Latest / UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth / Ep 44 - Faith After Adversity with Scott Arias | Loss, Recovery, Leadership

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Ep 44 - Faith After Adversity with Scott Arias | Loss, Recovery, Leadership · UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth

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Some stories teach us how to lead, some teach us how to
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persevere, and then there are stories that do both at the same
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time. Today's guest has lived through
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pressure, loss, rebuilding, and renewal, and his journey proves
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that God can turn even the most unexpected detours into purpose.
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Welcome to Unmasked, where we take off the filters and get
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real about faith, failure, and finding freedom.
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I'm your host, Wesley Farnsworth, a dad, veteran,
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author, and a man who's learned that God does his best work in
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the middle of our mess. Each episode will have honest
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conversations with people who've walked through addiction, pain,
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or doubt, and with leaders, pastors, and everyday believers
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who are learning to live and lead authentically.
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So take a breath, pull up a chair, and let's get real.
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This is Unmasked. Today, I'm unmasked.
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I'm joined by Scott, a Navy veteran entrepreneur and founder
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of a national construction staffing and consulting firm
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that supports high stakes federal projects across the
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country. Scott built his company from the
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ground up, applying military discipline, biblical values and
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commitment to excellence that has shaped ACE into a mission
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driven organization that tithes 10% of its profits to charity.
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But his story goes much deeper than business.
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Nearly 20 years ago, a motorcycle accident left Scott
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without his left leg and sent him into a long season of
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wrestling with faith, identity and God's purpose.
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Today, he lives with a profound awareness that every victory,
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every open door, and every ounce of strength is evidence of God's
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grace. And he uses his experience to
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guide leaders, serve others, and pour back into those that are
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walking through difficulty. Scott, thank you so much for
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joining us and being willing to share and get real about the
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journey behind the platform. Good morning, Wesley.
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How you doing? Doing great.
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I'm so happy to have you here on Unmasked with us and to Share
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your story so that without further ado, let's just jump
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into it and Share your story and the things that you've been
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through with my Unmasked audience.
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Well, I guess the best place to start is, you know, I grew up in
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Albuquerque, NM. You ever been to Albuquerque
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West? I've never been to New Mexico.
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Nope. Well, good.
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Don't ever go. All your fans went to New
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Mexico. I apologize.
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But I grew up there and it it's the desert and I grew up in a
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small town and two brothers and two sisters.
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And when I got to the point where I was going to, you know,
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rolling into my senior year, I had some family situation.
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So I ultimately decided to drop out of high school and join the
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Navy. So I was kind of a mess.
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And so the Navy kind of shaped me, shaped me up quite a bit.
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And so I joined the Navy and it fit me well because I'm a little
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OCD, you know, So it really fit me well to be able to make my
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bed and do the things that were necessary.
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And then about my 8 year mark, you know, I, you know, me and my
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wife, we got married and I got married at 21.
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We had we had four kids by the time we were 26 ish and and in
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about 8 years in the Navy. I just, I was celebrating my
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advancement to Chief Petty Officer and I was following my
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wife on my motorcycle and lady case come across the center line
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and hit me head on. So I, I, she hit the foot of my
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peg where my foot was on the peg of the motorcycle with the front
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of her car crushed my foot, sent me flying landed fairly close to
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a a fire hydrant. So what you wish could have
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killed me was laying there dying on the side of the road bleeding
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to death. And some army medic just
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happened to stop by former Army medic.
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It wasn't actually in the Navy. He was a military police and she
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actually happened to just be driving by and saw me laying on
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the road turn the kids. I didn't bleed out and called
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the called 911. So Fast forward, I was in the,
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you know, in the hospital at Keesler Air Force Base in
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Mississippi. And all I remember is waking up
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and my wife saying they want to cut your leg off.
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What do you want to do? And I was like, well, dude, do
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whatever you got to do to keep me in the Navy.
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And that was my primary focus. So they took my leg, then took
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my foot that night and took my leg about 3 days later Went
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through over the next six months, I went through 11
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surgeries, mostly work on my left leg, which I where I lost
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it below the knee. So I said I've spent the next 11
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months kind of recovering it. During that part time is really
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where I founded my faith, grew up Catholic and I was actually
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an altar boy in high school. As much as I didn't deserve to
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be an altar boy because I was a a sinful child, you know, I had
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a faith there, but I didn't know how it fit into my life.
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And so one day I was really struggling because I was going
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through prescription drug addiction.
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You know, I had taken Oxycontin for nine months straight.
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So I was basically high the entire time.
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After I lost my leg, the pain was just incredible.
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You could imagine. And so I, I was feeling a lot of
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pain and I decided, you know what, I want to take my life.
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So I went to my garage, sat in my car, turned the car on and I
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sat there for a minute and I just felt like I felt like God
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talked to my heart and he said, don't worry, I have this.
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You just need to get up every day and try as best as you
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possibly can. And I just, something just moved
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me and I, I don't know, I don't feel like it was an audible
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voice, but I feel like it was just, you know, something that
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got placed in my heart. And so I got out of the car, I
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went to the house. And from that point forward, I
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just try to wake up every day and let God take the wheel and
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be in control. And, and that had led to a lot
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of different incidents. I returned back to the Navy, end
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up having to retire them from the Navy because it got injured
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again. And then that's when I built US
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embassies and, and started my own company during that time.
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That's a lot. That's a long story, but there's
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a lot of has gone and gone along in my life that has kind of
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tested my faith. In fact, my wife is going in
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this week to do her to deal with cancer again because she had
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breast cancer 10 years ago and she had it all removed and they
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found another spot. But hopefully, you know, we
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hopefully we caught it soon enough.
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It seems like everything is going to be fine.
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But between, you know, my wife's cancer, me dealing with
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prescription drug addiction, me losing my leg.
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We've been through a lot of trial, have raising poor
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children. We've been doing through trials
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and tribulations And and you know, we've been, we'll be
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married next year for 30 years. It's it's been a one heck of a
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ride. Not what I thought my life was
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going to be, for sure, but it's better and it's more fulfilling
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because of God's intervention. And you have been through a lot
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and first and foremost, thank you for your service.
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And being a father of four kids myself, I can I can understand
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some of that, that side of the things.
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And for 30 years, Congrats on that as well.
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You know, you've, you've mentioned your accident and now
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with your wife's cancer and just everything that you've been
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through and you've you've mentioned, I don't remember if
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you mentioned it now or when we were talking and exchanging
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messages prior, but you mentioned wrestling with God.
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And So what did that struggle look like for you?
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How did faith really begin to shape in the aftermath of
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everything that happened? Well, you know, you go through
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all the stages because they, you know, they say when you, when
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you go through something like that, you go through the, the
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stages of dealing with death, right.
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So, and one of the stages, you know, it got to is where, you
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know, the first one of the first ones was anger.
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You know, I was really mad at God, you know, and I was like,
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why me? You know, why couldn't why did
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this brief moment in my life define the rest of my life?
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And then so I was just kind of honest with him.
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And now that was tough because I mean, as much as I think people
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have this perception of Jesus being this, this hippie with
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sandals walking around, you know, and I was afraid kind of
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to take him off a little bit. You know, I hate to say it, but
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I was kind of, but I, I didn't know what else to do because I,
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I needed help in one way or one way shape or form.
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And so I was just honest with him about that.
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And he, he, you know, I, I feel like I had to be tore down just,
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you know, in order for me to be able to live the rest of my, my
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life the way I have. Because as a difficult thing has
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it has it has been, it's been extremely rewarding in that, you
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know, in that way. And it's funny how God can take
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something so horrible and make it so good.
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And that's really define my life.
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And I always say when you go through difficult times, it
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really tests who you are. And, and what I figured out is
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I'm a weak, flawed man that needs Jesus, you know, and
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although I never want my children to go through what I
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have gone through, I do want my children to have a faith like I
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have developed through the through trials and tribulations.
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Yeah, we're all flawed and we're all weak.
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And that's why we need to use us in our lives because, man, I
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don't know where I'd be in my life without him.
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And so, and I love that you're, you brought up your kids and the
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fact that you don't want them to go see what you've gone through,
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but you still want to be able to have a face like yours.
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And it's something that I think every parent wants and strives
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for, but no parent wants them to have to go through the hardships
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that we've we've had to go through.
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And so when you look back at your life, when you look back at
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all the things that you've gone through, is there a specific
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moment that stands out where faith became more than something
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that you believed and became something that you really
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depended on? You know, the, it's funny how
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like running a business can change and, you know, can really
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test you, test your commitment to God.
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I didn't say probably one of the biggest ones.
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I mean, there's been several in my life, but probably one of the
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biggest ones is, and I love telling the story because it
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just shows God's grace and God's goodness is we had started the
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company and I wanted to do it to where I had built it based on
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principles, you know, some basic principles, Christian
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principles, like doing the right thing, you know, And so because
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I'm a private company, I can choose to do that or, or not.
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So I, that's what I did And, and we got to, I got to a point
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where I was making pretty good money.
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I had been in it for a few years and I just felt like this
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calling, I felt almost selfish, you know, because I had more
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than the average person, definitely more than I deserve,
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but more than the average person had.
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And so I just felt like you just said, you know, you need to do
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more. So that's when we decided to, to
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tie 10%. And it was in November, I
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remember and that, and I, I said, you know, I told my wife
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my, my feelings and my commitment to it.
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And my wife's like, absolutely, I think that we should do it.
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And so we started tithing and the first month we tithed, I had
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the busiest month I've ever had in the history of my company.
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And so, and I looked about halfway through the month, I
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looked at my wife and I said, do you, do you, do you think that
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Jeezy was slowed down if I only gave 5%?
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And so I said, no, it doesn't work that way.
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But that was one of the things, it was kind of like he was
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waiting for me to put my faith in him.
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As soon as I put my faith in him, he opened the floodgates.
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And I've seen that several different times in the, in my
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business, in my life. It's like, you know what, he
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lays this out and you got to be willing to take that step, you
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know, and thank God I took that step.
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And it gets harder and harder because we have this concept of
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comfort. You know, we want to be
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comfortable, but God's not concerned about a comfort.
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He's worried about our character.
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And in order to get through, in order to learn from those
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things, you have to go through them.
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So. Yeah.
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You know, you mentioned failure at the very beginning.
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You know, I always, I heard Michael Jordan once say that
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he's failed more than he succeeded.
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And that's, you know, that's the story of my life.
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It just happens that I didn't give up.
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And the reason I didn't give up is because I felt like, you
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know, what? God is in my corner.
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And what is going to be is what's going to be.
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So yeah. Failure is just another step
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forward. That's the way I look at is, you
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know, and that's one of the things on the show that we we
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talked about is, you know, failures are going to happen.
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Things are going to happen in your life that you can either
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choose to let define you or you can choose to learn from it and
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continue moving forward. And that's why we talked about
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the fact that you're not defined by the things that you've done.
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You're not defined by the things that have happened to you the
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way you were brought up. Nothing that none of that
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defines you. You're only defined by who you
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say you are, more importantly, who God says you are.
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And so I love that you're not letting those failures define
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who you are. You're not letting the accident
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define who you are and let the things that you've gone through.
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And so you mentioned your company ACE.
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You built ACE on humility or with, excuse me, with humility,
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integrity and service at the core, values that aren't always
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celebrated, especially in a high pressure industry.
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How do you practically lead with faith and environment that
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demands pressure and deadlines and precisions and things like
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that? Well, you know, it's fun.
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It's funny you mention that because that that's one of the
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things that was important to me. Construction.
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You're absolutely correct. Construction, probably one of
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the most unethical industries out there.
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In fact, the accrediting body for construction management
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requires that part of the curriculum, 5 classes, part of
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the curriculum that has to be taught on ethics.
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And there's a reason for that is because people are extremely
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unethical. So I just, you know, I had seen
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it first place. You know, I had worked for
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different companies, different owners, and I had seen that kind
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of behavior take place in it. Honestly, it was extremely
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disturbing and it bothered me so bad.
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I just felt like I needed to do something different.
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And so when we, you know, I thought, well, what how was the
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best way to lead? You know, the military teaches
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you one way to lead the civilian world teach another way to lead
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being ACEO teaches a way to lead every, everybody has these
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different ways, right? But then I thought to myself,
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well, who should I model my leadership after?
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And I thought, well, no, no person better than Jesus Christ.
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I mean, he was a servant leader. And so that's something I try to
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preach and something I try to practice is where we openly
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communicate our failures and we're honest about what occurs
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in our business. And I always say it's not
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exactly what you do. It is to a certain degree, but
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it's how you do it. So I unfortunately have had the
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experience of having to lay off and fire people or people quit
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or people steal from me or there's been numerous different
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things happen. But as my wife says all the
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time, I can't control their behavior, you know, but what I
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can do is I can control the way I react to it.
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And the best way to overcome evil is with good.
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And if you look at Jesus life, that's exactly what he did, you
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know, and I think of the, I think of, you know, the coin
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where he picks up the coin and says give unto Caesar with
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Caesar's give unto God. What's God?
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A lot of people don't realize that, but that could have got
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him killed at that point because he basically separated, you
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know, Caesar from God, you know, and I try to take that little
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fearless nature that Jesus Christ taught and kind of try to
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take into my business because this is, we're all going to die.
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It doesn't matter how much you accumulate in your life.
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It's how you go about your life that's very important.
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So and numerous different situations like we haven't an
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attrition bonus. I don't know if you ever heard
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that before, but we pay people if they come to work for us
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after, after they've been there for a period of time, I think
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it's six or nine months. If they quit, we will give them
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a $5000 check. And the reason we do that is we
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got a good thing going. And if $5000 means the
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difference between being here or not, if it's really all about
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that, then, you know, time for you to, to go find something
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different. We've had to, you know, fire or
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layoff people. How do you go about that?
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Well, the way I've navigated that is number 1.
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I, I set them up on a good, good footnotes to be able to find
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another job. It's not my, not necessarily my
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responsibility as a business person, but it's my
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responsibility as a Christian to go and take it a step further.
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So I've helped numerous different employees, whether
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it's been whether they quit or we fired them, find another job
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also, you know, give them enough money and give them benefits
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long enough to be able to make them transition.
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You know, and I hate, hate to say it, but we've actually had
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to, we've had to part ways with a few people recently and you
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know, it's tough because, you know, you have Christmas here.
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So what do you do? You know, you don't want to lay
18:32
somebody off near Christmas. So the best thing you can do is,
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you know what, maybe give them a severance package, whether they
18:40
deserve it or not, give them a severance package to be able to
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carry them through December or January.
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Do do we have an obligation to legally?
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No. Morally, absolutely, because
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it's just money. You know, it really is just
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money. And when you let it go has a way
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of, you know, freeing God's will up a little bit.
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I hate to say it like that, but it's it's you give the get with
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no reason to, with no expectation you're going to get.
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Yeah, you mentioned there the, the a difference between what
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you're legally operated or legally expected to do and
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looking at things from a faith perspective.
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You know, and I love that you give the severance packages and,
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and things like that to people whether they deserve it or not.
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Because having been in that, you know, position where my position
19:29
was eliminated and I didn't get a severance package, it makes
19:32
all the difference in the world. And so as a leader, how do you
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balance your faith versus the worldly perspective of, well, I
19:45
don't have to legally do this, so let's not do it or let's just
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do the bare minimum to make us look good.
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Well. When you when you fully realize,
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and this is when I knew that I was really a follower of Jesus.
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When you put less importance upon the dollar bill and more
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important on looking yourself in the mirror in the morning.
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And doing the right thing. And the way I keep myself
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honest, to be honest with you is we have, we have 3 core values
20:20
of the company. It's do the right thing, have
20:23
extreme urgency of be the gold standard.
20:25
You know, because we found, I found when I open my business,
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that's all you have to do is just do the things that are
20:31
right. Be really good at what you do
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and do with extreme urgency. You're going to be successful,
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you know, because people are looking for that in the world,
20:38
especially when you do the right thing.
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We've had companies write a check by accident for more money
20:44
and did this has happened several times.
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And we send them to check back and say, I'm sorry, but you sent
20:49
us too much money. And they're like, they don't
20:52
know what to do, you know. But they're like, you know,
20:55
that's not expected. But when you turn that over to
20:59
God, you realize it's his money anyhow.
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So 90% is a heck of a whole lot more than I deserve, you know,
21:08
So that's, that's why I think, you know, you're called upon to,
21:12
to do a little bit more and a little bit more.
21:14
It's not, it's not about the ACT, it's about the faith that
21:19
goes along with it, you know, so, so that's it.
21:23
And, and I hold myself accountable through those core
21:26
values because everybody in my company knows, hey, this is what
21:29
we're doing. So I can tell you just like your
21:31
children, if you're hypocritical, they will point it
21:35
out, you know, so you got to. So it kind of keeps me honest
21:39
because every time somebody has to leave or something that and I
21:43
have to take the High Road, I feel an obligation to because I
21:46
ran my mouth and said we're Christian organization and I
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have an obligation to. So I hate to say it, but it's
21:51
reverse peer pressure I put upon myself and but it's for God's
21:55
glory. So who cares?
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I like that, you know, many listeners feel stuck between
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failure and calling, you know, between what happened to them
22:05
and who they want to become. So what have you learned about
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rebuilding identity? Afterlife deals you a blow that
22:12
you never saw coming. And some people may be familiar
22:20
with this word, and I wasn't for years, but I didn't really
22:22
understand it. And it was that concept of
22:25
paradigm. You know, I grew up in poverty.
22:30
My parents were on a janitorial business.
22:32
And life was tough growing up. It wasn't easy.
22:35
There was times where the food was tight.
22:38
And there's, you know, times when my parents couldn't afford
22:41
to pay taxes. And we were in a bad position.
22:43
And there was a lot in there. I remember coming home one day
22:46
and my family tell me we're going to get rid of my animals
22:49
because we can't afford them anymore.
22:52
And so you have this paradigm that you create for yourself.
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I was a high school dropout, you know what, 18 years years old.
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I was poor. I was a dropout, you know, and I
23:07
was, you know, doing everything besides drugs at that time,
23:11
doing everything I possibly can can do wrong, you know, stealing
23:15
and just being totally dishonest, you know, and I hate
23:19
to say, but attaching myself to the culture that I was in and
23:25
that that to me, you know, could, could have been to my
23:30
defining moment. But I'm a big believer in being
23:33
a paradigm breaker. And so that's why I went to
23:36
school, you know, that's why I earned 5 college degrees.
23:40
It was that's why I have a PhD because I didn't want to let
23:44
being a high school dropout to find out who I was.
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You know, I also didn't want to be, I didn't want to be poor.
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I don't think anybody wants to be poor, you know, So I did
23:53
everything in my power to juggle that my desire with what God's
23:57
desire is and ultimately doing something significant open, open
24:02
under the company from nothing. How many people are are founders
24:05
for a company and grow from me, 230 people.
24:09
So for me, it's been a lot about paradigm breaking and it's not
24:13
for my glory. It's not for me, it's for Jesus
24:17
Christ because I want people to look at me in my life and say
24:21
here is a guy that was really messed up.
24:24
You know, guys, he was a drug addict.
24:26
He's a high school dropout, yet, you know, numerous, numerous
24:30
different things. And he chose not to go down that
24:33
road. But why?
24:35
Why? Why would he give, you know,
24:37
when we talk about the tithing as a company, why would he just
24:41
give money away? Why would a say his company just
24:44
give money away? And the only conclusion I want
24:46
people to come to is because I love Jesus and that's it.
24:53
I don't try to set up an expectation where I have no
24:55
expectations. That's his money.
24:57
It's not my money. In fact, of the 10%, we put in a
25:01
fund to the National Christian Foundation.
25:03
And most of the time I'm not even involved in where the money
25:07
goes just because I I don't really care as long as the
25:12
message that Jesus Christ is number one in my life is what it
25:16
is. And it's not just to the people
25:17
we give to, but it's to my staff, you know, they can see me
25:24
doing the right thing and giving and maybe it changes their life
25:27
in one shape or form. And I've seen it.
25:29
You know, we've had people. Not everybody in our company is
25:32
a Christian. Obviously that's a lot of people
25:34
that you know, but we do practice Christian values.
25:36
I tell everybody we pray at every, before every meeting.
25:39
We integrate our, we interwove our, our, some of our values and
25:43
things important to us, our company.
25:45
We have a Bible study once a week online.
25:48
You know, people don't have to participate, but it's there, you
25:53
know, and it's an important, important fact kind of living
25:57
out your life a little bit and how you do things.
26:00
But so that's really what has been about me.
26:04
It's been about showing God's glory through this paradigm
26:08
breaking that fortunately has happened in my life.
26:12
So I don't deserve or never thought I would be in the
26:15
position that I am today. Who would ever thought they had
26:18
four kids? But you know, I mean, there's a
26:20
lot of different ways. I mean, I have had an
26:21
opportunity to do a lot of good things at people's lives and
26:25
that's all that you can really take away from here.
26:29
You know, it's like I helped bring some people to Jesus and
26:32
that's great. You know, I mean, that's what I
26:35
think you're called to do once you're saved.
26:39
Yeah, you know, and I love that you're so humble about
26:42
everything because it it would be very easy for a leader that
26:47
has built what you have built to say, look at me, look at me,
26:50
look what I've done. Because I think that's something
26:52
that happens a lot today in society when, when things are,
26:55
are rough, they're like, God help me, you know, whether it be
26:58
building a company or whether it be overcoming an addiction or
27:02
starting a new career or whatever it is, they, they seek
27:05
the help. And then when it gets good,
27:07
they're like, look what I've done, you know, And they, they,
27:10
that faith starts to play less of a, a role in it.
27:14
So what are some things that you do to keep yourself grounded in
27:18
your faith to ensure that that doesn't happen and that your
27:22
North Star, if you will, remains Christ?
27:27
And that that's a tough one. And that's something that
27:30
especially as man, we struggle with.
27:33
And I'm a, I'm a serious type A So like me and my daughter are
27:38
like, when you look at like the, the, you know, the different
27:41
personality types you have extrovert and introvert.
27:44
Introvert is 1 extreme extrovert is 10 and both me and my
27:48
daughter are 10. So that's a, that's a tough
27:50
thing because that you know, by by nature, I want to be the one
27:55
out there talking the front man. I want, want those things.
27:58
I have that desire. But I eventually got to a point
28:01
where I realized, but why? Why is that important to me?
28:06
And it's because I was trying to be important in this world.
28:08
And when you take away hate, that that's even a, a factor.
28:12
What helped me tremendously is realizing that I have never done
28:16
anything by myself. I have never accomplished
28:20
anything by myself. So #1 Jesus Christ, more
28:25
importantly, He's been there. He's given me, you know, the
28:28
abilities to do different things.
28:30
He's given me the perseverance to push through these things.
28:33
He's given me the hope, which I, you know, that word right there,
28:38
the hope to that, that of tomorrow because this life is
28:42
tough, you know, and it's so that's, that's number one number
28:45
#2 is thinking, OK, well, my wife raised these children while
28:50
I was, you know, out there working till 10 O clock at
28:53
night. So there's help right there.
28:55
And then you go down the litany of people like, OK, what about
28:58
this leader who poured into me? You know, and by doing that, you
29:03
really create this, the sense of humility, realizing that it's
29:07
nothing that you did. The only thing that I can really
29:12
say that I ever done was just pray the prayer to Jesus that,
29:16
and this is a tough one, is that God, I don't know what you want
29:21
to do with my life, but I accept your will, whatever that may be.
29:27
And I'm going to go down that road and I'm going to put my
29:29
best foot forward. And that's tough because when I
29:34
built US embassies, I went to Africa, several different types.
29:36
And I don't want to go back to Africa.
29:38
I mean, you know, America is a great place.
29:40
So I'm kind of scared what God's will may be, but that's OK
29:46
because I may be fearful, but that's not going to prevent me
29:50
from walking through that door. So that's where that's where I
29:53
that's where I get it from more than the humility is just, you
29:56
know, and if you really model your leadership style off the
30:00
way Jesus Christ LED people stick to you, you know, I mean,
30:06
people when you ask, if you ask people, my company, my staff,
30:11
what is the one reason that you're here?
30:13
I mean, obviously everyone has has to work.
30:15
They got to pay the bills, right?
30:16
Do the thing. But why are you really here?
30:18
You can work anywhere and it always comes down to culture and
30:22
whether we joke around, which we do a lot of, whether we do
30:27
crazies, the crazy things. Like, you know, we do a talent
30:30
show every August where everybody gets to do a talent,
30:32
whether that's playing a guitar or my talent is I'm a stunt, I
30:37
do stunts. So two years ago I jumped a go
30:40
Kart on a A10 foot over a ramp with a evil Knievel suit on
30:45
because that's what Jesus would want, you know.
30:47
And then this past year I actually bought one of the guys
30:51
had a had a Jeep Patriot and his transmission was going out.
30:56
So, you know, so he, so I offered him some money because
30:59
he didn't want to, he didn't want to trade in and I offered
31:02
him what they offered trade in. So he gave it to me because I,
31:05
but I knew I was going to do something with that wasn't
31:06
exactly sure. We have a gun range every year
31:09
and I thought, you know what, I'll take it out there and we'll
31:11
blow it up, which sounds awesome, right?
31:13
I mean, it still ran. It was fine.
31:16
But then I thought we did the talent show.
31:18
I'm like, well, you know what, I need to do something.
31:19
And I thought, what if I jumped that Jeep?
31:23
So actually I built in the parking lot of our building.
31:25
I built a dirt ramp and I jumped this Jeep probably 25 feet in
31:29
the air. I mean, 25 feet long and about
31:32
5-6 feet in the air. And I'm not saying that Jesus, I
31:36
don't say Jesus does that, but fear is different when you have
31:43
God in your life. Talk about leadership.
31:46
I was going back to the point that through humility, you're
31:49
willing to do things that will win the support of of your
31:54
people. Like if you ask my people that
31:56
anybody on my staff to come do something for me, whether it's
32:00
on time, off time, they'll do it.
32:02
And the reason they'll do it is because they have, I believe
32:06
they have respect for, you know, for the faith I have, you know,
32:12
not about me, but they have the respect for the faith that that
32:14
I have given. And I don't know where we were.
32:19
I kind of zigzagged around everywhere, so I apologize.
32:23
No, that's OK because that's good stuff.
32:25
I and it's something that I would absolutely agree.
32:27
When you have a culture in place for the company and the cut and
32:31
the employees buy into it, then you're off to the races.
32:35
Absolutely. And so if if you ask them to do
32:38
something in the off hours, if they know that the culture is
32:41
there and you'll make it up to them somehow, then they're like,
32:43
yeah, absolutely, let's do it. You know, if it helps you and
32:46
helps the company, then they're all for it.
32:48
And so I love that you have that kind of culture.
32:50
And I absolutely think Jesus would jump a truck 25 in the air
32:53
because you know it, it meets people where they are, right?
32:57
That's what it is. You know, that's what it is.
32:59
You got to meet, meet people where they are at.
33:01
So you wouldn't believe the positive response I got from
33:05
something like that. And I got to from one of my
33:08
other other CEO buddies. He got so you know, when you do
33:12
these things, of course, everybody has camera today.
33:14
So I think a whole bunch of videos and he called me and goes
33:18
just explain this to me why? And I was like, well, I don't
33:24
know. But I also think this is
33:26
something I think a lot of Christians don't get.
33:28
So I do think Jesus wants you to be joyful.
33:34
And it seems like, you know, when you go to church.
33:36
And I grew up in Catholic religion.
33:37
So it was very, it was, it was very.
33:41
What's the word I'm looking for here?
33:43
Structured. Yeah, very structured and and
33:47
you know, in order to everyone felt like in order to pray, you
33:50
know, you got to be very formal about everything and and then
33:55
you realize it. It doesn't have to have to be
33:58
that way. And once you realize that it's
34:00
a, it's a whole different ball game.
34:03
I mean, you can, you can do things that normal people can't
34:08
do, you know, like we have a, we have a company chef and I do
34:12
that for my staff. So every time we have a meeting
34:16
or whatever, we cook for that, we cook for them or, you know,
34:20
we have, we get together once a month and we have like a, an eat
34:24
out with chili cook off or something different.
34:26
It's all those little things that really make the difference.
34:30
And you can only do that if you're successful.
34:33
And we've been fortunate enough to be successful.
34:36
You know, we've been on Inc 5004 years in a row of the 5000
34:41
fastest growing companies. I've had the honor of being a
34:46
finalist for entrepreneur of the year.
34:48
Didn't win it, but hey, you know, but no, that's OK.
34:52
I mean, you know, good humility once again, you know, take you
34:57
out, but then tear you back down a little bit.
35:00
So, so. But anyhow, I like I said, I
35:05
don't know where we were. That's OK.
35:08
So for the veteran, the entrepreneur, the parent,
35:10
listening, who feels overwhelmed by pressure or adversity, what's
35:14
1 practical principle? Excuse me, what's 1 principle
35:18
from your journey that they can apply today to move forward and
35:24
not only purpose but their faith?
35:27
And that, that is really a question I wrestle with every
35:32
single day. I mean, really, because my goal
35:35
is to bring people to Jesus. You know, the, the vision for
35:39
our company is we're in the business of building the Kingdom
35:43
has nothing to do with consulting, but it's why we do
35:46
everything that we do. So by kind of being guided by
35:49
that, you know, that principle helps us tremendously.
35:53
My my advice would be simply be this is that what do you have
35:57
the fear? You have Jesus Christ on your
36:00
side. And I simply point to numerous
36:02
different, you know, different parables in the Bible, different
36:06
stories in the Bible. And you think of like, I always
36:09
like to think of King David and how he when he was a child and
36:13
you know, everybody knows the story of me a child and
36:16
challenging Goliath. And people thought he was crazy.
36:20
Here's this little kid. They say say Goliath was they
36:24
believe he was nearly 9 foot tall, you know, but Can you
36:29
imagine? You're a little boy and this guy
36:32
comes up on you and you're supposed to you're, you know,
36:36
you're supposed to fight this guy and you laugh at him.
36:39
And David laughed at him and said, who are you to fight me?
36:45
I have the Lord Jesus Christ on my side.
36:48
And that's the kind of thing that I don't know if that makes
36:52
you tingle inside or not, but should.
36:55
That's what inspires me and that's what makes me do that.
37:00
That's what makes me not fearful is because I got the Lord Jesus
37:04
Christ with me. And regardless of the outcome,
37:07
it's going to be what he wanted to be.
37:10
So I can either take joy in it or I could not.
37:14
And you know, I mean, he's done some great things with some bad
37:21
situations. And if you don't believe me, go
37:24
read the Bible. There's a lot of so that that's
37:27
my advice more than anything. It's just, you know, you have
37:31
the Lord Jesus Christ behind you.
37:32
What do you have a fear? So be joyful, pray always and
37:39
live your life for him. And if you do those things, all
37:44
the other pieces fit together. They really do.
37:48
Good advice. Well, Scott, I know if if people
37:53
are like me and they've listened to this episode and even now as
37:56
we're recording, they're going OK.
37:57
Where can I find out more about Scott?
37:59
Where can I even find out more about Ace?
38:01
Because this sounds like an amazing company to work for.
38:03
Where can I where can I get more information?
38:07
Ace-consulting.net. So just go Google that you can,
38:12
you can friend me on LinkedIn and if that's good, excuse me,
38:16
link me on LinkedIn. Not friends, you know, so not
38:19
much of A social media guy, but and I also have a few books on
38:23
Amazon. Actually, I have a my first
38:25
book. It's called Pick up your Mat and
38:27
walk. It's a story of success through
38:30
adversity, kind of it's not about me.
38:33
Nobody has some of my life lessons in there, some of the
38:36
things that ever happened to me. Good book and what I encourage
38:39
people to to get and give to a high school, you know, their
38:44
high school child, because it has a lot of great principles in
38:47
there. And the second book I have is
38:49
called a A formula for success. Another good book and it just
38:53
talks about, OK, if you want to be successful, how to get there.
38:56
And it's a it's a step by step kind of kind of guide there.
39:00
And once again, lessons that I have learned through my journey
39:04
through life. So I'd encourage you to read
39:08
those and you can learn more about my company and about me as
39:11
a person. Awesome.
39:13
And if you were like, wait, wait, wait, what did he say?
39:15
Then I'll I'll have those links down in the show notes for you.
39:18
Just got to provide them and I'll, I'll put them there so you
39:20
can find them easily when we're when you're done listening to
39:24
the episode today. Well, Scott, thank you so much
39:28
for coming on to Unmasked and, and sharing some of your story.
39:32
I know we probably just scratched the surface, but thank
39:34
you for sharing your story and being so open and unmasked with
39:38
the Unmasked community today. Well, thank you for what you do.
39:42
This is an important thing, getting God's message out
39:45
through through meetings like the podcast.
39:49
It's absolutely my pleasure and all the all the glory to him.
39:58
Well, thanks for joining me today on Unmasked, and again,
40:01
huge thanks to Scott for being my guest and sharing so openly
40:05
and honestly. If something in this episode
40:07
spoke to you, don't let it stop with you.
40:10
Share it with one person that God put on your heart while you
40:13
were listening. You never know whose
40:14
breakthrough might start with. A simple message from you if you
40:18
want more encouragement. Or want to work with me
40:21
one-on-one? Or interested in having me speak
40:23
at your church or event? You can find everything about me
40:26
at wesleyfernsworth.com and make sure you join the Unmasked
40:30
community by connecting with me on social media so that we can
40:32
keep walking this journey together.
40:35
Until next time, Remember that grace is greater than your past
40:39
and real freedom begins the moment that you choose to live
40:43
unmasked. God bless you.