Episode 13 - Uniting a City of Faith Driven Investors with Will Thomas and Dean Macfarlan
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Today, we have not one special guest but two for you to hear from. We are talking with Will Thomas and Dean Macfarlan down in the heart of Texas. They’re both accomplished investors on their own, but what makes the story even more compelling is that they’re a part of a new movement of City Networks where like-minded Faith Driven Investors are uniting to do more together than they might be able to do apart.
Ambassadors Impact Network is a group of over 30 different members that are coming together to collectively invest in and encourage Faith Driven Entrepreneurs. Hear how they’re connecting faith-driven entrepreneurs with like-minded investors and how you can replicate their success in your own city.
This is a movement we’re hoping to see take off across the country, and we’re excited for you to hear Dean and Will share what they’ve learned in their experience. As always, thanks for listening.
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Episode Transcript
**Some listeners have found it helpful to have a transcription of the podcast. Transcription is done by an AI software. While technology is an incredible tool to automate this process, there will be misspellings and typos that might accompany it. Please keep that in mind as you work through it. The FDI movement is a volunteer-led movement, and if you’d like to contribute by editing future transcripts, please email us.
Henry [00:04:59] You're on the faith-driven investor podcast. And we're grateful for you to be here and to share your story about what God's done through you and your lives. And, Will, I've known you for a long time. I remember the first time we ever pitched Sovereign's coming down of Dallas early on before maybe even we knew how to answer what's an exit strategy. And I remember sitting in an office, I guess it's probably eight years ago just talking about this general concept. And even then, I knew that you got the concept. You understood it. Tell us a bit about, and then I want Dean to do the same, but Will, tell us a bit about how you got started in faith driven investing and how Ambassador's Impact Network got started, please.
Will [00:05:37] So I have a background in the Air Force and then after business school, I was involved in private equity investing here in Dallas, and I always loved interacting with entrepreneurs. And quite often I would see there is a lot more to interacting with entrepreneurs and just the dollars and cents. And so as I started interacting with them, I discovered actually I had known for a while, but then saw at close range a nonprofit, a ministry called Marketplace Chaplains. And I saw how chaplains engaged employees and engaged CEOs and encouraged them not only in terms of just the activities in their lives, but also their spiritual lives. And that gave me a front-row seat as I served on the board of companies that had chaplains in place, the importance of spiritual integration within investing. And after a while after praying about this, I ended up leaving Capital Southwest full time and now am able to serve on the board. And I see that. And then I began investing in companies that had some sort of a social mandate and increasingly a spiritual mandate. Fast forward a few years. It turned out that there were a couple of friends of mine who were also investing in companies that had a spiritual mandate and wanted to bless their employees and bless their customers in a way that went far beyond just being great stewards of the relationships they had. And that led us to eventually found the Ambassador's Impact Network.
Henry [00:07:15] Talk to us a bit about what you mean by faith driven mandate.
Will [00:07:19] So one of the things that we saw at Marketplace Chaplains is it's very difficult for people to come to work and leave a part of themselves behind. Right? To leave the spiritual part of who they are behind and everyone, whether they know it or not, has some element of a spiritual life. They may call it agnosticism or atheism even. But we recognize that we want to encounter them in their lives and encourage them in their spiritual lives. And specifically, this is not the mandate of either the boards I serve on or Marketplace Chaplains. But my own passion is to see the gospel come forward as contextually appropriate and to be able to bless those people with at least the knowledge of the gospel that they might hear it accurately and they might see it lived out well. And so that's where the focus has been for Ambassador's Impact Network.
Henry [00:08:18] Now, along the way, you brought along Dean. Dean, tell us your story and how you got involved with Will and just how you think about the movement and the network.
Dean [00:08:26] Yeah. Thank you so much. It's really a privilege to be on with you guys and especially with my buddy Will, which I'm going to talk a little bit about our relationship and how that came to be. But before I do, I think it's important just to get to know me a little bit. I'll tell you briefly, I'll go back. I've known Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior since I was 17 years old, and I'm 61. So if I do that math, that's forty four years, I think. So long journey with Jesus and very grateful for that. My wife of 40 years, Tony, is the absolute gift that God's provided. And then I have the blessing of two adult children. Both are married and they have blessed us with seven amazing grandchildren from three and a half to up to nine. What I would talk about a little bit is just in terms of the direction that I'm coming from. William, you brought it up. And then, Henry, I know this is your heartbeat, too. We compartmentalize this as men and women and oftentimes separate our spiritual life from our work world, if you will. And my heartbeat is that there is only one life that God gives us, and we're to be fully devoted in every aspect of it. You know 2 Chronicles 69 says the eyes of the Lord go throughout the whole earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. And I just want to be that person in every place that I am. So as we're involved with faith based entrepreneurs, my heartbeat, especially when I can come around them, either from a board perspective or just some encouragement, is to make sure they're living a life that they're calling other people to. It doesn't make you a Christian company or a faith based company if you make money and then give some other way to a very positive ministry. What makes Christian companies is people that are fully devoted to Jesus every day, living out all the "one another's" of scripture in a way that invites other people into, you know, check it out and see who Christ is and who we serve and love. So that's super important to me. And that, frankly, the idea of building those kind of relationships with those around me is what brought Will and I together.
Henry [00:10:16] So how does that happen? When you talk about being brought together, what's the purpose? Will, when you thought about starting this up, how do you get started with a group of men and women that are serious about their faith and want to do some of their investment life together? How does one get started and how did you get started with it?
Will [00:10:34] I'll start with that question of how I got started. Originally, my investment activity began with a company in Haiti. I had a heart for it ever since I had flown into Port-au-Prince and the Air Force years ago and saw the poverty and invested in a company led by a man who is really helping locals escape the stranglehold of voodoo and some practices that were absolutely destructive to employees.
[00:11:03] And then I made a loan to a gentleman who I count as a friend today who eventually moved from a taxi driver to an Uber driver. And I had this one on one relationship and I got to see when helping doesn't hurt at work, where he fed me and showed me an aspect of spiritual life that frankly, I was a foreigner, too. And I happened to have a checkbook and could write a check. And he paid every dollar of that back. We would meet in parking lots outside of McDonald's and he would give me envelopes of thousand dollar bills. And thankfully, we didn't ever get apprehended by the police as to what we were doing. But it was that kind of one on one engagement that led me to start investing in these private companies. Well, fast forward, Elliot and JJ, the other founding directors of Ambassador's Impact Network. We got together, we started talking and just socializing and asking others in the community whether they would find this of interest, investing in these private companies with a very specific mandate that we can explore later. And there are a lot of people who are interested. And that was just a huge blessing. The goal ultimately is one for me to make good decisions that show stewardship over the capital and also wisdom in investing in faith driven entrepreneurs. And two, is to help those who would love to invest in this space, who frankly don't have much time at all, leverage the little time they have and deploy dollars into these faith driven companies. And so those are the two goals that we were after. And I think we by God's grace have achieved some of that vision.
William [00:12:44] That's great, Will, and yeah, welcome to the Henry and William Show! Your T-shirt with our faces on it will be coming. I don't think we send out the gift bags till after you show up on the show. But they're coming and you can wear those proudly. That'd be fantastic. It's good for our brand. Catch us up a little bit, where is AIN? So you mentioned some companies. Maybe walk us into the world of how many companies you've invested and maybe how many companies you've looked at, what a meeting looks like quarterly, annually. Just walk us through the organization and how it manifests itself in practicality.
Will [00:13:19] So the organization right now we have thirty six members, six of those are young professionals and they serve a very important role. Those are non accredited and the rest are accredited. And the main feature of what we're doing and the goal is to deploy capital. And so we're organized around getting new opportunities to look at, opportunities that come mainly from the US. We've looked at some outside the US and since September of 2018, we've looked at around 180 companies and we've invested in nine of those and we've deployed 4.3 million dollars. Those companies, some of those are funds, most are operating companies, and that's the target. As far as the pattern that we go through to vet these companies is we, I can walk you through the process later, but we really are looking at companies on a weekly basis. We review them and then on a quarterly basis, we have quarterly member meetings where we'll have folks come in and talk about either faith driven investing or the importance of living a united life as it relates to how we deploy our capital. And then we also have a founder series, which we started recently. That allows members to get together. That's on about every other month basis. And then our young professionals, we like to take them out to lunch and have an opportunity for them to be encouraged and blessed by what I'll call the older members of the network who can share some of the wisdom that they've gained over the years. And we do that on a quarterly basis as well.
William [00:14:59] I want to ask which one I'm in. The young professionals or the old wise person. Feel free to tell me later. What I was going to ask is what does one of these companies look like? So four million dollars? I'm assuming a smaller company. Revenues, just getting started, idea stage. They look different. Let's take our listeners into what kind of companies you're investing in. Because they all require different support and they're different types of entrepreneurs. Just want to do that real quick, too.
Will [00:15:22] Yes. So I should mention, we're all Dallas based investors. So we think the local community is an important aspect, but we do invest nationally. And then as far as the companies that we're seeking to fund, they need to be post revenue and need to look to be profitable in the next 12 to 18 months. And that could be in the US primarily. And then also industry agnostic. Some are real estate. Some have more of a technology feel and others are manufacturing. A good case study might be ________, which is one of our most recent investments. And I just met with the entrepreneur this morning and we had a great time touring his facility. And he is post revenue and is tracking in a great direction and has a very small team that delivers very well. And that is a company that would be generally in the fairway. So in that one, we actually do serve on the board of the company. And Dean is one of the members of the network that serves on the board of that company. But the range of revenue of the companies we've invested in are anywhere from north of 2 million dollars to ones that would be in the seventy thousand dollar range, in fact, on a revenue basis. We will look at overseas investments, you know, as we've grown as a network and we've understood network appetite or member appetite. The international investments are more challenging, the requirement for us to invest is that we have a trusted person who serves on the board or who is involved in the company in some capacity.
Henry [00:17:07] Dean, you know, one of the things that we've come to understand with time is the importance of deal flow. There's so many different components to making an investment. Managing the investment once you've made the investment, negotiating it. But what makes a successful investor I think so oftentimes is being able to get good looks at good deals. How do you all do that as a network?
Dean [00:17:27] Yeah, I think for me it's three things. It's capital, counsel, and connectedness. And when I'm looking for relationships where I can help add value, you know, a lot of these young entrepreneurs, that is what they're looking for. And what I want to go and talk a little bit, I think Will skipped over an important piece of this. What drew me to Will originally, and as I mentioned, our relationship is new and growing. He's one of my favorite people and I'm a huge fan. And the reason is Will is a lot more interested in the person rather than the profit. We do want to invest. We want to create value. We want to be good stewards. But excellence honors God and inspires people. And Will is all about that in every area of his life. And that's what really drew me to him. You know, trust is the currency that good relationships are built on. And I love that about him early on. He is focused on these young entrepreneurs getting to know them, being a source of counsel, whether we invest with them or not. And so that was really encouraging to me, because I do think young folks can figure out really, you know, are you for him or are you just trying to cash a check with him? And I do think our interest and what I was drawn to Ambassador's Impact Network is they're really interested in the whole person, a holistic relationship, body, mind, and soul. How can we be a source of council, capital, and leverage our networks on their behalf at the same time? Will, I don't know if Caleb told you yesterday, but one of the topics that came up at our very first board meeting is, Caleb, I said, you're a young man. You seem very wise at an early age. I love your business strategy. I love how you're thinking about your business. But what I'm most interested in is encouraging you and coming in behind you and making sure you're living the life as I talked about earlier, you know, follow me as I follow Christ. And a lot of times the pressures on a young CEO, a young entrepreneur, a business owner, it's a hot box, as we all know. There's a lot of stresses and strains. And so making sure we're coming along them, challenging them. Hey, are you spending time with the Lord? Are you listening to the Spirit? Are you abiding with other Christ followers and community? I think that's as much as our responsibility as any cash or a check we would write to them.
[00:19:34] And so that's what drew me to Will and to the network to talk a little bit about how you guys source deals. Presumably as the network grows, you get more, more exposure at the very least to local deals. But, you know, the secret to the success you'll have is finding great men and women of faith that are starting great companies and then ones that can be successful. How do you solve for that?
Will [00:19:58] So on the deal flow front, we have various members who spend time at the networking events, you might imagine, which, you know, run the gamut from praxis to the business as mission events. It's a Lion's Den and a host of others, Ocean, and some others that tend to be on the earlier stage, but still just have a wonderful set of entrepreneurs. And then some find us through the faith driven investor and faith driven entrepreneur sites, which if you're new to this podcast and just hopped in in the middle, you got check out that website. So just shout out to the team for really drawing in some excellent content and also drawing together a wide array of investors in the network. So those are a lot of the sources that we go to. We are part of the Angel Capital Association and really love what the folks in that network are doing. What we've discovered is that while there's some great companies there, it's a little more difficult to start on the faith discussion after you've started to learn about the company, because that isn't a topic that typically comes up in the Angel Capital Association network. We did a recent survey to see what ideological investing activities were happening in that network. And they do run across faith groups. We're the only explicitly Christian group in the Angel Capital Association that's active. But there are a number that are supporting Jewish entrepreneurs, Muslim entrepreneurs, and certainly ones of people that have typically been underserved by the community, which include female minority and LGBTQ or some of the areas where you find a lot of activity. What we found is that by first starting with the faith piece, we've had better alignment from the get go and we tend to have more meaningful relationships that deepen over time, and I think we can serve those entrepreneurs better. So that's where a lot of our activity or deal flow is coming from.
William [00:22:05] That's great. And as you think about investing, what's your screening mechanism? You know, I feel like the faith component's big, you know, economic returns, social return, spiritual returns, or are there tradeoffs between those? I feel like bottom lines are becoming like razor blades these days. One, two, three, six. There's a new one every time. But interested in your guys' approach. How do you think about that as a group? You invested in nine companies from what you mentioned. My guess is those are different return profiles. Do you even have different buckets that you put them in?
Will [00:22:38] So we don't have a typical bucket as we think about it. We do have a two by two because a lot of business school folks just have to have a two by two, of course. So on one axis, we would have market return and on the other we have gospel intentionality, which is just the way we think about it. And what we are looking for are companies that have market return or a little bit less. That could even be as little as 50 percent of market return. So if the company would typically at its stage and risk profile have a 30 percent IRR hurdle rate in a secular world investment, we might look at something that would have a 20 percent IRR or 15 percent even. But what would also need to be true for that company is to have some gospel intentionality around the company itself. And so this is the area where we try to think deeply and also recognize that there's a risk that we can try to push a certain worldview or framework in terms of how someone makes the gospel known in their business. And we want to be careful about that. That said, we are looking for entrepreneurs that have a desire to make the gospel available and known to their employees. Obviously never hiring on it, never promoting on it, or making an us-them environment within their company as it relates to faith issues, the way we think about it. I'll just pause and see if there are any questions about that. Then I can walk you through a little bit of the grid and kind of how we assess companies on the front end.
Henry [00:24:20] I was just going to ask a little bit more about some of that spiritual intentionality. And one of the things that's always good and Dean and alluded to this a little bit before is an example. If you could just give us an example of a company that you've invested in and how they are able to articulate the Spirit's integration at the company, what that looks like for them and from investing in my own background, I know that everybody talks about it a little bit differently, but just help provide an example so that listeners of this podcast that are looking for opportunities like that might say, OK, that is something I'd want to find as well. Or maybe the better way to equip investors is what are the questions that you ask of an entrepreneur that allow you to be able to understand how serious their spiritual integration is.
Will [00:25:04] So I'm going to preface my comments with the fact that Tim Keller, who's you know, you're one of his biggest fans, writes very clearly that you can be a faithful follower of Christ and have a business that manufactures excellent products or provides excellent services, and that is God glorifying in its own right. And you don't need to have some of the elements that I'm going to talk about. I do recognize, though, that a company that is faith driven and has a Christian CEO but does not really bring that to work, can be funded by a wide array of secular capital providers. So we're really about funding not only the capital gap, if you will, from friends and family to venture capital, that dollar need. We're also funding an ideological gap and that is that an entrepreneur comes to work and has a very intentional view of how they want to live out their faith and even share their faith within the context of work. And so I'll give you some examples and we can walk through our grid. But, you know, companies may have either their mission statement or their employee guide may have biblically informed guidelines which are either biblically informed and implicit or explicit. They may have activities which include corporate chaplains, which obviously I am a fan of. They may have prayer groups that may have Bible study times that are optional. They may serve with Christian non-profits just to allow their employees to see what it's like to engage with believers if they haven't done that shoulder to shoulder before. And then their product or service may actually be something that advances the gospel and may have Scripture on it and it may actually have a very explicit gospel message. Or it may simply point to creation and get people out in creation so that they can experience what Romans 1 shares about the general revelation of God.
Dean [00:27:09] Let me just interject really quickly, because I think this is an appropriate time to mention it. You guys, I'm sure, are familiar with Mark 10:45, for the son of did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as ransom for many. And so I think as Will and I and others like us think about these types of relationships. I'm specifically trying to answer Henry's question. I think questions are your friend always. And what I usually start with is, hey, what you believe about God is the most important thing about you. I'd love to learn what you think about God and almost early stage evangelism probing questions, you know, what's the most important thing in your life? How do you think about success? What are the motivators? You know, the faith driven people I know are folks that you see doing Mark 10:45. They've decided that the Lord of the universe came to serve us. I can't have any other job other than to serve people. And so the faith driven people I know are folks that are all about serving their customer, serving their employees, their constituencies, you know, whether they be investors or otherwise. So that's kind of the number one thing I think about even before Will and I got together through the network. And I do think in relatively short order, you can discern where someone's coming from. From a faith based perspective. And are they early stage? Is that a recent person who hasn't ever been discipled but needs to be and that I'm going to navigate with that person differently than I might with someone who's been walking with Christ for 15 or 20 years, that's way down the road? And I'm there for more than encouragement. And he's got his own accountability and network of people that are spurring him on to love and good deeds. But I do think at the baseline of making the assessment, whether this is someone you should partner with is a deep understanding of Mark 10:45.
Henry [00:28:56] Will, is there a structure that you all use as you endeavor to understand how to minister to people and who to invest in?
Will [00:29:03] So one of the ways that we start the relationship with them is we give them a funding application. There's an online application on our website, AmbassadorsImpact.com. And the question that you find at that site is very simple. It's straightforward. And we do ask questions about how they use their business or how the Lord is using their business to bless others. But in our more robust funding application, we ask them, how is God using your business? We ask them about their operating principles and whether they're biblically aligned. And we let them expound on that. We also then ask them about the activities internally that allow people to see the gospel at work or hear the gospel. And then we also ask whether the product or service itself advances the gospel in some way, either be a demonstration or proclamation.
[00:29:59] And so it's those three areas, the documents, the activities and the product or service itself that we look at and we assess and we see if this is a fit before all of that. As Dean mentioned, we really are focused on the people, not just the entrepreneur, but also the management team. We want to be able to serve them well both professionally, and we do have a lot of diversity among the professional expertise of our network members. We also want to be well matched with the other investors and the directors and understanding all of the people that are in the leadership of the company is important to us to make sure that we're congruent with them. And in some cases we're brothers or sisters in Christ, but we're not a great fit from what they're looking to do.
Henry [00:30:50] Dean, you're in a unique spot in that you came in just after Ambassador's Impact started, you know how Will came to you and presented this. You've been around long enough to see some of the mistakes you've made. What advice would you have to somebody wants to start a network and approach people like you to grow a network like this in their community, their city, Milwaukee, Seattle, Orlando. Name it. As you travel along with Will what's the council you would give these people?
Dean [00:31:18] The counsel I would give them is find young men like Will and his partners because they're extraordinary. And I don't say that tongue in cheek. I mean, I think everything starts with people and Will and his team do a really, really great job. And let me just explain. I mean, the real estate investment management space, I do a very similar thing to what you do, Henry. And I give our clients access to direct investments in real estate and debt instruments. And, you know, we try and outsource a lot of the things that we don't do well. I'm not very good in accounting, so I have a best in class accounting firm that we outsource to, I try to leverage the uniqueness of our team to spend money on the highest value things for our clients, and that's sourcing those opportunity, pricing the risk and executing our business plan. With Will, what he has done is pulled together interested parties that are really capable that help source that and then structure these kinds of investments for someone like myself and other partners. And so the level of excellence that's happening, that's all for our payroll is extraordinary and it's zero costs. You know, the network is providing this expertise at zero cost to all the partners like myself. And so it's a really unique model. And that's why I'm like you, Henry. I hope these kinds of networks can be built across the country. And frankly, Will is really excellent at giving them the vision and the nuts and bolts of how to do it. So I'll let Will take over from there.
Will [00:32:44] Well, Dean, I'm going to get a big head here. Thanks for your kudos. I would say that ultimately this has been the Lord's doing. I would say Elliot, J.J. and I would say the same thing and the cohort of men and women that have come together around this concept have been catalytic for one another and have been men and women that raised the bar both professionally and spiritually. One of the things that's really important for any group to form in any city is to have a like mindedness around the investment thesis and what is in and what is out from an investment standpoint. So one of the challenges that I think we all face is figuring out whether we're going to finance things that are faith led generally or have a more specific component to them and defining what that is. And this is something that impact investors struggle with. They struggle with whether I've heard this funny story about two impact investors who had very different mandates. One wanted to fly dogs out of South Korea so that they wouldn't be eaten. And the other impact investor said the carbon footprint on that is nuts. I'm definitely not going to invest in that endeavor. And you have these sort of opposing ideologies. And so narrowing down into what we're trying to accomplish is very helpful. And that then allows for a focus to come around the effort and then it's not diluted. And so I know this is a lot of the work that you're doing. Henry is defining a taxonomy and defining working groups so that not only industry professionals are married up, but also they can talk about what level of intentionality around the gospel is important.
Henry [00:34:27] Talk to us about some of the mechanics. And I don't want to give short shrift to what you just said about how important it is that you get together as a network and understand how you're going to make decisions and what the commonalities of the investments are and where you can have shared mission and purpose. But operationally, when do you hire an attorney? Dean had mentioned the fact that you do these things for free. That sounds intimidating for me. If I'm sitting in Seattle trying to figure out how do I do this in a way to bring Dean in and now it's for free. How do you put together the paperwork? How do you form an investment committee? How do you send out the wires? How do you do reporting? Is it just so complicated that it just can't be done or can it be done? Is there a playbook and what does that look like?
Dean [00:35:09] Yeah, I don't think it's complicated. If I figured it out, pretty much anyone can. The Angel Network structure is what we operate as. We're a 501c6. And the Kauffman Foundation has a great guide on Angel Networks and a host of structures that are used across the country. So that would be step one. Step two is simply filing as an organization. And then we have our paperwork in to get our 501c6 status, which is pending. And then from there it's determining what level of fees you want to charge, who's going to be hired for what purposes. In our case, we only have two folks that are on the payroll full time, which doesn't include any of the members. We all, including myself, pay in our dues and then that allows us to finance the website and, you know, some of the activities of the paid professionals and administrator who's excellent. And then we also pay for some of the technology just to host documents securely, et cetera. And then when we need to engage an attorney on a deal by deal basis, we pay for them. And then we generally would charge that back to the company. Not always, but sometimes. And then as far as reporting. So our structure does not require any reporting of K1s or anything like that back to the members because the members directly invest in the companies and then the companies report directly back to them. There are other groups that have Series LLCs, which is a fine structure. It does require a little more administrative work. We just avoided doing any of those.
William [00:36:51] Dean and Will, it's been such a pleasure to get to know you, to get to hear what God is doing through you. That you get to be a vessel for his encouragement for so many entrepreneurs and business leaders. And as you're doing that on a local level, it is really cool. I know you're investing nationally by bringing together a local body. Just feels like the church. It just sounds like the church and feels like the church. And that's really exciting. Maybe that was your strategy. I'm not sure. But as we come to a close, we always like to ask, you know, where's God taking you in his word? And for some of our guests, you know, that's something God told you this morning on the way in as you listen to the Bible. And it just struck you in a new way or different way or maybe for the first time. And sometimes it's a season where he may have you meditating on a particular passage or a particular teaching from God. We've heard some great things here, Mark 10:45 and others. And just where does He have you personally and let our listeners into the journey God has you on?
Dean [00:37:43] Yeah. Thank you, William. That question's a gift because honestly, it all starts with our ability to shepherd, encourage, and frankly come under and support these faith driven entrepreneurs is directly related to our own self leadership. And we have to be abiding with Christ. John 15:5. And if we're not doing that, then it's really hard. We can't give away what we don't possess. And so at the end of the day, we have to have a theme and an understanding of what God has planned for us and one of my all time favorite verses is Philippians 3:10, I want to know Christ, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. We can't know Christ unless we know his word. And so that question's awesome for me. This morning. It was amazing. I'm always in Proverbs, just something that's blessed me for the last, frankly, 20 or 30 years. And so today was a great one. Chapter 7, verse 1 through 3. It be the following, My son, keep my words and start my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live. Guard my teachings as apple of your eye and find them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. And so it has to start with our ability to writing God's word on the tablet of our heart. And that takes intentionality and it's super, super important.
[00:38:57] I'll let you inside my life a little bit. I struggle with fear, anger and control. I'm sure none of you guys ever have any of those kind of problems, but those are the ones that raise their ugly head with me most often. And so when I'm looking in God's word, I'm often looking for scriptures that will help me do battle against the sin that so easily entangles me. So the second thing I was in this morning was Philippians, one of my favorite books of anyone who wants to leave a legacy of faithfulness. Your listeners would, I think, really connect with this chapter one, verse 27. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.
[00:39:34] For those who are likely to struggle with control, chapter two versus three and four very, very famous verse, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but in humility let each of you regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not look out for your own interests, but also the interests of others. What an unbelievable job description for a young, faith driven entrepreneur. So Philippians keeps instructing us. I'll just close with this. If any of you have ever struggled with anxiety. Chapter 4 verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is dear. And then my favorite. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind and Christ. And so if there's anything I could leave your listeners. It is if we can learn to model those kind of behaviors by a daily abiding with Jesus, and then hand those off to other faithful young men and women who are leading and guiding these not just these companies, but our churches, our schools, our politics, we're going to leave a legacy of faithfulness that will not come back. Boy, that the Lord will say well done, good and faithful servant.
Henry [00:40:50] Amen, amen, amen. Will. It's hard to, I think we all just need to admit the fact that it can be hard to top that.
Will [00:40:58] The Lord gave me something this morning that ties in with what Dean said. And I'm reading through Daniel with a gentleman who's a Haitian guy in Dominican Republic. We get to text back and forth and I learn more from him and sometimes I just I see on my own a lot of times.
[00:41:15] And this morning was from Daniel, 10. And Daniel, 10:19. You've got Daniel, who's just seen a vision that terrifies him. And so he he appeals to God. He's fearful. And God says to him, oh, man, greatly loved. Fear not, peace be with you. Be strong and of good courage. And then Daniel writes, As he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak for you have strengthened me.
[00:41:44] And there's, you know, we all struggle with fear. We might call it anxiety or concern or whatever is palatable so that we don't admit that this is a fear. And so many times we're striving on our own and we need to humble ourselves. And I'm preaching to myself here. I need to humble myself before the Lord so that I can hear what he has to say. And knowing that I am loved, that he is with me and that it gives me peace and calls me to good courage, I can do what he calls me to do. And I know entrepreneurs struggle with this all the time. And so this is what I prayed about this morning with the team over at _______. And it's what I hope that I return to often is to just abide in Christ and be of good courage.
Henry [00:42:29] That's a great way to end. I love the way that it came up to and that it's in relationship with this person you have who is in Haiti and the ability to process that together. And when you have a direct investing relationship with a young entrepreneur or an old entrepreneur, that can be bilateral and go both ways. And I can tell you that that's definitely the case with me. And it's cool to hear that's done the same with you. Thank you both.