Welcome back to the Christianity and Business Podcast, an initiative of the RGW Dunham College of Business at Houston Christian University. I'm your host, Darren Scheer, and this is a show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. On this episode, we're joined by Daniel Stein. Diagnosed with a learning disability as a child, Daniel found strength and confidence through fitness transforming his life. As an author, speaker, personal trainer, and entrepreneur, he's dedicated to helping those with disabilities unlock their potential through fitness. In 2016, he founded Special Strong, a pioneering fitness company catering to individuals with mental, physical, and cognitive challenges. To date, Special Strong has empowered over 10,000 people, and the movement continues to expand through new franchise locations. And he lives in the Dallas area with his family and is actively involved in their church. And y'all gotta go follow Daniel on LinkedIn to just see some of the stories and the impact that's being made. I mean, these stories will just wreck you uh and just really grab a hold of your heart uh when you see how the Lord is using Daniel and his company uh to minister in the marketplace, um, uh specifically to people who have mental, physical, and cognitive challenges, and they're doing it with the highest level of excellence. Daniel, welcome to the Christianity and business podcast.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01Daniel, when did you first realize God wanted to be involved in your work and business?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a great question. So I really think it started probably in 2011. Uh, it was actually my mentor, Rob Moore, who sat down with me one day and he actually gave me a prophetic word and said that he saw me uh working with kids and adults that had disabilities. And this was really the beginning of what turned into starting Special Strong. And and you know, I was saved in 2009, and then it was just a couple of years later, 2011, when I had that prophetic word to start the business. You know, but I would say from a very early, uh very early on, one of the principles that I realized that was so important in my walk with Christ was surrender. And and so, you know, for me, when when I had this prophetic vision of, you know, work with kids and adults that had disabilities, um, it was something that immediately I had to surrender to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't know what this looks like and I don't know what the timing looks like. I don't know how to do it. I have no business background, but I know one thing that um you are in control. And if you have called me to do this, we're gonna do it. I'm gonna strive my absolute best to do it your way with your principles. And um, I I really believe that um, and then and I talk to a lot of business owners and Christian business owners, they to me they don't understand a lot of them, unfortunately, they don't understand one of the most important principles of business, which is your business does not belong to you. Your business does not belong to you. And it's uh it's no different than money. Your money does not belong to you. And so for people who don't tithe, it's because your money belongs to you. And you're gonna hold on to that money because it's yours and you think that it provides you with something that God can. So if it's the same principle with money, and um it's no different than with a business. And really, from an early standpoint, I I was I was under great discipleship. So I learned a lot about surrender from an early standpoint. And um, it's still something there's there's still areas I'm constantly having to surrender over and over to the Lord. But in business, that for me, the biggest thing is God, this is your business. This is your vision. How do you want me to run this business? It is yours, Lord. Do I have permission to do this? Do I have permission to do that? Lord, can I start this new initiative? Lord, what does my exit plan look like? That's it's it's God's business. You got to go to Him for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Love it. And so to give our listeners uh just kind of paint the picture of what's going on in your company, what's one of your favorite stories that illustrates the impact being made in your company and through your company?
SPEAKER_00I would say my all-time favorite story was working with a young man named Brandon. So mom saw a Facebook ad for our services, and she was very skeptical because her son at the time was in a wheelchair and he had been in a wheelchair for eight years. And she didn't see she had seen a lot of different providers. Nobody could help him physically get out of the wheelchair and get him to where he needed to be. So she saw an ad for us, she said, I'll give it a try. And so I was assigned as as Brandon's trainer. And from the very beginning, I was, I told Brandon, we're we're gonna believe for a miracle. I don't know what it looks like, I don't know how it's gonna happen, but we were gonna believe for a miracle that uh God is gonna help you walk again. And so um within three months, we we went through a training program and I'll never forget it. It was it was very spontaneous. But one day I came into the gym for our workout and I said, Brandon, today is the day you're gonna walk. And so I took him in his wheelchair and I wheeled him outside the gym and I said, get out of your wheelchair and walk across this this sidewalk. And so I got my my phone out, and I had no idea what was gonna happen. And so I got my phone out and um he started walking towards me and he was scared out of his mind. I mean, we have this whole thing on video. He is he is full of anxiety as he's walking towards my voice. And um, you know, you talk about impact, that video and that story to this day um has had the most impact out of anything else that we've ever done in terms of volume. And so we um we we were set up on news interviews and collectively that video received over 150 million views uh worldwide. And um, so when you talk about impact, that was that was very unexpected. And and what was neat about it was, you know, we didn't mention the gospel in the video, but people would watch it and they would say, I see God in this, which is really interesting. I didn't I didn't have to attach a Bible verse to it, I didn't have to say anything about God in the caption. People were just watching and God was getting the glory. It was really cool, and that's I love when the Lord does that. I love that there's a quote that says, Preach the gospel always and use words when necessary. And uh, I love that quote, and it reminds me of how this story with Brandon, Brandon, through that miracle, preached the gospel without me using any words, which is really neat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, and and so did you by your your obedience to doing this work that God called you to do. And you know, there will be a time to use words. Um, I mean, I like to to think of it as demonstrate the kingdom and then explain the gospel. Um and what you've done is you're demonstrating the kingdom, and that's the exciting opportunity we have as believers in the marketplace is to demonstrate God's kingdom, which that's his character, that's his ways, his ways of doing business, his ways of interacting with people in the marketplace. And hopefully we'll do that in a way where we get out of the way and he can shine through us. And now we get an opportunity to explain why uh why we do what we do and and how we do it. And um, but that story is just is so powerful. Definitely everybody go watch that video, uh, bring a box of Kleenex. Um when you watch it. Oh man, it's so powerful. Uh Daniel, what's one of the business practices that helps you and your company reflect the character and ways of God? Um, you know, just something that that maybe not is not necessarily unique to just your uh your business or your type of business, but something that somebody could take and apply in their own company where they're gonna demonstrate the kingdom through that business practice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, there's a there's a lot of things that come to mind, you know, but I'll share something that is is very challenging. And when I share it, most people won't do this. And and because I I mentor people and I'll tell them how powerful this practice is and it's biblical, and and then when I follow up with people on it, they'll say, Oh, I I haven't had the time to do that. But it's so powerful and it demonstrates the kingdom. And it's the principle of taking a sabbatical. And and so um as business owners, we are constantly thinking about our business. We're all busy, and taking, um, in my opinion, it should be least quarterly, taking a quarterly sabbatical. And I think it can look different for everybody, but really uh in in summary, what a sabbatical is is when you get away from the daily grind, and typically you're going to go to a different environment. It could be a hotel, it could be an Airbnb, but it's going to be away from people and it's going to be ideally away from technology. And it's just you and God. And it is, there is going to be fasting involved. And uh, again, this is where it gets challenging because people don't want to fast. But it's again, that's the the Bible talks about when the Bible talks about fasting, it says when you fast, not if you fast. So fasting should be a part of every Christian business owner's journey. And here's why. And the whole purpose of fasting in a sabbatical is to clear clear out the the earwax in your ears to hear God, because as business owners, our minds are going millions of miles an hour. And we probably we might have our quiet time, but it's really easy to um to kind of edge God out of our lives and just start operating in the flesh and start operating in selfish ambition and start operating in my understanding of what I think I should do next. And if I'm really smart, it it may even sound like a really good idea, right? So um, and that's and a lot of us are wired that way, and that is that is the flesh. And so we really need those, not only do we need our daily quiet time to get out of the flesh, but we really need those longer, extended breaks. It needs to be at least one to two days. I know people that take four to five days. Um, for me personally, I could never do that uh because of of how I'm wired, but I respect people who do five days. But the the biggest thing is, Lord, how how long do you want me to get away for? And uh what does that look like for me? And so um uh anytime I take a sabbatical, sometimes I'll come with talking points with the Lord. It might just be like a bulleted list of Lord, these are some things on my heart I need some clarity on. But the the number one thing that I always do, and and I'll share, I'll just be completely honest with you, Darren, here. Um, I took a sabbatical about a month ago, and I had some really big talking points about the business. I was talking about what does my exit plan look like, timing, selling, should I sell, should I not sell? And um and I got through that and I felt I felt like the Lord gave me some clarity. And then and then I started saying, Lord, I want you to search my heart. Lord, is is there anything that I'm missing here? Is there anything in my heart that's not pleasing to you? And then he specifically said to me, You've been very immature in these areas. And he started giving me a list of areas that I had no idea that I was being immature in. And um, I was extremely convicted. And um, everything that he was showing me was was backed by scripture. I mean, there's there's very specific scripture to show that the areas that I was operating in were immature. And the Lord said very clearly, I want to work on this with you. And again, I didn't know I was being immature. Um, I used to think some of these things that I were doing, I would tell myself, this is just who I am, this is just my personality. But the Lord said, This is not pleasing to me. And so I left that sabbatical um with a heart shift in my heart. And um my heart literally shifted to where all of a sudden I had this new awareness for this immaturity. And um I really feel like the Lord was doing that because in order for me to be the leader that I need to be, he's got to sift out these heart issues. And we all have blind spots. And for me, that was a blind spot that nobody, nobody called me out on. But it was because I took a sabbatical at a hotel in Plano, Texas and fasting, where the Lord said, Daniel, you've got some some heart issues that I want to deal with. And as a business owner, um, you know, Samuel says that the world looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And when it comes to running a successful business, success is 100% defined by the condition of your heart before the Lord. It is not determined by your bank account, your EBITDA, your net profit. It is just it is determined by the condition of your heart because scripture says the flesh profits nothing. So you could be doing a lot of good things in business that actually are not of God, that the world would say, that's really good. Uh, maybe you're giving to public charities. Good for you. Did the Lord tell you to do that? Because it's not your money. Did he tell you to give it to that charity? Because if he didn't, then you're not in obedience and you're not walking according to God's will. So the heart is the the Lord is all about the heart. And so um I'm I'm going a little off your question here, but that just that just all came out, Darren.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, that's that's so good. And so is this is this something that you do you so you so you did one a month ago. Uh this is kind of in addition to a weekly Sabbath day of rest, or okay.
SPEAKER_00Great question. Yeah. So when I I do take a weekly Sabbath for for me, it's Sunday, and I'm with Sunday, I'm I'm with my family, and I'm not necessarily going to be engaged with the Holy Spirit all day. I'm gonna be with family, I'm gonna be focused on other things. Yeah. On an actual sabbatical, it is 100% engagement with the Holy Spirit. I mean, we can only, as humans, we can't focus on everything at once. If I'm if I'm working on a project, it's really hard to think about Bible verses and scripture at the same time. Okay, but if you're on a sabbatical, that's all you're doing. You you are devouring the word of God, you are worshiping, you're praying in the spirit, and that is all you are doing. It's very different than just taking off a Sunday and resting. Now, rest can be a part of a sabbatical. I really think that a sabbatical should be customized by the Holy Spirit for every person. But as a principle, it is 24-7 engagement with the Holy Spirit for extended periods of time, which nobody's gonna get that during a normal work week because we're we're all being pulled in different directions, kids, families, businesses. Nobody's gonna get 20 unless you're a monk, okay. This is a little bit of a monk lifestyle for a couple of days. That's what it is, okay. And we all need some of that monk lifestyle because they've they've got to figure it out in that area.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Yeah, and a lot of them are still running monasteries where you can go and stay. And um, I I that's something that I should that I should do, that I really need to do. You know, uh the last night I just had one of those uh I and this never happens to me, but there's just uh a business decision that's kind of weighing on me. And and it was one of those things that well, we we just got a puppy, and so the puppy's in the crate next to our bed while we're sleeping, and the the dog stepped on a squeaky toy and it just woke me up just like that. And for the next hour and a half, I'm just running through and trying to get back to sleep, but it's because I'm I'm just like preoccupied about this this issue. And you know, finally, just in that particular instance, the Lord said, I'm gonna give you the answer to this tomorrow. Um you need to you need to just go to sleep now. And I went to sleep almost immediately after that. Um, you know, the the first 90 minutes was me just trying to figure things out on my own and like, what if we did this? What if we did this? And and the Lord said, I'm gonna give you that answer tomorrow, and you'll get peace about that um that answer tomorrow. And so I think being in that uh that discipline of taking these uh sabbaticals, I I think it was Dan Cathy that calls them dog days, D W G Day Alone with God, um where you know you just go to a hotel room, no phone, no electronics, and and he marks them on the calendar at the beginning of the year. Um, you know, it's not like I need to wait and see if I need it. Uh it's it's assumed we're gonna we're gonna need that. Um but it's uh I mean what do you say to people that are like you know, I just I just don't have time for that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that I I hear that a lot and I I can actually relate a lot to that uh thought, Darren. You know, I've um I I journal in every sabbatical, so I've I think I've taken about I started the the sabbatical practice about five or six years ago, something like that. I think I've taken about 12, 15 sabbaticals. And um I don't know that I've ever taken one sabbatical that was just the timing was great, uh, it was convenient. Um, it was it's never happened. You know, I'll tell I'll show you a sure a neat story. Um a lot of people say they can't afford to take a sabbatical because um you're not you're not necessarily making money if you're going away to a hotel for a couple of days. And especially if you're a startup company, it's even harder. And I'll never forget, one time I took a sabbatical and um it required me um to cancel on some of my clients, which was a financial burden for me. But I really I had committed, I always pre-commit to my sabbaticals. I commit to them quarterly. I don't schedule, I don't like to schedule a year out. For me, that's a little challenging, but I do schedule them quarterly. So in this particular case, this one had already been scheduled and I committed to it, knowing that it was going to be a financial sacrifice. And um, I'll never forget it. So I took the sabbatical, and then the next day I went into my office and I opened the door. And underneath the door, and by the way, nobody knew I was taking a sabbatical. I don't, I don't make that public. That's it's really nobody's business except for my family and me. So if I'm and I'll I'll tell my prayer team about my sabbatical. I think they should be prayer. I think everybody needs a prayer team for as if you're a business owner. But other than my prayer team and my family, they were the only ones that knew about my sabbatical. And I opened the door and there's a check for $1,000 on the floor. And I I look, there's a the the name of the person on the check. Never heard of these people. I think they were from North Carolina. I looked them up on Google, I couldn't find anything. And I was like, how did these people get my address? Because I don't list my office address anywhere. How did they get my address? And I I just to this day, I don't know. I wrote them a letter, I wrote them a letter and never heard back. But that that dollar amount that was under my door was almost the exact amount that I I lost from taking a sabbatical. So um there's the excuse for I can't afford it. The way I like to think about it, I like if somebody says I can't afford it, I like to just change their mindset a little bit. And and and then I like them to think about it this way. Um, the challenge is you you can't afford to not take a sabbatical. And here's why. And then I can I can list all the reasons of the importance about hearing God's voice. And then the other thing with time, um, you know, I think we all know this, but um, you know, we're all prone to making excuses. And we're all we're all really good at making excuses. But saying that, saying that we don't have time um is is a poor excuse. And um, my my challenge to somebody that says, I don't have time would be to do a time audit for 72 hours and send me the audit, and I'll show you where you can insert the sabbatical. And that would include social media usage, that would include phone usage and anything else that you do, and I'll show you exactly where you have the time to take a sabbatical.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, well said. Well said. Daniel, what's another one of the business practices that helps you and your company reflect God's character in ways?
SPEAKER_00Um I would say that for for me, one of the other business practices to help reflect God's character and God's practices. I mean there's a couple of things that come to mind. You know, I think um I I would say that the number one way for me to run a business reflecting God's character and practices without a question. And there's a book on this, but it's the secret place without a question. Being daily engaged in the secret place with the Holy Spirit is, in my opinion, the number one key to all success in business. And there's a great book. It's called Secrets of the Secret Place. I read it about six years ago. It changed my life. I used to think quiet time was boring. I used to have a really hard time doing it. You know, I would spend 10 minutes and I'd be, I'd be burnt out. And uh that is not the case today. I to, you know, to this day is something that um it's it's gone from being uh a discipline and a duty to a delight for me. Um and it's really it's it used to be a discipline to where I'd have to di discipline myself to do it. And don't get me wrong, Darren, there's still days where I'm tired, okay? And it is a discipline, but as a majority, it is a delight to be in the presence of God every morning. And that is ultimately what allows me to run a kingdom business. Um, because we're either feeding the flesh or the spirit. And so when it comes to when you when you say your question, what you're really asking is, how do you run a business and walk in the Holy Spirit? That that's what you're really asking. So when that that's that's the way that I answer that question, because you can't run a business in the flesh and be about the kingdom. It doesn't work, it's impossible. The only way you can run a kingdom business and have the character of God and reflect his glory is by walking in the Holy Spirit. And that and that really is a hour by hour by hour encounter with the Holy Spirit, yielding to his presence, yielding to whatever he wants to do. If he says go this way, I go this way. If he says go this way, I go this way. But it's really, but it starts in the secret place because that relationship and that that history is formed in the secret place where you're just you're going away. Uh, it could be in the car, it could be in the shower. For me, it's in my office, but it's just you and God. And you're just, you're, you're in scripture. I like to journal. That's how I hear God best is through journaling. And he responds to me with spontaneous thoughts that I like to write down. So I have history and I can go back to history and refer back to it. But that is the number one way to reflect his character and integrity is to be in his presence. And I go back to what I said earlier, Darren. You know, um, I went on my sabbatical and the Holy Spirit said, You've been immature. Okay. Well, that that's that's a lack of character. And it was the Holy Spirit who said, You've been immature, you need to work on this area. And that that will result in more maturity and more character and more integrity. But that came from a an outflow of my relationship with the Holy Spirit. If I didn't have that secret place time every single day, I would be nothing. Okay, absolutely nothing. I I don't know about you, Darren, but I know how bad I am without the Holy Spirit. And if I think I can skip meals like food in a day, how long can I, how many meals of the Holy Spirit can I skip? How long does it take for me to realize I've skipped a meal with the Holy Spirit? Is it is it a week? Is it a month? For me, it's if I miss one day of being in God's presence, I feel different. And it's it's it's it's just everything is different. I just I don't have the same anointing, I don't have the same empowerment. And um, I I need the Holy Spirit to run a kingdom-operated business. And again, it goes back to the secret place and practically go read Secrets of the Secret Place. In my opinion, it is the best book to cultivate a true relationship with Christ in the quiet time. So again, I used to think quiet time was really boring. I had a hard time with it. That is not the case for me today. And this book was really what ignited me uh to have a fruitful secret place relationship with Christ.
SPEAKER_01Do you remember who the author of that book is?
SPEAKER_00I think it's Bob Sorgi.
SPEAKER_01Bob Sorgi. Okay. Um let's see here. Yep, you are correct.
SPEAKER_00Yep. All right. My number one favorite book, most life-changing impact book ever since I've read it. Um, I've been so fired up about the secret place. It used to be so boring for me, Darren. I used to I used to do it out of duty and discipline and religion, checking off the boxes. Oh, I'm doing my Bible reading plan today. Um, now I look forward to it and I'm like, I wonder what the Lord's gonna say today. Like, yeah, because listen, Darren, one word from God can change everything.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00One word, the Lord could come to you and say, Darren, I want you to move to McKinney, Texas today. But if you're not listening, you're gonna miss it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. One word. That's right. That's right. Yeah, I'm reading uh 2 Timothy right now, and just reading in chapter one where Paul says, I know him in whom I have believed. And just thinking about how there are there are a lot of Christians who believe but they don't know the one in whom they have believed. And and that's often the case with us in business. Like we get so busy and and wear it as a badge of a badge of honor. And you know, look how booked up my schedule is, but but totally miss the one that it's all about. And uh and he has so much, like we were talking about before. I mean, he has so much to say about our businesses. Like look at the look at the miraculous catch of fish. Just make this slight tweak here. Don't put your nets on this side, put them on this side. But he might need to come into your business and flip over some tables too. You know, yeah. He's done that too. It might be a combination. Usually it's gonna be a combination of the two. Um like like uh Daniel, some immaturity there. Flip that flip that table right over, bust open those cages.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I'll I'll share uh I'll share some some neat fruit from uh from the secret place. This would have been 2019, and I'll I'll never forget it. And uh I was having quiet time. And um I you know, my when I have quiet time, I I always my goal is to um is to always come with no expectations. I I always just want to say, Lord, because I always have a list, Darren. I always have a hundred things to talk about. So I always try to come to the secret place and say, Lord, what what do you want to talk about? Lord, I I could talk to you about here's here's a business issue here, here, here. Because most of the time the Lord wants to talk about something else. Okay. So in this particular uh quiet time, um, I I just come to the Lord in humility and said, Whatever you want to talk about. And um, it's neat because um I was very I was not expecting this, but he he gave me a business idea that I was not expecting. And he told me to open up a certification program for personal trainers. And so this was in 2019. And so I took action on that and I created this program. And um, you know, that was in 2019. And um, as of today, it's it's done, it's done around $700,000 in revenue, and um, it's almost all passive income. And we've certified over 1,400 trainers in 27 nations. Uh, but like I said earlier, Darren, one word from God can change everything. So God gave me a word in 2019 in my quiet time that led to me starting a certification program that I would have never thought of. And it is now certified over 1,400 trainers across 27 nations. Um, but if I didn't have that intimacy and relationship from the secret place, it would have never happened.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Wow. Yeah, it's it's like my my experience last night. Uh, I mean, I felt like the Lord woke me up with my dog stepping on that squeaky toy. And it it took me a while to get there, but it was it was it was almost as if the Lord was saying this was all just to get you to this point of just saying, you know what, I don't need to know right now. Um, I don't need a a definitive answer on this issue right now. Like this is not gonna rob me of my sleep, it's not gonna rob me of my joy. But you know, the Lord just loves those those moments with us where we just are completely dependent on him and recognize that he's in the room and recognize that he has the answer, even though we don't, and and he might not be ready to reveal it to us right now. He told me he's gonna tell me today. So that's what I'm that's what I'm banking on. Um good, I love it. Well, Daniel, I just love your sensitivity to the Lord and the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding guiding you and love how God is prospering you. Tell us about um the the website, how people can get connected, learn more about what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, really the the best way we, you know, we've got a we've got three different companies, but really the the best way to sort of learn about all of them, because they're all related, is just visiting specialstrong.com. So we've got franchise opportunities. I I mentioned the certification program earlier, that's a separate company. You know, that's an opportunity. And that that's really the best way. And and and really what we're looking for now is we're we're just really focused on on um on servicing more people that have mental, physical, cognitive challenges. And you know, we've got um we've got 12 locations, eight, eight that are open. And so we we, you know, for for the listeners, maybe maybe there's a parent that has a child with special needs. Even if you're not near one of those eight open locations, we we also have another company that does virtual training. So we we actually just started with a client in China, for example. And uh we can we can literally train anybody in the world through our app now. So if there's anyone listening that has children or adults that have any kind of challenges, mental, physical, cognitive, we can service them and help them live a more abundant life. And then, you know, separately, you know, if there's anybody that wants to is passionate about the space and maybe they want to start their own business, maybe they want to uh become an entrepreneur, then there's also the franchise opportunity as well. And then of course, you know, maybe somebody's not ready to start a business. You can you can just get certified, you can learn how to do adaptive fitness training and uh maybe just you know help people in your community, something like that. So specialstrong.com is is the best way to go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you've got a video that you can send to people, or maybe they can see it at the website. Uh, but it kind of explains a lot of that opportunity and and the market. And you share some of the story from uh Brandon was his name. Is his name correct? Yeah. Yes. Uh so that will certainly help people get oriented on what's going on here. Uh Daniel, it I love what you're doing. Thank you for spending time with me and our listeners today. Um, we are certainly better for it.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for the opportunity, Darren.
SPEAKER_01We hope you've enjoyed this episode. And if so, we would greatly appreciate it if you'd leave us a quick rating and review for the Christianity and Business Podcasts on iTunes. You can get more information about HCU's Center for Christianity and Business and sign up to receive free access to all issues of the Christian Business Review Journal by visiting our website at Christianityandbusiness.com. Thanks for listening, and remember to keep integrating biblical values into your business.