Uncommon Freedom

From Rebellion To Redemption And A Global Media Ministry

• Kevin Tinter

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Freedom isn’t a slogan to us; it’s a story forged in scars, second chances, and stubborn grace. David Earhart joins us on the patio to trace a path from junior-high rebellion and wilderness rehab to captaining teams at a Christian high school, then stumbling when performance couldn’t carry the weight of a broken dream. He opens up about marrying young, raising three kids, and facing a divorce that could have hardened his heart—but instead became the moment he ran toward God, not away.

The conversation shifts gears into career and calling. David breaks down the rocket-ship rise of First Solar and the hard pivot when subsidies vanished and prices crashed. His single most important marketing lesson is disarmingly simple: create value, deliver value, communicate value. We dig into how “menial” tasks like inquiry handling became a leadership engine, why vertical integration saved a business, and how excellence opens doors you can’t script. Then everything slows: an SUV hits him at 45 mph while he’s training for a marathon. First responders prepared his family for the worst; two weeks later he was running again. That miracle sharpened his purpose and sparked a new ambition to spend his best hours on eternal work.

Out of that resolve came Christianity Engaged, a video and social ministry reaching millions with clear gospel teaching and practical discipleship, and Hundredfold Marketing, a tentmaking agency that helps churches expand their digital reach. We get practical for pastors: why most churches underperform online, how to structure content for YouTube and social platforms, and how to unlock Google’s $10,000/month Ad Grant to drive meaningful traffic with GA4 and well-built Search campaigns. Along the way we talk house church discipleship, praying through thousands of requests, and the right way to support single parents without assumptions.

If you care about faith that holds under pressure, leadership that serves, and using modern media to reach real people, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a pastor or friend who needs these tools, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep building conversations that matter.

Follow David and his ministries:

Christianity Engaged
https://www.christianityengaged.org

Hundredfold Marketing
https://hundredfoldmarketing.com 

https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianityEngaged
https://www.facebook.com/ChristianityEngaged

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SPEAKER_00:

All right, friends. Welcome back to the Uncommon Freedom Show. Today I'm joined by a very special guest, and you're all getting to, well, you're getting to listen. Uh, you might see some shorts on YouTube or social media. Uh, this is our first outdoor recording with cigars. Cheers, David. Cheers, brother. Uh yeah, this is a lot of fun. One of my best friends and definitely one of my uh most frequent cigar smoking buddies. Uh so David Earhart is the founder and CEO of Christianity Engaged in 100fold marketing. Prior to founding these two companies, he was a partner and SBIC investment committee member at a specialty venture firm, uh finance firm. Prior to this, he was the director of global marketing and communications for a multi-billion dollar public solar energy company. David is an experienced house church leader, men's discipleship leader, Bible study teacher, youth ministry leader, global missionary, amateur golfer, cigar enthusiast, good friend of mine, and has been a single father of three amazing kids since 2008. David, welcome, brother.

SPEAKER_01:

Who is that guy? I gotta meet him.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh he is an uncommon man, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a pleasure to be here, Kevin. Uh, you know, one of the core tenants, one of the big ideas of the gospel is the idea of freedom. And we're free from so many things, but we are particularly free as it relates to salvation from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day even from the presence of sin. And this channel and you and Becca and what your lives exemplify, you help believers live out freedom in every facet of life, from faith to finances to even fitness. And so it's just an honor to be here and uh thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, brother. Yeah, you know, uh freedom is not uh man's invention, it really was God's idea, right? He put us in uh the Garden of Eden originally and gave us freedom to uh take dominion over the earth, and Adam and Eve screwed it up the way that probably all of us would have had we been given the same opportunity. Uh, but ultimately, you know, on the other side of eternity, we're gonna live in incredible freedom, and it really is uh I think freedom is something that's near and dear to God's heart, absolutely. Amen. Awesome. Well, hey, I'm excited to chat with you today. Uh, I mean, we've become really good friends over the last four or five years. Yeah. And you're, you know, it's interesting. I was I did a uh interview yesterday with another friend, Eric, who I met through a friend of a friend. Um, and you're another one of those guys that I met through a friend of a friend. And it's why I believe that running with lions, upgrading your circle is so important. Uh, that the people that you associate with, they hang out with similar people. And they also have the ability to introduce you and expose you to um either really good people or really bad people. And fortunately, you know, the mutual associations that you and I had that connected us are great people, and and you're one of those very uncommon men in my life. So I'm grateful for you and the friendship we've had. I feel the same way. My pleasure, brother. Awesome. All right. Well, hey, you've lived an incredible life. Um, take us back to the beginning, tell us a little bit about your early childhood and just kind of walk us through some of the um the the cornerstone, the the keystone moments of your life.

SPEAKER_01:

I'd be happy to. You know, I always tell people I was raised in a Christian home, sort of. My mom was always a believer, and she read Bible stories to me when I was a young boy, from an infant to a young boy. And I can honestly say uh I didn't always live it out. In fact, quite the contrary, but there was never a moment in my life where I didn't believe. I mean, my entire life, those Bible stories just stuck with me. And I always believed in God's existence, even if I was rebelling from him for a period of time. Now, my dad was an atheist until I was in junior high. Wow. And so I got to see a powerful transformation where he accepted Jesus into his heart, uh, completely changed the way he loves my mom, the way he modeled leadership in the home. And he just made a number of decisions, placing God over his businesses. And then it's funny, God blessed his businesses like never before. Um, and uh he instituted some traditions that we still do today. You know, me and my brother and my sister, we all live in the same metropolitan area as my parents. And we still get together for a brunch after church, you know, 30 years later. And that's something that he started way back when. But it's after he got saved? After he got saved, yeah, he just made a number of changes, and uh it's just been a blessing for our family. He's sort of a patriarch of faith for us now.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But um, but growing up, like I said, he he was not a believer. And it's interesting, right, as he had this transformation towards accepting Jesus and uh really changing his life for the good. I had a transformation sort of for the bad. I was a really good young boy, and something changed when I got to those junior high years. I can't explain it, I can't justify it. I don't, I don't have any good reasons for it, but I just I wanted to smoke cigarettes, I wanted to do drugs, I wanted to drink alcohol, and I wanted to hang around bad influences, and I have no good reason for it. I wasn't rebelling from the decisions my dad was making, and that that there's no causation there, even if there is some correlation. Um, but I just took a turn for the worst, and I I just nosedived into this starting in junior high, and it got so bad I ran away from home twice. And I am so thankful that my parents found me because I don't know how my life would have ended up if I would have gotten what I wanted uh as a as a as a young idiot junior high uh boy. But uh so they found me uh and then they put me in a drug rehab wilderness therapy experience in the middle of Utah for 62 days, where I would hike and see a counselor once a week and uh you know meet with other kids going through similar experiences. Can I ask you two questions? First of all, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um you said you always believed.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you feel like as a as a kid that your belief was in your head, just in your head, and then eventually it moved to your heart? Or did you do you feel like you actually believed with your heart when you were a kid, but you just still went through this rebellious period and you can't really explain it?

SPEAKER_01:

No, that's good. And that will become a little bit more clear perhaps later. Like in high school, I would say uh I had a transformation for the good, and from all outward appearances, I was living a model Christian life. But I can tell you I didn't know who the Holy Spirit was. I was trying to live the Christian life in my own strength, which is not a recipe for success. Um, and then eventually when life got really hard, I rebelled again. Okay. So there, you know, Jesus says that not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. So the the when I say that I always believed, it means there was never a moment where I doubted God's existence um and maybe didn't, you know, pray to him when times get tough, but it doesn't mean I was walking closely with him or had a um had a close, intimate, you know, redeemed relationship with him.

SPEAKER_00:

Second question, your wilderness experience.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you feel like your parents were trying to fix you? How did how did you how did that come across to you?

SPEAKER_01:

I knew something drastic was needed. Um and I probably I think I welcomed it. Um I needed space from my friends, I needed space from my family, and I wouldn't say that it had a lasting like changed uh effect on me because for a period of time I did, you know, sort of relapse, but it was a really good reset just to get some time by myself to think about life um and to really get time away from my friends because I had some really bad influences. And so the biggest change was really just the reset and the space. And then once I got back, I was expecting to go to the public high school where all my friends went to, and they sent me to a Christian high school, and I wasn't too happy about that, but it it was a really good decision.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, got it, very good. All right, you can enjoy your cigar and uh uh relight if you need to, and then pick up your story and where you were at.

SPEAKER_01:

So I'm going to this Christian high school, and the first couple years, I'm not really into it. I'm still trying to find some of the bad influences, if you will. Uh I'm not wholly bought into this. But over the course of time, uh things transition. And by my junior and senior year, as I mentioned before, from all outward appearances, um, I was an outstanding Christian young man. I was winning the Christian Character Award. I really was a good leader for anyone on my track or football teams that was younger than me. Um I was captain of both track and football teams, and uh I was a good student. I was a good athlete. Um, I uh I really did try to obey all of God's laws, live a live a life of purity. I was trying really hard, but it was all in my own strength. I didn't know who the Holy Spirit was. I didn't truly understand grace. And for someone that's trying to live the Christian life in your own strength, you don't really recognize it. It's not something you can see about yourself until the storms come. And then you find out what foundation you're on. And um, it didn't take much of a storm, you know. Um, but some, you know, sports were really important to me. And uh I cracked my shins before the state meet, both junior and senior year, and I really wanted to see what I could do uh in in track my senior year, and that was enough for me to rebel from the Lord for a period of years.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh what is cracking your shins? I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_01:

Ex excessive shin splints. It was from overtraining. Okay. It was entirely my fault. Uh, I would run before school. Uh, I would lead the you know, the practices where we'd usually do at least four miles and and I incorporated way too much, you know, speed training, and then I'd run at night. Just way too much overtraining. And so you, you know, you get little you get little fractures in your shins, um, but they they got really bad to the point where I could hardly walk. Wow. I certainly couldn't run. And it was right around the time of the state meet. It was devastating to to me at that time.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Yeah. Okay. So take us through the rest of high school, and then I know you got married uh young.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. So yeah, I mean, high school, you know, high school was great. Um, I I I eventually really appreciated going to Valley Christian. And uh, like I said, after that experience senior year, though, I was mad at God. Um I was really mad. It seemed so petty, but it was so important to me at the time. And and I I really was. I was gonna give him all the glory, uh, you know, but I just expected him to bless me in the areas that that I cared about, you know, as if he owed me, uh, which he doesn't, of course. And uh and I I rebelled from him and I just kind of um sought pleasure. I just was a people-pleasing, pleasure-seeking, just really worldly, you know, partying guy for several years.

SPEAKER_00:

And that the shin splints were really and missing out on that that championship was really the catalyst for you.

SPEAKER_01:

It it sounds so petty, but yeah, that was really important to me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, I I think I've talked to many people through the years, and it might be uh church hurt, you know, someone said something offensive to them at a church or something like that, or uh there's there's all kinds of reasons. And I think kind of what you're getting at is a human tendency where, like, like you said, I'm gonna give it all to God if it goes my way. And true surrender is I give it all to God regardless of what happens. Absolutely. Right?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, that was a lesson I was yet to learn.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's not an easy one. I was yet to learn.

SPEAKER_01:

So from 18 to 21, I decided to not go to college, and I was just working various jobs. Uh, I was always a hard worker, you know. I've been working since I was 15 years old. My first job was at Burger King. Um, I was a student athlete, so I didn't work during the school year. I'd work full-time during the summer. And uh, but I always tell people that, you know, there's really no job or experience that you can have, you know, that's beneath you. I mean, you can always, you know, strive up, but if you if you just embrace every opportunity with all you have, you know, you never know the good things that will happen. So I had what a lot of people would consider a you know a dead-end job, you know, in fast food, but I gave it all I could and I got the most wonderful letter of recommendation, uh, essentially saying that they if they had, you know, two or three like me in the evening shift and four or five like me in the day shift, they wouldn't need anyone else. It was really well written. And uh and then the next year I got a job during my sophomore year, I guess, uh at Chipotle. And then I got a district manager to write a similar, just astounding letter of recommendation. And after that, I could get any job that I felt qualified with those two letters of recommendation and a little cover letter uh and a resume. Uh I worked security, um, I worked retail, I worked a lot of restaurants, I worked construction, and uh I was always able to do very well for myself, even during this period of excessive partying. And right around the time I turned 21 years of age, I honestly don't know what happened, Kev. Um, you know, I can't attribute it to any words of wisdom that my parents gave me, though. Of course, they they, you know, instilled wisdom in me all my life. Uh, there's no sermon that I heard particularly. There's there's no moment that I can point to. So I just always encourage, you know, any parent out there that has wayward kids, God can get a hold of them at any moment because God just got a hold of my heart. And I I can't attribute it to a single event that happened or anything necessarily that I heard. He just got a hold of my heart, and I just repented of the life I was living, and I rededicated myself to him and never looked back.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh how did your parents what was their relationship like with you during this period of rebellion? Obviously, I mean, as a Christian parent myself, you know, I've been through some challenges with some of the kids that we've raised. I know you've been through some challenges. Um, and it can be really hard to um not uh micromanage, overly, you know, uh nag, you know, things like that, you know, because you're you're doing it with a perspective of you know what's in their best interest. But uh how did your parents handle that?

SPEAKER_01:

I thought they handled it very gracefully. Uh they didn't support the decisions that I was making, but they loved me through it. And so I probably during that phase of my life didn't attend every single brunch on Sunday, you know. But if I did come, you know, I wouldn't come under the influence or something like that. I would show respect in their home. Um and um and they you know, they they they gave me space. They they uh they would always instill wisdom and and they were not shy um to express um you know just godly and biblical wisdom in me, but but they gave me space and eventually um eventually God got a hold of my heart. Yeah. Wow, awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, talk about getting married young.

SPEAKER_01:

I got married really young, and I got married within a year of rededicating my life to Jesus. And in hindsight, uh maybe I should have dated more after this transformation um to just see how things play out. But uh, you know, we we were in love and um she got baptized and we attended young, married, you know, Bible study classes and you know, Christian counseling and and did all the things. Um but I got married in 2003, uh, within a year of becoming uh turning 21. And then we had a kid in 2004, 2005, and 2006. So we got married young and we started families young. Uh most of our peers wouldn't have kids for another seven, eight years. Um, so we were very, very young. Um, and it definitely uh it definitely you know made an impact on things. When I got married, I decided to go back to school. So that also made things, you know, challenging. I was working full-time and going to school uh full-time, and um I eventually graduated and and got a wonderful job. Actually, while I was in school, I attended an advertising agency's uh unpaid internship. There was a large advertising agency in Phoenix that would have you know six to seven interns every semester, and these were unpaid advertising internships, and uh, but most of the other interns treated it as such. And um, but I treated it like you know a full-time opportunity, and it paid off. Within six months, they gave me a full-time salary position while I was still in school, which was an incredible blessing. So went from unpaid internship to full-time salary position. I believe this is still my junior year in college. So I still have my junior year and my senior year, but we're starting to make some money. But it was still really hard. Um, I was just so busy. And uh, so my senior year, I start taking all these upper level marketing courses. I went to Arizona State University and got a bachelor's degree in marketing from the WP Curry School of Business there. And uh, once I started taking all of these upper level marketing courses, uh I started seeing that marketing is a lot more than just advertising. And I really enjoyed being with this agency. They were grooming me to be an account executive, and I really enjoyed working for lots of different clients across many different industries. I really excelled in public relations and press release writing, but I also enjoyed the creative side of the business and I was just learning a ton. But once I started taking these upper-level marketing courses, I just got enamored with other aspects of marketing that the agency wasn't doing. And I wanted to develop segmentation plans and pricing strategies and all these things that the marketing departments of our clients were making and not necessarily were being done by the agency. So I decided to leave the agency and I joined at the time a two-person marketing team for what would eventually become a multi-billion dollar uh solar energy company, uh company called First Solar. And uh I uh basically just didn't stop pestering the director of marketing until she created a position for me. And she created a position. There was a two-person marketing team, so I was, you know, marketing employee number three. And uh I just joined this company at such a great time, Kevin. I have really fond memories of my my time at First Solar. It was so exciting, and I just learned a ton. Um, you know, I I always tell people, and this is not to brag at all, it's really just to show what a unique experience it was because a lot of people don't know of First Solar. Uh they don't sell to the public, they never have. And so, you know, they wouldn't be one of the solar companies that you would, you know, put the panels on your home. Okay. So so people don't really know the company unless you were, you know, if you were involved in in the stock market during our heyday, we were Wall Street's darling. We had a better first year on the stock market than Google. Wow. We went from$20 a share to over$300 a share. Oh my goodness. It was all predicated on this just brilliant marketing and business development, you know, strategy that would take too much time to unpack. But quickly on a Sorry to interrupt here. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00:

What is like if you could give one single piece of ad marketing advice to business owners or anybody, and I I'm sure it's very difficult to distill it down to one thing, but if you could just say like this is the one thing that you understand or that you helped first solar implement that that helped make a big difference, what's one thing that you would uh pass on to people?

SPEAKER_01:

Marketing is all about creating and delivering value. You first have to create value in the marketplace. That's so good. And then you have to be able to deliver that and communicate it very, very well. Some people have created value, but they don't communicate it very well. It's all about creating, delivering, and then communicating that value. And if you can do all three of those, you're gonna be in a good spot.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that's brilliant. There you go, folks. This is uh right there. That was worth the price of admission, especially if you're a business owner.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so anyway, you know, first solar identified this unique opportunity that was taking place in Germany and throughout the European Union. They got these six, you know, specialty companies to sign these multi-million, several hundred million dollar contracts, and they announce it all on one day. And the stock just goes berserk. And then every single quarter, we're announcing a new factory. And by the way, it's already pre-sold. Um, so it was just uh it was just a phenomenal experience. And I learned I learned so much during that time. But honestly, Kevin, I learned even more during the hard times. So the solar industry wasn't all, you know, sunshine and rainbows. Yeah. Uh after several really good years, we had some very, very difficult years. Um, and there were several reasons for this. But uh one of them was, you know, the Chinese started helping people, Chinese manufacturers, namely, sell below cost. Um, this was happening at the same time that a lot of these subsidies that started in Germany and then expanded throughout the European Union, they were kind of waning. And this happened at the same time there was a raw material shortage of one of the main ingredients for most of the competitive solar panel technologies at the time that went away. So this caused an oversupply along with a loss of demand. Prices plummeted, and then all of this happened right around the time of the 2009 financial crisis. Wow. And so uh prices absolutely plummeted, uh, demand just dropped, a lot of solar companies went bankrupt. And again, uh, and these these weren't decisions that were made by me, but I got to learn from just some brilliant decisions uh that were done at the executive level. We knew that we had to not be dependent on subsidies. And so before all of these hap all of these things happened, First Solar made a conscious decision to expand into the US. But because we didn't have these subsidies and because we didn't have these types of partners, we'd have to do things differently. And so we made a lot of changes. Uh we went all in on this idea of changing our management team, changing our organizational structure, and we developed a vertical integration strategy where we acquired the ability to not just be a solar technology company, but to uh develop, engineer, procure, construct, operate, maintain, and finance massive utility-scale solar power plants for governments and utilities. And so once we acquired this pipeline, we had a pipeline of projects that we could deploy our panels to and construct them ourselves uh until the market would recover. Wow. And I got to market for each of those divisions. Uh, I got to market for the core technology, the company as a whole. For the longest time, it was uh very much a startup feel. I mean, for many, many years, it was the type of place where you'd say, What's our process for this? And they'd say, Well, Dave, we don't really have a process for that. Why don't you create it? And it didn't matter what department that was in. So I got to own, I got to own my own product uh as a part of uh a product management initiative, which was a development plan for me. Um I got to do internal communications, um, I got to help expand into new geographic regions, uh new market segments. I own the marketing communications mix. I got to do uh a lot of things and it was really fun. One final point before we move on. I I told you earlier that, you know, I truly believe that, you know, there's no job or task that we should consider, you know, beneath us necessarily. You can learn from old almost anything. Yeah. And when I joined this two-person marketing team, one of the first jobs, you know, they were overloaded. They were working 50, 60 hour weeks. And so they couldn't wait to offload some of their workload onto me. And uh, and again, I got to do really uh, really strategic initiatives for the company, but but one of the things that employee number two couldn't wait to offload onto me was this inquiry handling. It was responding to the calls and the emails on behalf of the company, virtually all of them except for investor relations calls. And she couldn't wait to hand that off on to me. And I could have had the attitude that like this is more, you know, secretarial, kind of more admin, and um, you know, not that it's you know beneath me, but I could have had a kind of an attitude or a connotation like that. Uh I didn't, though. I fully embraced it. And uh I was given maybe 15 to 20 kind of common questions and answers, which I built out to over 150. And before you know it, it's translated into German, French, Spanish, and Italian. And I'm managing everyone who responds to a call or an email on behalf of the company in all those languages. And then I'm training anyone who speaks on behalf of the company. What I did was I listened to every single earnings call conference. And every time the CTO would deliver a message on the technology, anytime anyone from the executive staff was speaking anywhere later, I would usually be involved in helping them with their presentations. But I would listen to what they say, I would take notes and I would craft uh relevant messages that were in line with the publicly disseminated information on a wide variety of topics. And um and I got really good at it. I mean, there was a time where, you know, sometimes I would be declining a potential customer or answering a really difficult question, and there would be like a crowd of like 10 or 15 associates around me, just kind of, you know, eavesdropping on the conversation because it was kind of fun. But um, this led to me uh eventually training everyone on behalf of the company and then uh speaking on behalf of the company at worldwide conferences and events. And then before I left, I was even chairing uh very large uh solar and energy conferences where I was crafting the agenda and deciding the speakers and the topics. And it's all because I took this menial task of inquiry handling and just really excelled with it.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh that's such a good lesson. I've heard so many stories of highly successful people that started at the bottom and they just performed everything that they were given with excellence. And people who would, you know, seemingly be unqualified to perform, you know, be executives and such uh end up going there because you know, people really don't care about what your you know quote unquote qualifications are. What they really care about is your work ethic, your performance, and your attitude. That's a huge thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Many CEOs in that book, Good to Great, you basically just described them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Awesome. All right. So you were with First Solar from what was the time frame?

SPEAKER_01:

I was with First Solar from 2006 until around 2013, 2014.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

And uh eventually they, you know, grew to be that GE like, you know, industrial company. They lost that startup feel. Uh I I could have dedicated a career to that company and been happy, quite honestly. Um, but I really did miss the startup feel, and I decided to join a startup that invests in startups. And so I joined a specialty uh finance firm that would provide loans and leases to venture capital-backed companies, very entrepreneurial companies, some of them with very big, you know, world-changing ideas. Uh, and they were all backed by venture capital. And uh it was a lot of fun. I uh started off in marketing and business development and then grew to be a partner and an investment committee member. We had a special license from the SBA called an SBIC license, and it enabled us to leverage the equity in our fund 2x by borrowing from the government at very low rates, uh, which helped provide a very profitable rate of return for our investors. And um, very coveted license. And uh, they had just received this license, so they had additional access to capital and they needed to grow very quickly. And I just had a lot of fun uh, you know, learning a new industry. And uh over the time I was there, I probably saw a thousand business plans from some of the most well-funded startups in the nation. And I got to champion some, you know, great deals that had great exits and it was just a lot of fun. But over eventually I just got this bug, Kevin. I can't describe it, just this internal drive and desire to start something someday. But I didn't want, you know, to start something that would promote renewable energy or give entrepreneurs access to capital, though those are fine and noble causes. I really enjoyed the the companies I had worked for, you know, post-graduating. Um, I wanted to do something that would advance the kingdom. And I didn't know what that looked like at the time, but God did. And six to seven years later, uh, I would leave the corporate world and start my own online Christian ministry.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So um we'll talk about Christianity and Engage because that's what you're talking about. Um, do you want to talk about just what happened with your marriage and just uh, you know, single parenting?

SPEAKER_01:

Because that's I think that would be important because I always say that Christianity engaged is like the perfect blend between my professional experiences, which we sort of just summarized at a high level, and then some personal experiences that I have into a single vocation. And so, yeah, if we want to get on the on the personal side, um I've been a single dad since 2008, uh, five years into the marriage, um, the mother of my kids decided to leave the marriage in the family. Um, if I were counseling someone that was considering going through a divorce uh one-on-one, I I'd probably share more details, you know, more openly, but just for the sake of the privacy of those involved, I'm probably not going to go into too many uh details about the divorce, but suffice it to say it was the biggest test of my life. Um there was a period of time where I didn't know if I'd have any parenting time with my kids at all. And then there was a period of time where they lived three hours away and I had very limited parenting time. And then And then God did this incredible thing. And then I was named the primary custodian. Um and uh and and you know, got to raise them, you know, pretty much full time uh ever since. But um, you know, I think life and God has a way of presenting us the same test, often with raised stakes until we get it right. And so when I compare this to uh, you know, I told you that something as petty as shin splins caused me to rebel because I didn't get what I wanted, right? Well, I prayed with all the faith that I have for God to restore and reconcile my marriage, and it didn't happen. But unlike high school, I didn't rebel from the Lord, I drew closer to him like never before.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

There was a period of time where probably close to two years, where if I wasn't working or uh with a small group of of family and friends or at a church event, um I was praying often with tears or reading the Bible, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00:

What um what are some of the biggest challenges that you face being a single dad?

SPEAKER_01:

Single parenting is so hard, especially as a working professional. Um one of the way you know, I had some incredible help from they just had some wonderful teachers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I I I never wanted to over uh overlean on my parents. I mean, I I needed to be the single dad, but my mom was such an incredible help, especially if the kids got, you know, sick at the last minute and I have this important meeting or something. I mean, she uh she was just wonderful. Um and eventually, uh, you know, one of my kids really needed some help after school. Uh he was just getting behind in certain things. And so um I ended up hiring a nanny that would help pick them up from school, bring them home, work with them on homework, and she'd cook dinner and just have everything in place so that when I got home, I could really just spend, you know, quality time with them. Um, but if I wasn't able to do that, that would have been very hard.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That would have been very hard. But there's just a lot of challenges. I I remember when the kids were really little, you know, uh most married couples, you know, every couple's different, but you know, there tend to be characteristics that are fatherly, and there tend to be characteristics that are motherly. And for a single parent, um you don't have that balance. Yeah. And I just remember times where, especially when they were younger, it happened less as they were older. And I'm not even sure my kids will remember, but I just I just know there were times that God supernaturally gave me the ability to have that other side, that that motherly nurturing, or just to just to recognize maybe my fatherly tendencies and and put a pause on it and and try to recognize the other side. Where I wouldn't naturally have done that. How for it's not easy.

SPEAKER_00:

For those of us who um maybe are married and we we have friends that are single parents, how can we support single parents and also do it in a way that isn't an insult to the single parent?

SPEAKER_01:

That's a great question. Um I think it's different for everybody. So you probably need to ask them, but I don't think any of them would feel insulted. Um I think it's just commonly known that it's you know that it's a challenge. Yeah. And um it, you know, depends on their their work schedule, their finances. But like I said, having someone, you know, like an aftercare program, that could be really it probably is essential for a working, you know, a working professional uh that is a single parent. Um, but if they didn't have that aftercare, you know, I don't know what they would do. But you know, having aftercare uh on a case, you know, uh having someone that on a moment's notice can help out if the kids are sick and you have some really big thing happening at work or something like that. Um, you know, we I we had some wonderful, you know, Christian family and friends that um that that would let my kids, you know, stay with them. Um and it was just a blessing, just a tremendous blessing. But um yeah, I'd probably have to spend more time to think about that. But I think more than anything, if you just show that you're available and show that you're care, uh they will reach out to you with the right question. They'll feel safe to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

One of the things I've learned being an adoptive family, you know, and I've heard that it takes five support families around every adoptive or foster family. And I would imagine it's very similar for single parents. And so I think one of the things that we learned before we were adoptive parents, because we have several friends that were fostering and adopting, is to not just say, hey, let me know if I can do anything to help, but just say, hey, how can I help you? And and and just, you know, be bold and direct with that, but let them know I'm going to help you, but how can I? Don't make assumptions about what they need. Um so I like that. It's just a good reminder to not neglect the single parents and just say, Hey, how can I help? And maybe what they ask for isn't something that you can provide, uh, but maybe you can direct them to the right person that can provide that support.

SPEAKER_01:

I like that. Yeah, it's not a question. I'm helping you. Just let me know how I can do that next.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Very good. That's great. Okay. That's great. Um, you also had a life-changing car accident.

SPEAKER_01:

I did. So just you know, real quick, towards the the tail end of the divorce, um, after the grief stage, I was just uh I healed, I completely healed, and I was so full of um just joy and inspiration and and and life. Um I just I just wanted to share it and I just started pouring into ministry and I didn't really know where to start. At my local church, um, I started out in the nursery, uh, and then eventually started uh Wednesday nights with the elementary kids and then did junior high and then high school ministries, um, and then men's discipleship and then adult and young adult Bible study classes, and it just kind of you know grew from there. Um, but it's during this time during the divorce where I also found, in addition to attending the same local church that I attend today, uh I found a local house church. And um, it's really just a, you know, a Bible study or a life group. Um, you know, they have, you know, minor differences, but I found a close uh body of believers where I could have the opportunity uh to ask questions, um, to discover my spiritual gift, to learn who the Holy Spirit is, to learn what real fellowship is, uh, to minister to one another and to be ministered to during a period of time where I really, really needed it. And I got discipled. And it completely changed the trajectory of my life. And I'm still a part of a house church to this day, uh, though the the most recent iteration of our house church is focused on um college-age young adults. But um anyway, so in 2011, I'm training for a marathon. I don't do any running anymore. I lift weights and golf, uh, but I was really big into running at the time. I'm training for a marathon. I'm I'm doing like a I'm towards the end of my training, so I think like an 18-mile run or something like that on Cooper Road, and I get hit by an SUV, a Dodge Durango going 45 miles an hour while I'm running. It hits me in the back, um, it knocks me unconscious, uh, I get road road rash, you know, all up and down my body, um you know, broke three bones on my vertebrae, knocked my socks and shoes, which were tied very tightly off my feet, if you can imagine that. I hear that's common in fatal motorcycle accidents. But first responders assumed I was dead. Wow. Just I mean, just by the the look of the accident and where I was, where I was at relative to the impact, they just assumed I was dead and were very surprised that I was still alive. And I guess I came to in the ambulance. I don't really remember any of it, but uh as the story goes, hours later, they're getting ready to put me in the MRI. And by that time they'd, you know, called my family and friends, my phone was smashed to pieces, but somehow they were able to, you know, contact some family and friends. I don't exactly know how. And um, you know, they're all there in the hospital and they got everyone together in this room before they're putting me in the MRI. And they had this very sober sober discussion from these doctors that said, you need to be prepared for him to never be the same again. He's probably gonna have lasting brain damage. I mean, that's how serious this accident was. I mean, according to them, I was just lucky to be alive, but I was probably gonna be a vegetable. And I was running again in two weeks. I had the most miraculous recovery. Uh, the doctors were astounded. The the best explanation they could come up with was I was in such good shape and I was so flexible from running that that must be the cause, but I I know better. It it was absolutely um just miraculous. And it really changed my perspective on things. You know, I was pretty intentional before, but I gained a whole new level of intentionality in every area of life. What kind of surgeries did you go through after that? None. There was no surgery that they could do. There was no surgery that they could do. Um it it uh they they weren't they weren't deep breaks, they were what's called process fractures in my I think L3, four, and five vertebrae. And there's nothing you can do. You just need to let them heal. Wow. Um, so you know, just you know, just manage the pain. And and honestly, I I um maybe due to my past, I uh I you know I was liking those pain medications, and my parents uh kind of you know let me know that I was you know kind of getting a different personality, and I made a decision within a few days to get off the pain medication and and embrace the pain. And it was it was hard pain. Um, but that's when I started getting better. Okay. I started getting infinitely better every day. And uh it was incredible, absolutely incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Praise the Lord. I mean, uh you've told me the story. I didn't realize that you were running within two weeks. That's just I mean, that's that's miraculous.

SPEAKER_01:

And then six months later I got top 20 at the Pats Run, which has like 30,000 people. Yeah. So that's pretty serious running.

SPEAKER_00:

That's amazing. Way to go. That's awesome. Praise the Lord for that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, but yeah, you know, I just realized how short life was. Uh, you know, we get this different perspective and it it changed a lot of things. I mean, at work, I just got even more focused and fearless. Um, and there were a lot of times before where I'd maybe have an idea for how to uh, you know, make a change and I might sit on it for a while. But at that point, I just I just let it all out there. And my boss, to his credit, uh, multiple times would get me a seat with the executive staff and sometimes even the CEO himself to share, you know, various ideas and uh just really blessed my career. Um, but I was always pretty intentional as a parent, but it just reached, you know, new heights uh in terms of just trying to, you know, instill the gospel message into my kids and be intentional. This actually happened during that period of time where I didn't have much parenting time with them. I had the weekends and the bulk of the summers, but during the school year, I had a 15-minute call every day. And I would sometimes spend 30 minutes preparing for that 15-minute call just to make it as impactful as it could possibly be. Wow. But one of the biggest changes that took place after the accident was this seed that was planted in me. And it just started as a really vague prayer that someday, Lord, I would love to spend the eight to ten hours a day, you know, that I do for my vocation, for my job, doing something that would advance your kingdom. And I didn't know exactly uh what that looked like. Um, but the next six years or so, the Lord gave me a number of different ideas. Each one of them could have been its own ministry. And I believe he gave me a tremendous amount of freedom. And once I zeroed in on the desired ministry, we then uh developed a financial plan to say, what would it look like to leave the corporate world while raising these kids by myself and start this ministry uh and go without a salary for an undefined period of time. And um, so we did that. And yeah, six to seven years later, um, I left the corporate world and started Christianity Engaged.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. Awesome. Well, tell us a little bit about Christianity Engaged. You guys have some incredible videos. Highly recommend that people go check you out, especially on YouTube. Uh button.

SPEAKER_01:

You can check us out on YouTube, just search Christianity Engaged or Facebook and Instagram, just search Christianity Engaged. We have over 75 videos on YouTube that share the gospel, present biblical truth, and really just help you understand how to live the Christian life. And then we just do really short but very encouraging posts throughout the week to encourage believers on social media. So if you're interested in either of those, uh please feel free to check them out. They're absolutely free resources. So I tell everybody, you don't need our permission to play our videos at your Bible study, your church, anything. It's all available as long as you don't edit or alter the content in any way. But yeah, the ministry that I centered on was the idea of using the technology and tools available to us today to share the gospel and have the biggest impact on believers worldwide. Uh, I believe that the Apostle Paul would use all of the technology and digital platforms available to us today to reach as many people for the gospel as he possibly can. And uh so we started with a video ministry and uh a social media ministry, and you know, over, you know, by today our 75 videos have over 11 million views and uh 46,000 subscribers. And beyond YouTube, we've been able to build tremendous momentum. We encourage believers worldwide throughout the week on social media. Our social media reach to date is over 1.1 billion, and we have over 1.6 million followers.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. That's 1.1 billion unique people, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Or uh it's unclear how many of them are unique or if they're repeats. Um it's uh yeah, yeah, it's you know, whatever Facebook and whatever Meta determines to be a reach. Okay. Um, but it is it is a uh a noticeable moment that someone stopped in scrolling to notice your content.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that's amazing. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh we get thousands and thousands of comments um ever you know throughout the week and uh you know, multiple thousand prayer requests throughout the month, and we pray for every single one of them.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Who does the praying? Well, I have a social media coordinator. Uh, she is absolutely wonderful, and um, she monitors every single comment, uh invites people to like the page, and uh prays for every prayer request. But if we get one uh that has a really big need, she will send it to me and I will pray for them as well. And sometimes I'll even send it to my board and we will all pray for them. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so cool. And then you've also expanded. You want to talk about Hundredfold Marketing?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sure. So, you know, I like to say that Christianity Engaged blends my professional experience and personal experiences and personal passion for Jesus into a single vocation. And I recently started Hundredfold Marketing, which leverages my experience and expertise at Christianity Engaged to help local churches increase their audience and impact for eternity and help fund the ministry.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you want to talk some more about how you can help churches and ministries?

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. You know, there's um there's a lot, you know, ever since COVID, there are so many churches that are faithfully uploading their content to Facebook Live or YouTube or some online platform. But many of them, you know, they may have 300 people in their congregation, 500 people in their congregation, but they're getting like 32 views or, you know, less than that even sometimes. So they're not reaching people beyond their congregation online. Um, and but if, you know, if you are a pastor and you are reaching people on YouTube or you're reaching people on social media and you'd like to explore how to increase your impact and how to increase your audience, uh I would be happy to meet with you and share some of the things that I've learned over the last seven years, targeting a global Christian audience on the most popular platforms available to us today.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. Uh, do you want to talk about how you can help people with uh the Google grants? Because I know that's a big deal, right?

SPEAKER_01:

That is a big deal. A lot of churches actually don't know that any nonprofit or church, as long as you're not a government agency, a school, or a hospital, Google will give you$10,000 uh per month to spend on Google search ads. It's absolutely incredible. Um, and it's absolutely free. No, you have to know what you're doing. Uh, you have to achieve a 5% minimum click-through rate, and there's just lots of restrictions on uh the types of campaigns you can develop and the number of ad groups you need to have and types of keywords. And I won't bore you with all the details, but you you probably need to have an expert in Google Ads develop the campaigns for you. But they give$10,000 per month to spend on Google Search Ads, and it can drive a lot of website traffic and it can help a lot of nonprofit ministries. It's a it's a wonderful program that Google has that is not very well known.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you're a church or a ministry, like you're one of those experts, you can help guide people to be able to become eligible for that$10,000.

SPEAKER_01:

I can walk anyone through the process. Uh you first sign up to be a part of you know, Google for nonprofits, uh, and then you uh sign up for the Google Ad Grant program. First, you have to have Google Analytics 4 installed on your website, uh, and then I can help ensure that you meet all of the requirements that they have. And you can, it's really cool. You know, you you may have another Google Ad uh account. They give you a completely new Google ad account and you go to the billing section, it says this account is not billed, happy advertising, but you are not charged. Even if you happen to spend$12,000 one month, that account is not charged. It's 100% free.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that's that's awesome. Um, and hundredfold marketing is an example of how people, you know, because sometimes people think you know, business is evil. Um, but you use hundredfold marketing to not only help ministries, but to pay for your living expenses so that you can continue to run Christianity engaged without a salary, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I don't know who would think that business is is evil. You know, the apostle Paul had a tent-making ministry to help fund uh all of his missionary efforts. Um, and you know, in the Old Testament, it's it's in Deuteronomy, but I can't remember the exact reference, but the Bible actually tells us that it is God who gives us the ability to produce wealth. And so, you know, a lot of people think that, you know, having money is evil. Having money and producing wealth is a God-given talent. It's not evil. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil. But you can do tremendous things with money. Uh, people that are living paycheck to paycheck, um, you know, are not building new wells and providing water to places that didn't have it and, you know, saving kids from sex trafficking. It's it's it's people that have saved and have a surplus that are doing those things. And so you can use uh you can use wealth for tremendously wonderful uh opportunities. But yes, I started Hundredfold Marketing uh primarily to fund gospel-centered ministry through Christianity engaged. Uh nearly 100% of the revenue is, you know, given towards those efforts. I have to save a little bit for the increased taxes. Um and um, but you know, even though it it may not be my content, it's still very much a part of my mission. Yeah. And that is using the technology and tools available to us today to help share the gospel and inspire believers worldwide. And so I'm just delighted to partner with the church clients that I have, and uh, and we've developed some some wonderful friendships. Some of them have had me um speak at their church, and um it's just been it's just been really rewarding.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Awesome. Awesome. Um talk about just the impact of associations and friendships and uh just in the course of your life, especially over the last, you know, five to ten years of your just focus on ministry.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, when I when I rededicated my life to Jesus, I had a lot of friends that were in the partying phase of life. And uh while I didn't jettison them, eventually they all fell off. I mean, I tried to keep those relationships going, and it took some time to develop meaningful relationships with like-minded, you know, believers that have uh, you know, a strong Christian faith, and that is the foundation of the friendship. But to anyone that is not currently plugged in, uh, and I I really don't care if it's a large local church or a house church or a Bible study or a life group or or what you call it or how you structure it, but if you're not meeting, you know, with other believers, uh we're not meant to live the Christian life alone. We can't do it. We need to stand with each other in faith, encouragement, and prayer. And the relationships that I've been able to build over the last 20 years, and they keep on growing. Um, I mean, I'm I'm meeting pastors in Africa and I'm uh just continuing to meet uh new people all over the world that are like-minded and um just gospel focused. And uh it's it's tremendous, Kevin. It's hard to, it's hard to to place a value on that, but uh until you truly experience it, you can't know how valuable those relationships really are.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, um I always like to uh wrap up the conversation with my guests with the I call it uh cars, cigars, guns, and guitars. For very manly things. So I like to ask people, what's your favorite car? Either one you have, have had, or would like to have.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Favorite car. Uh I really enjoy my current car. I have a RAV4 hybrid and I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, very good. Of course, you also had a motorcycle, so uh I did.

SPEAKER_01:

I had a motorcycle and I've had some convertibles in my past, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. Uh favorite cigar?

SPEAKER_01:

Favorite cigar, probably the Liga Pravada number nine.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good.

SPEAKER_01:

That is the first cigar that I had where I could notice differences in each of the thirds of the cigar uh in terms of the flavor profile. And uh, you know, I'm not big at you know deciphering uh, you know, notes and and hints, but I was able to with that. And it it was really exciting. It was cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Uh uh guns.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I I grew up with a family that was, you know, very avid hunters. My both my parents grew up in small towns. Um in our family, we have uh we have several custom guns. Um there is uh there is a custom gun, it's an elephant gun. Um I'm failing to remember.

SPEAKER_00:

Because your dad's been to Africa on some hunts, right?

SPEAKER_01:

My dad's been to Africa with my grandfather who has passed away, but he he was a doctor and he took all of his kids on an African safari um and just traveled the world. He loved to hunt. He was a World War II vet, and he has uh dozens of custom guns that he's given out to his kids. But one that he has given to my dad, and I've had the opportunity to shoot many times, um, is this very special uh they call it a Van Horn. Uh it's an elephant gun, and I can't remember the gauge. Um, but whatever gauge it is, it has like that much powder that's packed behind it. Okay. Um it's it's uh it's basically like a sniper rifle with a very large bullet. Um and it is it is incredibly powerful. It packs, it packs a massive punch. Um, I took some friends shooting it recently, and one of them was standing and he he almost fell over. I forgot to tell him to brace himself.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, and it is loud, yeah, but it is a blast to shoot.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome. And how about guitar? I know you're a bassist, so I'm a bass.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it would be the Fender jazz bass. Hands down. Very good. Hands down. You can slap, you can pop, you can still uh do grunge alternative metal, but uh I love the the jazz bass.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's the classic bass for sure. Yeah, very cool. Well, hey brother, uh thanks for joining me today. Uh it was fun just to learn a little bit more about your story. We've had many, many, many conversations, many of them over wonderful cigars. Um, but uh again, I'm just so grateful for you. Thank you. You're grateful for the awesome, you know, ministry, and just your heart for the Lord and the kingdom, uh, your heart to just disciple and pour into young college men and just men of all ages, and uh just so grateful for you know the Lord bringing us together and just the awesome friendship we've been able to develop over the last several years. Likewise, brother. Thank you so much for having me. I couldn't agree more. Awesome. Hey, David, before we wrap up, tell people where they can uh get more information about Christianity Engaged, uh Hundredfold Marketing, and any social media handles you want to share.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. If you go to YouTube and search Christianity Engaged, all of our videos are available absolutely free. You can also find us on Facebook or Instagram. Just search Christianity Engaged and look for the blue logo. Uh, would love for you to follow us throughout the week and be encouraged. You can go to our website, Christianityengaged.org. If you want to find more information or donate to the ministry or any of the causes that we have, you can also sign up to an email newsletter to get ministry updates and be notified when we release new videos. And finally, if you are a pastor and you'd like to have a conversation about potentially increasing your audience and impact online, go to hundredfoldmarketing.com and you can shoot me an email in the contact us section, or I believe you can even schedule a meeting with me directly. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, hey, friends, there you have it. Uh thanks again for joining us for this show. And I hope you guys have a wonderful day. And hopefully you're going to uh be positively impacted by just David's incredible story. God bless.