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SPEAKER_01Thanks so much, Darren. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_02So when did you first realize God wanted to be involved in your work and business?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's been a journey, that's for sure. Um when I started in corporate, well, I'm I'm one of those head Christians initially. That's how I kind of started my journey in faith. And what I mean by head Christian was that I would go to the four walls of the church for that hour and then leave it all there. And uh, even as a young child, I got the 10-year perfect award for attending church. So we think about that, Darren, though, 10 years of never missing a church service. Even sick, we would do a church service at home or something to get the award. And that's so funny to me because our life was not, we were not like living Christ outside of the church. But I knew a lot of Bible stories. I just didn't have any application for that. So I carried that with me into the corporate world. Um, like I said, like you said, I did drop out of college and start stocking shelves at a truck parts store and just start working up my way in that corporate ladder. And it was a large company and I was successful very early. And I thought that the more success and the more money and the more power and the more things that I had, that I was the one that did it. Because again, I didn't have a head and heart relationship with the Lord. And so I made God smaller, I got bigger, and that's really um a very dangerous place to be. And it's also a turnoff to a lot of people, you know, because people are watching us, especially if you call yourself a Christian. And I did, I thought I was. I really thought that I was, but there was no fruit, there was no fragrance of Christ in my life. I know I didn't sound like a Christian that I would want to follow. I know I did not act like a Christian. Um, and so through that, with my position and level of in the organization of the power that I had, I did a lot of damage. I know I did. Um at the time I didn't think so, but I looking back reflectively, I know. And so, you know, through when when you're, you know, there's it's only a matter of time before you fall. That allows gravity to pull you down on your knees and uh a lot of twists and turns, unfortunately, divorces and plural yes, um, and just some some poor decisions. Uh, I found myself sitting in a 5,000 square foot home with five bathrooms in a very affluent area in Windermere, Florida, um, divorced for the second time, and realizing at that point something's gotta change. All the lies of the world, everything that the world tells you will fix, whatever is hurting or broken, is a lie. And I knew at that point I had Christian friends. And when I say Christian friends, I mean friends that were living Christ, that after church didn't go through a rager, like real friends that were like embodying and showing me what it was to live a life with Christ. It was at that point I fully surrendered my life to Christ. And I'm just telling you, like, once you fully accept Jesus Christ in your life, it is just a washing clean of everything, every crack, whole cavern, crevice, broken piece in me was just was just filled and whole. And so I knew at that point, like, whatever I do, I just want to serve God. Like He had blessed me with an incredible mind for business. And unfortunately, for the first half of my life, I didn't use it for good. But I was like, whatever it is that I can do, I love business, I love the Lord. How can I serve him and that together? What does that mean? And what does it look like? So somebody said to me, Hey, there's a Christian chamber of commerce. You should go and uh meet with the president. Well, I couldn't believe that the president of the Christian chamber would meet with me. So uh we had coffee, and while we were having coffee, um, it went for two hours, and I was just like, This is it. I found my people. Like, I can't wait to be a part of this organization because I want to work with Christian businesses. When he left the coffee, he called his wife immediately and he said, God said she's the one. And he clearly knew that at that point he had been looking for his successor for five years, and I wasn't even there for a job interview. I wanted to join his Christian chamber. I wanted to go be with people like me and do business with people like me. And uh, so I'm really a product of that Christian chamber and uh really see the value of being in the right community and doing business with excellence and ethics and where people really have that same biblical worldview. Because if I were to sit here and say worldview and talk about these things of being big, big-headed, power-hungry woman in heels, uh, people go like, yeah, you go, girl, power, right? And not go, oh, Crystal, you're very talented, but God's got real big favor over your life. Like you couldn't have done that on your own. Do you understand that? Wouldn't that have been cool if someone would have said that to me? But anyway, so that's really how I came to know the Lord and just really know that my business, my business is ministry. I am in business tree, and it's the coolest, uh, coolest opportunity that I could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_02So is there a particular story you could tell that really kind of uh features this sort of the before and after where prior to this this you know really encountering Christ in a very personal and all-encompassing way? Like you you started to do business for God's glory. And what did that look like in a way that was different from the way you were handled that situation before?
SPEAKER_01Oh, Darren, what an incredible question you ask, my friend. Well, I will um I'll tell on myself a bit, okay. So I had when I first became an officer, I was 34 years old and I was running the gas company in the west side of Texas and 47 cities, all customer service for Texas. And I had to move to El Paso, Texas, and I just got an instant team. So I report I had directors reporting up to me. I did not have any experience whatsoever in the natural gas side. Customer service, yes, but the gas side, no. Engineering, construction service, pressure control, maintenance, corrosion, you name it, that was my responsibility. And so I was really needing to trust and work with my director team. And I think the hard, the biggest challenge in making that transition from director to executive, I moved from Kansas to El Paso, different culturally, okay, but the biggest switch was the business culture was very different, even more so than the culture. So Kansas Gas Service to Texas Gas Service, two different companies under one umbrella. Within probably the first two weeks, one of my directors lied to me. And it was a safety-sensitive situation when he lied to me. And so this he have grace for me, people of God. Uh, because this is before Crystal knew the Lord, like she knows the Lord now. Uh, but when I found out that he lied to me, um I said things that I would never even consider saying to another human now, but I uh so much so that I recommended he get fired immediately. And um and unfortunately, in those positions, or fortunately, he had to run things up the flagpole. But it in Kansas it would have been direct termination. In Texas, it was a little different. But because of what I said to him and how I said it and the choice words I used, my president boss comes to me and says, uh, Crystal, we're recommending a year of uh executive coaching for you. And basically, I got in trouble for for doing that. Now in Kansas, that was union, and that would have been totally okay. But but you can understand. Um now, if you know, a situation like that occurred, I would I would never consider doing what I did and saying the things that I said. Um, so the pre and post example of how to deal with things when, you know, even now, like if something comes at you really quick and you're not expecting it and you feel, you feel scared, you feel pressure, you feel like this is, you know, creating tension. Now, what we do in a situation like that is, or how I handle it, is I've set, I step back, I pause, I breathe, I pray, I turn a whole different way because I know who fights my battles. But the old me was trying to fight the battle and I was just out of control. I really was. And now it's just a lot different approach.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I mean, when God comes on your team and God becomes the boss, like he's not, he's not only the boss, but you start to view him as the person that you want to chew out because however you've done it to the least of these, and hey, we're all the least of these, you know, in a lot of in a lot of different ways, like you've done it to him. Um, and if you haven't done it to him, you haven't done it to your coworker, your customer, like you haven't done it to Jesus. And and so, I mean, it's just such a such a game changer to recognize it's not just that you're answering to God, but that God is on the receiving end of everything we do in the marketplace because he's so big.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_02So you wrote a book titled The Best Robot Wins. Um, what do you mean by that? And what's the scriptural basis for that premise?
SPEAKER_01So the best robot wins. What I really what I'm conveying in that is that you have to build your business and structure your business in a way that allows the human beings inside your business to be successful. So whoever constructs the best machine wins. And it's not just about, and I see business as a machine, so it's not just about the parts, gears, and axles of the machine. It's about having it in a way that allows people to be successful. Um, and so I I really see engagement, communication, and simplicity of your business allowing your employees to really be your competitive advantage is is ultimately what it's about. The the scriptural basis behind it is something that God showed me. Um, I had three months to write this book. Okay. Had somebody, many people had said to me, you know, what are you gonna write a book or whatever? Um, but somebody that is prophetically blessed came to me and said, Crystal, God wants me to ask you, when are you going to write your book? And it wasn't but a week later that a friend of mine that um does it has some publishing says to me, I'm looking for a female author. I need it in three months. And at the time I was launching or helping uh starting the Central Florida Christian Chamber, not from scratch, but it was at COVID, it was uh it was heading towards extinction. So I say caught starting it. So time-wise, I didn't really have the time, but I knew I needed to take the time that the Lord had already come before and shown me that this is the right path. And so I needed to think conceptually, what do I want to create, write this book about? And as I was out walking my dog, I thought to myself, I'm gonna almost have to become robotic in, you know, in structuring my days so that I can have the breath to do what it is I need to do. And I worked with somebody and we started to put the concept together, and I just can't see the parable of the seed sower. Like, what how does the parable of the seed sower work in business, right? And and what I love about what we do at the Christian chamber is we help leaders work in their life, run in their business, but see how does that integrate and apply with the biblical worldview? So all these things that are in the Bible are not like old and dusty. It's a living, breathing word of Jesus Christ, thank God. Like it is there to just give us our manuscript for life, you know? And so I just kept seeing parable of the seed sower. So what God showed me, well, we all know that the premise of that parable is about the word of God falling on our hearts. But what He showed me is use the principles of the parable to teach a lesson for business. So I use the parable of the seed sower and the parable of talents to teach business owners how to structure their organization. So, for example, when he talks about the seed falling on the dry ground, how the Lord showed that to me is that in organizations, you have people that are not engaged. And when they're not engaged, they're like that seed on the top ground. They're not, they're easily plucked off and plucked away. And that also is your customers, too. And so it's like, okay, let's go to the next one, Lord. What do you see for the next one? And that one was the one where the seed fell, the rock, and it died because it didn't get the water. And how the Lord showed it to me was that water is communication in organization. If that water, if that communication is flowing throughout the entire organization, not just top down, but throughout, so that the frontline worker is getting not only communicated with but has an opportunity to commute to communicate their experience, it's a very rich organization. And then the third piece of it was when that seed fell into the the thorns and thistles, it choked it out. Well, that Lord showed me was people in the organization that are so um so surrounded by structure that there's no room for creativity, innovation. They don't have the freedom to be human. And they're kind of ties to that best robot. I remember when I was working in corporate and I was leaving corporate finally, and I told my daughter that I'm leaving, and she was probably about five or six at the time. She fills up these big wells of tears in her eyes, and she says, But if you're not Crystal Parker vice president, who will you be? And honestly, I was so lost my identity in this corporate giant that I wasn't even bothered by that question because I was true trying to figure it out myself. And so when we structure and we constrain the humans in the workplace, we're just sucking everything out of the creative life and genius that God's placed inside of them. And so, so using those premises is really what I wrote the book about, and and uh really want to teach that lesson. That the greatest asset in any company is the individuals who have the light of Christ in them, and that light can shine. And when that happens in an organization, you can copy a chicken sandwich, you can copy a competitive strategy, but what you cannot copy is the ability to allow the human to flourish. And when that happens, maybe you got a company that's here to last.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So, how do you do that? I mean, how do you how do you make sure that your company is that good soil where the seed can take root?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, gotta get the book, I'll tell you all about it. No, but I really do, I really do tell you about it in the book. But like engagement is there's some onboarding strategies and there's things you can do. Communication, I think communication has the most um pages in that chapter because there are some strategies about how to communicate because you don't drift into good communication in a in a business. And the bigger you get, the harder it is because you have to over-communicate to make up for the complexities of the structure of the organization. And then even, you know, going through and making sure that there's, and it's an arduous task to make sure that the processes are simple for employees, that there's not a lot of redundancy and constraints and the processes that you put the people in. And then there's that little thing about the parable of talents where it's talking about the treasure and really kind of driving home that not making sure that you have an ethically based organization, that you haven't created fear in your organization or pressure to perform, which pushes ethical erosion. And uh yeah, so I really break it down in the book on how to get there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And how would you define what the the actual seed is um if we're running with this analogy? Like what is the what is the seed?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, the seed is the human worker because in the right ground, that's where you see that that the hundred times, right? The 100x. And um, and we want to make sure that the the business, the machine is built in a way to allow for that flourishing and that seed to be able to flourish. So that's good soil. Yeah, so the same thing.
SPEAKER_02Beautiful. And you know, it's really the the worker coming uh just coming alive, right? And their God-given calling, which they might not even think about it in those terms, right? But like you were talking about earlier, the CEO has 860 times more influence with that unbelieving worker than a pastor does, um, you know, and not just the CEO, but probably anyone in the organization, right? Anyone in the workplace.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. Yeah, it is so true. I I remember I was doing a talk in a place that was a secular company, and I always tell people with this book that this isn't this isn't religion. So like, don't worry. It this is biblically based, and I believe the greatest book ever written on business is the Bible. So I kind of put them at ease, like that's just ladies on the preach to us. Um, and so when I was sharing about you know the principles of this book, but uh it is biblical and and and the Lord can wake people up. I was one of those dead lights walking, right? Like the eyes show the light. And I was one of those dead deadlights walking, and all of a sudden in this room, for us about 400 people, you just see the light start coming on for people. The lights were starting to come on. Like, you know, we've always been told, leave your personal life at the door. Like, and I think that's the thing I love about the Christian chamber concept too, is once you fully accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, head and heart, you can't say, I'm gonna go here and be one way, I'm gonna go here and be another way, and just separate who you are in Christ. And for so many years, we've told people when they come to the workplace that they have to be a certain person that isn't true to who they really are as the whole human. And so these lights start coming on in this when I'm giving this talk. And so I come out afterward, I'm signing books. And the first person comes up to me and says, When I quit, I'm going to be a pastor. And I said, You already are. You don't have to quit to do that. And then somebody says to me, I'm a Christian too. And I'm a Christian. Like they were just excited that somebody just was there to like give them permission to be alive. And I think when when I I love business tree, I love people that see business as mission, bam companies, and leaders because they allow those lights to shine. And that's why the CEOs that are faith-driven CEOs outperform secular companies, the non-faith-driven CEOs, because they understand these concepts. Kingdom culture is something I believe that the rest of the world is going to strive for and try to try to emulate because it is such a successful culture. That's how you have engaged people. That's how you attract, develop, retain, and engage. The top talent is in kingdom culture. And some people say kingdom for the word, and some people don't say kingdom, but they're using the same principles that we're using, and it's biblical principles. So I really believe it. I see a nation filled with kingdom culture just to even grab a competitive advantage.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Amen. And the Christian Chamber of Commerce is a big part of the delivery mechanism for that, right? So tell us about the Christian chamber and um maybe how people can get involved.
SPEAKER_01Sure. So we are the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. And my vision for that is that there'll be a local community Christian chamber in every metropolitan city across the U.S. We have great partners with International Christian Chamber of Commerce as well. And they're in 72 different countries around the world. So we as believers shouldn't have to show up in places of doing business as two separate people. We solve our problems different, just like what Aaron and I were talking about earlier. Old Crystal, not a good problem solver. New Crystal has the best ability to solve problems with the Holy Spirit. So we invite the Holy Spirit in through prayer. And uh we understand that uh doing business with a biblical worldview may make you feel alone sometimes. And so you're not alone. That's what this Christian chamber concept is about. It's about uniting the body of Christ. Every joint will supply, meaning that we need to look to do business with one another so that we can create a kingdom infrastructure, a parallel economy, if you will, where now that we are doing business together, that money circulating into kingdom things, pouring into philanthropic giving, that's kingdom advancement, including tithing into churches. That's how we see citywide transformation happening as a result of changing the community. Another thing we need to be aware of as Christians, we need to be in the game for voting. We need to take an active seat, not in political debates or politics, rather about voting our values and making sure that we have candidates that encompass the values that are important to us so that we can see change, not only just at the local level, but even at the national level. At that school board seat is just as important as the presidential seat, because every one of those elected roles matter in terms of policy, what our kids are reading, what's allowed in our schools. And so, you know, I really do believe that through the Christian chamber concept, we are changing a nation. We are doing it one community at a time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. Um, you know, it we probably don't have many listeners who would be old enough to remember what it was like when the Chamber of Commerce was a Christian organization. I mean, really was founded with a Christian kingdom-centered um motive. Uh, but of course, you know, we've drifted away from that. And and um here we have a uh Christian chamber to to rally Christian companies together. And so, you know, if you're feeling like you're just a little, little tiny stream out there and you want to flow into something bigger than yourself, bigger than your company, you know, consider joining the Christian chamber. I know I am. Well, we just got connected here, uh, Crystal, but I started hearing about the Christian chamber and just got really excited about it and said I gotta interview Crystal Parker on this podcast. And uh and so here we are. Um, I hope our listeners are inspired. I know they are, and um inspired to take action. So everybody could go to uschristianchamber.com and um and register. Anything else you want to say about that?
SPEAKER_01Well, I I love the work that you're doing, and uh, I think that uh if we all come together and unite, we're gonna be stronger together than out there on our own. And so we we really just believe that uh collectively, collaboratively, and together, we will make a difference and reach more people for the kingdom of God. So whatever thing you're doing, and not just you, Darren, because you're doing big things, but there's a lot of people fell out there saying, Well, I'm just doing a little part. I'm just doing, I don't even know if I'm significant at all. And what I would say is every, even every school teacher, every person that is out there interacting on the front lines, whether you feel like it's little, um, it's big to somebody. And we want to bring you in and be a part of what you're doing. We want to help people be successful. We want to help them take whatever little thing they think they're doing and really show them how big it is in the in the big picture in the kingdom of God. And so I just uh want to encourage people, big or small, come with us and be a part of this so that we can change this nation.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. Crystal, thank you for sharing your time and wisdom and your your journey with us today. And thank you for the great work that's happening um with this um reborn Christian U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. I'm really excited to see where the Lord takes this.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Me too. Thanks, Darren, for having me and God bless you.
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