Trust the Process: From Corporate Accounting to Calling in the Classroom

In last week’s episode, Janna Himschoot shared how farm life, family, and faith in Hardy, Arkansas, laid the groundwork for her calling as a wife, mother, and future educator. If you missed that conversation about lifework, you’ll want to go back and listen before jumping into this powerful continuation. 

This week, WBU President Dr. Stan Norman welcomes Janna back to trace the next chapter of her journey—from corporate accounting during the tech boom, to an unexpected pivot into healthcare, to the humbling season of tutoring alongside her dad. 

Janna describes how God used a missed job opportunity, long commutes, and an online MBA to reshape her understanding of success and to deepen her desire to pour into students, not just bottom lines. She tells the story of arriving on the Williams campus and sensing, almost immediately, “Now everything makes sense,” as years of work experience, motherhood, and ministry converged into a clear sense of lifework and calling. 

Janna also reflects on helping shape Williams Works, why her most fulfilling work now is “being a mom” to her students, and the simple phrase she shares with them—and would share with her younger self: trust the process.

Learn more about the business department at WBU: https://williamsbu.edu/business

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to this episode of the LifeWork Podcast. We are joined again today by Professor Jenna Hemshute. And uh in between these episodes, we had a conversation in which you disclosed something that I found just incredibly interesting. That in high school, you and your husband were dating and he had a sawmill in high school. Yes. How does a high school student own and operate a sawmill? How does that happen?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

He did it after school. Um, so yeah, he he purchased it. He had a loan. He got a loan, he bought the sawmill, and he um bought timber tracks, and then he would go and cut the cedar. He was doing cedar logs. Yeah, and he cut cedar and run them through his mill and he'd sell them. And I managed his money for him.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Um how long did he do this?

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Uh just for a few years. Um couple years, I would say, and he sold the mill sold the mill. Um, he's back logging again now, um, after all this time.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

I hope one day to meet this fella.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

It'd be interesting just to see a guy that has a very similar life pilgrimage as you do. So you're the money manager, he's the business guy, you're you're farming, he's sawmilling, you graduate high school, you get married, you go to school, you get your accounting degree, and then what?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

So I got my first um corporate accounting job while I was finishing up my degree. So I worked that job and finished up my education at the same time. And I was expecting my first child.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Okay. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

So um I graduated in May of '97 and Austin was born in July of '97.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Where did you do your undergrad?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

ASU in Jonesboro. And I'm commuted from Hardy.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Where did you get this first job? What was it?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

It was in Hardy. I was it was a um corporation and I was their accountant at that time. They didn't really coin it as controller, but that's what I was. Um, it was a very small corporation at that time and it grew very quickly. It was a tech company, um, just on the cusp of the 2000s, um, tech industry, you know, the boom. Um, so yeah, that's where I started.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

And how long did you do this?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Twelve years. Twelve years.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

So what what led to the pivot from that? Where did you go from doing that?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So um we were involved in a merger with a publicly traded corporation back in 2001-ish, 2002. Those years are a little fuzzy for me. Um, but yeah, so we merged with a publicly traded corporation that did a similar um thing. We were a title searching um technology company. And um it was I had three children by then. I had three babies in four years. So there was a lot of we need you to fly to Houston and we need you to go to Nashville. And um that was not the lifestyle that I had envisioned for myself. I was a mom first. And so I knew that it was time for me to do something different, and I had already gotten an idea in my mind that I did want to teach. Because um, I can remember talking to my parents and just saying, I have so much that I want students to know um when they're in school so that they make the most of the opportunity. And so that's when I decided I need to get a broader spectrum of experience. I need to do something different. So I taught myself um medical coding, uh medical terminology, and I got a job with a local um healthcare facility, and I started doing their billing and um did a little office management, um, record management, that kind of thing. Um but yeah, that was my next stage. And I did that for almost eight years, and then I got my degree in that time.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

So we're 20 years into your professional career, correct? When, when, where, how, what did the calling I have two questions. I'm trying to figure out the best way. The move in higher education and a sense of God shaping these work experiences to be more than just work, but to be platforms for kingdom gospel purposes. When did all this begin to coalesce?

SPEAKER_00 4:35

So while I was still at um my corporation uh accounting job, um, I started feeling uneasy, like this is not where I was supposed to be. But I'm not one that changes quickly. And I felt like God was leading me to move on. But I'm not as quick to be obedient as I should, just because by nature, I'm very cautious and very thoughtful when I make a decision, especially one of that magnitude. Um so it really took some time for me to finally make that move to pivot. But it was at that moment when I made that change, I thought, I want to teach and I need to know to how to do other things besides just corporate accounting. And so that's why I decided healthcare. I want to, I also wanted to pour into the lives of people. So in corporate accounting, I helped people had lots of money make more money. And I was very good at it. But there's no fulfillment there. And so when I worked in healthcare, I advocated for my patients. So I was able to um work with claims instead of just saying, Oh, that claim didn't go through, I'll just bill the patient. No, I would fight the insurance company to get them to pay on behalf of my patient. So that provided a level of fulfillment for me. And then as I was there, um, time moved on. My children were getting a little bit older, um, a little bit more self-sufficient. I had one driving, which was great. Um, and I just felt like it was time to make the move to teach. And I knew God was leading me to that.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

And how did you know that?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

I just I knew it. I don't know how to explain that that was the next step. Um, I can tell you that um while I was at the doctor's office, I was exploring degrees because I had to pursue an MBA that was primarily online just because of my life responsibilities, because I was still going to work. I had kids going three different directions, playing ball, literally. And so I had a very tight schedule. Well, one of my former um employees that worked for me in the accounting department was the outreach coordinator from Missouri State. And so I reached out to her, and they had just started an online MBA, and this was in the summer in July, and she says, We're down to the wire, but I can get you in. Here's what you need to do. And so I had to um sit for uh that the GMAT exam. And so I called around and there was one spot open, the last opportunity for me to take the exam in order to start in the fall. And so I was able to go to Jonesboro and take that exam, no preparation at all. I just sat down and took it, and I said, Lord, if this is what I'm supposed to do, then you give me the score I need, and and he did. And so I passed that and then I started um taking classes in the fall.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

And when did you finally move into teaching and where?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

So um back to working with my dad. Yes. Um, so I had immediately after I completed my degree, I applied for a job at Missouri State West Plains, and um, which was a satellite campus for Missouri State in Springfield, and went and interviewed all day, gave my very first lecture ever in my entire life in front of a room full of professors. It was intimidating.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

I bet it was.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

And um, so interviewed with several different people. It literally took all day this interview process. And given my history and my experiences, I assumed that I would get the job. Got the call, did not get the job. They chose someone over me. And I remember having a real moment of just grief and frustration. And I was just like, Lord, I thought I was on the right path. And, you know, I guess I'm not good enough. And the message that I received in my heart was, no, you're not good enough because it's not about you, it's about me. And so at that moment, I realized I needed a good dose of humility and I got it. And so this journey that I was on was not anything about me. It was about him and where he wanted me to be. And then once I understood that, it changed my entire outlook. So um didn't get that job. And during that time, prior to applying for that job, I was working as a professional tutor at Black River. So I did that for three semesters. Another humbling experience, um, my friend from church, Sissy Gray, who whom you know. Yes. So she helped me connect with the Student Success Center there on campus about being a professional tutor. Well, they didn't need a business tutor, they needed a math tutor. And so they really wanted my dad. So we went and interviewed both of us, and he said, We're a package deal. So the only reason I got that job at BRTC was because my dad said, I'm not coming unless she comes, and they really wanted him. So the Lord said I needed another good dose of humility, and I got one. But we worked together for about three semesters, and he worked one semester without me after that. Um, but we would drive to school together and we would take our lunch and we would eat lunch together and we would share stories and we would tutor together.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Back on the farm together, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

So you're at BRTC and then what?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

So during that time is when I did that um applied for that job at Missouri State. Okay. So I'm constantly applying for positions, looking for openings, that kind of thing. Um, still working at the doctor's office, too. So I'm doing both jobs.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

You're a machine.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

You have to be. Yeah. You really have to be. To live in a small town and and make it work, um, you have to be. So so yeah, I'm I'm a hard worker. Um, I come from that. You do. I married that and we raised our kids in that, and that's just how we all are.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

So you're applying for jobs. You didn't get the one you thought you were gonna get.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

I didn't get the one I thought I was gonna get, and just really devastated until I had that moment with the Lord. And I realized that this was part of my journey was to be a professional tutor. Not only was it to teach me some humility, which it did, but it was also to teach um me how to interact with students, because they reveal more of themselves to a tutor than they do to a professor. So I learned a lot about how students learn, what they're intimidated by, um, what kind of questions they ask, that kind of thing. So it was really a great learning experience. And I remember the moment I said, all right, if I'm not supposed to be a professor, I'm gonna be the best professional tutor that I can be. And it was not that long after that I was checking all the local institutions and I saw that there was a posting from Williams Baptist University for a business professor.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

And this was a four-year institution. So I thought to myself, there's no way. I was assuming that I would get a job at a two-year technical school. But you know what? I'm gonna apply. So I did. And um, I came here and interviewed um Ken Startup kind of walked me through that process. We had some really great conversations, and I will never forget driving onto campus, and I just felt like, okay, now everything makes sense. And I knew at that moment that I was gonna get the job, that this is where I was supposed to be, and I was not nervous at all. I was so nervous in the Missouri State position, but I wasn't nervous at all. And I by the time I left, I did have a job offer, a tentative one, you know, pursuant to the board.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

But yeah, that day.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

So I arrived here in 2018. Do you remember when we really got to know each other? Do you remember what that was?

SPEAKER_00 13:01

You'll have to remind me what memory you're you're pulling from.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

It was around 2019, 2020.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

We were on a task force together. Yes. You remember that?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

When we were first exploring the idea of pivoting.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yes, to William's works.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

And we took two or three, I can't remember how many uh field trips to a sister institution that was work education institution. Yes. That's when I first got to really know you. And I remember thinking two or three things. One, uh, what an incredible professional educator. Number two, what a woman of faith. Number three, what a delightful personality, because we did have a few interesting, fun conversations in the van with others. We're all clustered together in that. But I remember thinking she gets she gets it. She understands the direction that we think the Lord is leading us in the direction we need to go, but also the direction we get to go. So talk to me about. I never really asked you this before. So now's my chance. As you look back on those that time, that season of when we were looking at doing what we're doing, what were you thinking? How did you feel about all that? And how did you see that fitting not only for the school, but for you?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

So I remember that trip very, very well. I remember being excited about what I saw, um, excited about the level of student engagement and their professionalism that I hadn't seen before because they were um performing at a a very different level. Um, so I was excited about that. I remember thinking, I just don't know if we can do this as fast as maybe Dr. Norman thinks that we can. That's exactly what I thought. Um, I thought it was a great idea, but my accounting conservative brain, we're conservative by nature.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Deliberate and thoughtful methodical.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yes. And that's how I would have done it, but we wouldn't be where we are now. So I think you need all of that.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

You need all that kind of input from all the different personalities.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

So philosophically, setting aside the the speed or lack of speed of the process, philosophically, what were your thoughts about that as a model that would fit us at Williams?

SPEAKER_00 15:42

So in the business department especially, I thought it was great. I thought it was a perfect fit. Um, because that's what um Heather Parson and I, my partner in crime, that's what we try to impart to our students is that hard work, that responsibility. Um, so we were excited about getting that type of student back in the classroom.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

So that's what we were looking forward to.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

So here we are, well into that initiative, but also well into your career. What is possibly the one of the more fulfilling parts of what you're currently doing in your ministry here at Williams?

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Okay, that's an easy question. It's relationships with my students. Okay. Um, remember I said at a very young age, I realized my calling was motherhood. And that's how I engage with my students, um, is to kind of be their mom. So I needed to grow and mature and raise adult child children myself in order to be the type of professor that I wanted to be. And so all of those things in my life happened in the timing that they happened, so that I could be the type of professor that I am right now. Um, and that's just to be a mom to them when um some of them maybe don't have one or their moms are far away and they need somebody right there. And that means love and encouragement and grace, but it also means structure and discipline and expectation and consequences. So I try to really keep that balance, and it's important to have that balance, or you're not doing it right, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

I think you're right. So I've asked several of your colleagues over the podcast this question. I'm gonna throw it down on you and get your response. So from where you currently sit in this season of your life, taking what I would call an aspectual reflective view backward, what would this Jana say to the Jana of eighth and ninth grade? Maybe speaking from what you've learned now to what you didn't know then that you wish you had known, or maybe some insecurities, maybe some doubts or issues that from this position you would say, if I could talk to myself then, this is how I would encourage myself, challenge myself, or guide myself on those next steps of life.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

So I would tell that Jana from way back when to trust the process. I wouldn't give her any hints or clues as to what was to come because the process is part of the whole journey. That's why we do it. And I wouldn't have learned the things that I learned and had the experiences that I experienced without the process. So I would just say, trust the process. You don't know what's coming, but trust the process.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Do you tell your students this? Yes. I figured you did.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

I do. That's and that's one of the things I'm gonna put on my t-shirt one day when I have one is trust the process. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

So what's what's next for the hem chute family? You told me your husband himself is building you a house.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

And has he retired from No, he's still working. What does he do?

SPEAKER_00 19:18

He's a logger now. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

He's a logger.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Full circle back to the sawman.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yes, back to the original days, because we he farmed full time for several years and he drove and did custom fertilizer for other farmers. Had a truck and he did that. So he had um and logging on the side there. So we had two schedule C's and a schedule F there for several years. Um, but now he's back down to just logging and um we don't have the cattle anymore, so I guess he's bored. So he's building me a house.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Well, I hope it's a beautiful house. You deserve it.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yeah. Well, you know, it's what we need at this time in our life. And remember, um, as I said before, my expectations in life are very simple. Um, it's faith and family and um, you know, impacting lives of others. And so as long as I can do that, I'm doing really good.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

That's a good place to stop. Thank you, Jenna, for being on our podcast. You are appreciated.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Oh, well, we appreciate you as well.