May 31, 2024

Taking Back the Nation Through Commerce with Krystal Parker; Episode 10 hosted by Brian & Orlando

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Taking Back the Nation Through Commerce with Krystal Parker; Episode 10 hosted by Brian & Orlando
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Krystal Parker shares her journey from high school valedictorian to college dropout to finding her identity in Christ. She became the president of the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce, which aims to advance the kingdom of God through the marketplace.

The chamber provides a community for Christian business owners and leaders to collaborate, network, and support one another. They encourage integrity, excellence, and making kingdom decisions in the workplace. The chamber also integrates Christian values into business education and helps businesses connect with the body of Christ nationwide. The conversation also touched on the need to rebrand Christianity and counteract the stigma of Christians using their faith for personal gain. The vision for the future includes the expansion of Christian chambers across the U.S. and the influence to advocate for Christian values in the marketplace.

 

Chapters

00:00Introduction and Greetings

03:06Crystal's Journey and Finding Identity in Christ

09:11The U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce

16:29Honoring God in the Workplace

19:44Connecting Businesses with the Body of Christ Nationwide

23:24Rebranding Christianity

25:19Taking Back the Nation Through Commerce

28:41Building a Community of Christian Business Owners

31:25Advocating for Christian Values in the Marketplace

 

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Chapters

00:00 - Introduction & Greetings

03:06 - Krystal's Journey & Finding Identity in Christ

09:12 - The U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce

16:29 - Honoring God in the Workplace

19:44 - Connecting Businesses with the Body of Christ Nationwide

23:24 - Rebranding Christianity

25:19 - Taking Back the Nation Through Commerce

28:42 - Building a Community of Christian Business Owners

31:25 - Advocating for Christian Values in the Marketplace

Transcript

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Iron sharpens iron. So by being around, people are all coming in with different experiences.

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There's church hurt, there's, you know, just relational hurt. There's people that think that

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they're Christians because they go on Sunday and that they don't pray, they don't do anything else.

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And so everybody has a different lens. But through the collaboration of the body of Christ,

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every joint supplies, when everybody comes together, and it talks about this in the Bible,

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there is a wonderful opportunity to help people. Rising tide lifts all boats. And so people that

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have figured it out are in these meetings and in this community. And people that are just figuring

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it out are coming in going, what do you mean Jesus is your CEO? What do you mean you're praying for

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a miracle for your business? What do you mean you're ministering to the workforce through

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Bible studies in your workplace? So everybody's coming in at different places. That's relationship

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capital. That's social capital. Invested with purpose, making the most out of your time,

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talent, and treasures. Pull up a seat and join us as we uncover powerful testimonies that are sure

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to move and inspire you. Meet Christians from all walks of life and hear their incredible stories

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that will both motivate and challenge the way you view the world. These men and women exemplify

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Christian values and biblical stewardship in areas of mission, finance, entertainment, sports, and more.

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My name is Orlando. I am Brian. And you're listening to Invested with Purpose, Making the

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Most Out of Our Time, Talent, and Treasure. Today we have a very special guest with us,

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Crystal Parker, the president of the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. Crystal, welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much. Excited to be here with you today. Excited to have you. Before we get into

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anything, we'd love to hear a little bit about your story from what we've were able to find in

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research from high school valedictorian to college dropout to going back to college eventually.

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A very profound and encouraging story of triumph in your journey. If you wouldn't mind to give us

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a little backstory on how you came to be where you are today. Absolutely. Well, I love to tease

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about that. It was covaledictorian. Okay. That's a big deal because I had all of seven people in

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my class. And so, you know, in the top of seven people. Smart play the averages.

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My little town of 300, I think we had 30 in our high school total. But yeah, I was ready to get

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out of that little town and go set the world on fire. I get to college. I went to KU, Rock Chalk,

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Jay Hawks. And there was 30,000 students there. And so, I really tried to go to school and work

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and do it on my own and ended up dropping out with 21 hours left. And that was just such a hard pill

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to swallow to drive six and a half hours all the way across the state of Kansas back to that small

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town where everyone knows your name and everybody knew I was coming back before I even got back.

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And I think the hardest thing about that was my dad, he was in education his whole life. And he

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told me as a young girl, you're not as smart as your brother and sister. You're going to have to

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get lucky and get something. And you know, and the thing is, my dad was right, my brother and sister

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are super smart in education. I was really smart with people. And what I learned later in life is

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that 85% of job success comes from well developed people skills. And the studies will show that

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people skills are some of the best predictors of success in jobs. But at the time, my dad was

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looking at it educationally. And so coming back as a failure, that was really hard. And just kind of

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deciding how am I going to restart my life. And I'm glad that I got a chance to come out of there

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and do it the right way. Instead of doing it for the wrong reasons to set the world afire and to

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show people I did it because it was what I needed to do and what my calling was. And so I landed

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stocking shelves in a truck parts store as a temp employee for a subsidiary of an oil and gas company.

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And that's really where I got started in business and cut my teeth. And in 12 short years, I became

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the youngest executive running the gas company on the west side of Texas in 47 cities, negotiating

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rate cases, and then taking care of all of customer service for the state of Texas. And that was my

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first entry into the executive life. I think I was one of five women and 60 officers in this

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multi-billion dollar company. And it was just a really neat education. I ended up getting my

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undergrad in psychology. I went and got my master's in marketing and they sent me to Harvard Business

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School. And I got to cut my teeth. That was really how I cut my teeth in business. That's why I say

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business is my sport. I love business. I love the world of business. Absolutely. So where does the,

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ultimately we know hope is in God and the strength comes from God. In your journey,

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when specifically did that switch flip to say, wow, this is about people. This is about knowing

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people, communicating, hearing people's needs, serving people. Where does that come and that

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encouragement? Was there a specific moment or experience in the midst of that, that kind of

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drove you? How did that come about? It really was a challenge because I think for many years,

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it was trying to prove that I was successful and it was really about me. I knew about God. I had

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the 10 year perfect attendance award. Again, accolades, white picket fence, everything perfect.

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I've got the big house, the nice car and I knew God. And because I went to church for one hour

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on Sunday, I thought I was a Christian and I would tell people I'm a Christian and it really wasn't

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about helping people. It was really about helping Crystal be successful. I did not give God the

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glory for that success. I took it for me and it was really about my power, my success. Look what

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I've done and it was a badge of honor that I wore for all the wrong reasons. And I think that was

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part of God just grooming me and showing me. But I think what I learned in that whole process was

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that I know people looked at me and thought, if that's a Christian, if that's somebody that

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follows God, I don't want anything to do with it. There was no fruit around me and my life. And it

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was failure upon failure personally for the success professionally. And I used to worship work and now

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I work as worship. And that really triggered, that trigger flipped for me after leaving corporate,

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leaving my identity completely. I didn't even know who I was, honestly, divorced, a single mom,

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solo mom. And I remember looking down at my daughter, she was about four and a half or five

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at the time and telling her that I was leaving the company. And she looked at me, her eyes were

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filled with tears. She was emotional and she says, but if you're not Crystal Parker, vice president,

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who are you? The sad thing for me was at the time that didn't even strike me as odd because I was

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still trying to figure it out. I had amassed this personality based on my career because I had poured

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every single thing into it. And I really had no idea who I was or whose I was. And so it was part

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of that journey in life. I mean, I was good at building teams, but I was building teams of people

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with diverse personalities and skillset because I wanted to succeed. I wasn't doing it for them.

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And that really flipped for me once I really found out who I was, who I was created for,

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how God designed me and really had to do that deep hard work. I always tell people,

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people want to be discovered, but they rarely want to be developed the overnight success thing.

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Right. And I had to go do that hard work and start to really uncover why am I so focused on

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succeeding and putting all these accolades together? Well, it came back down to that comment

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that my dad made that I wasn't as smart and I felt like I had to prove so much. And so when I just

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released all of those titles, all those accolades and everything, and just really became a child of

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the risen King and knew that that was enough, that was my assignment, everything else fell into place

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very quickly. Amen. That's an incredible testimony to be honest. I mean, there's so much power in

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words, you know, and parents, both Orlando and I are parents. There's so much power in what you say

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to your children and how they can carry these things with us. I just thank you for sharing that.

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Wanted to talk with you a little bit about this Christian Chamber of Commerce. We had the privilege

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of sending someone from our office to the event that was just here in Orlando. She came back with

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just a rave review of all the people that she met, all the things that she heard about, the networking

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that was there, just a spirit-filled event and one that, you know, it's something that we want to look

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at attending in the future. But tell us a little bit about this Christian Chamber of Commerce from

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the U.S. level, because I know there are, like, I've been to a local meeting in Orlando for a

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Chamber of Commerce. I don't think that was part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or Christian Chamber

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of Commerce. So yeah, tell us a little bit about that and how that all works. Yeah, so we actually

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were, I guess, birthed out of Central Florida. So our headquarters is in Central Florida. We came

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from the success from the local community Christian Chamber in Central Florida, 20-year history there.

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And interesting enough, the organization was initially founded as the U.S. Christian Chamber

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of Commerce, and then they put it underground right here in Central Florida and started doing

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business as Central Florida Christian Chamber. So I came in about year 17, and I thought, what is

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this U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce? I was in about two months after COVID. And so people were

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really willing and open to doing business in a different way. We got to see some of that virtual

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stuff come into play. People were starving for community, and we really just kind of changed the

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direction and started to put a structure in place for the Christian Chamber, a business structure,

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creating, I guess, all that stuff that God gave me early. We started to create that structurally

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here in Central Florida. And we found that there was just really wonderful things that happened as

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a result of Christian business owners and leaders coming together and having community, social

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capital, working together to collaborate, all the biblical stuff. You see iron sharpening iron,

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but from a lens of Christ and Holy Spirit for business. And when we started to see that

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successful model come into play, we started to get calls from other Christian chambers around,

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which I didn't even really know that there were any others that existed, asking for help in,

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how are you growing? What are you doing? People started joining from all over the U.S.

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And I knew that at some point God was preparing us to launch the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce.

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So after about three years participating with Central Florida as the president, we made that

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split. We bifurcated the companies, created its own entity in Central Florida, have two incredible

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co-presidents that came in to lead that. And off we launched with the U.S. Christian Chamber with

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the intention to help create Christian chambers all over the U.S. so that people have a local

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community to go to. And then also help business leaders that want national exposure for their

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business and they want to connect with the body of Christ all over the U.S. And then most

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importantly, we're advancing the kingdom of God through the marketplace. All the stuff I learned

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in corporate about worshiping work and thinking that was my identity is the things that we do

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is the things that we get to help business owners and people that are working out there understand

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that your job, your work, whatever profession it is, whether it's from plumbing to sitting in a

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boardroom, that is a vehicle to advance the kingdom of God through the marketplace. Because

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as believers, we have 840 times, there's a survey in the MAMA survey, we have 840 times more ability

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to impact the unchurched than a pastor on Sunday in a 30-minute service. So we're reaching the

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unchurched in an unprecedented amount of time and opportunity. And it's not because we're taking

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the Bible and showing people like hit people over the Bible, you know, we're not like those, that's

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there's no place for that. That really turns people off from God. But if we're working ethically and

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we're working with excellence, the city set on a hill cannot be hidden. We're not letting our light

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hide under a bowl. We're shining the light of Christ in everything we do. We're making kingdom

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decisions in the workplace. And that is what people are saying, what's different about you?

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How do I get that? Who's this God you're talking about? And that's how we'll spread the kingdom of

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God through the marketplace. Wow. So I guess on a more practical level, you talk about the

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differences personally with you were in a more corporate setting, and it was more for Crystal

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into transitioning, I'm sorry, transitioning into when you came to Christ realizing that

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your identity wasn't found all in your work, but in serving others and being encouraged by that. So

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my question is, people are people. And I'm sure the organizations and the different companies within

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the chambers may not all be Christian or explicitly Christian. So what are some of the practical

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ways or some of the practical things that you encourage those companies and organizations?

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You mentioned one is integrity and things like that. What are some of the other practical ways

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that a Christian in the secular world who may be serving somehow that's part of the chamber or

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looking toward it can honor God in that, in their sphere of influence? Well, I think there's a couple

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of different right answers here and probably some I won't even say, but I think one thing is

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iron sharpens iron. So by being around, people are all coming in with different experiences.

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There's church hurt, there's just relational hurt. There's people that think that they're

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Christians because they go on Sunday and they don't pray, they don't do anything else. And so

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everybody has a different lens. But through the collaboration of the body of Christ,

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every joint supplies, when everybody comes together and it talks about this in the Bible,

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there is a wonderful opportunity to help people. Rising tide lifts all boats. And so people that

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have figured it out are in these meetings and in this community and people that are just figuring

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it out are coming in going, what do you mean Jesus is your CEO? What do you mean you're praying for

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a miracle for your business? What do you mean you're ministering to the workforce through

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Bible studies in your workplace? So everybody's coming in at different places. That's relationship

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capital. That's social capital. And the way I look at relationship capital is probably one of the

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strongest currencies that you can have in your pocket. So being able to see this community

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coming together to support, help, to do business with one another. And it's an amazing thing that

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can happen when the body of Christ unites. The other part of it is something I learned early

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in this chamber world. I brought in a speaker. So we bring in education, Christian business education

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through a variety of forms, but everything we do has the lens of the Bible in doing business.

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I think the greatest book ever written on business is the Holy Living Bible. And when you apply those

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those values to your business, it's incredible what can happen. But a lot of times what we've

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been taught early is that the Bible is for church and that these business books are for helping you

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in your business. Well, what we do is we bring that together and we integrate that. So early in my

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presidency, I brought in a speaker, I know as a Christian, but the speaker came in and did an

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incredible talk, but said nothing about the Bible, nothing about the Holy Spirit. It was a good talk.

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And I had one of my members very courageously, and I really appreciate it to this day, came up to me

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and told me what I already knew. And she said to me, that was a great talk. I could have got it at

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any chamber. And I knew right then the conviction of the Holy Spirit that the responsibility of the

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leadership in these Christian chambers and at the U.S. Christian chamber is to always have that

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integration to show people how to take business and put the living word of God in there. And

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using examples that God's given us just throughout that whole Bible in how to do business a different

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way, the kingdom way. And so just by doing those couple of things really, I think help strengthen

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the community. And one more thing, all of the chambers that are in the Christian chamber coalition,

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including the U.S. Christian chamber, we require a statement of faith to be signed.

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I like that. Yeah. So we're not going to call your preacher up or anything like that, because again,

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there's a lot of people that maybe don't have a church home yet, but we're inspiring them to go,

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hey, maybe I need to get back into a church family and really getting them back into the church. But

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by signing that statement of faith, we're saying that I believe that the Bible is real, that Jesus

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Christ was born, he was crucified for my sins, and he rose again, and that the Holy Spirit lives

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inside of me. And by saying that, we're all least approaching things, at least on the same,

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on the same vein. We're still people, though. People are still people. We need a savior.

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Yeah, absolutely. That's really encouraging. And I so much appreciate that

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you're very clear. It seems like there's clear standards. It's not just a matter of, yeah,

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we say that we are a Christian chamber, but it's kind of just like everything else.

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I so appreciate that there's a clear standard there and the statement of faith and it's

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foundational, I'm sure it's cross-denominational there, to where all different Christians can

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come together and serve and honor God in their capacity.

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I was going to say there's some interesting parallels to what you just raised, Crystal, and

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what we see here at Timothy Plan, because you talk about the training that people have gotten and

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how the Scriptures are the authority, right? And then ultimately in our world, in the investing

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world, our CEO always says, where did you get your training on how to handle money? And many times

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it's a secular training. I learned how to save. I learned how to do this stuff. I invest because I

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want to retire. And you don't think about the spiritual impact of it all and how much the Bible

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says about money and how we are stewards and how there's a better way, a Christian way to handle

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your money and not just a secular worldly way. And there's something I wanted to ask you about.

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There's a stigma out there I think people have sometimes where they think, oh, there goes a guy

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that labels himself a Christian and he puts a fish on his bumper and he says, a Jesus is a fish,

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a Jesus bumper sticker somewhere and then he rips me off. There's that stigma out there, right?

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They're just using Jesus to virtue signal something. Do you help these businesses learn how

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to counteract that in some way? First of all, being part of the Christian chamber, a lot of these times

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business owners don't have accountability, right? They have their employees, they're making a lot

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of money, they may not have boards or people around them for accountability. So I really like

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the Christian chamber because I've received those calls that say, this person ripped me off or

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whatever and he says, or she says they are a member of the Christian chamber of commerce.

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Well, we've got to change the stigma. We've got to rebrand Christianity. Ford Taylor said that,

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I loved it. We've got to rebrand what it means to be Christian because there have been some bad actors

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out there that use that sort of wolf in sheep's clothing. Like I'm a Christian, but they don't

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have the heart of Christ. And when you can find the real deal out there, you find real kingdom

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people operating in the Holy Spirit, you cannot fake that. So once you learn to see what are real

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Christians in business, how does that work? And then that's also a wonderful thing about being a

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part of the community is we kind of bring people along the way. There's people in here that are

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Sunday Christians. That's what I call them. Cause I was one. They're Sunday Christians, but they're

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learning a different way. And how else are they going to learn by being around a community of

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believers? And I love what you guys do talking about money and really being intentional about that.

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That's something that's really foundational for the Christian chambers because how do we know

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who our Christian businesses out there? How do we find them? We have to start to be more

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intentional about how we spend our money, who we spend our money with, because what's happening is

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people are doing business with other companies and that money is going around about way being used

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as a weapon against everything we believe in our values, our families, our identities, our Jesus

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Christ, the foundation. So that we're, we're basically arming the enemy because of our lack

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of knowledge. And so what we really provide is a solution to help people know this, this is one

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that publicly declared that Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior. I don't care what denomination you

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come from. I really don't care what way you vote. I just want you to vote and I want you to declare

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Jesus as Lord. If we can get that far, then we can start to do business together and we can take

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back our nation. We can change the nation through commerce. And so I just love what you guys stand

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on and what you're doing because it's in such alignment with who we are and what we believe in

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too. You're hired. Absolutely. Yeah. So, so, so many parallels there with investing and investing

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with purpose and realizing that, um, like you said, a lot of people, a lot of times don't know the

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effect that their finances or their investment has on the world. They're just looking on the return

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on an investment. But at Timothy, we look at an investment as something more comprehensive.

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What is the return that it's going to have on the culture and society? All of those things matter.

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In looking at your story, I saw that there was a book that greatly impacted you and your life

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that you read, a John Maxwell book, I believe. Would you mind sharing a little bit about that and

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how working with John and how that book has helped you in your journey? You bet. So it's 21

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Irrefutable Laws of Leadership for those that haven't got it or are not familiar with John Maxwell.

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John Maxwell is one of the greatest, I think he'll go down as one of the greatest on leadership. I

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mean, he's incredible. His teaching, his wisdom, God's just really blessed him and he is a follower

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of Jesus Christ and very openly. And so I love that about him, but 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,

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you know, as a, as a dropout and somebody that, you know, really didn't have a very good identity

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in herself and belief in myself. When I saw, when I got a hold of that book, it just started to

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really show me what it means to be a leader, you know, and it was, and it's, it's a journey,

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really. I mean, I always say that the teacher arrives when the student is ready. And so I could

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probably read that book several different times throughout my career and get different things,

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but that was really an incredible book. And John's been just an amazing, I actually became a Maxwell

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consultant because I just love John's work and I wanted to learn more and be a part of that community.

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So yeah, I think, you know, the biggest thing is making sure, you know, what you're taking in,

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where's the source of it, because that's so important, just like what we do with our dollars.

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It's also very important who speaks into your life. And, you know, people would say to me, well,

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I'm looking at a couple of different, working with some different companies for my business,

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and one of them is not Christian. And I just personally say, nobody sits at my table and

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speaks into my life because we're told to guard our hearts unless they have that same value set

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that I have, because it is so important. And Maxwell is one of them that's at the top of my list.

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Yeah, he's great. He's great. So you mentioned, we've talked about all these businesses that can

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be part of the chamber is, who should join? Who should be a part of the chamber?

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Who should join the chamber, the national or the US Christian Chamber of Commerce, or their local

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Christian Chamber of Commerce? What type of business? I mean, if I'm a plumber, if I'm a

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roofer, if I'm a real estate broker, is it anyone that's in any business?

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Yeah, absolutely. And we need all the businesses, again, every joint supplies.

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We're seeing at an accelerated rate, businesses, Christian businesses getting canceled, debanked,

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defunded. And when that happens, who do I go to? Who's my friendlies out there? Who can support me?

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Who's a good merchant services person? So we need all the businesses to come in. I always tell people,

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this isn't the Christian Chamber. This is the Christian Chamber. This is the US Christian

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Chamber of Commerce. This is the alternative to what's in the world. And frankly, it's the

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alternative that we all need to find. It's almost the arc, if you will, because of what's happening

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in this world. We are living in a post-Christian society, believe it or not. And on our watch,

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on our watch, we should be ashamed of ourselves. And listen, my mom always told me, when you go to

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babysit, you leave that house better than how you got there. Well, we've got to leave our nation

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better than when for our kids, because I heard you both say, your parents, and looking at what's

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happening in schools, looking at what's happening all around us with just this world that we're

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living in. And for those that are watching this later, we're in May of 2024, just so you know,

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SOS. And here's the thing, we've got to do something different. And so by joining the US

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Christian Chamber of Commerce, you're publicly declaring that I am a Christian in business,

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and I'm proud of it. And I want to be a part of a community of people that are saying, it's time

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for a change for our nation. And when we do that, that's how we see city transformation,

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because now there's intentionality about the dollars that are being spent, the education that

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we're hearing, the growth that is happening in our community. And what happens is we're seeing the

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transformation in cities. And that's why you want to join the local, because you want to have,

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a lot of times business leaders get so focused on their company and their business,

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they don't take a second to look around and go, oh, wow, what's happened to our city? What's

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happened to our nation? Well, I can tell you what's happened. You were too busy building

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bigger storehouses and focused on yourself, while the enemy is out there hitting base run

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after base run after base run. And for Taylor, who's the chairman of our board, he says, the

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enemy's playing check. We're playing checkers and the enemy's playing chess. And so it's time we

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wake up. It's time that we have a little bit more civic mindedness and not leave the country to

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drift because that's what's happened. We will not drift into becoming a better nation. We have to

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get up and take ownership of it. And when we do that and when we're intentional about who we're

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doing business with and we take back that mountain of economics, we can truly make a significant

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difference in our communities and our nation and our world. So goes the US. Absolutely. And I love

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what you mentioned about drifting. And it just makes me think of the Christian walk and Christian

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disciplines. We don't just drift into holiness, if you would, or being intentional about prayer and

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fasting, reading the word. It's not something that we just accidentally do. And that applies

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to everything, whether it's working out, business, that intentionality is so, so important. And my

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next question is in the same vein as far as what you mentioned in leadership. And from what you said

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here, it sounds like you have a vision that the Lord has given you for where you want to see

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businesses and Christian chambers. Tell us a little bit about the future and what the future

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holds, any upcoming initiatives for the Christian Chamber of Commerce and what some of your hopes

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are and how you hope to see it expand. Absolutely. So my vision is that our grandkids will say,

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how did the Christians used to do business before the Christian chambers? That it just

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be such a common staple for Christian businesses and communities. We've helped launch West Ohio

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Christian Chamber. And the reason that they reached out to us to have us help them create a Christian

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chamber is because he and his wife own a very, very successful thrift business. And they have

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a great philanthropic arm through there. And what happened is one day as a chamber member,

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he opens the platform and in the directory and he sees his business listed next to Adam and Eve's

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workshop. And he said, I can't do this. All of the meetings are around alcohol and gambling.

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And now he researched it and they did ribbon cutting and supported that and let's help them

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grow. And he says, what are we doing for Christian businesses? And that's why he started West Ohio

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Christian Chamber, the Northeast Florida Christian Chamber up in Jacksonville started because these

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guys were part of their Chamber of Commerce and their chamber started to support candidates.

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That do not have the values that we have and to help them get elected. And they said,

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we can't give our membership dollars to help with that. And so we're seeing these Christian

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chambers arise in communities around the U.S. and it's a refuge for Christian business. Christian

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and we sphere across all of the different spheres of influence or the mountains. We're in education,

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we're in government, policy, business, media. That's what you're seeing these Christian chambers as a

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tool to unite the body of Christ, no matter what sphere of influence you're in, so that we can

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have resources, that social capital and safety and refuge. Now, that's not to say that we don't do

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business in the world because we're called to go into the world to reach people for the kingdom.

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But we have to have a community to support us because we are not alone and the enemy

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would prefer to have us be alone, to be choppy water, to be separated. And that's what's happened.

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And so a uniting organization like a Christian Chamber of Commerce is a catalyst to unify the

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body of Christ. And there's so many amazing things that could come as a result of it. So

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visually, I'd love to see Christian chambers all over the US locally. I'd love to see the US

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Christian Chamber of Commerce have the influence that the US Chamber of Commerce has and have that

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backing so that when they're trying to inject people with COVID vaccines or they're trying to

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put a board of patients in healthcare, that we can say no and no for the Christian businesses.

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It's not going to start top down though. We've got to get Christian businesses from all over

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to come together to create a massive tsunami that is stopping the enemy right in their tracks to say,

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we are here to advocate for Christian business and Christians communities will be transformed as a

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result. That's fantastic. I mean, you're talking right up our alley here. I mean, this is incredible

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and Christians do need to come together and support each other. And we look at the other side and we

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think, how are they so successful? And it's because they work together and we all sit around and fight

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with each other half the time or who takes the credit and all this stuff. And we have ministries

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doing the same thing. And it's like, let's just all get behind each other and work together like this.

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That's right. That's right. It's common vision, common language, common technology.

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And the people, unfortunately, that are against the Christian values have figured it out. They

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have a common enemy and it's us. And we don't fight flesh and blood. I want you to know that

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we are about love. We truly are about the love of Christ. He showed us exactly how to do this.

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But, and I love it in first Corinthians three, and that was the whole premise of the conference

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that we just had. And what Paul is writing into Corinth, he's talking about, I can't even give

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you solid food because you guys are fighting about stuff. And he's really talking about unity,

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identity, know who you are in Christ, stand on the foundation of Jesus Christ. We build these

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companies on Jesus Christ. We've got to show them how to do that. Listen to the Holy Spirit,

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listen to the Holy Spirit, operate with the Holy Spirit, unify, come together in community.

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And lastly, be coworkers for the kingdom of God, go advance the kingdom in the marketplace.

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We can do that. We can make a difference. You sure can. So before we finish up here,

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we wanted to ask you about a book you recently authored called Kingdom Commerce.

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You tell us a little bit about that and how people can find this book and what it's all about.

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Yeah. So, wow, Kingdom Commerce, that is something that we really believe that's that intentionality

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on doing business with Christian business leaders and really making a difference in the

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marketplace. And so we came together with Higher Life Publishing, who's a Christian chamber member,

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and we decided to do a co-authored book that we have several authors, like 24 authors that have

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written personal stories of very successful business leaders about their experience in business.

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And it could be anything from learning to listen to the Holy Spirit around all of those five things

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that I mentioned, building your business on Christ, gosh, identity and the importance of

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your identity. So just all of those things come together in this book. And what I love about it

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is it's short encouraging stories from real life people in business. And you can find it at uschristianchamber.com.

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So if they go to uschristianchamber.com, you'll find Kingdom Commerce book and you can check it

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out there. And we're just getting ready to put it out in stores where books are sold. But we definitely

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would encourage you to pick that book up. Now, this same website is that where people can find

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you about or information about the US Christian Chamber or where can they find like if they have

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a local Christian Chamber they don't know about? Yep. So they would go to US Christian Chamber

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of Commerce and then you'll see directories on our website. And once you go to the directories,

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we have the Christian chambers that are in our coalition. Meaning, what does it mean to be in

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the coalition? It means that we require a statement of faith, that we are accountable to our members,

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that we have a directory for Christian chambers. So we have some small rules that we say for those

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coalition members. So any Christian Chamber that's part of the US Christian Chamber coalition will be

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listed in that directory and you can find them there. And I would say this, if you don't have a

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Christian Chamber in your community and it's something that you really want to see, you want

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to see that transformation in your city, reach out to me and you can find me at uschristianchamber.com.

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Just go to the contact us, it'll get to me. And let's talk about what would it look like to put

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a Christian Chamber in your city. We're not franchising this. This is really led by the

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spirit and it's led by people that are stepping up that are getting more civic minded and saying,

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now is time for a change and I want to be part of the leadership for that.

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Well, this is a very, very exciting interview with you. We really appreciate your time and it's just

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so great and encouraging to hear someone that hears God's calling and you go through things

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where it feels like everything's taken away from you and you rely upon God and look what it has

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brought you now to leading a US Christian Chamber of Commerce and helping to put these into the

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different states of the US all over the place. So we're just very appreciative for the work

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that you're doing, Crystal. And thank you so much for joining us. Thank you guys. And right back at

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you. I love the work you're doing too. So thanks. I'm honored. Invested With Purpose is brought to

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