Given the responsibility of strategic and personnel decision-making, it’s often said that leadership of a company, a large organization, or even a small company can be lonely work. And given that most C-suite occupants and business owners are white, it can be even more lonesome if you’re Black.
But if that leader is also a person of strong faith, fellowship with like-minded people can seem even harder to come by.
Imagine the relief of Chrissy Thornton — a Black woman, the CEO of a Baltimore-based nonprofit and someone who grew up in the church — when she discovered Iron Forums, a gathering space for business leaders who are also people of faith. Her first meeting, she recalls, was a revelation, in more ways than one.
“I’m just blown away. I’m, like, ‘What’s happening here?’” says Thornton, the top executive of Associated Black Charities, a coalition of grassroots humanitarian organizations. “It was the first time I considered what it meant to be a leader and to unapologetically show up also as a Christian.”
‘Iron Sharpens Iron’
Founded in 2003 and named for Proverbs 27:17 — “Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend,” — Iron Forums describes itself as a community for “owners, entrepreneurs and ‘solo-preneurs’ who are humble, hungry and led by the Holy Spirit, or desire to be.”
Its website describes Iron Forum’s mission: “We’re a peer community of Christian business owners, Advisors, and seasoned leaders who come alongside each other with real experience, honest perspective, and prayerful support. No gurus. No pretense. Just leaders helping leaders so you don’t have to navigate growth alone.”
For many participants, the value is less about networking and more about shared experiences. It offers a space to connect as believers navigating the unique pressures of leadership, family, and faith-driven enterprise. Forum members are facilitators who are business leaders, advisors who are seasoned or semi-retired business executives, and members who are typically small-business owners. Finding balance in all areas is most important.
Leading With Purpose, Integrity
Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper, CEO and publisher of AFRO News, says she was drawn by Iron Forums’ “intentionally Christ-driven” agenda, and its commitment to “supporting the whole woman—mind, body, spirit, family, and business.”
“Many women leaders’ needs are often overlooked — especially the need for a space that honors both strong leadership and sincere faith,” Draper says. Though the organization is grounded in faith, she says, “Iron Forums offers practical, actionable business counsel while also holding us accountable for what we say we want in our homes, our work, and our walk with God. As an advisor to the newly launched Baltimore Women’s Forum, I can honestly say I get more than I give.”
With thriving groups in Atlanta and more forming, Iron Forums equips women to lead with purpose and integrity.
Draper introduced Thornton to the organization during its annual National Day of Prayer meeting in Baltimore. Now the facilitator of the newly formed Baltimore chapter, Thornton was excited to be invited into such a group she never imagined existed.
“I was blown away. There were 250 leaders in the room, people who I had seen in different places of leadership or people who sponsor [Associated Black Charities],” Thornton says. “And people I would have never stopped to think they were believers. Not because I thought they weren’t believers, but I had never even thought about it.”
The discovery of Iron Forums prompted Thornton to reevaluate the role of faith in her professional life.
“For me, someone who has spent, like, a lifetime in the church, in my mind, [faith] was something that needed to be separate from work,” she says. “And I have always kept it for the most part, in my work journey, completely separate.”
God and Leadership
The pilot Baltimore session was held in September with a room full of women entrepreneurs, Thornton says.
“We went through a lesson, part of the curriculum that comes from Iron Forums,” she says. “Then we do something called ‘snapshots,’ a process by which we rate our proficiency in areas that should be important to us.”
“But first and foremost is our relationship with God, with our spouse, partner, family members, children, and then in our business,” Thornton says. Iron Forums led to her first encounter with Ben Abell, a retired pastor and business executive, and an Iron Forums group facilitator.
When he asked about her current ABC challenges, Abell popped an obvious question: “Well, how have you invited God into your leadership?”
Thornton paused for a moment to think: “I looked at him, because I had not,” she says.
Although Thornton acknowledges that incorporating faith into her business career was not a part of her vision, she had already found ways to blend the two, with ABC, whose founders included faith leaders. That blending led to the ABC Revival, an annual event.
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