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 today's episode, we're joined by Jason Davis. Jason is a husband, author, speaker, teacher, encourager, and stewardship coach. By the leading of the Holy Spirit, he founded Jericho Force Enterprises in fall 2017. Jericho Force helps kingdom business owners grow into their full potential so they can thrive in three primary areas spiritual growth, personal growth, and business growth. And he helped lead people out of over $310,000 of debt and set aside upward of $100,000 in savings. His impact extends to the organizational level, having trained over 1,200 individuals and counting on the concepts of leadership development and teamwork. He's a profit-first professional, John Maxwell certified trainer and coach, a disc flex certified coach, a graduate of Dave Ramsey's financial coach and master training, um, and many more. He's a former football player for Georgia Tech and author of the book Fortify Being Rooted in God's Plan for Work and Business. Jason, welcome to the Christianity and Business Podcast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Darren, it's uh it's an honor to be here, man. It truly is.
SPEAKER_01Jason, when did you first realize God wanted to be involved in your work in the marketplace?
SPEAKER_00Oh man, Darren, there's a cool, really cool story about that. It was probably around 2016, uh working in the corporate space and and technology and IT. And Darren, at that time, especially being a newlywed, I was really focused on trying to be a provider for my family, be a brand new husband. You know, you're in that leaving and cleaving phase, you know, you're working with both sides of the family and whatnot. And at work, I was just really in that mode of uh grinding, to be honest. You know, you go there, you get the paycheck, and you come home. And the interactions that, at least at that time where my maturity was, you know, I I've been a follower of Christ since I was a kid, but just when we're talking about the work context, go get the check, go home, provide, and kind of quote unquote deal with people while you're at work. And it was actually an incident that occurred during that. The Holy Spirit really invaded my thought process. I'm in a meeting, and there was a uh a gentleman, uh co-worker of mine at the time, uh, very difficult to work with, uh, had a tendency to take over meetings, talk over people, wanted to get his point across. And I don't know what was in the Kool-Aid that particular day, Darren, but I had, I mean, I had had it, I had had enough. Uh, so of course, this individual, they do what they do, uh, and meetings, and when we were finished, I literally stormed out of out of the room. Like, and people were kind of, oh man, I've never seen Jason kind of leave abruptly like that. So I stormed out, and I mean, I was hot as fire, Darren. So I go in and I I I leave. I'm frustrated, I'm angry, and I'm in the hallway. And Darren, I know God speaks to people differently, uh, but this was one of the times for me where I heard an audible voice, and we've had several cinematic experiences where it's like time freezes for a second. So I'm in the hallway, headed to the bathroom, and I hear a voice say, Jason, why don't you figure out a way to be an encourager of people rather than a complainer of them? And Darren, I I felt like I had an apple stuck in my throat. I said, Oh, and I knew who it was. You know, you kind of do that thing where you look around, hey, is it oh oh yeah, that's that that's who I think it is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I was just convicted in the moment, Darren, because I had allowed someone else to influence my emotional state and my thought process that much that you know I'm almost dang near raging in the office place. Out of that experience, Darren, uh, I spent time with the Lord. I said, Lord, well, you're gonna have to show me how to do this thing, like how to be and encourage your people, because I knew enough, Darren, to know that, okay, it's in that moment, Lord, that you're needing me to to do something, and I'm asking you in that moment, you're gonna have to show me because I don't I don't possess the capacity, or at least I thought I I didn't, uh, but we know uh that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So what that that set off a series of uh real discovery and intimacy with the Lord, Darren, and God began to show me how to be an encourager people. He took me to passages like Hebrews 3 13, but uh as long as it's called today to encourage one another, um so that we don't become hardened uh by the deceitfulness of sin and first Thessaloni first Thessalonians 5 11 uh to encourage and build one another up just as you have been doing, uh, and several other passages. And it really began to change my heart, Darren, because that was the first time my mentality started to shift, like, whoa, wait a minute. I'm not just here to tolerate people, I'm here to love people when they're difficult, and and you know, I had always heard oh, be a light in the darkness, but that heart work, that heart change really was like, okay, God is wanting me to do something while I'm at work. So it's a five-year process, Darren, that God just began to show me things. Uh, in technology, there's a tendency. Uh, there's no knock on anyone, but there's a tendency to be a lot of interesting uh positions, let's call it that. You know, there's a lot of different um spiritual and logical uh thought processes in technology, and I just began to serve people. So, Darren, you'd get people coming up, you know, you're making small talk, you're in the coffee break room, and you know, hey Jason, how was your weekend? Oh, my weekend was great. How was yours? Oh, you know, my daughter's sick. And in that moment, just saying, Hey, um, you know, I don't know where you are on these things, but you mind if I pray for your sick daughter? And I just remember the the facial ex wow, you would you would do that? Like, really? Yeah, I would. I started doing that, Darren. And then pretty soon, even people who I knew weren't followers of Christ, they just started coming in droves like, well, Jason, I know you're a person who prays, and air quotes. Would you pray for this, this, this, and this? And it just was an awesome journey. Uh, and I'll end that this thread, Darren, because I know you have more. With another, there was another time that in this process that I'm going through, another lady came up to me and said, Jason, you're always like smiling and cheerful. Like, how are you doing that? I'm I'm having a tough day today, and it's just like I'm kind of annoyed because you're always smiling like like I'm missing something that you're in on and I don't know what it is. And I remember saying to the lady, I said, Okay, um, do you really want me to tell you? Are you sure? And she said, Yes, Jason, I'm sure. I said, Okay, now, because once I tell you, like the cat's gonna be out of the bag, she's like, All right, Jason, all the suspense. I said, Okay. Um, a merry heart does like good medicine. It's a proverb. She goes, Wow, I've never heard of that before. I said, Yeah, it's a it's a proverb. Um, and you know, I always think about that scripture being salt and light, Darren. So I just I did a little sprinkle, I didn't throw the book at her and thus saith the Lord and all this, or or where are you at today with your I just said, Hey, you know, I'm able to maintain a unusual to you uh amount of joy, and even on tough days, because a merry heart is like good medicine, and uh it's funny because that scripture is what came to my spirit talking to her, and uh and you just never know where people are, Darren. You know, there's planting and watering, and God does what he does to reach out to people, but it was in that moment I remember she she was left with a big impression, and she our interactions after that just became very, very cool. But that was the beginning of yeah, Jason, um not just with you on Sunday, I'm I'm with you Monday through Friday.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, being an encourager is such a a remarkable differentiator among people and worldviews in the in the marketplace, especially, because I mean, especially if you're a supervisor of of somebody, the I guess the conventional mindset is well, you gotta constantly correct so that you can get them to do the job, you know, the right way. And and so but the dark side is that your overall approach can be characterized by just being flat out discouraging because there's nothing to counterbalance that. And as you were talking, and especially you being a football guy playing at a at a high Division I level there. Um, I wonder if you ever had a coach like the legendary Tom Landry. Oh man, you know, one of the things that was so remarkable about him, I don't know at what point he started doing this, but I mean, he was the first coach of the Dallas Cowboys. You you know this, he won several Super Bowls. But he told his players, uh, and I mean, I played high school football, and when your coaches uh you know showing film, to what are they typically emphasizing? What you did right or what you did wrong? Yeah, usually what you're doing wrong, yeah, usually what you're doing wrong, right? And he said, guys, listen, we're only gonna show the film of what you're doing right from now on. And that was his whole philosophy, is that we're not just gonna we're not just gonna focus on when you, you know, busted the play and everything, but we're gonna show everyone what you did, what you did right, because that's what we want, right? We want more of what you're doing right, not more of what you're doing wrong. So it's like when you're if you're studying, um, you know, kind of heard those uh I've never studied counterfeit bills, but I understand to really get an eye for it, you don't study the counterfeits, you study the real thing. And so that way you're when you see the counterfeit, you you recognize it. Um, but Tom Landry, hey, guess what? He was a born-again on fire for God Christian, yeah, because this doesn't just come out of you know our our sin nature that everybody has. Like you've you have to it has to come from the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, absolutely. I love the uh the call out there, Darren, because in sports there's all these stereotypes about you've got to be the macho, you know, alpha male that's domineering and you're coming in and yelling and and using profanity. And I've always, you know, Tom Landry and a bunch of other numerous coaches or or even players to just let their faith guide them uh in an environment that uh can be toxic at times, very emotional, uh, and you're physically in battle every every play. And so Jesus is there too. He's on the gridiron, he's on the basketball court, he's on the soccer field, he's just as much there as he is uh on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You know, another great example is uh Mary Kay Ash, you know, three billion in revenue, and I think like three million sales consultants, probably more at this point, but she actually said that encouragement is what their whole marketing plan is based on. And you know, and just helping these these women to um just tap into their their God-given identity and beauty, and um, you know, what an opportunity we have in the in the marketplace. Thank you for sharing that. Um, I wanted to ask you about the name Jericho Force. Uh I'm I think we all you know think of Joshua in the battle of Jericho. Where where does this inspiration come from? What is Jericho Force?
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's funny you asked me this, Darren, because on my own podcast, uh, I kind of spelled out in a little bit of detail, probably the first time publicly, about where that came from. It was actually a dream, Darren. Uh, originally, I did not even want to start Jericho Force uh because uh the Lord was calling me to help people uh with their finances. And that was quote unquote my thorn in the side because of my family history. I mean, I moved uh 19 times by the time I was 18 years old. Parents filed bankruptcy the year I was born, uh, multiple car repossessions. So uh, you know, it was the last thing on my mind, Darren, was hey, you know, with that kind of background, who wants to listen to a guy like that? And yet, God was the very thing that my family struggled with, is where he was leading me uh out of, you know, there's a lot of emotions and things like that. And my parents ultimately got divorced my sophomore year in college, but I just became uh relentless in learning about money. So I became that, you know, kind of that friend and the member of the family that knew all things finance. And so people would ask me for financial advice. But real what they thought was wisdom was really me, the fear driving me to never let that happen again. And uh, of course, Darren, you know what happened. You know what happens when you relentlessly try to not become the thing that you that that have impacted you. So um I did not want to do it. I felt the Lord calling me to do that. Uh, and he had to wake me up in the middle of the night, Darren. I had a dream. It was it was very vivid. I've never had anything like it. But long story short, if you can imagine this, Darren, I don't know how much of a gamer you are, but I know with you uh, you know, being in the in the having been in the military, so definitely uh thank you for your service, by the way. But it was like I was in the middle of like a Tom Clancy, you know, Rainbow Six, and I'm in the bushes, and I've got like night vision, and it was so vivid. And I just remember the men there, everybody's holding their firearms and no one was talking. They were just everybody was silent, and they everything, you know, kind of how they do in in movies, Darren, where they're trying to get you to look at something without saying it. So everybody's kind of like, hey Jason, look over there, nodding at me. And I realized, I was like, what are we? I knew we were in a mission, so I'm like, what are we doing? So I I turn on the the night vision and like we're we're in the bushes, you know, taking our position, and we're and I see this large structure out in the middle of like an open plane. And I knew this was like a God type of thing, Darren, because immediately in the dream I was like, wow, that's that's Jericho. I mean, it was massive, and I was so I was like, why are you know I I'm I'm asking, I'm talking to myself in the dream, like, why are we at Jericho? And and then Darren, like I said, God speaks to he does whatever he wants to do. So I I hear this thunderous voice come like that rings over the plain, over the open area in the valley, and it says, Jason, I want you to help my people tear down these walls, and then like something out of Jumanji, Darren, the city begins to like shift and rotate, and there are words that appear, and there's four of them, and it the the structure turned four times. The first time the word fear appeared, then the word ignorance, then entitlement, and then comparison. And then after it did that, then the voice I heard it just once more, and it said, These are the four things I want you to help my people tear down and destroy. And then everything went black. And then I jumped up and it's like three in the morning scaring my wife, and oh, honey, what's wrong? I said, I don't know, but I just saw something. So it was like, Darren, when you see those movies where you know there's like the call to action to the protagonist or whatever, but so they might as well had cued the music after I said, Honey, I'm not sure, but something just happened, and I I think God was in it, and credits. So, and so when I woke up later that morning, Darren, um probably about three days prior to me having that dream, I had been reading the book of Joshua. So when I woke up the next morning, I was like, man, like, okay, Jericho, like, wow, Lord, like, what is so I'm reading Joshua that morning in my devotion time. I come across, you know, we all love Joshua 1, 8, and 9. Have I not commanded you? Do not be afraid, do not be deceived, for the Lord your God is with you. And I was like, okay, all right, Lord. We'll I think you're trying to nudge me to go. We'll do this. And I was like, but I still Jericho, I know it's in the name, but like, what do we do? And I kept reading through Joshua and I got, you know, that's Joshua chapter one, but we know chapters later they they face off at Jericho. And uh I got to that, and I'm reading the passage where the you know they're marching around the walls, and of course, we know they shout and the walls come down, and the Holy Spirit just, you know, Jason, the walls came down by force. Jericho for and I was like, Oh, okay, got it. Jericho Force Enterprise. Now I know that's like most people are like, I don't know about that for coming up, but it was truly supernatural. Um, that's that's all I can really say because this was somebody who didn't even want to do it, and God woke me up in the middle of the night at three in the morning, and it was on after that, Darren.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And so those four words, those are what tend to keep people in debt. Uh is that is that the idea?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I've talked, I've done a lot of uh talks and workshops on how those four things, when you unpack them, they hold people back from a life of freedom. Uh now, when you think about helping people prioritize what matters most, your money is part of that and understanding um God's role versus your role. God is the owner, uh, he owns it all. You know, he owns the earth, he owns the silver is his, the gold is his. When you look at, you know, the Psalms, when you look at uh Haggai, and all throughout scripture, it's like, hey, the earth is the Lord's, the resources are his, the uh the cattle and the livestock, the cattle on a thousand hills, the land, it's all his. And so, in light of his ownership, what is our role? We're managers, we're stewards. And the things that interfere with our stewardship, Darren, um, they're not the only things, but these are four broad buckets that you can tie a lot of issues back to. People do or don't do things in their life or with their money because of fear. People do or don't do things because of ignorance. Uh, there's two types of ignorance there's willful ignorance, which is the dangerous kind, and then there's pure ignorance. I just don't know. One thing, Darren, because we we're in 2023, we live in an information age. So we have things available to us that they didn't back in 70 BC or you know, 50 AD. Um, so the pure ignorance is I just don't know, you know, whatever environment, household. You grew up, but willful is I know to do it, and I just simply choose not to. So that's ignorance, uh, entitlement. Oh gosh. Think about the day we live in, Darren. I deserve that, and it's mine, and I worked hard, and me, me, me, me, me, the me monster. Oh, and then lastly, which is what kind of rounds those out, Darren, is somehow we get this bright idea. Well, why don't I take off the blinders and start looking around at what everybody else is doing and what everyone else has and comparison, it just kills over and over and over. You try to keep up that phrase keeping up with the Joneses, and you start looking at what you think you should have or may have or could have in light of someone else, and simply just leaning into what God is calling you to do and not worrying about what other people have. And so, yeah, Darren, that those four can be applied to a lot of things. Obviously, I talk about the financial perspective, but you can really extract that out to life, really.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it really affects people on a personal level as well as it affects businesses, yeah, as well, you know. And I I mean it it seems to me that there are probably times when you maybe you've got more orders than you have inventory, and you know, your your um vendors are you know late on paying and uh that sort of thing, but but most of the time isn't it it's mismanagement. I need to go borrow money because things have been mismanaged, we got to get back, you know, on track. Um, or it's coveting.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Because I see what my peers in the industry have uh or my peers in my community have, and I need to have a bigger company, and so I need to go finance the growth and and everything. Um what what are your what are your thoughts as far as businesses borrowing money?
SPEAKER_00Well, it it's an interesting thing when you look at uh scripture, Proverbs 22, 7, the the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant or slave, depending on the translation you read, to the to the lender. Um I believe when it comes to borrowing, Darren, there's a lot of polarization about this. I think what really comes into play is the condition of your heart. I mean, because you know, the platform we're on, condition of your heart and using wisdom. I recognize there's a lot of strategies out there where you can um you can borrow and have a schedule or regimen and use that to expand, especially on the real estate front or venture capitalist uh front. Um the thing and stories that I in in working with people where it gets problematic, Darren, is people, it's like, okay, if you're going to do that, what is your cash flow look like? Do you have a guaranteed way to pay that liability down if you're kind of gonna borrow a little, pay a little, borrow a little, pay a little? And what I find is people get caught in that cycle, Darren, because there's people that really know how to do it well, and then there's this marketing of all you gotta do is, and that person really doesn't have the expertise, so they get caught and called on their notes and all of this. Whereas other people that know how to do that, they have a system. So I'm not really I'm not knocking like the necessarily the strategy or the tactic. I think what where I lie on that is the reason I go back upstream to why. Okay, I'm expanding. Am I expanding because now is the time? I'm like I've discerned the time and I've prayed and I've asked God and I've sought counsel and I've got mentors because we know there's safety in the multitude of counsel. If I've done that and then and then that gets used as a tool that way, then that's one context. But if I haven't done that, I'm just going off of worldly best practices, and then I'm buying into all I gotta do is I think that's where it gets problematic. And then in between all of that, Darren, it's our uh our emotions, of course, get in the way, along with those other four things that I talk about. I think what scripture encourages us when you think about Proverbs 22, 7, is know that if you've borrowed, it's not a sin issue. It's just if you've borrowed, there's a the just like the master slave relationship. I don't I don't think we have to break down how unfavorable that is to people. And Solomon compares that to borrow and lender, and it probably for if someone's never read that before, it's probably a little bit of shock value. It's like, whoa, I've never thought about a borrower and a lender being uh used as an analogy. But when you sign the promissory note from an integrity standpoint, Darren, it's like, well, you've agreed, you've entered into this agreement, you pay as scheduled. And if you don't, we're well within our rights to come after you, change the interest rate, like whatever that is. And of course, there's integrity both ways as the payer and as the lender. Uh, we also know later in scripture, you know, Israel uh is referenced as hey, be the lender, not the borrower. So there's there could be probably a whole other thing on debt, Darren, but I think what it boils down to is uh wisdom, um, intent, and seeking wise counsel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well said. Jason, what does it take to please God in business?
SPEAKER_00Pleasing God in business. Well, we know that uh when we look at the word it without faith, it's impossible to please God. Uh so I I kind of go to the centrality of the point. Um, just like with our families and in life, we take steps of faith in business. In fact, Darren, a lot of terminology in business, you know, we don't call it this, but when we think about goal setting and things like that, you hadn't seen that. It's like, oh, I I want to hit this revenue or do it. Like we talk about all these, you know, let's call it forecasting, let's call it goals. All these things are quote unquote and thin air. And I get there's metrics and data, and we look back, and the best predictor of what we're gonna do is what we've already like we do that, and yet there's faith in that process because you have not seen that before, and so I think pleasing God in the marketplace uh begins with our faith, uh, Darren, and and and trusting God. Proverbs 3:5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. Like, how quick in a meeting or doing a business deal are we? Oh man, you know, God, I've got this one. Like you've got wifey and kids at home, but I've got the business deal. And it's like, well, let's continue that scripture in all your ways. Acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. So wait a minute, that means he's at the negotiation table if you allow him to be. He's in the business partnerships, he's in the strategic planning, he's in the do I expand or not, do I hire or fire? Like, invite Jesus into the business context so that your soul and your work can thrive. That that's that's what comes to mind when I think about that, Darren.
SPEAKER_01Well said. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Um that's straight from the scripture. Uh Jason, what are you working on now that you're excited about?
SPEAKER_00Oh man, uh, a few things. I think back when uh you were on my podcast, Darren, uh, you were talking about the next thing you were writing. I'm also doing some writing too. Uh I have my first book, Fortify. I'm working on a devotional, actually. Um it's it's about walking in the wisdom of God daily. So it'd be a 31-day devotional, but a specific context, uh, wisdom in the marketplace. So walking with God and business, what are what is that? You know, we think about vitamins there and just 31 vitamins on I'm in the marketplace, whether I'm entrepreneur and corporate. And what are just some things for me to get down in my heart uh before I start, before, during, or maybe even after uh the workday. So that I'm working on on that. Um just did some uh rebranding of my podcast, changing the name, and uh a lot of a lot of other cool things in the pipeline. I've got the uh my own virtual summit that I put on twice a year, the Fortify Summit. So the first one that that's coming up in uh April, and the next one will be October, and and then my digital financial platform that's actually new that I'm excited about, Fortify University. So there's a lot in the hopper, Darren. Awesome, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Exciting about the 31-day devotional. Uh, I'm sure that's based on the the number of chapters in Proverbs. Um, and I was just I'm actually going through Joshua right now. I just noticed that guess how many kings there were that that Joshua took out. Oh man. 31. Jeez, 31. Wow. So man, if you want to stay on brand there, uh there's an opportunity for you. It says that's what it says 31 kings in all. I think it was like what was that chapter 13? I want to say. Um, but um that's good stuff right there, Jason. What's one action you'd want people to take uh as a result of what they've heard today?
SPEAKER_00To remember the why. Uh Colossians 3 23. Whatever you do, work heartily as unto the Lord and not for men. We are so influenced in business, Darren. I mean, yes, in life, but in the marketplace to what's your industry doing? What are the experts saying? What are the economists saying? What's going on with government? There's all these things impacting us in the marketplace. And so, Darren, remembering look, we work heartily as unto the Lord. Yes, on earth, you have CEOs, you have managers, you have experts, but we don't work unto them. We work unto the Lord and the whatever that includes business. We don't do, I give the example earlier, Darren, like, oh Lord, you've got the wife and the kids, but I've got this thing, you know, nine to five from an entrepreneur, Lord. I I I've kind of got this creative, innovative process. I've got that. You take care of the family. And it's no, that's that's his as much as the family is. So just remembering the why in Colossians 3 23 is a great reminder of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well said. Uh, the book is fortified being rooted in God's plan for work and business. Also, Jason has a 31-day devotional coming out soon. Uh, you can learn about that, and Jerichoforce.com is the website. Uh, Jason, thanks for sharing your time and uh your passion, your expertise with us today.
SPEAKER_00Always, Darren. I love it. When we get together, you know we can go for three hours, but we've got to give people back some time.
SPEAKER_01So indeed. Thanks again, Jason.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, 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 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.