faith and work

Bob Inglis returns to Hill Country Institute Live this weekend for our second conversation. We discuss how God has worked in his life and how his faith impacted both his time in the U.S. Congress, as well as his work now.

Bob represented a conservative district in South Carolina. Before one of his reelection campaigns, his children asked him to reconsider his position on global warming issues. He visited the Great Barrier Reef, where a Christian who cares for God’s creation and loves God showed the damage being done as the reef is deteriorating. He visited Antarctica and learned about the story in the ice cores which show the carbon patterns of hundreds of thousands of years. Bob now leads RepublicEn.org, an organization for conservatives promoting free market solutions to global warming and environmental issues.

Bob is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Library Profiles in Courage Award. Ths is Part 1 of a two-part interview.

Bob Inglis returns to Hill Country Institute Live this weekend for our second conversation. We discuss how God has worked in his life and how his faith impacted both his time in the U.S. Congress, as well as his work now.

Bob represented a conservative district in South Carolina. Before one of his reelection campaigns, his children asked him to reconsider his position on global warming issues. He visited the Great Barrier Reef, where a Christian who cares for God’s creation and loves God showed the damage being done as the reef is deteriorating. He visited Antarctica and learned about the story in the ice cores which show the carbon patterns of hundreds of thousands of years. Bob now leads RepublicEn.org, an organization for conservatives promoting free market solutions to global warming and environmental issues.

Bob is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Library Profiles in Courage Award. This is part 2 of a two-part interview.

Today’s guest is one that needs no introduction, and we’re so excited we got to have a conversation with him and that we get to share it with you. Horst Schulze is co-founder of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company. 

He is also partnered with Arch + Tower, a customer and employee experience consulting group, in order to produce a comprehensive masterclass of employee and customer experience training content.

Horst is the author of Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise. He is full of insight, wisdom, and experience that is ripe for any Faith Driven Entrepreneur, so don’t let me keep you from him any longer. Let’s listen in…

Useful Links:

Horst Schulze RightNowMedia Leadership Series

Excellence Wins

Ritz-Carlton Founder Horst Schulze On Creating A Gold Standard

It’s no secret that everyone’s day-to-day lives have been turned upside down by the coronavirus. So, in light of current events—the pandemic, along with its economic and social effects—we wanted to bring on a guest to speak into what we’re all experiencing. 

That’s what brings us to Mark Sears, Founder and CEO of CloudFactory. CloudFactory is using technology to create meaningful work for as many people as possible by building the best on-demand digital workforce known to man. 

Early on in Mark’s entrepreneurial journey, he faced a global crisis and the way he led his business during that time is an example for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs everywhere. And today, as he leads a company with thousands of employees who live all over the globe, he’s living and working right in the heart of this crisis.

So, if you’re feeling a bit lost, overwhelmed, confused, or scared during these trying times, let Mark’s words be a source of encouragement.

As always, thanks for listening and stay safe out there!

Useful Links:

Mark Sears - Praxis

CloudFactory

Rising Above the Debris

Nepal Earthquake

On today's podcast, Katherine Alsdorf, experienced CEO and founder of the Redeemer's Center for Faith and Work, joins us to explore some hard questions relating to work in the workplace. What kind of theological approach should we bring to the ethics of business––especially fields like marketing and sales? And how do we deal with failure in a job or ministry that we thought God had called us to pursue? Tune in for this timely and thought-provoking conversation.

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It’s Tuesday. Which means it’s time to gather. Or, as you might say, it’s time to Convene. And that’s exactly what we’re talking about today. Our guest, Greg Leith is from the greater Los Angeles area, and he leads a ministry to Christian CEOs and Entrepreneurs called Convene. 

His work there has taught him what it means to be a healthy leader, as well as what we as entrepreneurs can do to foster and encourage our growth as both leaders and people. 

Listen in to catch the wisdom and insight Greg shared with us…

Useful Links:

Convene

Greg Leith Website

How Do You Grow as a Leader?

Today features one of our first repeat guests! Vic Ho is the founder of Fivestars—a business with the mission of “transforming transactions into relationships.” He shared a little about what they do, but he also talked about what happened when the start-up hit a rough patch and needed to lay off 50 people. 

We all hit rough patches, and how we handle those is a unique opportunity for us to be different. Vic felt compelled to take a different approach, one that was consistent with the company’s values: humbly admitting his mistakes, honoring the workers’ contributions, and mobilizing the entire firm to help those being displaced. 

Tune in to hear this story, as well as lessons he has learned along the way. As always, thanks for listening!

Useful Links:

Faith & Co Video with Victor Ho

Fivestars

What is the Lifeblood of a Business? Previous Podcast with Vic Ho

Up in the Air - George Clooney shows how NOT to fire people

Today’s episode features a unique entrepreneurial journey that includes 3-D printing of homes. Yeah, you heard that right. Printing homes. Brett Hagler is the CEO and Co-Founder of New Story. He’s a Y Combinator alum, Praxis fellow, author, cancer survivor, and a 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur. The list goes on and on.

Under his leadership, New Story was recognized as one of Fast Company's 2017 and 2019 "Most Innovative Companies In The World." Brett and his team are currently working with their partner ICON to 3D-print the world’s first community in Mexico. Forbes recently featured a story about how they are building a whole village from 3-D printing. 

His story is a fascinating one, and we’re so glad we got to sit down and hear it. We think you’ll be glad too. As always, thanks for listening

Useful Links:

About New Story

3-D Printed Village

3-D Printing for the Developing World (Video)

The Power of Purpose: How to End Global Homelessness

We have another entrepreneurial adventure story for you today—this time, featuring Brian Mosley, President of RightNow Media. If you haven’t already heard of them, there’s a good chance someone in your church has. They’re basically the Netflix of Bible Video Studies. 

Their website has thousands of videos and resources from many Christian leaders, which they use to serve over 20,000 churches, schools and businesses. They’ve produced, curated, and published resources on everything from marriage to faith and work to inductive Bible studies and everything in between.

We’ll talk more about the work they do on the episode, but before then, you’ll get to hear the story of how their team stewards the mission they’re on. Let’s listen in to hear Brian’s entrepreneurial journey... 

Useful Links:

RightNow Media

Sseko Story

Hobby Lobby Video

Today we put an end to an age-old question—can a business itself have spiritual meaning? For years as Entrepreneurs, we’ve been called to live out our faith in our individual work activities and relationships. But we are fundamentally about building business enterprises. Can we take it a step further to conceive of the enterprise—the organization itself—as having spiritual significance?

Curtis Chang is our guest who’s recently come out with some work that makes the case for all organizations—including secular organizations—as having a deeper spiritual meaning than what Christians have typically been taught. 

Curtis straddles the world of secular organizations and Christian thinking. He is the Founder and CEO of Consulting Within Reach, a management consulting firm serving secular nonprofits across the country. He has won national recognition from the White House for innovative work in the social sector and teaches on the faculty of American University. At the same time, he is a former pastor, is a Senior Fellow at Fuller Seminary, and is a professor at Duke Divinity School. 

He’s a deep thinker and someone who we found engaging, encouraging, and challenging, and we think you will too. As always, thanks for listening.

If you have thoughts or questions from today’s show, let us know!

Other Topics we discuss:

• Why 89% of CEO's and founders are struggling in their marriage and how God can transform that
• Mike's three important pillars of focus for every CEO
• The reoccurring struggles Mike sees in every CEO and how we can confront them.
• Why Mike believes we are in one of the best times in history to use the vehicle of business to advance God's Kingdom!

If you are a real estate investor or real estate focused entrepreneur, the time is NOW for you to join the #1 mastermind community of like minded individuals. We are already every month on a virtual roundtable discussion to help one another grow deeper with God and go further in our businesses. Our in person event is also coming up in April and we would love to see you there. Apply now at www.kingdomcapitalists.co

Guest Bio:

Mike Sharrow Bio November 2018 Mike serves as the President & CEO for the C12 Group as well as serving on the Board of Directors. Mike joined C12 as a member in 2010 while serving as an executive pastor for a large church in Texas and owner of a healthcare strategy consulting group.

Prior to that, he had served in a variety of leadership roles in both operations and sales corporately for the Walgreen Company, and financial services as well as strategic development work with Health by Design. In 2011, he exited his commitments to join the local C12 practice in San Antonio as an associate chair serving CEOs across that market. In 2013, he and a partner acquired the greater Central Texas region and stewarded it as it grew to a team of 8 full-time chairmen serving nearly 150 leaders.

Mike is passionate about collaboration, strategic planning, Gospel initiatives and BHAG endeavors. Prior to his role with the C12 Group, Mike worked in a variety of industry settings including Walgreens Health Initiatives, TQ Strategies, Health by Design and Grace Point Church, yielding a blend of Fortune 50, SMB and non-profit leadership experiences. It was in 2004 that God first revealed to Mike the “sacred versus secular” divide he had been operating under and began to draw him into the adventure of living one life in Christ with work as worship, business as ministry and all of life as mission.

Mike grew up in Alaska and met his wife Jacqui while in college at Trinity International (TIU) in Chicago where they married in 2002. They have two daughters, Elayna and Sophia. Mike graduated from TIU with a degree in marketing, did graduate work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in theology, Loyola Graduate School of Business in project management, and is an ordained pastor.

Mike is passionate about discipleship, Gospel-driven collaborations, foster care, and integrated missional strategies. He believes the C12 Group represents a breathtaking platform to see leaders, families, businesses, communities and eventually nations flourish through ongoing transformation in Christ. Mike’s mother faced the pressure and possibility of an abortion while pregnant with him, so he is an advocate for what God can do through any situation or crisis! 

Learn more at C12group.com
 

If you’ve followed the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast for a while, today’s guest won’t be a stranger to you. Tom Nelson is one of those visionary pastors of a multi-site church called Christ Community, and he’s been widely recognized in the Faith Driven Entrepreneur community for his book, Work Matters. He also serves on the board of The Gospel Coalition and is President of Made to Flourish.

Today, we had him on the show to talk about a recent article that appeared in The New York TImes—something many of you have read. We were honored to be mentioned alongside some great groups like Praxis and Made To Flourish. But this got us thinking—what does this small piece say about the bigger puzzle of what’s going on in America with faith, work, and entrepreneurship? 

We’re grateful we had Tom Nelson around to help shepherd this conversation. Hear why he thinks the NYT article is reason for hopeful realism and optimism when it comes to the Faith Driven movement. As always, thanks for listening.

Useful Links:

What Would Jesus Do About Inequality?

The Call - Os Guinness

Every Good Endeavor - Tim Keller

In the golf industry, there are few more recognized names of excellence than PING. For today’s show we go out to Phoenix to interview today’s guest, John Solheim. He’s the second generation of family leadership since the company’s inception in 1959. 

As recently as a few years ago, John had the unique opportunity to pass the baton to the third generation of leadership with his oldest son stepping in as company president. Today we take a look at their family’s journey to become a preeminent brand and what faith looks like in such a publicly recognized company. 

John said it best when he said that business is like the game of golf. It doesn’t matter what happened on the last shot that got you to where you are. You just have to hit the shot that’s in front of you and keep going to make your best score. For those of you used to hitting a lot of uncomfortable golf shots (fore left!), this episode will be a fun one.

Useful Links

Golfing for God’s Glory

PING’s New President Talks About Family Business

Excellence in Innovation

Today we are talking to Toby Kurth, lead pastor at Christ Church San Francisco. Toby has been a faithful voice inside the Faith Driven Movement, a friend, pastor and even Chaplain to our team. We’re excited that we finally got to have him on the show today—feels like this episode is long overdue. 

We’re going to hear a bit of his story, and we’re also going to dive in with him on the 5 Marks of a Faith Driven Entrepreneur, which he was instrumental in shaping. If you haven’t read those yet, we suggest you check them out, but if you want to hear more about what they are and why they matter, this episode is for you.

Toby also forced us to ask a great question—what shapes your desires? Asking this is key to aligning our values and desires with the way God wants us to do business. And as Toby shared with us, when our desires match God’s desires, there’s no limit to what He might do through our work.

Useful Links:

The 5 Marks of a Faith Driven Entrepreneur

Do You Know What Is Shaping Your Desires?

I Am The Light of the World - Toby Kurth Sermon

Today we’re talking to Jon Collins, the co-founder of Epipheo—a cutting edge video production company that is passionate about getting to the heart of why things matter. The name of their company comes from the combination of the words “epiphany” and “video.” And from Jon’s story, it seems like those are the two things that have defined his life’s work.

In addition to talking about Epipheo, Jon also shared with us the entrepreneurial journey of The Bible Project, an incredible work that breaks down the context of pieces of scripture in a powerful way. They’ve been viewed over 100 million times in over 200 countries around the world through the Bible App, YouTube, RightNow Media and more. 

Throughout this episode, Jon shared why he’s passionate about the Bible, and why devoting daily to studying God’s word is important, especially for entrepreneurs. We hope you enjoy this episode. As always, thanks for listening.

Useful Links:

Epipheo: Animated Video Production

What is the Bible Project?

The Bible Project - Generosity

What is Google Wave?

The Gift of Generosity

The Advent Conspiracy

Skatechurch in Portland

Bible in Five

Today we’re in the Bay Area talking to Jena Nardella of Praxis. You may know Jena from some of her work improving clean water access around the world and her book titled One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It. Today she works on building the durability and sustainability of nonprofit organizations and leaders with Praxis and recently their team wrote a book called The Redemptive Nonprofit.

We invited Jena on to share some of her story and also to walk us through some of the points from The Redemptive Nonprofit. If you lead an organization or nonprofit, you’re going to find both her story and her advice to nonprofit leaders incredibly valuable!

We’re so grateful for her willingness to share from her own experience, and we hope that her entrepreneurial journey will encourage you on your own. As always, thanks for listening!

Useful Links:

The Redemptive Nonprofit

One Thousand Wells

Blood: Water

Six Commitments of a Redemptive Nonprofit

We’ve got a good one for you today. Nathan Sheets is CEO of Nature Nate’s Honey, and he was also involved with I Am Second,and E3, and you’ll hear a bit of all of those stories. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. When we sat down to talk to Nathan, we had no idea how deep he was going to take us. Right away, he opened up about the ups and downs he has gone through with a level of candor that we couldn’t even believe. If you’re looking for what life as an entrepreneur looks like—and we mean, really looks like—Nathan Sheets has a no holds barred take on the entrepreneurial journey.

Image management is a struggle that everyone faces, but it’s one that we rarely address. And for entrepreneurs, this issue is especially acute. Because as an entrepreneur, you have to look like you have it all together, right? You’ve got employees and shareholders relying on you—the leader. That type of pressure creates a situation where it’s all too easy to want to hide behind a manufactured version of ourselves.

And Nathan Sheets told us exactly what that pressure looks like and exactly where it can take you. We’re so grateful that he was willing to open up and be completely honest with us, and we hope his story about the pitfalls of struggling alone—and the need for real, true community—will serve as both a warning sign and an encouragement to you on your journey.

As always, thanks for listening.

Useful Links

How to Turn Honey into Liquid Gold

Sweet Second Chances - Bonton Honey

Nathan Sheets: Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Award Finalist

Turning a Honey Hobby into a Business

Faith-Based Employee Resource Groups. This term may be new to you, or it may be something you’re already participating in. Either way, this episode is for you. Christeen Rico is leading the conversation around ERGs, and what she shared in our conversation was both informative and insightful.

If you don’t know, ERGs are groups within companies that foster community and conversation among like-minded people. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Toyota, and many more are creating these types of groups, so we’re grateful that Christeen dropped by to give us the inside scoop.

If you’re an entrepreneur looking for ways to foster faith-based conversations within your business, Christeen will tell you exactly what it takes to form these groups. Or, if you’re an investor looking to get involved with companies that already have ERGs, Christeen will help you understand why these groups are important and how they add value.

Apart from that, Christeen was also a fun person to spend time with, and we think you’ll find this episode one worth listening to. Enjoy!

Useful Links:

Christeen Rico LinkedIn

Companies with Employee Resource Groups

Work and Faith Workshop

Faith and Work Movement

Join William and Henry in the Mile-High city as they talk to Jeff Haanen from the Denver Institute for Faith and Work. His article, God of the Second Shift, made waves in the faith and work world, and we’re excited to have him on our podcast today to talk more about how we can move this conversation around theology and business from the corner office to the manufacturing floor. Tune in to hear what Jeff has to share about what a theology of work means for those in the working class.

As you’ll hear, Jeff asks and answers the same questions he posed in his article for Christianity Today. Have we been blind to the “daily humiliations” of those whose work we depend on each day? Have we been interpreting Scripture through our own professional class bias and failed to ask how working-class Americans think and feel about their work? The honest answers to these questions may provide the exact conviction we need.

Listen to hear what a whole new side of the conversation around faith and work might sound like.

Useful Links:

DIFW Website

Jeff Haanen Website

The Faith and Work Podcast

Articles/Books Mentioned in This Episode:

God of the Second Shift - Christianity Today

Working by Studs Terkel

Our Kids by Robert Putnam

An Uncommon Guide to Retirement by Jeff Haanen

The Pinkerton Papers