Top 25 Faith Driven Entrepreneur Podcasts
We’re admittedly biased and think all the shows are packed with powerful truths to encourage you on your journey. But here’s a few of our most popular episodes. If you’re new to the show, this is a great place to start.
TIM KELLER
Who Do You Think You Are?
“In traditional identity formation… you are your duties. In modern identity you are your… desires.” While it’s different from our typical format, Tim Keller gave an exclusive talk at our annual meeting challenging us with how we evaluate who we think we are and how that measures with who God says we are. Listen to the podcast here.
PHIL VISCHER
Have You Ever Had A Dream?
Phil Vischer 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. This episode calls us to ask that all important question: as we’ve accepted Jesus as Savior have we also accepted Him as Lord? Listen to the podcast here.
ANDY CROUCH
A Rule of Life For Redemptive Entrepreneurs
On this episode, the team spends time with Andy Crouch, partner for theology and culture at Praxis. Andy shares with us the basis of the 6 key disciplines needed to define a redemptive entrepreneur—time, money, imagination, decision-making, power, and community—and how these are instrumental in our identity information. Listen to the podcast here.
DON FLOW
Letting Trust Drive Business
Imagine you’re walking into a car dealership to buy a new car. Now, most people don’t associate that thought with a pleasant experience. But Don Flow and Flow Automotive set out to change this idea. In this episode, he opened up a fire hydrant of business wisdom and counsel ranging from what it means to create a covenant with your customers, how you can be the type of business that causes others to rejoice at your success, and why you should show respect before you earn respect. Listen to the podcast here.
CRAIG DEALL
Serving Those Who Steal From You
“If a man steals your farm, teach him how to farm.” We’ve all heard sermons and messages on forgiveness and turning the other cheek, but the story of Craig Deall takes these truths to a whole new level. Under the rule of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe forced thousands of industrial farmers to give up their lands. Generations of family wealth was gone. But rather than seeking revenge or restitution, Craig chose the path of reconciliation—actually working for the very men who stole from him! Listen to the podcast here.
MAX ANDERSON
The Entrepreneur’s Hidden Battle With Depression
We invited Max Anderson to come in and help us tackle a difficult yet important topic—depression among entrepreneurs. Recently, what he found was staggering—entrepreneurs are anywhere from 2-10x more likely to suffer from mental challenges. It’s a topic that’s extremely important, yet remarkably under-discussed, so we thought that with Max’s help we’d push the conversation forward today. Listen to the podcast here.
JAY STRINGER
The Journey from Sexual Brokenness to Healing
Last year, on a single porn site alone, people watched 4.6 billion hours worth of pornographic videos. Clearly, sexual brokenness is a problem. Jay Stringer, author of Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing, is helping us understand this subject. Even if sexual brokenness doesn’t sound like a primary struggle for you, the statistics Jay shares will make it clear that if you have more than one employee, odds are you know someone who is dealing with this issue. And that’s why we wanted to talk about this. Listen to the podcast here.
PETE OCHS
Jailhouse Business
This episode takes us to jail. Well… not exactly. But we are interviewing a man who owns and operates a business that is run out of a high-security prison. His name is Pete Ochs, and in addition to working as founder and chairman of an impact investing company, he’s also working to make Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas the best prison in America. How? Well, we’ll let him tell you. Listen to the podcast here.
PAT LENCIONI
The Motive of Faith Driven Entrepreneurs
This guest is a special one and someone you’re probably already familiar with. Patrick Lencioni is a renowned business consultant and the author of 11 books—including The Ideal Team Player, The Advantage, and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team—which have sold over 6 million copies.
In this episode, we got to hear him talk about his new book, The Motive, that dials into the why behind every great leader. Few people have more expertise on the subject than Patrick Lencioni, so stop reading this and start listening!
JEFF & ALLY DAVIDSON
How An Interview With Hulk Hogan On Their Wedding Day Started A $40 Million Business
When Ally Davidson woke up on the morning of her wedding day, she had no idea the journey that God had prepared for her, nor did she anticipate it would start with a tryout for the television show American Gladiator that very same day. Fast forward a few years and Camp Gladiator has over 3,500 locations across the country with over 100,000 members. Tune in to hear how interacting with Hulk Hogan jump started Jeff and Ally’s business, how they’ve seen community and exercise drastically affect people’s lives, and how their faith impacts everything they do. Listen to the podcast here.
ALAN BARNHART
God Owns It All
Originally a small family business started by his parents, Alan Barnhart and his brother, Eric, of Barnhart Crane and Rigging, 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. Listen to the podcast here.
JOHN SOLHEIM
Finding God in Golf and Business
In the golf industry, there are few more recognized names of excellence than PING. This episode takes us to Phoenix to interview the CEO of PING, John Solheim. He’s the second generation of family leadership since the company’s inception in 1959. We take a look at their family’s journey to become a preeminent brand and what faith looks like in such a publicly recognized company. Listen to the podcast here.
NORM & SCOTT MILLER
The Generational Transfer of Interstate Batteries
One of the growing trends in the Faith Driven Entrepreneur movement is seeing a generation of faithful leaders looking to pass the baton to the next generation. Norm is the Chairman and Scott is the CEO of Interstate Batteries. They steward a company that for the past 6 decades has been leading its industry with outrageous dependability. You may know Interstate batteries from their logos on the side of NASCAR winners, but you may not know that they’ve also been discovering ways for their faith to lead them in caring for their team and developing an award-winning culture. Listen to the podcast here.
FRANK CHEN
Investor As Servant Leader
Frank Chen stopped by to talk about how he’s helping entrepreneurs change the world at the Silicon Valley venture powerhouse, Andreessen Horowitz. As Frank describes it, they are “helping entrepreneurs build software companies that are eating the world”. Frank let us in on what his heart as an investor looks like. He pulled aside the curtain a bit and let us see that investors aren’t so much the terrifying titans up on the hill. They are servant leaders who want to help others be successful. Listen to the podcast here.
NANCY DUARTE
An Interview with Nancy Duarte
There are few things more important in our lives than effective story telling. There are few better people (maybe no one?) that do a better job at helping people tell their stories than Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design. They help CEOs of Fortune 100 companies tell their stories, and maybe something more impressive: they are the “go-to” firm to help TED presenters tell their stories well. Listen to the podcast here.
CASEY CRAWFORD
Are Christians Called to Comfort?
Entrepreneurs know what it’s like to be uncomfortable. Yet, there’s something in modern/Western Christianity that expects comfort. We often act as though God has called us to a life of comfort and ease, not one of stress and sacrifice. But as Casey Crawford points out, Jesus didn’t exactly live an easy life! And this is just one way he gave us a great perspective alongside a paradigm shift in this podcast episode. Listen to the podcast here.
BOBBY GRUENWALD
The Entrepreneurial Story That Led To 370 Million Reading the Bible
Bobby Gruenewald of YouVersion gives 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?). Listen to the podcast here.
NATHAN SHEETS
Image Management: Growing Through Failure
Image management is a struggle that everyone faces, but it’s one that we rarely address. And for entrepreneurs, this issue is especially acute. Because as an entrepreneur, you have to look like you have it all together, right? You’ve got employees and shareholders relying on you—the leader. That type of pressure creates a situation where it’s all too easy to want to hide behind a manufactured version of ourselves. Nathan Sheets, CEO of Nature Nate’s Honey, told us exactly what that pressure looks like and exactly where it can take you. Listen to the podcast here.
HORST SCHULZE
Taking Service to Another Level
Horst Schulze is co-founder of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and author of Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise. He is full of insight, wisdom, and experience that is ripe for any Faith Driven Entrepreneur, so don’t let us keep you from him any longer. Listen to the podcast here.
JOHN MARSH
God Loves Idiots Too
The team sits down with John Marsh of Marsh Collective to discuss storytelling, what it’s like to run 10+ businesses (the collective part of Marsh Collective), and how to be the steward of 10 square city blocks for the glory of God while being totally unqualified to do so. John helps us understand the practicalities of living in the midst of kingdom tension: being both dead and alive, content but fruitfully multiplying, living here but not being from here. Listen to the podcast here.
COBY COTTON
The World’s Most Trusted Entertainment
How homemade trick shot videos filmed in the backyard of a college house turned into a multimillion dollar business for five best friends. Join us as we ask Dude Perfect just how they turned a college hobby into a full time job. With over 56 million YouTube subscribers, Dude Perfect has grown from a college hobby into a household name. Today, we’re going to talk about the early days when they were just making videos for fun, the day they all quit their day jobs and went all in, and what the day-to-day looks like now.
LECRAE
The Reach Records Origin Story
Lecrae is the staple of the Christian rap scene. When people are looking to define the genre, they look to him. And with good reason—he has won 3 Grammy awards. But before he was the face of Christian rap, he and Ben Washer, now Co-Founder and CEO of Reach Records, were recording songs for summer camps and pursuing their creative dreams in the best, scrappy way they knew how. We talked to both of them about the story behind Reach Records, why Lecrae moved to a traditional label and then back to his own, and how God is using their talents to share His message.
BEN & LIZ BOHANNON
How do you Build a Healthy Family and Growing Business?
Is it possible to have a healthy family while building a successful business? That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode with Ben and Liz Bohannon of Sseko Designs. Their business began as a way to generate income for high-potential, talented young women in Uganda to continue on to university. Since then, it’s grown rapidly from a Shark Tank phenomenon to a global success. Listen to the podcast here.
TOM NELSON
The Scoreboard of the Monday Church
Tom Nelson is the visionary pastor of a multi-site church and has been widely recognized in the Faith Driven Entrepreneur community for his book, Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work. What we love about Tom, and why we had him on the show, is because he is working on a replicable model for what it looks like for the average church to affirm and encourage entrepreneurs. Listen to the podcast here.
STEVE GREEN
The Entrepreneurial Journey of The Museum of The Bible to The U.S. Capital
In this episode, we connect with Steve Green, President of Hobby Lobby, the world’s largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer. Steve is also Chairman of the Board of the Museum of the Bible and the visionary leader in establishing one of the world’s largest private collections of rare biblical artifacts. Steve saw a way he could bring God’s Word to people who may have never encountered it before. In this episode, we learn how the Museum of the Bible leads people through the history, impact, and narrative of Scripture. Listen to the podcast here.
BRYANT AMBELANG
Unleashing the Power of People and Increasing Productivity 300%
Hear Bryant Ambelang, President and CEO of NatureSweet, the largest greenhouse producer of tomatoes in North America, share about the incredible things God’s doing to unleash people through his business. Bryant explains the power of connecting people’s purpose and passions to their work and tells stories of how God uses that type of energy for His glory. Listen to the podcast here.
JESSICA KIM
Redeeming the Entrepreneur-Investor Relationship
No one likes to be a part of a dysfunctional relationship. Yet, entrepreneurs and investors can often be on completely different pages with completely different goals and expectations. Today’s conversation between Henry Kaestner and Jessica Kim gives both sides of the story. Jessica shares how setting unrealistic expectations hurts the entrepreneur’s ability to follow through and the investor’s ability to determine success. And Henry talks about the fundraising side of his entrepreneurial journey and what he now sees from an investor perspective. Both sides are worth listening. Both sides have a lot to learn. Both sides can do a lot better. So, regardless of whether you’re an entrepreneur or an investor, today’s episode is for you.
VIC HO
How should a Christian Let People Go?
Vic Ho is the founder of Fivestars—a business with the mission of “transforming transactions into relationships.” In this episode, he talks about what happened when the start-up hit a rough patch and needed to lay off 50 people. Vic felt compelled to take a different approach, one that was consistent with the company’s values: humbly admitting his mistakes, honoring the workers’ contributions, and mobilizing the entire firm to help those being displaced. Listen to the podcast here.
DRAYTON McCLANE
Saying No To Sam Walton and Other Entrepreneurial Stories
We 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. On this episode, you’ll hear a list of lessons that we gleaned from Drayton’s extensive experience as an entrepreneur, business leader, and philanthropist. He tells the story of how Sam Walton of Walmart eventually bought his business. He also 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. Listen to the podcast here.
BRETT HAGLER
3D Printing An Entire Village
This episode features a unique journey that includes 3-D printing homes. Yeah, you heard that right. Printing homes. Brett Hagler is the CEO and Co-Founder of New Story. Under his leadership, New Story was recognized as one of Fast Company’s 2017 and 2019 “Most Innovative Companies In The World.” Brett and his team are working with their partner ICON to 3D-print the world’s first community in Mexico. Listen to the podcast here.
ANTHONY TAN
From a Place of Helping People to a $14B Valuation
If you’re in America, you may think of the company Grab as the Uber of Southeast Asia. Of course, if you live in Southeast Asia, Uber is the Grab of America. Whatever way you look at it, with 198 Million Downloads of the App, 9 Million Drivers in 352 Cities in 8 Countries, and a $14B valuation, Anthony Tan and Grab are making huge waves in the ridesharing industry. Today, Anthony shared his entrepreneurial journey which started with a simple question: how can I best take care of other people?
JON ERWIN
Don’t Abandon The Playing Field
October Baby. Mom’s Night Out. Woodlawn. I Can Only Imagine. What do these movies have in common? They’re all creations from the Erwin brothers. Jon and Andrew have had a passion for creating and making movies since they were young, and today, Jon joined to share where that energy comes from. You’ll enjoy hearing the entrepreneurial energy behind making a movie and the business of filming, distributing, marketing, and every other aspect that makes a hit movie a hit. Lastly, Jon challenged the stereotype of an “evil Hollywood agenda” and charged other Christian entrepreneurs to consider the ways they’ve avoided engaging with the secular world. Listen in to hear for yourself.
TED NGOY
The Donut King
In the late 90’s, Dunkin’ Donuts found it so hard to break into the Los Angeles donut market that they gave up. Why? Because of The Donut King. Ted Ngoy has opened over 70 donut shops in an effort to give Cambodian refugees a chance to earn a living and make it in America. At one point, his donut empire netted him over $20 million and a presidential award for achieving the American Dream from George H.W. Bush. Then, he lost everything. Listen in as “Uncle Ted” takes us through every up and down of his unbelievable story.
DRAYTON McCLANE
The Surprising Solution to Overthinking
Jon Acuff is the New York Times Bestselling author of six books. For over 20 years he’s helped some of the biggest brands in the world tell their story, including The Home Depot, Bose, Staples, and the Dave Ramsey Team. Most recently he’s spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at conferences, colleges, companies and churches. Featured regularly on national media, Jon has been seen on CNN, Fox News, Good Day LA and several other key outlets. Today, he’s going to join us to talk about his newest book, Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking. We think it’s something every entrepreneur should read, but we’ll let you listen to Jon to find out why…
