Brandon Swoboda outside of his office in Rogers. | Photo credit: Caitlyn Shaw
ROGERS, Ark. – Brandon Swoboda is among the few men who has pursued passions in almost every job imaginable. Formerly a grocery store worker, junior varsity basketball coach, magazine publisher sales employee, pool cleaner, lawn care worker, pizza shop owner and pastor, Swoboda now takes the role of President and CEO of local nonprofit, Workmatters.
Born and raised in Texas, Swoboda was a walk-on basketball player at TCU. Swoboda said he knew about God, but didn’t know what it meant to believe in Jesus as his savior. During his college years, a young woman asked Swoboda if he had faith. He quickly realized that his former upbringing demanded his church attendance, but not his soul’s purpose.
“One weekend, I read through the book of John. God really opened my eyes and showed me that there was a story between Jesus’ birth and Jesus’ death, and there was a story after his death…There was a resurrection and more to come. When I read that, I just decided, ‘I want this God.’ He opened my eyes,” Swoboda said.
After Swoboda expressed his interest in knowing more about Christ, he was mentored by a man named John Barren, who was in the process of getting his seminary degree. Being mentored created a deep faith within Swoboda and changed the trajectory of his work life.
“What was really neat about that is that the young lady who introduced me to reading the bible became my wife. We’ve been married for twenty-eight years and have seven children, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson,” Swoboda said.
In college, Swoboda was encouraged by a man named John Hawkins, who told him to read a book called “Your Work Matters to God”. From then on, Swoboda’s world changed when he found that his faith could inspire his work. Amidst a growing faith and family, Swoboda took on numerous jobs to help pay his bills, but was never consumed with the stress of his paychecks.
“From the beginning of my work journey, God put in me a solid understanding that faith and work were inseparable,” Swoboda said.
Swoboda recalled the moments he spent long hours keeping a failing pizza restaurant open and praying that God would help him transition to a different phase of life. His relationship with God only grew when he went through hardship, and this prepared him for the future.
While Swoboda shifted towards his next phase of life, the former founder and CEO of Workmatters, David Roth, was preparing to transition out. After attending a church conference about living out the Christian faith in the workplace, Roth felt called to be involved in a new nonprofit. He knew he wanted to inspire workers to be unified and to believe that their work mattered to God.
Workmatters became the first nonprofit of its kind in the Northwest Arkansas area to evangelize people in corporate jobs. Roth could see a need for this in his own life and recognized that hundreds of other people did too.
Workmatters holds conferences and lunches to provide education on how biblical principles can be lived out in the office daily. Roth said that giving people an organized way to implement Jesus’ teachings into their work lives is something churches don’t do enough, and that’s where the nonprofit fills the gap.
As the Workmatters board held several meetings for CEO candidates, Roth met Swoboda and they instantly connected. Swoboda’s love for work and promoting his faith shaped the vision for the future Roth wanted, and their decision was made.
“He’s one of the best human beings… He’s just an incredibly hard worker. He’s got the perfect skill sets…and he’s a really good leader,” Roth said.
Roth and Swoboda developed a close-knit relationship through the transition of leadership for the nonprofit. Roth explained that historically, when founders, especially within nonprofits, leave, it’s really hard for them to detach. It often doesn’t go well for the person who is chosen to lead after them. Meeting once a month for lunch and sharing life together, they both believed the transition was smoother than most leadership changes.
Now, after three years of representing Workmatters, Swoboda is taking the nonprofit to new heights and honoring those who came before him.
In September, Workmatters held a conference for employees in the Northwest Arkansas area to be enriched by guest speakers who are leaders in well-known businesses in the area. Representatives at the conference included Nick Hobbs and Shelley Simpson from J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc., and Jeff Metzner from Procter & Gamble.
The nonprofit also has several sponsors who help fund their vision, such as Simmons Foods, Rausch Companies, Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners, and First Security Bank.
Workmatters hopes to provide a different experience than an average church service and supplies the spiritual growth that is desired among Christian employees. Many people can get lost in the mix of the quick progression of the corporate world. Swoboda steps in to ease the tension of chasing success and hopes to instill a purpose in those employees.
Swoboda said that God references what our relationship with work should be. Speaking from the book of Genesis in the bible, he said that God wanted us to be involved in his plan since creation started, and that working was ingrained into our nature.
“Work is where your faith is really tested,” Swoboda said.
Inviting employees to see what God’s plan is for their lives within work, Swoboda is on the front lines, leading this new stage of the nonprofit’s future. Swoboda is still closing gaps by working hard daily to provide the community with structural biblical encouragement in the workforce.