Faith Driven Entrepreneur

Why would a founder decide to never fire anyone? Dylan Wilk , CEO of Human Nature, joins the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast to share the story behind the company’s no firing policy and to explain why he believes grace and forgiveness are the greatest HR policies.  He recounts a situation where an employee stole from the company and instead of firing him, Dylan chose to forgive and help him chan...

Imagine you’ve reached every expected height of success before you turned 25 and then God tells you to leave it behind. How would you respond? Dylan Wilk experienced incredible entrepreneurial highs at a young age. He flew to work in a helicopter, traveled by private jet, and kept Ferraris and Porches in his garage. And then, one day, a tragedy caused him to take a long look at his life.  God call...

Entrepreneurs have the ability to create a workplace where people can flourish, but we have to act on that ability in order to make that happen.  So in this masterclass-style episode, we're going to dive in a little deeper on this topic.  The episode is organized in three parts, heart, head, and hands. Author Andy Crouch will kick us off by talking about the responsibility and opportunity ent...

Jared Orton is the President of the Savannah Bananas, a baseball team unlike any you’ve seen before.  They create an entertainment experience that’s part dance performance, part trick plays, and part competitive baseball.  Jared has experienced all the ups and downs that come from innovating in a space with a legacy. Since the organization’s founding in 2016, he and the team have had their share o...

Culture can be a bit of a buzzword. What does it really mean for a company to have values and an identity? And how can leaders of those companies make sure those values don’t just become another page on the website or words on a wall in the office? In this episode of Stories of the Movement, we’ll hear about Booster, one of the largest school fundraising companies in the country. They’ve built a c...

In this episode, Joey Honescko , Henry Kaestner , and Justin Forman discuss the themes of battling idolatry and identity in entrepreneurship.  They emphasize the importance of seeking the Holy Spirit and aligning one's identity with Christ, share personal experiences of wrestling with idolatry and the need for approval, and highlight the significance of meditating on God's Word, seeking...

The best way to fight against idolatry is to seek the voice of God.   So, what does that actually look like?  In this episode, we're going to hear three perspectives from three incredible leaders around the world.   We'll head first to the UK to hear from priest and author, Nicky Gumbel for a chat he had with Henry about a framework he has for hearing the voice of God.  Then, we'll...

What do you get when you mix a trained physicist, a seminary grad, an entrepreneur, and a Silicon valley venture capitalist?   In the case of this episode, you get an awesome guest who somehow checks all  those boxes.    Phil Chen is the CEO of cold electric and the owner of the new Taipei Kings, a basketball team,  in the recently founded Taiwanese pro league. It also happens to be where past pod...

Imagine you're a young entrepreneur with a lot of promise. You've got grit. You've got vision. You've even read zero to one. And recently you acquired some substantial wealth.   But there's still one problem.   You and your partner have had some pretty strong disagreements and it's time to part ways. For the most part, you've done all the hard work. You've c...

In this edition of the “riff,” Patrick Lencioni joins Henry Kaestner for a short conversation about some of the hidden idols of entrepreneurship. Then, Joey, Justin, and Henry dive further in, examining how we easily turn good things into gods. Justin and Henry share how they have learned to fight against the temptation of “safe” idols by practicing disciplines of confession, community, and prayer...

“For every church we plant, we need to start a business.” - Mark Batterson Can Faith Driven Entrepreneurs really partner with their churches? What would that partnership even look like? In last week’s episode, we talked about the need for partnerships between entrepreneurs and pastors. In this episode, we highlight the voices of three pastors– Mark Batterson , Chip Ingram , and John Mark Comer –wh...

Entrepreneur: what is your relationship like with your church? (We really want to know!) Church leaders and entrepreneurs have the potential to be radical partners who influence and impact communities for the glory of God together. But often, we find a strange divide between these two groups that interferes with the good work they could be doing together. That’s why in this week’s podcast episode...

Everyone has different end goals for what they’d call ultimate success, but most of us are chasing after something. For many entrepreneurs, “going public” stands as the ultimate sign that you’ve truly “made it.” And if that’s the case, then today’s guest, Renji Bijoy , is on the verge of making it. But that’s not what keeps him going. Renji is the CEO and Founder of Immersed, the company behind th...

Dr. Emerson Eggerichs and special guest host Mike Sharrow join the show to take a candid look at how entrepreneurs can overcome the challenges they face in their personal and professional relationships. Dr. Eggerichs is a renowned counselor and author, as well as the founder of Love and Respect, a ministry that grew from the success of his best-selling marriage book of the same name and has expand...

Do you ever feel like you're so fixated on what you're building next that you forget to look at the opportunities right in front of you?  Right now people around the world are looking for meaning, purpose, and value.  And many of them are searching for those things through their jobs.   So that means you, as a founder, have a chance to provide these people with the very thing they long f...

Why would an entrepreneur start a Mortgage company in the midst of the housing crisis? In this new segment called “Stories of the Movement,” we take a narratively compelling, high-production look at the work of Faith Driven Entrepreneurs living out their call to create. The goal is to unite the movement through stories because every Faith Driven Entrepreneur, no matter what industry or what commun...

The middle of February is often filled with commercialized images of love. Flowers, chocolates, those little chalky tasting heart candies with sweet messages.  It all revolves around Valentine’s Day.  And in between booking restaurant reservations or talking about how you reject the hallmark holiday, we might stop to ask ourselves, what do we really love? Most of us know the right answers here: fa...

Can we just be honest with ourselves and admit that, for most of us, our prayer lives stink?  We all know we’re supposed to pray.  We’ve read where Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. Maybe we’ve even tried instilling new habits, only to have them fall apart shortly after we test them out.   It might even feel defeating at this point–as if prayer is just another task we can’t work into our chao...

In this conversation, Jordan Raynor challenges the belief that the only way our work matters for eternity is if we use it to share the gospel, arguing that our work has intrinsic value to God.  He’ll build upon half truths to make them whole by tracing the story back to what he calls “the first commission:” the command to be ambassadors for God on this earth, creating culture in ways that honor an...

As Christians, we can easily get wrapped up in this belief that the church is on the losing side of history.  We feel the shifting winds of culture blow away from us.  We hear story after story of major church leaders either leaving the faith or succumbing to some sort of moral failure.  It makes sense to ask ourselves: where are our wins? Where does the Church have victory in times like this? In...

Entrepreneurs are on the cusp of a mental health crisis.  Anxiety. Depression. Loneliness.  These are just as familiar as innovation, grit, and leadership. We feel the stress that comes from building something new. We carry the burden of our teams, knowing they and their families have trusted us and the vision we’ve been given. Entrepreneurship can be heavy, but there are ways we can lighten the l...

The New Year brings new opportunities to examine our goals, to get focused both personally and professionally. So how do we do this well? How do we establish goals that actually get done? How do we make sure those goals align with our faith? And most importantly, how do we stop ourselves when we start putting our value in the things we achieve? In this special edition of the Faith Driven Entrepren...

Entrepreneurs build things. We create. Innovate.  We follow in God’s footsteps by forming new things. But, how often do we think about our own formation? How our habits and our work are shaping us into becoming certain kinds of people? This week on the show, Rusty talks with Jeff Haanen , the founder and former executive director of the Denver Institute of Faith and Work and the author of the rece...

Entrepreneurs often navigate unique challenges while holding onto their faith values, but what about those who work in unconventional spaces, like tattoo studios? In this episode, Henry and William are joined by Sara and Rodney Carrera , the duo behind Anomaly Lifestyle Art and Tattoo in Plano, Texas. Sara handles most of the business while Rodney is They open up about the challenges and victories...

Entrepreneurs are often thinking about how to build the best team. But how often do we think about the teams under our own households? In this episode, we’re joined by Jeremy Pryor , an experienced entrepreneur who has recently co-founded the organization “Family Teams” We get into practical ways we can care for our spouses and our kids. We’ll also unpack what he calls the failed experiment of Wes...