 4. **Show, then speak.** People learn by seeing as well as hearing; political discomfort does not cancel lived witness. 5. **Instructor analogy.** Like jet students who needed a demonstrated maneuver, coworkers need a visible Christian life more than a lecture. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? Your example at home and at work teaches the gospel — walk it so people can see Christ, not only hear about Him. ### Why does he quote Mark 6 and Proverbs 4? Because he wants workplace Christians to see themselves as *sent* people (Mark 6) whose feet stay off evil paths (Proverbs 4), not as employees who leave faith in the parking lot. ### Key verses to read with this post - **Proverbs 4:26–27** — Ponder the path of your feet; do not turn to evil. - **Mark 6:7–13** — Jesus sends the Twelve with authority into the towns. - **Matthew 5:16** — Let your light shine so others glorify the Father. - **1 Corinthians 11:1** — Imitate me as I imitate Christ. - **Job 32:7** — Let days speak and years teach wisdom. - **Colossians 4:5** — Walk in wisdom toward outsiders. ### A simple practice (Dean's challenge made concrete) This week at work: (1) notice one place your home example already shows (or fails), (2) choose one concrete act of integrity or kindness that *demonstrates* reliance on Christ before you try to explain it, (3) pray Proverbs 4:26 before you enter the building. ### How this feeds Ask Dean This post is seed material for questions such as: *How do I share faith at work without being awkward? Why does Dean say home and work are tied? What does Mark 6 mean for ordinary jobs?* Answers should keep Dean's voice primary and use the scholar notes only as supporting biblical scaffolding.