Go Make Disciples: Living on Mission in the Workplace

“The Lord will put you in a location where you’re going to reach people only you can reach,” Gabe has learned over the years. “You are the only one that really has your family, that has your group of friends, the people you grew up with, your workplace — you can reach those people like nobody else can because you’re going to be with those people for extended amounts of time.”

The Lord will put in a location where you’re going to reach people only you can reach. You are the only one that really has your family, that your friends, the people you grew up with, your workplace.

Over the years, God has taught Gabe this very lesson throughout various seasons of life — in his time at Southeastern, on the mission field, and during his discipleship of others.

Saved at the age of seven, Gabe grew up with parents and grandparents who demonstrated gospel living in all areas of their lives.

“It was neat to see how, for my dad and granddad, their daily life of work meshed into our Sunday worship experience which then resulted in being faithful stewards,” Gabe shared. “I don’t know people more generous than my parents and grandparents in terms of saying, if the Lord has blessed us, what are we going to do to promote the gospel with these resources?”

“Their actions have been a template,” he added, “for me and my brothers. As a kid, over time, I realized, they’re having a huge impact through these relationships by being faithful and through the gospel conversations they’re having.”

Even throughout high school, God began preparing Gabe for future positions in ministry. During summers, he helped out with his family’s business, and through a local ministry, he had the opportunity to go on short-term sports mission trips to Costa Rica and Argentina. These experiences gave him his first taste of what missions might look like. Later, as a business major at Furman University, Gabe began to understand what it meant to integrate oneself into a community to be a witness for Christ.

“I really felt called to join a fraternity where there were 70-80 guys and maybe two other believers,” he shared. “But my thought was, the best way to reach that group of guys is to become one of those guys.” This meant living life with them — valuing and investing in the friendships made — all while still being a light for Christ. By God’s grace, from these friendships several of the students came to know Christ and committed their lives to following him.

Following college, God impressed on Gabe’s heart a strong desire to pursue missions. He began searching for pathways to the mission field and discovered Southeastern and its two plus two program. This program would allow him to complete two years of schooling on campus and two years overseas on the mission field, in the end granting him a Master of Divinity in international church planting. In God’s kindness, the program perfectly fit with Gabe’s current season of life, and he enrolled in 2003.

Gabe was on Southeastern’s campus taking classes and engaging with professors and fellow classmates for the next two years. It was a season of growth and community for him. For Southeastern, it was a time of transition, as current president Danny Akin entered office and began to cement the institution’s Great Commission focus. Akin also established the distance learning program in 2004, which helped Gabe complete his degree while serving in Indonesia.

During Gabe’s time in Indonesia from 2005-2008, he was often visited by Southeastern professors, including Akin, who would fly out to teach and encourage Southeastern students on the mission field.

Looking back at his years in seminary, Gabe remembers fondly the bonds that he formed with his team on the field and the community he had on campus during the first half of his training. While on campus, he benefitted from the constant contact and conversations he had with fellow Christians seeking the same mission: that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue would know Christ. He was also equipped for his time on the mission field through theological training as well as more technical classes, such as linguistics.

Once he reached Indonesia, Gabe was able to apply and integrate his training into daily life. He also had the opportunity to use some of his skills from the family business as he and others helped with the recovery efforts after the Indian ocean earthquake and tsunami. Furthermore, while working to reach Muslims with the gospel, he grew in his understanding of the worth of the gospel and the price that many pay for choosing to follow Jesus.

“You realize how high the stakes are for people to come to Jesus,” Gabe remarked, “and you want to reach them in a loving way, recognizing that if they choose to make this decision, there are potentially serious consequences.”

“The gospel is worth it,” he added, “to go to this part of the world. It’s also worth it to go across the street and share our faith. It’s worth it to put ourselves out there.”

The gospel is worth it to go to this part of the world. It’s also worth it to go across the street and share our faith. It’s worth it to put ourselves out there.

Gabe’s experience at Southeastern, both his equipping on campus and his time overseas, further imprinted on his heart the need to make disciples and integrate this aspect of the Great Commission into every area of his life.

Upon his return to the States in 2008, Gabe resumed work for his family’s business. He would eventually decide to pursue a degree in real-estate development at Clemson University where he would also meet and marry his wife, Mellette. Once their first child was born, Gabe and Mellette moved back towards the North Atlanta area to be near his family and their real-estate business, the Chathambilt Homes and the Chatham Company.

In the Atlanta community, the Chatham name is well known for its connection to the company, founded by Gabe’s grandfather in 1948 and now run by Gabe’s father with the help of his three sons. Through the legacy of the family business, God has provided numerous connections and opportunities for ministry. Gabe, like his father and grandfather, has found that real-estate provides a unique and profound space in which to invest in people’s lives and act as a light for Christ.

“When it comes to real-estate, that’s typically somebody’s biggest asset, so we want to help people be good stewards of that” Gabe shared. “And as you’re walking through the relationship of helping build a house for somebody or helping somebody sell their family farm, whatever the piece of real-estate transaction, there’s a lot of time spent together, and there’s a lot of wise counsel given.”

“And so,” he reflected, “whether they know Jesus or not, we’re praying for this opportunity and being appreciative that God has put us in this relationship with somebody. There are a lot of good moments where we get to talk about our walk with Jesus and why that matters to us, why we run our business the way we do.”

Gabe has noticed that, as a believer in the workplace, he often has opportunities for conversations that he would never be able to have in the context of church or ministry.

“The message of the gospel is consistent,” Gabe reflected, “and the question is, how do we tailor that to the environment, just like Jesus did as we see him? In the Gospels, he was tailoring that message to his audience, so how do we do the same thing?”

The nature of the business also provides opportunities for the Chathams to minister to those in need, whether through helping returning missionary friends find housing or partnering at a much larger level with a ministry organization helping single mothers.

However, while work is important, for Gabe and Mellette, investment in their family and local church takes an even higher priority, and in these areas, too, discipleship opportunities arise.

Currently, Gabe and Mellette serve as leaders of the young professionals ministry at their church, First Baptist Church Alpharetta (FBCA), and in this area of ministry they have had to the opportunity to pour into young men and women who are learning to navigate the workplace and God’s calling on their lives.

Furthermore, as parents, Gabe and Mellette are seeking to actively disciple their four children and model Great Commission living as they share the gospel in their neighborhood, at school, and with the children’s sports they coach. As a result of these relationships that have been built, Gabe and Mellette currently have the opportunity to plant a new campus for FBCA that will be able to reach more people in the community.

“We want our kids to see that we’re willing to step out and do something new for Jesus,” Gabe explained. “That we’re willing to leave a comfortable, established campus, and we’re going to step out in faith. By no means is it going to Indonesia, but we’re just going to be faithful in starting something new even if it means leaving a safe and comfortable setting in order to reach our neighbors and kids’ classmates for Jesus.”

We’re just going to be faithful in starting something new even if it means leaving a safe and comfortable setting in order to reach our neighbors and kids’ classmates for Jesus.

Looking back on the different seasons of Gabe’s life, God’s provision and sovereignty are clearly evident, as shown through the godly examples in his life and the years at Southeastern and overseas which equipped him for ministry.

Reflecting on Southeastern’s impact on his approach to life, Gabe commented, “When Dr. Akin came on board he developed the idea that ‘Every classroom is a Great Commission classroom.’ And really, in time, I’ve come to the conclusion that every workplace is a Great Commission workplace.” He added, “That’s why I ask myself, “‘Am I treating every day, every opportunity, like it’s a Great Commission opportunity?’”

Please join us in praying for Gabe and his family, that they would remain faithful in their relationships and that God would bless their ministry as they plant FBCA’s new campus. Pray also for wisdom as they consider what it looks like to use their family business as an outlet for pursuing overseas missions.