The Extraordinary Journey Behind Jack's Books

Raised in a family cult, separated from his father, and forced to navigate unimaginable tragedy, Colton Cauthen's story is one of resilience, grace, and redemption—an example of the power of coming out of the darkness and embracing the light.

In this episode of Double R, Colton shares the remarkable journey that ultimately led him to Florence, South Carolina, where he has become a husband, father, business owner, and founder of Jack's Books in Downtown Florence.

This is a conversation about faith, family, community, and the enduring power of truth, goodness, and beauty. It's a reminder that even the darkest chapters can lead to something meaningful—and that people's stories, and what they choose to do with them, ultimately shape communities.

For more from Colton and Jack's Books:

https://shopjacksbooks.com/

https://open.substack.com/pub/coltoncauthen

https://customexcelspreadsheets.com/

https://www.morninglightreaders.com/

#DoubleRFlotown #FlorenceSC #JacksBooks #DowntownFlorence #CommunityMatters #Faith #Redemption #LocalBusiness #SouthCarolina #Truth #Goodness #Beauty

Transcript

Welcome And Meeting Colton

SPEAKER_06 0:12

Double R Flow Town. Reeves is rocking the beard. I hope it shows up because it's a big thing.

Reeves 0:19

I probably won't. And I think this might be the last day, Robert. I just don't think I can do this.

SPEAKER_06 0:26

I knew that was gonna happen, right? It is we all knew. We all knew. But more important, we have Colton Coffin with us today. Thank you so much for coming, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, thank you all. Super, super excited to be here. Love what you all are doing. This is great. I don't know how many other cities or towns have something like this, especially our size, but I think it's just fantastic. It's awesome. Thanks.

Reeves 0:45

Well, we're excited to have you, Colton, and uh to hear a little bit about your story and the work you do, especially you've got a local bookshop, bookstore Jack's Books in downtown.

SPEAKER_06 0:58

It's cool too. You you nailed that.

Reeves 1:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:01

You nailed it. It's awesome. Yeah. And that's we need more of that.

Reeves 1:04

Yeah. So kind of take us back and just tell us a little bit about who you are, and then we'll talk a little bit about Jack's books and uh kind of your your whole story, but tell us a little bit about your story.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Yeah, sure. So um I'll go back pretty far. Uh you know, that's good. Yeah. I'll say this too as I'm going. Don't feel free to ask any questions. I'm not you're not gonna upset me or offend me by asking, you know, to for clarification or if you want me to talk more about something. So cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:33

I will say first, you've got the best hair of any yes we've had so far. Wouldn't you say Reach?

Reeves 1:39

Well, he's definitely better than yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:43

Your hair is is rocking and it looks good.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I'm jealous. Yeah, it was not always this way. Uh growing up, it was actually really straight. It was pinned straight, uh, had like a chili bowl or like a bowl cut. Um so yeah.

Reeves 1:57

So how did you get that?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Uh just happened. Yeah, it was about like 13, 14, it started getting really w wavy and then fast forward 10 years and turned into something like this. Is there still hope for him? Maybe I should grow my own.

Reeves 2:13

Yeah. You know, maybe I won't have to do the combover if I grow it out. Anyway, anyway.

Indiana Childhood And A Sudden Move

SPEAKER_01 2:25

I was born in Indiana, uh, grew up with a single mom, three siblings, so four kids. And we were poor, but I didn't, you know, it didn't mean anything to me. Life was really good. Spent a lot of time outside, yeah, cornfields, ponds, you know, messing around, yeah. Uh siblings and so on. And yeah, life was pretty good. Uh my mom started having some weird health complications, and eventually all of her hair fell out. She was getting these weird rashes and couldn't really figure out what was going on. And sometime in the mix of all that, she started thinking she was hearing from God directly. Uh, typically just like really small things. You know, should I do this? Yes, or should I not? But within maybe a year or so, that turned into you should leave Indiana and move to Arkansas, where you're gonna meet this guy named Ken, who's gonna be your next husband. And so she heard that.

Reeves 3:19

And all the so no one's telling her this other than in her mind. She believes God's speaking this to her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Okay. That's right. Yeah.

Reeves 3:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

So we all packed up in a U-Haul minivan and headed for Arkansas. This is me, my mom, uh, three siblings, and my aunt, uh, her sister. So we hit the road, got to Arkansas, and there was no can and no place to live. And so we spent some time on the road. I have no idea how long that was, but how old were you? So, yeah, this is good. I was seven at the time. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So this was seven. And yeah, ate a lot of cereal with water. Yeah. Um, but anyway, I didn't find anything in Arkansas, so we kept heading, or then we headed south to Texas, where my grandparents lived. And so this was my mom's mom and dad. So we moved in with them, and you know, that again, life was weird just because it was all new stuff, but for me it was kind of a big adventure, so still pretty, pretty chill or pretty good for me. Yeah. Um, then we went and spent the night with my uncle, who's so my mom's brother and his new wife. Uh, they had just recently purchased a mobile home, and so we spent the night there, and then that turned into us spending multiple nights there, and we basically moved in with them. And so then it was me, my siblings, my mom, her brother, sister, and her sister-in-law, you know, all living uh together. Okay. So living there and things And that was in Texas. That was Texas, Sutton, Texas. Um things started like really gradually. I mean, can't even say started. It's just this really slow kind of progression from the more harmless in a way, indicators, like I was saying at the beginning, where my mom would just be asking trivial things, you know, should I go to this store or that store, and you know, think that she would get an affirmative one way or the other, to bigger things, like you should move your whole family across the country. Um and along the way, and this is this is probably yeah, this is really important. So uh so between Indiana and Texas, and at the time I had no idea, but in hindsight, looking back on it, something really significant happened where we kind of let go of the truth. So you're being told like this is going to happen. You're gonna give a prediction from God, you're going to move to Arkansas and meet a guy named Ken. But once you get there and there's no Ken and you don't end up living there, but you still trust that voice that told you, that's a that's a really big step. Yeah. Because now you're believing something that you know has lied to you. Um and so that kind of opened the door to a continuation or progression uh from there.

Reeves 6:07

But as a seven-year-old, eight-year-old, when your mom's going through this, I mean, you're not recognizing okay, she's disconnected now from truth, and she's not listening to an objective reality of truth. You're just along for the ride, really, as a child.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah, that's right. And my mom was uh from all, you know, I mean, just the best mom in the world to me. Yeah. She's you know, sweet, worked really hard to take care of us, give us what she could, uh, really affectionate, and uh so I I loved her deeply and uh had no misgivings. You know, you try when you're seven, I guess you just kind of trust that your parents obviously have a good understanding of the world, and if they're saying it, that's probably probably the case. Yeah. And so yeah, that was more or less my perspective. So we moved there. Uh we started homeschooling, I think partly in that, just in that transition. You know, I had been in public school, but we probably homeschooled, maybe even on the road. I can't remember that part, but uh, but certainly when we got to Texas, uh, started homeschooling for a while. That lasted a couple of years, and then that cut off. And so when I was, I think I finished, um, I was mostly finished with the third grade like curriculum, and then homeschooling stopped. And so all school, all schooling stopped. Um and yeah, the teachings it kind of started formalizing into what you could call teachings. So not just, hey, do this or do that, but more a system of values and predictions about what's gonna happen in the future. In other words, essentially a cult started to form uh with my mom as the leader of it.

When Belief Replaces Reality

SPEAKER_01 7:45

So yeah, that uh started taking some wild turns. Everything kind of flipped upside down values-wise. So when I was really young, I grew up in a really, a pretty like morally strict household, you could say. Not in a negative way, but probably a little bit over, you know, maybe a little bit overboard. Um, but definitely, you know, just good good values, right? Don't lie, don't steal, obvious things. Uh, you know, you don't want to intake content that's harmful as a kid, those kinds of things, and then all of that just gradually flipped completely upside down.

Reeves 8:17

Now, did other people you you you use the word cult, and your mom as a leader, did other people besides the family join in on this, or is it still just the nucleus of you, your siblings, your mom, your your aunt?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah, just that. Okay, yeah. So just that it and it wasn't there was no attempt to expand, you know, beyond that. So it really was just that group. My uncle, so my mom and her sister, they kind of came along into it together. I mean, my my they were fairly close, and so my aunt was just believing taking my mom's word for it more or less. And so from the beginning, she was in it. My uncle and his new bride, you know, this was something new and weird to them. So they were they were not uh, you know, on board. Yes, they were not on board in the beginning.

SPEAKER_06 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Then my his wife, so my aunt at the time, my mom's brother's wife, yeah. Uh, so Brenda, she ended up sort of like coming over to it, and then he followed not long after. Okay. And then so everybody except for my oldest brother came into it, and he was the only one that wasn't uh wasn't buying it, essentially.

Reeves 9:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah. Yeah, and so the what it s sort of evolved into is we were this special selected family that God was gonna use to bring justice to the world, and so there was gonna be this big event that would come in the future where we would all be changed and given these supernatural powers and go around like superheroes, you know, fighting injustice. And you know, there's a real irony that was completely missed on me, which is uh basically at the same time we're getting this oh, you're you're like these special people and you're gonna do all this good stuff. At the same time, again, that that inversion of values was happening where you know now we were just everything, everything we did was wrong. I mean, almost in a in a sense. I mean, so shoplifting was encouraged, you know, we would go out at at night and um mostly on like abandoned houses, but we would go in houses and like look for stuff and um yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:20

Like the normal rules didn't apply to you guys anymore. Yes, yes, yeah. And your mom fully believed this. I mean, that was Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yep, absolutely.

Reeves 10:27

Are you the oldest?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

No, I'm the youngest. Okay, you're the youngest. I'm the youngest.

Reeves 10:32

Seven, eight, nine. This is kind of happening. And your other three siblings, how old are they?

SPEAKER_01 10:37

So my sister's a year and a half older than was a year and a half older than me, and then or two and a half years older than me. Um, and then my two brothers were a good bit older, so you know, eight to ten years uh older, so a little bit of a gap.

Reeves 10:50

So yeah, so they were teenagers. Yeah, older teenagers.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah, but you know, me like maybe 16-ish around that this time. Okay. 16 and 17.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Yeah, so that's all going on. Uh just this really gradual thing. You you hear the classic example. If you put a frog in water and turn it up the heat slowly enough, they don't jump out. That's roughly what happened. I mean, these ideas sound so crazy. I mean, hearing them come out of my mouth today, to this day, you know, sounds so bizarre. But at the time it was just very gradual, just day by day. You know, it wasn't, even with the move, the initial move, it wasn't like this huge jump. I mean, things sort of led up to that. Yeah. Uh so everything's just very gradual, almost unimperceptible, you know, when you're in from the inside. Uh, but yeah, it got got pretty um backwards. There was some uh abuse, especially of my two aunts. Uh, but really anybody who defected or or was showing any signs of resistance or stepping out out of line would be correct corrected essentially, uh either through threats or actual, you know, some form of actual punishment. Um so, like I said, the only person who didn't get involved in that was my oldest brother, Clayton. And so he was uh went back to school on his own, uh ended up graduating from high school, got a job, got a vehicle, you know, gaining some independence, still living at home. And he told my mom uh one time that he didn't think he was gonna make it to 20. Um and not too long after that she started saying that uh confirming that to us, uh, that he wasn't gonna that God basically because he wasn't coming into the group that God was gonna judge him and kill him. And so that was, you know, at the time supposedly just gonna happen, like so many other predictions. And it never it didn't. Um so then it changed into my mom saying that uh he was gonna have to die, that that we were gonna have to kill

The Plan To Kill A Brother

SPEAKER_01 12:55

him. Um and so essentially um made a plan for doing that, and my uh older brother, uh uncle and my mom uh killed him one night uh in our house.

Reeves 13:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And so and and attached to that was this idea, I mean, he was this was like a judgment, and then he was going to be brought back, uh he was going to be brought back to life essentially when this big change happened in the future, and then all would be you know, sort of all would be well. Yeah um so that was uh 2000, so I was uh 11 at that time.

Reeves 13:33

I mean you you you're sharing your story, it's it's an incredible story, a heart-wrenching story, and and you just shared what you shared about your mom, your brother, and what happened. How do you process that as an 11-year-old? Can you take us back just for a minute to that?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Yeah, so it's weird because I I think about this a lot when I'm around 11-year-olds. Because I think of my and maybe this is just the case for all, you know, all kids. You think when you're in high school, you know, you think you're like you figured it all out, you're basically an adult. Um, but anyway, thinking back, I just feel like I was relatively old. I mean, not I don't feel like I was yeah that young. Anyway, I'm around 11 year olds, and I'm like, wow, like that's what my state of mind was like, you know, I was that young. Um but yeah, so it was really bizarre. I mean, at the time I had so much uh confidence in my mom, right, that I was I was completely convinced that this was good, this was right, this is what needed to happen. Yeah. Um and at that point, honestly, I mean, in me, things were just like deeply broken. I mean, I was um I didn't grieve for my brother at that time. Okay. Um because you knew there was a greater plan and right, there was this greater plan, and he had been leading up to that, he had been set up as a sort of enemy. And so I really um in some sense despised him at that time. For no, you know, no ground like he hadn't done anything to me. We had been two years before, you know, extremely close. And um but so that was in the moment that's sort of what that felt like. Yeah, what was going on internally. Yeah. Um and so nothing changed after that in terms of you know what was going on, kind of things um went day by day as they had.

Reeves 15:30

And I assume that murder was hidden from the authorities and that's right. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Uh nobody knew about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Nobody knew. They had told, you know, he had friends from school that would call and they would just tell them that he uh took a job somewhere and moved sort of suddenly. Uh no one ever came to follow up, trying to follow up, they just believed.

SPEAKER_06 15:54

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Um so yeah, then like I said, things kind of kept going nor you know, normal, abnormal but normal for us. Yeah. Um, and then because things still weren't happening, these great promises never materializing, then my mom started saying, Well, we're all gonna have to die, we're gonna have to do uh group suicide. Um, and then that, once we do that, that will be the catalyst that brings about everything that's been promised. And so we started making plans for that. Um I I I remember that just thinking through what that was going to feel like or be like. Um at the time, I mostly imagined we were going to drive off a cliff, which wasn't there are no cliffs in where we were at in Texas, but um, you know, anyway, different w methods that were sort of talked through. Um then one night it changed to just my mom that she would she only she needed to die. And then uh she would come back three days later, and that would initiate this huge change for all of us. Um that was uh about six months after my brother had been murdered.

Suicide And The Promise Of Return

SPEAKER_01 17:02

She committed suicide in our uh front yard one night, and uh that was a really uh weird uh conflict of uh emotion, and that with that, I mean my mom was my world at that time, and she had been you know the rock essentially, and so uh that was very uh difficult in the moment. But there was the other side of it was the hope. This yes, and and and a two-sided hope. So my sister at the time, my older sister, she had essentially defected, like in heart. She had realized like something's not right. And um, once my mom started noticing that, she started threatening to do the same thing to her that she had done to my brother. Okay. So she I remember some nights she slept in the car just to, you know, hoping that that would be a safer location. And then she was smart enough to figure out I need to pretend to have repented and now you know believe all this again. So she did that, but she was she confided in me enough to where that uh she was swaying me to some degree. But I had I held these two opposite beliefs together. I on one hand, I really was hopeful that in three days I would see my mom again, and the other side, I remember as my sister was crying uh after my mom died telling her it's you know this might be the end, it might be over finally. Um and so just these you know weird conflicting um emotions. Uh but she did obviously three days later, nothing happened. Um and so uh she had been in inside, we buried her, and then my uncle and brother sort of took uh took her role in the meantime and started saying, Well, okay, it must be that it was supposed to be three weeks and not three days. And then after three weeks, you know, well, there's some, you know, he's he's doing it again, he's throwing us another curveball, because that was kind of the again from that initial thing driving to Arkansas. We had the our my conception of God was this trickster who loved to play tricks on you. He would tell you, I'm gonna do A and then do B just to sort of surprise you.

SPEAKER_06 19:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

And so this was just another one of those. Um not even as a test, not like well, I'm gonna test you. It was just capricious, just because I feel like it, you know, it'll be fun to play a trick on you. Um so as so that was March that when my mom committed suicide. By about July and August, my two aunts had started to come around to the fact that you know something's not right. Um so we all started talking about a way to escape. Uh you know, how could we basically run away? At that time, I was we were a little bit scared of my uncle and brother just because they'd assumed that sort of role. Yeah. Uh so we started talking about how we could escape. Nothing, we couldn't really figure anything out. I mean, I wasn't, you know, I was just a kid, so I wasn't contributing much to the conversation. But um then my aunt, my mom's sister, went to a revival. There's some Christian revival going on. Uh, I don't know, maybe somebody from work invited her to it. I don't know how else she would have found out about it, but she went to that and she brought me and my sister, and that was a real turning point, and that really everything started to to shift.

Revival Night And Going To Police

SPEAKER_01 20:17

And so by the end of that, we all decided to talk to the pastor who was over the church where the revival was happening, and unload tell him everything that had happened. And so that was uh September 12th, we uh went and talked to him that night, and then September, so that this was like the day after 9-11, uh 2001.

SPEAKER_03 20:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Um, and then the day after that, September 13th, we went to the police. So, I mean, really, we went, we told him that we went to the the pastor and met in like a little conference room, and yeah, as we as the stories unfolding, I remember him pausing everyone and saying, We're gonna have to you know go to the authorities if you know like so we're clear. And that's what they did, which of course was the right thing to do. Yeah, and so they called the police that night. Um so then police came and uh took well and essentially took us all to a a jail. So I spent the night in jail uh that night being interviewed in your class, you see those on Discovery Channel, whatever, where they've got the camera and you're in this white room talking to somebody, that sort of um environment, just getting everyone's story, doing, you know, doing their investigating work and then they called my grandparents and uh who were still living in Texas, who knew nothing about any of this, you know, of course. Um and then we moved in with my me and my sister. Um I went and spent the night with them, I guess, initially. We were still living in the house that we had all been in. Um and that can continued for a little um a little while. Yeah. Um and then we eventually went and moved in with my grandparents after.

SPEAKER_06 21:54

So your uncle and the the the two men that were trying to continue with it, what happened? With them at that point.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

So the whenever we went to the police they they were both arrested. Okay. Um and so from that, I mean I would assume that probably later that day or the next day they uh they were apprehended and um then started you know legal process. My uh two aunts weren't uh prosecuted prosecuted, right? Which I you know at the time I was thankful for and felt like was the right thing, I still think so. Um but yeah, um my brother and uh uncle were both arrested.

unknown 22:37

Wow.

Reeves 22:37

And so do you you're what age when you go to live with your grandparents?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Twelve. And so when you're back into school and yeah, so that at this point, you know, I'd been, it's been um I guess I was supposed to be in the seventh grade, so I missed fourth, fifth, sixth, and some of the seventh grade. So we started uh initially just like I don't know, we ordered some kind of books to start working through, and I was excited about that. And I it was actually really uh to get back into something that felt kind of normal and learning. Um but yeah, so we lived with them. So this would have been we went September is when we went to the police. By January, my dad, who was in South Carolina and who didn't know about any of this, who um I had met once or twice. But I mean I would you know when I was nine months old, I know he was there because I have a video, and then I think one more time when I was maybe like two or three.

SPEAKER_06 23:35

Um but your mom kind of shielded you from him.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Yeah, she did. Uh she more or less took us and ran or cut off ties from him. And so not through lack of effort, but he'd had no idea who we where we were. And so he was completely out of out of touch during this whole time. Um but I met him when I was 12. Um I guess maybe right when I either right when I turned 12 or 13 I met him. And he was great. Uh so which was not what I'd heard, you know. Um but he was really, really, uh, really wonderful. And you know, the government had to do all their checks. He was in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_06 24:16

Was he living in Florence?

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Yeah uh no, he was in upstate.

SPEAKER_06 24:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yeah. So they did all their checks anyway, got us eventually okayed us to live with him, me and my sister.

Starting Over With Dad In Carolina

SPEAKER_01 24:27

And so that's we moved to South Carolina in 2002. Okay.

Reeves 24:31

Okay. So you reconnected with your dad, moved to South Carolina.

SPEAKER_06 24:37

How did that go? Yeah, like how what was the trajectory from there?

SPEAKER_01 24:41

For me, it was really good. It was really awesome. Um, you know, my like I said, my dad's a really good guy, and he has a story all his own, what he's been through. Uh, and then this all got added onto it. But um, but yeah, really good guy, Christian, and so and my grandparents were Christian too, and I should like at some point back up to what was going on internally, I guess, inside of me. Yeah. So kind of gradually coming out of the cult mindset, realizing something's wrong. I knew at that time that evil was real, and that was like a base con conviction. I had uh seen it, I had participated in it, yeah, I had it was in me, and I knew that. Um then I essentially he heard the Christian gospel, which you know I'd heard before when I was really when I was younger. Um, but that is what changed everything about me and my life. Uh so and that was around that, you know, after we went to the police initially you had that sort of revival, which I don't know that I was paying much attention uh to the you know what was being said there. Uh but afterwards meeting more one-on-one with some Christian pastors, ministers, um it just changed uh everything. Uh it was like coming out of this cave, you know, I'd been in this darkness, and now I could just see the light, and it was uh wow, yeah, it was really beautiful in that way.

Reeves 26:01

Um you came to faith in Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yeah, I did. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it was I mean, the the power of it is really something else. For somebody who had no I I wasn't I didn't have expectations of that, but I just instantly like wanted to wanted to to do and be good instead of all the other things you know the things that I was used to, and had some power to to move in that direction. Yeah.

Reeves 26:25

Well and uh this uh the reality of your story, Colton. I mean, you more than most uh understand being rescued from the dominion of darkness and being brought into the light of faith and hope in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Yeah, yes, and it's uh yeah, I can't emphasize this enough. I mean, it's my story is not uh like about this 11-year-old hero that overcame all these obstacles and was like this really good you know person who worked it all out. It really is someone who had become deeply broken and who was rescued from that uh by somebody else. So I'm uh grateful, yeah. That's awesome.

Reeves 27:06

And so you're in Florence. You finished up at West Florence High School, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Yeah, so I went to initially moved to upstate uh Spartanburg with my dad, lived there through, and that was me and my sister both you know with moved up there with them. Um my dad, my stepmom and the stepbrother uh all you know lived together up there. And then right before the summer before my senior year of high school, um they made the decision to move to Florence, which I was not excited about. Uh so I had fine, you know, first time in my life, I had been around a group of people for more than you know a few months basically that weren't my family. Yeah, and so I'd finally started to make some friends. You know, coming out of all that, I was pretty I was a strange kid, probably in more ways than one. And so uh I would imagine it took some time. But anyway, had finally started making friends, plans for what my senior year was gonna be like. I wasn't popular by any means, but uh, but I had friends sort of across the whole strata of you know typical high school categories, and I I enjoyed that. And then I found out we were moving, so it's not why was he moving to Flowtown? What was so my dad paints, so he's a uh like houses, not art. Oh yeah, so he's a painter, and Florence was kind of booming at the time. He had a friend also in sort of construction side of things here, and so it just made sense business-wise. Uh, there were also some things, you know, in hindsight now I I didn't understand at the time that I understand a lot more now to just get a fresh start. And yeah, yeah. Uh so yeah, I was I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Well, not well, that's an exaggeration. But yeah, but at the time it was like not something I was excited about. Uh, it turned out to be the best thing. Wow, okay, and which is really something to be reflected on in the moment. I just thought, you know, how could we figure out a worse way to ruin you know my senior year? Yeah. Um, but it was, I mean, it yeah, it was it was life-changing. Uh so at that time I was I had no plans of going to college, you know, which is fine. Um, but I had no idea what I was gonna do either. Uh, and that just didn't um yeah, I don't know. I I don't know what what I what would have happened to me if I hadn't moved here, but um coming here, I had two really good teachers, uh, physics and calculus, and that just changed my whole trajectory career-wise. That's why I you know went to do civil engineering.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Um, and so that changed that part of my life. I met my uh the girl who's now my wife uh here, and that has obviously been the uh best thing that's ever happened to me outside of uh coming to know Christ. So um, yeah, it's been great.

Reeves 29:41

So graduate high school, meet meet your girlfriend who becomes your wife, you go and get a civil engineering degree. This is a guy who had a very uh disjointed elementary education, and now you've gone to get a degree in civil engineering.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

Yeah, yeah. I remember in seventh grade a friend of mine uh said that he wanted to be an engineer, and I remember just thinking, like, yeah, right, you know, like that's you know, keep dreaming. Yeah, I had no idea that like every yeah, a lot of people do it. Um but to me it just seemed like this way far. Yes. Um but I honestly to uh God's glory, you know, that was possible. I really um didn't experience so when I we moved to South Carolina, I just like dropped back into seventh grade or dropped into seventh grade and really didn't like it was fine. Um the only problem that I ever had was in English. The first paper I was asked to write. After I wrote that paper, the English teacher asked to see me. Uh because like I don't know if there was a word that was spelled right on the paper. Okay. Uh so and I didn't know what an essay was, I didn't understand margins or paragraphs, and so I mean you hadn't learned it. Yeah, yeah. Wow. That was rough. But otherwise, the Lord made it pretty seamless, and so well, you're smart.

SPEAKER_06 30:59

Yeah, you're obviously smart.

Reeves 31:01

And so now, I mean, you're by trade a civil

From Lost Schooling To Engineering

Reeves 31:04

engineer. You're you're working as a civil engineer, but now you've also opened this awesome bookstore downtown Florence called Jack's Books. So tell us about that and how that came to be.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah, I never would have ever would have foreseen this happening either. So I I read when I was young, like I read the Hardy Boys and really got into that, and then I read some mystery novels. And then after like early high school, yeah, I was done with reading. I never had to read anything in college other than some textbooks, never read anything pretty much after college. So I was not somebody who grew up you know with this great love of literature and appreciation for it. I was more like math, science. Yeah, that was that was more my game. Um but started and through like so many things in my life. I mean, every there's so many people who have uh blessed me and and and helped me in so many ways, but this is one of them, people who got me interested in reading, and so I started developing a taste for that. I say that I should say pause on that just for a moment, because I meet people who are like, oh yeah, I don't really enjoy reading. It's an exception, most people do. Most people say they want to, but they struggle to find time. Yeah. But some people are like, yeah, I just I just don't really like it. Like I didn't either, and now you know, like I do it all the time and I love it, and I've got a bookstore. Uh so it's not I don't think it's so much an innate thing that you know you're either somebody who enjoys reading or not. I think all humans enjoy stories. Books are basically written stories, and so I think everyone enjoys it if you get used to the medium. Um, but anyway, so kind of came late to books in life, but developed a real appreciation for them. And yeah, uh, my wife and I we'd travel a little bit, we'd go to independent bookstores, and it's always just an exciting thing to, you know, they're also unique and they kind of are a little bit of an expression of that, the owner, and then also the community. And so February of 2024, uh, February 17th, I was sitting in my office one morning and just thinking about how awful it is that Florence doesn't have a local bookstore. Um, mostly because initially, just selfishly, I wanted to be able to go and like have these physical books. And you know, this we have Barnes and Noble, but to have an independent one is just a little bit different. And so just frustrated with that. And I had already at that time sort of formed an appreciation for downtown and what the momentum, what had been happening there. I had started another business um in 2015, and so like all these wires just like crossed that morning, and I thought, start a bookstore in downtown Florence. Wow, and so uh the idea just kind of popped in out of nowhere, and at first I thought it's you know like one of these awesome ideas that I'll think about for a few minutes and then come back to my senses, give that up. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. I spent like the next hour thinking about it, and then uh sat down at breakfast with my wife, who was seven months pregnant with our second child, and asked what she thought about opening a bookstore downtown. Uh, and she was super excited.

Reeves 33:58

So with that idea, because this kind of a little bit reminds me of uh Tubbs guy yeah in his story, go Kyle going to his wife and say, Let's open a restaurant when he was when she was pregnant. Did was part of your pitch to your wife when she was seven months pregnant, hey, let's I'm gonna stop the job that's paying me and let's open a there's all kinds of benefits.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Uh virtually no pay, more work than we can imagine. Yeah, yeah. Um yes, and so at that point I had already sort of scaled back. I had already stepped away from full-time work, so we went in stages a little bit. Um I had stepped away to do to pursue ministry work essentially, um in one form or another, and that's still ongoing, it's just changed in direction a little bit. But so I was already we'd already kind of had that conversation, and she's always she's amazing. So she's always been super supportive and uh yeah, very thoughtful, but helps so helps me think through things, but very supportive. So cool. Awesome. Uh yeah. So she was on board with it, you know, it's really um we neither of us had any idea what we were getting into, so that probably helped. Uh you know, if we but um yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:10

But you still do civil engineering. I do still do that work too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Yep, I do. Work uh great company, great boss, and so a lot of flexibility.

SPEAKER_06 35:19

What kind of what kind of jobs do y'all do engineering-wise? Like what kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 35:24

So best way to describe it, everything from if you if you're familiar with like the way that you get water and what happens to it afterwards, the whole process. So wells or surface water to get water, treat it, store it in tanks, distribute it to customers, then it turns into sewer, collect that sewer, pump it around, treat it, put it back in the river. That's what we do. Sounds like we need it.

Reeves 35:46

Sounds like maybe we need to connect the mayor with our boy Colton.

SPEAKER_06 35:51

You guys are doing that for municipalities all the way.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

That's right. Yeah. So mostly um mostly in that sector and in uh municipalities. Yeah, we do some commercial work, some development. Commercial development. Okay. But our bread and butter is uh cities and towns. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:08

That's really cool. I think we have a little bit of a need for that here. We do.

Reeves 36:11

You're in the right place. But the bookstore, so February 2024, when did you

Launching Jack’s Books Downtown

Reeves 36:19

open?

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Yeah, so we opened in October of 2024. So that was the biggest sprint of my life. Um, yeah. And again, like starting out, I remember, you know, I'm a spreadsheet guy. Uh, that's the other business is a spreadsheet business, roughly. Um, so you know, I'd made a spreadsheet of all the tasks that I thought would be involved and approximate time that would be, you know, it would take. And I figured, like, I need some factor of safety. I'm underestimating this. And I was I wasn't even ballpark. I mean, like it was so many. Um that that spreadsheet got thrown away and there were new ones you know to come. That's uh typical. Yeah, but it it consumed our life that year, but in a in a like like good way. Yeah, it was really, you know, my wife and I were just working on it together all the time. When you're building something is good for you. Yeah, yes. It was uh it's a really it was a really good year. There was one really bad uh thing that happened half in the process, but other than that, it was um yeah, it's a really sweet year. Our our uh second daughter was born and uh beautiful. It was great. So and we had I mean, part of that story is initially I had the idea, um kind of was pretty committed to it, but didn't have a location, hadn't, you know, I wanted to work through numbers a little bit and make sure this wasn't like extremely you are an engineer, right? Right, yeah, not a complete artist. Started sort of doing that groundwork, uh just kind of market research, roughly, in a way. Um, and found a location that was just ideal and perfect, and that was a huge blessing that that opened up, and uh met with the owner, and he was really excited about the prospect of bringing a store here. So we got all that in place and then it did an announcement video on Facebook that we were gonna be doing a bookstore. And I had like roughly this plan for how we would get to like a thousand followers over the course of six months, and you know, this and that just exploded. I mean, it was I think we had 3,000 followers in a week or something. I mean, it was um I I can't remember the reach on it, but it was uh 80 or 100,000 views or something. I mean, it was just ridiculous. Yeah, we're doing the right thing. I was like, yes, okay, we're doing the right. I'm not the only one that wants this. So that was a really, really good feeling. And then from that point on, the community was just super engaged and excited, and I would just you know be like getting a uh burger for at Buddies, and some be like, oh, you're the guy that's gonna be up from the bookstore.

SPEAKER_06 38:33

Uh so that was really that's what's so good about this town. You still have that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Yeah, it is. I mean, I love it. I've come to love it. That's good. I I skipped this part too, which is fine, but I didn't, after I graduated college, uh, or in the process of college, I guess I should say, I had no plans to come back to Florence. I wasn't like a Florence hater, but it just wasn't where I was gonna you know end up. Yeah, um I get that for no good reasons, like most young people. Like I hadn't, it's just you know, you hear the sound of like another city and it sounds good.

SPEAKER_06 39:01

There's more stuff to do, right?

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Yeah, like forget about the fact that you have family and like a strong faith community here, you know, that's much more valuable than this place has a bigger park, you know. Yeah, um, but so I had no plans. Uh I took a co-op in Columbia, I accepted it, and then they said, Oh, we actually have a branch in Florence and we need somebody there even more. Would you go there? So I was like, all right. Uh so uh which actually worked out great because I was dating uh my wife at the time, or girlfriend at the time. Uh so I was able to be here and she was in Florence. Yeah, she was teaching. So uh then went back to school as a co-op program, so I was doing like a semester work, you know, blah, blah. Um, then the summer before I graduated, I accepted another job in Columbia, which also wasn't really where I wanted to end up, but it was, you know, anyway, uh step up from Florence or something in my mind. Uh but I took the job in Colombia and literally a totally different company. They said, Oh, we actually have uh a like we're the parent company to a child company in Florence, and we would actually rather you go there. All leads to all road lead by Florence for use. Yeah, so I took I'm I'm not like a super smart guy, but I figured that out. Like I should I should probably be here. Something wanting you here, yeah, yeah. And so I I got the message and sort of planted.

Curating A Store With Standards

Reeves 40:18

So maybe two more questions. What one in regards to the bookstore, I mean, for the maybe the person who does not yet know about Jack's books, tell those who are watching if they come into Jack's books. I mean, for everything from when you guys are open to what they can expect, what it's like, and where'd the name come from?

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Yeah, that's our most common question, which kind of surprised me. Maybe it shouldn't, but so my middle name is Jack. That's like the core reason. And then uh C.S. Lewis, who I'm a big fan of, his nickname is Jack. So it's kind of like a tip of the hat to him. And then there's like a uh somewhat of a family connection too. But cool. Yeah, so that's the Jack's books part. For people who haven't been, uh, hope you will come. That's the first thing to do is to come into the store, right? I'll I'll tell you what to expect, but you really have to experience it. So part of my motivation for opening it, and part of the reason why we did it like right away, even though it was not the smartest time, you know, uh just growing our family and everything. Um, but I really wanted Florence to have a really good bookstore, a bookstore that would be beautiful. Um, I'm very committed to uh this idea of truth, goodness, and beauty. These are fundamentally connected realities, and I think they're all really relevant to reading as well and to books. So uh I wanted to, we wanted to create a space that would be beautiful, not just you know, a place you walk in and it's just fluorescent lighting and white walls, and you know, there's books there, but somewhere that you're like, wow, like this is special. Uh so that was the goal. And I think thank the Lord it somehow happened. No, it did.

SPEAKER_06 42:00

When I walked in there, I felt that. I felt it immediately. Yeah, I yeah, it means a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

So uh as far as what we have, we have pretty much every genre. It's a small store, so we're you know, we have to be selective, which I think is kind of cool, but um but we have all your major genres, new and used, mixed together. So you can get you know books for six, seven bucks, or you can get something brand new that just released last week. And so good uh Brett. I try to I think books are really important. I I probably mentioned that, uh, books and reading. Uh and so I also wanted a store that would carry really good books and not not just cater to demand. So you I I you know you want to cater to demand for two reasons. One, so you can keep the doors open, and then two, because you want to, you know, you the whole point is to serve the communities, to serve people. And so partly you do that by serving them what they w want, but I think part of it is also offering to them what what they need, what's really good. And so I wanted to be able to curate a collection of books where we had some really rich content. And so that's a work in progress, you know, uh hopefully getting better every every year. But so we have all that, then we have gift items, you know, all kinds of uh neat little side items as well.

Reeves 43:13

And and you were saying you're open Monday through Saturday, 10:30-ish to 6 p.m. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 43:20

That's right, yeah. 10 30 to 6, Monday through Saturday. And uh yeah, opened with those hours and haven't changed them yet. So good.

SPEAKER_06 43:27

I remember the first time I walked in there with my wife and little girl, and I'm like, whoa, this is way cooler than I thought it was gonna be. Then I see you standing back there, and I'm like, this dude looks awesome, too. I'm like, whoa, this is this is what we need in Flo. This is what downtown needs to head where we need to go. So thank you. So I tell you what, Colton, you were supposed to be here today. Like we last minute asked you to come on the show, and you were able to do it and tell that there was a reason this all happened. Today, deeper than I think we understand. So I really I appreciate you coming, dude. I'm glad to get to know you a little better.

Reeves 44:07

Well, and the courage it takes for you to share your story. Um I really appreciate that and just want to applaud you. Yeah. And I'm encouraged, like Robert said, to have heard your story, to have gotten to know you, know known about you, but really didn't know you. Yeah. And um to know you're a part of Florence. I mean, we talk about community all the time on the podcast and and what makes Florence great and the opportunities we have to continue to propel Florence forward. And this, your story and your family being in Florence is what makes a community great. And um, so it's just really good that you're here. I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for your story, and I'm thankful for the courage you have to share it.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

I've got a uh quick question based

Truth Goodness Beauty And A Better Florence

SPEAKER_00 44:58

on that. What role from your understanding community, your very real experience with evil, uh, and now your love for the transcendentals and as that's seen in literature, goodness, truth, beauty? Today I feel like the foundational realities of goodness and evil are eroding. Um, what role does goodness, truth, and beauty play in the health of a community like Florence? And and what can we do as the everyday listener to uh move the banner forward in growing our community and making it healthier through those things?

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Yeah, that's a great question. Uh a big one. Yeah. That's a little bit the rule bangers that you said. Yeah, he's our philosophy. Yeah, that's right. So yes, the transcendental good truth, goodness, and beauty. I do think that you know, one way of answering that is when you're thinking about what's gonna lead Florence to where we want it to be, or what would be good for Florence, which is already bringing in some of that you know moral language would be good for it. But you can just think about truth essentially. You can just think, well, okay, what are the mechanics that we need, what kind of investors, what kind of money, where do we need to put that money? Uh, what would be a prudent decision to bring about such and such end? But I don't think any of that goes far enough on its own. If you try to take any one of these three and isolate it, it it can't, it can't survive that way, right? They the three need each other. Uh, and so, you know, in terms of like practically what that looks like, maybe, well, okay, you know, we we're gonna build this building here. We can either think about what's the most efficient way we can do it, that's truth. You know, we can do this for X amount of dollars with no regard to how beautiful it's gonna be, or we can think, how can we make this beautiful, right? And I think asking those questions while being, you know, I know we have we have like realistic constraints, that's the truth, how much money we have. Yeah, um, but trying to do things that are beautiful, uh, I think we've lost that in in general. Yes. I mean, I see this a lot, just you know, you see a picture of a cathedral that took like 700 years to build, or something, like generation after generation building this one thing. And today it's like, oh, if this project can't be done in six months, scrap it, you know. Um, which is hard. Like I get, you know, there's real constraints that you all are familiar with those. Um, but don't forget what's beautiful, and then always we have to be asking what's actually good.

SPEAKER_06 47:21

And there's a way to generate that. Right, yes. It can't be.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

Yes, yeah, exactly. Uh more thought, more effort. And I think the you know, thinking of the goodness part, I think about the role of faith in the community, having a strong presence of people who genuinely love Jesus Christ and who view their lives as ultimately under Him as Lord, so that the greatest things in life is loving God with their whole being and loving their neighbor as themselves. Like if you add that into a community, that's that's a good thing, right? Whatever we can do to uh help that is gonna be uh certainly gonna be helpful. So basically though, yeah, think all three of these, like in in all of our decisions, not just focusing on what's efficient or what can be done, but asking, is this what is good? Is this good for everyone uh as much as possible? And is what we're doing building something that's beautiful that we're gonna be proud of.

SPEAKER_06 48:18

We yeah, that was can we get you to run for mayor?

Reeves 48:23

I mean, we we've had some of those conversations, maybe not around that type of language.

SPEAKER_06 48:27

That was a beautiful way to say it. Yeah.

Reeves 48:30

I I really appreciate you sharing that in that perspective. It it we we're not going to have a community that we're proud of if we're racing to the bottom. And if we don't try to hold intention, truth, beauty, and ultimately what is truly good. Um because efficiency and building something for as cheap as we can isn't ultimately what is good for us or for our community.

SPEAKER_06 49:00

And let's be honest, drive through Florence, and you're not you're when you drive through Florence, beauty is not what you're thinking, unfortunately. But we can get there. But there's a lot of room for so we can improve.

Reeves 49:12

And we have people all over the city. You were talking before the podcast about a meeting you have with a very influential person who's got the ability and it has been making Florence much better. We're committed to that. We have to talk about it. Committed to it, yeah. And there's many others in the city who are committed to that, and um it goes from everything from this type of single-family homes that we allow to be built in this city um to beautiful buildings and businesses and landscaping and the the right plan.

SPEAKER_06 49:48

And it does.

Reeves 49:49

I appreciate what you said there, connecting it back to faith and faith in Christ, and ultimately a foundational conviction birthed out of a faith in Christ of loving God and loving others will produce, yes, elevate that naturally produces it does, yes, right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

You can't do one without the other. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:14

Exactly, exactly.

Final Thoughts And Thanks

SPEAKER_06 50:16

Man, thank you so much for coming.

SPEAKER_01 50:18

Yeah, thank you all for letting me come on. I think I feel like uh you all have had some great people on here, and you know, we may have taken a little dip here, but I'm really I really appreciate it.

Reeves 50:28

You've been on the list for a long time, so we're glad we finally were able to make this happen.

SPEAKER_06 50:32

I think there's some people that needed to hear this, so it's gonna be awesome. Thank you.

Reeves 50:37

Thank you all.