That is a BOLD Move!

Foreign. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Contractor Radio. And in today's episode, it's a, It's a special episode. There's not going to be any commercials or anything like that. So I want you to pay attention, sit back, relax, maybe get somewhere a little bit quiet and a place where you can focus. Because we're going to talk about something that is maybe one of the most important aspects of us as human beings, business owners, people trying to make an impact out there. And it's this idea of being bold and what you're bold in, what you hold as the fundamental truths of your boldness, the values that you expect of yourself and you expect of others, the way that you may serve and the way that you may care for other folks. And I've got four guests. I think it's a record four guests today because these gentlemen are being bold in what they do, and I want to talk to them about that. I want to talk to them about the courage it takes. I want talk to them about the sacrifices they have to make, the lines that have to be drawn, and what they feel the importance is of what it is they're doing and how they might react when others question it. So without further ado, let's get started today. I'm your host. My name is Jim Johnson. I am the head coach here at Contractor Coach Pro, and you are listening to Contractor Radio. And so our first guest that we want to welcome in today is my sidekick and best friend. I would like. He's the guy I can talk to about stuff like this, and we have lots of conversations about this. Nathan, welcome aboard today. Good to have you.

Hello, everybody.

Great to talk about being bold. We'll see. Yeah, I don't get nervous very often, but that's why I'm a bit like, I wonder where it's gonna go. And so let me bring the other guys in here. Hey, Larry, welcome aboard, man. I love what you've been doing out there and how you're putting yourself out there. Welcome to Contractor Radio.

Thanks so much, man. I'm excited to be here.

Yeah, it's, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a good one. I, I, you know, it's been kind of fun to watch you over the last couple years and get to know you as. We've done Contractor Fellowship together, watched you start a new business, and I'm, I'm excited to talk with you about some of those things where it seems like you're being pretty bold and what that, what that's meant to you and your life. And in your business.

Yeah, I, I, and I honestly, like, I just want to acknowledge you too, Larry. Like, you've expressed a level of vul, not just inside of that group, but also amongst people that you meet to be kind of vulnerable and really out in the open in a real raw way with people that you barely know. That that's, that's significant and that's had an impact on me and I just appreciate you for that.

Thanks for saying that, man. I appreciate that.

That's awesome. And we got Dominic, Dominic Fraser from Fraser Roofing in Georgia. He's been one of our clients and an absolute joy working with him and seeing what he's done not only before working with us, just the culture that he established, but taking that to the nth degree and being bold in his business. Thanks for being here, Dominic.

Good to be here.

Yeah. I saw a story about you this week. We're going to talk about a little bit today and what it takes to do that because that's not easy, what you've been doing. So we'll talk about that today. And then we have the man, the myth, the legend himself, Reggie Brock. He's gonna say a lot, but I know that when he does, he's going to end it with, now I'll shut up. So, Reggie, you have, you had something on your heart for a long time before you actually went out and put yourself out there about it. You talked with us about it, about really listening to that inner voice inside of us. And it has had a massive impact on me and the mindset that I approach the world with and the intentionality I try to put into it. I just want to thank you for that and thank you for being on the show today. Good to be here.

If I can keep this guy cutting concrete out of my microphone in front of me, it'll be good. It might be good though, if he does it while I'm talking.

That's kind of what it sounds like sometimes when we're being bold. This loud, distracting noise that people don't want to hear.

And.

Sometimes we feel it just needs to be shared regardless. And so first question is, what, what does it mean to be bold? Don't everybody speak at once.

I mean, I don't know. I personally, I always tend to, like, default to, like, word definitions because I feel like you got to start from the same place, you know, like we got to be, start from standing in the same place, I think to really have like a conversation. Boldness, I don't think, I don't think boldness Has a. Has. I think the word itself is amoral. In other words, it's not right or wrong word. Being bold, I think, is really just kind of really putting yourself out there. I think sometimes it's like an unapologetic. Almost like an unapologetic communication of your thoughts or feelings. You're just kind of.

And.

And also sometimes like the. The opposite of being shy sometimes. Right. Like you're just. You're out there and sometimes it's in people's face a little bit. Sometimes it's very strong. I think, too, like when you're bold, you're not particularly wishy washy and a lot. And you know, on whatever thing it is you're being bold, it's. It's direct, it is powerful, and it's out there, too. You know, I think a lot of that boldness comes from not necessarily holding back, in which case, like I said, I don't think it's a. It's. It's not a right or wrong word because you can be bold in the bad way and you can be bold in a good way. I think.

I mean, I think, you know, it's about not hesitating in the fear, in the face of potential resistance, you know, And I think being bold or being emboldened, you know, it comes from that fire inside of you. So. So for me, when I decided to plant my flag and get bold about my mission, it's. I know that it's going to be met with some resistance by some folks, and you do it despite.

Yeah, go ahead, dummy.

No, I'll jump in. I. I believe bold is being unashamed. There's a great podcast out there with Phil Robertson. I don't know if you guys keep up with those guys, the Duck Dynasty guys, but they have a great podcast called Unashamed. And those guys are not afraid to say what they feel, especially in this politically correct environment that we live in. They are bold, and I love it.

Yeah, I think that's a. I think that's a good definition. Unashamed. Reggie, anything to add?

Yep. So, I mean, to me, guys, who.

Up next is Jonathan Bennett.

What was that?

His perspective about how Beacon is going.

To drive above market, who's got a video going and some amazing programs that are being. Sorry, is that. Reggie's got. Reggie's watching podcasts. He's learning.

That's what he's doing.

Yeah.

Anyway, so let's move on. So to me, those people who are bold are generally risk takers. There's a lot of risk associated with boldness. And you know, you've got to carry confidence and courageousness in with you to be that person. And so I, you know, I, I think those are characteristics of, that describe boldness.

So I want to put some context to this of why we're doing this today. For the last couple years I've had the honor of hanging out with you guys on Wednesday mornings and we do this thing called contractor fellowship where those of us of faith or those of us that are interested in learning more about faith, hang out on Wednesday mornings at 7:30am Central and just talk, just share, try to figure this faith thing out together and encourage support. And it's really, you know, like my favorite time of the week is spending that time with you guys and the other guys that are in there. And we've kind of noticed over the last few years that there's been a little bit of this groundswell with being okay with talking about our faith, you know, religion, however you want to like approach that. And so that was the context for this is like, why is this happening? Is it a good thing, a bad thing? Which Nathan said, hey, I don't think it's one or the other whenever you use the term bold. But we run into, there's issues. It gets messy when you start being, when you start being bold about things, especially when you talk about religion or faith or politics and strong opinions and things like that. It's just not everybody agrees with you. And so what kind of gives us the strength to do that kind of thing and why do we think there's this movement going? And so before we get there into.

That.

Larry, you said something that made me think maybe I should ask each one of you this. So I'm going to ask you first. Where do you plant your flag? You said, I decided to put myself out there and plant my flag. What do you mean by that?

You know, for me it's, it's just being another person being, you know, I, I don't know, I, I don't want to be common. You know, for, for me going through some of my emotional deep dives the majority of my life, I looked at myself being. I was born as a post vasectomy child and so I was, I looked at that as I was an accident and, and I decided to turn it, turn it around, that I was a gift. I was put here by God to accomplish something. And so I couldn't settle for, for being common. He put something in me for, for me to give to the world. And, and if I'm If I'm not given that, if I'm not offering that, I'm doing a disservice to my maker. And I couldn't stand for that any longer.

That's. That's pretty awesome. And I would say you were a gift and a miracle, and that's pretty dang cool. I hope you feel that way. I feel that way about you for sure. Dominic, how about you? Where do you plant your flag?

I plant my flag on the rock. Y' all know who the rock is, right?

The wrestler, right?

No, he's a Jewish carpenter. Does that help you guys out?

Think so.

Yeah. That's where I play at.

My.

My flag is on him alone. I'm very bold about that. If you know our motto, it's Faith family, Fraser Roofing. And if you drive up to our offices, you'll see on, with a neon sign on our windows, the two greatest commandments. Love God, love people. And we get a lot of crap from that, by the way. I get crap from fellow contractors. Like, man, you're just putting that on there to get business.

And we're gonna talk about that. I want you to hold that right there because we're going to talk about that.

Good.

Because this flag concept, I want to talk. So. So let's take Reggie. Reggie, how about you? Where do you plant your flag?

So my. I think my flag is planted right next to my calling. And that's what's created the boldness and the timing for me as it is right now. I think that I've decided to take my take calling more important than my career. And so. And again, I love my career. I love the people that I'm with every day. I love the support that I get to do it. But this is just an eruption of calling in me. And when you have that, there is a boldness that comes along with that, that creates the, you know, cascading effect, if you will, that affects others. And so to me, it's just operating out of my calling.

Awesome.

Nathan, man, so should have picked me first.

I know. All three of mine got stolen.

Those are great, man. I think there's. There's like three different things I just heard that were, like, super cool. And I identify with every one of them. One of them had to do with, like, reclaiming your value. Like Larry, like, hearing that, I'm like, oh, man, I have. I have devalued myself and acted in accordance with. With a devaluation of my own worth in my life, for sure. And so hearing Larry say that and then the concept of, like, the transformation from that. From that reclaiming is just beautiful. And I'm like, that speaks to my heart. That sounds a lot like a place that. That I've had to pick up and plant and pick up and plant my flag. And then hearing Dominic lay his. Lay his flag next to something unflappable, and he's not. He says the rock, not the sand. Right? We know some of us probably heard that story. And so that's something that's unchanging and unmoving, that's outside of him. So, you know, he. He. The more you lean into. What Dominic is saying is this. This concept that, like, I can move and shift all over the place. As a matter of fact, I've probably had 10 different emotions just today. And that affects my actions. Right? And then the way I deal with others. But where Dominic's talking about planting his flag is a place that you can always go back to that just doesn't move.

Right.

And you get stability from that thing. Right. And so I identify with that. I'm like, I'm. As I got old, as I've gotten older, I think I've gotten more emotional as I've gotten older. And if you guys listen to the. If you guys listen to the Be Authentic podcast, they touched on that in an awesome way. So great listening to Michael Carver and Eric Oberam to talk about that. That component of, like, getting older and feeling that emotion, which means I feel like I shift more than I ever have before as I get older and that. And I resonate with what Dominic is saying in that. And then to hear Reggie, I think, really lean into the identity that comes from having that calling that came from something that's unmovable. And I'm like, holy cow. Like, that speaks to me, too. So it's almost like you guys all just, like, laid. As I said, I didn't want to go last year because those were like, I would love to have my flag planted in every one of those places. Right? And I think in a lot of ways, it's the same place. So I kind of feel that same thing trying to claim the value that doesn't come from me because I can act like a real worthless thing and then also having my identity and my. My line in the sand drawn in something that doesn't move, but this is also outside of me and. And then leaning into who I am and carrying that through. So, like, I agree with every one of those things. I can't. I don't know if I could even add to that. It's just beautiful. I want to plant my flag in all three of those spots.

Yeah. And I know as the host, I'm the one asking the questions, but I'll answer this one, too. And I'm much like Nathan, like, as the. As you guys are talking, like, yeah, man, I plant my flag right there. That sounds really good. But thankfully, Nathan talked as long as he did, so he allowed me to kind of come up and formulate a little bit more for me. And I point my flag in the piece of knowing who I am, that I was designed for a purpose by something much greater than me. And. And I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it with whatever that brings to me, whether it's success or what people would perceive as failure, whether it's gain or a lack of gain. I'm not worried about any of those things anymore. And I used to be. And I want others to share in that confidence and that freedom. And that's really what the flag is planted is the freedom to just be me. It's pretty cool. So that would be where mine is planted. So, Dominic, you were touching on it there. We plant this flag, and when you plant a flag, you say, boom. I own this particular opinion or belief or stance on something, and I dare you to come and take that flag from me because you will stand up for it. That's what planning a flag is. Like, this is mine. Right. You mentioned that when you. When you do that, it causes sometimes. I don't know what the right word for it is, but people that may not agree with your ownership of that flag and the validity of your belief in that flag. Let's talk about how you handle that. How do you handle that when you get approached with something like that?

I'd like to know what. Like, what you get approached with. Like, you kind of started to tell a little bit of that, like, what's coming at you, and then how you respond.

Like, I get subtle jabs from fellow contractors who are kind of passive aggressive and be like, well, I don't have to put a Jesus fish on my truck to show somebody that I'm a Christian. And I'm like, okay, so. And then I kind of reverse it on. I was like, so, you know, what's the Great Commission? If you. If you call yourself a follower of Jesus, what's the Great Commission? Or just take out the code, what's the great mission that Jesus instructed all the followers of him to do? And it's action. It's go and make disciples. Disciples. Make disciples. My pastor Did a sermon on that. And it's always rung in my ears that if you ask any of my guys in each one of our markets have they ever heard disciples make disciples, they'll say, oh yeah, that's Dominic. And guess what? And we've, we've talked about this before. It's not a smooth process. It's not a, you know, iron sharpening iron. I think Nathan and I have spoken on this. Proverbs 27:17. Iron sharpens iron like one man sharpens another. It's, it's ugly. Sometimes it gets ugly. But I'd rather be bold and courageous because. And Jim, I think I mentioned this to you. We've got something that's better than the cure for cancer. If you had the cure for cancer, are you gonna keep it to yourself? Are you gonna go share it with somebody?

Only if you're a corporation making money off of the treatment.

Oh, oh boy.

So we've got something that's better than the cure for cancer. But you know what? We don't want to offend anybody. So we're just gonna, just keep it on the down low. We're going to show people by our actions, forget that, you know, it instructs us. And this is my last Bible verse for this segment is for the spirit of God gave us does not make us timid. And I, I kind of looked into timid. One of the words was coward. Doesn't make us cowards. So I'm calling out all the, the guys who call yourselves Christians who are afraid to talk about Jesus. You know what, man? I think that's cowardly. I think you need to be bold and courageous if you really are a follower. There's a difference between a follower and a believer.

Strong. That would be bold. That was a strong statement. And, and I'm glad you said that. I'm, I'm headed somewhere with this. I hope so. Larry, Reggie, anything along those lines, like, as you've noticed, as you've put yourself out there, any kind of like, hey man, you're only doing that for this or anybody looking at it that way, Are you really what you say you are, I think is a bit of it.

I'll jump. Yeah. I mean it just for me, like I've been doing a video a day just to talk about, you know, my, my emotional journey. And, and I've had people hit me in my, in my DMs about, oh, are you going to be trying to sell some coaching program? And I have zero problems, zero problems standing up and going, you Know what, man? This is the calling. This is what God's put on my heart. And it is to talk about being emotional is not soft. People think that you have to be soft, passive, and even as a man of faith, because we love Jesus, that we're supposed to be passive and soft and gentle. And I'm like, God called me to be passionate, driven, convicted, empathetic, compassionate, and kind. I can be bold in all of those things. I can't be weak and be those things. Sorry if I went off on a little bit of a tangent, but when someone thinks that I'm or questions me, if I'm doing this for financial gain, then this is about, like, what Reggie said. This is about me taking. Taking the cap off of what God put inside me. It's not something that I choose to fight anymore. I just took the lid off and I'm letting it out.

Yeah. Seriously, if I want to sell more coaching, this is not the thing I would talk about. Right. This is. Actually goes the other direction. Right. Just putting this on our podcast today. I'm like, hey, risk of maybe people going, hey, I don't want to listen anymore. Right. Reggie, how about you?

Yeah, this is interesting because I have long since left behind a huge concern about what people think. I mean, I just. I've just gotten to the point to where I'm like, I can't please everybody. I'm gonna be honorable, and I'm gonna be honest in my relationship with God, and then I'm going to live my life as I see fit. And, you know, if people like it, they like it, because here's. Here's the truth of this. I think this. This boldness. And you talked about a movement that you sense happening. It's a gathering, Jim. That's what's happening. There's a gathering going on by words that come out of our mouth. There are things that are coming out of all of us that have an audience, and my audience is not everybody. The Bible uses a term, and this is a Latin and a Greek term as well. The word is metron, M E, T R O n. And that word means a measure, a specific measure of influence that all of us are given. It's. It's a portion. It's not the world you see. So it started taking pressure off of me, thinking, oh, my God, am I saying the right thing? Are people going to stay? They're not going to stay. I thought to myself, those who have ears to hear what I have to say are going to keep their ears open. They're Going to receive it, and it's going to change their life. And that is not everybody. But what. What's interesting is Larry has a portion of. He has a metron. Dominic has a metron, Nathan has a metron. Jim has a metro of people that are going to react and respond to that spirit word in you that goes out and creates the audience by itself. Here's what's really neat. We don't have to compete because we're all unique and have differences. We all have different things that the Lord is doing in us. We just need to speak our piece, so to speak, and watch what happens.

If you.

What will happen is those who belong to us and us to them will find us. That's what I believe. And so I'm only praying daily for my metron, my voice to resonate and find audience with those people that I belong to, and they belong to me. And so I'm then excited for you to find yours and all you guys to find, because this voice is calling out from outside of our hearts and our spirits into the earth.

And.

And there's going to be a drawing power to it. I mean, I'm not. I'm not despondent, depressed, or even concerned about people going like, hey, you're going to monetize this? Who cares? I mean, I could care less. What I care about is when the word of the Lord comes out of me, people go like, oh, my God, what was that? And it won't be everybody. It'll be a specific based upon the uniqueness of my design, the spirit word coming out of me that'll affect people in different parts of the country.

And.

And for everybody else, it's okay, I'm just not your guy. And so, you know, if we can realize our uniqueness has a boundary to it, and I know nobody wants to talk about that, but, you know, we have a lane. We have, you know, a place that we operate in that creates audience that we're after. And then we can be calm and collected about what everybody else is doing, when they're doing and how they're doing it. Be good with it.

That.

Like that.

That's so.

I guess, so awesome. I. I have this, like. I have this. This thing that keeps coming back to my mind. I don't remember where I heard it, I don't where it came from, but it keeps playing in my head, at least part of where I'm at in my own journey. And it was the saying that went, don't be afraid to speak what's in your heart. Because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

That's right. And the thing of it is this, if our portions work together, what impact for the kingdom? But if I'm trying to figure out, you know, Dominic's portion is his portion, his metron, mine is mine. Can we not collectively come together for a common goal and purpose and that's to advance the kingdom of God, not our own. Because every voice that we hear in the world we live today is about expanding our territory and us and we. And we've got to do this and we've got to take over the world. That's not what the Bible says. I'm about establishing the kingdom of God through people's lives. And those who are attracted to the voice and the spirit that's in me is designed for that moment with those people. And I, I expect the same out of y'. All so we can co labor. We don't have to fight for territory. My God, stop it.

I was one of the, you know, Reggie, you and I, we talked about this because a lot of what you're sharing from, from that's on your mind and in your heart. There's some similarities in what I've been thinking and in my heart, but we have a completely different approach and a different metron, as you put it, a different voice. And Dominic has a whole different approach and voice and some people are going to need that stronger. Hey, you got to come to Jesus right now. Person. Some people are going to need that person. That's a little bit more, hey, I love you and I care for you. Let me listen to you. Let's start a conversation. Let's create some fellowship and, and those different voices work differently with different people and attract different people, but all after the same goal.

But don't, you can't take that like as a. And I, I'm sorry, I promise I'll shut up after this.

No, you're right.

Conversation.

There is not, you know, there's not a right or wrong. It's our uniqueness. Right? And as long as we're not veering from the true gospel, in my opinion, and as long as we're, you know, our personalities are our personalities, our uniqueness is our uniqueness. How Dominic or Larry or whoever goes about that word within them, speaking it, that's on them, I'm just going to support it, right? I'm just going to be like, hey, hey, hey, hey. We're co laboring together. Whatever you're doing, I'm with you. I Want to be a part of it. We're not competitors on this. We are about growing this together and standing in our voice and declaring it. And I'm telling you, that's a prophetic word. And I know you call me Religious Wednesday as I was getting off the phone.

And.

But listen, I've got to a point to where I feel like it's. It's time for people to hear Thus saith the Lord and coming out of us so that they can resonate with a word and attach it to themselves and grow out of it. That's what I think. Let's take an offering.

That's the plate.

I always get worried when Reggie's talking because I'm gonna have to get my wallet out. What do you have to say to those that say is dangerous to put your religion in your business?

I'd say they're right.

Yeah. I would say it's. It's dangerous to train a real good salesperson as well. He may go off and. And start his own company, but more dangerous for your business to not train them.

Well, I mean, I think the thing comes to mind for me now is what. Who are you more afraid of? That would be my question. Somebody says, well, I want to be careful about doing this and doing this and doing this. And my question be, well, I mean, who. Like, what are you called to do, first of all? And who are you more afraid of? Like, if. If I got a. If I got a friend of mine that says, hey, you should go do this thing. And I'm like, okay. And then my mom says, you should go do this thing. Which one of those two am I more likely to be? Like, I probably gonna do what this person says. I'm gonna do what my mom says. Why?

Not?

Because I'm afraid of my mother. But I have more respect and I have more respect and more. More honor. And. And I'm. I'm afraid. Like, if you imagine being a kid and you getting. Getting your backside whooped. Like, I'm afraid of what my dad says. I'm afraid, like, I'm going to do that thing. So am I afraid if I don't do the thing my friend says of offending them? Well, maybe. Right, but which one am I more afraid of? And I don't think it's necessarily has to be like a. Like a trembling fear, but that. That concept of honor and of glorification and of respect and that kind of a thing. Like, I'd be more afraid of a. Violating a directive by somebody to whom I owe so Much than worrying about Joe Blow over here doesn't like the fish on your, on your business door. So he's not going to take, he's not going to use you as, you know, as your contractor. Well, okay.

Might be God saying, hey, you probably didn't want that guy anyway. Very possible.

I think it can make you a target too, though. That's the other thing. Some people, some people look for an opportunity to attack that. And so I feel like if you decide, do you believe that what I'll take, I'll rip off Del Tackett. I don't know if any of you guys know who he is, but do you believe that what you believe is really real? And if you do, how should you act in accordance with that? Because you're, you're, you're putting a flag down. When you make the kind of statements, when you make the kind of statements we're making today, you put the flag down. And here's the thing. People are going to be, people are going to, A, want to know if you're really who you say you are and they'll be watching from that perspective. B, some people are going to try and tear that down because they don't believe in it. And see, some people are going to see an opportunity or an advantage to try and destroy you or use it against you, right? Like, hey, don't, don't go work with contractor coach, bro. They're a bunch of, they're a bunch of God believing nut balls, Bible flippers. Like, okay, if you don't. Okay, so yeah, it is, it is, it is dangerous. But what danger do you fear more?

I'd like to piggyback on what Nathan just said. Who do you fear? Who do you fear more? Man or, or God? And to me, when Jesus says these words, so because you are lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth. Okay? I'm all in for Jesus. I don't, I'm not gonna be lukewarm. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be on the fence and go, yeah, I'm a Christian on Sunday. But during the week I need to, you know, I need to sc and, you know, make 100 million bucks. No, no, I'm gonna. The fear of the Lord brings wealth, honor and long life. So, yeah, I'm not, I'm not scared of any man. I'm scared. I fear the Lord.

So a lot of people don't believe. How does that affect our boldness?

It, it affects it. If you think the world Belongs to you. You know, you think everybody's got to believe you or understand you or accept you or you know that, then that's where you get confused. If you go. If you literally believe that what you have has a audience that's specific to the voice, and you may not. Y' all may not believe this, but then you shouldn't have asked me on here. I just believe that we have a unique voice and a unique gift, and not everybody is going to pay attention to it. And we stay frustrated and we try to conjure up ways, in my opinion, to like, try to make everybody palatable to this word that's in us, and it's just never going to work. So you can keep going back to that well, so to speak. But the fact is, either you believe that you can affect everybody, or there's a portion of Metron that deserve that belongs to you because of your uniqueness and the spirit of the Lord within you, or you don't. And so I just don't get frustrated with people who, like, well, you know, they're Bible thumpers. Okay, cool. We're probably not going to be in any kind of real deep relationship. And so I'm not throwing my pearl before the swine.

Okay. Anybody else on that one? Yeah.

You know, I would. I would say for. For any non believer, it's not about them believing the same as me, but, you know, what I want them to feel is. Is like the hands and feet of Jesus. You know, what was it? Faith, open love. The greatest of these is love. What I want them to feel is, is that. That it's coming from a place of love, comes from a heart of love. You, if you choose not to believe the. The same way I do. Okay. It doesn't mean that I can't still demonstrate to you loving kindness.

That's where I was hoping it was going.

Gold star for Larry. Whatever.

Well, there's this thought process that as Christians, you're either on our team or off our team. Right? Like, there's two thing. And while you may not be on my team, I'm absolutely okay with that. I still love you. I still will help you. I will still do for you. I will still take action, serve and love and care for you, because that's what we're asked to do. That is what a Christian is. And we're gonna fail. We're gonna fail every day, all day long, because we are imperfect. I think that's the thing that may get missed the most in defining a Christian is that with that comes certain Expectations that we're going to act in a certain way and we're going to be. What would Jesus do all the time? We're not Jesus. We just aren't. There's a reason we need him, because we are them.

And.

I think we set ourselves up for failure when we put ourselves on a pedestal of, I'm a Christian and you're something less because you're not. Because you slam the door closed at that point. I don't want to slam the door on anybody. It's always open. It's always welcome. You can hit me through anything, Facebook, text me, call me, email me, send smoke signals, whatever it takes. My door is open. That's what I worry about. That's what I worry about more than anything else by us being bold is closing the door. Because people see that boldness as something that stands in their way, that we have drawn a line in the sand or put a flag down that prevents them from walking through that door. How do we walk that line? Because it is a line. Right?

I think it's just. I don't. I don't know that it is a line. The line. But the line isn't. The line isn't. The line is not being so bold of a Christian that you'll turn somebody away from God. That's not the line, right? If you are being harsh, if you're being judgmental, if you're being unloving, if you're being arrogant, okay? If you're being legalistic, if you're being. You're crossing that. You're crossing into the thing that people that are Christians are trying to get away from and that you're working against. So there's not a line about the bolt. Like, the more bold you are as a Christian, the more loving you should be to people, the more kind you should be, the more generous. That is being a bold Christian. But if you're coming along and you're going, I'm a Christian, you're not. Now all of a sudden, you're not actually being a real good Christian, right? So I don't think this line is like. Is like drawing a line in the sand about us versus them. Because here's the thing. There's only one us, and it's all the people who aren't Jesus, right? So it's kind of him versus us. He was perfect. He's capable. He meets the standard. We don't. And guess what, buddy?

We.

Whether you believe in him or not, you and I are standing shoulder to shoulder, okay? And so I think that, like, if somebody's coming along and they are sullying the name of Jesus with disreputable behavior, like, towards others, whether they're Christians or non Christians, that's a line that you've crossed.

I like it. I could agree with that. Is that a. Does that come from a place of what is righteous or not?

What do you mean?

In other words, you got some pretty good direction from that thing called the Bible of how to be and how to do. Dominic, I want to thank you. You said, I don't even think you sent it to me. I think you just posted about it. I said, hey, that was a cool book. I'm gonna go get that book. And it's a book called Love Does. What's the guy's name? Doug.

Bob Goff.

Bob Goff. Doug. Doug is his body. Bob Goff. And I really like such a simple title. But that's what being a Christian is. It's not saying, I believe in Jesus. It's not, Jesus is your savior. Hey, you're messing up all that stuff that goes along with it. It's taking action and doing for another. When the opportunity presents itself for you, you do that. It kind of caught me off guard. Like, that was pretty extreme. You have a gentleman that works for you and he has his daughter. I don't know if it's every Wednesday or every other Wednesday, something that he has to do with his daughter on that particular day. And you take your owner hat off and you go be him for that time. That's love does. That's the heart of Jesus. That's the heart of what it is that we do. Do I have to say I'm a Christian for people to go, dude, that was different. Because it stuck out to me. Like I went, oh, man, I don't know. I put myself back in my shoes. I thought I was pretty good about trying to serve my people and being helpful and making their jobs easier and lives better and helping them achieve greater things and all that other good stuff. But when I dropped what I was doing on a Wednesday afternoon on a consistent basis to make sure that guy could take care of his daughter, pass. That's some real love. High fives to you on that. More than anything. More than anything else you've ever said to me, that was proof to me. Pretty dang cool.

Jim, you've never been in our office before, have you?

Not yet. I'm planning on it, though.

Well, Reggie will tell you there's a bunch of alpha females in there. Yeah, so will Nathan. Nathan will Tell you so. Any opportunity I can get out in the field, away from the office, I'm there, man.

Oh, boy, oh, boy.

We're gonna have to ask Braden to edit that just for dominant sake.

Pause right there. No, like, how do you guys. Let's go there. How do you guys take action? Like, I gave you the example, Dominic. How do we take action? Because I think that's the boldest thing you can do. We can talk about it all day, preach from the highest, and to be on this podcast all day long and say how awesome it is to be a follower of Jesus and how great it is to be saved and how we should love one another. How do we show it?

I think Larry hit on it earlier about being the hands and the feet. If you have that mentality, which. That's the mentality I tell my kids when they walk out the kitchen every morning, go love on somebody today. You know, love does, like, just today, be where your feet are at and be the hands and feet of Jesus and don't be ashamed. And you can't go wrong with that simple caveman. I'm just gonna follow that, and then I'm gonna. I'm gonna see. I'm gonna sleep good tonight.

Did you just call Larry a caveman?

No, no, I'm. I'm the caveman.

Like, he saw my Neanderthal ridge there. But it's, you know, I. I think the same thing. It's just.

It.

It's love on folks. You know, just as I've been doing these videos, and I'll wrap it up by saying, you know, go out and be nice to someone, or at least don't be a turd. And, you know, so I think most people can agree with, at least don't be a turd. You know, going out and being nice is. Is a second step. But I think that just what we do, just get out and love on folks, man, and be decent to people and show them our belief system rather than yap at them about it.

Bible's really clear said those, the sons of God are led by the Spirit. And so when we're led by the Spirit, there's fruit. There should be fruits of the Spirit that are exhibited that are edible by mankind. That's the way I view it. So I, you know, I'm either led by the flesh or I'm led by the Spirit. There's not a. An in between gear. Right? And so my objective every day is to live led by the Spirit, but manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in my life because that's what people are looking for. They're looking for that difference where, you know, in the past, I blended in real well. I take pride in not blending in anymore. Yeah. I take pride in going places, and I can be kind to people and. And spend time with people, but I don't have to participate in some of the things that they participate in. Not judgment, just like, not participating. And so I think the fruit of the spirit is what becomes edible to people. You know, they see kindness, they see generosity, they see love, they see tenderness, they see mercy. They see those fruits of the spirit that cause them to do this. And this is what I'm after. That pause moment. Like, what was that? Where did.

I mean.

I explained to me what you meant by that, why you did this and why. Those are the. There's where the opening comes to be able to lay your heart out to people. But if they don't see it, they're not going to believe it. They're just not going to believe it.

What. What a great way to put. I mean, I know where it comes from, but, you know, if you really think about that, a fruit that is so tantalizing. Yeah. Hungry for it. You're literally like, how do I get some of that?

Yep.

That's. That's how we do it. And we're. We're human beings. We're broken. We're gonna make all kinds of mistakes, and we're gonna. There's gonna be the day where, you know, you say something stupid or do something stupid or make a bad decision, and it reflects. It does. But we're not perfect as. The beauty of it all is this. We're given grace.

Yeah.

And understanding that we are faulty, that's the thing that gives me the piece of it all. Like, hey, I'm gonna screw up. I'm not gonna do it intentionally. I'm not out there going, yeah, I know I'm doing this bad thing, but I'm saved. So I'm good. Right? I can't do that. But when you do mess up, he's not holding it against this selection. Anybody else?

Well, I think what you gotta. We gotta keep focused on is this is a fight. It's a fight.

I'm a fighting shape right now.

Yeah, I know you're. You want to take your shirt off while we're doing this? James.

Please don't.

Maybe on the 75th day, I'll do that.

Yeah.

But the fact of the matter is, this life we're in is a fight, and it's not against flesh and Blood. But it's against principalities and powers. That's. And it means that every. That happens inside of me more than outside of me. And so the fight I have is with the nonsense in me that causes my flesh to react in a way where people go, oh, he's like everybody else.

Yeah.

When I get control of me, I live inside out where I'm. I'm tending to what's inside of me because it will cause the performance on the outside of me. When I tend to that and make it more spiritual and more concerning to me, then I don't have to worry about what people see because it's just going to be a natural overflow. And then that's where people go, like, wow, what is that? That's what I want to know about. And so. But it's a fight. I mean, it's a flight fight between this whole warring our flesh and our spirit. And the fact is, I spend most of my day just trying to kill myself. And I'm. I'm not trying to be funny about that. I mean, killing this flesh inside of me that wants to run my life like, it's done for so long, and I'm sick of it because it's. Every time I let it control and I feed it and I give into that appetite, I end up in a ditch somewhere. And generally I drag people with me. I'm tired of it. I want to be led by that spirit. I want my spirit, man, to be in front and leading the way. And then the fruit will appear, and then people will be drawn. That's what I think.

Well, that's good. There's another 20 bucks to Reggie. Pass the plate, man. Like, seriously. It is. You mentioned it earlier, Reggie. And this is the thing that is beautiful to me. This is the most beautiful part in this boldness that we're seeing in this movement or whatever you call it in our industry and maybe the world itself, it shows there's a hunger for it, number one. Like, hey, people are listening. It's okay for me to. It's okay for me to talk about this stuff, which is super cool. But I don't see the jealousy part, right? Like, I see more encouragement. I'm like, dude, Larry is putting himself out there. Whoa. I was not expecting that. Where'd that come from? It just popped up on my screen one day. I was like, dude, that's freaking cool. High fives.

Well done.

I even made a comment, hey, that was really good, Larry. Good night, Shop. I want to say and be and live that. That is Cool. And absolutely my not feeling any kind of fear or worry that maybe Larry's taking something from me and to see Reggie do Reggie. And I, like, I don't know how many of you know this, but back in the day, we were kind of competitors. I knew who he was, he knew who I was. We never talked to each other. He did his thing, I did my thing. And one day we met. Boy, talk about Providence. I. I met one of the most impactful people in my life. Super cool. And there's so many. Eric over. Nathan mentioned him earlier. He puts himself out there, and it's authentic and genuine and real. I listen to it. It's cool because it's who he is. But that's kind of the one side of it. Right. But on the other side, where the spirit isn't involved, I see so much of a person put themselves out there, not spirit led. And anybody else that's not spirit led that's in that world feels fear and scarcity and like something's being stolen from them or taken from them and that they're in this mode of keep up. What do I have to do to get ahead of that person or this person? What do you guys think about that? Am I on the right track there? You guys see that? Feel that?

Let's draw a parallel. Dominic and both of you guys got. And all y' all can answer this question for me, and I think it'll help up your audience. Do y' all think that everybody you meet is a customer of yours? Why not?

I sure hope not. I meet a lot of bad people. I. I do. I do.

I'll jump. I. And it may not be a customer of Contractor Coach Pro. Hopefully everybody I meet gets a little of my product. And. And that product, I'm hoping and praying, is a continual outpouring of the effect of Jesus Christ in my life.

Yeah.

You might not pay me for it, and they might not. And they might not even know that that's where they got it from. But I really hope that, that, that. That everybody is a customer of. Of my. This. This is a. This is a really weird sentence, but I hope everybody's a customer of my fruit.

Right, Right.

That Reggie's talking about. Sorry, Larry, you know, almost choked there. But, like, that would be. That would kind of be my hope. And I think that. That it kind of goes back a little bit to, like, what Reggie was saying before is like, you're calling, like, I do have a job. I've had a number of different jobs. Right. But throughout the weaving of those jobs, I've always been Nathan, and.

And. And.

And I'm Nathan, a child of God. And so I'm hoping that my product isn't just the coaching that I do. I'm hoping that the product is the love that I pour into people. Whether. And I can pour into people from contractor, coach, pro. I can pour into people from working with roofers in recovery. I can pour into people from my church, from my family, every area of my life. I hope that. That I am producing a product that people are. Are a customer of.

So, Dominic, you shook your head no. Larry, you shook your head no.

Oh, no. Well, and I was going to get some clarity on that, because the reality is every person that I come in contact with has the potential to be my customer. This their choice, not mine.

All right, Maybe I need to restate it. So my question is more, do y' all have, you know, I mean, you do have qualifiers for your business. I know both of you. I know both of you do. And so, like, with Dominic and Larry, are there customers? Do you feel like every house you go into, every person you talk to, that they are supposed to buy a roof from you? And why not?

Larry, you want this one?

I want both of y' all to want it. This.

I. I encourage my guys all the time. If you got a homeowner that's trying to do deductibles, you know, and fire them, fire them. It's refreshing.

Larry.

Yeah, I agree completely. I mean, it's. You know, we try and live and die by a set of values. And if. Even if our customers don't seem like they're going to align with that, those set of values, they're not our customer. And there is a lot of freedom in walking away from that.

That's my point. My point is not everybody you talk to in our spiritual realm is going to react to us and really become, you know, in our. I mean, a part of our gathering, so to speak. Not everybody is going to hear us. Not everybody's going to listen to me. Not everybody is going. And I've got to start realizing what that Persona looks like, right? I mean, you guys know. Let me just said it. You know, they're asking for deductibles to be covered. They're not. We're firing them. So I think we can get more comfortable in our own skin and our uniqueness if we can realize. Again, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, but I think it's really important that we realize that our voice and our uniqueness is going to attach to some, not to others. And then my hope is those that I'm not attached to will be attached to Nathan or something. Nathan said, so I'm about to let's build voice together. But let's collectively decide we're gonna. Our uniqueness will make room for itself our gifting. My dad called me the other day and he said hey son, I want you to know something. 88 years old, he said this to me. He said I was reading in the book of Proverbs, the Bible says this, that your gifting will make room for yourself listen and put you in front of the right men.

Yeah.

Right. So that's what I want us to like at least consider kind of reducing and looking at how do we, I mean gauge our metron and how does, I mean does our portion maybe get a little bit smaller? But the impact I think is enormous with that group that, that are gathered.

Our voice and that's where you get a movement. You know when exactly when each one of us speak a different language, we speak to a different metron. And I'm going to that, that may end up in my, in my next set of core values. It'll be end up in my script. You're just not in my metron. But when we get together and when we talk about a movement, a shift in this industry, when you get those, that group of people to add that metron together, that's where the impact comes, man. And that's I, I don't have jealousy towards anyone that's out doing what we're trying to do. I want them to, to gain more. I want them to, to, to become huge. That there is no lack in there. And when, when we've got like minded people like that, it becomes a larger encompassment of, of folks that we can impact.

Exactly.

Well, that's good stuff right there. That was good stuff. I could talk about this all day long with you guys. I really could.

We've only gone an hour.

I mean I, I know, I know.

The last time I talked to Reggie we talked for like two and a half.

I will, yeah. I'm long winded, strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you.

Yeah.

Dominic, it's been a weird thing with you and I lately. That was my prayer before we started today that God would be with me, that I wouldn't, that I wouldn't do the normal Jim Johnson thing and put my foot in my mouth. So far I hope I haven't. It's hard to be bold and still have a door open. It just is. But what I'm hoping is that if my boldness closes the door for somebody. Yeah, Reggie's door is open or Dominic's door is open. And Larry and Nathan too, of course, and Eric Obert and Paul Reed and Kimberly Reed. To see what people are doing in this industry and the willingness to share it without fear. That's the cool part. Like there's no fear in this. I was a little nervous when we got started and I'm sitting here going, this is the greatest thing I've ever done. It was maybe my favorite podcast of all time. Reggie's other one competes with it a little bit. But man, this is awesome.

You know why? Because you sense the strength in co laboring. That's what you're sensing right now. It's like Bible says, this some plant, some water. The issue is God gets the increase. So just do your job, right? And I mean let's, and let's work with each other, not against each other, right? I mean, Dominic shared something with me last week that just blessed my heart. I mean, you never know the timing of God. You just don't know when the harvest is going to spring itself up. You don't know when there's an opening because of something you said that you had no idea what you were saying. And that's going to happen on this podcast. There's going to things that go out by our different voices and the spirit that's leading all of us, that's going to resonate with somebody. So I'm warning you, be prepared because what's happening next is going to happen because of what we've done today. And so listen, it ain't about anything other than us just co laboring together and finding the same str. The same pursuit. And watch what happens. Just watch. There'll be a. There's a gathering that's happening and we're not even going to see it. I'm seeing, I'm getting phone calls. Actually, I was headed to Dominic's last week, my phone rings and the guy hadn't. I heard from it 15 years. He. And they're having real huge problems. He's had a bunch of challenges and we were real good friends and he called me and he goes, hey man, I mean I've listened to 18 of your podcast. I'm like, my wife's not even listening to 18 of my. And he said it's just been meaningful to me out of nowhere. So you just don't Know what we've done today, where it's going and what God's going to do with it. But I'm happy about it.

It. I'm gonna, I'm gonna agree with that one, too.

The.

There's also something kind of freeing about it, too.

Yeah.

Right. It's like just, just being able to. Just being able to express it. And now people, like, you know, people hear, they go, oh, oh. Like, I, I know what to expect from Nathan. Yeah, I know what to expect from Larry. You know, I know. I know what to expect. And, and then when you give it, they, they're like, okay. Yep, that's, that's, that's who that person is. And I dig it because one of the things I've noticed. I've noticed as we kind of talk about a bit of this, this movement component, and it literally happened today, I was having a conversation with somebody and there is that drawing. All of a sudden, I'm noticing. I've noticed. And I've been doing this for four and almost four and a half years now with, with Contractor Coach Pro. And I'm noticing that these I'm start different kinds of conversations. In about the last year and a half, they are changing. I'm having conversations with people who are, who are starting it. I, you know, I'm obviously, I don't get on a call with a client, start preaching at them. Right. That's not, that's not what I do.

We don't say, hey, first requirement, you're a Christian. Right.

But. But what I'm noticing is I'm starting to have people in conversations, whether it's with clients or even outside of, like, in our, in our space. These conversations are coming to me and people are having. And I'm going, okay, this person literally opened the door for me to talk to them. And it may not be about Jesus. It could be about their life. It could be about some sort of situation. And I've noticed people are opening these doors and going, I know it's kind of awkward. We don't really know each other that well. But I mean, man, I'm really going through this thing.

They're. They're using the key you gave them. Just like Bob Goff's book, you left a key behind that said, hey, this door is open. Use it anytime you want.

It's cool. It's really, really cool. And, and it's not. I'm not. I mean, I'm sure there will be. There look, there's going to be some opposition to what we did here. Today, and that's okay. We're here for each other, right? And we're here for anybody else out there who might be afraid of that opposition, too. There are people on your side, and it's just, it's been very, very cool. And that attraction, like, like, like Reggie is saying, has just begun to sprout and just finding people and having conversations with people you just didn't know, and the people who, who need, they're like, okay, well, you know, it's like I had, I, I, I was a Boy Scout, and I had some friends of mine and, and they were on an airplane and they were in their scout uniforms because they were going to a Boy Scout event, and somebody on the middle of the airplane started having a health issue and, like, stood, like, passed out, fell out of their chair. Everybody's eyes went right to them.

Because.

They knew who they were.

Well, I'm going to say something else, and then I'm not, I'm gonna quit saying that. I'm gonna shut up because.

Yeah, we don't want you to shut up.

I think that one of the movements, I know we're trying to shut this off, but one of the movements that I think is happening is what I experienced with Dominic last week. I, I got invited and I felt almost awkward because I didn't feel like, I mean, I knew Dominic knew, but I mean, I was like this. He didn't, he didn't put this meeting together for me, but he was gracious enough to let me kind of come in and talk kind of like this. There's, where there's going to be movement. They're going to be business people that are starting to hear this voice inside of them that, that, I mean, we speak and it just resonates with them. I mean, there's going to create opening. And Sarah and, and Dominic last week really spoke life into me about this because it's like this life gap where people are just struggling. I mean, business looks good, great opportunities, we're polishing the apples, everybody's impressed. But yet deep down inside, you go in and you speak the word, and all of a sudden somebody goes, oh, my God, what just happened to me? Right? And so I think we're going to see opportunities inside of business that's going to create this word going forth, even in the workplace. I think that's what we're going to see. Do you agree with that, Dom?

100%.

Yeah. Get ready, boys.

You know, I, I, as we've been talking ever since I got the invitation for this, you know the. The concept of boldness. It's kept. Kept reminding me of that old Chinese proverb and as Reggie talked about it, he's used the word prepare and the Chinese proverb and I may mess it up, but it's better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. And I think that's what's been for a couple years now with us in contractor fellowship. And we've been conditioning each other, we've been preparing each other, we've been doing the work, so to speak. And that preparation is what, as Reggie said, it's going to be brought to us because we're prepared for it.

I'll jump in with a Polish proverb.

There's such a thing. I didn't know there was those.

It's either Polish or Russian. It's one of them. I would rather slap you with the truth than kiss you with a lie.

Wow. Yeah, That's a good one. Oh, man. Ah.