 to get to host this Monday program. We're happy to be here as your hosts and I know that there's some excitement in the air. You know, Christmas is coming and God is moving. All the shopping. I think Jean and I only have gotten presents for each other. We've got like a million other people to five for, but hey, we're gonna have a great program. Coming up, Nancy McConnell will be with us. You know, the interesting thing, we all want love, dignity and respect. Every one of us, we want it, you know, for our families. We want it in our workplace. Have you ever thought about that? Have you felt disrespected sometimes at your workplace? Have you felt like you were just a number or a wheel and a machine? Well, listen, you're a person and you want to be treated like a person. Well, Nancy is gonna share with us about her organization, the value of the person and just a little bit about the history. Her dad did an amazing thing. It's an incredible story of a turnaround of an organization just by treating people with respect. That is so true. And we got to actually experience some of that respect because we visited a restaurant that they have highly influenced called Juniper Grill in the Murray'sville area. Everything was delicious. Our waitress was Madison. She did such a fantastic job. That's right, I got a note from a man that's like, how about a double date? You and Jean and me and Gary. And so we went out, did you have the picture? And good food. We have no picture. We are so sorry, we tried. But yes, we did enjoy our time but I just want to say that it matters when you cultivate that type of atmosphere. It shows in every part the servers that were getting the table prepared, the host that was seating us, our waitress. Like it just flows through. Oh, there were, it just showed the picture, yes. Okay, well, you got to see us there enjoying and that was Madison. She did a great job. But, you know, this is Meaningful Monday as well. So we want to take a second and talk about an article that was from CBN News. And on today's Meaningful Monday, Christian volunteers have been donating money and vacation time to help Israelis near Gaza with recovery. 75 Christians from 10 different nations are visiting Israel in the middle of war, risking danger and high costs of traveling. They say it's to be the hands, feet and heart of Firm's Relief and Firm is the name of the project which includes their cleaning up evacuated homes along the Gaza border. They're helping the farmers in their fields. Can you imagine, Tom? Their fields are ripen and ready for harvest and it's in the middle of the war. So here these Christians come and they're helping them reap the harvest to keep everything happening over there. And that is just so important. You know, I just can't hardly imagine these people, they left their safety of their own homes to go to the land where war is happening. But you can read more about this article from CBNNews.com. Paul Strand was the author. Well, you know, Amanda, what has happened in Israel is they called up so many soldiers. They don't have the logistical infrastructure to handle all that. And of course, there's so many people that are displaced as well. And so Christian organizations, as always, as always Christian organizations have jumped into the gap there and brought food and brought so many different things. You know, I remember hearing that back in the Katrina when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, two thirds, of the work being done was by Christian organizations. I mean, it's an incredible thing, but it's part of living for God. And why don't we pray for Israel right now? Would you do that? Yeah, absolutely. Oh, Heavenly Father, we just come to you and we ask for your presence, God, to just fill the streets of Israel. God, all of the surrounding areas. Father, we ask for you to make yourself known, God. And if it is through the hands and the feet, Father, of those that you are sending, then so be it. Lord, I ask for your protection around all of those who are obeying you, answering that call to go. And Father, I do ask that they would have bountiful harvest, God, that there would be such a miracle witnessed by the Israelites, God, that once again, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he has come through again. And I just thank you, Father, that they will see your mighty hand in this time, Father, of just such devastation. And we give you all glory, God, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be back with Nancy to talk about the value of the person. Hope happens here at Cornerstone Television. All this month, we're offering a joy-filled DVD, Christmas with the Chosen, The Messengers, for your best gift to the ministry. Gather around the manger with loved ones and experience the first Christmas through the eyes of Mary and Joseph. Follow the young couple as they take the long road to Bethlehem and prepare for Jesus' birth. Plus, enjoy an extraordinary lineup of musicians, performing both new and classic Christmas songs from the set of The Chosen, such as Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, Maverick City Music, Cain and many others. Thank you for your generosity that makes the ministry of Cornerstone Television possible. Request your Christmas with the Chosen DVD when you give this month. Call 888-665-4483 or give online at ctvn.org slash donate. From all of us here, we wish you a very Merry Christmas. Well, I sure hope that you are connected with us. If you've not called in or went to ctvn.org and received or signed up for your Hope Today newsletter, I encourage you to do that. We love to stay connected and there's a lot of things happening and it's so good when we can join forces and you can be a part of what's happening here at Cornerstone Television and in the city of Pittsburgh and those of you that are from abroad, you as well, because there's no distance in prayer. There's a really good writing in here. You know that? You're one of the authors, yes, I agree. Absolutely, I mean, and there's all kinds of, I mean, there's all kinds of the Christmas specials and everything, sorry for grabbing yourself. Absolutely, I know, you can't take my notes, Tom. That's right. Well, hey, as children of God, we're all called to love one another and that rings especially true when it comes to the workplace. Only three simple words are the power to transform a culture, love, dignity and respect. That's what the organization value of the person stands for and today we're joined by their president and CEO, Nancy McDonnell. Nancy, so good to have you on the program today. Good to be here. Thank you so much for having me. I have to tell you, you know, there's a couple of different things we want to talk about today and one is the story of your father, Wayne Alderson and the story of Pitron Steel. Could you just let us in on that story a little bit? Okay, so my father, Wayne Alderson, he ran a steel foundry actually in Glassport, Pennsylvania and you think, you know, a little small town but such great things had come out. My father took over a plant and he went in deciding that it was a plant of great turmoil and that he was going to love his people. It didn't matter if you were union or management, how do we love one another? And really from that point of valuing and giving people dignity and respect, the plant turned around. So it went from being adversarial to being transformational and it was a pretty dramatic and because of that, that was back in the late 70s and because those people in that plant came together and began to show the world in 50 years forward now, almost, that things don't have to be the same and that we can bring hope to people in the workplace in a beautiful mission field. Yeah. You know, it's just amazing. Amanda, it was so interesting to read about and to see because there's a special about it called The Miracle of Pitron and there's a book called Stronger Than Steel as well about your father. But let me, look, I've managed, I've worked in a union shop, I've managed a union shop. It's not always the most loving place but no matter who you are, you admire someone who comes up to you and says, how are you doing? And it takes an interest in what you're doing. You're not just a number. Right, you're not just a number and the thing is that, we all have the opportunity to make impact and it really stems from amazing story of love. Jesus came, God loved us so much, he sent his son to come here for us. It's a story of love and we need to carry that on by how we live our lives. How do you make love acceptable in the workplace? It's by connecting with people, building relationships. Every single person, the one thing we have in common, all of us here in the studio here, all of the viewers, every person wants to be treated with value and love and dignity and respect. We have that in common. And so how do we in the workplace in particular or just in our lives, how do we make that part of how we choose to live and to run our business and to manage and to lead? And so that is what we have the opportunity to do. And so how do you live love in the workplace? Well, you know what? You can decide to be the first person to smile when you walk into your office. You know, we hear about the still small voice of Jesus and so we can be that still small voice representing Jesus. But you need to be purposeful, very purposeful in doing it. And so that to me is just like, God has provided me the opportunity to work in a workplace and that's my mission field. And that's mission field to value the person. And we're out working in the secular world and impacting in that way. It's just beautiful. It is beautiful. And you know what's amazing to me is, look, business wants to make money. Nothing wrong with that, right? I know. And so somebody might be skeptical and say, well, wait a minute, okay, so I can say, hey, how you doing? How does that help the bottom line? But it does help the bottom line and it helped it at Pitron. It certainly did. And so with anything in life, out of relationships, everything flows. Absolutely everything. And so when you have the opportunity to build a relationship and touch hearts, you know, it's not about putting a program in business today, oh, programs are crazy out there. It's not about a program. It's about how do we make valuing people love, dignity and respect a way of life? And you do that by touching hearts, by building relationships, by knowing the stories of the people, taking time to know who it is that you're working around. And from that, those acts of kindness, you draw people in and then you oftentimes have the opportunity to God will open the door to share about him. But we are called to plant seeds and the Holy Spirit will take it from there. And so we need to draw people in and the value of the person does that out there. That's right. I loved, in the book, there was a picture of your dad surrounded by multiple other workers and just how his heart was to bring the Bible to them. Like all of the denominational walls were down. It was like he was cultivating this beautiful thing. But in reading that part of your book, I went to the end where you had put in the four days he'd gone through in war. There was a reason of what he went through that when you give those hard traumatic moments to the Lord and what he can do. So when I look at your life, his life, I see the resilience of the Holy Spirit. But talk to us about your personal relationship with the Lord, like did he find the Lord young? You know, did you find the Lord young and build that relationship? Well, my father, it was a growth for him. And he, God really worked through, like in the story, the book stronger than steel. It's a great story. If anybody would like to get a book, they can get it through me. But it's a great book. And it talks about his life from the cold fields to World War II and to what he did at Pitron in the value of the person and beyond. So it's a beautiful story of that. My father came to know Jesus kind of through the process of that. And really at our church, Pleasant Hills Presbyterian Church, he really became challenged greatly. And that actually by R.C. Sproul. R.C. Sproul at the Ligonier Valley Study Center really challenged my father on a retreat before he went into Pitron. And my father said it was go bear fruit, good fruit and love one another. He took that scripture and that was what he was doing. And that's where the value of the person came from. I actually did have a great experience through Billy Graham when he did the Crusades here back at Three Rivers Stadium. So a long time ago. But I felt very called because I had experienced what took place at Pitron when I was in high school there. So I saw the transformation and I felt called after leaving college that God really wanted me to work with my father who had then left Pitron and began to go out into the workplace speaking. And so I came, we started in our basement and we took what we knew to say, how do we give hope to people and show that we can impact the workplace? That's where such a mass mixture of people are in such a great field. So I really felt called and I believe that Jesus kept me with my dad for like 30 years learning beside him for now. My father passed 10 years ago and I was so blessed to be able to carry on the message. He would always say it's not about the messenger, it's about the message and the message of the value of the person will never fail you and it won't. It's a message of love, it's a message of Jesus. So what do you do with your organization, value of the person? I know that you are getting this message in a lot of big companies, 3M, GM, Ford, different ones. What is happening? Tell me how that happens and what you've seen. Well, actually we're a very small organization and continue to keep it that way and really it has been word of mouth for all of these years. There's always been one person that God has like placed in an organization that connects with us and it's really been that way that we have. We don't have a lot of advertising or anything like that, but it's been those doors opening. But we also have a vehicle which we do seminars, value of the person seminars. A lot of times we're in organizations whether it's healthcare or manufacturing, whatever that might be that we go into the organization. But I just now started doing, which I'm really excited about, October we just did our very first open seminar where people can send to come and learn about the message, come in groups from different companies and really be able to see the difference that they can make. So instead of like one organization instead of going into one company, you just invite whoever wants to come. Well, that must be very interesting interplay there because companies have different cultures. Oh, absolutely. And so what we really work on is how to challenge organizations. And the church as well, we had our last seminar in October when we did it, we had people from churches that came with their staff and that, you know, to say, yes, no matter how good we are or where we are, we need to continually work at a culture. Like because you need to be, again, I say purposeful, you have to be purposeful in, you know, how we want to present ourselves to people because we have the opportunity to touch lives every place we go. And it's in the simplest of ways. And if we could begin to understand that, that working hard at that side within an organization, touching people's hearts and letting them do what God has given them the opportunity and the purpose to do, is to love one another. And so when you begin to build on that, we talk about doing what is right, period. That's what makes the difference with value of the person. We don't say put value of the person into your organization because you want results. It's because it's like, that's what makes us different. It's unconditional. Why do I want to value and love you? It's because it's just right to do, period. And then byproducts come. And to me, the most beautiful byproduct is that of people taking from the workplace. When your workplace becomes one build on culture and goodness, that goes and impacts the home for good. It talks about relationships between husbands and wives, not just between managers and employees. It's really interesting because it's not just, oh, we're gonna hang up a few posters and change the culture. It really is about caring about that person. That's right. I love you have the five Rs listed, right, relationship, responsibility, reconciliation and results. And this thought of reconciliation, I really, how this, I feel was birthed just in what I've observed and read in the book is like your dad went through the trauma of World War II which took him years to let that out. But really, God took that moment, that he so desired to have reconciliation and peace because he saw what war is like and it was between the manager and the employee. And I love how we can stay stuck. You said to me about pain and purpose. Talk to our viewers about that because I think we've all gone through those moments and can get stuck. Absolutely. So just real quick about my father. He was in World War II, he was a point man and he was going through the Siegfried line and he faced a soldier, German soldier and he dropped a grenade at my father's feet and it blew up. His second scout, which was red pressed and came and grabbed my father and protected him and took a bullet for him. My father has had a hole in his head, we called it. It was an indentation and he said to me one day, he said, Nancy Jean, I want you to know that I believe that God placed that mark right in the front of my forehead. So every time I look in the mirror, every time I look in the mirror, I see what God and what red died for me and I need to make a reason for his death. I need to live a life that's different. And so God placed him through that. And so as we've grown in the seminars and touching people in companies, I was saying that there was a, when my father died, I was like, I can't carry this on. I'm not Wayne, but I felt so called that Jesus said, like he prepared me for right now to be able to take the value of the person forward. And one of the union presidents at this company in St. Louis, it's Amstead Rail Company and this union president came up to me and it was the first time I'd gone back to do some work there after my father passed and he said, just want you to know, do not let your pain keep you from your purpose. And how many times do we do that? It doesn't have to be huge pain. It could be disappointment and that we let us, in our workplace, we let disappointment and we let what someone said, keep us from what God wants us to be, you know. You know, I wanna, well first, I wanna recommend to everyone the book, Stronger Than Steel. You should definitely get a copy of this book. We'll have a link to Nancy's website. We did find one on Amazon, so there's some out there. Yeah, but you want the good copy. You want the good copy. Because I added a last chapter to it. Okay. You know, after my father died, so it's a great book. Let's talk about somebody who's watching. Maybe they're a worker, maybe they're a low-level supervisor, a shift supervisor, or a department head, and you know, just maybe a small department. How do they make the change in this big company they work for? I know it really is best when it starts from top down, but what can they do right now? Well, right now what they can do is they can say, you know what? I am going to make a difference. I'm gonna be purposeful and I'm gonna change my actions when I walk into work today. And so when you begin to think about how can I impact that person? Knowing someone's name, going up to someone, think about how many times we maybe just walk into our buildings. We walk onto the floor of the hospital and we don't even pay attention. By the act of just thinking about the things that I can do differently that would be a light to others, you can begin to start to change things. You also, you know, in terms of just connecting with me and with value of the person, you know, you can enlighten those that maybe God places, you know, some managers, some people in leadership, you know, to say, hey, there's something that's coming up, it's here in Pittsburgh, or you can send people to something. You know, so that's another way, but it's really about individuals. We can make such impact by how we walk in a grocery store. You know, it's amazing and we don't think about that. We don't think about that. We could be that still small voice in the chaos around the hectic, you know, how hectic things get in life. We can be that voice that someone's gonna say, what, this is different. And you draw people in and you can be a testimony. You can be, but maybe your role is just to plant the seed. And the Holy Spirit's gonna let someone else be that, you know, take them back to church or whatever it is. You know, it's amazing what we can do if we begin to really think about life as being a mission field and we need to be the light for Jesus, build the relationships and value and love people. And to me, the workplace is such a fertile ground for us to make impact. This is on top mission field. I mean, it is where it has to happen. That's what I love about the story so much because so often we can get this dichotomy of, well, this is what we do in church or this is what maybe what we do in our community, but work tends to be a separate thing and it shouldn't be a separate thing. Well, I know you mentioned Juniper Grill and we have Atria's two restaurants here, but we work very hard at trying to really root our culture in the biblical principles of love and dignity, instruct and valuing. And it's hard. You disappoint each other. You get caught up in an anger of a circumstance and you know, it's a difficult thing, but we can still continue to come back down to those basics of leadership. So you make, you mess up and you said, go and you take the time to say, I'm sorry. You know, people respond to that. And so, you know, we really work hard at that, you know, and are trying to actually grow our Juniper Grill so that we can not just grow into other states, but we wanna grow it also the culture so that we grow kind of those principles and values we can impact along with that as well. When both of our couples, you know, when we were there, it was really busy, but they took time to talk to us. And really talk to us and really find out, you know, what we needed. That's right. She even gave us an inside on an ingredient. Oh, really? And the cornbread was amazing. We were like, all right, we know. Don't get her in trouble. It was wonderful, but just her kindness. And you know, I'm thinking about, do you have one of those collaborations coming up, you know, this coming year that if we would have people interested and you like think, I'm thinking of churches because I feel like so often, sometimes within the church framework, we can do the same thing where we are. So just have about a minute left. So real quick, what's coming up that someone can be involved with? Okay, well, I have an open seminar that I'm hosting in Pittsburgh, February 6th and 7th. And so you can, you know, email me if you want more information on it or just, you know, let me know that. So that is definitely coming up and would love for that. And if anybody out there who's in the business community owns their own company, send people. Yeah, value of the person. We'll have a link on our website for Nancy's website. Nancy, thank you so much. Thank you. It's wonderful. I'm so blessed by being here truly. Well, it's wonderful to have you and wonderful to hear the story of Pitron, to hear the story of value of the person. God cares about you as a person and he cares about the people you work with and for and work under you as people too. Have a great day in him. On tomorrow's Hope Today, shining the hope of Christ into the darkness. Speaker and author Jacob Coyne offers encouragement to those who are hurting by uncovering God's plan for healing and restoration. Don't miss tomorrow's Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.