#2: Chris Hruska, Pastor of Citylight Church - Overcoming fear, how to find a partner in real estate, and going from failing in college to leading one of the fastest-growing churches in America

I got a partner, we looked at a couple properties, and we bought our first. So that. So I'm telling you, I went from just my own personal buying and owning my own real estate to thinking about, wait a sec, what if I started investing in other real estate? That was a, that was a shift, right? And started to see what is like, I could leverage other real estate to both produce cash flow, appreciating asset tax, depreciation. But guys, I found one other partner. We raised a little capital close on our first vacation rental place, and we started promoting it and putting it on all the sites, and it was unbelievable. I thought if we got a few bookings, this would be so amazing. And it just started booking up like crazy. So after one year, we saw the cash flow, put a little additional capital in, like our tax refund. Everybody's like, I'm getting a new tv. I'm like, I'm getting a new rental, you know, so. So you're just like, oh, I'm discovering how to do this right. And you're building a cleaning team and your maintenance team and you're figuring it all out. And so we got two. And then the next year we bought the third one. And then we leveraged those kind of vacation rentals, which were cash flowing year after year into starting to buy more duplexes in Omaha. And now it's my joy because we've got multiple units producing cash flow to hang out with guys like Steve and you and say, how do we, how do we land some of these bigger commercial deals that are really, really awesome? Have tremendous upside down.

Welcome to Heading West, a not so serious podcast where we talk about life, business, real estate, and our personal journeys as we head west. On today's episode, we have Chris Ruska, president of Sea Life Family, pastor of Sea Life Church, and CEO of James 117 Properties. Steve, I'm pretty sure we laughed more than we actually talked on this podcast.

If my stomach says anything, I feel like I've been doing crunches for the last 30 minutes, laughing at the stories that Chris was telling us.

Yeah, I hope it's legible. I hope people can understand through the laughter what we were talking about. But one of the things I love about Chris and we briefly talk about in the episode is that he's often jokes from the pulpit that he once failed class in a class in college called Succeeding in College. Yet here he is leading one of the fastest growing churches in America and successfully investing in real estate. I mean, it's an incredible story. From nothing to something.

And what I love about Chris also is that he is real.

Yeah.

And we're all doing life together, and it's. It's awesome being around somebody that can be so real.

Yeah. All right, should we just get into it and head west?

Let's go.

All right, stay tuned as we discuss overcoming fear, how to find a partner in real estate, and going from failing in college to leading one of the fastest growing churches in America with our guest, Chris Ruska. So you just spent the day in a leaders meeting for church, is that correct?

Yeah, man. We had some of our top pastors and leading women at Steve's bar, the barn, hanging out, dreaming. We always do this quarterly thing where we. We pull away, we evaluate, and then we. We kind of do the focus. We call it a focus five, where we say, what are the big five things we want to get knocked out in the next 90 days? And it just gives us a little direction to say, are we doing more than just going through the motions? Are we being proactive to build something? So it's just been a good rhythm to keep us all aligned as a team. So that's what we're doing. We are whiteboarding, dreaming, praying, goal setting. You guys know how it is. We ate barbecue rick's Meats on 204th and Elkhorn. So, bro, I didn't know what to expect, but you can get a lot. A lot of meat in there for $6.

If all you got from that meeting is, is food. It was a win, total win.

You guys know what? Yeah. Eats together, everybody leaves happy. So, yeah, that's absolutely right.

Leadership team.

We have five paid pastors, and then we had two, what we call leading women in the church that join us to give voice to some things. So it was just great to. Great to get them around the table.

Yeah. Do you ever just stop and think, how in the world am I leading one of the fastest growing churches in America? Like, you're in that planning meeting, and you're like, we're making a huge impact. This is not, you know, a congregation of 20 people. This is one of the fastest growing in the. In the country.

Yeah.

That ever just strike you?

No, that. Yes, 100. And I think, you know, I think I've talked to Steven, you guys, about this. Like, this is the most unexpected story. I mean, me and a buddy team up. I'm 28, 29. I. My previous resume is I went to Wayne State College because I had failed my act. It literally said failed, and then got there and failed a class called Succeed College. Like you're just trying to mess up your life at that point, you know, like, you can't pass us full, you know, easy freshman class. And so, you know, all that to say is to see, really, God's faithfulness on my life and what he. What he was able to do and the story he's able to write, it's just been absolutely a joy. And then the people you get to meet along the way and the team that gets built and it's gone way further than I could have ever expected. So, yeah, 100.

You think. You think they put that class before you got to college? Not when you're in college.

That at. In high school. Like, this is how you're gonna win in the next. You know that.

Yeah.

Life. So, yeah. Yeah, it's been real fun.

They want to take your money and get you in the door. Take your money and then tell you you're failing.

You're failing at life. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if anybody, you know, your listeners might get this, but, like, just, Just the awkward moment with mom, you know, like, how did freshman year go? Well, academic probation. Like, let's just keep it 100 real. So it's. It's been. I think I've been just shocked and awed by what God can do with very simple people. So it's been really, really fun.

Well, if you're in good company. I got a 153 my first semester in college.

Yes. Yes. It happened.

Pre med. Pre med. Joined a fraternity.

Yeah.

Did everything I could to screw up my college career, and thankfully, by God's grace, got three sevens, three eights, you know, for most of the second half. And I was able to pull that nosedive up before it hit the ground.

Jake, you're trying to go ice right now, but let's just keep it real. You were taking, like, pre med, but. And, like, anatomy. You were taking physiology. You were taking chemistry classes. I was taking succeeding in college. So, like, I don't. Okay.

All right.

Same level right now. Bro, throw me a bone. But, like, I was probably.

I was trying, though.

Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. This is fun.

I was. When you talk about school and grades, I, I, I figured out how to get great grades my freshman, sophomore, junior year, I played baseball in a fraternity. Baseball in a fraternity. And my grades were kind of like this. My senior year. I married my. My wife's senior year, my junior year because I switched degrees. She graduated earlier. Earlier I got a degree. I mean, I. She got a degree, and we got married. My grades went like this.

Come on.

And my last year and a half, I. My last year and a half, I had a 3.8Gpa in mechanical engineering.

Come on.

And I. Hold on, hold on. I graduated. I graduated with a 2. 3.

3. Come on.

So.

Wow.

So if you talk about the last year and a half at a three, eight, what was. What was the first three years? Chris, rock on.

Come on. Come on.

Yeah.

Doing life. Hey, we're doing life.

That's right.

Doing life.

There's something. Yeah, there's something about that responsibility when you realize there's a lot on the line here and I'm a little bit accountable to this other person, and my home life is getting impacted by my classroom life. Brother Mike. Yeah. Brother might get motivated.

Yeah. So what was yours? I'd love to hear.

What.

What was your. That pivot point of. Okay, I just failed a class that's supposed to be like, they're. They're giving you credits.

Yeah.

You fail it. What's that pivot point for you that you said? All right, I gotta. I gotta figure this thing out or else I might not end up where I want to be.

There's a couple things. That's a great question, man. And I will say there's a couple things. And I. One was I started realizing, like, some things happened in my personal home life, right? Mom, dad, all that stuff. And you start to look at your life like, this is kind of on me. Like, you know, you're kind of just life. Trying to play basketball, doing the sports, doing high school, going through them, and you're not really maybe aware as a. As a young adult, like, I'm gonna have to build something. Like, I'm kind of responsible for my life. And I started realizing, like, this is gonna go however it goes. And I. There's nobody that's gonna build this thing for me. So I either need to get a skill and get some training and get some education so I can contribute. And by contributing, I can create some economic opportunities and provide for myself. But if I don't do that, there's. There's literally, there's no one else that's going to do that for me. Does it make any sense? Like, yeah.

Yeah.

My mom's working. Like, she's a nurse. That's awesome. But there's no family business to go home to. There's no. I've got to build a life, and I've got to start to equip and train. And then I think also, you know, part of that journey was my faith. And just, you Know, there's. There's some things where it just challenges you to. To be excellent in all areas of your life for a bigger purpose than yourself. And so I just said, okay, you know what? Like, this needs to impact what I do here in the classroom. It's not just something I do on Sunday. So there was a lot happening there where discipline and responsibility and ownership all kind of needed to come together and. And say, you know, it's not just about doing whatever feels fun in this moment. I've got to start actually disciplining my life to head in a unique direction. So anyways, those are, you know, and you. You have those moments. It's hard to have that with a young person. Like, you gotta. You gotta wake up. Like, we're not just playing classroom here. Like, you're trying to build something so you can go somewhere. But that. That moment for me, going into sophomore year, saying, if I don't dial this in, I'm mowing lawns. And that's nothing wrong with that, but, like, if I want more than that, like, I've got to actually read some textbooks, you know, so.

Yeah.

Did you figure that out in time to graduate?

Yes. Yes, I did. And you know how it is the same thing with you guys? Like, by the end of it, I'm like, president of the largest organization on campus, passing my classes, speaking at the commencement. Like, it was the same kind of trajectory, but I think if you met me freshman year in high school, you would have. Or college, you would have been like, he's. He's not. He's gonna be on somebody's couch real soon like that, you know, like. But isn't that awesome? Like, just. Just, you know, there's different stages of life and you kind of have to wake up. So. Anyways, thanks for asking that. Yeah.

Hey, Chris, are. Are you the one that turned Wayne State into the Harvard of the Midwest?

He says it straight face, too.

He's serious, bringing that up. You know, man, it being in Omaha, I just feel like everybody went to a cool school here, you know, like, everybody went to Creighton or unl, and they got these big university titles and. And I'm. I'm happy for you guys. Like, I'm happy that you have that, you know, for the rest of us who were, like, trying to get away with paying $6 for a credit hour and like that, that's where we went, you know? And so I just started to brand it. Like, I felt like if I just kept saying how unique and, you know, close it was, and how powerful the education like I just called the Harvard of the Midwest just kind of caught on and now in our little community it, it's a running joke that if you couldn't get into Wayne, you know, made you went to Creighton, you know, so. Yeah, anyways, I'm trying to brand it, bro, I'm trying to rebrand it right now.

So hey, you're doing a great job.

That's awesome. Yeah.

Well, look at you now. That's pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in America.

Come on, come on, man.

What do you, what would you attribute that to? I mean all joking aside, you start, we started talking about you failed out of this class, you turn some things around and in a matter of a couple years really go from a small, you know, tight knit community of, of people in your church, you know, as you're co leading to multiple campuses across the the US and a burgeoning church. What do you attribute that?

Yeah. Yeah, Jake, thanks. I mean again, like for me that college season was so pivotal and that's why I still love what happens in young adults lives between 18 and 22. I think you're just, you're starting to figure out your identity, what are you going to believe? Where truth is, what's your purpose? And for me, a lot of that came back to my faith. And then, and then after that I thought, you know what, I'll do business for a year, pay off some student loans, spent the next five years doing college ministry. And I'll be honest with you guys, I just never had a vision to be a pastor. I just kind of come from a broken home. I broke a lot of the rules. And so I kept thinking to myself, being a pastor, somebody for somebody who's like, comes from a, you know, really religious background and was probably one of the good kids and never did some of the things that I did. And so I just had a lid on my own leadership. Can I just keep it real? I was like, that's never, like, I'm not going to be that guy. And by 28, 29, God started to form in me a unique burden for the city, saying, hey, there's, there's a new generation. If we don't plant new churches, that's going to reach the next generation, that's going to be a problem. And so, and just, I was just optimistic enough at 28 to team up with some friends, start praying and saying, God, could you use me? You know, I don't know what I'm bringing to the table, but whatever it is I'm bringing to the table. And I will say, you know, I think you guys have discovered this by, you know, we oftentimes put lids on our own levels of leadership. And we just think, I could never. I won't. I'm not the person. I'm not smart enough. I'm not capable. And we just, you know what? I've learned to kind of blow through some of those and just say, maybe I'm not. But I also believe in a God that is. And I'm just crazy enough to think that maybe he will. And. And so honestly, I actually think that God gets more glory when he uses regular, ordinary, broken, unexpected people like me. And, and so I think that's been the whole story of city life. From a few people to thousands of people to. From one church to planting 14 churches across five states. That's been 10 years. And, you know, thousands and thousands of lives changed. And that's been, you know, what a joy it is to, to get a front row seat, to, to watch God just flex and do what he does. So that. That's been really, really, really fun.

Isn't that just. Isn't that just the case with God? That he. He. He loves to stack the cards against himself? You know, if Chris is this. If this saint never did anything wrong, knows the Bible inside and out. It's like, okay, well, what glory is. Is God going to get out of this situation? It's like, no, no, no. I need somebody who failed.

Yeah.

Who keeps biffing it. Who keeps needing to rely on me.

Yeah.

So that I get the glory and they can. So other people. Not for his own glory, but so other people can see how good God is.

Come on, man.

They can see, man. They're using Chris.

Yes.

He's Chris and Gavin.

Yes. Wow. Yes.

Anything's possible and I'm glad.

And he's a North because. And he's a North Height.

Yeah.

Sorry. And he's a North High Viking.

That's it. Yeah. I mean, from bro. I mean. And I have some very unique high school photos. Okay, so it, It's. Yeah. From Omaha North. And then like you said, my co lead is Gavin Johnson. And everybody's like, he's so smart. He's nice and he's good at golf. He's from Waver. He is from Water tower and a McDonald's. Like, these are not special guys. You got a kid from north Omaha, a kid from Waverly, preaching about Jesus teaching the Bible. This is the weirdest group of people. I like rap music. He loves country music. I don't golf. He doesn't play basketball. It couldn't be any different. And yet somehow it's. It's been a really cool thing. So.

Yeah, it's amazing how God works.

Yeah, it's amazing. Come on, man.

Putting people together. Amazing.

Yeah. Yep. And. And this team right here, I. I want to. I want to hit. I want to kind of. Steve, I want to ask you a question. Like, you know, you've accomplished so much in your professional career. I just want to ask you, like, how did you get to the point where you're like, hey, I've built businesses. I've scaled things. I've. I've kind of got myself in a place of life where I can do what I want to do in real estate is what I want to put my hand to the plow to in this season, you know?

You know, Chris, it's funny that you talk about starting the church or starting businesses. The businesses that we started way back when we knew nothing about. Every business we ended up selling, we started from scratch. All I know how is to start businesses and getting up and running. And it takes a. It takes a leap of faith. It takes surrounding you with great people. And like our podcast, Head west. We use the term head west. Take your first step in faith. You don't have all the answers.

You.

You don't have it figured out. Just get on God's journey and go and just keep going. And you'll go left, you'll go right up and down. We're talking about entrepreneurships. Every entrepreneur goes between. I've made it, then the next week I'm failing. We're going out of business the next week. We made it, now we're doing okay. Oh, we're going out of business. That's the entrepreneurial life. And even though I sold my business, I'm still. It's, you know, 35 years of taking that step. Keep on going. So then. Then I was in the. My side hustle was in real estate. And so while I was growing the businesses and to the point, getting the right people running it, I was doing side hustle and real estate. And it's always. I always wanted. It was one of those one things. I always wanted to be in real estate.

Yeah.

But I was. I was making quilt cutting machines. And so anyway, that's a different story.

Are you saying those aren't related quilting? There's no correlation there.

You know, Chris, you talk about God and how things work out and how God has a humor in what we're Doing. I don't know. I'm in the quilting business, and because I'm a mechanical engineer, I'm. And I'm making quilting, fabric cutting machines. But things happen. But back into the real estate, it's just. I was taking the side hustle. Now we're doing it full time, and it's so much fun.

Come on.

So much fun.

Come on, man. That's awesome.

Yeah.

Chris, you. We were chatting a little bit earlier before this, and you had talked about your story about starting out in real estate, where you bought a home, like you said, 2010 for you and your wife.

Yeah.

And that really just tipped the first domino for all the real estate investing you've done.

Can you.

And you kind of quickly went across, you know, what those. That list of real estate deals are. Can you kind of walk through the progression of how you dip your toe in. And now you're fully, like, up to your eyes in real estate.

Yeah. You start to discover it along the way. Right. So all I knew is when I got married to my wife, we were in ministry. We were looking at, what does it cost to buy your first home for 3% down? And then what does it look like to rent a really nice apartment? I mean, everybody wants the stainless steel apartment from the start. You know, want to bring the laws in and be like, what we got. We got a cool access. And so I remember thinking, babe, this is dumb. Like, there's all frosting and nothing over here. Like, we're just paying rent over here. Like, this is just spinning wheels. Or we can buy this thing that looks like a hot mess, and we can turn it into something, capture this capital and have ownership of it. Well, luckily, she took a. Took a risk and said, you know what? Let's. Let's buy our first place right away. Once we get married, we're buying. We're stealing our money out of our. Our wedding dollar dance fund. You know, that first dollar. You're like, I got $3,000 from a wedding. We're buying a house. You know, so that's what we did. And we just, you know, I did the floors and the paint, and you're doing just. I'm not that mechanical, but I. You just figure it out. You call in favors, and it was a really nice place after a couple years, and. And then we. And then my buddy Gavin said, hey, would you move from Lincoln down to Omaha and help me start this brand new church? And again, my wife's pregnant. We have a baby on the way. We need health care. The church looks like probably 75% chance it's gonna fail. Like, you just could go really bad, man. Like, I've read three books on church leadership. I don't have any idea what I'm doing. So luckily again, we, we sell that, we took that capital and we're able to buy a larger home, kind of a four bedroom home. Needed the same thing. We said, we're going to buy a fixer upper, I'm going to flip it. And then you're starting to see, holy smokes. Like, if I evaluate how we've kind of grown net worth and wealth, it's primarily not been just by saving a few dollars every month in retirement. Really actually been through real estate. So now all of a sudden we get to that point where we sell that house and we made a hundred thousand dollars in three years on that house that set up me gcing my next house, which is what we live in now. And I said, you know what? I'm tired of paying somebody else to gc this thing. I'm getting my little nerdy spreadsheet out and I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And so we just did that. We built a house. And I remember in that time, I went on a vacation to Okoboji, Iowa, about five years ago. Okay, The Ozarks of the Midwest. The VRBO thing was big. And you're like, where do I take my wife and my two little kids? Like, I'm not going to Disney World or Hawaii. Like, we're gonna go to Iowa. Like that's where we're going. And so we go to Iowa and we rent this little place right in this really cool resort called Bridges Bay. And there's water parks and all this stuff for families. And I remember thinking to myself, somebody's getting paid and I'm renting this space. And they could probably do this all the time. And I started doing the math in my head, like driving home from Okoboji, like, wait a sec, I spent 500 a night to stay in Iowa at a lake. Are you kidding me? Like, that's. I spent my mortgage on one weekend at this lake. What am I doing? Like, and so then I had this thought, like, what if I buy one of these things? And so I got a partner, we looked at a couple properties, and we bought our first. So that. So I'm telling you, I went from just my own personal buying and owning my own real estate to thinking about, wait a sec, what if I started investing in other real estate? That was a, that Was a shift, right? And started to see what is like, I could leverage other real estate to both produce cash flow, appreciating asset tax, depreciation. But guys, I found one other partner. We raised a little capital, closed on our first vacation rental place, and we started promoting it and putting it on all the sites. And it was unbelievable. I thought if we got a few bookings, this would be so amazing. And it just started booking up like crazy. So after one year, we saw the cash flow, put a little additional capital in, like our tax refund. Everybody's like, I'm getting a new tv. I'm like, I'm getting a new rental, you know, so. So you're just like, oh, I'm discovering how to do this right? And you're building a cleaning team and your maintenance team and you're figuring it all out. And so we got two. And then the next year we bought the third one. And then we leveraged those kind of vacation rentals, which were cash flowing year after year into starting to buy more duplexes in Omaha. And now it's my joy because we've got multiple units producing cash flow to hang out with guys like Steve and you and say, how do we, how do we land some of these bigger commercial deals that are really, really awesome, have tremendous upside? So that's been the journey from a couple, you know, just basic VRBO vacation rentals, now some stabilizing long term rentals into some commercial projects that I get to be a part of. And what a blessing, man. I mean, I'm telling you, like, just to see it go from that first check, which I was terrified of. Can I just keep it real terrified? $5,000 out the door for a, a lake house. Like all your in laws are like, what are you doing? Like, are you kidding me? Like, this could go bad. And I'm trying to think to myself, what's going to happen when I tell my wife we lost all of our savings on a rental problem? You know, like, yeah, all that to say. But I'm so thankful that that small seed has become a big tree. And, you know, looking back, you know, whatever that was almost seven, eight years ago, to see how much we've learned, the relationships that's been formed, the way it's built up momentum, the way it's shaped and grown us, it, you know, real estate is interesting because, you know, I also want to talk about COVID I mean, that happened. Remember, if you were in real estate, you're like, is anybody going to rent this again? Like, is this Going to. Are people paying bills? Am I gonna be stuck paying all these mortgages? And you know, it's all worked out, but I just want to say, like, it's, it's been an awesome journey. God's used it to shape me, Bless our family and others. And so anyways, that's kind of our story of how we got into it.

Hey, Chris, your story, getting into real estate from people I come across, many of them are sitting there going, should I do it? Should I not do it? Oh, I'm scared. Kind of the same things that you went through. If you could, if you could talk to everybody on this part podcast that were in your shoes seven, eight years ago, what would you tell them to do? What's that first step that you would get them to go down this building wealth with real estate.

You know that I appreciate you asking that, Steve. To me, I just, there's so much fear. Does it make sense? So much fear, fear in people. And it's whether it's self doubt, whether it's like complex, that they don't feel like they can understand it. Maybe they're just ashamed to ask questions like, who do I? Maybe I want to learn, I want to grow. I'm willing to take the risk. I just, I don't want to look embarrassed, like I don't know what I'm doing and I've got to ask somebody for help. What I've discovered, Steve, is just even coming to you. I've called you and asked you questions like, people who have some knowledge are so willing to share their knowledge base with you. People are willing to work with you and help you. If you're listening to this podcast, this is a great start. Like, part of it was listening to, you know, deeper pockets, other podcasts, getting equipped and started. But I would just say, you know, one of the things that really helped me is asking this question. In 10 years, in 10 years, when I'm looking at myself, in 10 years, what am I going to be so thankful that I did today? Okay. And so for me, realizing there's no quick fixes sometimes or easy, easy ways to build something that is really worth building. So if I start today, in 10 years, I'm going to be so thankful I did. But you never feel ready, Steve. You know, I didn't feel ready to marry my wife. I had no idea what. I never felt ready to be a parent. Now I got four kids. The doctor just kept handing them to me, you know, like, go home with the baby. I'm like, I haven't Taken a class for this. I have no idea what I'm doing. Yeah, I'll tell you this, Steve. The power of committing to something. The power of committing to something and then learning how to do it along the way. If you try to say, I'm going to learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, and then start, you'll never start. You have to start, you have to commit. And somehow that triggers the ability to say, now I'm in it, now I'm in it and I'm going to learn this thing. So, you know, I just, that's kind of how. I mean, I started a church. I mean, I started a church and had taken two seminary classes. So I mean, you know, I just want you to know, I think that is for some of the. And I would also say this, Steve, what I love about real estate is you can get involved in so many different entryways. So, you know, working with guys like you, you could be an investor and kind of evaluate the deal and still be a part of it and just participate and take. So take advantage of all of the benefits of real estate without having to, to deal with some of the complexities of putting the deals together. Otherwise you can just get into it at other levels. Hey, I just want to start with one rental property like I did and just start to learn cash flow, financing, management, maintenance, leases, tenants, just learning one little thing after another. So that's one of the things I love about real estate. You can get involved in it with a part partner, you can have a mentor. There's lots of ways to get in the game.

And it, and the big thing about real estate, it is a team sport. It is a team sport. And over the years you will meet new people, new friends. And it is, I consider it a pay it forward, come on business. People always want, wants to help you. They want to teach somebody new in the business. And I, you know, the other thing I hear, Chris, is that people say, I wish I knew about this 20 years ago. So everybody out there that's in the position, start, start. And you've heard Chris just say, go, yes, get whatever that is. Start building your wealth. And forget buying those things that are expenses, not wealth building. And Chris, you've been having fun.

It sounds like, oh, man, it is fun. You know, I don't know what you guys do, Steve, but one of the things I do with my family is my wife at the end of the year because real estate is exactly what you said, a team sport. So I just want to say part of the reason I'M on this podcast and getting to hang out with Jake today is because we have this weird love and enthusiasm around real estate. And it's awesome. I mean, you guys are Christian guys trying to serve the Lord. You love your families, and you also like building things that bless other people. So. So it does put you in spaces with both. Just amazing people that become friends because you have this shared interest. And it's not just a transactional thing, you know, like, it's. We're in this thing now long term, because there's some investments that have made me. So I would say that. And then one of the things my wife and I were going to do, Steve, as you said, celebrate and have fun, is if you start. Okay. It's so important. I don't know about you guys, but we pull away. Me and my wife and my. This other partner and his wife, we pull away every year. We met. We have a super awesome dinner, and of course we expense it. But you know what? We celebrate. We celebrate and we literally.

Amen.

Numbers. We pull out the numbers and hey, this is what happened. With appreciation. Hey, this is how we paid down debt. Hey, we just. Cash flowed. Hey, how are we going to now we got this money in the bank. What do we want to buy so that we can actually keep this thing going? You know how awesome that is? That is awesome.

And your. Your wealth is increasing every year.

Yes. Yes.

That pass. That passive income is working for you.

Yes.

And you're not having to worry about the next paycheck to do something. Your assets are creating your wealth, and you can just keep on going.

Yeah. It's just. It's just a fun time because you can get worn down. Some tenant leaves a bad review. You know, something happens. But those little things, I don't know about you, but anything you're doing, I would just say, hey, you got to celebrate milestones along the way. Celebrate the milestones along the way. And so I just always try to look my partners in the eyes and people like you and just say thank you. Hey, we're doing this thing together. Thank you. Our hands are to the plow. We're building something. Thank you. You know, and let's celebrate this like we're still alive. We're doing this thing. It's growing. Let's. Let's eat a steak and have a glass of wine and celebrate the goodness of God right here, you know, so.

Amen, brother.

Yeah, A lot of fun.

Kris, you. We often talk about the power of real estate, and oftentimes we're referring to passive income appreciation of the asset, the tax benefits. But, you know, you're a, you're a high impact guy, a guy who considers purpose and just about everything he does. What sort of impact have you seen that real estate has had in your life personally? You and your family, But I would say, probably more importantly, impacting the life of those around you.

That's. That's it. So, like, you know, there's multiple reasons to get involved in real estate, but especially if you're a person of faith, you're always asking the question of, like, my purpose can't just be more. Does it make sense? Like, I've got to have something bigger than more. And we all know life is temporary and fleeting and fast. And so, you know, for me, one of the questions, once you have something built, like for me, vacation rental properties, you know, there's a number of young staff that get married, they're interns, they're giving their life away for very little, offering it to them and say, hey, take your honeymoon. Take my, take it for a weekend. Use it, okay? And you start to say, this is not just a trophy, okay? This is a tool that I can use to bless people. And, and so how do I start to not just think about real estate and how do I increase my living standard or standard of living, but my giving capacity and, and so just giving stuff away, giving that opportunity away to people. And then the other thing is, like, for us, uniquely, it's just produced. One of the things that really happened is we had an opportunity to sit with a lady we love and you know, she's 70 plus and rents are going up and she's trying to figure out, okay, my standard of living is here. Rents are going up. In my little apartment complex, I've had a downsize from a two bedroom to a one bedroom. You know, you could just see she's getting squeezed. And so, so one of the cool things that happened is just at dinner, we just felt like we need to tell her we love her. She doesn't have a lot. She's given her life away. And we just said, how about this? Why don't you go find a house that you want? Go find a single family home, we're gonna buy it. And whatever you're paying rent right now, that's what you're gonna pay for the rest of your life. We're never gonna raise your rent, we're never gonna ask. Whatever maintenance comes up, we're paying the maintenance.

Wow.

Whatever bills emerge, it's on us. And, you know, we couldn't have done that. We could not have done that, you know, 10 years ago. But now, because there's this thing that's funding itself, it gets really, really fun to be purpose driven on this. Right. And for me and my kids, like, my kids go over to that lady's house, like, we have dinner there. We celebrate that. That's part of what we do as a family. We're going to be a generous family with whatever God's entrusted us with. We're going to use it not just to bless our home, but to bless other people's homes. And, you know, we're kind of under the mandate of people of faith to take care of orphans and widows. And so I'm like, hey, I can't do it for everybody, but if I can do it for a couple, like, let's do it, you know? And so. So that. That's been part of the purpose. Does it make any sense? Just. That's so good. Yeah.

And you. And you ask God with the phrase of God, put me in, coach. I want to play. I want to use what you've given us for other people's blessings. How can I use that? Well done. That was awesome. Well done.

Yeah. So. So those are. You get it, man?

It's just.

It's just fun when you can see the power of real estate. Not just at the end of the year where you're doing the math and you're seeing it, but you're looking at people and you're like, man, that was really cool. We celebrate that. We got to give away so many weekends, and people were having things go on and retreats, and I'm in Steve's barn right now, so he knows this life. Like, he's giving stuff away. Like, he knows that life. I'm literally in this brother's backyard right now. So, uh, it's pretty fun.

Yeah. For anybody who's watches the show regularly, you'll. You'll notice the backdrop behind Chris is where Steve usually sits. So little role reversal there. Chris, I want to. I want to circle back to something you said, because we kind of glossed over it, but there's so much power in it. You talked about how you. You found a partner who was willing to go in with you, and I think that's. That's something that holds people. I know for me, getting in real estate that held me up is that I thought I had to be the one who had all the capital and knowledge to get my. To get the ball rolling, so to speak. And we often think about and Talk about that most people don't have because they don't ask.

Yeah.

And so can you kind of walk through how did you choose that person? But then how did you approach them in partnering with you?

Yeah. So part of it is just being self aware of like, what am I uniquely good at and what am I not good at? Does it make any sense? And so for me, I'm a risk taker, I'm a starter. I'm not an, I'm not intimidated by calculating risk. I mean, I'm going to work numbers. But my, my optimism is go, does it make any sense? I don't live in a scarcity mentality. So. And that's good, but also crazy because sometimes I do that with my time and I get a little over committed. So. But so for me, I wanted a partner that was similar in age so we could build it together. I wanted a partner who shared some values, so that was integrity. And I wanted a partner that was just good at math. Can I just say that? Like, just, just let's work the numbers. So I found a cpa, a guy that shared my faith and values, similar age. And I said, hey, bro, I am not afraid of hiring people. I can find the talent, find the local managers. I think my wife and I could probably help check people in and out and do some of that. But I just want to make sure our books are good. I want to make sure all this stuff is really built in the right way with LLCs. And so, so I just asked him, hey, would you come? And would our knowledge base kind of link up our unique skill set? And you know, he didn't have endless capital, but he was about the same where I was and we both had a desire to start investing and, and so luckily that was the start of it. And, and he put his, you know, equal 50, 50 partners and we put it together and we find our defined roles. What are you going to uniquely contribute? So no, there's no bitterness or frustration and the roles have really worked out and I think everybody has won. And you look back and you say, hey, this has kept us as friends. I mean, I've been a part of this dude's seeing him have kids and walking with him in his marriage and just, you know, all the, and celebrating his promotions at work, just all the stuff. Right. And so it's kept us in friendship for, you know, almost a decade now. And but the other thing is we, we kept going upstream to ask people how to do this. So, you know, he would, he would make phone calls to People like real estate agents in that market or people who had built from, you know, a couple rentals into multifamily. How do you make those transitions? I would call people like Steve and others saying, hey, help me walk through what would my next step would be. And so that's been really, really fun, too. It's like you said, you got to ask somebody for help. You got to ask a banker to take a risk on you. You got to ask a partner to go in with you. You got to ask a mentor to share some knowledge with you. You know, don't be afraid to talk to a lawyer. I mean, for me, just saying, how do I structure this? You've done this a million times, but to me, it feels foreign. There are some barriers. Let's just keep it real. The barrier is there is a financial language that you have to learn. There is a. A real estate language that you kind of have to learn. But, guys, if I'm telling you I can barely spell my middle name, and if I can figure it out, I am not, you know, I'm very average and ordinary, you know, I mean, you. It's just keep taking that next step and don't be afraid to ask. But again, I think that is such a barrier, Jake, don't you. I mean, don't you see that as a barrier? Like, I mean, yeah, people say, I wish I would have started, but what holds them back is this. Where do I even start? Who do I even ask for help? And even if you identify those people, the, the courage to look humble and just say, I need help learning, you know, so, yeah. You guys got any encouragement on that, too? Because I, I feel like we've got the best kept secret in the world here, and we're trying to invite people into it. You know, it's.

It's. It's that fear factor people have, and they'll sit in a spot and kind of fret about it. Just take that first step, and if you make a mistake, that's okay. You learn the journey, you're learning, and you're learning it. Chris, after you did your first deal, did you learn everything about real estate?

No. No, absolutely.

It's.

It's a continual process. I'm learning every day something new, and that's half the fun.

Yeah.

And in my age, I got to keep building neurons, so I got to learn something new. So. Come on, man, it's all good.

Yeah, I think. I think it's like when I think back in times that I've not taken the first step, which is Funny, because that's what this podcast about. Heading west. Take your first step, you learn on the journey. You don't learn standing still. More. More. Dreams and businesses are crushed by inactivity rather than bad activity.

Come on.

And so I think back to the times where I didn't move, and it was. It was laziness, it was fear, it was pride. And a lot of those things could have just been mitigated simply by moving and asking for help. If I look back at the things that have gone really well in my life, it almost all of them started with asking somebody for advice, asking for help, asking for a direction, whatever the case may be. Because in a lot of ways, you know, people realize that, oh, I got where I'm at because someone else helped me. It's a cyclical thing of giving what you've been given. It's same thing with what we talk about with our money, with the things that God's given us as stewardships. Whether it's my talent, like, you're a great speaker and you can use that for certain things. I am great at calculating numbers. I can use that for certain things. And we each have our own responsibilities and roles. Kind of like your partnership with your CPA buddy. And you do them to the glory of God. And you, You. You continue to pass it on to everybody who asks, come on, man. And, yeah, just do it.

Yeah, agree. And I love that you guys said that, you know, even recently with you guys, you guys starting this thing up. First of all, I love what you guys are doing. I just want to say it's so awesome to see the team that you guys are building, the culture that you're building, the way that you're helping invite other people into this. I know personal people that have kind of invested already in this thing, and they're so excited about it. They're taking that first step, and you can see their little brains like, oh, my gosh, wait a sec. I might not have to pay that many taxes. You know, like, yeah, it's awesome. You know, and so it's just. It's so fun that you guys are building this thing. I think people are going to be so excited and personally blessed by it. And, you know, just that, that action, though, like, I saw the emails coming through about a couple of the deals that you. Steve was putting together, and I gotta be honest, there was like, I don't know, should I call him? And I know Steve. I know Steve. And I still pause. I'm like, this can't be right. These numbers look really good. They're. Maybe this is wrong. Finally, I said, you know what? I'm gonna call the man. I don't care what happens. And so I pick up the phone and I say, steve, I'm late to the game. I should have emailed you two weeks ago. This is an awesome deal. I'm late to the party. Can I get in this deal still? And he said, absolutely not. Learn your lesson. You should have called me a week ago. You're dead to me. And he hung up. No, he didn't do that.

That's not true. That's not true.

He didn't do that at all. Awesome. So. But, you know, all that to say Jake, is. I'm preaching to people to pick up the phone, take the stuff their step. But I want to be honest, I saw an incredible opportunity with Steve, and I paused, too, and. And it was a little foreign the way, you know, syndication versus just owning my own. And so it was a little different. And. And so I paused, too, and it. So all that to say is, I understand it, and I'm. But yet I'm still so thankful that, you know, people are so gracious. Pick up the phone. So. And you're awesome, Steve. So thank you for your grace, man. You've been such a big, you know, just incredible friend and mentor in that. In that grace to let me in on that. So. So.

Oh, no, I. I appreciate it. The. The big thing with Skyline Point Capital is we want. Kris, and you already know this, but we want to buy properties we want to own. They're just bigger than if we could own them by ourselves. So you want to get friends and family that think like this and want to invest as partners together. We're all owning this thing. And I only want to own properties that help the Navity family and help other people, and I want to be proud of owning it. And that's what we're doing.

Yeah.

We're in this together.

Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty fun, man. And so. Yeah. What do you guys get most excited about? Are you guys. And what's been the reception? Steve, let me ask that of, like, what's been the reception for you as you reach out to people and they start to hear about what's being built and have people been excited? Can you. Can you see them kind of taking that first step? So many people trust you. You've built such great equity across the city and in the business world for years. Yeah.

And, Chris, thank you for those comments. I don't take that lightly, and that's One of the things, I'm 66 and I love the real estate side and I want to finish strong in life with Christ. I want to finish strong. And from that, that standpoint, the reception has been phenomenal. We've got people in all our deals that we've done and they bring their friends and they tell their family members and then, hey, I have my sister, I have my brother. Can you get them in the next deal? And, and that it just keeps on going. The thing with us is that there we. I'm a risk. I want to be a risk averse real estate investor. I don't want to be over the skis. I want a great deal that everybody can own. We can build our generational wealth and bless others at the same time. Don't take unnecessary risk. Now that may mean that there's deals that other people do that I'm not going to do. Yeah, I don't want to do them. So we are choosy with what we do and we've got some things that are coming. There'll be a surprise. But it's been so much fun and I wish, I wish I would have done this at 20, 25 years earlier. Yeah, I'm telling everybody, do if you got the opportunity to take that next step, don't wait till you think you have to have all the I's dotted and t's crossed. Just start getting into real estate and you will learn like what Kris has done.

Yeah.

Just learn on every deal and you become smarter on the next one. So get in the game. Ted West.

Come on, man.

Yeah.

All right.

I think that's a great place to pivot. So, Chris, I don't think I told you about this, but we always end our time together with a rapid fire question round. So we've got seven questions, super simple. And it's just for people to get to know you a little better. So I'm going to go through them. Number one, do you have any daily rituals that you swear by who?

Oh, thank you. So this is awesome. Well, they're weird. Okay. So before I go to bed, I try to say thank you to Jesus for one thing. That went well. And number two, I try to stretch out my body and touch my toes every day. Just stretch out.

37 years. I still have never done that.

Being real.

Come on.

Yeah, Yeah. I can't touch my toes. 37 years in. Still can't. All right, number two, what's one item you could not live without?

Oh, well, this is easy for me. My bible would be my first one. Yeah. I could go on for a long time because, you know, I'm a preacher on that one. But I'll go there. But I will also say common grace. I love coffee. Can I just say that like I. It would be a sadder world without coffee in my life. And that partly because I have four kids and in real estate and do a church thing and so I try to stay caffeinated. So yeah, yeah, I'll say.

I think you got some espresso running through your veins at all times. All right. What's one business you wish you could go back and start or invest in?

Oh, wow. Okay, wow. Well, I love real estate. I first of all feel like I hit the jackpot problem personally just because I'm passionate about what I get to do with the church and telling people about what God has done. Love real estate. I was. Okay, so I. Oh man, there's so many businesses. One I wish I would have just invested in Amazon. Can we just keep it real? That kind of took off. Started off as a book business that I thought was for nerdy.

Who saw that coming.

What are you doing trying to sell books on the Internet? I should have invested in that, but. But I've seen a couple of different businesses even like routes. I know this sounds really weird, but you know, you can buy FedEx shipping routes and scale those across multiple zip codes. And so anyways, I was kind of interested in that business model. One of my friends who played in NFL has retired and bought a number of different trucking routes and he's doing really well with it, so.

Wow, that's interesting. All right, what's one piece of real estate advice you'd give to other people?

Oh, don't hesitate to ask other people for help and, and try to be honest and be grateful with the people that you're doing stuff with so you can keep doing stuff with them.

What's one thing in life business or real estate that you're really excited about?

Life, business. What'd you say? Say that again.

Or real estate that you're really excited about.

Well, in life, I got to be honest with you. You. I have four kids basketball season's coming up and I love my kids basketball and so I am a spirit filled Christian, but I get a little rowdy in those youth gyms and so I'm just going to keep it real with you. I love coaching my kids basketball team, so I'm very excited about that. And obviously with church stuff, it's the fall, people are coming back, the room is full College kids are there. It's just, it's an absolute blast. And then with real estate, I think we're in a place where we get to start participating in more commercial based deals and not one off rentals that are awesome to learn, but more challenging to scale. So those are things.

In what situations do you find your most happy or fulfilled?

In what aspects, in.

In what situations in life do you find you're the most happy?

When I do things with other people and we make progress. And then number two, or, you know, the second discipline is just always being grateful for whatever it is. Even if it's hard, I just take this like I've been already given way more than I deserve. That's just true in the Bible and that's not just optimistic thinking. So even if it's hard, I've just come to learn that some of the most painful things in my life were the, the very things that, that God used to shape and form me. So even if it's a little hot in the fire right now, he's refining, he's burning things away, he's shaping and he's forming. And so I trust it. And so, you know, I don't wait for just the ease of life to come. I try to just recognize that even the pain is purposeful.

So good. All right, last but not least, as you head west, where do you hope to end up?

Yeah, I have my vision for my life. I think a lot like Steve, and it is partly financial. I want to. You know, part of my story is my dad left and didn't stay. So I want to be a faithful husband and father. And part of my story is my dad didn't leave me anything. And I want to be a blessing to my children. And so if I can leave this world having followed Jesus, loved my wife until my final day and left my kids a model to follow in righteousness and a blessing to get them started. I will be extraordinarily thankful for that.

Amen.

I am. I don't know if there's a better way to end this than that.

Come on, Chris.

Where, where can people find you? Where can they get in contact with you? Or just what do you want to leave them with?

Yeah, I'm on all this, all social media stuff, so you can find me anywhere there. Get the joy and privilege of being a pastor in Omaha, Nebraska. So if you're here, stop on by and if you want to talk Jesus, family, marriage, ministry, finance, real estate. My life is open to people who got this podcast. And so I'd love to make myself available to them.

Yeah, check them out.

Chris, what's the.

The website for City Light Church, www.citylightomaha.org? so you can just. Yeah, you'll find it there.

Some great sermons there. Well, Chris, that was amazing. Had so much fun with you. Thanks for joining us today.

This was awesome. Thank you, guys. Keep building awesome stuff. And let's head west together. Let's do it.

Amen. Hey, and thanks for being real. That was awesome. Thanks, Chris.

Thanks, Steve.