Avodah Talk w/ Matt Walton
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Avodah Talk w/ Matt Walton
People Over Profits: How Kingdom Business Leaders Guide Employees Toward Their Dreams
Kingdom impact in the marketplace doesn't happen accidentally—it requires intentional structures that prioritize discipleship while pursuing business excellence. Matt Walton reveals the transformative Dream Chaser Accountability Program (DCAP) he's developed to guide employees toward personal, professional, and spiritual flourishing.
The program emerged from a divine prompting: "Instead of serving the community this month, serve your people." This shift led to a structured framework helping team members identify their purpose, envision their ideal future, recognize growth areas, and address limiting beliefs. Remarkably, on the very first day of implementation, one employee surrendered his life to Christ—powerfully demonstrating the program's kingdom impact.
Statistical evidence supports this approach. People are 65% more likely to accomplish goals when they verbalize them, but this jumps to 95% when accountability partners are involved. Additionally, breaking larger objectives into smaller timeframes increases achievement probability by 20%. The DCAP framework leverages these insights through a six-part structure addressing behaviors to change, examining underlying beliefs, creating detailed future visions, and establishing accountability mechanisms.
Walton emphasizes multiplication through leadership—focusing intensively on developing the top 20% of the workforce while empowering them to guide others. This creates a sustainable discipleship culture where business becomes ministry. As he notes, "If we treat this more like discipleship rather than a job, we will literally start to see transformation happen in the marketplace."
Ready to transform your business into a platform for kingdom impact? Implement these discipleship principles and watch as your team grows professionally, personally, and spiritually. The marketplace is your mission field—are you making the most of it?
What's up guys? This is Matt with the Vota Talk, or the Real Matt Walton. This is your hub for all things Kingdom business business as ministry business strategy. My goal is to provide as much value, minute by minute, each podcast that you listen to. So let's get to it. What's up guys? This is Matt Walton with the Vota Talk, or the Real Matt Walton, depending on how you found me. And welcome back.
Speaker 1:Today is Thursday and just feel absolutely incredible. I woke up early this morning, spent a lot of time with the Lord, got some exercise in and went to prayer and watched some really cool videos this morning about marketplace ministry. That really, really encouraged me. So today what I wanna talk about is this DCAP program, or it's really Discipleship in the Marketplace, but what this stands for is Dream Chaser Accountability Program. I couldn't come up with a better name than that, but that perfectly summarizes what we're going to get into today. But before that, I want to talk about just what the Lord is doing in and around my business, and when I rolled out this program the very first day, one of my guys actually made a commitment to the Lord and surrendered his life over to the Lord. It was beautiful because God had been really working on this gentleman's life for some time now, and in that moment, whenever I brought him into the office and just started going through some different things with him, I really felt like the Lord was pulling me away from following the outline that I have made for the day and had me just simply talk to him about the gospel, talk to him about where he was at personally, and then that led into him making a commitment to the Lord and I brought him through some different scriptures and it was just one of the most beautiful moments. So what this program represents is, again this is discipleship in the marketplace. This is what God's called me to. God's called me to preach the gospel in the marketplace and to advance his kingdom in the marketplace specifically.
Speaker 1:And so one of the things that we have to be really leery of or aware of is where is our identity? Because there's so many times that we, as entrepreneurs, can fall into what we are doing and how we are doing it. The success or failure of whatever it is that we are doing, our identity can be wrapped up into that, and so this is kind of an ongoing thing. I don't believe that you ever arrive at that destination. We have to consistently stay on guard, using scripture and prayer and using scripture in a way to renew our minds, because that is a promise in scripture. This is what literally happens whenever we make scripture our daily bread and whenever we just pursue after God. God will start to use that to renew our mind and in that we start to find our identity where it should be, rather than in some of these things that will pass away in business, in the marketplace. You don't have to be a business owner, and outside of that it can be anything that we are involved in. So that's something. I'm going through a book right now that really goes through your identity, at least in the first couple of chapters. It's A Dangerous calling by Paul Tripp and I've really enjoyed it because it's put me on to just this awareness of where's your identity. So let's get to it Today.
Speaker 1:As y'all know, I root everything in scripture, and Proverbs 27, 17, perfectly summarizes the idea behind this dream chaser accountability program. The idea behind this Dream Chaser Accountability Program and what it says is iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Really simple and to the point. It's critical that if you are a believer in the marketplace to use that platform to sharpen your guys, men or women, to make sure you're edifying them and encouraging them and not being offended at them for maybe doing something that doesn't align with your values, but rather representing Jesus in the best way that we can and thinking of the cross when Jesus said forgive them, father, for they know not what they do. That is a heart posture that I desire to have. I have not had in the past and God is really bringing me through the sanctification process to get to that point. So I wanna get this out of the way, as we talk about marketplace ministry, that some of the taglines that I've tied to this is like people over profits, kingdom impact over income.
Speaker 1:And this is a follow-up to the video that I did last week that was specifically talking about those taglines or hashtags, and this right here gives us a blueprint on how we can create a program within our business whether you have one guy, five guys, 20 guys or well beyond that to really come alongside them and help them accomplish their dreams. And that's really the heart posture behind this, because we know if we can help them accomplish their dreams, then they're going to come to work ready to get after it, easier to work with and it's not just going to be a job for them at that point. That's really a desire of mine is to create a place that's not just a job they look forward to coming to. They want to bring their families too, and so I posted a video the other day that said I'm building, in the process of building an organization that benefits all those that come in contact with it and helps them accomplish their goals and dreams. So how did that day look Like?
Speaker 1:I rolled out when the Lord gave me this idea to do a dream chaser accountability program. It didn't start out as this. It started out as a PPF personal, professional and financial model. This is something that I had heard from a buddy of mine that was doing this, that had heard it from, I believe it was Cardone Ventures, and I applied that this is about a year, year and a half ago and did not really like the structure of it, and so I did not pursue after meeting with my guys a couple of times, did not pursue that any further, as I was just intently praying about Lord, how do you want for this to look within your organization? And so I do serve days every single month and I try to do them the first Friday of every month, and there was one day in my prayer time that guy was like Matt, instead of going out and serving the community, I want you to serve your people. And so I'm like but how does that look, god? You want me to make them lunch, or how does that look? And that is where this came about, and so I wanted to pull them into my office, bring my leaders into the office and sit there and just have a conversation with them about where they're at and where they're headed, what their dreams and visions are for their life, and so I typed some things up. It's got six parts to it, or really seven parts to it, and I implemented that. This is just a few days ago, and the reaction to that obviously the salvation that came out of that was just incredible. I'm learning a lot from these guys and it really helps me walk alongside them and encourage them.
Speaker 1:And I will say this if you are the number one guy within your business, you're not going to want to focus on every single person Although every person is your focus, if that makes any sense you're going to want to focus on the top 20% people, and then if you have other leaders within your business that are like-minded believers, you are going to want to allow them to focus on the rest of the individuals or the rest of your team, which is the other 80% within your business. I think that is so critical because we, as kingdom business people, can want to have a hand in all of that, but the smartest play there is to pour into your top 20% people and allow your other leaders to pour into the rest of the team. So there's some studies and some statistics that really drive this point home and according to some studies, you're 65% more likely to accomplish your goals whenever you voice them, but you're 95% more likely to accomplish your goals when you have somebody holding you accountable. So I shared that with my guys. That was what I started this document with, and there was also a Stanford study that says you're 20% more likely to achieve your goals when you have big goals broken down into monthly, weekly, daily and sometimes hourly bite-sized goals. So I've been doing this for a while.
Speaker 1:I think the most important thing is that if you're not doing this stuff yourself, then you may want to reconsider doing something like this. Before you start doing this yourself, you have to be able to lead by example, and so many times we as leaders want to point the finger rather than point the thumb right back at ourselves. And so become that person that people desire to follow. If you don't have anybody following you, you're really not a leader. So become that person that you want to follow, and I'll say this as well If you listen to John Maxwell leadership is influence, and so to some form of capacity you are leading, whether you're leading your family or leading vendors or your team, maybe some people you serve alongside they're watching you, regardless if you have a leadership position or if you truly have gotten to that leadership status or not. They're watching you.
Speaker 1:So let's get into this program. I'm gonna go quickly over a few of these questions, and before, actually before I do that, I wanna add this this is something I wrote up here. It says the reason and I heard this from Alex Hormozy and it really stuck with me the reason you're not doing your goals or not accomplishing your goals. This is what I teach my guys in the back the reason why you're not accomplishing your goals is not because of what you do here on the clock, but it's because of what you do after you leave here. So, from the time two 30 is when I shut my shop down all the way up until they get here the next morning, what are you doing during that time? Because I promise you, what you were doing there is not aiding in becoming the man or woman that you can be. So there's some questions that I had them go through and I gave them this document.
Speaker 1:So how this day looked was, again, this is a serve day. Instead of going out and serving the public, I served all of my team, brought in two other leaders that are in my business. Both of them are believers and one of them is my operations guy, the other one is my dad, and we all three sat in the office and I just sat there and explained to my guys the vision behind this, went over those statistics that I just showed you, and then I started to go through just some questions. I didn't go through all of these. I gave them the outline as a way to just start this process. I then gave them this document for them to bring this back to me and then, once they bring it back, they will be assigned an accountability partner that will walk through this 12 month program with them, helping them accomplish their dreams and goals throughout that year and, again, just keeping them accountable. So some of the questions are like have you figured out your existence yet? Why are you here? What's your purpose? Where do you belong? And this will help them understand their purpose. Hopefully, the idea behind this is to get them thinking proactively about their lives and where they want to go.
Speaker 1:The next thing is what is the big vision for your life and some of these go hand in hand. What would you like for your professional life to look like? What would you like your personal life to look like? What is one thing you want to accomplish in a year, and that could range from hey, I want to go on a vacation with my family. I want to make this amount of money, I want to get in shape, I want to build this discipline, I want to gain this skill, I want to gain this knowledge, whatever that is.
Speaker 1:You want them to define that, because those are sometimes the things, the very things that, when they're having a bad day, can keep them going. If you hold them accountable on those things and remind them of the vision for their life, where do you think you could improve? And this really causes them to look inside, because so many times we, even as leaders, we can think that, well, there's not too much. You know, maybe I just need to read my Bible a little bit more but no, there's something, or multiple things, that we can improve on if we're really being honest with ourselves. So are there any obstacles or roadblocks preventing you from reaching your full potential? A lot of times, that roadblock is in between your ears. There's so many times that we beat ourselves down. You are the most important thing outside of the Holy Spirit, god, jesus, that is speaking into your life, because you talk to yourself more than anybody. So if your self-talk isn't right, then you are really going to struggle. A lot of people define that as manifestation. I actually define that as being obedient to God's word and taking those thoughts captive and repeating scripture and using prayer as a weapon in order to renew my mind, and renew my mind biblically. That way, it's not rooted in pride or ego.
Speaker 1:What is one thing this is a big one. I ask my guys this every single Monday, just about whenever we do prayer what is one thing that, if you changed, 20 other things would change, and what is a long-term vision for your life, because then we can break that down into monthly, daily, weekly or monthly, weekly and daily and sometimes hourly goals. So that is the first part of this. It's about 11 questions that I ask them to go to, and then I have different parts here. So part one is what do you need to stop doing and what do you need to start doing? This goes with what is that? One thing that, if you change, change 20 things. And the third thing on there is if God told you he would miraculously change one thing today, what would that be? What would you ask him to change and that, hopefully, will help them get the wheels turning on? Things that they need to stop doing and things that they need to start doing.
Speaker 1:The next thing and this is part two and I give them blank space underneath these questions, but using the list above, the need to stop doing answers from above, and just the need to stop doing answers explain to the best of your ability the underlining beliefs as to why you continue to do it. So, example, when I drink too much and, by the way, I do not drink, do not drink, do not smoke, do not do any of that. But I did before before and I have so when I drink too much, my underlining belief is that drinking is the only way to stop stressed and let me say this this is kind of a break there are some people out there that are drinking, are smoking and have a relationship with god, and god is asking you to stop. You are not going to hear from the Lord in the way that you desire to hear from the Lord until you stop doing those things. I don't care if you're drinking just a little bit of alcohol, that's too much, and I'm a big believer in that because, especially if that becomes an idol which it does for most people it becomes an idol in their life. So, quit drinking, quit smoking, quit doing those things, quit smoking tobacco, quit doing all of that. Remove all the things that gratify your flesh, that are fleeting pleasures from your life, and I promise you you'll notice yourself going to a whole nother dimension in a relationship with the Lord. Sobriety is the only way. When I drink too much, my underlining belief is that drinking is the only way to stop the stress. So, again, go through all of the things that you need to stop doing and define it in that way when I blank. My underlining belief is that blank and do that for all the behaviors that you want to stop above the next thing. This is part three Rewrite your list of start and stops here and explain for each all the ways you have tried to change.
Speaker 1:And let me say this Craig Groeschel I was reading a book of his and he had really put me on to a lot of unique and really good questions to ask to pull out of people. He did not tell me these things personally. This was a book that I had read and so I wanna give just respect to Craig Groeschel and just honor him in that, because that inspired, or played a big role in inspiring, what we see here. So rewrite your list of start and stops here and explain for each all the ways you would try to change. So write all the limiting beliefs you tell yourself or someone else has said about you. So when I smoke, this is the reason, this is how I have tried to stop smoking and it has not worked. And maybe there are some things that you have told yourself or that people have told you that have led you to have these limiting beliefs about yourself.
Speaker 1:Go into scripture and find out what scripture and what God has to say about you and combat those limiting beliefs. With that right there, this right here, will really help them and you get down to just what are those limiting beliefs and what are these things that I have tried to change. How have I tried to change these things? Because the only way to true transformation is, number one surrendering to Jesus and surrendering to his plan and his will for your life. But then there's this whole sanctification process of renewing your mind, and the only way that you can renew your mind is by reading scripture and using prayer and allowing God toing your mind. And the only way that you can renew your mind is by reading scripture and using prayer and allowing God to renew your mind. What is the big vision for your life?
Speaker 1:This is part four, and this is kind of a repeat of the question above. Write about the future. You Write about you. Write about the you that you believe God created you to be. Once you're done, pray and ask God for his help on accomplishing these things, and also pray and ask God is this in his will for your life? Because if you're outside of his will for your life, you'll notice yourself trying and straining to do things that don't align with really who God wants you to be.
Speaker 1:Part five is I ask them if they have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the question here is do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? If so, write down your testimony. If not, do you desire one? And this will hopefully open the door. If you are not so vocal about your relationship with the Lord, if maybe you haven't talked to your people about this, maybe this will be a good segue into that, to start that conversation, way into that, to start that conversation, and if you are fearful of what you may lose by talking about Jesus Christ, I want to encourage you to please study what the apostles did, please study scripture, please study the commands of Jesus Christ on our lives and quit weighing what you may lose and rather think about just being obedient to Jesus Christ and him alone. And if you lose some things because you talked about God, that doesn't that pales in comparison to not sharing these things and the impact that you are foregoing by not pouring Christ into your people.
Speaker 1:The last thing this is part six, and really this is this is like for my leadership team, but what I do after I get these back from my guys is, then, because I have two other leaders that I'm going to divide the rest of my team up into Again. I take the top 20%, so I'm meeting with two of my guys and then the rest of my leaders, the two other leaders. They're going to meet with the other guys and then I'll say this depending on maybe one of the guys that they're speaking into or holding accountable, he may have a question that may be better suited for me or for one of my other leaders and, of course, every time it's like hey, well, you actually need to talk to Aaron, you need to talk to Donovan about this rather than talking to me about this. Recognize what those things are and make sure that your heart is in the right place to help your people, rather than having everybody come to you and ask you questions. Get out of that mentality. As a side note, who is your successor? If you're not thinking in that regard of who is your successor, you're going to be in your business for a whole lot longer than I'm sure you desire to be.
Speaker 1:The next thing is well, put this simply, this is something I wrote here we will take your big dreams and vision for your life and break it down into monthly, weekly, daily and sometimes hourly goals to help you achieve them and encourage you every step of the way. So that's the message that, the final message that my team gets when they fill this thing out. So the idea behind this and all of this is laid out here. But the idea behind this is, again, marketplace discipleship, and I believe that if we treat this more like discipleship rather than a job, then we will literally start to see that transformation happen in the marketplace. You'll see people get saved. You'll have the ability to baptize people, to lead people to Christ and then to encourage them along the way.
Speaker 1:If they forego this right here, what I would say to anybody that chooses to implement something like this within your business if you have people that forego this, they're going to get lapped up. They're not going to last very long in your business, especially if you have maybe you have a team of 10 and nine people do it, one person doesn't that. One person does not do that does not do it Well, more than likely not be a good fit for your team over time. And so because everybody is going to be growing and that person had chosen to stay stagnant, unless they maybe have a growth plan outside of that, but you'll find that out through this right here. You want to remove that cancer from your business. Why would you keep somebody on board? That is like an eight.
Speaker 1:We need to have nine or, excuse me, we need to have tens across the board on our business, and that may seem like a little harsh, but we're called to steward our business as well. These are God's businesses and we are stewards of them, and so if you do not have the right team members on your team, it's time to trim the fat, get the cancer out of the business and bring on a players. But know this I hire guys that are either coming out the streets or coming out of prison, and your job is to bring them up to the level, help them realize their potential and walk alongside them in their journey of maybe becoming that a player. If they are on that path to become better and they're on a growth plan that you have laid out for them, that is incredible. They may not be a 10 just yet, but they're on that path and that's what you're looking for.
Speaker 1:So please don't mishear me there that if they're not a 10 on day one, get rid of them. That is not at all what I'm saying. They may be a two on day one and have potential, but we as kingdom people have to see that potential in that person and help hold them accountable and lead them along the way. So thank you guys for tuning in and we will do these videos every single week. Sometimes I do interviews, sometimes I interview my team, but my goal again is to provide as much value, minute by minute, for everybody. Sometimes I'll do stuff like this programs that I'm developing strategy or sharing really cool kingdom stories in the marketplace. God bless you guys.