Article July 11, 2011 Issue

A high-stakes project led by prayer

By Linda Rolfes

Three summers ago I found myself climbing a staircase, with ten minutes to come up with about $50,000 worth of computers. Maybe you’ve been in a similar situation: There’s an impossible deadline, no resources, the stakes are high, everyone’s depending on you, and it looks like there’s no way you’re going to come through. 

“Father, thank You. I know that You will unfold the perfect solution to us.”

Let’s go back a bit. I work in a national engineering firm, and at the time I was heading up a technology department that includes a 3D studio. We had a wonderful client with whom we had built a warm relationship. In this case, the client was facing a political vote that could cancel one of their most important projects. The opposition had portrayed this project as having a negative impact on the environment, and the client asked my firm to create a 3D visualization to help them better communicate the benefits of the project to the public. The challenge was that this project had many stakeholders, many voices, and many opinions. My team didn’t seem to have enough people to do the work, enough data to work with, or enough time to do a proper job. And yet the client and the city’s local government were depending on us to help them tell their story.

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