Jeremy Swafford (CFO at Southeast Restoration)

Today's episode will begin in three minutes. But first I want to tell you about something crazy I'm doing for my new book, five Mere Christians. I've never seen an author do this before, but I'm giving a money back.

Guarantee on this book.

I'm so confident you're gonna love this book that if I'm wrong, if you pre order the book, you don't love it, I'm gonna send you a $20Amazon gift card as a money back guarantee. Why?

Two reasons.

One, this is a different book for me, right. I know this is a very different biography. What is Jordan Rayner doing? And I know it's risky, so I'm going to de risk it for you. Because listen, in my other books, Redeeming youg Time, the Sacredness of Secular Work, Master of One, etc, etc, I am telling you and me how we can glorify God in our work, but in five Mere Christians, I'm doing something very different. I'm showing you what that looks like practically through these unforgettable life stories of five Mere Christians from history. These are the top men and women that I would love to have on this podcast today if, you know, they weren't dead, right? So that's the first reason this is a risk and I'm gonna de risk.

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Here's the second reason. I'm just confident you're gonna love this book. My friend Mark Batterson said, quote, five Mere Christians proves that biographies can be extremely entertaining, profoundly helpful, and mercifully short. If you're looking for a book that combines the punch of a great sermon with the pace of a great thriller, this is it. Highly recommended. End quote. But here's the thing. In order to qualify for this money back guarantee, you got to do two things. Step one, pre order five Mere Christians in any format, hardback, ebook, audiobook, whatever. And then step two, go to 5merechristians.com and fill out the form on that page and that's it. But you got to do it by midnight Eastern Time on May 9. By filling out that form, you'll also get all of the pre order bonuses listed on 5 mereChristians. Calm and be entered to win this crazy, epic trip for two to Europe. So visit 5merechristians.com right now to sign up. Now, please enjoy today's episode. Hey friend. Welcome to the Mere Christians podcast.

Hi, I'm Jordan Raynor. How does the Gospel influence the work of mere Christians?

Those of us who aren't pastors or.

Religious professionals, but who work as boat Builders title examiners and pharmacy aides. That's the question we explore every week. And today I'm posing it to my friend, Jeremy Swofford. He's the CFO of Southeast Restoration, a water and fire damage restoration business based in North Georgia. And simply, man, Jeremy's just one of the most Jesus like people I have ever met and had the honor of calling a brother in Christ. Jeremy and I finally sat down to record this episode and discuss how practically you and I can cultivate humility and a Jesus like others obsession in our work.

We talked about why multiple pastors have.

Quit ministry to work at Southeast and.

Say they're doing more ministry today because of it. And we also talked about the spiritual.

Benefits of sticking with a job for many, many years. Do not miss this episode with my good friend, Jeremy Swofford. Podcast recording day. And there's no better way to start than hanging out with my buddy, Jeremy Swofford. Welcome to the Mere Christians podcast, my friend.

Unbelievably excited to be on Jordan Raynor's podcast. This is really. I mean, it's a dream come true, brother. I'm grateful.

Dream do come true. Yeah, they do. In Santa Fe. That's a little newsies reference for all my musical theater friends. Hey, Jeremy Swofford, you've been listening to the show for a long time. You got any favorite episodes?

Listen, before we even dive in officially, I just have to say I am. I'm grateful for Jordan Rayner and the exceptional work you do for the glory of God and the good of others. I'm serious, man. I've been wanting to say this for the longest time, and I mean it so genuinely. You have impacted untold number of lives, countless thousands of lives. I'm genuinely grateful for the work that you're doing right now. It is seriously impactful. So. So, yes, longtime listener, first time caller. I have a ton of favorite episodes. One of my favorite was actually a bonusode right in between episodes 234 and 235. Gentleman named Jordan Raynor reading through the Sacredness of Secular Work. Come on with us.

Let's go.

I say that halfway in jest, but I love that you came on, did that, and promoted that book, which, by the way, our stewardship team is reading through right now. So thank you for tremendous content, which we'll come to in a minute. But I'm honored and humbled to be a guest on this podcast because as I reflected on this question, who and what podcasts have been impactful? Which ones were the great ones? You've had Timothy Keller and N.T. wright and Skajatathani and Janitor Josh and Gary Chapman and Bobo Beck and Michael Hyatt. And I mean, I've literally got a list. David Platt, Steven Mansfield, Andy Crouch, Carrie Newhoff. I was listening to New New Newhoff this morning on the way into the office. So, John Mark Comer, you do such phenomenal work on these things that I had a hard time narrowing this list down.

So, hey, when you got great guests, it makes it real easy. Real easy. But no, those are good. Those are good ones. Mansfield's a great.

Have you read his book of manly Men?

I haven't.

I've read his Guinness book.

You need to pick this one up.

But okay. The book of manly Men. I'll check it out.

All right.

So, Jeremy, people saw your title in the episode title, and they're like, what the heck is southeast restoration? What do you guys do?

What do we do? So our purpose statement, Restoring lives. Repairing property. Restoring lives. Emphasis there. Repairing property is the what we do. So what do we do? We're in the insurance restoration business. So when catastrophes happen to businesses, homes, damage from storm, trees, tornadoes, water, wind, flood, etcetera, we come in and do the restoration work. So water remediation, water extraction, fire cleaning, mold remediation, etc. Through the lens of restoring the life first. We're an unwelcome guest in folks home. They have had a tragedy happen unexpectedly. They did not plan to be out of their home on a Tuesday morning because they had a kitchen fire. That is the work of southeast restoration in a quick nutshell.

Yeah, it's good. And we're recording this right after this massive hurricane plowed through Florida and Georgia and Tennessee, North Carolina. So I have this. I have flooding in my home, by the way. I. I don't actually, by God's grace, we were spared. But, you know, you got a customer in north Georgia, they've got floodwater in their home. You guys are showing up when, like, right after this happens. And what. What does that process look like? And you're not just there on the front end, right? Like, you're. You're with that homeowner throughout that restoration process, right?

That's exactly right. So a water claim, you would have exposure water. So, yes, in the case of hurricane Helene, which is when we're. We're recording this in the aftermath of that disastrous storm, we're literally in catastrophe response mode. Our Augusta location got hit the hardest. Trees literally impaling a house. So the first work is just the immediate Disaster response. How do I get the tree off the roof? How do we get a tarp over it, how to get it boarded up? And then we begin the work of drying it out, setting fans and dehumidifiers and extracting water, ensuring no mold will set up. And then we do the reconstruction process. Drywall and floors and paint, etc.

The whole thing?

The whole thing.

Until it's all repaired.

Yes, sir.

I've told you this before. We're recording this in October 2024. One of the greatest blessings for me this year personally was being invited to keynote your company's 25th anniversary event.

I got.

I remember getting pretty choked up on stage just talking about the impact that I know your business is having on people's lives. It was a story that somebody had told me that morning that I was remembering on stage, and I just. I don't know, couldn't handle it. Is there a story for you that gets you emotional about how God is using Southeast restoration to restore people's lives?

I'll probably get choked up, too, if I tell. We have so many amazing people that are our team members at Southeast that are doing work way above and beyond framing and roofing and siding and flooring, et cetera. And the stories that we hear, and probably some that you heard at our restoring lives summit, it's our annual all hands meeting, are stories about guys and gals that are going above and beyond, way outside the scope of just putting that property back together and historically. So we've got an estimator, Chad Geist, who is just phenomenal at the work that he does. So he's early on scene, meeting with the adjuster, meeting with a homeowner, walking through fire damaged char. You know, you can imagine the devastation that happens when someone's had a fire loss at their house. And Chad guy shows up on scene and says, how can I serve you? And they are finding jewelry, wedding rings that were lost in devastation. And so he does things like this without being asked. We don't get paid for doing stuff like this. This is just the heart of service that our guys and gals have when they're going out and responding to this catastrophic situation in this customer's life. So, I mean, guys cutting grass, buying groceries, on and on and on the stories go of our amazing team members going above and beyond the call of duty to. To restore their life.

Yeah, they're not just there to do the work. They're using the work as an excuse to go above and beyond and loving their neighbors themselves.

100%.

I was really surprised when I was hanging out with your team. Before my speech, I met a few team members who had left their jobs as pastors or donor supported missionaries to do this work at the Southeast. I know that's not your story and I know you're already hinting at this, but can you be explicit about why you describe this for profit business as a ministry?

Everyone is in the people business. When you boil it down, everybody is in the people business. So we have been extremely blessed to hire and retain and have guys on our team that were former pastors who have told us I'm doing more ministry in the work of Southeast restoration than I was at a formal church. They are having the opportunity to literally be the hands and feet of Christ in their time of need. So when you think about someone who is dealing with water or fire or mold in their home, they're devastated and they need someone that will literally be there and a shoulder to cry on. Shout out to Mike Martin, business development representative that's on the front end of this process, attempting to get work from agents and adjusters and drum up business who will go into agent offices and pray for folks unrelated to restoration. How can I pray for you? How are your kids this week? Hey, I know your mom is going through cancer. Let me stop and pray. So we've got business development reps that are attempting to drum up business that are pausing and acknowledging the creator of the universe and saying we need to stop right now and put business aside. It's people first.

It's so good. It's so good. It reminds me of. Did you listen to the episode with Kevin Finch? Was that his name? Sorry, Kevin. I'm forgetting the name of this episode. Eugene Peterson's nephew who left the pastorate to go serve people in the hospitality industry. Did you hear this?

I have not heard this.

Oh my gosh, it's so good. It's one of my favorite episodes we've done in the last year. It's just this idea that oftentimes I do think we can do more ministry outside the local church. No, we need great local pastors. Don't get me wrong, I'm an elder in our local church. I love the local church, but. But man, there's a lot of opportunity to do ministry outside of those four walls. And you mentioned the audio excerpt of the Sacredness of Secular Work. I think in that excerpt, I think it's in the introduction to chapter one where I say that the good news of the gospel is not that I get to go to Heaven when I.

Die, but that I get to partner.

With God in cultivating heaven on earth until I die. And that includes partnering with God in the restoration and renewal of all things. And you're doing that literally in a physical way.

Right?

The work of restoring somebody's home. And that matters to God. But man, you're also doing it a spiritual way and restoring those lives. Amen.

Amen and Amen. And the sacredness of secular work is drawing the bright city lights to. Yes, the Great Commission is the Great Commission, but it's not the only commission, by the way.

As if every other command Jesus gave us was not a great commission.

Right, right.

Love your neighbor as yourself Wasn't a great commission, sir. The poor wasn't a great commission. Sorry.

Come on, come on. So I get fired up about that because obviously the work that we're doing is for profit. We're not in a church setting, but we have this opportunity to restore lives while we're repairing property. We're literally leaning upon the ultimate restorer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yes. It's so good. One thing that's really interesting about your story to me is you've been in this business a long time. Is this your only job?

Have you always been employed by Southeast?

No, I have not only been employed by Southeast and massive shout out to my beautiful bride who put up with me for first five years of our marriage with me floundering in the world of career. And I've. I've done a lot of stuff, but I've been with Southeast for 16 years, which is by far the vast majority of my career. I'm 43 years old, so that's rare.

Right? Like, I don't know a ton of people who have been at one company for 16 years. I'm really curious, like, can you point out any spiritual benefits that you've seen with sticking with one company for such a long time? Obviously, there's professional benefits, but I'm curious if there's anything going on spiritually there.

100%. You mentioned Eugene Peterson. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, which I think he ripped off from Nietzsche, maybe. That book's phenomenal. The title says it all. Long Obedience in the Same Direction. I'm on a journey of being a disciple of Christ, and it's a journey. I'm not even close to perfect or even approaching that, and I never will until I see Jesus face to face. But there's something about a longevity in. Fill in the blank in marriage. Oh, man, my heart breaks for the condition of Marriages in our world today. And I'm committed and devoted to my bride because of this calling on my life. I'm getting my words jumbled here. But a long obedience in the same direction in the. In the form of a career has tremendous benefits from staying power perspective. So our owner and founder, Ben Looper. Shout out to Ben. When I started in this organization in 2008, I was a business banker for Southeast restoration work for Regions Bank.

Yeah, you told me this.

Yeah, Regional organization. He plucked me from obscurity. I was. I was doing a decent job in 06 and 07 and 08, and everybody remembers what was going on with the economy back then. I didn't have a clue. Praise be to Lord God Almighty. I didn't have a clue what was going on. So Ben, I got introduced to by my mentor at Regions, who we still bank with, by the way, Lewis Klein. Great guy. He said, hey, I want to introduce you to this guy Ben Looper, so I can start turning over some of my clients so I can go take on this different role. I said, fantastic. I know the name Ben Looper. I've been praying for him. Our Sunday school class, we went to the same church. I've never met the guy, but we went to the same church. Our Sunday school class had been praying for Ben Looper in 2007, who had a pretty significant shoulder situation, had bone cancer, had his part of his arm removed, cadaver bone put in. So the very first time I met him, using a sling. Great to meet you. I've been praying for this gentleman named Ben Looper and what you're doing. So fast forward a little bit. We court for months, and in 2008, I joined Southeast as team member number 22. We have about 250 team members now, and Ben and our business partners, Trent Anderson, Kyle Sears, have set this foundation in our organization to do our work as working as unto the Lord. So I love following great leaders who are committed to following the great leader. It's a powerful indication for me. You asked this question about 16 years being in this business, and I just. I haven't looked back. I haven't. I love what I do. I love doing what I do. I love getting to bring in new talent. So Danny Johnston, my main man on the stewardship team, 15 years my junior, I get jazzed up about this new talent coming in, doing the work of restoring lives and repairing property, even from the accounting team. We call it our stewardship team. But even counting beans, you can do that.

I love it. I talk about this in master of one, just the keys to mastery, I think the rarest one is just discipline over time or long obedience in the same direction. And so yeah, I think, I think staying with a craft, staying with an employer for 16 years, it's just working out those longevity muscles which, oh, by the way, have benefits within the job, but also have benefits in your marriage, also have benefits in your apprenticeship to Jesus Christ. The list goes on and on. Amen. Is that what you're saying? Is that what you've experienced?

100%.

Hey, you already alluded to this in Colossians 3:23. This is actually a core value of Southeast restoration. Very familiar passage to our listeners. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. And listen, like Christians and non Christians can get on board with this idea of working with all your heart, right? But it's that as working for the Lord peace, where Christians and non Christians can often diverge. What do you think is distinct about how you work with all of your heart, Jeremy, because you are working for the Lord and not for human masters.

This is such a great question. And I, I, I can, I just want to reiterate my gratitude for Jordan Rayner. And I mean this, I mean this because you do work with excellence. You do work with excellence intentionally because you're a representative of Jesus Christ. I mean, when you show up to the world and when people see and hear the name Jordan Rayner, they think excellence. They do. I've had co workers tell me this. And so when we think about whatever you do, I mean whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord. I think about this day when we'll meet Jesus face to face and we'll work. We're going to be held to account. How did you do your work? Did you do your work with excellence? So you can do work for human masters decently and adequately and okay, and you can get by, but that's not what we're called as believers to do. There are thousands of construction companies in the world. There are thousands of restorers. We're not the only ones who can put sticks and bricks back together. It's how we do the work at the core, which I hope sheds a light on this dark and fallen world. That's my hope, by us doing our best to display this core value of Colossians 3:20.

Good. And when I look as an outsider in the Southeast restoration, and again, spending limited time with your team, but yeah, spend some time in person with Your team a couple of times. There's the obvious technical excellence, right? That is true of Southeast Restoration and probably a thousand other similar businesses. But I think what's distinct in Christ, like, is the personal excellence, the excellence in loving people. I think about First Corinthians 12 and 13 where Paul says, I'll show you the most excellent way. And then he gets to the famous love chapter that we read at all of our weddings, but is really in the context of vocational excellence. He says, it's all about love.

It's all about love.

And to, to me, like, that's the shade of nuance that's important here. You guys are not just technically excellent, you're excellent in demonstrating love. And thus your customers can see Christ in you because of that love. Does that make sense?

I hope so and I thank you for those comments very much. I'm grateful and 100% the love focus. If we as believers loved our communities and our neighbors, think about what a light we would be shining in this world.

Okay, but let me push back on this within the context of a for profit business, because I hear somebody saying, jeremy, that's nice, it's great, but man, we got to grow. We've got to build this business. And I don't have time to be running out and buying groceries for customers. Like, I got to get it, I got to go on to the next job. What would you say to that?

This is a good one. Especially in the wake of, of Helene. I mean, this is.

Yeah, I mean, you guys are swamps right now.

Swamped. We're completely covered up in catastrophe response mode. So. Yeah. Do we have time, quote unquote, to do this? No, by traditional worldly standards. But when you work for a different master and when you think about Jesus on the way to heal this young lady and someone touches his cloak and he pauses. He's on the way to do a very important work and he pauses and recognizes the need to heal this woman. I mean, he was busy. He didn't have time for that. How much more we should pause and recognize opportunities to love on people? It is all about people. We can't in the for profit world get so busy about top line growth, about bottom line profitability, that we neglect the very souls in which we're called to restore? I mean, we can't personally restore, of course, but the work that we're doing to draw people to Christ and show folks the light of the world.

Yeah, it's good. All right, I'm going to ask you a hard question. It's Going to be tough for you to answer just because you've been within this business for 16 years, working for leaders who share your values and share your faith. Talk to the listener who doesn't have that privilege. Right. Who is a mere Christian. Maybe they're working as a technician, doing a very similar job as your team, but in a different business that's not led by followers of Jesus. They feel that call to love their neighbor as themselves, to go beyond technical excellence, but they don't feel the freedom to do so. They feel the pressure to simply create more wealth and profit for the business. What would you say to that person? How can they faithfully serve their boss? Biblical command that Paul talks about all the time, and yet primarily, and above all things, serve the true master Jesus Christ in that work.

So this is somewhat cliche, but I'm going to say it anyways. You can pray for whoever is standing in front of you, regardless of where you are.

So good.

And it takes virtually no time.

There you go.

So when I'm engaging with a customer that I don't have time to do what I would like to do. Lord God Almighty, do what only you can do in the life of this individual. That I can't. I can't possibly do. I don't know what their needs are physically, emotionally, spiritually. But God, you do. I can pray for that customer and that client and whoever it is that we're dealing with and spend no time and spend no money and still honor my boss. So, yes, it's a both and at minimal, we should be doing that.

That's a great answer, though, because it's also a reminder that I am not the Christ and that God doesn't need me specifically to serve that person's needs. And in prayer, I can recognize that there is a need. Pray for God to intercede and meet that need either through me or for somebody else, knowing that the Lord's purposes will always, always, always prevail.

Amen. Amen.

That's a great answer. That's not. That is cliche. But I think. I think it's a terrific answer. I love that you guys typically articulate this core value of Colossians 3. 23 cryptically. SC 23. And you told me once that this was intentional. You said, quote, we want people to ask about it, end quote. Which I freaking love. So here's my question, like, other than working heartily as unto the Lord, what else about how southeast does business do you hope will raise questions to which Jesus is the only answer? And we've Already talked about a lot of these things outside of the business with customers, and feel free to answer it that way. But maybe even look inwardly, like, I'm.

Sure you've got team members who are not believers.

Or. And so, like, what about how this business operates? Makes no sense apart from Jesus Christ.

Oh, this is good. This is good. And that. And that's the lens through which I was going to respond to this question because. Well, so let me back up and give you some context. So these organizations that do this, right, have a core purpose and a vision statement and core values. And those that do it well, talk about those things frequently. I think we do this well, not to toot our own horn, but I think part of what we do in the rhythm of business when we have weekly meetings with our team is talk about our core values. So we've got five of them. Serve with compassion. Leave it better than you found it. Make it fun. Everything clean, always. And see 3:23. And we say in these meetings, let's talk about these core values through the lens of a story. Tell me a story of where you have seen this core value lived out. So we have this opportunity in front of our team members, some of which started yesterday, to communicate our core values through the lens of storytelling and restoring lives and repairing property on job sites that they were just on yesterday. So someone will say, I've got a C323 core value. Shout out for Bob. And they tell this story. And someone afterwards says, I'm brand new. Forgive me. What is C323? Oh, hallelujah. What an opportunity to stop and talk about doing our work is under the Lord. I love this. That's one small example internally. But C323, when we originally printed these, these initial set of core values, we wanted to do so, like you said, cryptically. So we print this on a T shirt. We're out in the community, and someone sees the back of a shirt that says C323. What does that mean? Well, I'd love to tell you about it. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about the Lord God Almighty and how we do what we do. I give all the credit to Ben Looper for this cryptic way of living out his faith, which forces someone to ask the question, what does this mean?

Yeah, it's good. I'm assuming again, a lot of your members, a lot of the team members are not believers. How do you guys communicate those beliefs while making team members who don't share those beliefs feel as if their beliefs Are respected within the organization.

That's good. And, you know, we. You and I have a. Have a mutual love of Chick fil a And how they do what they do. And I think it was Dan who said early on, no, you don't have to be a Christian to come work at Chick fil A. And the same is true of southeast. No, you don't have to be a Christian to come and work at Southeast. But you're going to see the love of Christ on full display in this organization. In the way we do our work. So, yes, I value and love and appreciate you as a human being. Because Jesus died for you, sinner. Oh, by the way of chief, of which I am Jeremy Swofford, the sinner. The same Jesus that died for me died for you. And we have that opportunity to have this conversation and. Yeah, no, I mean, we don't have everybody that comes to a saving faith in Jesus by working at Southeast. Of course not.

And by God's common grace. They're still doing the work of the Lord alongside you.

Yes.

He's still using them to accomplish his purposes in the world.

I hope so. And I just. I hope someone sees something different about a team member. And stops and asks the question, something is different about you. And then that just opens the door to having a conversation.

Core values is a pretty common, I think, effective way to do this. You say, okay, hey, here are five core values. We get to these values because of our Christian faith. You don't have to.

Right.

You can get there however you want. But this is what we're asking everybody to sign up for.

Right.

And by leading the organization in this way, it's almost pre discipleship. Almost. Maybe we could just call it discipleship. Like, hey, we are going to disciple you in these five things. And cultivate these five things in you.

And I think what you're going to.

Find is at the end of this road, it all leads back to Jesus.

Come on.

Does that make sense?

I hope so. I hope so. It does to me.

Yeah. Yeah. We spent time together in person a couple times now. And both times, I remember we were hanging out in Tampa. I came away thinking, jeremy Swofford is one of the most Jesus like people I've ever met. In one of the best. Specifically, one of the best living case studies of Philippians two I've ever met. I mean, you were at this redeeming your time retreat we had. And the whole time, you're trying to serve me. You're trying to serve my team. You're trying to serve Other members of this retreat, and I was just blown away. Like you, more than most people I know, sincerely, as Paul says in Philippians, in humility, value others above yourself. And so I would love to know, man, this is a very selfish question. Like, I'm always trying to cultivate this in my own life, and I'm sure our listeners are, too. What do you think God has used to cultivate that spirit? Have there been man, mentors, disciplines, books, whatever that you can point to? Like, yeah, God used that to mold my heart in this specific way.

Yes, and yes and yes. God is using and still using all of these things. I'm completely humbled and honored that you would say these very kind things about me. And I just, in full transparency, I am a sinner in need of a savior, and I am a selfish dude. Amen. Vice versa. So I talked about my bride earlier. I have an unbelievably amazing bride who. Who keeps me honest and humble and is willing to call out my flaws and my failures. So, yes. I mean, have I had mentors along the way? Yes. You've met my pastor, Quentin Self, who we came down to Tampa with. And I've surrounded myself with guys and gals in my life who I have asked to call out my sins and my failures and my flaws. So this thing about humility. Years ago, I recognized just a glaring weakness in my life that I'm not a good listener. I just don't do this inherently well, because, I mean, my mind's running a million miles a minute, and I'm thinking about the next thing at work and blah, blah, blah. Well, my bride keeps me in check on this. When I get home and I'm at the dinner table and my phone's in my pocket and it's buzzing and it shouldn't be, and she'll call me out on that. You are here present with your three little girls. Let's check this. So, yes, I'm an avid reader. I started reading years ago. Hated reading through school. And I've had a lot of authors and mentors and Jordan Rayner who has spoken into my life. I mean that so genuinely.

I love where your mind went most immediately on that question. It's like, it's just giving people permission to call you out in your selfishness. Right. Like you see a weakness. Right? Like I'm selfish. I don't listen. Well, whatever it is, step one, you got to confess that sin and that flaw to others. And two, you got to give them permission to call it out on you if you want to work on that, right? I mean, God's working through his people to help sanctify us and conform us into the image of Christ. But if we're not honest and vulnerable about our sin, about our weaknesses.

Oof. Pride. Pride cometh before the fall. So please, please, God, help me recognize areas in my life where I'm prideful and introduce people that will speak into that.

I've heard you articulate this humility before as, quote, showing up in a compassionate manner, end quote. What does that look like within your team? Like, how would your team say that you are showing up in a compassionate manner and valuing them above yourself? What are some practical examples of that?

So this again, back to the core value, serve with compassion. We think about this concept of compassion when we are dealing with property restoration. People in the worst times of their life showing up with a tree sitting on their roof. How do I show up in a compassionate manner? And not I personally, because our team does this so remarkably well that they're aware and asking questions of how they can serve this customer in a compassionate manner.

Turn it to you. You're not showing up and taking trees off people's houses. You're bean counter, really experienced one, right? You're CFO of this company. What does it look like with Danny? I've met Danny on your team. How do you show up in a compassionate manner to Danny?

So again, it is all about people. So I hope, I hope that when I show up with Danny in our one on ones, that my concern for Kyla, his bride, and Sutton, his newborn baby daughter in April goes way beyond the four walls of Southeast. Not just, hey, how are you doing? And are you getting your KPIs, etc. So when I'm doing this right, and again, I'm a flawed sinner, I don't do this right often, but if I show up in a compassionate manner, it forces me to slow down and ask good questions about Danny. J. How. How is your heart, Danny?

It's caring about that person beyond their productivity. It's valuing them beyond the value they create for you.

We went around the table. So we had this post cat meeting for our group, which is removed from the catastrophe event. We're not on storm duty. We're in the comfort of an office. There's 10 of us sitting around a conference room table Monday at lunchtime and we just paused and went around and, hey, how are y' all doing? Do you have team members or do you have family members that were in Augusta? We've got family members In Valdosta, Lauren Riley. My EA is amazing. We gotta pause in a compassionate manner and love on one another beyond counting beans.

And this is in the middle of the crime Monday you're talking about yesterday. This is like.

I mean, this crisis mode, crisis mode. We. We've got to pause for a minute and check on people's heart posture.

That's good. That's good. As I was thinking about you and this quality humility that I admire so much, I was thinking, you know, I bet one of the things God has used to help you in humility, value others above yourself. It's just the sheer amount of time you've spent with vulnerable people. I mean, you spent 16 years serving people in some pretty vulnerable positions. Their house is in crumbles.

Do you think God has used that to cultivate humility in your heart?

A thousand percent. So yesterday, Monday, I roll up to the office and the business office complex right next to ours. Doors open, shop vacs running. They got water pouring out of their front door. So I didn't have time to pause and deal with their quote unquote situation because I'm dealing with a catastrophe response situation and getting my team equipped and ready and. And ready to serve. So I feel like God places these people, these customers in my life to force me to slow down because otherwise I'd breeze right past an opportunity to serve. And that's just. That's my sinful nature. So I think the work that we're in, the work I get to do and the. And the blessing of serving people at their time of need, is forcing me to slow down something I'm not good at.

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah. And listen, this call to humility is the call for every person who's serious about following Jesus. You're blessed to be in a position where that's the job. Like, you spent 16 years caring for vulnerable people. But for those of us who don't, in our work, I think we gotta be really intentional about going out of our way and planning opportunities to spend time with the vulnerable within the work or outside of it. Like, I'll just speak for myself again. I'm. I'm the most selfish person I know. And one thing that the Lord is using to slowly chip away at my selfishness is serving with my kids in the food pantry and really learning the stories of some of the most vulnerable people in our local community. And, man, it's hard for me to be selfish and arrogant when I'm coming away from that experience. And so Man, I would just charge our listeners, if you're not spending time with the vulnerable at work, spend time with the vulnerable and the marginalized outside of work to cultivate that heart of humility. I wasn't planning on asking you this and if you're uncomfortable with me asking it, like, just let me know, we'll cut it out. Can you tell our listeners about this service trip you took with your bride and your three daughters to serve the vulnerable outside of work? Because this is a great example of what I'm charging our listeners to do.

There is a phenomenal ministry, Lighthouse Ministries, that seeks to put together families that have kids that are going through or have gone through childhood cancer and pair them up with a family that is their 100% sole focus to love and support and serve them. Last April, my family of five went down to the beach and got paired up with a family with an 11 year old. And I get choked up telling the story to be the hands and feet of Christ. So think about the vulnerability of, of a family who's been in and out of hospital. Sweet little 11 year old girl. My daughter was 12 at the time, so you know, it gets really close to home. So praise the Lord for ministries like Lighthouse. That allows my family the opportunity to serve alongside another family. They just need rest, they just need an unplug. They need somebody to do their laundry and somebody to serve them food and we get to do that. So my sweet little girls, Caroline Catherine and Callie Ann just got to love on these children. And so they have kids of every age, I mean from infants and newborns all the way up to 16, 18 year olds and everything in between. So it's designed so well. There's one on one time with the parents and they get to go and just unplug and get professionally counseled with what they're dealing with. And there's some time with these sweet kids where they're just loving on these. Some of them hadn't been outside for months and just playing at the beach and throwing the frisbee and singing songs of worship. So thank you. Jordan Rayner. Oh my God.

You Jordan Rayner. Hey, here's why I bring this up. You are one of the sheep Jesus was talking about. Matthew 20:5. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was sick and you looked after me, end quote. And man, I just believe that God has used your care of the sick and the vulnerable inside and outside of your work to stir up this deep compassion and others obsession within the work that I've seen and I know that your team members have seen in you. So again, just putting some weight on the bar for our listeners, man. We want to, we want to model the gentle and lowly spirit of Christ. I think it's really hard to do if we're not spending time with the vulnerable that Jesus is describing in Matthew 25. So thank you for sharing that really practical way for us to do that, even with our families, which is so cool, man.

I'll tell you one more story, my sweet little girls, because I love these precious little things. My girls are 16, 14 and 12. We sing in a choir at Mount Zion Baptist Church. So choirs are nearly a thing of the past, right? My little girls, 16, 14 and 12 love going to choir because they love interacting with the old people. So we have this sweet group of elderly folks. And you know how it is with choirs. They're just their aging population and my girls get charged up about going Sunday afternoon at 4:30. Warms my heart, man. Warms my heart.

Your girls are so sweet. They're the most professional teenage girls I've ever met in my entire life.

They were so pumped up this morning, my eldest, on the way out, the first thing she said to me, are you excited? Tell Jordan I said hello today. So hello from the Swoffer girls.

Your girls, they helped me find some chick fil a when I was with them at that event. They're. They're legend, Legendary. All right, Jeremy, four questions we use to land this plane on every episode. Number one, what job would you love for God to give you on the new Earth?

I don't know. I don't know is the very short answer. And I've had some time to think about it. So not a good response to this. Actually, I was running this weekend thinking about this. And so on my jogging, you know, you know how it is on the jog. You get started on podcasts and you thought, you know what, I need to pause this podcast and think for a minute. And so I was reflecting on this and it wasn't this exact question. But you've posed this in another book of yours. What do you see yourself doing 5 million years from now? Or something along those lines, get choked up again, man. I can't get past seeing the face of Jesus for the first time. When I think about this sinner in need of a savior. I can't get Past wanting to spend time with Jesus. So I don't know.

I don't know what I'm going to.

Do in a year and 5 million years, but I know I'm going to be doing it with Jesus Christ.

That's so good. Somebody asked me this question the other day. I got a lot of answers to this, but one of them is, I want to be personal photographer to King Jesus, dignitaries, right? The President of the United States has a personal photographer that is a fly on the wall in every single room. The president walks in, and I'm like, man, can you imagine being able to create photographic documentation of the first time Jesus meets all of this, his people? Oh, my gosh.

Like, this is a good response to this question.

That's.

That's much better.

That's your response. I just don't have the talent for it. I don't know. God's gonna have to supernaturally give me the talent to do it. All right, Jeremy, if we opened up your Amazon order history, which books would we see you buying over and over and over again to give to your friends, team members, et cetera, et cetera?

I just. I gotta speak the truth on this podcast. It's a book with a yellow cover.

Come on now.

Three words redeeming your time. So I went back and looked. So I want to be able to tell you truthfully. We've ordered 142 copies of Redeeming your time, so it wasn't even close what the next second was on. So I'm serious. I mean, for those that are new to the podcast and have not picked up and read the book redeeming your time, you got to pick it up. It's phenomenal.

It's funny. There'll be people in my community. It's like the mirror Christians community that will be like, oh, yeah, I haven't read redeem your time yet. And, like, the rest of the community freaks out. Like, why? Like, what are you doing? Why are you here? I'm like, guys, there's other books. Geez, chill out.

So that's number one. And then anything else written by Jordan Rayner is number two. Three, four, five, six, and seven, I think is what you are now.

Who do you want to hear in this podcast?

So this will be a fun curveball for you. Have you ever had a group podcast? We've had more than one guest.

We've done a couple of duos, which, by the way, is, like, tough for the interviewer.

I bet it is.

But, yeah.

Who do you want to hear?

Have you Heard of the Collingsworth family. They are a Southern gospel group, which I recognize as a. As a dying art form. But you want to talk about somebody who does their work exceptionally well, it's the Collingsworth family. The piano player. Mom. Piano player, who I think is the best piano player in the world.

I mean, it's from a strong man.

Oh, man. This is what I love about college with family, when they travel. So most Southern gospel groups, they have a bus, you know, and they bring their equipment, etc. They travel now with three buses because they don't bring just the family of six that performs. They bring their entire family, kids and grandkids. So when they hit the road there, it's a. It's a unit. Their whole family travels together.

I love it.

So that's so good. That would be great. Second to that, are you familiar with Boyd Bailey? You know him? Oh, you got to get Boyd Bailey on here. Most notable book for me, that was the most impactful. Learning to Lead like Jesus.

What? How have I not heard this?

Oh, man, you got to meet Boyd Bailey.

Okay, Boyd Bailey.

And Then one more.

4.9 stars on a book. That's, like, unheard of.

Oh, is it really?

Yeah, I'm looking right now.

Oh, man. Yeah. Check out Boy Bailey. And lastly, Ziggler. Are you familiar with Zig Ziglar? You know, the work of the late, great Zig Ziglar, so you need to have his son, Tom Ziglar, on this podcast. I'd like to hear Tom, second generation, leading in the footsteps of the late, great Zig Ziglar, who's just a legendary icon in my world.

He is a legend. All right, Jeremy, you're talking to this global audience of mere Christians doing a lot of different things vocationally. Some of them are probably repairing homes as they listen to this. Some of them are counting numbers. Some of them are making lattes. All of them share a desire to glorify God. And all they do, especially their work. What's one thing you want to leave them with before we sign off?

I just have to go back to scripture, and I have to reemphasize. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. Literally, whatever you do. So this is what I love about this podcast so much in this mere Christian community. And you've got bean counters and baristas and babysitters and bakers and. I don't know. That's as many bees as I can get you.

Gosh, you are Southern Baptist. My word.

It's whatever you do so whatever you're doing, you can work at it with all your heart. Is working for the Lord and not men. So that that's what I would. I want to reemphasize that brother.

I want to commend you for the exceptional work you do for the glory of God and the good of others. I hear it from your team. I've seen it myself. Thank you for your commitment to embodying this others obsession of Jesus and for working heartily as under the Lord and everything that you do. Guys, if you want to learn more about the work of Jeremy and his team, you can do so@westeastrestoration.com where's the best place for people to find you Personally, Jeremy? Is that LinkedIn?

You know it is LinkedIn and I'm just, I'm not on any other social media platform. God bless you on purpose so I don't have a big presence online.

God bless you.

Thank you brother. I am so grateful for the work you're doing. I mean it genuinely. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Hey, who do you want to nominate.

To be a guest on the Mere Christians podcast?

Let us know@jordanbrainer.com contact especially if you know a Jesus follower in a really obscure job. Like I don't know, maybe. Maybe you've got a buddy who is an ice cream truck driver or like.

I said in the intro of today's.

Episode, maybe you have a friend who works as a boat builder or a pharmacy aide. Whatever it is, let us know what we want. Are serious followers of Jesus who are trying to follow him as best as they know how in their jobs.

Let us know who we should be.

Talking to@jordanra.com contact thank you guys so much for listening. I'll see you next week.

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