Faith Driven Entrepreneur

Today we’re on the road, connecting with Jeff and Ally Davidson down in Austin, Texas. They’re the founders of Camp Gladiator, a Fitness Franchise that has over 3,500 locations across the country with 1,000 trainers and 100,000 members. They have a remarkable story of how God used a unique experience in the early days of reality TV to propel them in their entrepreneurial story. Just to give you a little taste, it started when Ally decided to try out for American Gladiators on the morning of their wedding. It’s an origin story unlike any other! As you listen, you’ll find that not only is their beginning remarkable, but the way their faith interacts with their work is as well. They know the value of community and of running a business on Biblical principles, and in this episode we get to hear them talk about both! Listen to find out more about their entrepreneurial journey, how it started, the hard decisions they’ve faced, and how they’re using their business to glorify God and serve others. Useful Links: Ally Davidson Inc Profile The Camp Gladiator Mission Camp Gladiator’s Ally Davidson: “Our Competition Is Netflix. Our Competition Is a Sedentary Lifestyle.” - Texas Monthly

Today the team took a trip deep into the heart of Texas to hear from Drayton McLane, the visionary business leader behind McLane Company and former owner of the Houston Astros. Drayton is widely known for his leadership within Walmart, as well as his generosity toward his two alma maters—Baylor University and Michigan State. On this episode, you’ll hear a list of lessons that we were able to glean from Drayton’s extensive experience as an entrepreneur, business leader, and philanthropist. The stereotype of today’s entrepreneur centers around young, sleek tech startups. If you’re reading about the new and popular businesses, you’re likely to hear about twenty-somethings who have come up with market-busting ideas. And maybe you’re one of those people—if so, great! This podcast is for you too. Drayton McLane provided a look at entrepreneurship over the past 50 years. His scope is immense and so is all the wisdom he has learned during that time. While McLane Transportation was anything but glamorous, Drayton shared the mindset that made them successful. He discussed what it looks like to create a working environment that makes sure everyone is winning and how to make work, and starting a business, fun. He also tells the story of how Sam Walton of Walmart eventually bought his business—it involves a phone call from Sam to Drayton’s wife trying to convince him to sell—and brought Drayton and his team on board as their grocery supplier. At the time, Drayton may have referred to supermarkets as a ridiculous idea, but now he’s pretty glad it worked out the way it did. What makes this podcast special is the story-telling. Talking with Drayton McLane was like sitting on the front porch of a seasoned veteran who knew the lay of the land better than anyone. With 37 years of experience as a CEO it’s no surprise that Drayton has his fair share of stories, all of which can help entrepreneurs of any age along their journey. Whether you’ve been an entrepreneur your whole life, or whether you’re in the midst of your very first start-up, Drayton McLane has wisdom, counsel, and a story or two just for you. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Useful Links: Drayton McLane Bio History of McLane Group—How a Small Grocery Business Grew Into One of the Largest Foodservice Distributors in the World. Local Businessman Helped Lay Foundation for Houston Astros World Series Win

Today we’re connecting with Matt Bird, who is based in the United Kingdom. Matt is the author of several books, including Relationology, The Secrets of Story, and Freedom: How to Live Your Life for Jesus Free From Anxiety and Worry. Another one of his books, Transformation, takes a look at how God is connecting churches across communities, cities, and countries to bring about social, political, economic, cultural, and spiritual transformation. This book is the product of Matt’s work with business and churches in helping them both improve one another as they increase their impact, which is the subject of this episode. In addition to writing books, Matt runs a company called Cinnamon International. What they’re doing is looking at how cities and churches can work together to increase their respective impact. In this episode, Matt breaks down what churches and businesses are good at and how they can help each other. All you have to do is listen to just the handful of stories he shared with us today to see that that venture has been extremely successful in both its growth and impact. Matt’s work gives him a very unique perspective on how movements begin in a city, and then what it takes to see something grow beyond our immediate sphere of influence to catalyze much bigger change. When we spoke with him, we got a chance to hear how entrepreneurs and business leaders can work with their churches to drive this kind of change. We were all encouraged to find out how Matt sees entrepreneurs using their skills of measuring impact to help churches become “bilingual.” What he meant was churches are so often great at telling stories about how their work changes lives, but when it comes to measuring impact they often lack the skills and vocabulary to do so. Matt has witnessed countless business leaders and entrepreneurs come in and help churches communicate the numbers and stories that show the effect they have in the community. It’s a great example of how the body of Christ works together! And lastly, Matt provided exceptional insight into a profound model of social change. His approach to sharing secrets is countercultural, but, as he pointed out, there’s no reason for churches to continually reinvent the wheel in every city. Instead, he points out how useful it is to look to other organizations that are doing great things and how choosing to partner with them instead of creating similar initiatives to compete against them is often the most effective way to serve. We hope you enjoy this episode! At the very least, we think Matt’s polished English accent will be enough to keep you engaged. But we also know that his experience and insight will be helpful for entrepreneurs and business leaders everywhere. Useful Links: Matt Bird Amazon Author Page Matt Bird’s Personal Website Cinnamon International

Today we’re in Cincinnati, Ohio connecting with Scott Weiss with Ocean Accelerator. They have an incredible birth story—coming from the lobby of Crossroads Church in Cincinnati they launched into an accelerator for fast-growing tech companies. For the past few years, they’ve been on a mission to equip faith driven entrepreneurs and owners that bravely step out to change the world. Whether it's their Ocean Conference or their accelerator, they’re committed to investing in entrepreneurs who have a faith in God and a passion for success. As you listen to Scott’s story, you’ll likely hear echoes of what many entrepreneurial journeys sound like. They started in a church lobby where young entrepreneurs gathered for the free WiFi and coffee. What they found was that even though all these startups worked in the same geographical area, they possessed very little community. Scott sheds some light on the loneliness that plagues so many entrepreneurs and how Ocean Accelerator started as an attempt to combat isolation with community. He also dives into the inner workings of Ocean Accelerator—how they operate, how they counsel young businesses, and how they choose the people they work with. Scott also gives a brief taste of what they might be looking forward to in the future. But if you’re looking for a key takeaway, or something that you can write down and think about all day, it’s about understanding your “Why”. Scott talks about the passion, energy, and enthusiasm so many entrepreneurs have, and he shows how connecting those things to an underlying motivator—a “Why”—can be an impetus for future success. Scott Weiss was an incredible guest, and we hope that you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we did making it. His wisdom, insight, and encouragement were illuminating for our team and we believe they will be for you as well. Useful Links: Ocean Accelerator Scott Weiss Entrepreneurial Profile Scott Weiss speaks at Startup Grind Cincinnati

In this episode we’re on the road in Oklahoma City, connecting with Steve Green, President of Hobby Lobby, the world’s largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer, with more than 700 stores and employing more than 30,000 people. He also is chairman of the Board of Museum of the Bible and is the visionary leader in establishing one of the world's largest private collections of rare biblical artifacts. Their 430,000-square-foot Museum of the Bible was opened in 2017 just three blocks from the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Henry, William and Rusty had the chance to hear about the incredible entrepreneurial journey of the Museum of the Bible and how it became a movement across the country. Steve Green shared about his ten year journey that started when he bought an early manuscript of the English translation of Psalms and led to what is now the Museum of the Bible. What’s exceptional is his insight into the opportunity to create this kind of world-class museum. Steve saw a way he could bring God’s Word to people who may have never encountered it before. The entire Green family has been behind the movement to make the Bible more accessible, so this sort of project made perfect sense for them. Then, they combined passion with experience and reached out for the expertise of top-notch designers, architects, and artists to create something spectacular. His vision and implementation of an incredible achievement are worth learning from! In this podcast, we learn about how the Museum of the Bible leads people through the history, impact, and narrative of Scripture. Whether you grew up on the Bible, or whether you’ve never heard a single story, the Museum of the Bible provides an accessible and enjoyable way to learn more about this book. And ultimately, as Steve points out, when God’s hands are involved in the exploration of God’s Word, God’s glory is everywhere. As faith driven entrepreneurs, God has given us the gift, desire, and energy to solve problems and realize opportunities. This doesn't stop with the businesses that we run, but we have opportunities to extend those gifts in other spheres as well. What are the opportunities you see in your community or ministry more broadly?

In this episode we’re just outside of Chicago connecting with Phil Vischer, the visionary, creative who founded Veggietales. To date it's the most popular direct to DVD series of all time with more than 65 million copies sold. It led to feature films, Netflix Original series and became a cultural icon. Phil tells us the story of Veggie Tales meteoric rise to success, the struggles and pitfalls of maintaining that success and truth about what is required to find and keep one’s identity rooted in the one who created us. While his story is not unusual, the wisdom and lessons learned via the journey are exceptional and is deserving of a close listen on what it means to belong to Jesus – not simply as your Savior but as your Lord. Salvation was never really the goal just the tool that is to lead us all towards a relationship with God rooted in His lordship and the restoration of what was lost in the Fall. This week’s episode is calling us to ask that all important question: as we’ve accepted Jesus as Savior have we also accepted Him as Lord? If you have, we would love to hear how this has impacted the organizations for which you are responsible because after all, proof is IN the pudding. Share with us your stories at faithdrivenentrepreneur.org. Useful Links: https://philvischer.com https://www.veggietales.com We also have a very brief survey we’d love for you to take that will help us shape the direction and future of the FDE podcast. As always, we love taking your questions and hearing your comments. Feel free to submit your thoughts in general here.

Byron Loflin, founder of the Center for Board Excellence, joins the team this week, helping us get a handle on the importance of good governance within our organizations. He shares with us his views on why governance is core to servant leadership and promotes healthy, humble accountability that provides a stable runway for your organization’s success. Even early stage firms can benefit greatly from a modestly sized board (3 plus the entrepreneur). Thoughts on how unanimous boards may actually be a sign that the board isn’t providing the robust thinking needed, how they should provide credible challenge and constructive dissent are all topics the team works through to help provide a framework on selecting and maintaining a board that will contribute to the success of your business or organization. And yes, we even broach the subject of how this is too often the least favorite part of the entrepreneur’s job with all giving pointers on how to balance the tension between stewardship and control. A great deal of light is shed on how to take advantage of the very Christian concept of community and fellowship to help provide wise stewardship to an endeavor with this week’s topic of governance. We love to hear about some of your best board and other type governance experiences at faithdrivenentrepreneur.org. Your story helps us in the building of our own! Useful Links: Center for Board Excellence We also have a very brief survey we’d love for you to take that will help us shape the direction and future of the FDE podcast. As always, we love taking your questions and hearing your comments. Feel free to submit your thoughts in general here.

Bobby Gruenewald of YouVersion joins us this week giving us the low down on the origins of this wildly popular bible app with 370M+ downloads and counting. This pastor, entrepreneur and former rap artist (who knew?) shares with the team how the desire to become better engaged with scripture was the impetus to developing YouVersion, the first iteration of which proved to be a failure - a web app because there was just no iPhone yet (remember the days?). The team’s approach to failure, commitment to being faithful to God’s leading step by step and the desire to be the best stewards of all God gives them are all elements contributing to YouVersion’s success and Bobby gives us the details as well as a reveal into the future direction of the app to deepen the relationship between God and His People. Bobby’s community is an example of how a church actively chooses to live within the realm of innovation to further the message of the gospel. Share with us the ways you are innovating within your organizations for the sake of the gospel and the fame of His Name at faithdrivenentrepreneur.org. Useful Links: YouVersion App YouVersion Usage Map Life.Church How to be an Entrepreneurial Leader We also have a very brief survey we’d love for you to take that will help us shape the direction and future of the FDE podcast. As always, we love taking your questions and hearing your comments. Feel free to submit your thoughts in general here.

The team talks to Jon Hart, Partner at Praxis Labs about his work with Praxis Academy, a week-long on ramp into the Praxis community of redemptive entrepreneurs targeting the under 25. For 5 years, this organization has encouraged college-aged entrepreneurs to more actively view their aspirations within the context of their faith, impacting 750 people, from 160 universities and 20 countries. Reminiscent of and deeply influenced by the 18th century Clapham Group of England, Praxis seeks to encourage thought and action around changing culture by producing superior alternatives that are also redemptive in both for and non-profit arenas. Jon explains to us how Praxis Academy is adding to the sea of vocational “hero stories” that influence our career decisions, or using his term, “vocational imagination” that include a wholistic view of Christianity because it’s just missing. University business programs spin the stories of wild success and wealth as a natural part of its cultural lore but too often the Christian marketplace hero stories have been viewed as less compelling. Jon steps us through how Praxis Academy is righting that view with thought-provoking content that includes mentorship and community. He also shares with us a few of his favorite “hero stories” of academy alum. You don’t want to miss this episode! Redemptive entrepreneurship is an integral concept to us, here at Faith Driven Entrepreneur. We’d love to hear about your hero stories in this space, so please reach out to us at faithdrivenentreprenuer.org with your favorites. If you or someone you know is interested in attending this year’s Academy, please apply here. The deadline is May 1st . Useful Links: Praxis Academy Praxis Labs FDE Vlog about Praxis Academy FDE Podcast with Praxis CEO, Dave Blanchard FDE Podcast with Praxis Partner, Andy Crouch We also have a very brief survey we’d love for you to take that will help us shape the direction and future of the FDE podcast. As always, we love taking your questions and hearing your comments. Feel free to submit your thoughts in general here.

This week’s guest is Alan Barnhart of Barnhart Crane and Rigging of Memphis, TN. Originally a small family business started by his parents, Alan and his brother, Eric, grew the company into one of the largest Heavy Lift and Heavy Transport organization in the United States with 1,000 team members in more than 40 locations across the country and a nationwide reputation for solving problems (Even if it means building a 200+ wheel truck!). They accomplished this by actively seeking out a way to express their faith through their business and the team sits down with Alan this week to hear his story. Alan tells us how he and his brother’s decision to view their lives and their company from a stewardship vs. ownership mentality created a productive environment for Barnhart Crane & Rigging to grow in not only its ability to create wealth but to be an intentional investor into the Kingdom. He shares how his decision to live life within boundaries to support his and his families desires to be kingdom investors actually led to greater freedom and blessing for him and his entire family. Alan’s story is proof positive of the gain in deciding to be a faith driven entrepreneur, that submitting one’s whole life and all that’s in it to God is the only way to gain everything and anything else (Matthew 6:33). Share with us how the decision to lose your life so that you could gain it has impacted you and your sphere of influence at faithdrivenentrepreneur.org. Useful Links: FDE Biblical Message of Generosity Right Now Media: The Grove God Owns Our Business We also have a very brief survey we’d love for you to take that will help us shape the direction and future of the FDE podcast. As always, we love taking your questions and hearing your comments. Feel free to submit your thoughts in general here.