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John Truschel

truschel_john.jpg“I see my work in the investment field as a ministry,” says John Truschel, who currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer for the Boston Company Asset Management. “My office is a mission field. The CCO’s vision of ‘all of life redeemed’ is very real to me. I’m far from ideal, but I seek to use whatever influence I have at the firm to move us in directions that God would approve as we make investments, as we hire and fire staff, and as we interact with our clients and prospects.”

John and his wife, Laurie, were both students of the CCO’s ministry, and they both worked for the CCO after their respective graduations. Today they live in Massachusetts, and they continue to draw on what they learned through the CCO in their daily lives.

After serving as a CCO campus worker at Grove City College, John decided to pursue a job in the business world. “I had been working with business students at Grove City for a while, and was trying to help them view their calling to the marketplace as an opportunity to bring a Christian viewpoint, to recognize the distortions in the business world and discern how God intended for economic systems to work.  But I realized that I had no ‘street cred’ because I had only read a few books about the subject. So I felt called to spend a little time in the business world seeing how it really worked. The next thing you know, I’m 25 years into a career.”

John points back to the CCO’s ministry as the place where he was equipped to serve God in the business world, as well as in his family, church and community settings. “The guys who were my best friends in college, and today, ended up in many of the same philosophy and religion classes. We would study together and chat about big issues until all hours of the night. Unless, of course, we stayed up till all hours of the night playing cards, watching David Letterman in his early years, and otherwise having a blast. In ministry, we each took opportunities to take leadership roles in various areas, and we would meet regularly to discuss ways we could make an impact for Jesus on campus. Perhaps we had a bit more zeal than wisdom, but we had big visions and lots of energy. Dave Guthrie was with us all the way, both as our CCO guy, but more importantly, as our friend and co-worker.

“If the CCO ministry hadn’t been available to me, I would very likely to have been a typical suburban Christian yuppie with a highly truncated view of the gospel. My life would have been much less rich and fulfilling, and I would have made even less of an impact for Christ than I have with the CCO’s influence. And I would not have met my wife! It’s really a pretty dreary picture, and I’d rather not think about it too much.”

John adds that “having a former CCO staffer for spouse is awesome, as we agree completely on the kind of worldview we want to instill in our kids. Our three kids have grown up hearing the gospel at home and in church, and while we lived in Pittsburgh, at Pittsburgh Urban Christian School. They each have embraced the gospel and are at various stages of development in their understanding of the gospel’s implications for all of life.

“The CCO’s focus on office, calling, and vocation has been and continues to be instrumental in our sense of where to be and what to be doing where we are. Living a 24-7-365 faith is something ingrained in both Laurie and me, thanks to the CCO.”