S2 Ep. 4: Serving in Business - Kingdom Leadership in the Marketplace

Can you lead in business without compromising your values—or your faith? In this episode of Faithfully Invested, Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne share how to merge your work hat and your worship hat so you can lead with integrity, compassion, and biblical wisdom in any environment.

From handling conflict with grace to protecting your integrity when the pressure is on, they unpack how to stand firm in your faith while navigating deadlines, egos, and marketplace challenges. You’ll hear real stories from their own leadership journeys—moments of learning, maturing, and trusting God’s direction—plus four practical ways to honor God while leading well at work.

Whether you’re a CEO, entrepreneur, manager, or team member, you’ll discover:
 ✅ Why your identity and value must come from God—not others
 ✅ How to set healthy boundaries without being a doormat
 ✅ Why servant leadership isn’t weakness—and how Jesus modeled it
 ✅ Practical steps to lead with excellence, elevate your team, and keep people over profit

If you’ve ever wondered how to thrive in the business world without losing your Kingdom focus, this conversation will equip you to lead boldly and faithfully—no matter the cost.

📖 Key Scriptures: Colossians 3:23–24 • Matthew 10:16 • Matthew 20:26–28 • Proverbs 11:3 • Exodus 18:17–23

Transcript

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Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most. Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase. Hey friends. Welcome back to Faithfully Invested, where we explore God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission. I'm Allen. And I'm Stacy Jo. And today's episode hits close to home. Um, they all kind of hit close to home. They all, yeah, you're right. They all kind of do. But this one is, especially for those of us who wear a work hat. A worship hat. Mm. Yeah. So guess what? Friends? You know, when we follow Jesus, these two hats should be the same. We should never be putting on one hat and taking it off before we go to work. Right? We should be wearing a worship hat. And be like, okay, now I'm going to work, so now I have to put on my work hat. Yeah. That's, that's, that's not it. They should be exactly the same. That's not it. That's not, we should be authentic. Everywhere Jesus went, Jesus was Jesus. Right. You know? Yeah. And I kind of did that in the beginning of my walk, but as we mature and pastor talked about this today, uh mm-hmm. We mature in our walk. It's, it's about our. It's about maturing as we go. Right? And as we mature, those two hats become one. And you know,'cause Yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty good. So if you've ever felt like, uh, that you were a tyrant or a doormat while trying to lead a team, then today's discussion's for you. Yeah, I mean, we're diving into kingdom leadership in the marketplace where we need to be leading with integrity and generosity and compassion. And serving in business without selling your soul, right? Integrity. I think it all comes back to integrity, and there's a, this is a news flash, a spoiler alert if you will, is that you don't have to have a cross. Or any other Christian symbol Right. On your, on your business card. Yeah. To be a Christian leader, but you do need to have a, a gratefully pliable heart for submitted to the Lord. Mm-hmm. You gotta have that grateful heart. Yeah. Uh, submitted to the Lord as well as, um, always having. Uh, the truth of his word, written on your heart. That's what we gotta have. And we gain that as we, as we dig into the word, as we, as we mature in our walk, as we, as we just keep our eyes fixed on, on the Lord, uh, yeah. In, in both, in, in all environments. Yeah. And just because we. Go out into the, the work environment or the world environment doesn't mean that we adjust to that. Right? We are, uh, we are thermostats, not thermometers, right? So we set the, we set the pace, we set the, the uh, the tone. Yeah. Of the atmosphere. I mean, at home, at work, at church, right. We should always be the same authentic person that God created us to be. Right. And it's, and it's not always easy. No. Especially if we're trying to do it ourselves. Yeah. But it's not about trying to do it ourselves. Mm-hmm. It's not about behavior modification, it's about allowing Yeah. The, the Holy Spirit, the maturity of our walk as the Holy Spirit sanctifies us along the way. That's good. And, uh, so yeah, that's, it's not about us trying harder. Yeah. Just trying harder. Does it work? You know, temp tension. Tension can rise when, when our business feels like a battlefield. Yeah. And you know, we face bottom lines, we face deadlines, we face egos. Yeah. You, I mean, have you ever faced an ego in business, Allen? No. Never. My goodness. You're in the construction field. Yeah. I can just imagine the egos that are out there. Right. But. Regardless of what field we're in, there's always going to be someone that has an ego, and sometimes it can be us, sometimes it can be us, but we deal with sometimes we gotta check ourselves. Right. That's it. Yeah. I mean, you know, therefore, making sure that we're always our authentic person that God created us to be. That's it. Leading with integrity. Yeah, and you know, we've talked before, you know, it's easy to think sometimes that success requires hustling hard and compromising often. But that's not, that's not the truth. I mean, we've talked in previous episodes about how. The hustle. You know, we hear hustle and grind, hustle and grind, hustle and grind. And that's not who God created us to be. We have to rest too. We rest is biblical. Yeah, we've talked about that previously, but, but we just, we do wanna pro provide some clarity here. We we're not demonizing hustle. No. You know,'cause,'cause being proactive is good. Right. Being proactive is biblical, but we there, there needs to be a bAllence. Uh, and what's our motive? Yeah. What's our motive for the hustle? It comes back to, you know, selfless ambition or selfish ambition. Yeah. You know, and uh, so, you know, like I said, proactive is good and we don't wanna. We don't want to come across as, as demonizing the, the hustle culture, but we also don't wanna submit to that. We don't want the, the hustle to be the idol that we're, what are we striving for, right? Who are we striving for? Are we working as unto the Lord? Mm-hmm. Or are we, you know, doing it for us or for someone else? You know, what are we hustling for? Yeah. So it, it really comes back to motive. Um. Unfortunately, you know, we gotta be aware that. Some people will look at servant leadership and they'll see it as an invitation to use, use that nice person as a doormat. They'll think to themselves, oh, you're one of those nice Jesus people. Yeah. And, uh, okay, I'm gonna take this opportunity to take advantage of the nice person. And I, I would encourage you, uh, brothers and sisters that, uh. You've probably been there. Have you, have you been there? Mm-hmm. Because I I've been there. Yeah. I've been there. I've been there. And, uh, you're not the first, uh, you're not gonna be the last mm-hmm. Uh, in these times. We, we gotta recall Matthew 10 when, when Jesus was sending his disciples out in the world, and he said, behold. Behold, I send you out as sheep. Mm-hmm. Among wolves. So be shrewd of serpents and be as innocent as doves. And this means that's good. We gotta, we gotta operate under and in his authority, we gotta emulate his love, kindness, and goodness and peace as well as. Faithfulness to our Christ following belief structure. Yeah. While we're standing on the Truths foundation that calls us to be more than just nice people. Right. Being a Christian is not just about being nice people and Well, you know, well, Jesus was a really nice person, but Jesus stood up not, he didn't just stand on the truth. He is not, and he was. It's not He. There's no was with Jesus because Jesus is, is he is the truth. And He is. He was. And he always will be. And he always will be. Yeah. Right. Right. He's the same yesterday and Yeah. Today and tomorrow. Right. Uh, but he stood, he stood on truth. Yeah. Uh, and he called people out, you know? Mm-hmm. And, uh, you know, we're not going to dig deep into that right now, but, uh, we're the, the base here is what we're, what we're trying to understand is that when. What trying to convey so that you understand, is that we're not just here to be nice people, right. It's about being more than nice people. Mm-hmm. We gotta, we gotta rely on our training. We gotta rely on, first and foremost, rely on the Lord to guide us.'cause when it comes down to it as a Christian. He's guided for me. I, I'll back this up into I and me statements. He's guided me through a lot of training that I never really saw myself needing to take, but the training that I've gone through, he's guided me through that so that I can rely on that and, and have the knowledge as well as the wisdom mm-hmm. That the Holy Spirit provides in situations out in the business world. Right. And because you have. That experience and because you have, the Lord has blessed you with the opportunities, right. Just as he's blessed me with experience and opportunities, that doesn't mean that we can just, we should just lay down and be like, oh yeah, you know, you want that, you want that a hundred percent discount. Well, I'm a Christian so I'll give it to you. Yeah. That's not it. That's not it at all. That's not it. Um, and, and. You know, I, the real challenge is how do we lead like Jesus in a culture that rewards pride, speed, control, um, and, and how do we deal with people who want to take advantage of that? Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And uh, here's another one just full of questions today. Yeah. How do we, how do we serve people well without being manipulated? Yeah. Or sink into that, uh, any manipulate, manipulative levels. Mm-hmm. How do we build something excellent without bowing to the world's pressures? Yeah. Now, I would say to you. To to, to this question. Yeah. I would say truth believer, do you believe, are you standing on the truth? Are you standing on the foundation? Mm-hmm. Are you embracing the cornerstone? Who is Jesus Christ? Because if you are. Where does your excellence comes from? Where does the excellence come from? Right. The excellence comes from Jesus. Mm-hmm. And, uh, the, the excellence comes from the word and the excellence comes from the Holy Spirit of truth who comes to give us all the truth. Yeah. I mean, and where does your integrity come from along with the excellence? You? When we started out, I, when I started out in my business, you know, I had this tug to lead like Jesus, but also a voice in my head saying, you're gonna get steamrolled. If you don't toughen up. Yeah, because I was infamous. I was infamous for giving all kinds of discounts. Yeah. I was infamous for, you know, taking on things that, um, I didn't really want to take on and I wasn't really being led by the Lord to take on. Right. So if I'm not being led by the Lord to. Take on a client or a project, am I really leading like Jesus? Because Jesus always had the connection with, with God telling him what to do. And if I'm leading like Jesus, I need to be taking my cues from God. I got two words for that. Yeah. And that's, and that, and this, this happened, this is experience I two words, teachable moments. Right. You learned a lot from that. And, and we had some conversations Yeah. On that. Yeah. And, and you don't do that. No so much anymore. No. And you, and you do take your, you, you, we were learning. Mm-hmm. You were learning. Yeah. And you've, and you've become such a, an, an amazing Christian business woman as, as you do more and more as you're maturing in your walk. Yeah. As a Christian business woman and as a, as a first and foremost, as a Christ follower. Um, and, and. Yeah, you don't do that nonsense anymore. Uh, you, because you, you're standing on the foundation and you do take your, your cues from the spirit and there's a lot of prayer that goes into that business. Well, and I'm gonna say too to that, there is a lot of prayer that goes into that business, but I'm also going to say to that is I learned my value. There you go. And I think it's so important. That's it. That's huge. To know your value and know what you bring to the table as a business owner. That's it. As someone in business, because when I started off, I mean, my faith has deepened over the years, but when I started off, I didn't really think I was as valuable as what the Lord. Thought I was right. Absolutely. That the Lord put me into this position. Yeah. And I was like, I'm not, I don't, didn't necessarily feel equipped. Hmm. But he equipped me. He empowered me. He commissioned me. He did. And he showed me, he showed you your identity. He showed about that. He showed my identity there. It's and my value that I am worth. Right. And I don't have to succumb to being manipulated. You don't have to be a people pleaser. Right. The people pleasing was an idol man. He tore down that idol and he, and he introduced you to, mm-hmm. Uh, well, the real Stacey Joe, please stand up and here she is. Please stand up. Please stand up easy now. Hopefully, hopefully we don't get sued for that, but, uh, anyway, we do not own the rights to that music. Right. We're, we're just joking. But, uh, but I, but I recall, uh, I recall when I was initially maturing in my faith walk, um. In the construction field. I was, uh, I was just trying to be that nice guy. Similar to what you were talking about. Yeah. Uh, while, while instructing and reinforcing our safety culture mm-hmm. With subcontractors. And if, and if you're in, if you're listening and you're in construction, uh, subcontractors, you're just like, Ugh. They can be quite challenging. Sure. And uh, so I'm, I'm, I'm the safety guy. I'm trying nothing against those of you who are subcontractors though. Yeah. But y'all are challenging man. And, uh, but you know, you know, anyway. But as a safety manager doing, doing, uh, trying to be the nice guy, uh, and, and advancing our safety culture with these subcontractors, but I, at this, the recollection comes, I was at this, uh, I hadn't yet reached the understanding that, uh, of the authority that Jesus had given his believing followers. So, so I was an easy target. Yeah. I was just, I was being the nice guy and I, I hadn't. Uh, I, I wasn't operating under and in that authority just yet. Mm-hmm. I was early and early in my walk and, uh. So the, and I, they misunderstood my kindness for weakness. Mm. And, and that lead and that led to, you know, some not so kind conversations.'cause I didn't like my, I didn't like being seen as weak. You know, I'm a, I'm a pretty, I'm I'm the TOF guy, right. But, uh, anyway, it was, uh, but it was all fun and games until the, uh, the nice guys shut down the work. You know, for, for them. Yeah. You know, it's, you know, and they're like, what do you mean you're shutting down the job? I was like, I'm shutting down the job. We had this conversation, you made a decision to not do that. So the nice guy, this, you know, he shut it down and, and, you know, I, I coached him on safer work practices, not outta tyranny, but. You know, out of, out of a caring heart, out of concern. Yeah. Out of concern and a caring heart. Yeah. That each person, even, even it, it doesn't matter if, if I knew'em or not, these subs, I, I didn't know every one of them. Like I knew the guys on, on our team, but, uh, I, I shut the job down and coached them in the moment, uh, from a caring heart so that each one of them goes home to their family at the end of the day. Amen. And that's how. We need to, uh, that's, that's, mm-hmm. Christian values, Christ following values in the workplace. Yeah. You know, it's not being walked over. It's, it's, uh, coming to understand. It's, it's being kind, it's being compassion. I call it firm compassion. Yeah. You know, and, and I'm not afraid to shut down a job site. I think you need to, to just remind people what you do. Safety manager, I'm a safety manager for corporate construction. Uh, here in South Florida, it's, uh, they just don't wanna think You're walking around shutting down jobs. Yeah. I'm just, I'm just gonna walk onto your job. Say Jonathan h just went, oh crap. I heard about your barge man. Anyway. Uh, but yeah, but the challenge, the challenge is real, right? Yeah. The challenge is real. I mean, there's a fear that if we don't play by the world's game, we'll lose out and that people won't respect. A servant hearted leadership. And the truth is that if we are leading like Jesus, we have to have a servant's heart. We have to business, have a servant's heart. Yeah. In all things. But we're talking today about the marketplace, right? And that includes how you lead your employees, how you lead your clients, how you. Treat your vendors, how we treat people, everyone around you, right? Yeah. How we treat people and how we allow people to treat us. Right? Right.'cause we're not doormats. And we're not tyrants. No. So, but the bottom line is, is whether we're gonna honor our creator, father God, or his creation first. Mm. So can you repeat that? That's the bottom line. The bottom line is whether we're going to, are we going to honor God? Our creator, father God, or are we going to honor his creation first? Yeah. So we wanna honor his creation. But what I found over the years is that when I honor God, when I decide to honor God first, everyone else is honored as well. That's it. That's it, man. When I'm honoring the Lord, everyone else, everyone around me, whether people decide to respect that sort of leadership is on them. Mm-hmm. That's on them. Uh, our part is to our part as Christ followers in the workplace, uh, in the business, in the marketplace, right, is, uh, to lead with integrity and compassion. Uh, even if it cost us something and it's going to cost us something, sure we, we will come up against resistance. But I, and I would say, especially if it cost us something, yeah. You know. Continue that when, when we reach, when we, when we hit that resistance, continue to honor the Lord first because he's gonna bless that. Right. He's already blessing that because we're learning our, our teachable moments in those challenging times are, are a blessing in and of themselves. Yeah. And maybe he's gonna, maybe he's gonna bless it right in, in that moment through the teachable moments. Mm-hmm. Maybe it's coming on down the line. It might not be in my timing, but as they say, patience is a virtue. Yes it is. Yes it is. Babe. Patience is a virtue. Yeah. So, but our part is to always lead, consist consistently lead with integrity and compassion. Right? I mean, that. It's, it's imperative, and we have to, because as a Christian business owner or as a Christian in business, people are always looking at you. They're waiting for you to make an error. Oh, they're waiting. They're waiting for you to say the wrong thing. Do the wrong thing. Yeah. Walk the wrong way. You know, look the wrong way. They're waiting for that. Right. Um, you know, and Colossians 3 23 to 24 really anchors us.'cause it says, whatever you do, do your work heartily. Yeah. As for the Lord rather than for men for the Lord, you know, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. So as Allen was saying, you know, we serve him first. We serve people second, and whatever you do means whether you're drafting blueprints, whether you're leading board meetings, whether you're doing bookkeeping, whether you're doing a podcast, whatever it is, do it for the Lord, not just for people. Whether you're walking through a subcontractor safety culture, that's it, or lack thereof. Regardless of what we're doing. Yeah. You know, we wanna lead with integrity, lead with compassion. Yes. Uh, stand on that foundation and embrace that cornerstone. Mm-hmm. Who is Jesus Christ. Yeah. And, um, and it's okay to ask ourselves sometimes. It may sound cliche though, uh, the, uh, the whole what would Jesus do here? Yeah. You know, if you know your word and you should Christ follower, know your word. Yeah. You know, you would know what he, what he would do. Mm-hmm. And that maybe he might flip over the tables. You never know. You never know. I, I am gonna say something though, because one thing that I have learned from my mentor, one of my mentors, is I always ask the Lord to open the doors that no man can shut and shut the doors that no man can open. How's that? And write my name on the hearts of those he wants me to do business with, because I'm gonna tell you, not everybody. Is your customer. Not everybody is your client. That's good. Not everybody is your employee. That's right. And you're not going to, there's going to come a time when you're going to have to cut ties with someone. Yeah. And as long as it's done with integrity. Yeah. And honesty and love. Yeah. I think the, uh, a, a shorter version of that, which I love, I. Uh, um, I forget who you got it from, was blessed or block it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Blessed or block it, you know, and, and well that came from my dear friend, Tory Cruise. Tory Cruise, yeah. Yeah. Right on. Blessed or block it. Yeah. Blessed or block it. That's, that's a quick nutshell. Yeah. And that can, that's a quick one for you. You can use that with anything blessed or block it, Lord. Yeah. And, and, and whether he does one or the other, be ready for that. And, and ask him, you know, Lord, Lord is, are you doing this? Mm-hmm. Uh. Yeah, always make sure that we're, uh, and as we, as we walk close with them and as we mature in the spirit with them, we're, we're able to, to discern those moments. Yeah. But it's always good to ask, Lord, is that you. Right. Is that you? Yeah. You have some practical solutions for us know in the marketplace. I am. I know you And your practical, your practical solutions. I am the doctor of pragmatism. I think, uh, I, I'm not sure if I have a doctorate, but I, I'm maybe, uh, maybe a, a bachelor's anyway. Yeah, so we do have some solutions. We don't just have. Um, you know, challenges, challenges or, or, uh, experiential banter. We do have some solutions and, and number one this week, and we, we touched on this a little earlier, is lead with integrity. Yeah. You know, um, Proverbs, Solomon, and writes in chapter 11 that the integrity of the upright guides them. Mm. The integrity of the upright guides them. And the, our integrity comes from the Lord. So yeah, we should, we should be guide. And as Christ followers, we're guided by the Holy Spirit. So integrity means that, uh, we're being the same person when no one's looking right. That's it. We're not in business, you know, we're behind closed doors. We're the same. I'm the same person you're gonna see out in the field. You know, in business that's honoring contracts, you know, always, regardless of the circumstances being truthful. Yeah. Uh, I can, wow. I can see such a change in 20, in 20 years.'cause I wasn't always that guy. I wasn't always this guy. And I, I'm grateful, uh, that I, I'm not that guy who I was and, and, uh, before, but, uh, I've become. Truthful, I've become authentically truthful and, uh, yeah. And that's, and that's, uh, that's a good place to be. So regardless of our circumstances, we wanna be truthful as Christ followers. We don't wanna fudge the numbers. Uh, we don't want to compromise our integrity, uh, on seemingly harmless little white lies. Mm. You know,'cause I, um, I seem to recall some years ago, um. The, uh, the great theologian Sammy Hagar. What? He, he reminded us that, that that little white lie will come back to haunt us. I'm, I'm just saying. Okay. Just saying, Hey, Sammy been around a while. I said anyway. Right. He's a believer. Well, good. I'm glad to hear that. Right. But, you know, back the hats, you know, making sure that we're wearing the same hat. Yeah. Yeah. At business integrity, at work, at home, in public, in church, on the platform, wherever you happen to be. Absolutely. Be authentic. You know, even when it costs you authentic, even when it costs you. Yeah, because it could, because if it cost you in the eyes of men mm-hmm. If it, if it costs you out in the workplace. You're being the, the blessing's on the way. Yeah. You know, it's, it's not a matter what, so what do we want to, are we gonna compromise our integrity with men? Mm-hmm. Or are we gonna compromise our integrity with the Lord? Right. I don't, I don't, I, I believe I'm gonna stick with the Lord on that one. Well, and two, you know, back to what I said, even when it costs you, like I spoke to someone not too long ago and they told, they were telling me how they have a cross. Mm-hmm. And not that you have to have a cross on your website. I do have scripture on my website and so people know when they come to my website, we're, we're a faith-based business. Sure. But they had a cross on their website. And someone literally told them they did not wanna do business with them because they were a Christian. Okay. And so it cost them something. But you know what? They didn't compromise their beliefs. No. They didn't compromise their integrity. Right. They didn't compromise anything. Right. And God sees that he does. And promotion from him is better than any praise you could ever get from people. And I, I re similar. I recall. Uh. With freedom, support, you know, you were having challenging with, with not so like-minded clients. Mm-hmm. And they, and they, they went away. They, yeah. They avoided their contract and they, and they went away. But when they went away, three more came. It's very true. Three more came that were much easier to work with. Right, right, right. So, you know Yeah. Blessed it or block it. Yeah. Blessed it or block it. That's it. So, well number two is serve your team generously. You know, Matthew 2026 says, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Oh yeah. And you know, we have to serve our team. I have a team of incredible employees and subcontractors and serving them, you know, doing things. We try and do a quarterly thing, you know, something quarterly so that they can. Understand how much they're appreciated. Yeah. You know, whether it's, you know, we want to throw axes. One time we went bowling another time. Team building events, it's good stuff. But team building events just so they know that they are appreciated. Um, you know, how you treat your team. Is a good representation of how you are gonna treat your clients. Yeah. So, you know, verse 28 says, remember just as a son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. Oh yeah. And to give his life as a ransom for many, right. You know, treat your team with respect. Serve them. Yeah. Love them. Yeah. And be generous to them and encourage them to do the same and encourage them to do the same. That's it. That's it. We're leading by example. Yeah. I mean, Jesus style leadership looks like asking, how can I elevate people around me? Yeah. Not just how can I not, not ever, how can I elevate myself, but how can I elevate people around me? Because when you elevate people around you. The Lord sees that and he applauds what you're doing. He does. He does. He's gonna honor that. Mm-hmm. As, as we honor him, he's gonna honor that. And, and, and in the process of doing that, that might mean some extra training. Mm-hmm. That might mean giving credit publicly that, that's so good to, to give credit publicly. Uh, but in, in. On the other side of that spectrum, when, when there's, uh, a challenge to be addressed, we don't want to address that publicly. I've made that mistake in the marketplace or, or in the construction field rather. Where I've, where I've, uh, back in the day, I called someone out in front of the whole team. Bad form. Mm. Bad form. Poor leadership. Uh, we never call someone out in front of the team, but if we're gonna, if we're gonna call, uh, if we're going to praise them, that's a good, and right in front of the team is, uh, is a great place to do that. So giving credit publicly, that's, that's core. Even picking up a. Picking up the broom yourself? Yeah. I remember, um, a guy from Houston, I don't know if he is around anymore. Uh, I'll refrain, uh, from his name, but he is like, um, never too proud to pick up the broom in the room. Mm. You know, never too proud to pick up the broom. And he was a, uh. He was in branch leadership. So it was a, it was a good lesson. I remember that early when I came into structural. Yeah. I mean, don't ask your team to do something that you're not willing to do yourself. Yeah. I always, I always stood on that. Yeah. I'm never gonna ask you to do something I hadn't done myself. Right. Uh, so it's, it's not about hierarchy. No. It's about our, it's about our heart posture. Wheres our heart at? Uh. Who are we allowing to lead our heart? Who are we allowing to form our heart? Uh, it's important. Yeah, it's important for us to stay in our lane, but it's also vital to understand that solutions are found within the team, and, and the team might need your assistance. Uh, more than usual from time to time. Yeah. So, so don't hesitate to pick up that broom. Mm-hmm. Or don't ever hesitate to engage your team. That's right. You know, they're not just there to do the dirty work, you know, solutions are found within the team. I've learned that. That's a, a, a great principle that I, I learned in construction. Um, so if it's within our power, uh, we should do that. Yeah. And that, because that's how teams come together, helping each other as needed without looking for accolades for doing so. You know, you mean No, no, go ahead. You mean I can't ask my team to like, applaud my efforts? I'm kidding. Well, you can give it a shot, but you know, I wouldn't, I would never do that. Yeah. But we need to applaud theirs. We, we do. We do. And, and as we do though, as we honor them, they'll, yeah. Honor us. And you, I mean, we saw that today, uh, with, with Seth as, as Todd was honoring the, the guys that were leading the, the Conquer series. Mm-hmm. That revived church, you know, Seth came, came back and we all stood with Seth on that. Yeah. Uh, as we honored, honored the man who honored, honored us as, as leaders. He's a. He's a tremendous, uh, tremendous pastor, and there's a mm-hmm. Yeah. I lo I love what Seth said there, and I'm, I'm kind of in the weeds there, but he goes out, out there and, uh, there's a lot of cowards on pulpits in different churches. Yeah. And we're grateful that we don't have a coward on this pulpit here. That's right. You know, he is standing on truth, standing on foundation, standing on the cornerstone. Yeah. You know, we love, we love Pastor Todd and JAMA Ingram. Love you guys. Example of great leadership. Example of example of excellent leadership. Phenomenal leadership, phenomenal leadership, servant leadership. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. So, um, but giving without expecting anything in return Yeah. Is, is another great leadership attribute. Right. And it, it kind of sounds, you know, like Jesus. You think giving without expecting anything in return he didn't expect, gave it all, expect anything. Right. And he gave it all. Right. And I would say the Lord blessed that. Yeah. And continues to bless that these days. Absolutely. What's number three, babe? Well, how about being compassionate in conflict? And I know that can be difficult at times. Managing conflict, um, managing conflict. And I'll be, I'll be the first one to tell you I don't like conflict. Like if, if I can run from it, if I can hide from it, well, sometimes we gotta step, we don't wanna run our high boo sometimes we gotta step back. Well, we do. You know, but regardless, we have to be compassionate. Yeah. And we can confront without crushing. Um, and when we do that, you know, that creates a culture where people feel seen, not just managed. Yeah. We always want people to feel seen. You know, I, I. I'm in a group of women, business women, and that's the number one thing that women want, I can tell you, is to be seen, to know that they're being seen. And what I can tell you is God sees every move as you know. And so having that compassion Yeah. With your team. Yeah. It, they want to feel seen and it makes them feel seen. Absolutely. You don't wanna be the one who's got them under your, you've got'em under their, your thumb and you're managing everything they do. Right. Give them, give them a little, a little lead. Give them a, give them an opportunity to lead and elevate them. Absolutely. They have a, they, they, they know they have a voice. Yeah. And we have, we have to. But back to what you said too,'cause you said about when, you know, if you have to confront someone about an, like a mistake. Mm-hmm. You know, don't do it in front of the team. Yeah. Be compassionate about that. Gotta be compassionate. Take them aside. And I like, I like in your culture, you know, and I've tried to adopt this too, to, you know, the sandwich where you sandwich it with the good, the good things. Yeah. The four to one ratio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about that. The, uh, yeah. And then, and four to one comes back to having difficult conversations. Mm-hmm. And, and before I get into that compassion, uh, doesn't mean we avoid tough conversations. It, it just means that we have them with respect, kindness, and clarity. Yeah. And, and what I've learned at, at Structural is that that's the company I work with, uh, and, uh. For a long time now, and is a four to one ratio, uh, is we, we, when we have to have a difficult conversation because regardless of who you are, where you're at, if you're in leadership and wherever you're gonna have a difficult conversation. Mm-hmm. And knowing how to have that difficult conversation is important. And four to one means that we've there, especially as Christ followers. We gotta be able, there's got, we gotta see the good. Yeah. Not every, I mean, the, the person, uh, that we're de, that we're gonna have this conversation with, what do they do good. Yeah. You know, it's finding, uh, four to one means find four good things, uh, to, to soften the blow so we can say, Hey man, but we really need to work on that. Right. You know? And, uh, and, uh, uh. A friend of mine in ministry years ago from a, from a different church called that the velvet brick. Mm. You know how to deliver the velvet brick. Yeah. You know, it's like, hey. And, and an example would be like, Hey man, I see you're, I see you're on time every day, man. And, and you're always clean shaven. And, and, and, uh, and man, you're, you led that, that job safety analysis really well this morning. Yeah. But, uh, man, I'm really gonna need you to, uh, I'm gonna need you to, you know. Have two hands on that grinder.'cause that thing will come back and hit you, you know? Mm. And when, when we, when we pad that, not, not just for the sake of padding it, but let'em, let'em, let'em see and let'em hear that we see the good Yes. And, and we want to, we want, so. Mm-hmm. We want him to work. In my case, I want'em to work safe. Right. You know, but we see the good, but we need to address this right here. Yeah. So, so there's, there's the long version of four to one. Well, I think it's important to know that, and I think it's important in the marketplace, regardless of what. What industry you're in. Um, if you're a leader, you need to know how to, how to do that. Absolutely. Absolutely. But how about number four? I think before we get to number four, we, we didn't really talk about, you know, the, the, the absolute essence of, of compassion. And that means that means. Compassion's about way more than than speaking compassion, uh, is, you know, everyone's, everyone's got a voice. Mm-hmm. And as leaders, we have to be willing to listen to the team around us. Oh yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. We gotta be, as we must listening. Is an absolute essential for leadership. Yeah. In, in any real. So people want to be seen, but I believe more than they want to be seen. They want to be heard. Yeah. Everyone has a voice. Everyone has a voice. And as leaders we gotta be willing to listen to our team. Yeah. We gotta be willing to listen to our team. And remember, like I mentioned earlier, solutions are, they can be found within the team. And um, so. Listen up leaders, listen to your team.'cause you might learn something today. Well, and that's why God gave us two ears and only one mouth. Right. That's it. I remember back in the day so we could listen better. Yeah. I remember more than we talk a back in the day, a dear friend of mine said, uh, and I, I was, I was yak k imagine if you will yak, kak, yak, yak, kak. And I didn't listen much. He's like, Allen. The Lord gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. You need to listen better and you need to sh How was that one more time? Alright. Oh goodness. So number four is we gotta always prioritize people over profit. Mm-hmm. And we gotta still, we as, as Christ followers, we're always pursuing excellence. Mm-hmm. But we prioritize people over profit. Yeah. Yeah. That's, and, and our, in our safety culture, there's a, uh. There's the, the triangle, we talk about the triangle. It's safety, quality and production. Mm-hmm. And none of'em are ahead of, of the other. If you put production in front of either safety or quality, then it falls to pieces. So, but, but the people, the, the, the, the employees, the technicians, the, the, the managers, the, the, the whole team. They're the greatest asset of any company, right? The people are the greatest asset. You know, money comes and goes and we, and, and we want to turn a profit. We want sure. We want, we want revenue to be good. We want our, our margins to be wide and mm-hmm. And, you know, we want good margins. Uh, but people are much more important. Mm-hmm. People are much more important. People over profit. Uh, and that takes us back to Colossians 3 23 that you mentioned earlier. Mm-hmm. Is that whatever you do, work out it with all your heart as unto the Lord. Yeah. So, God, uh, God's not glorified, uh, by mediocrity. Not all. No. I used to, I used to joke around. One, one of my first testimonies was, uh. Of my own volition, of my own power, I ascended to the peak of mediocrity. I was the ace of average. The ace of average. Anyway, not a good place to be. We're not just average servant leaders. Um. We're not serving a somewhat appealing God, we serve the creator of the entire universe. Mm. Uh, his creation's path is, is set on absolute excellence. Yeah. Yeah. So as, as we've been created, uh, in his image, shouldn't we also serve our excellent creator with absolute excellence? Yeah. Is it as we're created in his image and he's excellent, should we not also be excellent? Yeah. You know, let your work preach before your mouth ever does. That's good. That's good. Excellence honors God, and it earns influence with people. Yeah. Um, when you treat people that, what's the saying? There was a saying, people will always remember how they, they will forget what you said. They'll. Uh, they'll forget what you say, but they'll always remember how you made them feel, how you make them feel. Right, right, right. How you made them feel. Right? Yes. I think that's a really good, um, just a really good thing to remember when I forgot Yeah. Like exactly how it went. But, but thank you babe, for bringing that back. Yeah. But excellence honors God and it, and it. Earns influence with people. So, absolutely. So what does this look like for you this week? Maybe it's reworking how you talk to your team. Right? Maybe it's checking your heart before the next client meeting. Maybe it's saying, Lord bless it or block it. That's good. Maybe, maybe, uh, that, that email. That fiery email you typed up? Oh, yeah. I've learned to, uh, the 24 hour 2024 hour rule. Yeah. My, uh, yeah, I, our, uh, yeah. A dear friend of mine, uh, said it. Careful. Yeah. Don't do that. Give it 24 hours. Yeah. And I've, uh, I've erased several emails Yes. And that, and very, uh, very grateful the next day that they didn't go out and I was able to think it through, you know, let that hair on the back of the neck, go down and pray about it. And pray about it. Yeah. Always give it to the Lord, man. Yeah. And, and is gonna, because it, just because we're Christ followers doesn't mean we don't get angry, but it does. Mean that we mm-hmm. We have to have to check that. Yeah. And, and the 24 hour rule on emails, uh, is, is a good role. Yes. I've adopted that. Yeah. Yeah. I've adopted that for me. Absolutely. Thanks, Colin. Yeah. Uh, so, um, so ask the Lord, uh, as, as, as we're getting into action items mm-hmm. As we're starting to wind up here, ask the Lord during your quiet time with him. Am I leading from fear or am I leading from faith? Mm. You know, there's just some questions to ask. Yeah. You know, you, you are having quiet time with the Lord, right? Yeah. It's just. Something we might ask him, am I leading from fear? Am I leading from faith? Am I following am, am I, am I leading to honor you or am I, am I trying to please man? Mm-hmm. Uh, uh, another question is, uh, how, Lord, how are we gonna reset our zeros today? Because I know I get flustered sometimes. Uh, go figure, you know, human, uh, the flash. How, uh, how did news flash, uh, that guy gets flustered. So lord, how are we gonna reset our zeroes today? Mm-hmm. I was just talking with the guys the other day. I was like, guys, I'm gonna be honest with you. I am scattered so, so Lord. How do we reset our zeroes today? How might I navigate today's challenges, Lord? Yeah, because,'cause we're guided as Christ followers, we're guided again by the Holy Spirit of truth who brings us all the truth, and yeah, and we do. I know I do better when I rely on that guidance. Right. You know, you were placed in that business, in that role on purpose. And for a purpose. Yeah. And Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve. Yeah. So if he lives in you, it's go time y'all. Absolutely. Let's go. Go time. It's go time. Right. I like that. Um, go is two thirds of God. Oh, that's it. God, when God says go, that's true. Yeah. We go. Right. I think I said that earlier today. I think you might Well, I, the, I didn't think about it being the two thirds, but I said when God says go. We go. That's it. That's it. Yeah. And, uh, gra and, uh, Graham Cook says, we, we keep going until he says stop. Right. You know? Yeah. You know? Yeah. And, and he will, you know? Yes. I, I it comes back to blessed her block, but mm-hmm. You know, so take a minute today, friends, and um, take a minute and pray over your business. Yeah. Uh, and invite the Holy Spirit into your daily workflow. And remember. I love. Remember this promotion. It may seem that it comes from people, but it doesn't come from people. That's right. Promotion, elevation in the marketplace always comes from the Lord. Amen. Always comes from the Lord. That is so true. So go serve. Go lead. And go shine and we will see you next time on faithfully invested. Yep. And remember that when you decide to live faithfully invested, God brings the increase. Yes, he does. God, have a great week. Take care. God bless. I. Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy. So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.