Be Unashamed: Ora Et Labora with Carlos Hidalgo

Carlos Hidalgo describes his Christian faith as the backbone of his personal and professional life.
But that hasn’t always been the case.

“I was born in a religious home, not necessarily a Christian home. I knew the story of Jesus, but it had no real bearing on my life,” he told members of the Kuyper community assembled in the Vos Chapel on January 25 for Ora Et Labora, a weekly time where speakers come to campus to talk about their work and how their faith impacts that work.

That all changed with the gift of a Bible in the early 1970s.

“I started reading it for the first time, and it woke a desire in me to know more,” said Hidalgo, who has enjoyed a long career in the world of marketing, most notably as the President of Hidalgo and DeVries Inc., a marketing firm he founded in 1989.

After a deep dive into a multitude of religious texts that always left him wanting, he earnestly asked God to show Himself in the pages of Scripture.

“The Bible came alive once I prayed that prayer. It took some time, but that’s when I gave my life to Christ,” he recalled. 

Now, Hidalgo says the faith he once scoffed at underpins every aspect of his life and work.

“It’s not about integrating my faith into my work,” he emphasized. “It’s the foundation; every other part of my life revolves around it.”

And he is not afraid to share that faith in both subtle and overt ways, even in the corporate circles his professional life intersects with. Over the years, he has had many conversations about faith with those he works with and has even been known to give away Bibles to those who come through the doors of his company offices.

Many might find this kind of bold faith witness inappropriate or intimidating, Hidalgo said, but he does not, and he encouraged his listeners to do likewise.

“It’s just about putting it out there, about being open. Your perseverance yields fruit,” he said.