Jason Johnson, serial entrepreneur and founder of August Smart Homes, talks to Rusty and William about when the entrepreneurial itch first hit him while working at a large tech company. From humble beginnings, Jason explains how receiving a scholarship to Pepperdine University introduced him to the responsibility of calling and that entrepreneurship was a natural expression of that calling.
Read MoreIn part two from the Alpine Inn, Henry, Rusty, and William field more questions from our guests but first gave some background on Inklings, the gathering of faith driven entrepreneurs in the Bay Area who meet regularly in the same vain of the original Inklings gathering of faith driven thinkers C.S. Lewis, J.R.R Tolkien, Dorothy Sayer and others.
Read MoreAs Genesis 1 shows us, the first thing God revealed about Himself in Scripture is not that He is loving, holy, omnipotent, gracious, or just. No, the first thing God showed us is that He is creative! For the first six days, God revealed His creative spirit by speaking stars, animals, and oceans into existence. Then, on the sixth day, He created man “in His own image” and called Adam to create, thus reflecting God’s image to the world.
To call a human being “creative” is redundant. We are all made in the image of the Creator God. But as Romans 12 makes clear, each of us has “different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” Some of us have clearly been granted more creative talents than others. Perhaps no Christian in the 20th Century provides a better example of this than C.S. Lewis, the acclaimed scholar, theologian, and author of masterpieces such as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and of course, The Chronicles of Narnia.
Growing up in Ireland, Lewis appeared to be most comfortable when buried in a novel. But not only did Lewis consume literature; at a very early age, Lewis had begun writing and illustrating his own stories. Lewis obviously had a passion for writing, and it didn’t take long for others to validate his giftedness at the craft.
Read MoreThere are some things in life that you cannot fully understand until you experience them, and I would venture to say that founding a startup is one of them. I knew it would be difficult, but I underestimated the difficulty and the depth of which the experience would penetrate my whole self and the ripple effect it would have on all aspects of my life.
In 2011 God called me out of my comfort zone and into a journey of entrepreneurship. In His wisdom and grace, He opened my eyes to a problem, gifted me an idea, and aligned the burden on our hearts to pursue a dream that would somehow glorify Him! …
Read MoreThe first thing God reveals about Himself in Scripture is not that He is loving, holy, omnipotent, gracious, or just. No, the first thing God shows us is that He is creative. In Genesis, He brings something out of nothing. He brings order out of chaos. He creates for the good of others. In short, God is the first entrepreneur.
“Entrepreneur” is a title thrown around so much today that it has become very difficult to define. I would submit that an entrepreneur is anyone who takes a risk to create something new for the good of others.
Read MoreIn this week’s episode, one of our listeners,, Marty, asked "how do you discern your calling". This is an incredibly light and easy to answer question that barely impacts an entrepreneur's journey, so this will be short. Of course I'm kidding, this is something we have all asked ourselves, and is something that is incredibly difficult to navigate alone ... so we had to phone a friend. We are super super lucky to have Dave Blanchard from Praxis join us on the podcast to help our listeners think through this issue.
Read MoreI have listened to Tim Keller thousands of times. Literally. Tim started accompanying me on runs 20 years ago. He always kept up, and never seemed to break a sweat. I’m not sure Tim made me a faster runner (in fact, I’m sure the opposite….he can’t hold a candle to a good house music track IMO for running negative splits), but I’m sure he has made me a better follower of Christ and since my competitive running days are long gone, I’ll take that trade every day.
Read MoreFaith-and-work content consistently beats the drum of affirming that marketplace vocations are as important to God as professional ministry. That message is crucial, as resources like this one give those of us with non-church giftings the confidence to pursue our callings. But we can’t stop there. Even if all believers in the marketplace one day know that our vocations matter, we still need to understand why. Otherwise we may run successful businesses guilt-free, but miss the motivation and focus that come from knowing our place in God’s story.
Read More
