November 22, 2023 • 29 mins
Join me, your host, Angelic Gibson, with our guest Casey Crawford, for part 2 of our conversation where we unearth Mike's transformational story – one ignited by faith and fueled by LoveWorks, a program designed to touch close circles before extending its reach to the world.
Further, there's a powerful interplay between education and poverty, and in this episode, we dig into that. Together with Casey, we examine the profound impact effective education can have on breaking the poverty cycle. Listen to our ambitious commitment towards establishing 100 title one charter schools. Hear about, Casey and team's, steady progress and future plans to provide a comprehensive education system that goes beyond classroom teachings. They believe in nurturing the whole child, which is why their schools include after-school services, counseling, and even medical services in some.
Have you ever considered the effect of faith and emotional health on workplace productivity? During our conversation, we delve into the distinctive responsibilities of a Chief Pastoral Officer, Christian Counselor, and Social Worker that Casey has implemented within a corporate environment. We delve into the transformative power of the Love Works program and how it offers emotional support in the professional sphere. Get a fresh perspective on the importance of investing in workplace relationships and how it serves as a catalyst for business growth. Join us on this journey of faith, hope, love, and transformation. You won't want to miss it.
Casey Crawford BIO:
Entrepreneur. Leader. Catalyst.
Casey Crawford is the co-founder and CEO of Movement Mortgage, a $30 billion retail mortgage lender and six-time member of the Inc. 5000 list. He is also the chairman of Movement Bank and founder and chairman of Movement Schools, a network of tuition-free public charter schools committed to teaching world-class academics and virtues in areas where families have historically lacked access to education options. Casey founded the nonprofit Movement Foundation as a vehicle to bring life, light and hope to others. To date, it has invested more than $260 million in schools, communities and ministries around the world.
Casey has been recognized as a John Maxwell Transformational Leadership Award recipient, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, HousingWire Vanguard award recipient, and a Charlotte Business Journal Most Admired CEO. He has been featured by national media outlets, including CNBC, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Fox Business, Inc. Magazine and HousingWire.
A Super Bowl champion, Casey played tight end for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2000-2003. He graduated from the University of Virginia with All-ACC honors in football and academics. Casey is an avid outdoorsman and accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor. He lives outside Charlotte, N.C., with his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Cadie and Josie.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Grow where
God reveals our way.
I'm Anjali Gibson, your host,and I can't wait to explore the
vast riches of God's Word withyou.
So don't forget to subscribeand stay tuned for upcoming
episodes packed with biblicalteachings, inspirational stories
and a fresh perspective on theworld around us.
Now let's get started on thisbeautiful journey.
(00:24):
May God bless you abundantly.
Welcome back to Grow, where weare diving into part two of my
interview with Casey Crawford.
We are getting ready to go intowhat LoveWorks is including,
where Casey was sharing a storyabout his friend Mike.
(00:47):
That's truly inspirational.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I would love to hear a story.
So again, we're talking aboutall the work you and your team
are doing, loving God, lovingpeople, and one facet of that is
, through what you justdescribed, loveworks, and it's
caring for those in the innercircle and then starting to love
out.
Can you give us a story?
(01:13):
You shared a story about afellow teammate that you have.
I remember you saying he waskind of rough in nature maybe,
and just his pathway throughliving these small acts of love
out, how it actually leads toeternal reward.
Do you mind sharing a story?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Sure, yes.
So there's three real bigpillars of ways we try to walk
that I've tried to kind of guess.
Maybe walk out my faith andexpress it culturally in
movement.
And again, all of them, all ofthem, I really want to be
invitations, just likeinvitations to people into a
(01:56):
community that loves and valuesone another and then, if they're
open to it, if they'reinterested in it, through that
process comes to know a God wholoves them so passionately,
beyond maybe what they couldeven imagine.
And LoveWorks is one of those.
First, it's kind of abenevolence fund, would be the
equivalent of the church, justto say, hey, we're going to care
for each other.
And then we said that we hopethat we've cared for each other.
(02:17):
Gosh, let's get a biggerpicture of the world.
Let's get a bigger picture ofthe world.
Let's realize, man, especiallyin the United States, we can get
a really really ethnic centerkind of small picture of the
world sometimes.
So let's be intentional to goout around the world and meet
some new friends living in somesometimes like some really
difficult, challenging placesthat have a faith and like that
(02:38):
might be just really stretchingto us.
And so we started doing what wecall vision trips.
And we said, you know what?
We're going to try to expandour vision of what the world
looks like and how we can impactit in meaningful ways.
And there's no precursor tothese trips, it's not for people
of faith and not a faith orpeople of courage, right?
They say, okay, I'm going toexpand my vision.
And so my partner, toby Harris,organized a trip to Guatemala,
(03:01):
and Guatemala, off the coast, isknown for good fishing and so
Toby loves to fish.
He called a few guys saying,hey, you guys want to go fish
with me in Guatemala for a fewdays.
And guys say, yeah, love to gofish, love to go.
He said, okay, we're going togo visit a couple of friends
down there that are building acouple of things and then we're
going to go off shore.
And the guy said, okay, youknow, sent out was great.
And so one of those is our nowpresident, a guy named Mike
(03:22):
Brandon, who's an incredible,just incredible friend,
incredible brother in Christ Ijust absolutely love dearly.
And you know, mike, mike was aguy he kind of said he had been
to you know service a couple oftimes.
Maybe growing up race Catholickind of went Christmas and
Easter or two or three times.
That was it.
He's like man.
I knew who.
Movement was a new case.
He was.
He's a person of faith and Ijust went.
(03:43):
That's great, that's great.
I'm all about like a good moralcompany.
I like that.
Mike's got, you know, two tatsleeves up up and down both arms
.
I think he had 20 somethingfelonies before he was 18 or at
18.
Like it says some crazy number,I don't know how you get a
funny four 18, but it was apretty wild thing.
And he described this like man.
I was just a kid, it was notbad stuff, it was just, but like
(04:04):
the guy's just wide open, right, but fully courage.
He said, yes, I'm going, and henow calls that the NAFTA trip.
So not a fishing trip after all.
Or he'll say, if it was afishing trip, I was the catch.
But you know, mike went down toGuatemala with my partner Toby
was like you know half a dozenother teammates and before their
(04:25):
fishing trip they went andvisited some villages and with a
group called ICM and they theybuilt hope centers in these
villages.
I said I see him did this, thework that they did.
And Toby had done some workwith ICM and he said you know,
mike, I want you to see this.
And so they went to a villageand they met some local leaders.
They met a pastor of a littlelittle little village and there
(04:46):
was not a permanent structure inthe village and Mike was
looking around at poverty thathe'd never seen or experienced.
And then he met a young, 13year old girl who had walked to
that village for some number ofmiles and the pastor's
introducing her and Mike wasjust kind of undone by this
girl's faith.
And he goes, man.
She was telling me things abouther faith and I couldn't
(05:07):
understand them and process themand he started to ask the
pastor why is she coming?
He goes well, she's coming tohelp build this hope center
because it's.
It's a big deal for this wholecommunity.
And Mike, you know why is itsuch a big deal?
He goes well, in Guatemala, onaverage, girls for age are going
to be pregnant by the time ofthe 13 or 14 years old and it's
from non-consensual sex and it'skind of cultural but without a
(05:30):
permanent structure for them tosleep in a safe place for them
to go to school as an orphanage,a church, on Sundays.
That's what she's headedtowards and she knows that and
the whole community knows that.
But when we want to change that, mike was just undone.
Those are human right.
This is a human being, aprecious little girl who's smart
and bright and all all you knowhope in her eyes.
(05:51):
And Mike's saying how much arethese to build?
And he was actually with threeChristians and Mike would at
that time call himself not aperson of faith at all.
The pastor told him so you knowthey're about $25,000.
Mike looked at the three guyswith him and, as a typical sales
guys, he's Every one of you inthat first can put that on an am
(06:12):
ex card.
I know how much.
I know how much you make.
Okay, put your cards in thebowl.
We're all gonna build one.
We're gonna build four of theseand the guys the world's gotten
into.
Mike.
And Mike came back from thattrip me, told me the case I
needed me with your breakfast,me, oh man, I, we come down and
he's just, he's tears his eyes.
He says I need to understand.
(06:32):
I know you're a person of faithand I need to understand, like
what this little girl's fatesabout.
I don't get it.
I don't get it, like I don'tunderstand.
And and your shirt asked methese really easy questions,
like you know why the bad thingshappen to good people all like.
But Mike was like convicted tobuild these churches just out of
the human need.
And so Mike Kitted that he wasgonna see a hope center built in
every village in Guatemala inthe next five years.
(06:53):
Not a person of faith at thattime, like not a person of faith
at all at that time and but wasexploring an issue, but just
knew that this is the kind oflike like I can't unsee this and
I can't not move and cannot act.
And he actually began Inspiredpeople that were saying, hey,
I'm a follower of Christ anddeep faith to actually be
generous and get involved inthis Lead.
I mean, he's led dozens oftrips to Guatemala and he had
(07:14):
built 200 hope centers invillages in Guatemala kind of
that, are inspired and organizedto have them built.
And before he finally came tofaith, and, and, and it clicked
for him in a conversation withJohn Maxwell and they went, they
went Golfing and John's one ofthe greatest evangelists in the
world.
He kind of explains that thegospel, the Mike, in a way that
(07:34):
I just never could figure outhow to and might call me, and so
this has got to be the wayPeter came to faith.
Right, mike calls me.
I mean my wife from Jersey alsoloved, I loved my Jersey Pete
and Mike Mike goes a case.
Yeah, he's crying, just Ifinally get it.
It's all about nothing, jesus.
He didn't say a thing.
He's all about everything.
(07:55):
Jesus, like even try to tell meLike I pray to receive Jesus, a
follow-up Jesus, like I'm, andit was just such a beautiful
like submission he goes.
And, by the way, I'm gettingbaptized at the first church I
ever built.
By what?
The whole epic company to come.
Actually, you know this is notwhat it looks like on Sunday
morning at a lot of our now likeproper south or something.
(08:17):
But man, it was what it lookslike when somebody just
encounters a lover, christ.
When they step out a little bitin faith, they start walking
alongside guys and doing thework that he does to me and love
and serve the marginalized andit's been.
It's been an incredible,beautiful transfer.
I don't know how many peoplelike him a faith through.
A 65 teammates did fly downthere.
Mike's wife actually stood upto get baptized as well.
(08:38):
Two teammates and a teammateDon't stood up to get baptized
along with Mike in the riveralongside you ever built and
that pastor is a friend of thisday and Mike still goes down
there and visits him.
And you know, we got Literallyhave hundreds of stories like
that of people they start kindof walking the stuff out in the
workplace with friends, step outon mission and and the larger
(09:01):
change like way and whether theycome to faith or whatever that
looks like like everybody comesback better, everyone comes back
on.
Wow, I'm in my life's richer,and that's what I say.
People say thanks for going andthey may always come back to go
.
Oh, my gosh, you know Ireceived like I received, like I
got to meet people who arewalking with courage that I
can't imagine.
I got to.
I get to, you know, see, peopleare processing decisions that
(09:21):
that make mine back here justseem heady and insignificant and
that that's actually A giftthat take my eyes off of myself
and think about man, all that Ihave not, all that I don't have,
like you know, I'm thinkingabout that.
And so, yeah, we see peoplelive transformed in those love
works and vision trips.
And and then finally, I neededto put a thing in place.
When Mike, mike was coming backfrom these vision trips, we had
(09:43):
other teammates come back withthese hard, hard questions.
I'm like life and faith, that'sgoing man, I don't know.
I'm sure listeners feel thisway sometimes too, like I don't.
I'm not Billy Graham, I'm not,you know, I'm having, having
graduated seminary with all theequipping and to answer all
these really tough questions onfaith and explain everything to
folks.
(10:03):
But others have, others have,and so I actually invited a
really good friend of mine whohas a doctorate in a theology
that helped write somecurriculum for us to just like
answer the hard questions inlife, you know, and discuss them
and process them and then youanswer them is probably the
wrong phrase, but discuss themand explore with them.
There aren't great answers forthese things, but there are a
(10:23):
lot of truths that we can learn,particularly when we process
with some other.
And so he wrote a curriculumcalled movement mentoring, where
we just process life'squestions together in small
groups and just kind of sharedvulnerably and authentically.
And that happens, I think, morerobustly in the workplace than I
ever experienced in the church.
Cause at work again, I'm doing40, 50, 60 hours a week, right,
and people know what I'm actinglike.
(10:45):
Like I can fake anyone out foran hour at church Pretty much,
unless I'm in like the worst,hardest time of my life.
I can smile and high five.
We don't even know.
You see me across the, you knowsanctuary or something, or even
doing a small group, sometimesone hour.
Our lives are intertwined.
When you're working together,man, your lives are like locked
(11:06):
in and you just so.
When you start processing theseharder questions in life, you
know the purpose of it, themeaning and these things.
With people that you do thatmuch life with, I think you get
to more honest answers morequickly and that's a good thing.
That's a really, really goodand powerful thing.
And so we've seen I mean we'vehad thousands of teammates now
go through small group mentoringgroups together such a process
(11:29):
in life's big questions.
That's been up.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
No, that's so good and we hear all the time truth
sets people free, and the thingabout the truth setting people
free is we actually have to becourageous enough to confront
the truth Like what are thefears and the worries and the
things, the hurts that are inour heart that need to be
brought forward so God can healthose things.
So I love the notion ofmentoring and really just
(11:56):
creating space to help peoplelive intentionally, on purpose,
on mission, as you described it,in their best form of
themselves, right, Reallycultivating who God created them
to be.
It's just absolutely fantastic.
Want to move from love works,the mentoring, the vision trips
(12:20):
that facet of how you're lovingGod and loving people to the
schools.
So you've talked about theschools a couple of times just
for folks who don't know whatare the schools and how many of
them have you been able to standup so far.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah.
So kind of part of our visionagain, just like four employees
that, hey, you know, want tolove each other, love and serve
our customers, and if we'vecreated a profit doing that,
which we hope we would, wouldn'tit be neat to like take that
profit and reinvest in thecommunities we're a part of?
Didn't know how, didn't knowwhat we would do with that or
how we would do it.
We just started and we pivoteda couple of times.
We started doing some.
We did an affordable housingproject with single moms, that
(12:57):
we did a community center andthen, as God kind of blessed the
business, the business crew, wehad more capital and more
opportunities and we landed onschools charter one title one,
charter schools that areexclusively built to serve the
most marginalized in ourcommunity, the poorest kids in
our community.
It's been absolutelyoutstanding.
(13:20):
We really researched what arethe things that are going to
change kids lives.
With the largest amount ofimpact and overwhelmingly the
largest statistical correlate toa kid escaping poverty in their
lifetime is whether or not theycan read at grade level in
third grade.
Interestingly, we also buildour prisons in America based on
the number of boys they can readin third grade.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Oh my gosh, that is crazy.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
It is.
It's a pretty tough statisticto when you process that on
average, in like in Charlton,north Carolina which is not this
summer from a lot of other bigcities 98% of our kiddos that
are born in poverty will die inpoverty.
So you imagine being a singlemom with three kids and you know
to your boys and they can'tread a grade level, you know
there's a person self-past to beinvolved one of them, and that
(14:04):
there's a 98% like less than 2%Likely that your kid is are
going to be the ones that areable to to matriculate out of
poverty in their life.
And that's just statistics.
Right, that's statistics.
And so you can look at them.
They hey, there's eithersomething like deficient with
the kiddo or there's likesomething deficient with the
systems and the culture and thevalues around them.
We believe many skid there'snothing wrong with these kids,
(14:25):
like there is absolutely nothingwrong with these kids.
They're great and image of Godthey are.
They have fearfully,wonderfully made gosh.
They have so much ridiculouspotential.
But there are a lot of there, alot of Challenges they have,
particularly in the educationsystem, that are keeping them
from realizing that fullpotential.
So we looked at theinstitutions that were changing
that most dramatically.
And we looked at housing,because we're in Mortgages and
(14:46):
it was not housing.
And we looked at health careand I've a great friend runs a
massive Medicare business.
We look at it really stated indepth, it is not health care.
And we looked at theinstitution of education and
overwhelmingly, this institutionof education provided the
largest opportunity right topour into kids pre-k through
sixth grade and Equip them withthe tools they need to fully use
(15:07):
all those gifts to break out ofpoverty and Sliv of life.
I think the God has come in amuch more meaningful way.
So then we started going okay,if it's education, who's doing
this?
Well, how do you do education?
Well, we run around the UStrying to find some of the best
practitioners of Bringingeducation into to the urban poor
and breaking some of thesecycles of poverty, and Turns out
(15:29):
one of them was right here onbackyard, cheryl Turner, running
a great school called SugarCreek.
And you know it was a long,interesting story, but we got.
We got really passionate aboutit.
So start building schools.
We ended up hiring an incredibleCEO of movement schools named
Kerry Antonisha Thomas, who wascoming down from New York after
in the best schools in New Yorkand we intersected her and she
(15:49):
was almost gonna be out, likeshe was almost gonna be out.
She's.
She's incredibly packed.
She's with the 14 publicschools growing up and graduated
Topper class from Columbia andthen was one of the most
successful educators in thestate of New York, was born out.
She saw what we were doing.
She got reinvigorated and shesaid you know what, if you will
build Great schools, I will fillthem up with amazing kids and
(16:11):
amazing teachers.
And she's done exactly that.
So we've committed to build ahundred title one charter
schools over the next eightyears.
Now only got eight years.
Left Was 10.
We started.
We started the 10-year vision.
We're kind of kind of doing ageometric multiplication
strategy and we are.
We are at five schools open andactive right now.
We have four more coming out ofthe ground next year and we're
(16:36):
opening in Atlanta, charlestonand Raleigh Next year.
And it's just been.
It's been absolutely incredibleto see what these kids have
done.
Our kids are now having, onaverage, about 50% of them are
reading at grade level, which KTwould would would jazz ties me
for celebrating, but when, whenyou're comparing that to like 15
to 20 percent of theirdemographic peers reading at
(16:56):
grade level.
It's a celebration, it'sprogress.
Now she is correct and I don'targue with her ever.
But our kids are capable of 90%Like that.
90% of them are gonna bereading a grade level when we do
the work that we need to do toget from there.
But, ma'am, we're thankful forthe progress and we think we're
giving kids an opportunity athome.
And then we, you know, we canwrap those schools around with
(17:17):
after-school services, withweekend services for mom, for
dad, for for caretakers.
We have counseling at everyschool and we're actually are
putting medical in most of theschools Also, just get to help
the medical.
And what we want, angelique, istwo things.
One, we know God's called us todo this, right.
We know all this to like, lovethe margin lots, particularly
kiddos, and you know scale andwe're pretty good at scale
(17:39):
things.
So so we're doing it in thatway and he's given me as the
capacity to do so.
So walk in that.
But what we're doing only anexample like a hundred schools
doesn't solve the problem in twoor three states, right?
What we want to do is go firstand live into our name of being
a movement, and so we say, hey,we're going to model out for
folks what it can look likeimprove out in our nation.
(17:59):
So many of our problems in ourcountry are locked up in the
bottom 10% of earners in ourcountry.
There's just so many problemsthat are associated with poverty
.
Life gets so hard if you'reliving in poverty and as
followers of Jesus, I think weare supposed to be like leading
the charge at the tip of thespear, to like run to our
neighbors in poverty and thinkabout how to love and serve them
in a way that doesn't just likethrow a fish or like throw a
(18:23):
meal, but it's like actuallycomes alongside folks, partners
with them, so they can use allthe gifts God's given them to
have like a flourishing,thriving life, so that we have
stronger communities, strongercity, a stronger nation over
time.
And so we're trying to do ourpart to be kind of the tip of
the spear of that and improveout this model with schools and
then give it away.
Just give it away to anyonethat'll take it.
(18:43):
We run our schools 100% insideof state and federal dollars.
So it truly it does takecapital to build a school and
all that kind of thing, butwe're running it like a business
so that it's sustainable andscalable and can be replicated,
hopefully, across the US.
That's just the contribution wewant to make into our country
to improve out these kids haveeverything that they need and we
(19:05):
want to break down any kind ofyou know, subtle racism that
exists to say, hey, these kidssomehow are deficient or can't
do that.
We know that's not the case.
We're going to prove that outthe kids are proving that out
and and then give people a modelfor how to do this more
robustly and more scale so morekids can experience that hope,
break those chains of poverty.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's absolutely incredible.
You know, I love the notion ofrinse, leather, repeat, and so a
lot of really good work hasgone into figuring this out and
being able to leverage what youall have paved the way on and
just continue to be multipliers,like the numbers of
multiplication across ourcommunities is what's needed.
So I'm going to share a lotmore detail and the show notes
(19:46):
on how people can learn moreabout not only what we've talked
about today, but there's somuch more that you all are doing
that is just really good to diginto just one, I think.
What can you do today?
Take a step, love the personsitting next to you right?
That's call number one.
And then, through faithfulness,when you're faithful to those
(20:09):
around you, god will continue toopen doors to do more, and so
I'm hoping that you're catching.
Those who are listening arecatching some of the vision that
Casey is casting for ourcommunity.
What could Charlotte look likeif you're in Charlotte?
What could it look like if wetruly did love our neighbor as
we love the Lord, if we reallylived it out?
(20:30):
What could New York start tolook like?
Or Chicago, or the cities thatare literally just crumbling
within?
They need the love of Christ.
So we are the love of Christ.
We are to bring the light tothe city on the hill Before we
go.
I also want to cast a little bitmore vision to marketplace
leaders.
(20:50):
So, whether it's a CEO of acompany or someone in a
leadership role thinking aboutcreative, creatively, how do
people have roles that actuallyare established with almost love
?
Ambassadors in the community.
And when I was reading up onsome of the roles that you've
(21:11):
established inside a movementmortgage, casey, a couple of
them caught my eye.
I was just love to hear yourtake on what these roles are.
So it really is providinginspiration to other people to
maybe even do the same in theirorganizations.
And I'll just call out a fewyou have a chief pastoral
(21:32):
officer Super interesting,that's not typical in a business
A Christian counselor, a socialworker.
So let's just do those three.
Those are three roles that existin community, but not typically
a business.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
So I'd be quick to say, like we do, we have like
5,000 team members, right?
So business has a certainamount of scale and things.
These are not things we had dayone, right, these are not
things we had.
There's certainly not neededday one.
I think a lot of people say,well, we only have 20 employees.
I can't afford a pastor,goodness gracious, of course you
can't, but that would make nosense in the world.
Like, I started to have aproblem myself like with being
(22:12):
able to like walk more deeplywith people with questions they
had about faith.
And it was such.
It was such because of ourculture, because of our vision
trips, because of all that we do.
Man, it was just a resoundingneed inside the community.
And so our foundation decidedto fund a person to kind of
(22:33):
process a lot of those questionswith and build us some
curriculum and do all thosethings.
And it's been outstanding.
He actually doesn't like allthe time being called the pastor
off, because that's likeChristians love that phrase and
a lot of people aren't don't,and that's really important.
And so we're yeah, we're prettysensitive to that that his role
will be one that is like ablessing to everybody in the
(22:54):
organization and so like he'svery intentional to create a lot
of values based curriculum aswell.
That's something around likelove, courage, humility, care,
empathy, all that kind of stuff.
We process a lot of those kindsof questions in community as
well.
So that's the first one.
The Christian counseling one iswe have Christian counseling
and agnostic I guess, karen, I'mnot agnostic, but secular
(23:16):
counseling as well.
But a lot of our folks arepeople of faith inside of our
community and they really wantthat connected.
And it's when you startthinking about the emotional
wellness and the productivity ofyour folks.
I think I can make absolutely Iknow I can make an argument
that organizations are far moreproductive when their folks are
emotionally healthy andspiritually healthy.
And so, yeah, we invest in it.
(23:37):
You know it's an investment, Ithink it's, I think it's one
with really good returns.
Right, it's not, it's not whatagain this is?
This is something like, oh,that's so nice of you to do.
Well, actually, very selfishly,I really want to have a high
performing organization.
Our folks are way more highperforming when they are like
really healthy emotionally,spiritually, relationally, and
like me, first and foremost,they're like I think, advantage
of these services like robustly.
Okay, amen, we, we, you know weall need these things, and I
(24:01):
think, again, that's probablythe theme throughout all of this
is just trying to build acommunity that I'd want to be a
part of, or I want my kiddos tobe able to be a part of, right?
So so there's a again that veryselfish theme in there, I guess
.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
And then finally- it's God's desire God.
God created community right.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You walk in there and you'relike man, this is this, feels so
good and so healthy.
That's right.
And the other associate workerwas one like our Love Works
program, dimea.
I met with her yesterday,actually an amazing woman that
has a huge heart for people andis so gifted.
Again, our Love Works programgot to be of the size and scope
that that you know, withhundreds of teammate taking
(24:37):
advantage of it.
We don't just want to dole outcapital, right.
A lot of times there'semotional support that's needed,
there's, there's, there's, youknow, plugged into the right
programs.
And so we got somebody who'slike an absolute expert at that
to really not just dole outdollars but, like love serve,
walk alongside our teammatesthat were in times of need, you
know, so that they didn't comeback in at that time and didn't
fall, you know like, didn't fallback into the ditch, and she's
(24:59):
just incredible at doing that,has a team now that helps her.
We have a lot, of a lot of folksvolunteer.
We have spouses, that kind ofgo.
I don't really work, I'm notfull time, but I'd love to do
something.
A lot of those folks volunteeron our Love Works team and then
they thought like, oh my gosh,I'm like full time again, cause
this is like really hard way.
It is Like really really hardwork.
I mean, we've been been alivefor a while, it's a lot of work
and so she leads that whole teamand helps to equip that team
(25:20):
with, you know, strategies andtechniques to, to, to, to sort
of folks to help get their lifeback on track.
So it's, yeah, those are, thoseare.
Those are a little bitdifferent, I guess, roles than
every every corporation, butthey're ones.
I think again, I would make areally strong business argument
that any business should likeprobably benefit in investing in
like healthy relationships inthe lives of their folks, you
(25:41):
get a lot more productive and alot more yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Amen, well said.
So, just as we wrap up here, isthere anything else that you
would just want to share withthe listeners that you feel like
is still on your heart?
Just release it, or you feellike you have said what God has
called you to say today.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I hope you've said it.
I think the biggest thing Iwould just say like start taking
a step.
You know you can already saylike taking a step of faith, and
it's usually one that's alittle scary.
I've just found like thefaithful one is usually a little
bit scary because I think wehave an enemy.
I think people believe likeSatan does not want us to enjoy
the life that God has for us orto pursue God's paths for our
(26:20):
life, and so he does things todiscourage us and to let fear in
our heart and make things seemsilly.
And so you know, if there'ssomething you're feeling like
led to do, but it's a littlescary, it feels a little silly
maybe, or just a little bitsacrificial, even like, oh man,
I'd like to give, but I don'tknow like I also like that new
car over there and that wouldmean this trade off.
(26:41):
Gosh, just take that leap offaith Like step out, step out in
some small way, just step outin some small stretch yourself
in some small way.
Step out and just watch Godmeet you there, and I promise
like on the front end, for me italways feels terrifying and
fearful.
Oh gosh, can I do this?
And then you look back, man.
You look back and what was suchfear in your heart, man?
You just see God's faithfulness, like right here he meets that
(27:03):
fear with such incrediblefaithfulness.
And you look back and justalmost feel silly.
Right, it's a testimony in thestory you write from.
Those little leaps of faiththat are so filled with fear are
just incredible.
They're just incredible.
So on this side of the action Iknow it probably feels fearful
and it still does for me, like I, just every week something
probably comes up like oh gosh,I don't know, we do this podcast
(27:26):
, we do this thing.
But take that little, smallstep out in faith and watch God
meet you there, just expand yourfaith in him and the day to joy
you have and fall in them, ashe kind of weaves and works out
his story throughout history oflove and redeem in a broken
heart and world.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Amen.
Well, well said.
Well, we just thank you foryour time, casey.
This has just been anincredible conversation and I
know that the listeners are justinspired with new hope, new
vision and how to really putlove into action, carried into
the marketplace, and really helpour community become a better
place.
Would you do us the honor ofclosing us out in prayer?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I will.
And I want just to thank youtoo, angelique, because you know
this podcast itself.
Maybe somebody clicking on thispodcast was an active faith,
but you being willing to leadand invest the time and energy
to do this with such excellenceis it's a great testament, it's
a great encouragement to all.
So thank you for yourfaithfulness and it's great to
connect with you as a new friend.
We'll pray, heavenly Father,thank you, thank you, thank you,
(28:21):
thank you, lord, for the greatgift of Jesus, for his love for
us, for while we were yetsinners and hate you, lord, you
sent your son to die for us Likethat his blood would pay the
atonement for our sin.
Father, we just take hold outof prayer at every listener
would take hold that they'd knowthat hope, they'd know that, oh
, this is that freedom that isin Christ Lord, not pray.
(28:43):
That, compelled by that freedom, that free gift of salvation in
Christ Lord, that we would actand join.
Act in faith, lord, to followyour lead of loving a hurting
world or running people maybethat are far from us, that even
opposed to his father the wayyou ran to us, and that would
pour out our lives, lord, andwith a passion to see others
come to know the hope that wehave in you.
(29:04):
Thank you for your love for us.
Lord, lead us, guide us foryour glory, jesus' name amen.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Grow
where God reveals our way.
We hope you found inspiration,wisdom and encouragement as we
continue on this faith-filledjourney together.
We invite you to subscribe toGrow so you never miss an
episode.
Stay tuned for more biblicalteachings, heartfelt testimonies
and insights that will nourishyour spirit in deep in your
relationship with God.
(29:32):
We appreciate your support andparticipation in this podcast.
Until next time, may you growin faith, love and knowledge of
his divine plan.
May God bless you abundantly.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Grow where
God reveals our way.
I'm Anjali Gibson, your host,and I can't wait to explore the
vast riches of God's Word withyou.
So don't forget to subscribeand stay tuned for upcoming
episodes packed with biblicalteachings, inspirational stories
and a fresh perspective on theworld around us.
Now let's get started on thisbeautiful journey.
(00:24):
May God bless you abundantly.
Welcome back to Grow, where weare diving into part two of my
interview with Casey Crawford.
We are getting ready to go intowhat LoveWorks is including,
where Casey was sharing a storyabout his friend Mike.
(00:47):
That's truly inspirational.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I would love to hear a story.
So again, we're talking aboutall the work you and your team
are doing, loving God, lovingpeople, and one facet of that is
, through what you justdescribed, loveworks, and it's
caring for those in the innercircle and then starting to love
out.
Can you give us a story?
(01:13):
You shared a story about afellow teammate that you have.
I remember you saying he waskind of rough in nature maybe,
and just his pathway throughliving these small acts of love
out, how it actually leads toeternal reward.
Do you mind sharing a story?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Sure, yes.
So there's three real bigpillars of ways we try to walk
that I've tried to kind of guess.
Maybe walk out my faith andexpress it culturally in
movement.
And again, all of them, all ofthem, I really want to be
invitations, just likeinvitations to people into a
(01:56):
community that loves and valuesone another and then, if they're
open to it, if they'reinterested in it, through that
process comes to know a God wholoves them so passionately,
beyond maybe what they couldeven imagine.
And LoveWorks is one of those.
First, it's kind of abenevolence fund, would be the
equivalent of the church, justto say, hey, we're going to care
for each other.
And then we said that we hopethat we've cared for each other.
(02:17):
Gosh, let's get a biggerpicture of the world.
Let's get a bigger picture ofthe world.
Let's realize, man, especiallyin the United States, we can get
a really really ethnic centerkind of small picture of the
world sometimes.
So let's be intentional to goout around the world and meet
some new friends living in somesometimes like some really
difficult, challenging placesthat have a faith and like that
(02:38):
might be just really stretchingto us.
And so we started doing what wecall vision trips.
And we said, you know what?
We're going to try to expandour vision of what the world
looks like and how we can impactit in meaningful ways.
And there's no precursor tothese trips, it's not for people
of faith and not a faith orpeople of courage, right?
They say, okay, I'm going toexpand my vision.
And so my partner, toby Harris,organized a trip to Guatemala,
(03:01):
and Guatemala, off the coast, isknown for good fishing and so
Toby loves to fish.
He called a few guys saying,hey, you guys want to go fish
with me in Guatemala for a fewdays.
And guys say, yeah, love to gofish, love to go.
He said, okay, we're going togo visit a couple of friends
down there that are building acouple of things and then we're
going to go off shore.
And the guy said, okay, youknow, sent out was great.
And so one of those is our nowpresident, a guy named Mike
(03:22):
Brandon, who's an incredible,just incredible friend,
incredible brother in Christ Ijust absolutely love dearly.
And you know, mike, mike was aguy he kind of said he had been
to you know service a couple oftimes.
Maybe growing up race Catholickind of went Christmas and
Easter or two or three times.
That was it.
He's like man.
I knew who.
Movement was a new case.
He was.
He's a person of faith and Ijust went.
(03:43):
That's great, that's great.
I'm all about like a good moralcompany.
I like that.
Mike's got, you know, two tatsleeves up up and down both arms
.
I think he had 20 somethingfelonies before he was 18 or at
18.
Like it says some crazy number,I don't know how you get a
funny four 18, but it was apretty wild thing.
And he described this like man.
I was just a kid, it was notbad stuff, it was just, but like
(04:04):
the guy's just wide open, right, but fully courage.
He said, yes, I'm going, and henow calls that the NAFTA trip.
So not a fishing trip after all.
Or he'll say, if it was afishing trip, I was the catch.
But you know, mike went down toGuatemala with my partner Toby
was like you know half a dozenother teammates and before their
(04:25):
fishing trip they went andvisited some villages and with a
group called ICM and they theybuilt hope centers in these
villages.
I said I see him did this, thework that they did.
And Toby had done some workwith ICM and he said you know,
mike, I want you to see this.
And so they went to a villageand they met some local leaders.
They met a pastor of a littlelittle little village and there
(04:46):
was not a permanent structure inthe village and Mike was
looking around at poverty thathe'd never seen or experienced.
And then he met a young, 13year old girl who had walked to
that village for some number ofmiles and the pastor's
introducing her and Mike wasjust kind of undone by this
girl's faith.
And he goes, man.
She was telling me things abouther faith and I couldn't
(05:07):
understand them and process themand he started to ask the
pastor why is she coming?
He goes well, she's coming tohelp build this hope center
because it's.
It's a big deal for this wholecommunity.
And Mike, you know why is itsuch a big deal?
He goes well, in Guatemala, onaverage, girls for age are going
to be pregnant by the time ofthe 13 or 14 years old and it's
from non-consensual sex and it'skind of cultural but without a
(05:30):
permanent structure for them tosleep in a safe place for them
to go to school as an orphanage,a church, on Sundays.
That's what she's headedtowards and she knows that and
the whole community knows that.
But when we want to change that, mike was just undone.
Those are human right.
This is a human being, aprecious little girl who's smart
and bright and all all you knowhope in her eyes.
(05:51):
And Mike's saying how much arethese to build?
And he was actually with threeChristians and Mike would at
that time call himself not aperson of faith at all.
The pastor told him so you knowthey're about $25,000.
Mike looked at the three guyswith him and, as a typical sales
guys, he's Every one of you inthat first can put that on an am
(06:12):
ex card.
I know how much.
I know how much you make.
Okay, put your cards in thebowl.
We're all gonna build one.
We're gonna build four of theseand the guys the world's gotten
into.
Mike.
And Mike came back from thattrip me, told me the case I
needed me with your breakfast,me, oh man, I, we come down and
he's just, he's tears his eyes.
He says I need to understand.
(06:32):
I know you're a person of faithand I need to understand, like
what this little girl's fatesabout.
I don't get it.
I don't get it, like I don'tunderstand.
And and your shirt asked methese really easy questions,
like you know why the bad thingshappen to good people all like.
But Mike was like convicted tobuild these churches just out of
the human need.
And so Mike Kitted that he wasgonna see a hope center built in
every village in Guatemala inthe next five years.
(06:53):
Not a person of faith at thattime, like not a person of faith
at all at that time and but wasexploring an issue, but just
knew that this is the kind oflike like I can't unsee this and
I can't not move and cannot act.
And he actually began Inspiredpeople that were saying, hey,
I'm a follower of Christ anddeep faith to actually be
generous and get involved inthis Lead.
I mean, he's led dozens oftrips to Guatemala and he had
(07:14):
built 200 hope centers invillages in Guatemala kind of
that, are inspired and organizedto have them built.
And before he finally came tofaith, and, and, and it clicked
for him in a conversation withJohn Maxwell and they went, they
went Golfing and John's one ofthe greatest evangelists in the
world.
He kind of explains that thegospel, the Mike, in a way that
(07:34):
I just never could figure outhow to and might call me, and so
this has got to be the wayPeter came to faith.
Right, mike calls me.
I mean my wife from Jersey alsoloved, I loved my Jersey Pete
and Mike Mike goes a case.
Yeah, he's crying, just Ifinally get it.
It's all about nothing, jesus.
He didn't say a thing.
He's all about everything.
(07:55):
Jesus, like even try to tell meLike I pray to receive Jesus, a
follow-up Jesus, like I'm, andit was just such a beautiful
like submission he goes.
And, by the way, I'm gettingbaptized at the first church I
ever built.
By what?
The whole epic company to come.
Actually, you know this is notwhat it looks like on Sunday
morning at a lot of our now likeproper south or something.
(08:17):
But man, it was what it lookslike when somebody just
encounters a lover, christ.
When they step out a little bitin faith, they start walking
alongside guys and doing thework that he does to me and love
and serve the marginalized andit's been.
It's been an incredible,beautiful transfer.
I don't know how many peoplelike him a faith through.
A 65 teammates did fly downthere.
Mike's wife actually stood upto get baptized as well.
(08:38):
Two teammates and a teammateDon't stood up to get baptized
along with Mike in the riveralongside you ever built and
that pastor is a friend of thisday and Mike still goes down
there and visits him.
And you know, we got Literallyhave hundreds of stories like
that of people they start kindof walking the stuff out in the
workplace with friends, step outon mission and and the larger
(09:01):
change like way and whether theycome to faith or whatever that
looks like like everybody comesback better, everyone comes back
on.
Wow, I'm in my life's richer,and that's what I say.
People say thanks for going andthey may always come back to go
.
Oh, my gosh, you know Ireceived like I received, like I
got to meet people who arewalking with courage that I
can't imagine.
I got to.
I get to, you know, see, peopleare processing decisions that
(09:21):
that make mine back here justseem heady and insignificant and
that that's actually A giftthat take my eyes off of myself
and think about man, all that Ihave not, all that I don't have,
like you know, I'm thinkingabout that.
And so, yeah, we see peoplelive transformed in those love
works and vision trips.
And and then finally, I neededto put a thing in place.
When Mike, mike was coming backfrom these vision trips, we had
(09:43):
other teammates come back withthese hard, hard questions.
I'm like life and faith, that'sgoing man, I don't know.
I'm sure listeners feel thisway sometimes too, like I don't.
I'm not Billy Graham, I'm not,you know, I'm having, having
graduated seminary with all theequipping and to answer all
these really tough questions onfaith and explain everything to
folks.
(10:03):
But others have, others have,and so I actually invited a
really good friend of mine whohas a doctorate in a theology
that helped write somecurriculum for us to just like
answer the hard questions inlife, you know, and discuss them
and process them and then youanswer them is probably the
wrong phrase, but discuss themand explore with them.
There aren't great answers forthese things, but there are a
(10:23):
lot of truths that we can learn,particularly when we process
with some other.
And so he wrote a curriculumcalled movement mentoring, where
we just process life'squestions together in small
groups and just kind of sharedvulnerably and authentically.
And that happens, I think, morerobustly in the workplace than I
ever experienced in the church.
Cause at work again, I'm doing40, 50, 60 hours a week, right,
and people know what I'm actinglike.
(10:45):
Like I can fake anyone out foran hour at church Pretty much,
unless I'm in like the worst,hardest time of my life.
I can smile and high five.
We don't even know.
You see me across the, you knowsanctuary or something, or even
doing a small group, sometimesone hour.
Our lives are intertwined.
When you're working together,man, your lives are like locked
(11:06):
in and you just so.
When you start processing theseharder questions in life, you
know the purpose of it, themeaning and these things.
With people that you do thatmuch life with, I think you get
to more honest answers morequickly and that's a good thing.
That's a really, really goodand powerful thing.
And so we've seen I mean we'vehad thousands of teammates now
go through small group mentoringgroups together such a process
(11:29):
in life's big questions.
That's been up.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
No, that's so good and we hear all the time truth
sets people free, and the thingabout the truth setting people
free is we actually have to becourageous enough to confront
the truth Like what are thefears and the worries and the
things, the hurts that are inour heart that need to be
brought forward so God can healthose things.
So I love the notion ofmentoring and really just
(11:56):
creating space to help peoplelive intentionally, on purpose,
on mission, as you described it,in their best form of
themselves, right, Reallycultivating who God created them
to be.
It's just absolutely fantastic.
Want to move from love works,the mentoring, the vision trips
(12:20):
that facet of how you're lovingGod and loving people to the
schools.
So you've talked about theschools a couple of times just
for folks who don't know whatare the schools and how many of
them have you been able to standup so far.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah.
So kind of part of our visionagain, just like four employees
that, hey, you know, want tolove each other, love and serve
our customers, and if we'vecreated a profit doing that,
which we hope we would, wouldn'tit be neat to like take that
profit and reinvest in thecommunities we're a part of?
Didn't know how, didn't knowwhat we would do with that or
how we would do it.
We just started and we pivoteda couple of times.
We started doing some.
We did an affordable housingproject with single moms, that
(12:57):
we did a community center andthen, as God kind of blessed the
business, the business crew, wehad more capital and more
opportunities and we landed onschools charter one title one,
charter schools that areexclusively built to serve the
most marginalized in ourcommunity, the poorest kids in
our community.
It's been absolutelyoutstanding.
(13:20):
We really researched what arethe things that are going to
change kids lives.
With the largest amount ofimpact and overwhelmingly the
largest statistical correlate toa kid escaping poverty in their
lifetime is whether or not theycan read at grade level in
third grade.
Interestingly, we also buildour prisons in America based on
the number of boys they can readin third grade.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Oh my gosh, that is crazy.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
It is.
It's a pretty tough statisticto when you process that on
average, in like in Charlton,north Carolina which is not this
summer from a lot of other bigcities 98% of our kiddos that
are born in poverty will die inpoverty.
So you imagine being a singlemom with three kids and you know
to your boys and they can'tread a grade level, you know
there's a person self-past to beinvolved one of them, and that
(14:04):
there's a 98% like less than 2%Likely that your kid is are
going to be the ones that areable to to matriculate out of
poverty in their life.
And that's just statistics.
Right, that's statistics.
And so you can look at them.
They hey, there's eithersomething like deficient with
the kiddo or there's likesomething deficient with the
systems and the culture and thevalues around them.
We believe many skid there'snothing wrong with these kids,
(14:25):
like there is absolutely nothingwrong with these kids.
They're great and image of Godthey are.
They have fearfully,wonderfully made gosh.
They have so much ridiculouspotential.
But there are a lot of there, alot of Challenges they have,
particularly in the educationsystem, that are keeping them
from realizing that fullpotential.
So we looked at theinstitutions that were changing
that most dramatically.
And we looked at housing,because we're in Mortgages and
(14:46):
it was not housing.
And we looked at health careand I've a great friend runs a
massive Medicare business.
We look at it really stated indepth, it is not health care.
And we looked at theinstitution of education and
overwhelmingly, this institutionof education provided the
largest opportunity right topour into kids pre-k through
sixth grade and Equip them withthe tools they need to fully use
(15:07):
all those gifts to break out ofpoverty and Sliv of life.
I think the God has come in amuch more meaningful way.
So then we started going okay,if it's education, who's doing
this?
Well, how do you do education?
Well, we run around the UStrying to find some of the best
practitioners of Bringingeducation into to the urban poor
and breaking some of thesecycles of poverty, and Turns out
(15:29):
one of them was right here onbackyard, cheryl Turner, running
a great school called SugarCreek.
And you know it was a long,interesting story, but we got.
We got really passionate aboutit.
So start building schools.
We ended up hiring an incredibleCEO of movement schools named
Kerry Antonisha Thomas, who wascoming down from New York after
in the best schools in New Yorkand we intersected her and she
(15:49):
was almost gonna be out, likeshe was almost gonna be out.
She's.
She's incredibly packed.
She's with the 14 publicschools growing up and graduated
Topper class from Columbia andthen was one of the most
successful educators in thestate of New York, was born out.
She saw what we were doing.
She got reinvigorated and shesaid you know what, if you will
build Great schools, I will fillthem up with amazing kids and
(16:11):
amazing teachers.
And she's done exactly that.
So we've committed to build ahundred title one charter
schools over the next eightyears.
Now only got eight years.
Left Was 10.
We started.
We started the 10-year vision.
We're kind of kind of doing ageometric multiplication
strategy and we are.
We are at five schools open andactive right now.
We have four more coming out ofthe ground next year and we're
(16:36):
opening in Atlanta, charlestonand Raleigh Next year.
And it's just been.
It's been absolutely incredibleto see what these kids have
done.
Our kids are now having, onaverage, about 50% of them are
reading at grade level, which KTwould would would jazz ties me
for celebrating, but when, whenyou're comparing that to like 15
to 20 percent of theirdemographic peers reading at
(16:56):
grade level.
It's a celebration, it'sprogress.
Now she is correct and I don'targue with her ever.
But our kids are capable of 90%Like that.
90% of them are gonna bereading a grade level when we do
the work that we need to do toget from there.
But, ma'am, we're thankful forthe progress and we think we're
giving kids an opportunity athome.
And then we, you know, we canwrap those schools around with
(17:17):
after-school services, withweekend services for mom, for
dad, for for caretakers.
We have counseling at everyschool and we're actually are
putting medical in most of theschools Also, just get to help
the medical.
And what we want, angelique, istwo things.
One, we know God's called us todo this, right.
We know all this to like, lovethe margin lots, particularly
kiddos, and you know scale andwe're pretty good at scale
(17:39):
things.
So so we're doing it in thatway and he's given me as the
capacity to do so.
So walk in that.
But what we're doing only anexample like a hundred schools
doesn't solve the problem in twoor three states, right?
What we want to do is go firstand live into our name of being
a movement, and so we say, hey,we're going to model out for
folks what it can look likeimprove out in our nation.
(17:59):
So many of our problems in ourcountry are locked up in the
bottom 10% of earners in ourcountry.
There's just so many problemsthat are associated with poverty
.
Life gets so hard if you'reliving in poverty and as
followers of Jesus, I think weare supposed to be like leading
the charge at the tip of thespear, to like run to our
neighbors in poverty and thinkabout how to love and serve them
in a way that doesn't just likethrow a fish or like throw a
(18:23):
meal, but it's like actuallycomes alongside folks, partners
with them, so they can use allthe gifts God's given them to
have like a flourishing,thriving life, so that we have
stronger communities, strongercity, a stronger nation over
time.
And so we're trying to do ourpart to be kind of the tip of
the spear of that and improveout this model with schools and
then give it away.
Just give it away to anyonethat'll take it.
(18:43):
We run our schools 100% insideof state and federal dollars.
So it truly it does takecapital to build a school and
all that kind of thing, butwe're running it like a business
so that it's sustainable andscalable and can be replicated,
hopefully, across the US.
That's just the contribution wewant to make into our country
to improve out these kids haveeverything that they need and we
(19:05):
want to break down any kind ofyou know, subtle racism that
exists to say, hey, these kidssomehow are deficient or can't
do that.
We know that's not the case.
We're going to prove that outthe kids are proving that out
and and then give people a modelfor how to do this more
robustly and more scale so morekids can experience that hope,
break those chains of poverty.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's absolutely incredible.
You know, I love the notion ofrinse, leather, repeat, and so a
lot of really good work hasgone into figuring this out and
being able to leverage what youall have paved the way on and
just continue to be multipliers,like the numbers of
multiplication across ourcommunities is what's needed.
So I'm going to share a lotmore detail and the show notes
(19:46):
on how people can learn moreabout not only what we've talked
about today, but there's somuch more that you all are doing
that is just really good to diginto just one, I think.
What can you do today?
Take a step, love the personsitting next to you right?
That's call number one.
And then, through faithfulness,when you're faithful to those
(20:09):
around you, god will continue toopen doors to do more, and so
I'm hoping that you're catching.
Those who are listening arecatching some of the vision that
Casey is casting for ourcommunity.
What could Charlotte look likeif you're in Charlotte?
What could it look like if wetruly did love our neighbor as
we love the Lord, if we reallylived it out?
(20:30):
What could New York start tolook like?
Or Chicago, or the cities thatare literally just crumbling
within?
They need the love of Christ.
So we are the love of Christ.
We are to bring the light tothe city on the hill Before we
go.
I also want to cast a little bitmore vision to marketplace
leaders.
(20:50):
So, whether it's a CEO of acompany or someone in a
leadership role thinking aboutcreative, creatively, how do
people have roles that actuallyare established with almost love
?
Ambassadors in the community.
And when I was reading up onsome of the roles that you've
(21:11):
established inside a movementmortgage, casey, a couple of
them caught my eye.
I was just love to hear yourtake on what these roles are.
So it really is providinginspiration to other people to
maybe even do the same in theirorganizations.
And I'll just call out a fewyou have a chief pastoral
(21:32):
officer Super interesting,that's not typical in a business
A Christian counselor, a socialworker.
So let's just do those three.
Those are three roles that existin community, but not typically
a business.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
So I'd be quick to say, like we do, we have like
5,000 team members, right?
So business has a certainamount of scale and things.
These are not things we had dayone, right, these are not
things we had.
There's certainly not neededday one.
I think a lot of people say,well, we only have 20 employees.
I can't afford a pastor,goodness gracious, of course you
can't, but that would make nosense in the world.
Like, I started to have aproblem myself like with being
(22:12):
able to like walk more deeplywith people with questions they
had about faith.
And it was such.
It was such because of ourculture, because of our vision
trips, because of all that we do.
Man, it was just a resoundingneed inside the community.
And so our foundation decidedto fund a person to kind of
(22:33):
process a lot of those questionswith and build us some
curriculum and do all thosethings.
And it's been outstanding.
He actually doesn't like allthe time being called the pastor
off, because that's likeChristians love that phrase and
a lot of people aren't don't,and that's really important.
And so we're yeah, we're prettysensitive to that that his role
will be one that is like ablessing to everybody in the
(22:54):
organization and so like he'svery intentional to create a lot
of values based curriculum aswell.
That's something around likelove, courage, humility, care,
empathy, all that kind of stuff.
We process a lot of those kindsof questions in community as
well.
So that's the first one.
The Christian counseling one iswe have Christian counseling
and agnostic I guess, karen, I'mnot agnostic, but secular
(23:16):
counseling as well.
But a lot of our folks arepeople of faith inside of our
community and they really wantthat connected.
And it's when you startthinking about the emotional
wellness and the productivity ofyour folks.
I think I can make absolutely Iknow I can make an argument
that organizations are far moreproductive when their folks are
emotionally healthy andspiritually healthy.
And so, yeah, we invest in it.
(23:37):
You know it's an investment, Ithink it's, I think it's one
with really good returns.
Right, it's not, it's not whatagain this is?
This is something like, oh,that's so nice of you to do.
Well, actually, very selfishly,I really want to have a high
performing organization.
Our folks are way more highperforming when they are like
really healthy emotionally,spiritually, relationally, and
like me, first and foremost,they're like I think, advantage
of these services like robustly.
Okay, amen, we, we, you know weall need these things, and I
(24:01):
think, again, that's probablythe theme throughout all of this
is just trying to build acommunity that I'd want to be a
part of, or I want my kiddos tobe able to be a part of, right?
So so there's a again that veryselfish theme in there, I guess
.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
And then finally- it's God's desire God.
God created community right.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You walk in there and you'relike man, this is this, feels so
good and so healthy.
That's right.
And the other associate workerwas one like our Love Works
program, dimea.
I met with her yesterday,actually an amazing woman that
has a huge heart for people andis so gifted.
Again, our Love Works programgot to be of the size and scope
that that you know, withhundreds of teammate taking
(24:37):
advantage of it.
We don't just want to dole outcapital, right.
A lot of times there'semotional support that's needed,
there's, there's, there's, youknow, plugged into the right
programs.
And so we got somebody who'slike an absolute expert at that
to really not just dole outdollars but, like love serve,
walk alongside our teammatesthat were in times of need, you
know, so that they didn't comeback in at that time and didn't
fall, you know like, didn't fallback into the ditch, and she's
(24:59):
just incredible at doing that,has a team now that helps her.
We have a lot, of a lot of folksvolunteer.
We have spouses, that kind ofgo.
I don't really work, I'm notfull time, but I'd love to do
something.
A lot of those folks volunteeron our Love Works team and then
they thought like, oh my gosh,I'm like full time again, cause
this is like really hard way.
It is Like really really hardwork.
I mean, we've been been alivefor a while, it's a lot of work
and so she leads that whole teamand helps to equip that team
(25:20):
with, you know, strategies andtechniques to, to, to, to sort
of folks to help get their lifeback on track.
So it's, yeah, those are, thoseare.
Those are a little bitdifferent, I guess, roles than
every every corporation, butthey're ones.
I think again, I would make areally strong business argument
that any business should likeprobably benefit in investing in
like healthy relationships inthe lives of their folks, you
(25:41):
get a lot more productive and alot more yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Amen, well said.
So, just as we wrap up here, isthere anything else that you
would just want to share withthe listeners that you feel like
is still on your heart?
Just release it, or you feellike you have said what God has
called you to say today.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I hope you've said it.
I think the biggest thing Iwould just say like start taking
a step.
You know you can already saylike taking a step of faith, and
it's usually one that's alittle scary.
I've just found like thefaithful one is usually a little
bit scary because I think wehave an enemy.
I think people believe likeSatan does not want us to enjoy
the life that God has for us orto pursue God's paths for our
(26:20):
life, and so he does things todiscourage us and to let fear in
our heart and make things seemsilly.
And so you know, if there'ssomething you're feeling like
led to do, but it's a littlescary, it feels a little silly
maybe, or just a little bitsacrificial, even like, oh man,
I'd like to give, but I don'tknow like I also like that new
car over there and that wouldmean this trade off.
(26:41):
Gosh, just take that leap offaith Like step out, step out in
some small way, just step outin some small stretch yourself
in some small way.
Step out and just watch Godmeet you there, and I promise
like on the front end, for me italways feels terrifying and
fearful.
Oh gosh, can I do this?
And then you look back, man.
You look back and what was suchfear in your heart, man?
You just see God's faithfulness, like right here he meets that
(27:03):
fear with such incrediblefaithfulness.
And you look back and justalmost feel silly.
Right, it's a testimony in thestory you write from.
Those little leaps of faiththat are so filled with fear are
just incredible.
They're just incredible.
So on this side of the action Iknow it probably feels fearful
and it still does for me, like I, just every week something
probably comes up like oh gosh,I don't know, we do this podcast
(27:26):
, we do this thing.
But take that little, smallstep out in faith and watch God
meet you there, just expand yourfaith in him and the day to joy
you have and fall in them, ashe kind of weaves and works out
his story throughout history oflove and redeem in a broken
heart and world.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Amen.
Well, well said.
Well, we just thank you foryour time, casey.
This has just been anincredible conversation and I
know that the listeners are justinspired with new hope, new
vision and how to really putlove into action, carried into
the marketplace, and really helpour community become a better
place.
Would you do us the honor ofclosing us out in prayer?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I will.
And I want just to thank youtoo, angelique, because you know
this podcast itself.
Maybe somebody clicking on thispodcast was an active faith,
but you being willing to leadand invest the time and energy
to do this with such excellenceis it's a great testament, it's
a great encouragement to all.
So thank you for yourfaithfulness and it's great to
connect with you as a new friend.
We'll pray, heavenly Father,thank you, thank you, thank you,
(28:21):
thank you, lord, for the greatgift of Jesus, for his love for
us, for while we were yetsinners and hate you, lord, you
sent your son to die for us Likethat his blood would pay the
atonement for our sin.
Father, we just take hold outof prayer at every listener
would take hold that they'd knowthat hope, they'd know that, oh
, this is that freedom that isin Christ Lord, not pray.
(28:43):
That, compelled by that freedom, that free gift of salvation in
Christ Lord, that we would actand join.
Act in faith, lord, to followyour lead of loving a hurting
world or running people maybethat are far from us, that even
opposed to his father the wayyou ran to us, and that would
pour out our lives, lord, andwith a passion to see others
come to know the hope that wehave in you.
(29:04):
Thank you for your love for us.
Lord, lead us, guide us foryour glory, jesus' name amen.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Grow
where God reveals our way.
We hope you found inspiration,wisdom and encouragement as we
continue on this faith-filledjourney together.
We invite you to subscribe toGrow so you never miss an
episode.
Stay tuned for more biblicalteachings, heartfelt testimonies
and insights that will nourishyour spirit in deep in your
relationship with God.
(29:32):
We appreciate your support andparticipation in this podcast.
Until next time, may you growin faith, love and knowledge of
his divine plan.
May God bless you abundantly.
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