Welcome back to the Christianity Business Podcast, an initiative of the RTW Dunn College of Business at Houston Christian University. I'm your host, Darren Shear, and this is the show that helps Christian business leaders to integrate biblical values into business. On this episode, we're joined by my new friend Tamara Andris. We got to connect at the recent U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce conference where she was one of the keynote speakers and did a phenomenal job. Um, that was the first time I ever saw somebody, uh a speaker, come out to the stage um with a bubble machine. That was that was awesome, but definitely a uh reflection of the joy that she has in Christ and that she loves to share with with others. Uh, Tamra is a six-time number one Amazon best-selling author and calendar. She's, I'm sure, got more books in the works now, featured in Forbes, USA Today, Inc., Entrepreneur, LA Weekly, and many other well-known publications. She's a keynote speaker and top podcaster with the Messenger Movement Podcast and two other shows. She's a serial entrepreneur who works with high-capacity Christian leaders to become millionaire messengers and share the good news. She's wildly in love with words and the word through her publishing company, Fit in Faith Press, F-I-T in Faith Press. She catalyzes messengers in the marketplace by building business tree. What a cool word. Through publishing, podcasting, and platform development while keeping play at the core. And her nonprofit, The Founder Collective, focuses on ordaining and sustaining marketplace ministers and is launching an academy in 2026. Tamara, welcome to the Christianity and Business Podcast.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. I need to shorten that bio. Less is more, y'all. Less is more. But I I do love all the things that I get to do, and I get to do them intentionally. So that didn't even mention my babies, you know, we're recording this after Mother's Day. So I am a mom of two. And my husband and I have been together for gosh, a little 16 years now, married for 12, and um, yeah, so grateful for that role as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And and she does Peloton and preaching. So she will actually, if some of you listen or are exercise on your Peloton, watching your videos, Tambra actually preaches while she's on her bike. And uh, so you can tune into that on YouTube while you're working out. Pretty cool stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yes, do it. I that's my one rule, though. You have to be working out while you listen because that's just really awkward to listen to somebody huffing and puffing if you're not also huffing and puffing. Okay. So get your move on and and we'll get a move of Christ in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So, Tambra, when did you first realize God wanted to be involved in your work and business?
SPEAKER_00Oh man, um, I kind of feel like it was a demand. I don't know if anybody else ever feels that way, where like something radical happens in your world and you realize this is a non-negotiable. And while I know God gives us free will in that regard, I knew what the alternative element of choice looked like. So I have been an entrepreneur for going on what, 17 years? I started companies right outside of college that came from a college business plan. So for those of you actually still in school, um, do your homework and see what can happen. I ended up entering into a business plan competition and the investors were like, someone needs to do this. This is awesome. And um, me and my mom did that. So I never actually had a resume or any of that. And fast forward to my 29th year of life here on earth. And uh I had a radical encounter with Jesus. All of those businesses that I had started in my 20s, which accumulated to nine different ones, two which were really notable. They were both global in different commerce realms. They were both product-based businesses. I was working about 60 to 70 hour work weeks, and that um final note of motherhood and wife, and in the opposite, obviously, organization, because wife came first, then babies for me anyway, is uh I was living that part of that bio, that statement last. I had this encounter where I literally saw my tombstone flash before me and it said entrepreneur on it. And I felt so void in the middle of that because I was putting everything above my soul's identity and something that I had prayed for. I prayed to have an amazing home and an amazing husband and two kiddos, right? I literally prayed for a boy and a girl, had all of these things, and I wasn't stewarding them well. And so I sat with the Lord of like, I definitely couldn't put child of God on my tombstone, like a lot of Christians have. I definitely don't think that I earned the award of saying that she's a noble wife or any of the Proverbs 31 things. They just weren't on my list. I just had the marketplace side down really, really well. And so, in a radical encounter with the Lord within about 36 hours of that vision that I had in my kitchen, he told me three things. He said, I love you. I no, actually, let me put it in order. I see you, I know you, and I still love you. And that still love you felt like the first time I had ever actually been seen, even by somebody as intimate as my husband. I didn't feel seen by him because I was living out a life on the exterior that was not the same life of how I was feeling or what God had called me to interiorly. Um, what does that mean? I'm saying all of these words, and I just want the person who's listening on the other side to know that we are so easily fashioned by the world to live out of our titles rather than live out of the identity as being a son or daughter to the King Most High. And so when he had my eyes fixed on him in that moment, I knew that nothing else mattered. And I immediately quit those businesses. Um, I went into a cocoon in the nucleus of my home to rectify those gifts and those blessings and to steward them well. So for three years, I was beginning ordained, I was in a worship school, I was getting a lot of therapy. And when it was time when I just really felt like the Lord was releasing me back into entrepreneurship, it was a non-negotiable for me to do it any other way than by the basics of the Bible. That teaches business so well.
SPEAKER_01And so what changed in just your habits and your the way that you uh you actually were conducting business?
SPEAKER_00Gosh, I uh everything. I would say that the things that were the same was that I've always been a go-getter. I've always had pretty um great discipline, but my discipline, instead of it coming out of the intention of it being for me, it was the discipline out of being with and for Christ and understanding biblical principles of how do you even operate in integrity as a business owner. You can be a good person and not be doing good things and think that it's it's okay. Um, and that's not biblical. That's so outside of the alignment of Christ. And so working hard, um, playing hard, um, hustle hard. And there's all of these languages that were presented as it's it's this is the way life should be. Even like the concept of the American dream, like work to retirement. Does anybody know where retirement is listed in the Bible? I don't think it is. So we have all of these things that are presented as like, oh, that seems like a decent way to live life. And yet there is a freedom operation that we get to live in wholly and in alignment every single day when we're operating through Christ. So the way I interacted with customers was totally different. The timing associated for how I showed up for my life every day was different. The prioritization was wildly different. Um, my energy and what I actually was doing to actually serve people completely changed. I wasn't doing it for the dollar exchange. I was doing it for the heart exchange. I really wanted to see lives transformed. And I still do to this day. And while my companies have grown and new things have been established, it's like all of that could go away tomorrow. And I know when I have that face-to-face encounter with the Lord again, that it's going to be, I love you, still love you, but I'm gonna have been proud of what it was that I bring to that next conversation versus how I felt in my life at that time. Gosh, what eight years ago now?
SPEAKER_01Wow. What's one of your favorite stories that illustrates the impact that's been made through your company?
SPEAKER_00Oh man. What a great question. So many people. So many, uh specifically, I'll say, Darren, when I first started, I thought that the Lord would only trust me to work with women. And that was more of a character thing that I had to focus on and to get healed by in order for there to also be the opportunity to serve men. Um, and so I I would say the format that I enjoy the most, that I've seen the deepest healing, has been retreats. And one of the retreats that I've gone on, gosh, I could think of so many, but I found out on this particular retreat, when you host a retreat and people are following you around the world to go somewhere new, you don't really have control of who comes. You don't really know the fullness of their background when they do come. I've had strangers entrust me to take them around the globe. First time I've ever met some of these people, right? And um, I always allow the Lord to do what the Lord does best, which is bringing together people in communion and to me, just be a steward of the like hosting that space. And this particular retreat, I found out that 12 of 12 people who were on it had been sexually abused. And these are entrepreneurs, these are business leaders, these are people who had never in their life, some of them in their 50s, told their own spouse the same information that they were sharing in this space. And so creating a container of safety is something that I'm really good at, that the Lord has been um so generous in allowing me to have a front row seat in doing people's healing journeys. On that particular um retreat, I had I saw people set free in their marriages. I saw marriages healed through that retreat because of the work that we did there. I saw relationships restored with parents that had been severed for decades. I saw um women leave women and actually operate as the daughter that they're meant to be and to find new yearnings in their heart that they thought didn't exist towards the opposite sex, towards the sex that they're supposed to be in communion with. Um those stories, that particular retreat and many more are like what cements me to show up every day, to know that I wasn't actually doing a monetary exchange for somebody to go travel with. I was actually making space for the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do in a Sabbath rest environment. And so I, as much as I love to play, as much as I love to adventure, as much as I get to, you know, bring messages to the forefront of people's hearts, I'm I'm ult ultimately after that individual and what God wants to do with that relationship. So I would say it's restoring intimacy is the biggest thing, the biggest gift of what I get to do every single day.
SPEAKER_01Wow. What a powerful story. What's one of the business practices or habits that helps you reflect you and your company and your other initiatives? You got several different things going on. Um, but what's one of those very tactical habits that helps you and your organizations reflect the character and ways of God?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh two, I'll say two things, and they're both kind of indicative of the same outcome, um, but done differently. So before you guys got to hear the recording, um, Darren immediately mentioned the background of where I am. So if you're seeing this visibly, hopefully you can see the vibrant colors on the wall behind me. I have on a bright orange shirt for those who are just listening, and then there's blue and orange and purple, and actually, there's no purple, pink, yellow on the walls behind me. Um, why? Right? So the rainbow has always been something that I've been fascinated by. I've loved since I was little. My marriage, all of the bridesmaids had a different color on. The maid of honor had a rainbow-oriented dress. It sounds hideous, but y'all give me, cut me some slack because it was before Pinterest. So I don't have any excuse other than my little girl ideation of this beauty, this beauty that I wanted to represent. So when I thought about branding and I finally got set free that I don't have to brand under the guise of what's popular, I don't have to go for the muted blush tones, though I love them. I don't have to go for the thing that everybody else is doing. I can be fully me and I can do that freely, and I can reclaim the rainbow in the way that it's meant to be claimed. And so, what does that mean practically is branding, brand who God has made you uniquely and wonderfully. Don't try to brand based on what your audience might find appealing because I did that and I wasn't thrilled with it. Every time I saw something, my designer would make it be like, oh, that's pretty. And it was, it was really pretty, but it didn't electrify me. When I see stuff from my designer now and all of these bright colors, I'm like, yes, I can't wait for that splash to go out into the internet world. And simultaneous to that, it's connected to one of the fruits that I generously give out every single day, which is joy. And so, how colorful is it like when you were little and somebody gave you a coloring piece of paper? Like you wanted the whole crayon box. You wanted to hog every color. And so it's connected to the way that I'm able to give out the fruit of joy every day. And practically, how do I stay abiding in that and have the overflow of joy on a consistent basis? I do that by stacking play. I stack play in my schedule very intentionally. That play could be with my kiddos, that play could be with my husband, that play could be solo, that play could be outside at the beach, it could be working out on the Peloton, it could be intentionally in my worship time and dancing freely versus feeling like I have to be on my knees, like, okay, Lord, this is the time that you're supposed to speak to me. Like, have fun, right? Like play. There's so much intimacy inside of play. And so I hope that that like gives you a little bit of an insight to my relationship with the Lord, but also my specific and our team specific strategy for how do we show up authentically in joy every day? Because that's one of our biggest marketing tactics is just show up and have fun. And uh, that fun is going to be a magnetism quality that people need more of.
SPEAKER_01Wow. I love that. How have you seen some of your some of your clients, you know, the folks that you've been serving and and really sharing that that message with? Maybe they respond to it by I need to have more joy in my business or I need to be more of who I am. Like, how do you how have you seen some of your folks kind of heed those words?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'd say the the biggest thing that they say is like the the bravery that I have in how I share my faith. And I don't believe that every company, every ministry, well, ministry probably, because that's just what it is, but every company, business tree, if you will, has to be as faith forward as I am in the way and the language in which I curate to share. I speak directly from the Bible often, and I'm sharing, you know, very um in your face Jesus. And a lot of people are really uncomfortable with that. And it's not everyone's call, right? There are people who are meant to go and fill the marketplace in a very unique way so that they can spread Jesus through things like joy rather than his actual name. Um, Jesus is love. So love is an element of how you could show up. Joy is an element of how you could show up representing Jesus without necessarily it slapping people in the face or turning people away. So that's the number one thing that I get, Darren, is like, man, I want to be more brave in how I share my faith. And people more than ever are feeling called and convicted in the sweet Holy Spirit conviction, of course, to share and display their faith and to be bold about that. And so it's an honor to be able to have people as like, that's the first thing people want from me is like, how do you do that? And ultimately it just comes out of the wellspring of spending time with someone, right? The more Darren and I were to spend time together and rub elbows and eat dinner and raise our families together and hang out with our spouses, the more we'd start to sound like one another, right? The more we'd start to emulate each other, the more, oh, Darren told me this thing and I'd have a funny story. And it's not even my story, it's Darren's story, but I've accumulated the story as my own. That's what it's like when we walk and live life out with Jesus. And we're that intimate in relationship with him. And so I can't help it. Um, but I want other people to have that same I can't help it element to how they show up. Um, so it's gonna look different. They're may not have a splashed rainbow on everything that they do, but God will speak through them uniquely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love that. Tamra, tell us about Fit and Faith Press and the founder collective in whichever order you prefer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'll tell about the evolution of them in the way that they came to life, which is Fit and Faith was initially my podcast name. It was initially supposed to be the title of my book until God wrecked that um after three years of writing it. I wanted everything to be synchronous in how it was projected to the world. And fit became an acronym about three years after I was on that journey of founders, innovators, and trailblazers. Um, initially I thought I was supposed to only help mom preneurs. And then gentlemen kept being like, Hey, can you help me? Hey, can you help me? And I'm like, okay, I see what you're doing, Lord. I'm gonna release this as an opportunity. So I've had that blessing of being able to help men and women of all different walks of life, um, but all pursuing Jesus, right? So people in the real estate world, people in health and healthcare. Um, I've I've helped people in uh the uh not healthcare, I'm the like counseling kind of space a lot. Um, people who are in ministry and they're stepping out of ministry for the first time, develop businesses, people who are stepping into ministry for the first time after corporate careers. And um, the fit and faith concept of the press element really happened after three to four years of just developing businesses and realizing one of the number one things that people want to do is to share their story in a documented format, which is a book. And so the publishing house came years after I was developing businesses and helping people catalyze that. And now it's the primary way that we help them while still developing the ecosystem behind that book as a business entity because we know you're it's not a get rich quick scheme when you're publishing. And we're not here to get rich, we're here to get be wealthy and emulate that through the Lord. But it's also an important quality for us to be able to monetize so that our ministries can expand and we can expand the good news in the kingdom in the way that we're meant to. So it's a stewardship conversation. In that time frame, we also had a house church that was established. And we ran that for about two years alongside the co-pastor of what the founder collective has evolved into. And when those pastors actually had a building that was gifted to them uh here in the area and they started a local church outside of our house, that was when we realized what had actually happened in this two and a half year intimate environment as we were all coming together. It was actually a space where business leaders were catalyzing their mission. And we didn't or talk about it, it just happened. So everyone that was inside of that founding family with our home church is now operating and owning as a founder their own business entity and ministry. And it's wild that that evolved that way unintentionally. And so, as we've realized the most important thing that entrepreneurs need is discipleship and they need to find community that is a safe place for them to actually dwell because we're all a little cuckoo in our own ways. We're moving at speeds that are totally different than the traditional nine to five person. And we have to have real conversations about leadership and team developing and hiring and valuation and managing our money and being a fractional CEO or CFO or CMO or what does that practically look like in the biblical basis knowledge? And that's where that founder collective nonprofit established and why we're developing the academy is we want to arm people with ordination and operational tactics to be a kingdom leader.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. So the founder collective really was birthed out of a church. I mean, it kind of is a church.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's still a church. We meet weekly, um virtually online every Wednesday. Me and the pastor, the co pastor Anthony Hart, uh, and we we equip and we disciple and we come, and it's not pastoral or churchy in the sense of there's a pulpit to people conversation. It's very much relational. And people come like as if it were a session with the Lord of just God, Holy Spirit, what do you need? What do you want to get to your people today? What are you wanting them to hear? And it's incredible. It's every single week there's healing happening. And that's again one of the biggest honors.
SPEAKER_01Did you say that's meeting online or in person or online.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Online every Wednesday at noon Eastern.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Wednesday at noon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, everybody's invited. So it's not a closed room. Anyone can come and chat and um most of them unless it gets too intimate and not a safe thing to share publicly become part of the Founder Collective podcast.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Awesome. You know there was uh you're probably familiar with the Folden Street revival that was started back in, I guess it was like around the Civil War era. Yep. But there was a businessman named Jeremiah Lanfear that just started gathering some business folks there at Folden Street in New York City for prayer at noon during a workday. And and it gave birth to one of the greatest prayer revivals. Some of the stories I was reading is people would um you know ships would come in along the eastern seaboard and were would just fall down under the power of God because just the just the force of God's present manifest presence was so strong. And um but one of the greatest prayer revivals started from a group of business folks gathering at noon.
SPEAKER_00I love that I didn't know the timing. I'm going to look that up and present that to the crew this week they'll love that. I think I think revival and in people I was even having a conversation about this um with Jeremy Kubac who we're talking about earlier. And it was about this idea of the marketplace you know being a birthing space for revival. And he had a really cool perspective that I totally am in tandem with in regards to the fact that maybe it's already happened. It's currently already happening and for us to have that revelation and operate under the power and authority that we've been gifted like it's not a waiting for the revival to happen. It's not a waiting for Jesus to come back. But that's proof in and of itself, right, Darren, that like this is not new. This is not something that has never happened before. There's revival happening in business leaders every single day and it starts with a personal revival which is exactly my story. That's what happened to me that then I was able to go out and have eyes to see and ears to hear what is really needed and ultimately what's needed in every place not just marketplace is is people need to know who they are and whose they are and operate in that space as a son or daughter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And just the idea of everybody having a ministry and everybody um walking that out in their own sphere of influence is so biblical. It's so biblical but it's it's so far from kind of where we've gone today you know where you just come and you you listen to the expert and you don't have anything to contribute and then you leave. And as long as you're putting something in the offering plate and showing up that's all that's really hoped for or expected.
SPEAKER_00But I think the church has become such a business in that way that it's lost um the power. It's lost the presence and that's that's all I'm here for. Like that's all I want every day I'm like where's the presence let me chase that down. And when we chase him down like first off he shows up every single time he's not hiding from his people but it changes everything else. It changes the practice of how you go back to work. It changes how you go back to your family. So I am I am on par with that and and excited that we get to be in the midst of it you know every day.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Well Tamara, where do you want to send people to connect and get involved with what you're doing?
SPEAKER_00Yeah I hang out on Instagram and LinkedIn the most space I also love you talked about prayer. It's one of my favorite things to send voice memo prayers to people. So if you're listening and you're just like man I I want more joy I want um more effectiveness in my business tree and whatever your prayer request is, send me a DM and I will 100% be praying alongside you out loud and not just saying praying for you friend bye. I'm going to do it I'm going to drop what I'm doing and I'm going to pray on your behalf because it two or more are gathered. We know he's there. So I partner with people in prayer all the time.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. And anyone who wants to learn more about the prayer revival and Jeremiah Lanfear just go on YouTube look for Fulton Street Revival Prayer Revival Jeremiah Lanfear it'll pop up there's uh there's at least one really great kind of short documentary about it. I can't remember which ministry put it out but um but that'd be a great resource to show your show your people and just get them extended yeah that's the first thing I'm going to do. Yeah yeah I mean they started out with just you know it was just him and then there was like two and then three and then pretty soon um I mean they they attribute millions of of conversions back to what started there at Fulton Street.
SPEAKER_00Wow well what's interesting is our our uh annual conference we have is called FounderCon and it's a faith in business collision conference and this year we decided to bring it home to our our hometown. It's usually traveling to other major cities and we live in Virginia Beach in the the harbor um one of the biggest ports of the East Coast is in Norfolk Virginia and so uh one of the nights we're actually getting on a cruise um and we're going through the Norfolk harbor and you're going to get to see not only all of the huge containers and the big barges that are coming in but also all of the military were warships that are either out of commission or are being worked on right now. And um one of the things that the Lord has been telling me is like just pray pray in the harbor and what is going to happen on that boat with hundreds of business entrepreneurs and us all coming in communion together and in tandem in prayer and worship. Yes. So you're giving me the Holy Spirit chills right now. I'm like let's go. Awesome awesome that's so exciting Tamra thanks for getting us uh fired up on this episode um as you're so gifted to do and um so fit in faithmedia.com forward slash quiz there's a quiz people can take um you want to just give a plug for yeah so after about five years of working with new people and learning about what their passions were and like the desires of their heart that God had planted into them, whether it's to be a speaker, to be a podcaster, to be a teacher, to be a host, to um whatever that is author, we decided to put together a quiz of that language and what people were presenting to me and what was actually in their heart I can actually kind of pinpoint. And so I love the feedback that people give me on this quiz. It takes you probably two minutes to do and it pops out what is your profit identity, meaning from your unique identity, how God has created you, what is the best way for you to create a profitable business and what should he put as the primary way in which you do that. And so it's a a really cool quiz, a really cool identifier and also there's some training on the back end of how do you develop a business plan from that particular space. So I am a um there's so many different ones but a speaker you're an author you're a host it's it's really cool. I would love to find out what you are Darren.
SPEAKER_01Awesome yes serial entrepreneur maybe I need to go take it absolutely I will do it. Tamara thank you so much for helping us grow today and um just just sharing that joy with our listeners we're we're all better for it.
SPEAKER_00Good. You guys enjoy Go Stacks and play today.
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 podcast 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