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From Car Crash to Christ · Walk Talk: Faith in Motion

• Randy: so some of us accept Christ later in life after going through ups and downs and then finding the Lord later. Some of us find him early on in life. So today we're going to talk about all of that and a whole lot more with my friend Nathan Bush on this episode of The Walk Talk. All right. So hey Nathan, how's it going today, man? Nathan Bush: What's up, Randall? How are you? Randy: Doing good, doing good. Hey, so appreciate you being on and willing to, you know, open up and share your testimony with everybody. So thanks so much for joining. Why don't we start off by you just giving a little bit of a quick intro? Nathan Bush: Yeah. overall I work is in the staffing industry. I help healthcare organizations provide remote staff for front and back office roles. And that is really a focus on practice health. So my overall background is I grew up in real estate, went into healthcare, and then now I provide staffing for healthcare. So That's kind of a a a good background for me, a good backdrop for everybody. But yeah, I I'm super excited to be here and to share with everybody and to talk a lot about Christ, my favorite subject. Randy: Yeah, awesome. So, yeah, this that's all we talk about here on the walk talk, man. So welcome to the podcast. It's just me and you today. PJ is not able to join us, but we definitely wanted to open it up and have more people join us just to kind of share their testimony. How did they come to know Jesus? And then what are they doing today? What's their walk like today? How, how does knowing Jesus and being a believer in Christ? Affect your everyday life. So that's what I want to get into with you today. and so let's just kind of start at the beginning. So just tell tell everybody, you know, how did you actually come to know Christ? Did you were you raised in like a Christian home where you know Christ was always being preached and the Bible was always being taught? Or how how exactly did you first come to know Jesus? Nathan Bush: Yeah, so I was raised in a Christian household. Praise the Lord that my mom and dad had found Christ. But even before my mom and dad had found Christ, my grandfather was an alcoholic. He went through AA and AA Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: brought him to Christ. And then he started bringing my mom and dad to church. And praise the Lord, they brought me to church. And so my mom and dad were always doing different things that were Christian-based. We would go to Branson every year and see all the Christian shows. And one of the shows, Randy: nice. Nathan Bush: yeah, that I remember seeing, Randall, was this this play called Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames. And literally, the entire play was about if you died today, do you know where you're gonna spend eternity? And that Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: at that play, I it was the first time I ever raised my hand for Jesus and said yes to God. The challenge Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: though was that I raised my hand and said yes to Jesus. And I I I had given my heart to Jesus, but I didn't give my actions to Jesus. I didn't give my mind to Jesus at that time. And so I went years. Randy: Sure, sure. Now how old were you at this point? Nathan Bush: Yeah, eight years old. Eight. Yeah. Randy: Eight years old. Wow. Wow. That's awesome. Nathan Bush: Yeah. And so, you know, I I lived an entire life after that of Individual grind, individual productivity. You know, I got Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: straight A's in school, but I wasn't the best kid. I didn't do all the right things that I should have been doing. I wasn't reading my Bible and focused and and praying every day. I I would pray when things got real bad and when I messed up pretty bad and needed God's help. But I I wasn't I wasn't the the ideal Christian through that entire process Randy: Sure. Nathan Bush: growing up. And so Randy: Sure. Nathan Bush: You know, it it wasn't it wasn't till later on in life that I actually made the decision to start following Jesus. Randy: Yeah. That and I'm sure that's a typical story for a lot of people. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people who are listening out there who probably could relate and think, Yeah, you know, I accepted Christ as a, you know, young person, but maybe didn't fully embrace the gospel or maybe didn't fully understand it. it sounds like you had a pretty, you know, important experience. I'm assuming you're at the sight and sound theater down there in Branson. Is that where you were watching your play? Nathan Bush: Yeah, I d I actually don't think we were at sight and sound. I've been to sight and sound a number of different times. We we went and saw David at sight and sound. Randy: Okay. Nathan Bush: I've seen Noah at sight and sound, but yeah, we Randy: Sure, sure. Nathan Bush: I I think it was I think it was one of the different outlets that we were at that I had saw that play at. It go ahead. Randy: But it but but it sounds like it's safe to say that this play pretty much scared the hell out of you. Like literally. Nathan Bush: Yeah. I I mean, look look, if given the option for there to be something after we die, or there to be nothing after we die, my choice is that there's something, that it's not the end. The second thing is, is that if it's the end, then what happens? Right? And that's the the challenge for me Randy: Right. Nathan Bush: is that I I don't Want a eternity of damnation. I don't want an eternity separated from a loving God. I don't want an eternity away from the Randy: Amen. Nathan Bush: blessings and the benefits and just the opulence that comes with the thought of what could possibly be in a better place than eternal damnation or separation from God. And Randy: Amen. Nathan Bush: The the challenge I think that a lot of people wrestle with is the probably the same thing that I wrestled with for a long time. And that is you you give your life to Christ, but then you wonder this, you go through this existential process as you're getting older. You might ask yourself, is God real? Randy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Bush: How do I know if God's real? How do I, how can I trust this God if God's real? Randy: Right. Nathan Bush: And those questions were questions that plagued me through college. Those were questions that plagued me as I got into my early adult career. Randy: Sure, sure. Now, now, and I think that's normal. I think all of us struggle with those questions. And I think it's very interesting that you know, I mean, the Bible says that we need to believe, you know, believe in Jesus, but I also think that it's we got to keep on believing, right? Because sometimes it's hard to keep believing, especially when you're going through those existential crises or you're being attacked or you're seeing or hearing different things in the world. So tell me about your time in college and and and sp in you know, specifically, were were there things that challenged your faith, either, you know, from what you were learning in school or conversations with peers or professors, anything like that? Nathan Bush: Yeah. So I actually had this class in college called literature and existentialism. And there was Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: authors like Nietzsche that were there. There were authors like Throw that were there. There were these existential authors that that took me away from an understanding of servitude. It took me away from an understanding of valuing other people and valuing life. Not that, not so bad that I turned from those things, but so bad that it made me question those things. And so what was really beneficial was whenever I started reading the Bible. Whenever I read the Bible, I then began to understand the value of life, the value of serving others, the value of what is beyond what's not able to be seen. And those things, those carried me. throughout into my early adulthood. Randy: Wow. Yeah, I mean, there's there's power in the word of God, that's for sure. And is his word is not gonna come back void, right? So yeah, that's that's awesome that you know getting into your word helped carry you through. so what else? So so tell me more about at what point, Nathan, did you really, you know, start to really take your faith seriously and really start to, you know, live for For Jesus. Nathan Bush: Yeah, so I had been through a divorce and I was dating my fiance at the time. And I was in Pinckneyville, Illinois, selling insurance door to door. And I came across the man. I don't know his name. I don't know his house. I don't know the church that we went to, but he took me to his church. He asked me a question when we were sitting down. I was giving a presentation. I was trying to go through the sales process and help him buy cancer hardened accident insurance. And he said something to me. He was like, Well, yes, you've you've given your life to Christ, you've surrendered your life to Christ, but have you been baptized before? And I thought to myself, well, I was sprinkled when I was a baby, but I was never submerged or dunked. And he Said to me, he said, there's verses in Acts, there's verses in Romans, and I I'm not into the theology of all of that stuff. Okay. I I'm not a preacher or a pastor. I I don't have a doctrine that I'm like, this is the doctrine of what is right and wrong. I that's not I'm not here to debate that. But the gentleman told me that just because I raised my hand and gave my life to Christ. Didn't mean I was being obedient to Christ. And so therefore, there's a major chance that I could get to heaven and he should, he could say, Jesus could say to me, I never knew you. And that scared the hell out of me again. So we went to Randy: Mm, interesting. Nathan Bush: his church and I was baptized immediately. I don't need to think about these things. Like I know where I want to go when I die. I didn't know how I was supposed to be living, but I knew how I where I wanted to go when I died, right? And Randy: Sure. Nathan Bush: so I went and got baptized. And from that moment on, my life changed. It changed forever. I I I personally believe that before then I the Holy Spirit may have been in me, but was dormant. And after I was baptized, the Holy Spirit Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: woke up inside of me and became I became alive and what I became a voice for Jesus moving forward, working to understand Christ, to know Christ, to be able to show Christ and grow in Christ ever since my baptism. There was a point in time as I Past my baptism, that my wife and I had our daughter. And I was raising my daughter, and I thought to myself, this is really hard. Why is this so hard? This is my I love my daughter. I love my wife. Why is it so hard to raise a child? And then it hit me. Randy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Bush: Was I submitting my child to God? Did I fully turn my kid over to Christ to being raised by Christ? And My mom and dad were taking my daughter to church at the time, but I wasn't leading and taking my daughter to church at the time. And so I made a decision then. If I'm obedient in baptism, I'm obedient with my daughter. And that started fixing my parenting challenges. My daughter is incredibly talented. She took third in the world with ATA taekwondo. She's a straight A student, DAR award winner. She got asked to be a part of the special Randy: Wow. Nathan Bush: needs. a program at at her school to help children with special needs, all because I made the decision to be obedient to Christ. Now, Randy, let me fast forward a little bit longer because my career wasn't submitted. Go ahead. Randy: Hmm. Well well well hold on before you but before you fast forward, let me just ask this one question. So would do you think, and this is just, you know, I I honestly want to know what you think here. Do you think that it was the act of obedience in, you know, making the proclamation through baptism that, you know, you feel like kickstarted your journey? Or or or is it possible that maybe that's really when you first, you know? received the Holy Spirit and first believed and maybe, you know, what what happened as a kid was maybe a seed, but maybe not, you know, really, you know, fully, you know, believing in faith. And and this is just, you know, I'm just curious. What do you what do you think about that? Nathan Bush: Hard for me to answer that question because I don't have doctrine to back it up. I'm not a preacher. I'm not, Randy: Fair enough. Nathan Bush: you know, I'm only a minister in Christ. I'm not, you know, educated or trained in it, other than what I've studied and read in the Bible. And I haven't come to any conclusions of whether I received the Holy Spirit when I was eight years old and I just didn't listen to the Spirit, or if I received the Holy Spirit when I was baptized. But when I was baptized, I can tell you this: I changed. So I don't know if that means that the Holy Spirit became alive and well in me, came and dwelled in me, or was expressed through me at that point, Randall. I don't know. But what I do know is that it was important that I was obedient when when God tells you something, you do it. Randy: Yeah, absolutely. And if you felt like he was putting it on your heart that you needed to take that step and make that out you know outward proclamation of going and, you know, demonstrating your faith through baptism and then you did it, I could see how that would have a huge impact on your life. So, yeah, absolutely. Thanks for sharing that, by the way. Nathan Bush: What's even we what's even crazier about that is a lot of people don't know this about me. I was actually in a massive car accident the next day. a car was coming down the the road. I was getting ready to make a left-hand turn into somebody's driveway to sell them insurance. And this car was doing probably about 97 miles an hour, tried to pass me in oncoming traffic. He clipped the front of my car when I was Randy: Wow. Nathan Bush: making that left-hand turn. He flipped over six or seven times and hit a light post upside down. People were rushed to the hospital. It was in the front page of the Pinckneyville newspaper this accident was, and I walked away without a scratch on it. Randy: Wow. And this was the next day after you were baptized. Nathan Bush: The next day. Randy: Wow, that's amazing. Well, praise God that you walked away without a scratch. What happened to the driver? Nathan Bush: Yeah. So I don't know. I I think that the driver and his wife ended up being okay. I think that they had some some challenges that they, you know, needed to get worked out at the hospital. But I stayed at arm's distance through all of that stuff and just continued to pray for them after that. I you know, I I I I don't know what happened to him, honestly. Randy: Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, praise God that you were okay and that you know, you're now here to tell your tell your share your testimony with us. And yeah, I I you know, hopefully they w they were fine too. And hopefully if they didn't if they didn't know the Lord before, hopefully they know him now, having spared them from what could have been, you know, a much, much worse incident. Nathan Bush: Yeah, absolutely. That that is something that's, you know, near and dear to my heart is that God shows up and he shows up in big ways in our life. Sometimes he shows up on small things, Randy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Bush: but oftentimes when it matters the most to us, we can lean and count on God in those moments. And sometimes people call things luck or they call it, you know, serendipitous, or they might call it, you know, they might call it a coincidence that things happen. I I have a hard time believing in any of those things. I have a strong belief Randy: Me too. Nathan Bush: that God is moving and God is always moving. And so when those situations come up, if you can dive into them and pay attention to what was going on, there are certain pieces of things that had to be moving behind the scenes. People's hearts had to be softened. decisions had to be made. nuances happen. in order to keep us protected and and and give us the opportunity to help God bring more people to him. Randy: Right, right. So so post accident, so you just got baptized, you know, you're feeling on fire for Christ, then you have this really crazy incident happen the next day. What what comes next? So so how did how did you feel after the accident and what did that do, you know, for your walk with Jesus? Nathan Bush: Yeah, so it definitely had me in the mindset that I was thankful for everything that God had done in my life up to that point. And I I was thankful that God kept me from doing really, really bad stuff that could have ruined my life or my career or not given me the opportunity to marry my wife that I have now. I I was really thankful at that point in my life. And I really just made a commitment at that point. That I was going to start giving different pieces, different areas. I didn't know that it was called that at the time. I was just like, I am committed to Jesus, whatever Jesus needs from me, I will do those things for him going forward. I am forever grateful for what God did to save my life in that moment and give me the opportunity to spend time with my wife and then eventually get to know my daughter and that kind of stuff. So it was important to me, impactful for me to start. putting forth the effort to live in a way that would please God. Randy: Wow, that's awesome. So you have a daughter. How many how many kids do you have total? Is it just the one? Nathan Bush: Yeah, just the one daughter, yep. Randy: Okay, so how has your faith affected your parenting? Nathan Bush: Yeah. So I find that in my Bible study, when I'm studying the Bible, there will be times where I learn different frameworks or different expressions from the Bible or different passages. And I will use those passages in conversation with my child. My child goes to church with us every Sunday. She serves in kids' ministry. She is part of youth group at church. She's very, very engaged. In fact, this last volleyball season, she actually put a requirement that she wouldn't accept a team to be on unless they practiced on any day other than Wednesday. And we could do, you know, make sure that she could attend her youth group. And so By her focusing on Christ, she's seeing the benefits and the fruit of that at such a young age. God is blessing my daughter beyond anything I could ever imagine. And all of that comes from the fact that there's leadership for her that comes through Christ through me. Randy: That's awesome. So yeah, and and and kudos to her for taking that stand because you know it's important that she shows up on Wednesday nights and builds those relationships and and and is part of a community that Christ is at the center of. What about in your marriage? So, you know, how how has being a believer and a student of the scriptures affected your your your marriage? Nathan Bush: Yeah, my again, when when we're plugged into Christ, I th Jesus says, apart from me, he says, I am the b the vine, you are the branch. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And th that is how I see my marriage is that me being connected to Jesus brings benefits of joy, of peace, of all of the fruits. That comes from being connected to the branch, love, kindness, patience, all of the things that Corinthians talks about that is love. Look, I I I kind of look at it like this, Randall, that the closer I get to Jesus and the closer my wife gets to Jesus, the closer we get to each other. And so for my marriage, you know, we we're patient with each other. We're kind to each other. We love each other. We're deeply in love as a as a husband and wife. We are is is a family. We've got a great family life. There is there's no stress. There's normal stresses of life, but there's no major stress. There's no anxiety. I don't wake up worried about if you know, thinking about challenges with my wife or situations that other people go through. I don't have any of those things Randy: Yeah. Nathan Bush: that are going on in my family. Specifically because my wife and I both study the Bible in our own Bible studies. And we're we're learning leadership, we're learning the importance of different aspects of marriage, all from the Bible. Randy: That's awesome. And I and I love how you said that, like as you get closer to Jesus, the closer you get to each other. You know what that reminds me of? It reminds me of, you know, you you may have heard this before, but you and I and I'm and I'm a true believer in this, that the best thing you could do for your relationship with your children is to have a great relationship with your spouse, right? And I kind of feel like what you're saying is it's it's the same thing applies to your relationship with Jesus. If the best thing you could do for your relationship with your spouse is to have a great relationship with the Lord. And I I totally believe that by the way, that the closer you get to him and the more you stay connected and experience the love of Christ, the more that that is going to bring the two of you together. I I think that's awesome. Nathan Bush: You know, a lot of people might be Randy: So Nathan Bush: like, well, Nate Nathan, I but I I want to share this because I think this is important. A lot of people might be thinking we haven't talked a lot of Bible, right? I've shared benefits and stories and talked about the blessings and the stuff that's coming, but there's a a verse in Zechariah, it's Zechariah four ten that says, Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. In that verse I I think it'd be good for a lot of people Randy: Mm, that's a good verse. Nathan Bush: who are listening, Randy Randall, because In our marriages, you don't have to be great. You just have to start doing better. God rejoices when we take that step to be a better husband. God rejoices when we take that step to be a better wife. And I was there there's this concept of growth, right? Like personal growth. And God is going to help us grow. God wants us to grow. I mean, that's a part of the experience of being here as a human being. We're born as a baby and we And so part of the experience of this growth is that if I'm growing, but she's not growing, there can be a distance or a disconnect in the relationship. And so that's why it's so important. Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: If you haven't, if you're in a in a family, in a in a marriage and your wife is studying the Bible and you're not, you're just leaving it up to her to share with you. You're missing the entire point. And vice versa, if you're studying the Bible and your wife is not. You're you're missing the opportunity to grow together, to share these things together. So both people are rising at the same level. Maybe one person grows a little bit faster than the other, but you're both growing towards the same outcome of becoming the best human that God has designed you to be. And so there are characteristics in all Randy: Yeah, yeah. Nathan Bush: of us that if we if we're not careful, there are characteristics in our flesh that will keep us. From the growth that God wants this to have. On the flip side, God designed us that we can turn on this growth and achieve high levels of success in our marriage, in our careers as a parent, every area in your fitness, in your sports, the whole nine yards, your health, all of it. You can achieve, you can become incredible if you will allow God to be the one that's directing those things. And it's not something you're doing on your own. Randy: Yeah, absolutely. And and it goes back to the the law of the environment, right? I mean, you gotta, you know, you gotta be in the right environment for growth. And part of that is the people that you surround yourself with. So yeah, absolutely. If if you're not both growing, then that could definitely cause a separation or even stagger growth altogether. So great, great points there. I do want to pivot a little bit and and talk more about business. So, so tell me how. you know, being a follower of Christ has impacted you in the workplace, in your business, good or bad? Has there been, you know, instances where it's maybe, you know, hindered you? or has it helped you? Or like what is what does that look like in, you know, the work that you do? Nathan Bush: Yeah, one of the major areas that I think I've messed up the most in my life is doing my work and my career on my own ambition as opposed to doing it from God's ambition. And what I mean by that is early on in my career, I had some success. I was managing a 200 unit portfolio of houses. It was bleeding $20,000 in cash. I turned it around and I was returning $55,000 a month to the investment group in just nine months. Then I went to that same investment Randy: Well. Nathan Bush: group, hired me on at another property management organization, and they had 600 houses there. And they had four different portfolios. And in every portfolio of homes that they had that I was responsible for, I was returning a minimum of $15,000 a month in cash to them from portfolios that were not making any money at all. And so some of them I was returning as much as 75 grand, some as much as 15 grand a month. And I had 17 other institutional investors I was responsible for and 101 private investors that own real estate in St. Louis for the company I was working with at that time. Then I went to go on to work for another organization and I turned a portfolio around. We went through the largest sale of single family homes, I believe, in US history. that we helped package up over 927 homes, individual single family homes in St. Louis. They were sold off. We were managing, though, that that group so well that another institutional investor came in and gave us half a billion dollars, 500 million, to buy properties between Texas, Kansas City, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Iowa, all throughout the Randy: Wow. Nathan Bush: Midwest. And we ran into a sticking point. They were going to take that company public through what's called a real estate investment trust, and they couldn't. Because they didn't have a public accountant that had been with them, I believe, for like three years. Not that they weren't a CPA, but has been had worked previously in public accounting before for a public company. And so when they came in to do those audits or whatever, they weren't able to go public and they started selling off properties. So then I went to work for a hearing aid organization and I was vice president of sales and operations for this hearing aid. company. We grew from seven locations to 47 locations. We went from 2 million in revenue to 20 million in revenue. Very successful practice. We did it really, really fast in just under four years. Here's what I learned through that process. King David had two sins in his lifetime that are recorded in the Bible as sins. The first sin was when he had his affair with Bathsheba, with not Bathsheba, but with the the had his affair with his soldier's wife. The second sin that's recorded for King David that I remember is the census. He took a census to show his power, to show his might, to show his own strength without listening to God. And King David was punished for that. In fact, if you remember the story, he got to choose his punishment. And the ultimate of that story about his punishment is. It comes you come to find out that actually God ends up building the temple because David does something that we all should do when we make a mistake. And that's to say, you know what, God, it's whatever you want. I messed up. I'm sorry. I'm I I made a mistake. Even though David still had to deal with the punishment that went through in that time, they ended up finding out where the temple was going to be built eventually from King Solomon, where King Solomon was going to build the temple. And that that whole story. Comes full circle when David finally gives his life a hundred percent back to God for making the mistake of taking the census, doing it without God's direction. Here's what I don't know. How much more successful could my career have been if I was taking directions from God and not just trying to do all of that on my own ambition? How much would my health have been better? Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: How much how much better of a relationship could I have had Randy: Right. Nathan Bush: with my wife? How maybe it's the opposite. Maybe I helped entrepreneurs and these different people and these different investors that weren't supposed to be growing that fast. Maybe that that I should have slowed down and allowed God to do the work and not just me force through opportunity or success or, you know, do my own audits or add my own things or build my own, you know, lead generation tools. Maybe I shouldn't have added all of that stuff on my own. Here's what I know. I did not stop and ask God for that. Well, that hearing aid company that I work for, Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: I was fired from that job two times, Randall. I was fired from it two times. Randy: Wow. Nathan Bush: I was fired and then rehired and then fired again. Maybe, just maybe, Randy: Wow. That so so Nathan Bush: if I would have listened Randy: Yeah. Nathan Bush: to God, I could have handled those situations Randy: Right. Nathan Bush: much differently. Randy: Well, and that's an interesting perspective, you know, Nathan, because I mean I think we're all familiar of with the story of David and Beth Beth Shiva, right? I mean, he literally, you know, steals the wife of his soldier, sends him to the front line so that he'll die and then he could, you know, have her to himself. But we don't usually spend a lot of time, you know, thinking about his unfaithfulness to the Lord and wanting to know the number of soldiers that he had. Instead of relying and putting his faith in the strength of the Lord, he puts his You know, faith in the number of soldiers that he has. And that's something that I think a lot of us maybe overlook or we don't pay that close of attention to because we're thinking of the murder and we're thinking of the the the adulterous affair. But but what a great lesson that you're able to to get from that. And and I like your insights on how, you know, your faithfulness to the Lord and relying on the Lord is actually more important than, you know, necessarily trying to grow a business. Not that there's anything contradictorily in and of itself between those two things, but it's more of where you're putting your hope and where you're putting your faith. I think that's a great lesson that we could all learn from. Nathan Bush: Yeah, I mean, the Bible says that above Randy: So Nathan Bush: all things, God wants us to prosper and be in good health. It says that the the the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous in Proverbs. God is not against people succeeding in doing well. God wants his people to do well. Think about it like this. Randy: Yeah. Yeah. Nathan Bush: Like Randall, think about it like this. If I'm a manufacturer of a product, I manufactured something, I I learned this from Myron, not Myron Golden. Miles Monroe. If I'm the manufacturer of a product and I put my brand on that product, I put my image on that product. Do I want that product to be a cheap product? Do I want it to be an off brand? Do I want it to be a no name? No, I want that thing to be worth as much as I possibly can make it worth. But I want it to be done based upon the instruction manual. I want it to work based upon the instruction manual. I don't want my computer operating on its own without the programming that was put into it. I don't want it making up its own mind like where AI is going. I don't want all of that. I want it to work the way it's supposed to work, the way it was designed to work. And so the way it's designed Randy: Sure, sure. Nathan Bush: to work is the most valuable way it can be can can be presented to the world. And so the same is true with God. God, God doesn't want us to be broke. He doesn't want us to be impoverished. Maybe some people, that's their calling and that's their specific thing in life, but that's not for everybody. God wants us to do well. He wants us to succeed. He wants people to go, that is my child. I am proud of that per you know, I'm excited for that person. I'm pleased with that person. Randy: Yeah. Well well he well he's a parent, right? And you and I are both parents. And so we know how we feel about our children. We want our children to succeed. We want them to be successful, but we want them to go about doing it the right way, right? In a way that is, you know, adding value to people, it's honoring of God, and in a way that's, you know, ultimately gonna be healthy and sustainable for themselves, right? and not to take shortcuts or do things that are gonna burn them out or stress out the relationships. And and God's a parent, He He He's our father. So I'm sure He's looking at us in a similar way, saying, Yeah, I do want you to I want you to win, but I want you to win the right way. And so I do gotta ask. And if it's sensitive, just let me know. But you mentioned you got fired from the same company twice. So I've been fired before, and and I'm you know, it's a little bit sensitive. So if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. But I I I just have to ask though, two times from the same company, tell me more about that. Nathan Bush: Yeah. So I helped the organization initially grow and scale. And it came to be a point in time. See, here's here's an interesting side about me. Whenever I disagree with something, I'm capable of moving ahead and doing it the exact way that an organization wants it done. I can do it with ambition, I can do it with excitement, I can do it with all those things. When I'm asked to do something though, or things get changed around on me. And I wasn't part of that discussion. I wasn't involved in it. It's very hurtful to me. Like if somebody just changes my role at a company or changes my title at a company without having conversations with me that that's going to go on and we be in agreement that that's what we want to do together, that is hurtful to me. So we were in a a an a a meeting one time and they had just done this and changed my role. And they didn't give me any time to process this. And so I got quiet in a meeting. I wasn't saying anything. I wasn't rude. I wasn't being disrespectful. I just was quiet. Well, it's not like be the be o overly quiet, but that's what I was doing. Well, they just assumed that I just wasn't going to be supportive and helpful of the organization anymore initially. But where they made the mistake with me was that they didn't have any of these conversations with me ahead of time. They just made a decision without me and then changed it. I was in a leadership role. I was a senior leader in an organization. They just changed it around and whatever. That's fine. It happens. I'm okay with all that. I learned from that situation. That owner realized the level of disrespect that I had received from the company doing that and took me and my wife out to dinner. She asked me to come back to the organization. I helped her organization grow past a lawsuit. I helped her organization grow past. her suing and attacking somebody who took a bunch of people with him to another organization. And I I sat through depositions and went through all of that stuff with her. We finally got to the end of all of that stuff, and she then I think was looking to make an exit and sell that company. Whenever she was trying to sell that company, I think that my role was not going to be needed in the sale or the acquisition of that organization. And so she let me go. I wonder if I had been submitted to Christ, though, as opposed to being ambitious, how much differently I would have behaved in my career had I handled that whole situation differently. Now, this is my perspective. I'm sure that these people that I was working with at the time, the owner of that business, has a different perspective on the way that things were handled. Here's what I know. There is a truth in every situation. Things are true. The things that are true is that I was fired twice from that job. The things that are true is that I was not fully yielded to what Christ wanted for my career. I know that. Anything outside of that truth is deception. And so I'm very careful to say these are my opinions, these are my points of view, because I try to live from a concept of truth. Now there's perspective in truth, right? Like I can have a perspective, you can have a perspective, but there's ultimately truth. The truths are the facts of the things that happened in that situation. The perspectives are based upon different people's feelings, the way that people perceived what was going on at that time. And so I want to make sure that I'm not being disrespectful or or saying something that would be out of line if somebody else had a different perspective going through that situation, Randy. That's why it's sensitive to me, is because I I Randy: Sure. Nathan Bush: never want to offend somebody un unintentionally. by just saying that I had a perspective in this situation that they didn't. Randy: Yeah. Well, and it sounds like you learned a lot through that situation, which is always a good thing. you know, I heard you say that you didn't feel like you had fully, you know, yielded your life to Christ at that point and if you had things might have been a little bit differently. Were there any other lessons that you took away that's worth sharing? Nathan Bush: Yeah. I mean there's tons of lessons. So one of the lessons is that lesson of truth, right? Is that there's perspective and there's truth. And so truth doesn't change. It's the same yesterday as it will be tomorrow, as it has right now, today. Truth is truth. It is what's true, right? Anything outside of that is called deception. Now, my integrity is whenever I say or I speak the truth and I stand on that and I take action. on that. When people can see that what I say is what is true, that's called integrity. That's how we feel about it. Now the carrying out of that, the actual action that I'm taking, that's called faith. And so I learned in this process that had I been more faithful, I probably would have had better outcomes. Randy: Interesting. Okay. So so sounds like you learned a lot in that situation. so tell me about today. So now so now today, you know, where you're at in your career and with your business and everything that's going on today, how have you taken some of those lessons and applied it? What looks differently today? How have how has, you know, really giving your heart and your life and your work and your business over to Christ, Change the way that you operate now. Nathan Bush: Great question. I was in church about three years ago, and the pastor had said something along the lines of if you've been in church for a long period of time, but you're not doing anything, are you really yielding your life to Christ? Because if you were doing something for Christ, then you would be taking actions based upon your faith. And so I something along those lines. I don't know if it was exactly that, but it was it was you need to be doing something for Christ. I don't care he didn't care what it was, if it was a Bible study, or if you were serving in the cafe, or if you were preaching the word, or if you were helping in kids' ministry, or if you were what whatever. You needed to be taking action and doing something to serve Christ. I think the sermon was around face without works is dead, right? Like it it was, it was this concept that you need to be doing something. Well, what sat on my heart at that time was doing a small group. So I have a small Bible study I do the first and third Monday of every month, and it's called Disciples of Leadership. And what this small group does for me is it puts God at the busiest times of my life, at the most challenging point. And I've been doing this for three years now, making sure that God is first. Because it's one thing to go to church on Sunday. It's another thing when Monday hits and things get busy and you just allow the week to take you over. And so Disciples of Leadership for me Randy: Absolutely. Nathan Bush: has become that face faith with works for me. And what's been fascinating for me to learn through this process is. We take a John Maxwell book, and maybe it's the twenty-one laws of leadership in the Bible, or you know, twenty-one issues of a leader in the Bible, or these different books. The next book that we're gonna go into after the issues is Ken Ken Blanchard's Lead Like Jesus. we take these different books and we look at the the the the leadership principles through the Bible. That has been The most transformative thing for me to teach this. Here's the craziest thing, though, Ray, Randall, that I have found through doing this process. When I first started doing disciples of leadership, I was teaching. I was teaching. In fact, I said I I had a pastor that that I brought my slides to them and I'm like, here's what I want to teach, and here's how I want to do this. And they stopped me and they were like, Nathan, where's your Jesus stuff? And because we were doing, we were teaching leadership. And I said I said at the time, we were actually going through John Maxwell's five levels of leadership as a as a group. And I said at the time, I said, I I don't, you know, Pastor, I don't really feel qualified to teach the Bible. Like I I don't want to say something wrong to people. And they were like, that's the whole point of facilitating a small group, is Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: that you're helping share the gospel and the Bible with people. And so I broke down crying because I didn't feel qualified. And I realized in that moment that God, He didn't call the qualified. He's qualifying the called. He's He's helping me to become Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: better through this process of understanding the Bible. So I started off Randy: Right, right. Nathan Bush: teaching. Today I do a little bit of teaching, but very little. I facilitate the group today and I ask question after question. And what's amazing is. There is a lot of people that know a lot about the Bible that I can learn from that participate in my disciples of leadership. And so that's what I'm doing Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: today. and that's where God has brought me today, Randall, is that I am learning from other great Christians who participate in disciples of leadership the first and third Monday of every month, that help me keep my life focused and dedicated to Christ. in every single thing that I'm doing. Hence one of the reasons why I'm doing this podcast with you. This is one of the more difficult podcasts I've ever been on. I've I've been on business podcasts, I've been on leadership podcasts, but this is a a lot more challenging for me to be on because I'm still learning and growing in the Bible. Randy: Interesting. Is it so I well, I didn't think this would be difficult just getting into your personal story. Maybe that's why it's difficult as is is we're going pretty personal here. but again, thank you for being on. And it sounds like what you're saying to me is the group that you are leading is really like your act of service, your ministry is what it sounds like to me. I mean, would you would you call it that? Nathan Bush: Yeah, my ministry i it would be helping people to learn how to lead like Jesus, literally discipling Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: other people in j the style, the mechanisms, the mannerisms, the the the philosophies of Jesus so that they can go into the world and lead other people like Jesus. Randy: Well, and and I think that's a great ministry because I think we'd need more Christ like leaders out there in this world. I mean, y you and I are both students of leadership and we want to be better leaders and and you know, we model our leadership after Christ and we could always do a better job. And I think I think your you know, your intuition about you know, facilitating versus teaching is spot on because I think that, you know, we should let the Holy Spirit teach us. And we should facilitate those conversations to learn from each other. I think that's the best way to learn is to learn from each other because iron sharpens iron, right? And so we're all coming, you know, coming at it from different perspectives. And, you know, we all have, you know, our own life experiences to share that we can learn from and that other people can learn from. So to me, it does sound like a ministry. It sounds like a great ministry. and I know firsthand that you guys meet virtually. So Is there anything else you want to say about that in case anyone else out there who's listening is like, hey, that sounds very interesting. They're meeting twice a month virtually. there might be people interested. Nathan Bush: Yeah. So I have a personal brand website. It's www.nathanbush B U S H B A, like the degree. So Nathan Bush MBA dot com. If you go to solutions, there's Disciples of Leadership is one of the drop down menus. And if somebody was interested in that, Randall, they're more than welcome to fill out their information. I will personally be the one that reaches out to them and gives them a call and see if that's something that they want to do. There's no cost to participate. It's just open to whoever wants to be a part of it. And but here's the challenge. It is a commitment because it is the first and third Monday of every month. And so it it while it's virtual and it's done at noon, it is a challenge for some people to make it there. I'm fully aware of that 'cause it's difficult for me. And I'm the one that facilitates it. So Randy: Right, right. Okay, and and we'll definitely put a link to that in in the comments below so that people could click on that link and and check it out if it is something that they're interested in joining. I did want to ask about your book as well. So somewhere along the way, you wrote a book, I believe it's called the Caesar Method. So tell me what inspired you to write the book and and you know what what can people learn from it? Nathan Bush: Yeah. So when I was at the hearing aid company, one of the things that I did was I was responsible for overseeing the outbound call center. And the outbound call center was the outreach that we did in order to bring people in for hearing tests. And so we measured that. I had the opportunity to learn about what communication worked and what sequence and process in an ethical and honest way to get somebody else. To come in and get their hearing checked. In sales, people are often learning manipulative techniques. They're learning, they're learning deceptive techniques in order to get somebody else to take action. And I never wanted to deceive, mislead, or manipulate anybody. And so I studied the communication process. And the Caesar method is the way that I understand how to teach somebody else how to communicate. In an ethical and honest way that has influence and impact with other people. And it's simply learning how to connect, ask the right questions, educate, set an intention, align interest, and ask for referrals or reviews or references. And so anytime you're communicating, whether you're in leadership, management, whether you're a salesperson, an SDR, if you're a marketer, Everything revolves around our ability to communicate. And you can learn communication that is manipulative and deceptive in from somebody that doesn't study the Bible and read the Bible and try to practice it. Or you can learn the Caesar method, and that will help you to be able to communicate and influence with other people. And so the Caesar method, that that's what was that's what the the reason that I wrote the book was to be able to help me train and educate other people on. utilizing that influential communication technique. Where the Caesar method came from, Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: and my thought process on this was Jesus asked the question, whose name's on that coin? And Julius Caesar is mentioned twice in the Bible. And that really I did some deep thought on it and I really came to the conclusion if it wasn't for Julius Caesar and the perfect timing of God, The gospel might not have spread all over the world. See, Julius Caesar built the political structure. He built the roads. He built the the culture. He built all of these things that facilitated the expansion. Randy: Mm-hmm. They had a common language. Nathan Bush: Yeah, the common language that facilitated the expansion of the gospel when Jesus rose Randy: Mm. Nathan Bush: from the dead. And so I think that Romans 8:28 says that God uses all things together for. the the the good of those who love him. And so God I think God utilized Julius Caesar in order to help spread the gospel by putting the infrastructure in place. And so I wanted to to be able to honor and respect that that yes, there was an aspect of Caesar that was not appropriate, but there is a major aspect of Caesar that we have a debt of gratitude for for those of us that are Christians that helped God spread his message. Randy: Yeah, absolutely. and and I I just gotta say, yeah, I mean, you know from our previous conversations, I'm not huge into sales, I'm not very good at sales, I also don't like to be sold, and I'm sure that's how most people probably feel they don't like to be sold. So I really appreciate, you know, the concept of this, you know, approach that you've taken in saying, hey, let's let's let's show people a way to do sales in a way that's not manipulative. But is still just as effective. Cause for someone like me who's generally turned off by sales in general, I would say, you know, a big thank you to you for that. and I hope that people do embrace that methodology a lot more because I think at the end of the day, it's probably better for the salesperson as well. They'll they'll feel better about themselves and about the way they go about doing business. And it's probably something that's a lot more sustainable and and longer lasting, and they'll feel better about it. because they're doing it in a in a way that honors God. So thank you for that. Nathan Bush: Yeah. Yeah. That you you're welcome. That I mean, that companies bring me in to do that specific training. In fact, when I I'm telling you the staffing that I do, the organization brought me in based upon the Caesar method to train their salespeople on how to do this process. Randy: That's awesome. That's awesome. So, Nathan, so we've gone from, you know, as a kid, eight-year-old kid, watching a play, praying a prayer, crazy accidents in your life, getting baptized, rededicating, lessons learned through different business experiences and whatnot. I love the ministry that you got going on, teaching people about, you know, Christ-like leadership and teaching salespeople how to sell. In a way that's not manipulative, but is genuine. We've covered a lot of ground here today. what else would you want people to know, either about Nathan Bush or just about what you're doing on a daily basis that you think would be helpful as they go about their walks, as we go about our walk with Christ? What kind of encouragement or what kind of lessons do you just think like, hey, I can't, I can't end this without at least sharing these things? Nathan Bush: Yeah. God loves you is the number one thing that I could say. God loves you. God wants you to win. Randy: Amen. Nathan Bush: God wants you to succeed. God wants your marriage to work. God wants you to be a great parent. God wants exceedingly and abundantly more for you than you could ever dream or imagine. You s you have to yield your life, your entire life, to God. Randy: That's a, that's a great, that's a great final message. I love that. And the Bible tells us, I know the plans that I have for you, right? The plans to prosper you, right? And so I I'm with you. We got to submit our lives. We got to make sure that Christ is number one because he does love us. And I think that's how we love him back is by doing exactly what you just said. Nathan Bush: Yeah, it's a it's Randy: All right, Nathan, anything else before we before we wrap? Nathan Bush: I just gotta say thank you to you, Randall, for having me on your podcast. Thank you to your audience for listening and watching. If you've made it this far through my rambambling and you've been able to to listen to the entire thing, I gotta say thank you for taking this time out of your life to spend an hour to get to know me, to learn about me, to learn more about Christ through the things that I was able to share. Randy: Absolutely. Thank you so much for being on, Nathan. I mean, the whole point of this is just it's just meant to be a conversation. We want our conversation, me and my brother PJ, we want our conversations about our walk with Christ and about you know how we see the world and different topics to generate more conversation, conversations between us and other people, conversations between people that we'll never meet or have never talked to. And I think that your story is definitely going to generate a lot of conversation. I'll make sure that we've linked to your website and to your book in case people are interested in learning more about either. so that way they could find out everything they need to know to potentially join Disciples of Disciples of Leadership or, you know, pick up the book. And again, thank you so much for joining. Really appreciated the conversation today. It was a pleasure getting to know you a little bit more. And just thank you for your open and your openness and honesty and just sharing you know, what. In some cases, were probably some difficult things to share. Really, really appreciate you coming on and just telling everybody what Christ is doing in your life. Thank you so much. Nathan Bush: Thank you. Randy: All right. Well, thank you all for listening today. If you haven't already, make sure that you like, subscribe, follow the show. And before you go, let us know what you think in the comments down below. God bless.