October 21, 2025 • 29 mins
In this special throwback episode of the Fearless Faith Radio Show, host Mary Grothe welcomes John Gallagher Jr.—faith-based executive coach, performance consultant, and founder of Growing Champions—for a deeply personal and powerful conversation on integrating faith into leadership.
John shares his journey from a Catholic upbringing to discovering a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, and how that transformation shaped his calling to coach leaders of leaders. This episode is more than a testimony—it’s a blueprint for living out fearless faith in the marketplace.
Together, Mary and John explore:
- The role of faith in corporate America
- How mentorship and influence shape legacy
- The uphill climb of purpose-driven leadership
- Balancing work, family, and spiritual discipline
- Why servant leadership is the highest form of impact
- Scriptural truths that guide daily decisions
- The power of intentionality, forgiveness, and legacy-building
John’s reflections are raw, real, and radically encouraging for any leader who wants to glorify God through their work. Whether you’re leading a team, building a business, or navigating your own transformation, this episode will challenge you to lead with purpose, humility, and eternal impact.
Key Quotes from John:
- “Faith without works is dead.”
- “I commit to the Lord and all that I do is for working for Him and not for human masters.”
- “Anything worth doing is uphill—and it’s a rocky hill you go up.”
- “The greatest story ever told is when your name is written on someone’s list of five people who made a positive impact on their life.”
🎧 Listen to the full episode and share with a leader who needs this message.
📘 Learn more at coachjohngallagher.com
📲 Connect with John on LinkedIn: @CoachJohnGallagher
🌐 Discover more about Mary Grothe: marygrothe.com
🎧 Listen here → https://youtu.be/IiS4lsNojAM
#FaithDrivenLeadership #UncommonLeader #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipLegacy #GrowingChampions #MarketplaceMinistry #FearlessFaith #ServantLeadership #ChristianBusinessLeaders #LeadWithPurpose
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Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)
Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
That was his first gift to humanity.
And work is good.
And faith without works is dead.
And diving into what scripturesays about work, it's so
beautiful how God created humansand how he created work and what
we can do with our work toglorify him and further the
kingdom even in a broken world.
And I know the enemy doesn'tlike what you and I try.
(00:33):
Welcome to the Fearless FaithRadio Show, which follows me,
Mary Grothy, and my path as aChristian executive in corporate
America.
I share the highs and lows,provide scripture and teaching,
and then interview influentialguests who are walking the
topic.
I aim to help fill thediscipleship gap for Christians
in the workplace by creatingpowerful and real weekly lessons
(00:57):
we can all learn from andimplement.
Welcome to the Fearless FaithRadio Show.
I'm your host, Mary Grothy, andtoday I'm joined by an old
friend, John Gallagher.
He and I met through thebranding company that helped
launch my personal brand.
You've heard me talk about them.
Brand builders group, we call itBBG for short.
John was so kind to have me as aguest on his show several months
(01:18):
ago.
I thought it was an excellentinterview.
Very emotional at one point,which I didn't anticipate, but
sometimes that happens.
I was so grateful to be on hisplatform and to have an
opportunity to share mytestimony and some of the good
news of the gospel to hisaudience.
And now today we get to returnserve, and I'm so grateful that
he is here.
(01:38):
I'm gonna give you just a littlebrief intro on who he is, but
truly the delight is gonna be inhim sharing his story.
John is a faith-based executivecoach, performance consultant,
and advisor to some of theworld's leading organizations.
John Gallier, welcome to theshow.
SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
Oh, it's so great to be on, Mary.
I appreciate the opportunity andI appreciate what you do with
your radio show and yourpodcast.
I'm excited about ourconversation today.
SPEAKER_02 (02:02):
I love that.
Me too, me too, me too.
Okay.
So I know a little bit aboutyour story, but I want to make
sure the audience gets to hearall the details.
So take us back as far as youwant to go.
The floor is yours.
We're so excited to hear yourstory this morning.
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
Mary, thank you so much.
And I'd love, you know, even ata point where I am today, I'm
not yet where I want to be,which is a good thing.
I'll still be on that journey.
Hopefully, a lifelong learner,both in my faith and in other
areas of my life.
But if I take you back, let'sjust let's just kind of talk
about that upgrading andupbringing and how my faith has
ultimately played a role goingforward.
I grew up uh in the CatholicChurch.
Uh I went to Catholic school upthrough eighth grade.
(02:38):
And ultimately, I think that's astory that many have.
As I went through high school, Iwas an altar boy at church.
Uh, we were, we were those thatwent to church infrequently.
And while it was a part of mylife, I don't know that God was
necessarily a part of my life inthat space.
Went off to college and andtruly lost connection
completely.
But ultimately, uh, while inschool, found my wife, who's
(03:00):
been my wife now for over 30years.
And once we did get marriedshortly after college, it was us
having a discussion that wereally knew that in starting a
family, we needed to be uh inthe church.
We didn't we didn't yet knowwhat that really meant, but that
we needed to be in the church.
And we were living away.
We had I had moved her away fromher hometown.
We were living in St.
(03:21):
Louis, Missouri.
I'd love to kind of start off,start this journey off.
And she grew up in the Baptistchurch.
I grew up in the Catholicchurch.
We were married in the Methodistchurch.
We were a mess.
We had no idea really what'shappening with regards to our
marriage.
Uh and so we said, well, let'stry, let's try a couple
different churches to see what'sthere for us.
First time we went to CatholicChurch, uh, we were there and
(03:42):
imagine huge uh old church uh ina suburb of St.
Louis, and my wife kind ofelbows me as communion starting,
and she says, I'm not feelingreally well.
And we had both we had people onboth sides of St.
Pew.
I said, Well, give give us asecond here.
Once the line gets back to usfor communion, we'll just walk
out the back of the churchinstead of waiting to go on.
And she didn't make it.
Her eyes rolled in the back oftheir head, her head.
(04:04):
She passed out, hit the pew infront of us, and slid on the
marble floors underneath thepew.
And I was uh in a position oflike, I don't know what to do.
People around me, want me tocall 911?
I said, I don't know.
I was like, you know, we'rewe're young, uh, we are we're
healthy, and it didn't makesense.
But thankfully, she she did wakeup uh as she lay on the marble
tiles there, and ultimately shesaid it just felt good on her
(04:26):
cheeks while she was there.
Took her to the hospital.
Uh no, nothing was found, no,even their blood sugar was fine.
Um, but ultimately maybe it wasa a sign from God that we
weren't supposed to be in theCatholic Church.
Fast forward a few years, we'reback in our hometown of Roanoke,
Virginia.
We have a child, and I know uhwhen we took my son to be
christened in the in theMethodist church, my wife's
(04:48):
grandmother's church, I just Ijust recalled him uh looking up
at me as a baby, and and Iheard, you know, the voice, you
know, whether it was his or not,he said, Don't don't mess this
up ultimately.
And being a father as a parentfor the first time as a husband,
I really and I just knew we wewere missing something.
And it was something that tookus on a journey, really started
on a journey for us inside ofthat faith space.
(05:08):
For me specifically, it was onethat I was that I was
uncomfortable in that space.
And we were in search.
And I know I put this in thestory.
Uh, if I fast forward a fewyears in terms of when we were
looking, we were reallystruggling as a family.
We had not found a church, wehad moved again to Indiana, away
from family, no friends, and wewere in need uh of something.
(05:29):
And I recall uh going into thegrocery store, our favorite
grocery store, and I'm checkingout, usually in you know, in a
space years ago when youactually had to check out uh
with somebody who was at theregister, uh, not use the
self-checkout, but I got a tapon the back of my shoulder, and
the gentleman behind me hadasked me if I was from West
Virginia because I had a WestVirginia University sweatshirt
on.
(05:49):
I'm in Indiana.
And I said, Yeah, I am.
He says, Well, so am I as well.
He was from uh town, he grew upin a town about a hundred miles
from where I was, but we startedto carry on a conversation and
you know, graciously he said, Soare you all uh attending a
church here in town?
And I said, No, but I got totell you, we've been looking and
uh we're really in need of it.
We've not connected with people,and it's just something that we
(06:10):
really need.
He said, Well, I just happenedto be a pastor of a church down
the street, and so I'd like toinvite you to our church this
Sunday.
And I tell you, we walked in andwe knew when we walked in, I
mean, I had become a fan of JohnMaxwell and his teaching style
and had listened to him for awhile as a former Wesleyan
pastor, but they were teachinglike that inside of this church
in terms of the message and thefill in the blank.
(06:30):
And I tell you, as soon as Iwalked in, I knew that was a
place that God had kind of putus into.
That was the year uh 2002.
Uh both my wife and I, as wegrew in that journey, uh, had
decided at that point in time touh publicly profess our faith.
So it was 2003.
We were baptized by Immersion inthe Lake outside of sunrise, and
(06:50):
kind of the the story reallystarted for us from there, from
August 2003 to that.
But I, you know, I just loved, Isaid, I think one of the books
is going to be God Found Me inthe checkout line at the grocery
store.
And I know that that's uhsomewhat of a joke, but I I
still uh am while I'm in SouthCarolina now, uh I still remain
friends with that pastor.
(07:10):
Uh he and I stay connected, andI just always am very grateful
for him and who he was in ourlife at that point in time.
For me, I had been in themarketplace and I hadn't even
thought of really uhincorporating uh my faith and my
work together, if you will.
They were two, they were stilltwo separate lives, but it was
something that we werecontinuing to grow.
(07:32):
I was not a I was not a readeror immersed uh in the Bible, but
I remember one day I was havinga problem at work, and I did
have a copy of a Ben'sdevotional Bible on my desk.
And I had I was having a problemat work, and I finally had said,
maybe if I open this book, I'llfind something there.
And I literally just opened itand it opened up to Joshua 1.9,
and I couldn't believe it.
I mean, it literally opened upto the page Joshua 1, uh, and I
(07:55):
read through that and foundverse 9.
We're talking we're talkingabout, you know, do not fear,
but be bold and courageous.
Uh, then I will be with you inthat.
And I may I'm not I'mparaphrasing, I know I'm not
saying that verse exactly, butthat was something there that
I'm like, wow, this this kind ofthis book has some words in here
that are a lot of really goodwisdom.
We became part of a home group,uh, which again grew our faith
as well.
(08:16):
And it was something that wecontinue to move forward.
I still know that God continuesto work in me today.
And it's really been in the pastfive years where I've started to
develop the disciplines of beingin the word daily, daily prayer
uh in my life, uh serving in thechurch.
I mean, again, so if if I had tobe in that parking lot and park
(08:37):
in a certain space and uhtraffic lights had to be perfect
for God to find me in the in thestore, and I have something to
do with with grocery cards andparking lots now.
I lead the parking team and thegreeting team at church.
I've done that for about 10years.
And it's just something thatthey're that gives me an
opportunity to serve as well.
Today, uh I've been uh while Ihad worked for large companies
(08:58):
for a long time for the pastfour years, I've been the uh CEO
and founder of GrowingChampions, which uh is a is a
faith is a faith-basedconsulting and coaching firm, if
you will.
I myself and one other mentor,he and I work together to coach
uh organizations through aprocess that we've developed
through our teaching in in bothleadership development and in
(09:21):
process improvement.
And while the the processesthemselves do not necessarily
incorporate uh Christ into thoseprocesses, it's the way that he
and I try to model, to beimitable, to be invitational and
to others that will allow themto see Christ through us as we
continue to grow on thatjourney.
And again, I just know that I'mstill an infant on that journey.
(09:43):
Some of your words, you know, onmy podcast for the first time,
the Uncommon Leader podcast,where you shared your testimony,
that that's something that uhwas very the first time, Mary.
And I know it opened my eyes upto God as well.
Like I have to share more ofthat faith inside of my podcast
as well and the work that I do.
So I think that was a catalystas well.
You go back to that, Iappreciate you remembering that.
(10:04):
But that was that wasbreakthrough for my podcast when
I started to really uh bringpeople on and start to share
their story.
So that brings us to today.
And I know that God put us onthat phone call with BBG
together and uh started thatconnection as well.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (10:19):
Yeah, that's an incredible story.
Uh how many kids do you have?
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
Two boys, 20, soon to be 28 and 25.
SPEAKER_02 (10:26):
Oh my gosh, that's so special.
What have they gone on to do?
SPEAKER_01 (10:29):
Yeah, so my my oldest, my 28-year-old, was an
exercise science major atLiberty University.
He was a cheerleader for thefootball team, and uh, so he's
big into fitness and things likethat.
And he is uh manager of astretch zone right here in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
And then my youngest actuallydid end up going into ministry.
So he was youth ministry majoruh at Liberty University.
(10:50):
He's now uh in his second yearworking with Young Life in
Boulder, Colorado, trying tobring the word to middle schools
uh in that region, one of themost unchurched regions in our
country.
Uh hard work that he's doing,but committed to the work that
he's doing as well, raising hisfunds uh to pay for his salary
to do that.
And he just got married inNovember of last year as well to
(11:13):
uh a young woman, beautiful, uhfull of God as well.
So they are they are justthriving.
I just you know wish theyweren't so far away, but that is
what it is.
He's in the he's where exactlywhere he needs to be.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
Well, you'll have to connect us after this so that I
can cook them a really nice mealand have them come over because
we're about an hour away fromBoulder.
SPEAKER_01 (11:30):
That would be fantastic.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (11:32):
We'll have them.
I do Sunday salmon every Sunday,open up my home to whoever wants
to come, but I cook a big spreadthat's been on my heart to
eventually open that up to thecommunity and sit down with our
neighbors just right here in thecommunity that maybe look a
little bit different from us.
I live in a really niceneighborhood.
I'm I'm beyond blessed with whatthe Lord has bespowed, bestowed
(11:55):
upon us and in our lives and inmy marriage and financially
through the work that He's givenme the gifts and talents to do.
And we live in a really amazingneighborhood and a really
amazing house.
But I know that my heart isstill with my neighbors that
come from the same life of whereI came from.
And I think as BBG taught us,we're always best positioned to
(12:15):
serve who we once were.
And I think about thetransformation that happened in
my own life and extending myhand out to who I used to be, to
those people who are in thatplace.
So much of life transformationnot happens because someone told
you to do something.
There's a plethora ofinformation out there in this
world.
It's the people who choose to dolife and walk side by side with
(12:36):
them and show them a differentway of living, to let them
witness what Christ can do inyour life if you're willing to
surrender and let him be theLord of your life.
And so I love opening my homeright now on Sundays.
So you'll have to connect us.
I would love to meet them andlearn about their work and help
support them.
I think I when I moved fromIndiana, we moved to Boulder,
Colorado.
And so I went to high school outthere.
(12:57):
And I would agree with you thatit is very unchurched to
community.
And it was very different thanwhat I grew up in in Northwest
Indiana.
Not to say that I grew up in thechurch, but there were
traditional conservative valuesthat were just a part of the
community that I was raised in.
Like if we didn't go to church,I didn't know Jesus.
But there was a conservative andtraditional way of living in the
(13:19):
community.
And in Boulder, it's like aflippin' free-for-all.
It is a completely differentway.
So I hope to meet them.
SPEAKER_01 (13:27):
Um I can't wait to learn about the I will I will
connect you all, you and Jojo.
Uh as he's come to be known outthere, not to us, but to
everybody who knows him outthere.
I love that.
And he's still Joseph for us.
SPEAKER_02 (13:40):
So yeah, that's so special.
Wow, what an accomplishment.
You know, my son is eight, andI'm starting to realize that my
career, my work will have somecomponents of legacy in it
because I'm taking on projectsnow that are very worthy in the
name of the Lord.
And I'm continuing to seek thoseand I see something in my future
(14:03):
where I'm going to be able toapply my marketplace talents and
more kingdom work, which I'mvery excited about to continue
to watch the Lord unfold.
But in the same state of being,I'm starting to see my
eight-year-old son and seeingwho he's becoming and the
conversations that we have andhis independence and his
decisiveness.
He's an only child, and we'veonly loved him through logic
(14:26):
growing up.
We never babied him.
He's always been explained thetruth, the way, the, the why
behind everything.
He's of such sound mind and he'sa good, good hearted boy with a
great head on his shoulders andjust continuing to nurture in
that.
And I look at my son as that'sthe real legacy.
That is where, like, that'sthat's my name, that's my flesh
(14:50):
and blood that's gonna go on.
So you must be so proud of yourchildren and so incredible to
see them now as adults.
Like I that's crazy to me tothink my son's gonna be an adult
one day.
I know, right?
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
Yeah, you blink.
I mean, because I can you knowin that story of that journey,
they they you know grew up withus uh on that journey, all the
mistakes that we made, but alsoall the all the blessings that
we received in that churchfamily that we got into.
SPEAKER_02 (15:14):
So that's so beautiful.
What caused all the moves inyour early years of your
marriage?
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
Yeah, I think it's a career for me.
So it was more as amanufacturing executive where I
started out, I went through amanufacturing and trunking
program.
So even as we got married rightout of college, I knew I was
gonna have to move three times.
And common leaders, hope you'reenjoying the episode so far.
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not just a company name.
That's why a strong personalbrand is essential, whether
(15:41):
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Brand Builders Group, the folkswho have been helping me refine
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They'll help you identify youruniqueness, craft a compelling
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So head on over toCoachJongGallagher.com slash
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(16:03):
the first step toward building apersonal brand that gets you
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That's coachjohngallagher.comslash BBG.
Now, let's get back to theepisode.
My wife and I did Indiana, thenChicago, then St.
Louis, Missouri.
Ultimately, the fourth move wasback to her hometown.
My organization had a facilityuh in her hometown.
So we made that move back.
We're like, we're gonna be hereforever.
(16:25):
And then six years later, I wascalled to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Got a little bit cold there, butfantastic.
Again, uh the story had beenwritten.
That was you know, where uh weran into uh God or he ran into
us in the in the checkout lineat the grocery store uh and made
that possible for us.
And then we moved back again in2006 to Roanoke, Virginia, and
(16:47):
lived there for 20 years, raisedour boys there in Roanoke.
Now in South Carolina, afterwe've had a chance to raise our
children there and got to apoint where I was still
traveling with work on a regularbasis.
I just need to be somewhat closeto a an airport that could get
somewhere.
My wife's parents had moved downhere a couple years earlier.
So when I travel, uh makes agood opportunity for her to be
(17:07):
able to serve her parents and bewith her parents as they uh go
to the next stage of their lifeas well and need to be
supported.
SPEAKER_02 (17:14):
Wow, that's really beautiful.
I love that.
Okay.
I have so much I want to diginto in your work and how you're
serving people in the businesscommunity.
I need to lead us into a veryshort break.
We'll be back in just a minute.
On the other side of the break,we're gonna dig in.
Plus, I want to hear about youbringing your faith to the
forefront in your work and whatthat transition was like.
(17:35):
Because I know that that'screates a little conflict for
people, especially in corporateAmerica.
Like, where does my faith fitinto this?
I would love to dive into thosetopics on the other side of
this.
We'll be back in just a minute.
SPEAKER_04 (17:46):
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SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
Welcome back to the Fearless Faith Radio Show.
I'm your host, Marion Grothy,and today I'm joined by John
Gallagher, and he has shared hisstory of his upbringing and
finding that faith and thoseearly years in marriage and in
the line at the checkout at thegrocery store.
I love that.
God can find us anywhere, and hedoes.
It was so beautiful and learnedabout what his kids are up to
(19:29):
these days.
And now we're gonna dig intomore of his work because you
have dedicated this chapter ofyour life in a give back form
through coaching and helpingbusiness leaders understand how
to conquer the Goliaths thatcome into their paths, how to
move the mountains, how to havethe faith that really supersedes
(19:52):
any understanding of how theycan incorporate their
marketplace talents, their faithinto the work that they're
doing.
So dive in and just tell usabout the coaching work and how
you're serving the businesscommunity.
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
No, I appreciate that.
And it's a question, I tell you,God's been, you know, chipping
away uh at me on this journey.
I mean, I can take it back 25years to when I had a mentor who
provided me with a book, The 21Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
by John Maxwell.
And I didn't know what, I didn'tknow what how to spell
leadership at the time.
I had responsibility for 200people in a facility of 200,000
(20:25):
square feet that was shipping$2billion of product each year.
Yet I didn't know what it wasgoing to take to grow as a
leader and grow others around meas well.
Uh I was just kind of working itreally hard.
But he sat down with that bookand went through that book with
me chapter by chapter.
And I tell you, as I learnedabout John Maxwell at the time,
uh it's just, you know, thepragmatic teaching that he had
(20:46):
resonated with me as I did moreresearch, had the opportunity to
uh learn, read more of hisbooks, and then actually go to
one of his conferences in 1999.
And I'll never forget this.
It was in Dallas, Texas.
And I went with a friend and uhhe knew Phil.
He was Phil's my friend.
If he ever got a chance tolisten to this, I'll share it
with him.
We walked in, he said, This isgonna be different for you.
This is gonna be reallydifferent.
(21:07):
I said, What do you mean?
He said, just trust me, it'sgonna be different.
And I walked in and they wereplaying worship music,
contemporary worship music, likeI had never heard before in
terms of uh I mean, I grew up inthe Catholic Church again.
This was really about you knowhymnals from the missile led or
from the book, and then we allsang the same ones.
It was the organ, and this waslike, you know, kind of rock
music singing to God as well,and people with their hands up
(21:27):
and things like that.
And I'm just kind of lookingaround and I just wasn't really
sure.
I was I was uncomfortable, but Iwas intrigued, no doubt about
it.
Uh again, fast forward that onmy journey, it was 2001 that I
got a chance, still staying withJohn Maxwell, I got a chance to
go to his house on a leadershipexchange conference.
My mentor invested in me andsent me to this conference, had
(21:48):
a chance to go to his house fordinner, and he prayed
specifically for me and put hishand on my shoulder.
And again, very different forme.
I was just not used to thosekind of things as I grew in the
journey, but I knew I was beingworked on.
And again, it was 2003 when Igave my life to Christ publicly
and we were baptized.
But let's let's fast forwardthat.
It was not something that waspart of my work.
(22:08):
But as I looked at my journey, Ihad become part of a large
organization or IBM as aconsultant and as a coach.
I had worked with an executivecoaching organization who was
coaching me that wasfaith-based.
But I wasn't yet taking thatinto my work outside of uh being
able to try and model some ofthose things.
I decided in 2019 that I wasgoing to get back into the
(22:31):
workplace in operations.
And there were positions that Iwas qualified for, that I
interviewed for, that I should Ishould have received.
Not out of ego.
It's just that I know I wasconfident in my abilities and
skills to do the types of jobsthat I would have been able to
do.
I would have had to move again.
But all three of thosepositions, I was given a no in
(22:53):
those positions.
And they all three told me, wewould hire you probably as a
coach or as a consultant, but wejust don't think that you fit in
this position.
And it was really then that Iknew that was the a moment for
me.
I remember it as the chair I wassitting in when I felt that gut
punch or that third no thatsaid, God, what are you teaching
me through this?
(23:13):
That it was him closing thosedoors and him telling me I was
right where I needed to be.
Fast forward a year, we get toCOVID, and I'm laid off from a
company that uh is a largecompany, stable uh work.
And I had to make a decisionwhat I wanted to do.
And my wife and I talked aboutand prayed about and we said, I
think I still want to continueto do this coaching and
(23:35):
consulting.
So I started my own company.
Look, I I love how this playedout because you get you get
there.
This is before a brand buildersgroup as well.
So you get the back in 2020 forme anyway, uh, and the story of
getting the website set up soyou can have coaching and people
can contact you.
You got to have a logo, yougotta have colors.
So I I went out to Fiverr andfound an individual who was
(23:58):
going to uh put my logo togetherfor me.
And I said, I want a tree.
Oh, by the way, that let mealmost today on my time hop, the
picture from 14 years ago wherethe idea behind Growing
Champions was born with thetree.
And the verse John 15 uh 8talked about ultimately we were
we were to bear fruit in thework if we were in him.
(24:20):
And that was 14 years ago todaywhen that idea was born.
But I sit, I sit and think aboutthat from the logo.
I said, it's got to have a treein the logo.
It's just kind of me.
It's growth.
I have these things that aregoing on in my life that I want
to bear fruit.
And he brings me a couple backwith three trees, uh three
different options.
I'm like, none of these areclicking for me.
The fourth one comes back thathe sends, and it's a man coming
(24:44):
out of the water with his handsraised in the shape of a tree,
trunk, tree, branches, andleaves around the arms, which
look like almost like sunlightshining.
I'm like, tell me what'shappening here.
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (24:58):
He said, That's a man coming out of the water
who's just been baptized,raising his hands in praise.
And I'm like, whoa, that wasreal uncomfortable.
And I love the idea.
And I said, That's too much.
And then again, I sat downagain, and and I know whether it
was uh an audible voice of Godor not saying, You're either in
(25:19):
this for me or you're not.
And so I decided to leave thatlogo with that individual uh
coming out of the water, raisinghis hands with the leaves being
the fruit that would be born onthe work that we were going to
do.
That was back in 2020, and he'sbeen continuing to provide so
many opportunities for me to bein the life of individuals.
You know, one specificindividual, while it may not be
(25:40):
a faith-based company, again,that's not really what it's
about, but I was walking aroundwith them the second time I'd
visit, and uh I started to talkabout my discipline of reading
the Bible every morning.
He kind of took a step back, andI, you know, it wasn't again
where I was sharing my faith toget him to hear it.
He said, I knew there wassomething different about you.
And I wasn't sure if he wasmeaning that as a negative or
positive.
(26:00):
He said, I I knew God wasworking in you through this
work.
And that's built a relationshipwith me and that gentleman now
for the last two years, uh, interms of not just in the
business and teaching himconsulting or you know,
executive coaching, um, but it'salso sharing faith as a big part
of that.
And I just I see thatopportunity.
I see that I am supposed to beimitable and imitational and
(26:24):
really a picture of God in mywork uh that impacts others.
While I can't change otherpeople's hearts, only God can do
that.
I can certainly be a vessel thatallows me to have those
conversations.
And it's really just been in thepast probably 12 to 18 months
that I've started to become,again, I think one of the
catalysts, Mary, was you beingon the podcast of starting to
(26:45):
say, I need to be more bold inthat space.
I need to be more courageous andmore overt with the fact that I
do want to glorify God and allthe work that I do, and I do
want to be a steward of stewardof the resources that he's given
me, and that I do want to makemoney, but I don't want to make
money just to make more money,but that it's an opportunity to
uh give back more in terms ofwhat he provides for us and what
(27:08):
he's given me over these years.
So it's been quite a journey forme to take that.
Now we work with organizationsuh and we target organizations
through the fellowship ofcompanies for Christ
International who arefaith-based leaders wanting to
have kingdom impact in theirorganizations.
But we do that by helping themand consulting them, teaching
them ways to improve theirbusiness, coaching their leaders
(27:31):
to be the leaders they need tobe so that they can develop the
leaders they need to.
Teaching them how to put systemsand processes in place so that
the impact that they have from afinancial standpoint can be more
steady, more continuously growthrather than fluctuating, and
allow them to have a biggerkingdom impact in the work that
they do.
So that's been an early journeyfor us, and we're just getting
(27:53):
started.
I really am.
And I believe that you know Idon't have any visions of
retiring one day.
I just hope that God continuesto bless me with health and I
can keep on that journey.
SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
Wow.
Okay.
I love all of it.
And thank you for the kind wordsabout me providing that moment
of breakthrough on the podcast.
Happy to do it.
I'm the I'm the fearless,outspoken.
Don't care who my audience is.
They're gonna hear about thegoodness of God and what he's
done in my life.
Um, so I'm grateful for that.
But specifically in the workthat you're doing, I do think
(28:23):
about myself as a young leaderbeing a woman of faith fresh 11
years ago, and having myself goback into the corporate payroll
sales job that I had before Igave my life to the Lord.
And I remember how hard it wasto step foot back into the same
environment with the same team,with the same manager, but be a
(28:45):
changed woman because I was notuh real classy in my first
go-around in that job.
You know, I was a Hellion andwork hard, play hard.
I was such a sinner and agossiper and had a terrible
mouth on me.
And it was, you know, I justdidn't carry myself in a great
way.
And so going back as a changedwoman, but then having to
(29:06):
navigate corporate America in asecular company as a woman of
faith, it was very lonely and itwas full of temptation and there
were challenges.
SPEAKER_00 (29:14):
And I know Did you enjoy the conversation?
You can watch the full video inthe description below.
If you found it helpful orinspiring, don't forget to like,
subscribe, and hit thenotification bell so you never
miss an update.
You can also follow me, JohnGallagher, on my social media
channels to stay updated onleadership tips, coaching
insights, and more inspiringcontent.
Links are in the description,and don't forget to check out
(29:37):
the Uncommon Leader podcast,where we dive deeper into
leadership, growth, and actiondriven insights every week.
Stay inspired, stay uncommon.
Until next time, go and growchampions.
That was his first gift to humanity.
And work is good.
And faith without works is dead.
And diving into what scripturesays about work, it's so
beautiful how God created humansand how he created work and what
we can do with our work toglorify him and further the
kingdom even in a broken world.
And I know the enemy doesn'tlike what you and I try.
(00:33):
Welcome to the Fearless FaithRadio Show, which follows me,
Mary Grothy, and my path as aChristian executive in corporate
America.
I share the highs and lows,provide scripture and teaching,
and then interview influentialguests who are walking the
topic.
I aim to help fill thediscipleship gap for Christians
in the workplace by creatingpowerful and real weekly lessons
(00:57):
we can all learn from andimplement.
Welcome to the Fearless FaithRadio Show.
I'm your host, Mary Grothy, andtoday I'm joined by an old
friend, John Gallagher.
He and I met through thebranding company that helped
launch my personal brand.
You've heard me talk about them.
Brand builders group, we call itBBG for short.
John was so kind to have me as aguest on his show several months
(01:18):
ago.
I thought it was an excellentinterview.
Very emotional at one point,which I didn't anticipate, but
sometimes that happens.
I was so grateful to be on hisplatform and to have an
opportunity to share mytestimony and some of the good
news of the gospel to hisaudience.
And now today we get to returnserve, and I'm so grateful that
he is here.
(01:38):
I'm gonna give you just a littlebrief intro on who he is, but
truly the delight is gonna be inhim sharing his story.
John is a faith-based executivecoach, performance consultant,
and advisor to some of theworld's leading organizations.
John Gallier, welcome to theshow.
SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
Oh, it's so great to be on, Mary.
I appreciate the opportunity andI appreciate what you do with
your radio show and yourpodcast.
I'm excited about ourconversation today.
SPEAKER_02 (02:02):
I love that.
Me too, me too, me too.
Okay.
So I know a little bit aboutyour story, but I want to make
sure the audience gets to hearall the details.
So take us back as far as youwant to go.
The floor is yours.
We're so excited to hear yourstory this morning.
SPEAKER_01 (02:15):
Mary, thank you so much.
And I'd love, you know, even ata point where I am today, I'm
not yet where I want to be,which is a good thing.
I'll still be on that journey.
Hopefully, a lifelong learner,both in my faith and in other
areas of my life.
But if I take you back, let'sjust let's just kind of talk
about that upgrading andupbringing and how my faith has
ultimately played a role goingforward.
I grew up uh in the CatholicChurch.
Uh I went to Catholic school upthrough eighth grade.
(02:38):
And ultimately, I think that's astory that many have.
As I went through high school, Iwas an altar boy at church.
Uh, we were, we were those thatwent to church infrequently.
And while it was a part of mylife, I don't know that God was
necessarily a part of my life inthat space.
Went off to college and andtruly lost connection
completely.
But ultimately, uh, while inschool, found my wife, who's
(03:00):
been my wife now for over 30years.
And once we did get marriedshortly after college, it was us
having a discussion that wereally knew that in starting a
family, we needed to be uh inthe church.
We didn't we didn't yet knowwhat that really meant, but that
we needed to be in the church.
And we were living away.
We had I had moved her away fromher hometown.
We were living in St.
(03:21):
Louis, Missouri.
I'd love to kind of start off,start this journey off.
And she grew up in the Baptistchurch.
I grew up in the Catholicchurch.
We were married in the Methodistchurch.
We were a mess.
We had no idea really what'shappening with regards to our
marriage.
Uh and so we said, well, let'stry, let's try a couple
different churches to see what'sthere for us.
First time we went to CatholicChurch, uh, we were there and
(03:42):
imagine huge uh old church uh ina suburb of St.
Louis, and my wife kind ofelbows me as communion starting,
and she says, I'm not feelingreally well.
And we had both we had people onboth sides of St.
Pew.
I said, Well, give give us asecond here.
Once the line gets back to usfor communion, we'll just walk
out the back of the churchinstead of waiting to go on.
And she didn't make it.
Her eyes rolled in the back oftheir head, her head.
(04:04):
She passed out, hit the pew infront of us, and slid on the
marble floors underneath thepew.
And I was uh in a position oflike, I don't know what to do.
People around me, want me tocall 911?
I said, I don't know.
I was like, you know, we'rewe're young, uh, we are we're
healthy, and it didn't makesense.
But thankfully, she she did wakeup uh as she lay on the marble
tiles there, and ultimately shesaid it just felt good on her
(04:26):
cheeks while she was there.
Took her to the hospital.
Uh no, nothing was found, no,even their blood sugar was fine.
Um, but ultimately maybe it wasa a sign from God that we
weren't supposed to be in theCatholic Church.
Fast forward a few years, we'reback in our hometown of Roanoke,
Virginia.
We have a child, and I know uhwhen we took my son to be
christened in the in theMethodist church, my wife's
(04:48):
grandmother's church, I just Ijust recalled him uh looking up
at me as a baby, and and Iheard, you know, the voice, you
know, whether it was his or not,he said, Don't don't mess this
up ultimately.
And being a father as a parentfor the first time as a husband,
I really and I just knew we wewere missing something.
And it was something that tookus on a journey, really started
on a journey for us inside ofthat faith space.
(05:08):
For me specifically, it was onethat I was that I was
uncomfortable in that space.
And we were in search.
And I know I put this in thestory.
Uh, if I fast forward a fewyears in terms of when we were
looking, we were reallystruggling as a family.
We had not found a church, wehad moved again to Indiana, away
from family, no friends, and wewere in need uh of something.
(05:29):
And I recall uh going into thegrocery store, our favorite
grocery store, and I'm checkingout, usually in you know, in a
space years ago when youactually had to check out uh
with somebody who was at theregister, uh, not use the
self-checkout, but I got a tapon the back of my shoulder, and
the gentleman behind me hadasked me if I was from West
Virginia because I had a WestVirginia University sweatshirt
on.
(05:49):
I'm in Indiana.
And I said, Yeah, I am.
He says, Well, so am I as well.
He was from uh town, he grew upin a town about a hundred miles
from where I was, but we startedto carry on a conversation and
you know, graciously he said, Soare you all uh attending a
church here in town?
And I said, No, but I got totell you, we've been looking and
uh we're really in need of it.
We've not connected with people,and it's just something that we
(06:10):
really need.
He said, Well, I just happenedto be a pastor of a church down
the street, and so I'd like toinvite you to our church this
Sunday.
And I tell you, we walked in andwe knew when we walked in, I
mean, I had become a fan of JohnMaxwell and his teaching style
and had listened to him for awhile as a former Wesleyan
pastor, but they were teachinglike that inside of this church
in terms of the message and thefill in the blank.
(06:30):
And I tell you, as soon as Iwalked in, I knew that was a
place that God had kind of putus into.
That was the year uh 2002.
Uh both my wife and I, as wegrew in that journey, uh, had
decided at that point in time touh publicly profess our faith.
So it was 2003.
We were baptized by Immersion inthe Lake outside of sunrise, and
(06:50):
kind of the the story reallystarted for us from there, from
August 2003 to that.
But I, you know, I just loved, Isaid, I think one of the books
is going to be God Found Me inthe checkout line at the grocery
store.
And I know that that's uhsomewhat of a joke, but I I
still uh am while I'm in SouthCarolina now, uh I still remain
friends with that pastor.
(07:10):
Uh he and I stay connected, andI just always am very grateful
for him and who he was in ourlife at that point in time.
For me, I had been in themarketplace and I hadn't even
thought of really uhincorporating uh my faith and my
work together, if you will.
They were two, they were stilltwo separate lives, but it was
something that we werecontinuing to grow.
(07:32):
I was not a I was not a readeror immersed uh in the Bible, but
I remember one day I was havinga problem at work, and I did
have a copy of a Ben'sdevotional Bible on my desk.
And I had I was having a problemat work, and I finally had said,
maybe if I open this book, I'llfind something there.
And I literally just opened itand it opened up to Joshua 1.9,
and I couldn't believe it.
I mean, it literally opened upto the page Joshua 1, uh, and I
(07:55):
read through that and foundverse 9.
We're talking we're talkingabout, you know, do not fear,
but be bold and courageous.
Uh, then I will be with you inthat.
And I may I'm not I'mparaphrasing, I know I'm not
saying that verse exactly, butthat was something there that
I'm like, wow, this this kind ofthis book has some words in here
that are a lot of really goodwisdom.
We became part of a home group,uh, which again grew our faith
as well.
(08:16):
And it was something that wecontinue to move forward.
I still know that God continuesto work in me today.
And it's really been in the pastfive years where I've started to
develop the disciplines of beingin the word daily, daily prayer
uh in my life, uh serving in thechurch.
I mean, again, so if if I had tobe in that parking lot and park
(08:37):
in a certain space and uhtraffic lights had to be perfect
for God to find me in the in thestore, and I have something to
do with with grocery cards andparking lots now.
I lead the parking team and thegreeting team at church.
I've done that for about 10years.
And it's just something thatthey're that gives me an
opportunity to serve as well.
Today, uh I've been uh while Ihad worked for large companies
(08:58):
for a long time for the pastfour years, I've been the uh CEO
and founder of GrowingChampions, which uh is a is a
faith is a faith-basedconsulting and coaching firm, if
you will.
I myself and one other mentor,he and I work together to coach
uh organizations through aprocess that we've developed
through our teaching in in bothleadership development and in
(09:21):
process improvement.
And while the the processesthemselves do not necessarily
incorporate uh Christ into thoseprocesses, it's the way that he
and I try to model, to beimitable, to be invitational and
to others that will allow themto see Christ through us as we
continue to grow on thatjourney.
And again, I just know that I'mstill an infant on that journey.
(09:43):
Some of your words, you know, onmy podcast for the first time,
the Uncommon Leader podcast,where you shared your testimony,
that that's something that uhwas very the first time, Mary.
And I know it opened my eyes upto God as well.
Like I have to share more ofthat faith inside of my podcast
as well and the work that I do.
So I think that was a catalystas well.
You go back to that, Iappreciate you remembering that.
(10:04):
But that was that wasbreakthrough for my podcast when
I started to really uh bringpeople on and start to share
their story.
So that brings us to today.
And I know that God put us onthat phone call with BBG
together and uh started thatconnection as well.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (10:19):
Yeah, that's an incredible story.
Uh how many kids do you have?
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
Two boys, 20, soon to be 28 and 25.
SPEAKER_02 (10:26):
Oh my gosh, that's so special.
What have they gone on to do?
SPEAKER_01 (10:29):
Yeah, so my my oldest, my 28-year-old, was an
exercise science major atLiberty University.
He was a cheerleader for thefootball team, and uh, so he's
big into fitness and things likethat.
And he is uh manager of astretch zone right here in
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
And then my youngest actuallydid end up going into ministry.
So he was youth ministry majoruh at Liberty University.
(10:50):
He's now uh in his second yearworking with Young Life in
Boulder, Colorado, trying tobring the word to middle schools
uh in that region, one of themost unchurched regions in our
country.
Uh hard work that he's doing,but committed to the work that
he's doing as well, raising hisfunds uh to pay for his salary
to do that.
And he just got married inNovember of last year as well to
(11:13):
uh a young woman, beautiful, uhfull of God as well.
So they are they are justthriving.
I just you know wish theyweren't so far away, but that is
what it is.
He's in the he's where exactlywhere he needs to be.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
Well, you'll have to connect us after this so that I
can cook them a really nice mealand have them come over because
we're about an hour away fromBoulder.
SPEAKER_01 (11:30):
That would be fantastic.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02 (11:32):
We'll have them.
I do Sunday salmon every Sunday,open up my home to whoever wants
to come, but I cook a big spreadthat's been on my heart to
eventually open that up to thecommunity and sit down with our
neighbors just right here in thecommunity that maybe look a
little bit different from us.
I live in a really niceneighborhood.
I'm I'm beyond blessed with whatthe Lord has bespowed, bestowed
(11:55):
upon us and in our lives and inmy marriage and financially
through the work that He's givenme the gifts and talents to do.
And we live in a really amazingneighborhood and a really
amazing house.
But I know that my heart isstill with my neighbors that
come from the same life of whereI came from.
And I think as BBG taught us,we're always best positioned to
(12:15):
serve who we once were.
And I think about thetransformation that happened in
my own life and extending myhand out to who I used to be, to
those people who are in thatplace.
So much of life transformationnot happens because someone told
you to do something.
There's a plethora ofinformation out there in this
world.
It's the people who choose to dolife and walk side by side with
(12:36):
them and show them a differentway of living, to let them
witness what Christ can do inyour life if you're willing to
surrender and let him be theLord of your life.
And so I love opening my homeright now on Sundays.
So you'll have to connect us.
I would love to meet them andlearn about their work and help
support them.
I think I when I moved fromIndiana, we moved to Boulder,
Colorado.
And so I went to high school outthere.
(12:57):
And I would agree with you thatit is very unchurched to
community.
And it was very different thanwhat I grew up in in Northwest
Indiana.
Not to say that I grew up in thechurch, but there were
traditional conservative valuesthat were just a part of the
community that I was raised in.
Like if we didn't go to church,I didn't know Jesus.
But there was a conservative andtraditional way of living in the
(13:19):
community.
And in Boulder, it's like aflippin' free-for-all.
It is a completely differentway.
So I hope to meet them.
SPEAKER_01 (13:27):
Um I can't wait to learn about the I will I will
connect you all, you and Jojo.
Uh as he's come to be known outthere, not to us, but to
everybody who knows him outthere.
I love that.
And he's still Joseph for us.
SPEAKER_02 (13:40):
So yeah, that's so special.
Wow, what an accomplishment.
You know, my son is eight, andI'm starting to realize that my
career, my work will have somecomponents of legacy in it
because I'm taking on projectsnow that are very worthy in the
name of the Lord.
And I'm continuing to seek thoseand I see something in my future
(14:03):
where I'm going to be able toapply my marketplace talents and
more kingdom work, which I'mvery excited about to continue
to watch the Lord unfold.
But in the same state of being,I'm starting to see my
eight-year-old son and seeingwho he's becoming and the
conversations that we have andhis independence and his
decisiveness.
He's an only child, and we'veonly loved him through logic
(14:26):
growing up.
We never babied him.
He's always been explained thetruth, the way, the, the why
behind everything.
He's of such sound mind and he'sa good, good hearted boy with a
great head on his shoulders andjust continuing to nurture in
that.
And I look at my son as that'sthe real legacy.
That is where, like, that'sthat's my name, that's my flesh
(14:50):
and blood that's gonna go on.
So you must be so proud of yourchildren and so incredible to
see them now as adults.
Like I that's crazy to me tothink my son's gonna be an adult
one day.
I know, right?
SPEAKER_01 (15:01):
Yeah, you blink.
I mean, because I can you knowin that story of that journey,
they they you know grew up withus uh on that journey, all the
mistakes that we made, but alsoall the all the blessings that
we received in that churchfamily that we got into.
SPEAKER_02 (15:14):
So that's so beautiful.
What caused all the moves inyour early years of your
marriage?
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
Yeah, I think it's a career for me.
So it was more as amanufacturing executive where I
started out, I went through amanufacturing and trunking
program.
So even as we got married rightout of college, I knew I was
gonna have to move three times.
And common leaders, hope you'reenjoying the episode so far.
I believe in doing business withpeople you like and trust and
not just a company name.
That's why a strong personalbrand is essential, whether
(15:41):
you're an entrepreneur or aleader within a company.
Brand Builders Group, the folkswho have been helping me refine
my own personal brand, areoffering a free consultation
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They'll help you identify youruniqueness, craft a compelling
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So head on over toCoachJongGallagher.com slash
BBG, as in Brand Builders Group,schedule your free call and take
(16:03):
the first step toward building apersonal brand that gets you
noticed for all the rightreasons.
That's coachjohngallagher.comslash BBG.
Now, let's get back to theepisode.
My wife and I did Indiana, thenChicago, then St.
Louis, Missouri.
Ultimately, the fourth move wasback to her hometown.
My organization had a facilityuh in her hometown.
So we made that move back.
We're like, we're gonna be hereforever.
(16:25):
And then six years later, I wascalled to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Got a little bit cold there, butfantastic.
Again, uh the story had beenwritten.
That was you know, where uh weran into uh God or he ran into
us in the in the checkout lineat the grocery store uh and made
that possible for us.
And then we moved back again in2006 to Roanoke, Virginia, and
(16:47):
lived there for 20 years, raisedour boys there in Roanoke.
Now in South Carolina, afterwe've had a chance to raise our
children there and got to apoint where I was still
traveling with work on a regularbasis.
I just need to be somewhat closeto a an airport that could get
somewhere.
My wife's parents had moved downhere a couple years earlier.
So when I travel, uh makes agood opportunity for her to be
(17:07):
able to serve her parents and bewith her parents as they uh go
to the next stage of their lifeas well and need to be
supported.
SPEAKER_02 (17:14):
Wow, that's really beautiful.
I love that.
Okay.
I have so much I want to diginto in your work and how you're
serving people in the businesscommunity.
I need to lead us into a veryshort break.
We'll be back in just a minute.
On the other side of the break,we're gonna dig in.
Plus, I want to hear about youbringing your faith to the
forefront in your work and whatthat transition was like.
(17:35):
Because I know that that'screates a little conflict for
people, especially in corporateAmerica.
Like, where does my faith fitinto this?
I would love to dive into thosetopics on the other side of
this.
We'll be back in just a minute.
SPEAKER_04 (17:46):
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SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
Welcome back to the Fearless Faith Radio Show.
I'm your host, Marion Grothy,and today I'm joined by John
Gallagher, and he has shared hisstory of his upbringing and
finding that faith and thoseearly years in marriage and in
the line at the checkout at thegrocery store.
I love that.
God can find us anywhere, and hedoes.
It was so beautiful and learnedabout what his kids are up to
(19:29):
these days.
And now we're gonna dig intomore of his work because you
have dedicated this chapter ofyour life in a give back form
through coaching and helpingbusiness leaders understand how
to conquer the Goliaths thatcome into their paths, how to
move the mountains, how to havethe faith that really supersedes
(19:52):
any understanding of how theycan incorporate their
marketplace talents, their faithinto the work that they're
doing.
So dive in and just tell usabout the coaching work and how
you're serving the businesscommunity.
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
No, I appreciate that.
And it's a question, I tell you,God's been, you know, chipping
away uh at me on this journey.
I mean, I can take it back 25years to when I had a mentor who
provided me with a book, The 21Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
by John Maxwell.
And I didn't know what, I didn'tknow what how to spell
leadership at the time.
I had responsibility for 200people in a facility of 200,000
(20:25):
square feet that was shipping$2billion of product each year.
Yet I didn't know what it wasgoing to take to grow as a
leader and grow others around meas well.
Uh I was just kind of working itreally hard.
But he sat down with that bookand went through that book with
me chapter by chapter.
And I tell you, as I learnedabout John Maxwell at the time,
uh it's just, you know, thepragmatic teaching that he had
(20:46):
resonated with me as I did moreresearch, had the opportunity to
uh learn, read more of hisbooks, and then actually go to
one of his conferences in 1999.
And I'll never forget this.
It was in Dallas, Texas.
And I went with a friend and uhhe knew Phil.
He was Phil's my friend.
If he ever got a chance tolisten to this, I'll share it
with him.
We walked in, he said, This isgonna be different for you.
This is gonna be reallydifferent.
(21:07):
I said, What do you mean?
He said, just trust me, it'sgonna be different.
And I walked in and they wereplaying worship music,
contemporary worship music, likeI had never heard before in
terms of uh I mean, I grew up inthe Catholic Church again.
This was really about you knowhymnals from the missile led or
from the book, and then we allsang the same ones.
It was the organ, and this waslike, you know, kind of rock
music singing to God as well,and people with their hands up
(21:27):
and things like that.
And I'm just kind of lookingaround and I just wasn't really
sure.
I was I was uncomfortable, but Iwas intrigued, no doubt about
it.
Uh again, fast forward that onmy journey, it was 2001 that I
got a chance, still staying withJohn Maxwell, I got a chance to
go to his house on a leadershipexchange conference.
My mentor invested in me andsent me to this conference, had
(21:48):
a chance to go to his house fordinner, and he prayed
specifically for me and put hishand on my shoulder.
And again, very different forme.
I was just not used to thosekind of things as I grew in the
journey, but I knew I was beingworked on.
And again, it was 2003 when Igave my life to Christ publicly
and we were baptized.
But let's let's fast forwardthat.
It was not something that waspart of my work.
(22:08):
But as I looked at my journey, Ihad become part of a large
organization or IBM as aconsultant and as a coach.
I had worked with an executivecoaching organization who was
coaching me that wasfaith-based.
But I wasn't yet taking thatinto my work outside of uh being
able to try and model some ofthose things.
I decided in 2019 that I wasgoing to get back into the
(22:31):
workplace in operations.
And there were positions that Iwas qualified for, that I
interviewed for, that I should Ishould have received.
Not out of ego.
It's just that I know I wasconfident in my abilities and
skills to do the types of jobsthat I would have been able to
do.
I would have had to move again.
But all three of thosepositions, I was given a no in
(22:53):
those positions.
And they all three told me, wewould hire you probably as a
coach or as a consultant, but wejust don't think that you fit in
this position.
And it was really then that Iknew that was the a moment for
me.
I remember it as the chair I wassitting in when I felt that gut
punch or that third no thatsaid, God, what are you teaching
me through this?
(23:13):
That it was him closing thosedoors and him telling me I was
right where I needed to be.
Fast forward a year, we get toCOVID, and I'm laid off from a
company that uh is a largecompany, stable uh work.
And I had to make a decisionwhat I wanted to do.
And my wife and I talked aboutand prayed about and we said, I
think I still want to continueto do this coaching and
(23:35):
consulting.
So I started my own company.
Look, I I love how this playedout because you get you get
there.
This is before a brand buildersgroup as well.
So you get the back in 2020 forme anyway, uh, and the story of
getting the website set up soyou can have coaching and people
can contact you.
You got to have a logo, yougotta have colors.
So I I went out to Fiverr andfound an individual who was
(23:58):
going to uh put my logo togetherfor me.
And I said, I want a tree.
Oh, by the way, that let mealmost today on my time hop, the
picture from 14 years ago wherethe idea behind Growing
Champions was born with thetree.
And the verse John 15 uh 8talked about ultimately we were
we were to bear fruit in thework if we were in him.
(24:20):
And that was 14 years ago todaywhen that idea was born.
But I sit, I sit and think aboutthat from the logo.
I said, it's got to have a treein the logo.
It's just kind of me.
It's growth.
I have these things that aregoing on in my life that I want
to bear fruit.
And he brings me a couple backwith three trees, uh three
different options.
I'm like, none of these areclicking for me.
The fourth one comes back thathe sends, and it's a man coming
(24:44):
out of the water with his handsraised in the shape of a tree,
trunk, tree, branches, andleaves around the arms, which
look like almost like sunlightshining.
I'm like, tell me what'shappening here.
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (24:58):
He said, That's a man coming out of the water
who's just been baptized,raising his hands in praise.
And I'm like, whoa, that wasreal uncomfortable.
And I love the idea.
And I said, That's too much.
And then again, I sat downagain, and and I know whether it
was uh an audible voice of Godor not saying, You're either in
(25:19):
this for me or you're not.
And so I decided to leave thatlogo with that individual uh
coming out of the water, raisinghis hands with the leaves being
the fruit that would be born onthe work that we were going to
do.
That was back in 2020, and he'sbeen continuing to provide so
many opportunities for me to bein the life of individuals.
You know, one specificindividual, while it may not be
(25:40):
a faith-based company, again,that's not really what it's
about, but I was walking aroundwith them the second time I'd
visit, and uh I started to talkabout my discipline of reading
the Bible every morning.
He kind of took a step back, andI, you know, it wasn't again
where I was sharing my faith toget him to hear it.
He said, I knew there wassomething different about you.
And I wasn't sure if he wasmeaning that as a negative or
positive.
(26:00):
He said, I I knew God wasworking in you through this
work.
And that's built a relationshipwith me and that gentleman now
for the last two years, uh, interms of not just in the
business and teaching himconsulting or you know,
executive coaching, um, but it'salso sharing faith as a big part
of that.
And I just I see thatopportunity.
I see that I am supposed to beimitable and imitational and
(26:24):
really a picture of God in mywork uh that impacts others.
While I can't change otherpeople's hearts, only God can do
that.
I can certainly be a vessel thatallows me to have those
conversations.
And it's really just been in thepast probably 12 to 18 months
that I've started to become,again, I think one of the
catalysts, Mary, was you beingon the podcast of starting to
(26:45):
say, I need to be more bold inthat space.
I need to be more courageous andmore overt with the fact that I
do want to glorify God and allthe work that I do, and I do
want to be a steward of stewardof the resources that he's given
me, and that I do want to makemoney, but I don't want to make
money just to make more money,but that it's an opportunity to
uh give back more in terms ofwhat he provides for us and what
(27:08):
he's given me over these years.
So it's been quite a journey forme to take that.
Now we work with organizationsuh and we target organizations
through the fellowship ofcompanies for Christ
International who arefaith-based leaders wanting to
have kingdom impact in theirorganizations.
But we do that by helping themand consulting them, teaching
them ways to improve theirbusiness, coaching their leaders
(27:31):
to be the leaders they need tobe so that they can develop the
leaders they need to.
Teaching them how to put systemsand processes in place so that
the impact that they have from afinancial standpoint can be more
steady, more continuously growthrather than fluctuating, and
allow them to have a biggerkingdom impact in the work that
they do.
So that's been an early journeyfor us, and we're just getting
(27:53):
started.
I really am.
And I believe that you know Idon't have any visions of
retiring one day.
I just hope that God continuesto bless me with health and I
can keep on that journey.
SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
Wow.
Okay.
I love all of it.
And thank you for the kind wordsabout me providing that moment
of breakthrough on the podcast.
Happy to do it.
I'm the I'm the fearless,outspoken.
Don't care who my audience is.
They're gonna hear about thegoodness of God and what he's
done in my life.
Um, so I'm grateful for that.
But specifically in the workthat you're doing, I do think
(28:23):
about myself as a young leaderbeing a woman of faith fresh 11
years ago, and having myself goback into the corporate payroll
sales job that I had before Igave my life to the Lord.
And I remember how hard it wasto step foot back into the same
environment with the same team,with the same manager, but be a
(28:45):
changed woman because I was notuh real classy in my first
go-around in that job.
You know, I was a Hellion andwork hard, play hard.
I was such a sinner and agossiper and had a terrible
mouth on me.
And it was, you know, I justdidn't carry myself in a great
way.
And so going back as a changedwoman, but then having to
(29:06):
navigate corporate America in asecular company as a woman of
faith, it was very lonely and itwas full of temptation and there
were challenges.
SPEAKER_00 (29:14):
And I know Did you enjoy the conversation?
You can watch the full video inthe description below.
If you found it helpful orinspiring, don't forget to like,
subscribe, and hit thenotification bell so you never
miss an update.
You can also follow me, JohnGallagher, on my social media
channels to stay updated onleadership tips, coaching
insights, and more inspiringcontent.
Links are in the description,and don't forget to check out
(29:37):
the Uncommon Leader podcast,where we dive deeper into
leadership, growth, and actiondriven insights every week.
Stay inspired, stay uncommon.
Until next time, go and growchampions.
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