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Stubborn Faith with Brandon Esser · Christian Business Growth Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, welcome to Christian Business Growth Podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm here with Brendan Escher and a couple of his team from Amity Roofing.
• 0:08
  And they're gonna tell us some interesting stuff.
• 0:09
  He's already shared some stuff.
• 0:10
  So I'm excited about this.
• 0:11
  This is first time we've had multiple people on our episode.
• 0:13
  So it'd be kind of fun to see how this tag team goes off and everything.
• 0:17
  So Brendan, kick us off.
• 0:18
  How did you get started in business?
• 0:31
  Okay.
• 0:33
  And I was actually at a church at Upper Room in Dallas.
• 0:37
  And I was, got, couldn't live off of the missionary life income anymore.
• 0:42
  So, Texas is expensive.
• 0:44
  Well, I was at dinner one night at a restaurant called Rodeo Goat and uh
• 0:51
  I have to say thank you to of you for time and for support.
• 0:59
  I think that's all I say.
• 1:01
  ministry for what, the past six years to that, at that moment.
• 1:05
  Well, I went to go to their office and go interview.
• 1:10
  Well, they heard my character, they heard of who I was, what I did in life and my values and everything.
• 1:14
  And so they hired me on the spot.
• 1:15
  So I'd been in the industry for 10 years and
• 1:19
  everything that I have done has been with the agenda to fund what I do overseas.
• 1:25
  So I actually have a nonprofit organization called Global Reformation Ministries.
• 1:29
  uh so a portion of everything that I've done for the past 10 years has funded what we do overseas.
• 1:37
  And so that's the reason why I got into business is because I believe that uh it was David who was once a priest before the Lord, excuse me, and then he was anointed king.
• 1:48
  And I had this friction within my heart for years.
• 1:52
  Should I be one or the other?
• 1:54
  And then one of my mentors, it was at Upper Room, he gave me the advice of realizing that, know what, it's actually okay to live a duality of life, to be a priest before the Lord
• 2:05
  and still a influential in the earth.
• 2:08
  And so that's why I actually was okay with to do both.
• 2:11
  So I still travel overseas and ministry missions life, but I started the business so that we could be effective.
• 2:18
  in the earthly realm of not only making a healthy living for us, our families, but also to make a way for us to do what we do overseas.
• 2:29
  That's cool.
• 2:29
  We talk a lot about this in our episodes that your business is your ministry.
• 2:35
  You read the Bible and all those people in the Bible, those people were entrepreneurs.
• 2:38
  They weren't going to work for somebody else.
• 2:40
  They were working out of their house.
• 2:41
  Their house was their ministry, was their business.
• 2:45
  Good stuff.
• 2:47
  Anything else anybody else want to jump in there and tell us about?
• 2:52
  We're good?
• 2:53
  Just checking with everybody.
• 2:54
  All right.
• 2:55
  So what's God currently doing in your business?
• 2:59
  Right now the Lord is really expanding what we do.
• 3:01
  uh
• 3:06
  For years, um when I started this for myself, I had the last $5,000 left in my name and my back was against the wall and the Lord told me to start this company.
• 3:16
  um well, over the first two years, I put in six days a week, because I kept my Sabbath, but I put in six days a week of 12 to 14 hour days.
• 3:26
  It was a lot of hustle, a lot of grind, a lot of, ah very little sleep, but I was.
• 3:33
  Developing, I built my own website, I built my own branding, I built my own marketing, I built my own documentation, contracts, processes, every little thing myself.
• 3:41
  I didn't hire a single person to build anything for this company.
• 3:45
  I stayed up, prayed, waited on the Lord, and built something.
• 3:49
  And so where He's gotten us to now, has, I wanted something that the Lord would develop organically.
• 3:56
  I wanted Him to be the absolute essence and infrastructure for everything that we did, everything that we created, the model, the process.
• 4:08
  very,
• 4:09
  my mother passed away last year.
• 4:11
  uh two days ago was the first year anniversary of losing her.
• 4:16
  And so last year was a pause year for me.
• 4:20
  It was not easy.
• 4:21
  My mother was the first person I ever led to the Lord.
• 4:24
  And so this year, God has redeemed time in that it feels like I haven't lost any clients, I haven't lost any momentum.
• 4:32
  We've picked back up on momentum and just included these two incredible men on the team.
• 4:42
  he's expanding our territory beyond uh what I thought it would be.
• 4:46
  We're actually expanding into Colorado.
• 4:48
  We're expanding into Mississippi.
• 4:52
  We've got some incredible clients around the southern half of the nation that we get to help.
• 4:57
  But granted, we are based in DFW solely, but God is expanding our territory.
• 5:02
  He's giving us some incredible clients.
• 5:07
  Heck, I've even had crews come back to me and say, we miss working with you.
• 5:11
  So he's building a really solid foundation within the relationships and the expansion of what he's wanting us to do.
• 5:19
  And also, the next phase, the really cool thing is what we're doing.
• 5:23
  again, it goes back to the portion of our profits goes to overseas.
• 5:27
  I'm in the development phase within the funding that he's given us.
• 5:32
  Okay.
• 5:34
  the blueprint phase of building our infrastructure school overseas in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• 5:41
  So with what he's doing in this company, we're literally about to launch and develop our first uh education center over in Johannesburg.
• 5:48
  That's cool.
• 5:49
  So you have a business supporting your ministry and your ministry is going and your business is growing all because, and I love the way you said it, you said, I prayed and I
• 5:56
  waited on the Lord.
• 5:57
  Tell us more about that.
• 5:58
  If somebody's like in that stuck and they're like, I feel like I'm stuck here.
• 6:01
  What do you do when you're waiting on God?
• 6:04
  When I wait, so there's a duality between waiting.
• 6:07
  There is patience and then there's a level of active waiting.
• 6:13
  Like, okay, I can wait on the Lord, but I can also be patient and listening, but I can actually do a couple things in waiting as in um I'm trying something and I wait to listen
• 6:24
  if that's the best step.
• 6:25
  Like I will knock, knock tangible doors because God has built us a great network and infrastructure.
• 6:30
  knock.
• 6:31
  uh
• 6:34
  and it will be opened unto you." So I knock little doors and while I wait on an answer.
• 6:39
  So I will pray, I will fast, I fast all the time.
• 6:43
  So I intentionally starve my flesh, listen, wait, I will go in my prayer room.
• 6:50
  I actually just got this house and I built a prayer room.
• 6:54
  And so I'm intentional to go sit in that prayer room and wait for hours and say, Lord, if you don't speak, I'm not leaving.
• 7:01
  So.
• 7:02
  I will be very intentional to write down what he says to uh trace back to times when he said something.
• 7:09
  I will go back to old notes and I will listen and look for patterns of what he said, what he's doing, what he wants to do.
• 7:16
  And I will test the waters to see what he is saying now, what he said then, and then merge and marry all that he has said together.
• 7:26
  And then if I start doing something, I wait for, hey Lord, is this what you want to do?
• 7:31
  And then if it happens and if he says yes, I listen, I either listen for a yes or a no, or I follow peace.
• 7:39
  That makes sense.
• 7:39
  We call it a headlight faith.
• 7:40
  You only go as far as God shows you.
• 7:43
  But as you move forward in his faith and his understanding, that headlight goes ahead of you.
• 7:48
  You always have that next step.
• 7:49
  And like I said, moving forward in peace.
• 7:51
  People don't get that.
• 7:53
  Waiting is a hard, hard thing for our world.
• 7:56
  We want everything, this split second, especially in business, want everything to happen.
• 8:00
  that's powerful that you sit back and say, God, it's in your hands.
• 8:05
  That's hard.
• 8:06
  it's a level of stubborn faith.
• 8:07
  You know what, if we really are dependent and desperate for God to do something that he wants to build and he wants to do, I don't want to build my kingdom.
• 8:16
  This company, dedicated it to him a long time ago that it is not my business, it is his.
• 8:23
  It is not my ideas, they are his.
• 8:25
  It is not my relationships or my network, they're his.
• 8:29
  It's not my money.
• 8:30
  It's not the company's money.
• 8:31
  It all belongs to him.
• 8:32
  And so every little thing that we have and do and build, it is because he gave us an idea.
• 8:38
  We tried it.
• 8:39
  It worked.
• 8:39
  We let him allow the infrastructure to keep growing.
• 8:43
  And uh it's really cool to be able to have a privilege in this life to take of the talent that he gave me and invest it rather than hold on to it and it be removed from me because
• 8:56
  I was unfaithful.
• 8:57
  love that.
• 8:58
  Thank you for sharing that.
• 8:59
  Now, Jeff and Blake, I'm going to kind of put you on the spot right quick, just in a couple sentences.
• 9:03
  What was it like to work with somebody that's got that stubborn faith that he talks about?
• 9:09
  That's awesome.
• 9:14
  I've always been a builder myself, whether it be in ministry or, uh you know, in life, I was an actual home builder, but I've also built several ministries.
• 9:24
  I ran an international seminary for 10 years.
• 9:28
  It's always building and kind of the same reliance that Brandon's talking about, you know, is sitting back and waiting for God to move.
• 9:37
  Like I said, that's one of the things that just drew me to him and this company.
• 9:43
  ah You know, is building something again, you know, not from the ground up, but taking something that God placed before us and doing everything that we can, ah you know, to
• 9:57
  build it and to grow it and to bring the glory of God through it.
• 10:01
  You know, that's to me, that's what it's always been about, whether it was finishing a home.
• 10:07
  stepping back and being proud of what we've done for the homeowner or building a ministry, uh you know, and stepping back and saying, look what God has done.
• 10:16
  uh You know, that's always been my heart.
• 10:18
  uh I've always wanted the easy way to somebody say, hey, here's a ministry, it's already built, just sustain it, you know, but that's never been my cause in life, you know,
• 10:30
  ministry or otherwise.
• 10:31
  And, you know, being a part of this.
• 10:34
  uh
• 10:35
  where we're at at this point and seeing what Brandon has built and being able to come in alongside him and to just build that all up more and more every day and just to see his
• 10:47
  heart into it and what he is, the man of God that he is.
• 10:53
  just allows you to put your head on a pillow at night and get a good night's sleep.
• 11:00
  Great.
• 11:00
  Thank you, everything,
• 11:02
  Yeah, I would just say, I mean, I'll be honest, waiting on the Lord is definitely hard for me.
• 11:09
  You know, just to be, to be, to be honest, I'm really, I'm probably the the the, I have the least amount of patience out of us three probably.
• 11:18
  uh
• 11:19
  I'll just be honest, Jeff and Brandon are a lot more laid back, a lot more laid back.
• 11:24
  And I'm like the running rabbit, you know, they're, they're, they think more long-term.
• 11:30
  I'm like, let's go, let's go.
• 11:31
  And they're like, okay, hold on pause, pause.
• 11:33
  Like we got to do this and this.
• 11:35
  And I'm like, but I don't want to do that.
• 11:37
  So I think for me, it's, you know, I, I know Jeff and you know, Jeff has been my mentor for quite some time, but you know, meeting Brandon, it's like, like, uh
• 11:47
  I remember us playing pickleball and I remember even the Lord actually telling me, I want you to work for Brandon.
• 11:53
  I'm like, I don't want to do that though.
• 11:57
  It's like, okay, he's my friend.
• 11:59
  But like Brandon talked about, going and knocking on other doors.
• 12:04
  I went and talked to some other companies and honestly, I circled back and I picked up the phone and called Jeff and I'm like, what do you think I should do?
• 12:10
  And he's like, I'm working for Brandon, so you should come work with us.
• 12:13
  And I'm like.
• 12:15
  Okay, fine.
• 12:15
  I'm just gonna listen to the Lord and you.
• 12:18
  yeah, I mean, honestly, it's been it's been a real uh incredible, I would say journey of just really learning to being patient learning a process.
• 12:29
  That's something I've had to learn.
• 12:31
  That's not something that comes natural to me.
• 12:32
  You know, I was in ministry as well worked for an evangelism ministry and we were, you know, hitting doors and sharing Jesus with people.
• 12:40
  But, you know, I think that's one thing that
• 12:43
  I share in common with Brandon.
• 12:44
  Brandon is an evangelist as well.
• 12:47
  uh His heart for people is something that I want to also have and be able to continue to share Jesus with people as we go.
• 12:59
  That's important to me.
• 13:00
  I can't ever turn off, you can't turn off an evangelist.
• 13:04
  You just can't do that.
• 13:05
  If you're an evangelist, you can't turn it off.
• 13:07
  I think for me, having the freedom to be able to share Jesus with people in business,
• 13:13
  as we're going is really important to me.
• 13:15
  And I think that's one thing that uh I really enjoy about our company is that we, know, Jesus is first.
• 13:22
  That's it.
• 13:23
  Simple as that.
• 13:24
  That's cool.
• 13:24
  Thanks for sharing guys.
• 13:25
  Appreciate your story.
• 13:27
  So Brandon, we're going to kick off to the business growth side.
• 13:30
  Tell us some business growth tips, some things that you've done in your business that's helped you that might impact somebody else in their business.
• 13:37
  We can go back to waiting on the Lord.
• 13:38
  There's nothing more beneficial to growing something that God would be proud of than just sitting down and saying, you know what, Jesus, I trust you that you put me here, that
• 13:49
  you've given me a skill, that you've given me a uh gifting.
• 13:52
  um We have to be able to differentiate between our calling and our purpose.
• 14:00
  Like, callings can change, but our purpose is to make Him known and make Him famous, to love God, love people.
• 14:06
  That is our purpose.
• 14:07
  Our callings are adjustable.
• 14:09
  So if my calling is adjustable, then I'm going to say, you know what, how can my purpose be effective in this momentary calling?
• 14:16
  If it's business, if it's ministry, if it's any little thing that we want to build to make Him known and make Him famous, then guess what?
• 14:22
  I'm going to sit down and say, Jesus, I trust you've given me a skill.
• 14:25
  I trust you've given me an ability to do something really well and honor you.
• 14:29
  So let's do something that you want to do.
• 14:31
  And how can I make you famous in the long run?
• 14:34
  And so
• 14:35
  Business tips, sit and wait and listen.
• 14:39
  Be stubborn in your faith.
• 14:40
  If I want to honor God, then I'm going to sit and listen to God.
• 14:43
  And uh secondary to that is integrity.
• 14:47
  If I'm going to love God, then I need to how to love people well.
• 14:50
  And that also means in the very little things of I'm not after money.
• 14:57
  When I started in this industry 10 years ago, I didn't know how to door knock.
• 15:01
  It's not my personality.
• 15:03
  It's not my way of saying, hey,
• 15:05
  Can I knock on, can I look at your roof?
• 15:07
  I don't want to be an interrupter of someone's life.
• 15:09
  I want to be someone that people trust that they can come to when they need me.
• 15:13
  And so I said, Jesus, how in the world am I going to do this?
• 15:17
  10 years ago.
• 15:19
  And all he told me was that a good name was above riches.
• 15:21
  That's all he told me.
• 15:24
  He didn't give me a blueprint.
• 15:25
  He didn't give me a plan.
• 15:26
  He didn't give me ideas.
• 15:27
  He just said a good name is above riches.
• 15:29
  And I said, well, thanks for that.
• 15:31
  How do I do this?
• 15:33
  And
• 15:34
  And so with that, I started to stop and watch and pay attention.
• 15:39
  said, how can I build a good name?
• 15:41
  And so I started uh focusing on taking care of someone so well that everything that I do in that moment, they can't help but talk about me.
• 15:53
  They can't help but talk about me.
• 15:54
  They can't help but spread the word.
• 15:56
  They can't help but refer me out.
• 15:58
  And so that's what I did.
• 16:01
  Okay.
• 16:02
  something so well that people can't stop talking about me going after a good name to honor the Lord, that He has a good name in what I do in every little thing, but that also people
• 16:13
  love that I carry the same DNA as the Lord and I'm going to take care of the little things.
• 16:18
  If He cares about the little things, then so can I.
• 16:21
  And so we even just had a phone call today with a homeowner where she's just looking for an out-of-pocket uh
• 16:32
  Thank
• 16:34
  where, you know what, actually insurance can take care of this house because there was something going on in the back end that she didn't even know about.
• 16:41
  Well, guess what?
• 16:41
  We're now about to be able to file a claim for her, sorry, with her.
• 16:44
  She's going to file a claim in that, well, this is now going to save her out of pocket money.
• 16:50
  Well, that's the way we do things in that, you know what, we're going to
• 16:54
  make sure that we know as much as we can and we're not gonna be just roofing contractors, we're gonna be property consultants.
• 17:01
  That we wanna make sure that every option is available so that we can show her the best route.
• 17:08
  So business falls down into if you're gonna honor the Lord in everything you do, well then honor people in everything that you can bring to the table for them.
• 17:18
  And so love God, love people.
• 17:20
  Well, I'm gonna love him and I'm gonna take care of every single homeowner the best way possible.
• 17:25
  um So business practice practices is you know what I'm gonna build every little thing that I got in a way that um I can take care of problems and not chase the dollar but I'm gonna
• 17:40
  take care of problems and if I do it unto the Lord then he is gonna be more than enough to supply more clients because he loves being famous in the way that I love people.
• 18:18
  So
• 18:19
  mean like, em knock and it shall be opened unto you.
• 18:25
  Well, if we're going to wait on God, there's a wait, there's a level of patience, but like ...
• 18:33
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:35
  That's right.
• 18:35
  able to say, wait, there is a door that I could potentially go look at.
• 18:38
  There is a preparation phase.
• 18:42
  So Isaiah, think it was William Carey.
• 18:45
  He preached one of his favorite messages.
• 18:47
  said, um functioned off, or his message was based, I think it was Isaiah 58.
• 18:54
  It says, prepare the work for yourself in the field and afterwards develop your house or build your house.
• 18:59
  He says, prepare the work for yourself in the field, meaning go do something outside of your house and then um as it develops and grows, then build your house.
• 19:10
  I remember that when there was times where I didn't even care about where I lived, what it looked like I lived, I wanted to go do something well and take care of people and test the
• 19:18
  waters.
• 19:19
  And then when there was success in that, then I took care of my own house.
• 19:23
  So um there's a preparation phase.
• 19:27
  within, you know what, when you have no clients, what are you doing in the back end?
• 19:30
  Because the test of a man is not what he does in external, a test of a man is what he does in private.
• 19:36
  And so I test myself in private.
• 19:40
  I test little moments.
• 19:41
  I run little trial periods.
• 19:43
  I run trials and find out what works in secret.
• 19:47
  And then once the time comes to actually put into execution, I say, Lord, is this what you want to do?
• 19:52
  If he says yes, then I go do that.
• 19:54
  So there is a preparation phase in the hiddenness when no one's looking.
• 19:59
  It's like building your own network, building your own clientele list.
• 20:02
  Hey, storms hit these areas.
• 20:04
  I'm doing homework.
• 20:05
  um I don't want to give all of our strategies, but there's a level at which like I'm working in the back end when no one's looking.
• 20:14
  And when uh people say, Hey, do you want to go play pickleball?
• 20:17
  Well, not tonight because I got some stuff I got to do, but they don't know what I'm doing because I'm doing something for a greater purpose.
• 20:23
  So.
• 20:25
  Yeah, you don't work when the time comes, you work way before the time even actually needs you to be efficient and effective.
• 20:32
  Thank you.
• 20:33
  And as we end up here, tell us a little tidbit of wisdom you want to leave us with and how can we get in touch with you.
• 20:41
  So a tidbit of wisdom.
• 20:45
  If you really love, if you really love the Lord and you love people.
• 20:52
  selfishness or uh self agendas, he's not gonna let that, he's not gonna let that live.
• 21:00
  Anything that is gonna build for my own glory, anything that is unto my own name, anything that is unto me, he's not gonna let it, he's not gonna let it survive.
• 21:12
  So a little tidbit of wisdom, you know what?
• 21:16
  Life is short.
• 21:18
  Business is short.
• 21:20
  A connection with someone can be short.
• 21:23
  But take advantage of every single opportunity in front of you.
• 21:26
  Every single one.
• 21:28
  Every single person in front of you, take advantage of an opportunity.
• 21:31
  Because you have, every single one that is watching this, you have a ability to solve the problem that someone has.
• 21:38
  They may not know they have a problem, but inside of you, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
• 21:44
  Whether you're gonna give them peace, whether you're gonna give them insurance, whether you're gonna give them a roof.
• 21:48
  whether you're gonna give them a financial plan, you have something inside of you that is gonna solve their problem.
• 21:56
  If you're doing it to solve your problem, God's not gonna let you stay in that industry.
• 22:00
  Everything you're gonna do is fall to the wayside.
• 22:03
  But I assure you, anybody watching this, you have the ability to solve a problem.
• 22:09
  How are you gonna solve it?
• 22:11
  For your fame or for his?
• 22:13
  So if you wanna get in touch with us,
• 22:16
  So our company number is 469-599-4763.
• 22:20
  The company is called Amity Roofing.
• 22:23
  We would be more than happy to take care of anyone that is a part of this, anyone that sees this.
• 22:28
  We love God, we love people.
• 22:30
  We're not gonna be taken advantage of, because we know there are some people that wanna say, hey, I thought you were supposed to be a Christian.
• 22:35
  Well, we are, but we're also not gonna be taken advantage of.
• 22:39
  We will honor people in everything we do.
• 22:41
  We're gonna love the Lord, we're gonna honor people in what we do.
• 22:45
  So yeah.
• 22:45
  It was such a privilege to talk to you,
• 22:47
  Thanks again for your time.
• 22:50
  Absolutely.