Brooks McDonald - How A Hard-Driving Entrepreneur Learned To Slow Down, Listen For God, And Lead With Intentionality.

What if the loudest voice in your life stopped being the grind and started being God? That’s the spark behind our conversation with Brooks McDonald, a high-energy insurance entrepreneur who married young, built and sold an agency, and then chose to slow down so his faith and family could breathe. We trace his path from a conservative church childhood to a fuller experience of grace and the Holy Spirit, not through hype but through patient friendships that made room for questions, practice, and fruit.

Brooks opens up about the years he chased deals across the mergers and acquisitions world while Cari-Beth carried the load at home—and what finally changed. COVID became a reset as the family spent fifteen weeks in an RV, rediscovering presence over performance. He shares the “1690 principle” he uses to align decisions: what advice would he give his 16-year-old self, and what will his 90-year-old self wish he’d done with his time? That frame leads to practical choices about marriage, parenting, and work that protect what really lasts.

We also dig into everyday obedience. When the leader of a small morning prayer group couldn’t be there, Brooks picked up the baton. Showing up consistently drew 20 to 30 people who now gather to pray, listen, and grow. The takeaway is simple and freeing: you don’t need a theology degree to lead; you need a willing heart and steady steps. We talk about three pillars that keep your soul anchored—read Scripture daily, commit to a Bible-believing church, and join a small group where you can be known and accountable.

As Brooks transitions out of a private equity-backed role, he describes “headlights distance” faith: you rarely see the whole road, just the next stretch, and that’s enough. We explore how to wait well, fight fear and anxiety with community and wise counsel, and prepare for big moves through fasting, prayer, and the Word. If you’re sensing a nudge but stalling out in uncertainty, this story will meet you with hope, clarity, and a push to take the next step.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more candid conversations, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s your next step of obedience this week?

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Transcript

Meet Brooks And Set The Table

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome. I'm John Martin. It's great to be here on Road to Redemption today. I'm excited to have my friend Brooks McDonald's. Brooke, how are you doing? McDonald. How are you, buddy?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

You know, always people think that I am a part of the McDonald's legacy. Unfortunately, no. I was always hoping I would have like a golden card to go up to McDonald's and get free French fries at any time, but no one's offered that to me.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Cool. Well, it's so cool to have you on. And it's great too because you're here in the same office as me, the same space here in Miramar Beach. And I was like, hey man, I you gotta come in. You're here. You're you know, we had you on before when the show first started.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

But we were in Starbucks when we decided to talk about it and I did, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Yeah, so we we were just like such a divine appointment. Just just would you mind uh just sharing with people a little bit that may not know you, a little bit of your background? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah, um, born and raised outside of Memphis, Tennessee, in Bartlett, Tennessee. And interesting because I was I am the son of a mayor, he's retired now, but uh being a politician's kid, but also being married young. Carrie Beth was 18, I was 19, we got engaged. 21 and 20, we got married, so learning life really quick. And so was in the insurance, started an insurance business just uh while I was figuring out what I was really gonna do with my life, you know, which wasn't gonna be insurance. And uh, you know, spoiler alert, I've been in insurance ever since. Um and we have two wonderful kids, Brody, who's 15, who attends Rocky Bayou up in Niceville, and Blair, who is 13. She was at Gateway, now she's homeschooled and uh does competitive dance, so read that up. And so yeah, we we were in Memphis area and then we're in uh south of Nashville in Franklin, Tennessee, and we had a second home vacation home here in Sandestin. And when uh we'd be coming here, but in COVID, we did we were just here for spring break, uh, and COVID hit, and we were like, you know, what if we rented out the Franklin house and just kind of made this home base and let the summer renters, you know, Florida, land of the free, that was all open and everybody renting. Uh, you know, so what if we rented it out and traveled? And so that kind of six years ago uh that we did that, and so um that's kind of some of the background and and also uh well we're we're gonna Yeah, just I was curious about your uh relationship with with Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

How did that come apart? Did you always were you always a believer?

Roots, Marriage Young, And Insurance

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Oh, that's good. Yep. Part of the show probably would be good to include my spiritual walk as well as just like uh but no, I grew up actually in Church of Christ, with people don't know much about Church of Christ, much more of a conservative, very uh conservative group. Some might say use the word legalism. I always say, um, and I probably said it on here the last time, but uh Church of Christ is a group that you know there's no instruments and and very um specific in certain ways. And uh as I always said, I learned a whole lot about scripture growing up in Church of Christ, but also uh moving to Nashville and being at Church of the City there and then destiny here, uh got a little more of a grasp on uh some of the freedom and grace in the Holy Spirit, and also just introducing myself more to the Holy Spirit and how he interacts. So, yes, I've been in church uh all my life and um accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at age 13, but I still would challenge um when you grow up in the church, sometimes you have some of the habits of just people before you, and maybe sometimes that becomes just uh ritualistic or just kind of um just a normal process versus um knowing him yourself. And I I really would challenge over the last eight years is when I've really come to know Christ more in a much more deeper intimate level. How have you done that? I mean, I think it's who who we're around, right, and who we're exposed to, and I think um it's it's been helpful sometimes. You uh let's say for me, not knowing anything about um interacting with the Holy Spirit, the idea of tongues and some of those pieces and preconceived notions, and then you get around people who grew up. The cool part about destiny, especially, is you have a melting pot of interdenominational, so people from all walks of life, and so I'd get to know some wonderful people, and then in conversation, it's kind of like you don't want you don't care how much they know till you know how much they care. You hear their life, their heart for the Lord, and then they you learn about uh tongues or Holy Spirit, or that was one piece of a myriad of things. And and that's when I think the the walls come down to be more open to be like, tell me more about this. You know, I love uh Pastor Stephen would say God's not weird, people are weird. Well, I'd always associate certain things with being weird or not, yeah. And that's again one facet, but uh uh putting yourself out there and being around people and walking alongside folks, I'd say one answer.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Well, as we're in the beginning of 2026, we've been talking a lot about goals, and um you know, in our Western world, it's it's it can be an overachieving world. You know, everybody's trying to seem like get ahead and you know, make more money and and and strive to hit our goals, which is good. I mean it's good to have goals, but you and I were talking a little bit about you know work-life balance, and and I I know I know you've been a successful entrepreneur, you've you've done well, I know that, and you're you've got a lot going on every every you're you're a blessed man, but can you talk to us a little bit about that? I know that's yeah, about work-life balance and how you're doing that.

Growing Up Church Of Christ

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Well, you know, starting in the insurance business and then becoming an agency owner at I guess age 25, and then really finding my niche in the insurance world in the mergers and acquisition space. I'd find another agency, um, come to an agreement, acquire them, consolidate it, and and scale it. And I just found myself doing that over and over and over again. And you can really lose yourself from a family perspective when you're just chasing that American dream. And that was going really well, but I would challenge that from a father-spouse perspective. That was kind of the wayside. Carrie Beth's taking care of the kids. I'm out doing that, and and just wasn't present. And it really was, I think, finally, I'm pretty hard-headed, so I gotta the Lord's gotta hit me upside the head pretty hard for it to click. Um hearing people that had kids of older age that were out of the house just saying, hey, don't blink, it goes by fast. And I think that was a COVID was such a hard thing for so many people in America and so much sadness, but for us, it was actually a really good time. Uh, it was a resetting for us. Uh, and it reset our mindset of, hey, at that time, um, we had a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old. And we said, hey, we keep hearing don't blink, let's let's take off and just travel and experience. So we did about 15 weeks in an RV traveling around to out west to New England, and all of a sudden they're just realizing life priorities as we're walking in the Lord, and I not everybody can be in a position to do that. You know, I'd worked really hard to set myself up for time freedom. But but I do think everyone can make what we're talking about a priority that I think the voice in America, if you're an individual chasing success and the American dream, that's such a loud voice, and praise God in some ways that we have a nation of entrepreneurs, but we also have to have such an equally loud voice of remembering what it's for, the balance of it all, because uh a rule that I talk about a lot is the 1690 principle, which would be if I could go back and talk to my 16-year-old self, what would I say to him? And what would I say what what's coming and how to change maybe his attitude or his behavior? And then if I sat with my 90-year-old self, then what would my 90-year-old self say, hey, this is what you should have spent more time on? And I think across the board, our 90-year-old selves would say, Don't waste the time with your family, waste the time with your kids, don't take uh enjoy the time you have when your parents are still alive. Uh, and it that's what matters, and it really has nothing to do with financial success along the way. Um and so it's trying to thread that needle of balance.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Um and and uh you know, let's talk a little bit about your faith journey and and trust. I know a lot of people look at us sometimes and think, oh, everything seems so great, you know, like you've got a successful business and family, and what are some of the the challenges you've had to go through and and how how did your relationship with the Lord you know bring you through it, or maybe you're still walking through some of these things? Because we have a lot of folks that are really looking for hope out there. It's you know, and and and we live in a comparing world, and everybody just thinks, oh, this guy's got it all together, and he's a Christian and you know, successful entrepreneur, family.

Discovering Grace And The Holy Spirit

Goals, Hustle, And The Cost At Home

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Is there any challenges you can share and how you know God's I mean I when we look back as as I was alluding to earlier about just uh making sure strength and marriage, strength and parenting, and that's what I I'd say if I went back and did it all over again, it would be just more intentional in some of those early years. Um and I think too, uh we've we've led a young, married small group through destiny for a lot of years, and and um I see myself and so many of these 21-year-old guys where they're out making it happen and probably pretty headstrong about how they are as a father, who their wife needs to be, and um and my reminder to them is hey buddy, like I see myself a lot, and you remember this is a walk where you have your partner, not yes, there's some Lord peace, there's some biblical peace of being the leader of the household and spiritual leader, but don't take that to an extreme uh to where there's a partnership. And I think more than anything, it's been this journey of, and if Carrie Beth was sitting here, she would be amen, and that that I've I think I've mellowed in my walk as a husband and as a father of listening more. Uh there's I still have my moments, you know, but being intentional to listen and and be about other folks. And I a friend of ours here, um he says all the time, you know, we're all just black-hearted sinners. And that's my word uh on you know, letting the spirit lead in these conversations. When I've been over at Grand Boulevard now at 6:15, there's a prayer group, and at 9 o'clock there's a prayer group. And Colby Anderson had, when he was there, he'd be leading a prayer group, and it'd be five, six, eight of us in there. But Colby, Colby, you're a busy guy, uh, would be gone and predisposed and not there. We just keep working out, man. If Colby wasn't here, that's great. We'll be here when he is not, we're just gonna keep working out. And finally, there was this pricking in my heart of, hey, it's you need to pick up that baton. Praise God, Colby started it, but yeah, it doesn't give an excuse when he's not present. And so I think part of it was consistency, right? Just like uh ROI growing or anything else. If people don't realize it's gonna be there every Thursday, they're not gonna show up. Well, just like nine o'clock every day. And so now we have 20, 30 people in this prayer group. And I look around the group, and exactly what you said earlier, is like they may just see something. Of course, they may just see a black-hearted sinner, but some may look and just think, oh, well, it's easy for him to say. Um, but that's my that's our walk, is that we are all fallen, we've all fallen short. Yeah, and I'm I'm confident that I've done it worse than the majority of anyone in failure, but we all have the opportunity to to draw near to God. And even this morning in prayer group, it was about the the scripture, draw near to the Lord, and he will draw near to you. And um, as John Bevere puts it, the Holy Spirit's a gentleman, he is not going to force his way in, he has to be invited. And in our daily walks, I believe that's the biggest transformation that I would call to is the intentionality of knowing that we are being used by the Lord, and it's not, oh, I should be better. You know, if I was a better person, may I be used? And Satan gives these scapegoats of how our behavior is just to slough it off, or maybe tomorrow, or it's not for me. And I look around a room at the earlier today of people with very, varied walks of life. Some that know the Lord and known him for a long time, some that don't at all. And just my prayer is to know that the Lord is pursuing us more than anyone else, more than my mom pursuing me and loves me, not that pales in comparison to the way Christ is pursuing me, and he's chasing us, and that we just are we sensitive to his voice. I think that goes back to the busyness of our society is are we taking time to listen for the Lord? Like the playbook of if we want to talk to him, are we listening and are we talking to him? Yesterday morning's word was that it was an ROI. Some there was a father of a kid, or his kids were out of college, but he said when his kids were in college and the kids would call, and I was actually telling my dad about this, and I remember my dad being like, in my college years, I would never call home. Like it'd be months. And and now having kids approaching that, I can't imagine my kid not calling me. So he tells a story about when the kid calls from college, and that caught my attention. I as a father, I just want to listen to whatever he wants to talk about. I'm just glad he called. And that's the Lord with us. Now that might be roles reversed at times, we are the subservient, but he's a loving father that just wants to spend time with us. That just wants to listen. And I think so much uh there's people out there that want to, Satan's trying to get them to compartmentalize, really, to just delay, and and so it's about our intentionality. I can tell you guys, and you probably know in this moment, you uh former staff people have called me a flea on crack. I can hop from topic to topic too much. So that's what we love about it. Find in a seam of a very core message, that's a challenge for me, but hopefully it's uh it's useful.

RV Reset And Reordering Priorities

SPEAKER_00 14:51

This is reality radio, reality. That's what we call it. We we don't we we we hop, we let the Holy Spirit guide us. And and and one of the things I got just from what what you were saying, Brooks, is just really obedience um in God, and just you know, it we we don't have to have a theology degree or be a you know ordained pastor, work at a church or anything to lead lead a group, just like you, you know, when when Colby wasn't there, you know, and y'all's um group at the gym, just saying, hey, wait a second, we're not I can get up and I can lead this group, you know, or anybody can, you know, can start a small group or be a leader. Um because that's what it takes, you know. That's what the the Lord says to us is to you know, to to share his word and to you know to kind of get started. We have three uh kind of key pillars of the road to redemption, which is uh first is to get into the word of God and to read the Bible and just read it every day. We we really suggest getting a hard Bible, but but but if not, it's you know, the Bible app is right there on your phone. Uh, you know, next is to get into a Christ-centered church, just a Bible-believing church, and just go. Um you know, and the and the last is to get into a small group, a life group within that church that you can you know be accountable to and be able to make yourself vulnerable, and and and these folks will really come around you and pray with you, and encourage you, and you know, be there for you when when you go through tough times in life. You know, so um those are just some of the things I know you're you're doing. I've heard you talk about small groups, has been a big, a big part of your journey. As we're kind of coming to the end, is there anything else that's on your heart that you you want to share? Or yeah.

The 1690 Principle On Time And Legacy

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Um, uh you know, the journey that I'm on that I think there's other people listening is to there's w seasons or maybe someone's finding themselves like I found myself and telling that story of the changing of seasons. So for uh twenty something years being in the insurance business and 16 years as an owner, then in 2021 a private equity uh approached us and acquired our company in 2021. So now for almost five years, I've been a caretaker, if you will, stewarding this agency for a new owner, and that's it's been great. Uh I it's been a wonderful experience, but feeling the Lord saying, Hey, you remember how through that prayer of the journey that you wished you had that ability to make a change or to change seasons, I felt like it's now on me. And like almost like being called on the carpet, like, hey, I always feel like Lord, if you'll help me out here, I'll do this. And it's like, it's like, hey, I'm I'm here, I've done that. Uh, are you gonna show up like you said you would? And so um officially my time in the private equity is coming to an end. I'm in a consulting role, and as that chapter closes, I think there's lots of people that are in seasons of waiting for the Lord to speak. And I've had discussions with folks where there's books like just do something where where's the Lord working, go find it and be active in that. And others to be like patient for the Lord, don't outrun him, don't and that's my my tendency as a personality, just to like, oh, I've got to answer this now. And maybe there's this time of beauty and this waiting period. Yeah. And maybe as I told my wife yesterday, we'll look back on where I'm kind of feeling like uh lacking direction in some way. Um it's the most beautiful, peaceful time, and to soak that up because it's as friends say, we're so we're moving back up to Franklin, Tennessee. Uh we bought a house up there, but this summer officially, and there's a miraculous, a whole nother story about how we bought this farm in Freeport, led to by the Lord, transitioning that to some other wonderful people that are doing mighty things for the Lord, and seeing that chapter close when you have this very clear vision and it closes, um, and the Lord, and you're like, wow, you're Lord, you're painting such a beautiful picture that I'm totally oblivious to at times. But I just want to be used by you. And so now trying to find that next step of direction of where am I now intentionally using my time for the Lord? And um and spending more, that's just that's the most valuable asset. I think my biggest piece is uh time freedom, your your equity of time, and where are you spending it? And my encouragement is I think there's some people that listen that God's calling them to a very big call. And just like we talked about earlier, we're finding reasons to make excuses that maybe they just crossed waves and they were hearing someone else's calling or something that's not for them. But I think there's some people that need to condition themselves, be in the word, fasting and prayer, to prepare themselves for big moves. If we look in like a geopolitical sense, there's two things. We have the media showing us that it feels like there's the world's growing darker and darker, but then speaking with some amazing folks that are doing amazing mighty things for the Lord, saying that Christianity is actually exploding, more Bible cells than it have ever been. Yeah. And countries where more people are turning to the Lord. And I think God's calling his um men and women, calling his soldiers to be about it. And I think there's some people that are trying to figure out, is this me? And I'm my answer is yeah, it's you. Like if you feel that pride, He will He will make the way. And a lot of times is man God sets his direction, but the Lord guides his steps. As I've said about the Freeport story, um, it feels like a pitch-dark road with headlights on, and you can only see about 50 feet. And that's the frustrating part as us as humans about following Christ is you can only see so far. And a lot of times God would say, if he if I showed you the whole thing, you would have never got on the journey. But but to know and trust that he's going to, if you feel that put in your heart to do something and God's called you to, first take the step and trust God's gonna guide it. And I can look back, and I know we all can. Every walk of our story, I can never find an instance where God didn't have us and God didn't have me. Yeah, but it's so funny that you get to a new piece, like, oh Lord, I don't know if this is gonna work out. And every I I don't know why I'm the most hard headed person to feel like um some for some reason he's just gonna abandon me. Uh but every instance in the past he's he has been such a faithful father, and and I think he will, no matter what direction people choose, I do think people are being called. Something, but there's a lot of opportunities that people can go down. And the Lord, what would it be? Um it's not just like one thing and the story's over. It is you can he'll use your story. It's what is that book like where we're reading? Like, if you want to step into the cave, the adventure book, go to page 25, or if you want him to get on the boat, go to page 26. God's in every one of those. He's we're we're making those decisions, but God will take any decision we make and walk us through it. That's the beauty of the omniscient and omnipotent God that stands out of time that's before us. My prayer that hits a lot of people a lot that I think we need to remember is the Lord is in rooms out ahead of us before we're even there preparing the way. And and I just think we need to be men and women of hope that remind people that there is hope. Don't let Satan that fear and anxiety is not of God. There's a pricking of the Holy Spirit, maybe, to sin, but it's not about dwelling in fear and anxiety. And I think so many people are crippled by that. And um, and there there is an adventure in the Lord. And I guess that's part of my story, just the adventure of God and walking with Him through things.

Marriage, Listening, And Leading Gently

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah. And and I think too, it's just not letting fear and and which is really unbelief, come in to our to our mind, heart, you know, because um the world has a lot of fear and unbelief, and it's coming at us all the time. And if if if we let that in and and and let that you know culminate in us, that can really, you know, it can it can cause anxiety and stress and all these things. So we we just say really try to walk in that faith and trust, and and when that fear starts to come in, just push it out and say, No, I'm I'm walking with you, Jesus. I'm not gonna let that fear in.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

And don't be alone in it, I would say too, right? Is finding a Christian brothers or sisters to confide in and seek wise counsel.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

I think Satan again will try to get us alone and then let that build. If if if you can feel an indicator that this is probably Satan trying to get me out of something, uh go to someone that you know and trust. And and that's part of the challenge is I think there's a lot of people that are making decisions every day and they recognize they don't have godly counsel around them. And the first thing is is to seek out somebody. Kind of sometimes it might be coming hat in hand to mend relationships. Um, but just as we think of John Bevere's um debate of Satan, I think the that holding grudges against other people is what Satan uses as a tool to keep us out on the sidelines. And the best thing Satan can do is keep mighty men and women of God on the sidelines and out of uh his the Lord's work.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Amen. Wow. What an awesome time, man. I'm so glad we got to have this conversation. I'm excited for you and Carrie Beth, y'all's y'all's future. I know your good things are just gonna be awesome, you know, for what's coming. And I I look forward to continuing to be in relationship with y'all and just hear everything that's gonna be going on in Tennessee and beyond.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Well, you know, I gotta honor your consistency of what you've done and how you've done this, and you're continually pouring into this, and and I think that's my challenge as we talk about that consistency that you're in, that you feel called to, is what's that same consistency for a listener? What is their road to redemption that they can be doing? Where I know some that are buying Bibles and giving them out on the street. There's a pride that you have, but um, we're in a hurting world and people feel like they're not heard. And so stopping and listening to people and taking time to hear their stories and love on people is just it's an underserved market, we'll just say. Amen. Appreciate you, brother. Thanks, Brooks. Thank you.