‘God Wants To Use Your Work’—Life Surge President Shawn Marcell Encourages Christians To See the Marketplace as Their Mission Field
“The reality is that 98%, probably, of Christians across America are in the marketplace. But many times we don’t think about that as our mission field, that that is truly where God has called us to live out and preach the Great Commission,” Life Surge President Shawn Marcell said in an interview with ChurchLeaders.
Marcell joined ChurchLeaders to discuss the mission of Life Surge, how it got started, and how the organization is not only equipping Christians and church leaders but is also providing space for unbelievers to trust in Jesus.
“Life Surge is really for the body of Christ in general to truly step into the call of God in the marketplace,” said Marcell. “It was a desire to see people recognize that God has given you gifts, talents, abilities that he anoints for his purposes to go and make impact.”
“But [the marketplace] is also a source of where you get your revenue,” he continued. “And those revenues, if you understand and you have a vision for what God can do in and through you—through your resources—then you can make greater impact.”
Life Surge President Shawn Marcell: ‘God Wants To Use Your Gifts’
“Many times the church is skittish about talking about resources,” Marcell said. “I don’t know why that is when so much of the mission of the church requires resources, but many times Christians don’t want to have a conversation about money and worship in the same context.”
“Many times we’ve [relegated] ministry to the outreaches we do, whether that’s a missions trip or whether that’s a sidewalk Sunday school or some function of the church, and all those things are powerful and necessary,” said Marcell. “But…business people who love God and feel that calling recognize that there is a powerful space within their areas of influence.”
Marcell said that people who attend a Life Surge event can expect to experience “a powerful atmosphere” where they will “hear from leaders in the thought space that they represent—some of the most powerful communicators, the most passionate about what God is doing in and through their lives.”
“I don’t believe anything really significant happens in a person’s life without first being inspired,” he said. “You have to have that vision, you have to know that [sense of], ‘Hey, God’s not done with me. God wants to use my life.’ And so we definitely want to speak to that in the course of the day.”
“But we also believe that the church has been over-inspired and under-equipped. So once I’m inspired and once I have vision and I have a sense of purpose, how do I go and do it?” Marcell continued. “And so they also can expect to have practical application on how to take next steps, to go create resources: Why would you create resources? How do I leverage my resources for the glory of God?”
“So, it’s all in this context of both inspiration and activation,” he explained. “I’m inspired; now I take action. And then of course there’s going to be powerful worship,” Marcell added.
How Life Surge Is Making Kingdom Impact
Marcell was clear that Life Surge is not a ministry and has never “taken a penny of donations from anyone.”
“Yet this year alone at our events, we’ve seen over 15,000 people give their hearts to Jesus,” he shared, pointing out how Life Surge is living out its own mission. “We’ve donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations like YouVersion and others that are getting God’s Word into the hands of people across the globe.”
“We believe that the business community has a powerful advantage, that when you create, you can impact,” said Marcell. “And so we want our events to model that, and we want as an organization to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk.”
“So, it’s all in this context of both inspiration and activation,” he explained. “I’m inspired; now I take action. And then of course there’s going to be powerful worship,” Marcell added.
The number of people who are giving their lives to Christ at Life Surge events “was one of the most surprising things for us, to be honest with you, because we had no intention of necessarily doing a gospel presentation when we first started,” Marcell shared.
However, at one event, Nick Vujicic wanted to give a presentation of the gospel, “and we had a pretty significant response,” said Marcell. “I’m ashamed to say we didn’t think about it [prior to that]. We should have, probably.” But leaders initially thought of Life Surge as a “Christian business event.”
“After that,” Marcell said, “I don’t think we ever have done another event where we didn’t give people an opportunity.”
“I think in the last 12 months, it was 20,000 people that have given their hearts to the Lord, and then 15,000 just since January of 2025,” said Marcell. “I don’t know if other people who are interested in what we’re talking about are coming and saying, ‘Hey, I’m not fully in the Christian camp, but I am interested in this subject matter,’” he said, “or people [are] inviting their friends and family. All I know is that we’re seeing something that we believe is just a sovereign move of God. So, it’s all in this context of both inspiration and activation,” he explained. “I’m inspired; now I take action. And then of course there’s going to be powerful worship,” Marcell added.
How Life Surge Can Benefit Pastors
Life Surge’s events can be of particular help to church leaders in that Life Surge casts a vision for people to use their work for the glory of God. “I’m a pastor at heart,” Marcell said. “I still consider myself thinking as a pastor because I want to see the body of Christ truly make impact in our season that we live in.”
“That becomes their pulpit in the marketplace,” he said. “And when we [ministry leaders] align to that, we are now speaking to the most felt needs of our congregation.”
“I would remind all the [church leaders] that every dollar that comes in [to their churches] comes because of marketplace efforts,” Marcell said. “The church is a nonprofit organization. It doesn’t produce its own revenue.”
“You might have some big churches that have product or books or whatever. But generally speaking, almost 100% of all revenues come from somebody who’s out there in the marketplace creating resources for the glory of God,” he went on. “I think the more we align to that and understand that, and the more we empower our congregants to recognize that calling and lean into it and understand the powerful stewardship opportunity…that just increases your opportunity to be a giver.”
Life Surge has events scheduled this year in Portland, Maine; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Washington, D.C.; Albuquerque, New Mexico; San Diego; Tucson, Arizona; Las Vegas; and Houston. Go to LifeSurge.com for more information.
“I’m excited about encouraging people and reminding people that God’s called you,” said Marcell. “God wants to use your gifts. God wants to use your work platform. God wants to use your family, your marriage, your parenting to truly bring revival to our nation.”
This article was originally published by ChurchLeaders.com on August 26, 2025, and was written by Jessica Mouser. It is republished here with credit to the original author and source.
Read the original article here: https://churchleaders.com/news/517695-life-surge-president-shawn-marcell-marketplace-mission-field.html