One Way Ministries’ Jennifer Parr mobilizes corporate executives to make a difference for the Kingdom

Ilana Reimer
Special to Spur Ottawa

Jennifer Parr did not plan to become a leader in the corporate world. Initially she wanted to become a probation officer. Yet, by her early forties, she was the vice president of human resources at Enbridge.

“I thought that maybe I’d climbed the wrong mountain,” Parr says. “This isn’t what I’d set out to do. How did I get so far from wanting to be a probation officer and helping people?”

She had built a successful career, owned a nice house and car, and had great vacations; but she was not happy.

“I had a six- or seven-year-old son at the time and I was working 70 hours a week. I felt that my life had gotten so out of balance.”

Today, Parr’s own experience drives her to help other business leaders define their calling and determine how they can best use their God-given resources and abilities. One way she does this is through Halftime Canada. Halftime is a Christian organization, based in the United States, that works with business leaders who are at a half-point in their careers and who believe that God is calling them to something more.

“I know what it’s like to feel you’re robbing your wife or husband and children of your best time.”

Parr says she is passionate about guiding business leaders towards more fulfilling work because she can relate so personally to the pressures of top-level business.

“I know what it’s like to feel you have to work 70 hours a week. I know what it’s like to feel you’re robbing your wife or husband and children of your best time. I’ve walked in those shoes.”

In 2013, Parr began coaching for the Halftime Institute in Dallas, Texas, but she wanted to make the program available in Canada. So, with the support of the institute’s CEO and Ottawa’s One Way Ministries, Parr launched Halftime Canada in September 2017. Although still in its first year, the program has already attracted 50 to 60 business leaders for its first three workshops.

“I had a really hard time letting go of the identity.”

Parr’s own “halftime” journey began in 2000 when she sensed God telling her to take a break. She took a year-long sabbatical to pray, study the Bible, and discern what God was calling her to next. At first, it wasn’t easy.

“I had a really hard time letting go of the identity that I had as being a senior executive,” she says. “When people asked ‘What do you do?’ I didn’t say, ‘Oh, I’m hanging out with God trying to figure out the next half of my life.’ I said, ‘I just resigned from a position as a vice-president of human resources at Enbridge.’”

After her sabbatical, Parr started a coaching and consulting company, working with Christian leaders in organizations such as World Vision, Christian Children’s Fund of Canada, and Next Level Leadership. Eventually, her work led her to Halftime.

“I see my role as a connector between people with so much and people with so little.”

Within the high-level business world, Parr says many leaders face two common struggles: letting go of their sense of security or identity in their positions, and they are held back by the fear of what people will think.

“That’s why the Halftime process is so valuable,” Parr says. “It helps people walk through that period of discomfort when they sense there is something at the other end, but they don’t know what it is or how to get there.”

Parr emphasizes that people are not remembered for how much stuff they had; they are remembered for how they impacted the lives of others and how they loved God. Her work now is all about mobilizing successful people to glorify God with their gifts and resources by responding to the hurt, pain, and suffering around the world.

“I see my role as a connector between people with so much and people with so little. I want people getting to the end of their lives to feel like they understood what their mission and purpose was,” she said, “and that they lived well, for the glory of God.”