What If God Is Calling You Into the Unknown? | Philip Sarnecki

What does it look like to follow God when obedience leads you out of your comfort zone?

In this episode of Carry The Fire, Jesse Allen sits down with Philip Sarnecki, candidate for Kansas Governor, for a conversation about faith, courage, calling, business, family, leadership, and stepping into the unknown with obedience.

Philip shares his story of growing up in rural central Illinois, learning the value of hard work from his parents, building a career in business, and eventually sensing God redirecting his path toward public leadership.

This conversation is not just about politics. It is about what happens when God gives a person a burden, confirms it through prayer, family, wise counsel, and courage, then asks them to move forward in faith.

Jesse and Philip talk about fear, obedience, Christian leadership, Kansas, revival, government, business as ministry, and why courage is often required before change begins.

If you have ever wrestled with your calling, wondered whether God can use you outside of traditional ministry, or felt the pull to step into something bigger than your comfort zone, this episode will challenge and encourage you.

Topics covered:
Faith and courage
Christian leadership
Business as ministry
Kansas governor race
Hearing God’s voice
Leaving your comfort zone
Obedience and calling
Revival in Kansas
Government and biblical responsibility
Family, legacy, and leadership

Subscribe to Carry The Fire for conversations on faith, family, leadership, discipleship, and carrying the presence of God into every area of life.

Music Used:
Song: Empires
Artist: Alex Productions
License: Creative Commons BY 3.0
Music powered by BreakingCopyright

#PhilipSarnecki
#KansasGovernor
#ChristianLeadership
#FaithAndPolitics
#CarryTheFire

🔔Follow for more conversations!
🔥For more discipleship resources visit: https://gocarrythefire.com
📘Buy a book: https://gocarrythefire.com/books

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well welcome everybody to Carry the Fire. I'm Jesse Allen and it's an honor to be today with Philip Sarnaky. Thank you for joining us, the next governor of Kansas, right?

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Well, we'll we'll see. We're working hard to make it happen. So thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

It's an honor to be able to be with you, Philip. Honor to be here. I met you at uh Warren's house in Chase County a couple months ago. And as I was sitting around the table with you, you're obviously a very impressive man. There's lots of things God's given you to do. But more than just like maybe being impressive with what he's given you to do and what you know and even just the call in this next season on your life, I was really inspired by your story. Oh, thank you. And so I was thinking, man, it'd be awesome to sit down with Philip and hear bits and pieces of his story in regards to how it relates to courage and calling and risk taking obedience. And so you have a real close relationship, Philip, with God, don't you? I do.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yes. It's you know, it ebbs and flows through the years, but you know, like any relationship, it it grows and develops and uh really been walking with the Lord, you know, my adult life.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

So pretty amazing. And one of the parts of your story, Philip, that was so powerful for me to hear about was like your growing up years and so much of Kansas is a real communities. Yes. You grew up in a real community, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

I did, yes. Yeah. Where at? Yeah, I grew up in a in a really small town. I tell people maybe a thousand people on a good day, uh in central Illinois, uh little town called Homer. And uh so Homer's a little farming community, uh, you know, no stoplights, one grocery store, one gas station. And uh I think we grew up, I grew up with about 26 kids in my class. So what do you do for fun in Homer? You know, if if you uh you try to stay out of trouble, um, you know, it was it was, you know, I'm at the age where we, you know, I was kind of one of those 80s kids uh growing up, and it was just it was a wonderful decade and a wonderful place to grow up. It was kind of a slice of America. Um, you know, small towns, we would be out riding our bikes or playing uh, you know, ditch them. You know, we had a game called Ditchem. And uh we'd be out at night and you know, basically we'd just have a time to come home and we'd show up at home, and it was a it was a wonderful place, uh wonderful place to grow up.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, when you only have a thousand people with no stoplights, maybe no cops, you get to start driving pretty early too, I bet in Homer.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they they uh a lot of times they did sometimes we had a police officer in home, or sometimes we didn't. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. Fortunately, I didn't I didn't go down those roads, so I didn't have to I didn't have to worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Well, Illinois, what you grew up in in real community is probably a lot like Kansas throughout a lot of real community Kansas.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

It's it's amazingly similar, there's no question. Very, you know, farming community, farming oriented, small town America, you know, high school football on Friday nights. And uh and you know, part of the other issue when you grow up in a small town like that, like you everybody knows you. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody, like literally everybody knows everybody. And uh so you can't you can't really hide, you know, if you're if you're doing something. So yeah, it was uh but it it was fun. It really was. So I'm I'm very thankful and grateful for it.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

One of the things you said when we were sitting around that table is you said growing up, maybe you didn't have a lot materially, but you had a lot relationally and spiritually. Yeah. And so I'd love just to hear a little bit, just you know, those years of growing up in your childhood, Philip, how those formed you in regards to beliefs, values, yep, burdens that even maybe God formed and placed in your heart that are affecting what you do now. That maybe looking back, you're like, I wouldn't have known that that was gonna affect me now. But looking back, you know, those humble beginnings, like they really formed me and fashioned me to do what God has called me to do now.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yeah. Well, my parent, my parents got married very young. I mean, uh, maybe not so back then, but today, you know, I think my mom was 20 years old, you know, when they got married. And um, so my dad had gone to Vietnam, uh, perfect vision when he went over there. And because of Agent Orange, uh, he ended up when he came back, he was legally blind at night, so it really limited vocationally what he could do. Uh, he was trained to be a paramedic, but he couldn't do that full-time because of his eyesight. So he was a janitor at the university for about 35 years. And my mom was a secretary, she had a high school degree. Um, she actually, my mom had a partial acting scholarship to college. She played the lead role at Urbana High School in a lot of her plays, but she ended up meeting my dad, getting married, having me, so she never went to college. So my mom was a secretary, and I grew up watching both my parents work really hard. I mean, multiple jobs. Uh, my mom had a job where she would get up at four o'clock in the morning and go to downtown Homer and uh make donuts and then come back, get us kids off to school, and then go to her regular job. And I'd see my dad go off to his job from eight to five, and then on a lot of evenings, you know, he would come home and then he'd go off and be a part-time paramedic, or he was also the ESDA coordinator, emergency services and disaster agency coordinator for our little town of Homer, which for me as a kid and my younger brother and sister, that meant he blew the tornado siren when there were tornadoes. So we thought that was pretty cool. That is pretty cool when he did that. But again, I just saw them work very hard. And I mean, I grew up in a little 950 square foot home with one, you know, one bathroom, five people fighting over one really small bathroom. And um, I mean, we you know, I've got some kind of fun, you know, looking back now. I don't know if they were fun at the time, but looking back now, some fun stories um, you know, about where we were financially growing up. And as I got a little bit older, you know, you become a teenager. I, you know, I didn't like not having money and some of the things other people were able to do that we were not able to do. But, you know, it it is interesting how you mentioned that. As I look back now, um, wouldn't trade my childhood for all the money in the world. Um, you know, I had two wonderful parents. Uh, they worked very hard to take care of the family and to support us. Um, you know, they were committed to each other. My father passed away about a year and a half ago, but my parents were married for 58 years when he died. So I just saw this commitment, you know, with my parents. And um my dad uh would come to the Lord later in life, and he started going to church a lot, like and was baptized probably the last 15 years of his life. But um, my mom was really kind of the rock growing up. So she was the one that would take us to church and you know, make sure that the faith was uh instilled in us. And um uh so yeah, I grew up faith, family, you know, hard work. I saw my parents sacrifice, and those were a lot of the values that I think also connect with small Midwestern towns um and uh and the family that I that I grew up in. And I think all those things are interwoven. And so I had to work really hard growing up out of you know necessity. Um, you know, if I wanted stuff, uh I had to work. And so I delivered newspapers, my brother and I mowed lawns. Uh, I walked beans. You know, in central Illinois, you could detassel corn, you can walk beans, or you could bale hay. And when I was 13 or 14, like the older boys would, you know, they'd get to uh bale hay because you had to be a little bigger, a little stronger. Uh so I was left walking beans, which uh is not a fun job at all. Um I still have nightmares about it today. But anyway, so that's kind of you know, that was kind of our world. I grew up playing three sports uh as well. So worked, played sports, school, you know, you didn't you didn't have a lot of time to get in trouble. I mean, you had to, you know, I was busy uh doing things. So, but yeah, just just uh really appreciative and thankful for both my family and the community that kind of shaped me into who I am today.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

And then where did that take you to college?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah, so I went to the University of Illinois, uh, graduated there for my undergrad, um, and then did some, you know, post uh uh graduate work uh at Wharton. Um and also uh just for my for my industry, uh securities exams, charter financial consultant, things like that. Yeah. So so did a lot of like post-education as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

So one of the things you shared a little bit, and I've heard you talk about often is this like tension that you had as you kind of grew in a relationship with God and had some passion. And you thought in order to be a good Christian and somebody that's gonna have real impact in the world, you know what I need to go now do is maybe go to seminary, right? Get a degree, a Bible degree, and become a vocational minister.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

And yeah, it was it wasn't really a seminary as much as I thought, I but I needed to go into ministry. Like if I wanted to be a quote unquote good Christian, I needed to go into ministry. And um so what's interesting is um I didn't want to go into ministry, I had no interest. And uh I had played one year of football in college and and tore up my knee. And um, actually, I never even really played. I just practiced for a year as a red shirt. And uh, but it was my third knee surgery. And so after that, because I had to pay for college, my parents just didn't have money to really help me. So um I started my first business as a 19-year-old college in college student uh going into my sophomore year. I mean, I was literally a teenager and um did that to pay for everything, and it went really well. So I had this, you know, business that was going really well. But it's kind of a growing young Christian, you know, here I'm thinking, well, you know, if I make money as a business person, that's not gonna be good. You can't do that. You know, there was that whole camel eye needle thing. And I don't know, you know, as a new new Christian, I'm like, oh, I don't I don't think that's good, you know, making money. So I better go into ministry. Well, I didn't want to go into ministry, so I thought, well, how about sports ministry? At least that sounds, you know, interesting. Yeah, you know, uh as a guy growing up as an athlete. And um, so uh I really uh was thinking very seriously about doing that and met with somebody who was on staff for athletes in action, and I shared that with him. And I told him, like, hey, I, you know, I'm gonna do this. Now, this was a very enthusiastic young guy. He he did college ministry, so you know, those guys are always very enthusiastic. Yeah, very hype men. Exactly. And I so I thought he'd be all excited and he'd be, you know, jumping for joy. And he basically, I still remember this conversation. He said, Oh, okay, well, that's interesting. And I said, Well, I thought you'd be a little more excited about it. He said, Well, he said, I thought you wanted to go into the business world. Like, aren't you having success with you know what you're doing? And I said, Well, yeah, but you know, and I explained to him how I thought, you know, I couldn't do that. And if I make money, that's not good. Yeah. And he looked at me and said, Where in the world did you ever get an idea like that? And so he actually took me to Romans and he shared with me, he said, Did you know that making money is a spiritual gift? And I thought he was pulling a scam on me, you know. And it so now it doesn't say making money, but what it says is giving is one of the spiritual gifts. And he said, Well, what does that presuppose? And I said, Well, I guess unless you got some pretty uh, you know, some parents that uh, you know, are gonna rain down some cash upon you or grandparents or something, I guess you have to go out and make it. And he said, That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

And so, like this light bulb went off in my head, and I I look at it, I said, So I can go into the business world and still be a good Christian. And uh he said, Of course, God needs people in all walks of life and all areas. He's created all of us with different gifts and skills and talents. And so that just ended up being, you know, the place that I went. And obviously, over the last three plus decades, I've grown a lot in my understanding of that and my maturity. Uh, but you know, he's that's just one of those moments where God puts people in your life to kind of direct, you know, the path and the course of your life. And yeah, very, very thankful that that happened. Now, what's really interesting, here's kind of God's sense of humor too. So, about 15, 16 years after this conversation, I actually got invited to be on the board of trustees for athletes in action. So here I was thinking about going on staff with them, which I didn't want to do, and I wouldn't have been good at, by the way. Um, and so, but but all those years later, you know, 15 years later, uh, God takes my gifts and skills and talents and is able to use those for athletes in action. And I ended up being the board chair for about a dozen years for AI as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Somebody's listening to this and they're in the same position that you were in, you know, as a young person, 19, 21, 22 years old, and they like really love God and they feel maybe like this tension and this pull. Maybe I want to do ministry, but I do it more out of obligation and have a real passion to be an entrepreneur or a businessman. Like, what encouragement would you give them that you really can serve the world in a powerful way for the kingdom of God in the realm of being an entrepreneur or a business person?

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Well, I'm certain I'm certainly not trying to talk anybody out of going into ministry if that's what God's calling them to do. I think, you know, you have to be, you gotta seek wise counsel, you gotta be in a good relationship with the Lord, and you gotta figure out where he's calling you and what he's calling you to do. But, you know, Heidi and I have funded, you know, I mean, dozens and dozens and dozens of ministries and uh people that are in ministry, and we've supported athletes in action financially in big ways. We've supported people who are on staff with AIA, the Fellowship of Christian athletes, and all kinds of other ministries. And um, and and I remember Mike when I had that conversation, and he told me, he said, We need people who have the financial resources and the heart to give more than we need people who want to go into ministry. Um, because so many people going into ministry struggle to raise financial support or whatever it may be. And so God just really, you know, used us that way uh with our giving through the years, which you know we've grown in that area as well. Um, but so I would just encourage people to to seek wise counsel, you know, what how has God gifted you? What has he gifted you to do? Well, you know, if if I thought God was calling me to be, you know, the center for the Los Angeles Lakers, you know, uh that that's a warped sense of my gifts and skills of doing it. Yeah, yeah, that's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

No, yeah, for sure. So you've done business for what? How many years now?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Oh gosh, 37 years, well, 36 years, yeah. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

But now you're transitioning, like, why not continue to do business, you know, for the 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Yeah, that was the plan. That was the plan. But you know, sometimes God uh uh redirects your course. Um, you know, I've always enjoyed politics. Uh American history is my favorite subject. I studied finance and political science in college. My degree is actually in political science, even though I studied finance as well. Um I ended up, it was a little easier to get the political science degree, and I just wanted to work on my business. So get my degree and keep working on my business. Um, but I studied both. And so I've always had an interest in politics and American history and the American story. And um, you know, I've I've read a lot about George Washington and, you know, other heroes of our of our American past. And um so uh, but uh, you know, I I guess in my head, you know, there was kind of oh, maybe, who knows, someday kind of thing. But I just kept going on with my businesses. But I will say I did have a moment about 20 years ago where I was kind of kind of uh we had moved over here, but um, my wife and our two children at the time, um, oh, I was trying to think if Blake was even born yet. But anyway, we we um I was driving back from Wichita from my office in Wichita and missing my family and was really frustrated with God. So he and I were having a little chat, and it was basically me, you know, uh railing and saying, Why did you move us here? And I miss my family, and you know, et cetera. And I just had this thought, and I even wrote it in my journal. Uh, I can show it to people today. I didn't bring my journal with me, but um, I mean, this is 20, 20 plus years ago now. Um, I wrote in my journal that did you bring me here to run for governor someday. Wow. I mean, I just had this thing. Twenty years ago. Yeah, I was driving through the Flint Hills, coming back from Wichita, wrote it in my journal. Of course, it gets tucked away. You don't think a whole lot about it, you go on with your life and your business career. And and then really things just started happening where here in Kansas, you know, as a Republican, we lost the governor's race in 2018, we lost again in 22, in otherwise, what's a very red state. And so Heidi and I's role politically was really funding candidates, hosting fundraisers at our house, trying to get good people elected, and um kind of looking at it as a ministry, like trying to get good conservatives, good conservative Christian people elected and into office, and just looking at our giving as another extension of our ministry. And um, you know, just very frustrated that we lost in 2018 and 2022. So started talking to some people about it. I noticed that there were a lot of governors around the country who had come out of the business world who had never even run for office prior to running for governor. Uh several years ago, when I looked at it, there were probably about a dozen of them. Uh, the Glenn Yunkins and Bill Lees of the world, men of great faith, um, by the way, uh, Kevin Stitt, Governor Bergham, Governor Pillen, et cetera. So we'd kind of looked around and see this. Obviously, President Trump had never run for office prior to running for president. And um and I thought, boy, we keep running kind of these career politicians, these legislators, to be the CEO of the state, to be the governor. And I think we need to do something like these other states. I think we need more of a business leader and a CEO because it is the executive branch, it's not the legislative branch. And I'm not saying it's more important, but it's just a different skill set. And I didn't think looking back that we had the people with the type of skill set to actually run the state as a CEO. And so we really started looking for someone to do that. But this is the kind of thing that God does. You know, we go out, I'd go out and talk to people about it, other business leaders and uh people in the political world. And I would start hearing over and over, yeah, that's a great idea. And by the way, you'd be really good at that. You know, you should do that. And so Heidi and I started, my wife and I, we started praying about it, um, had other people praying for us about it. Long story short, this was about a two and a half year process. But at one point, Heidi looked at me and said, You know, when you when are you gonna make a decision on this? And I said, Well, I I just need some more confirmation. And she says, Well, how much confirmation do you need? She said, I think if you don't run, you're being disobedient to what God's calling you to do. Yeah. Wow. So that's a little bit of a long story made short. But um, so it really got to that point where, and I I kind of knew that too. I mean, everything that had happened, all the feedback that we were getting. I had reached out to other people to see if they might be running. And everybody that I reached out to that I said, you know, if that person runs, I won't run. None of them stepped into the race, none of them ran. And so then I ended up running against, you know, four people with about a hundred years of experience, quote unquote, in office, you know, just wow, you've been in office for over a hundred years, four people. And I just didn't think that's what we needed in Kansas right now. I think we needed something very, very different. And there was nobody else that was stepping into that gap.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

That's amazing, Phil. One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 2 10. It says that we're God's handiwork and that we're created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared for us to do. And so like intertwined throughout a lot of the story you just shared, yeah, it was a mention of God speaking to you about something that He was inviting you into that He's prepared for you. And so, like if you thought about sitting with someone and asking them and describing to them what it would be like for them to start listening to God in their life and say, hey, actually God has good works that are prepared for you too. What kind of advice would you give to a person of the things that they could begin to like take notice of and be aware of in regards to how God might be specifically speaking to them and the good works that he's prepared and purposes and plans that he has for them to step into?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, the well, the first thing I would uh probably encourage people is uh don't run ahead of God because, you know, let's assume I win this race and I become the governor and that is what God's called me to do. I mean, he's really prepared me over three decades, you know, for that. And in a lot of different ways, you know, that that I could go into. But how I've developed myself, how I've developed in my relationship with him, my own gifts and skills and talents and what I've done and how it's a fit and the timing even here for the race in Kansas, how desperately I think we need somebody that understands business and is has a strong business background. Um so so that would be the first thing that I would say. But as far as specifically listening to us, you know, God speaks to us in a number of ways. If you know, if you're married, he often speaks through your spouse. Yeah, he does. Uh if you've got a godly spouse, which I'm blessed to have. And uh so she Heidi was on board with this way before I was. She was encouraging me, she was telling me things like, Honey, you're perfectly built to do this. God's prepared you to do this, like Kansas needs you, uh, you know. So I was getting a lot of encouragement from her, number one, other people that I ran it by, people that I trusted, people I respected, both in an inner circle and then more of an outer circle, just business leaders in the community, people in the Kansas political world running it by them. Hey, what would you think of an outsider, a business person, a CEO running? And the encouragement was both, yes, I love that idea. The timing's right. And by the way, if I shared with me that I was thinking about it, um, it was overwhelmingly like, yes, you you should do that. You should do that. And so confirmed by a lot of other people. Um, and then just a lot of time in God's word as well, a lot of time praying about it. Uh, we fasted about it um as as well. And uh one quick story I'll tell you that could kind of uh speak to this a little bit. So in the beginning of 2025, January of 2025, Heidi and I decided, I I pretty much I was pretty sure this is what God was calling us to do. You know, Heidi had had those conversations with me. Yeah. And uh, but we decided together to do a three-day fast at the beginning of January. And we asked, oh, about 25 or 30 people if they would join us. Most of them did. Not necessarily three days. You know, I had I had some friends that are like, uh, I'll do one day. Is that okay? Yeah, I'm like, sure, whatever. You don't even, you know, and somebody else said, maybe a couple meals. And I'm like, hey, that's great. I just I appreciate the prayers. So anyway, we did a three-day fast, and we were actually in Colorado on vacation right after Christmas and New Year's when we started and we got home. Well, my youngest daughter did not want me to run. Like she was very opposed to me running. And ironically, of my three children, she and I are the most similar in kind of personalities. We're both very private people. We're both more introverted, uh, which is again kind of God's sense of humor that I'm doing this. You know, you can't pick a less private, you know, career than running for off high levels of office. Um, so I totally understood where she was coming from because that was one of the things for two and a half years that really kept me from stepping out. Like, I, you know, I didn't want to do that. Um, and a lot of people don't understand that. I think a lot of people who step into politics politics do it because they want a spotlight on them and because they want the attention or, you know, whatever, whatever that may be. But that is absolutely the opposite of what I wanted. And she was the same way. And so we had been praying that, you know, Lord, it'd be really nice if we could get her on board. I mean, she doesn't have to, and we'll do whatever you call us to do. Um, but that was a little bit of a burden on my heart. And so we got back from Colorado, we're in the kitchen at our home here, and uh she came up to me and she said, Dad, I know you and mom are praying and fasting about this. And then she said, I just want you to know that I still don't want you to run. I said, Well, okay, honey, you know, I appreciate that, and I I understand and I hear you. And then she looks at me and she says, But I know God wants you to run. And that to me was kind of that final after two and a half plus years, kind of that final, okay, this is really what God's calling us to do. I mean, like I said, I was probably 95% sure even before that, but that was just those little God moments, I think, where he speaks into our lives and answers things like this that we had been praying about.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

And so it probably really is true that God doesn't always call the qualified. No. You know, you've probably heard the phrase he equips, sure. He empowers those who are called and those who are available. Yeah. And so it seems so much that that's kind of what your story has been. And yeah, that connects probably to a lot of people is God's not just looking to call us into the things that we feel comfortable with. No, he really does want to take us into things that we need him to be able to do.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Oh, 100%. I mean, the again, one of the other things, uh not wanting to have a public life, you know, having a desire to have a more private life. One of the other things that kept me from running for two and a half years or stepping out was, yeah, like here I am running for governor, you know, it's not like I'm running for some smaller office. I mean, I'm running, you know, I'm thinking about running for governor and believing that's what God called me to do. Yeah. And there's pieces of it that I was very comfortable with. I mean, I've spoken for 30 years to, you know, I've spoken in front of 15,000 people, you know, I've given talks and speeches and training classes. And so there was a part of it that was very comfortable. But there were also parts of it that were very uncomfortable. Um, things that I'd never paid attention to as a business person. They just never were, you know, kind of in my lane of things I needed to learn about. And so there's this whole vast world of new knowledge and new understanding. And it's like, oh boy, you could get a question about something that you haven't, you know, studied up on or you're not familiar with, and how would you respond to that? So there was a little bit of an element for sure, of fear of, you know, what is this? What am I stepping into? And I don't understand all of it. But you're exactly right. I mean, when God calls, you just need to step out in faith and in obedience and trust that he's got you and he'll support you. And that's what we've relied on from the beginning. And I have a prayer team called the governor's prayer team uh every other Friday morning. My Heidi has a prayer team that's uh uh every other Wednesday, uh her prayer team meets. I know there's a lot of other people praying for us. I have strangers come up to me when we're out on the campaign trail. I've even had it happen in other states and they say, Oh, I've been praying for you. We're praying for you. My prayer team, my Bible study, we're praying for you. I had a woman in western Kansas, I was way out in western Kansas, uh, Sharon Springs, Goodland area. This just happened a couple of weeks ago, and I got done with my little spieled, you know, talking to people and um about 20 minutes or so, and then she comes up to me with her husband and she looks at me and she says, You're the one that my prayer team and I have been praying for for the last five years.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Wow, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah. Now, not me, but you know, not by name or anything, but it's like you I know you're the one, like you're the one we've been praying for. And it was so humbling and a little a little overwhelming in a sense, you know, and and uh, but it it's also incredibly encouraging, you know, that kind of confirmation when you go through this two and a half year process of trying to figure out what God's calling you to do. And then you do step out, even though there's unknowns, there's fear, there's, you know, totally getting outside of your comfort zone to have that kind of, you know, God just kind of steps in when I need it, yeah, gives me a little confirmation. No, this is what I've called you to do. And um, and it's been it's been awesome. I mean, it's been it's been a lot of fun. It's a grind, no question. Uh, I think we have 49 days to the primary as of today. Um, but uh, but but it's a good grind. It's a good, good grind. We've met some amazing people, been all over the state of Kansas, and uh, it's been a real blessing.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

It's been an adventure.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

It has been an adventure. God loves us. Yes, he does. Yeah, he does.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

It's so fun. Would you say that fear is the primary hindrance that keeps most people from stepping into the unknown, maybe the things that God's calling them to?

SPEAKER_00 29:34

False evidence appearing real. False evidence appearing real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Does that happen often in your life? Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

False evidence that appears real. Well, remember, courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is acting in spite of the fear. I mean, if you think about it, if there was no fear, why would you need courage? Right. Right? That's right. And and I think it for believers, I mean, it's God's um provision, us walking with him that gives us that kind of courage to step out outside of your comfort zone. Um, there's a wonderful book um that I've read. Matter of fact, it has kind of a had a big impact on us even moving to Kansas years ago, um, called The Dreamgiver. So, The Dreamgiver, for those that don't aren't familiar with it, is about a young man named Ordinary who lives in the land of familiar. And he believes that he's been called by God to leave the land of familiar and to go out and accomplish great things for God. And as he, as he starts to do that, um, he starts encountering, you know, the giants, which are people that tell him things like, Hey, ordinary, what are you doing? Nobody leaves the land of familiar. You know, go back to your comfort zone. And a lot of times it's not even your own comfort zone, it's the people around you. You start messing with their comfort zone. And that, you know, and it could be oftentimes it's the people that love us the most. It's parents, it's a spouse. You're disrupting their comfort zone. You're moving their tools. Yes. Yeah, that's what it is. It's not about uh you, it's actually about them, but you're the one, you know, messing around with their comfort zone. And um so anyway, ordinary. And then when he gets by the giants, he has the courage to get by them. Well, then he starts encountering his own, you know, fears and doubts as he leaves the land of familiar. And I think it's it's a great, you know, little parable about how people get stuck in their comfort zones. And one of the things, and I told myself this over and over during that time, is I I wanted to stay in my comfort zone. I wanted to stay in the business world where I had had a lot of success and I knew what I was doing and I felt comfortable with it, that God did not lead that God did not design us to live a life of comfort. Uh, he did not call us to live in a comfort zone. And, you know, you talked about the adventure earlier, but that adventure does take courage. It does take courage. Um, but I also believe that when we do step out in faith and we courageously are obedient to what God's calling us to do, then he is gonna bless that in tremendous ways. It seems like courage is contagious. Courage is contagious, yes. You know, there's a great scene. I've actually played this in some talks before, uh, where uh Mel Gibson in Braveheart, yeah, which is kind of funny because you know, we have a Faith and Family movie production company, and I was executive producer of a movie last year that Mel was in.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

And um, yeah, so I've had I've had the opportunity to have dinner with him a couple of times. And so just kind of a weird, bizarre little thing. But um, but in Braveheart, there's this great scene where Robert the Bruce is kind of struggling to leave his comfort zone. You know, he could walk in as the king of Scotland and um, you know, just kind of live in this, this, this land of familiar and this comfort, his own comfort zone. And uh he's having this conversation with William Wallace, right? Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart. And William Wallace tells him that men don't follow titles, they follow courage. Wow. So I think it's exactly what you just said. And I think we've seen that too out on the campaign trail. Uh, the number of people that thank me for leaving that comfort zone, leaving that land of familiar and walking into what you know we're doing now. And it's a heartfelt thank you. You know, people say, Thank you for doing this. I I just can't tell you. I actually had a had a woman at the event that you were at uh at Warren's place, and um, she drove three hours to come and see me. She couldn't even stay for the event. She, but she drove three hours, she brought a check, which was nice. Um she she gave the campaign a check, but she just wanted to meet me. And when she shook my hand, she kind of took both of her hands, put them around my hand as I was shaking her hand. She looks at me, she has tears coming down her face, and she says, Thank you for what you're doing. She said, Thank you. And I and again, it's just one of those things that kind of keeps you going and keeps you motivated.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Yeah, I'm thinking, like as you're doing this, you know, you're running for like a position that has a lot of opportunity to have influence and have impact. And but I'm just thinking, man, like what happened with your daughter's heart when she saw that dad is gonna live with courage. And it sounds like what got imparted into her heart is I am going to as well. Like this isn't about my comfort. This is about God's calling. Yeah. And God's calling isn't to make us comfortable. Yeah. You know, in many ways, it's to actually allow us to have opportunities to be impactful and influential. And so if courage is what actually shapes and shifts things to begin to happen, like what would you say to people that might listen to this specifically because we're all living in Kansas and you're running for Kansas governor? Like, what would you say to people of Kansas that we actually need people to be inspired to live with courage if things are going to begin to shift and they're gonna begin to change?

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Well, I know here's one thing I know I've figured out in 30 plus years and in in life and in my business world that no one grows in a comfort zone. You will not grow professionally, you will not grow personally, you will not grow financially, and you will not grow spiritually if you're staying in a comfort zone. And and the other thing I've realized is sometimes if we're if we're not obedient and we don't step out in faith out of our comfort zone, sometimes God forces us out of our comfort zone. And, you know, that's oftentimes it's better just to, you know, take the step of obedience and faith and courage than to have God like go, okay, well, I'm gonna have to intervene here for sure, you know, because you're not listening and doing what I've, you know, what I've called you to do. And uh, and oftentimes that's you know, worse. But but God wants to grow us, he wants to develop us into his image. Yeah. And um, and that's why I think you think about what Christ went through, he didn't live in a comfort zone. I mean, you talk about the ultimate story of someone leaving a comfort zone, the comfort zone of paradise, you know, to come and live as a human on earth and then to go through the brutal torture that he went through and the sacrifice on our behalf. I mean, that is the ultimate story of leaving, you know, your comfort zone. So in the re in reality, what he's called me to do is is not not that great. Um compared, obviously, compared to that. My my youngest daughter also is a big American history buff, like I am. And um, as a matter of fact, she wants to make her her goal, she's 16 now, but she wants to make documentary historical films is uh is what she wants to do. But um, I one of the things I had told her during that process, I said, you know, honey, our founding fathers pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. And if all God's calling us to do is, you know, to get out of our comfort zone. Now I know we're gonna be attacked, I know we're gonna be lied about, which by the way, that is happening in a big time way right now, but that also tells me I'm a threat and that we can win this, otherwise they wouldn't be coming after us with the lies and the deception and the stuff that they're you know, the the insults that they're hurling. But but I take in some ways I take pride in that because it's like, you know what? Christ was was uh mocked, he was, you know, obviously ultimately crucified. And so I just take heart that I know we're we're over the target and you know we're where we're supposed to be, even though there's a lot of people, other campaigns, lobbyists, et cetera, out there lying about who I am, my background, you know, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

One thing I love that you shared was uh you probably never imagined when you were 10, 15, 20, even maybe that you're gonna be running for a governor of a state of America, were you? Was that like a thought in your mind? Like someday I would do something like that.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

You know, I don't know. I mean, I've always loved the, like I said, the story of America, even as a kid. Uh I did. I have a good friend, uh, his father said, I don't, I I mean, I don't exactly remember the conversation. I kind of remember the interaction. But he said when I was 18 and I was getting ready to graduate, that he asked me, he said, Hey, what you know, what are you gonna study? What are you gonna do? And he said, without missing a beat, I said, I'm gonna be president of the United States. Wow. And I'm like, I don't want to be president, by the way. Um, but uh so I don't know. I think there has been kind of a stirring of some kind, and I just shoved it aside for a long time and like, you know, go into the business world and and do that. Yeah. Um, you know, but again, it's all that preparation and what what God lays on your heart. But, you know, back to the conversation about the courage and leaving your comfort zone, I think so many people just they they they get into that comfort zone and they just never leave it. And it's really sad. Um, Thoreau said, most men lead lives of quiet desperation. And I don't want to lead a life of quiet desperation, you know. I want to be courageous, I want to step out in faith. And that's one of the reasons I did this. I, you know, in my business world, my leadership team, my financial advisors, I always challenge them to get outside of their comfort zone, to be strong, to be courageous. And, you know, it got to the point in this process where I'm like, well, if I don't do this, then I'm, you know, I've been telling them something that I'm not willing to do. And I didn't want that to happen. And like you said, I wanted my kids to see me stepping out with bold courage in spite of the attacks, in spite of the lies, in spite of the deception. I wanted to see my kids, uh, or I wanted my kids to see me step out in faith with courage into a world that's uncomfortable, a world where I know I'm gonna get attacked, I know I'm gonna get lied about, but you know, having the faith and courage to do it anyway.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

I think this really does change everything, Philip. I mean, as you're talking, I'm thinking about Joshua and Caleb. Uh-huh. Like it's just a fun story of courage in the Bible. And you know, before the 40 years, they had an opportunity to go take the promised land. That's right. And fear came into the camp. That's right. And it spread throughout everybody's heart. And so, in the same way, courage is contagious, so is fear. It is. That's right. And then suddenly Joshua and Caleb, you know, at the moment, 40 years later, is the right time. Yeah. Courage fills the camp and they go and they take the land that God had promised.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

And we so desperately need godly leaders in the United States. We so desperately need people to step up and lead biblically, courageously. We need that in our country right now so bad. And, you know, and I did look for somebody else to do that.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Um, I did, I mean, in full transparency, but uh no one else stepped up to do it. And and it just got again, it got to the point where I knew God was calling me to to step out and do that. Yeah. And uh, you know, you can't keep expecting other people to do it at some point. You've got to say, no, I'm willing to step in and do this.

SPEAKER_01 41:29

It seems to me that one of the ways that God speaks to us is by giving us his burden for change. That's right. And sometimes the burden that one person sees that the next person isn't as passionate about. Right. You know, and so then we get uh end up praying, like, God, would you solve the problem by raising up somebody else? And he's like, Are you listening? Like I'm speaking to you by giving you this burden. And so I'd love to hear Philip from you like what's your God-given burden for cultural transformation for the state of Kansas that God's calling you to not just pray about but take responsibility for.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Well, you know, going back to Romans, uh, God has uh God is not silent on government. And you know, God instituted, you know, instituted uh government, the system of government, and he's definitely not silent on it in his word. And in Romans, government is primarily there for two reasons. It's to promote the common good and to restrain evil. And so what would it look like if a state or a country, now obviously we are imperfect people in an imperfect system, um, but what would it look like if we were obedient to what God called a government to look like? And um so I that's my goal is to get as close to that as possible. And um, you know, so that's what we'll work very, very hard, you know, to do. So yeah, I mean, I do have a burden. You know, one of the things that I've noticed, you know, you go around the state of Kansas, people are hurting. People are really hurting. I mean, our taxes are way too high, property taxes out of control, income tax the highest in our region. Um, and we are spending money in Topeka. And and unfortunately, it's not just the Democrats, it is the Democrats, but it's Republicans as well. It's a lot of Republicans, a lot of Republican leadership. And we have blown up a budget, a $26 billion budget in Kansas, 10.5 billion of which has been added in the last seven years, um, with Republicans in charge of the House and the Senate. And one of the reasons I believe government, both at the state level and federally, has gotten so large over the years, over the decades, is because the church has failed to do its job. And I don't mean specific churches, but the church in general, because we're not, as we should be, taking care of the homeless, providing for the sick and the orphans and the widows. And if the church Would step out and do its job, then people wouldn't look to the government so much to take care of that. And I believe that, you know, the govern, the large government is not efficient in doing that. It becomes corrupt in doing that. And, you know, Glenn Youncan, the governor of Virginia, I'm in a Christian CEO group with Glenn. He's one of those people I talked to during that two and a half years in the summer of 2024. And Glenn had never run for office prior to running for governor of Virginia. And one of the things Glenn told me, he said, Philip, I can't speak to Kansas, but I can tell you Virginia politics is corrupt. And he used that word, corrupt. And I thought to myself, I'm like, corrupt? Wow, that's a, you know, that's a powerful word. Um, and then I kind of thought, well, you know, he's close to Washington, D.C. Virginia's a purple state, you know. I know there's not, there's some bad things and kind of swampy in Topeka, but corrupt. Nine and a half months of running, I can tell you there's all kinds of corruption right here in Kansas, right in Topeka. And part of it is because of this large government, you know, largess that um is people want their hands in it. And unfortunately, it crushes the people of the state of Kansas. And probably because my dad was a janitor, my mom was a secretary. We grew up, you know, I remember being very young, seven or eight years old, and watching my mom cry at the kitchen table over what bills to pay. Like she didn't, you had bills spread out all over the kitchen table. She didn't know what bills she was going to pay. And that's probably where my heart for the people of the state of Kansas comes from. You know, I'm sure it does. It's kind of my, you talked about formation earlier. And so I have a heart to lessen that burden of taxes and regulation and spending on the people of the state of Kansas. And if you can look at all kinds of statistics, uh, whether it's CNBC ranking our state for our economy 48th and giving us an F, Moody saying we're already in a recession as a state, um, the state being ranked 48th in five-year new business survival rate. I mean, I could go through statistic after statistic where we are desperately struggling economically and from a tax and bur and uh and regulation um standpoint as a state. Yeah. And and that's not godly government.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah. And so God, I just want to ask you this last question, maybe in when Caleb stood there and he looked at the mountain filled with giants, you know, he saw differently than what other people saw. He didn't see giants and complain about them and flee. He saw something that God had promised that could look a lot different. Yeah. And what's really interesting about that story is like 400 years later it becomes the city of David that becomes a refuge that people run to rather than a place that people flee from. And so I think God puts unique kind of courage, confidence, but also vision in the hearts of specific people to see differently. Yeah. And so what kind of vision has God put in your heart as you transition into this calling that He's given you to run for governor? And if you are, like, what does it look like for the kingdom of heaven to actually come to a state as God desires it in heaven?

SPEAKER_00 47:15

Well, that's a great story, uh, the stri, you know, Caleb's story. But uh I'll share a quick story with you. So I had a a good friend, uh, although he he just passed away at 94 years old. Um and uh so he's obviously you know much, much older than I am. He could be my grandfather, and he really was kind of a grandfatherly figure in my life. Uh his name's Jerry Kirk. He was a pastor uh in Cincinnati, one of the most godly men I had ever met, like Billy Graham to me. Wow. You know, Heidi and I had a short stint 20 plus years ago in Cincinnati for about three years, and um, I met him there, and he was very instrumental. There's a whole God story on how we even ended up in Kansas and how God brought us here, which I could spend a whole podcast talking about and how God led us here. But Jerry was very instrumental in that. And one of the things he told me over 20 years ago, he said, Philip, I have been praying for a revival in the United States for 20 years. Now, this was 20 years ago, over 20 years ago. He said, I believe Kansas is the place it's gonna start. And he told me that before he even knew that we had the opportunity from a business standpoint to move over here to Kansas. Wow. And he shared that with me during the process of Heidi and I kind of trying to decide whether we should move here or not. And originally we had said, no, we're gonna stay in Cincinnati, we're very happy there, we like it, business is good, you know, et cetera. But again, God started kind of working on us. And so, you know, um, he Jerry was a man that prayed by name for 400 people a day. Wow. And I would, you know, I would talk to him, you know, every two or three months, and sometimes he'd call me. And if I couldn't answer, he'd leave me a voicemail, and he would just say, Philip, you know, I prayed for you and Heidi and the kids today, and um, and he'd say them all by name, and he said, God's favor is upon you. And he, it was just so incredibly encouraging. And so I kind of, it's almost like I have this vision to fulfill those prayers of a person like Jerry Kirk and what he was praying now, you know, for 40 years. And I I think God has on his heart the state of Kansas. I really do. And I think some special things can happen here in the state of Kansas. And I believe I really do believe God wants to do that.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

I've heard that phrase from other people too. Could this actually be like the moment where God pours out revival upon our state? Yeah, absolutely. It feels like that's something to be hopeful for and expectant for. And that's what God's put in your heart as you're stepping into this new calling is for revival for a whole state. Right. And a people. Yep, that's right. Yeah, it's awesome, Philip. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. That's awesome. If you could leave one message, you know, this is the last thing you could say to somebody that was listening.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Well, I am in a political race, so it might be vote on August 4th. Uh make sure you're registered and make sure you vote in the primary. Um, you know, I just I um God has a plan for all of our lives. And do we have the courage and the faith to step out? I I heard somebody say one time the more scared you are of a calling, the more you can be sure that that's what you're supposed to do. And um uh uh, I just went blank on his name. Um, the Czechoslovakian dissident who became prime minister, Vaklav Havel, um, has a wonderful quote, and this was very impactful in my life as well, that he said, um, um, oh geez, I just I just went blank on the name. Okay, it was so impactful, I just went blank on it. Um anyway, I'll I'll think of it. But um, but anyway, it's it the the it's just kind of a profound effect that um you know, if you're if you're scared of doing something and but you're gifted to do it, you have the the talent to do it, other people are confirming it, there's a pretty good chance that that's exactly what you know uh God's calling you to do.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

And courage is what shifts and changes things. People who are willing to be courageous in the midst of their fear. Men don't follow titles. They followed it. That doesn't get a lot more complicated than that, does it? That's exactly right. Philip, would you be willing to just close off our time? And I don't know, just like this heart, obviously, of what it all culminates to that we focused on is that if we're willing to be courageous in response to what God calls us to, that he'll actually do more than we could ever ask, more than we could ever dream, or more than we could ever imagine. And that just that those people that are gonna listen to this, that they would be like, wow, I'm resonating with what Philip's saying in my own way. And rather than cower to fear, what I'm gonna start doing is I'm gonna stand it in the faith and I'm gonna move, stand it in the face, and I'm gonna move it. Yeah, move forward in courage and boldness. Yes. Yeah, would you be willing to pray for us as we close off? Absolutely. Thanks, Philip.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Well, dear Lord, we're so thankful for the calling you place in all of our lives. Uh, so thankful for Jesse and the team here and just the opportunity to share a little bit about your story and my life and my family's life and your calling. Um thank you for um the strength and the courage to do what we're doing. And I just pray that for the people out there that are listening, Lord, that you would speak very clearly to them as well as you call them into a life of courage and a life of adventure where you have called people and uh to do immeasurably more than you could ask we could ask or imagine in each of our lives. And uh we thank you for today. Um, we do pray your blessings upon the state of Kansas, and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

Amen. Thank you, Phillip, so much for joining us and being on today.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

Absolutely. Bless you guys. Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Yeah, thank you.