How do you cultivate a workplace where people experience love and flourish?
In this Kingdom Leadership Workshop keynote, Jeanna Roach, CEO of Betenbough Companies, explores how Kingdom culture takes shape through shared values, intentional leadership, accountability, and everyday care.
Using the picture of a garden, Jeanna explains why workplace culture requires cultivation. She introduces shalom as wholeness and flourishing, inviting leaders to consider how their businesses affect employees, families, customers, trade partners, and communities.
Through practical examples and her family’s story of faith, Jeanna illustrates how consistent expressions of love can transform lives. She also explains why people can belong before they believe while sharing a commitment to the organization’s core values.
In this keynote, you’ll explore:
- How to define, protect, and celebrate core values
- Why leaders are responsible for cultivating workplace culture
- How accountability and belonging work together
- Why celebrating what is going right reinforces culture
- How care at work can extend into families and communities
For business owners, executives, and people leaders seeking to cultivate a Kingdom culture where shared values become lived experiences.
Chapter 1: Introducing Kingdom culture
Man, I love that film. Uh that was a special one. I got to be on uh actually that film and interviewing um that
group. And I think I’ve thought about that so much this week that life truly is a vapor. There’s an urgency to this message right now. I don’t know if y’all feel it, but I feel it so much that
there’s an urgency uh to the good news of the gospel for people. And so uh man, it’s day three. I’m so glad you’re here.
You’re awake. I think uh I heard some you know chatter this morning and so um I’m just excited to continue the
conversation and kind of help like land the plane um today with talking about kingdom culture. So we started first
right with spiritual calling just kind of pulling out and looking at purpose you know why why do we exist and have we fully surrendered really our work to the
Lord then Cal killed it yesterday when he brought the kingdom leader talk and was like how what does it look like to lead ourselves in the kingdom and then
Brad talked to us about the relationship right and relational style of leadership those people so culture though is going to spread to every corner of your
organization and so that’s what we’re going to look at this morning and when I think about culture. I there is a culture um that I just know a lot about
and so this is a group that I think about all the time.
I can’t eat your food today because I need to lose weight for the wedding.
That’s no good. You lose weight after you look a witch. Like a witch. Yes. That’s no good. Okay.
Like that is beautiful. You’re really a beautiful girl. But I won’t.
Yes. You’re beautiful for me. You’re beautiful. Not now.
I can’t eat your food today because I need to lose weight for the wedding.
This is a perfect example of an Italian grandmother, Anona. So, my mom is full-blooded Italian, a banano brother
married a de Mercurio sister. And so, every aunt that I have, my grandmother, my mom sounds just like that. Number
one, they’re in the kitchen. I think if you know anything about Italian families, they love food and family.
That is known actually about their culture. Also, they don’t want you to be skinny. So, this is my mom’s fault, guys. I’ve tried, but they don’t want
you to be skinny. My mom, I will never forget the first time my husband came and met my mom. My mom would absolutely
be offended if you do not get a second plate of food. That is like the most disrespectful thing you could do in my
home is to not get a second plate. And my husband learned that um the really hard way. And Italian moms are opinionated. That showed that really
well. Um, you know, there you don’t have to ever wonder what my mom is thinking.
Not about what you’re wearing, not about your hair, not my mom, her famous line would be like, “Is that how you’re going to go out?” Maybe some of y’all have
said that before, too. It’s like that is that what you’re wearing? Um, are you going to put lipstick on? You know, Italians, there’s a reason there’s
Italian leather. Nobody I mean, it literally puts its name in front of it. It’s like because it elevates it, right?
Italians care about what they look like actually. And I have seen this in every family member. It does not matter in
that group. And so it was like, how can they be all be so similar? Like nothing I just said to you was actually a surprise. Although you weren’t part of
my family. And it’s because if you know anything about Italian cultures, if you ever watched Jersey Shore, I’m going to tell you unfortunately a lot of those
things are true. Jim Tan Laundry, that’s for the ‘9s group. But um how can that It’s because their culture is really
strong like that. And that culture when you’re in it, it’s really fascinating because we lived in Texas. All of my mom’s family is in California. But when
you go there, you want to be a part of it, like you feel a part of something.
You feel like you belong to something like something important too actually. And so you want to adopt those things.
So, it’s like when you’re around a campfire, I keep thinking about it’s like a campfire gets started and it’s like that early generation is right there, but it’s like this thing gets
fanned out for generation to generation to generation. And that can apply to our cultures too in the kingdom actually.
And so, let’s first start just, you know, what is a culture? I want us to start here so we have like the same base understanding because every organization
has one. You don’t have to go searching for one. You actually have one already.
But this is like a collection of your beliefs, uh your values, your behaviors, sometimes you know your systems, things that happen within a group of people.
Chapter 2: The values shaping your workplace
And if a significant amount of our time is spent at work, I said over 80,000 hours at work of your life, then we
should not be surprised that that’s going to have a profound impact on the person that you are becoming. And we should take that seriously if we’re
going to lead in the kingdom because we can have a profound impact on people’s lives. But if we look at lots of companies uh and I worked at different
companies, I told you I was a worker. So I’ve worked at lots of places before I started here. And when I think about like the culture of the world, think of
things that get honored which are power, right? Control, prestige, status, um success, comfort, leisure, right?
Business. At my last job, the more hours you worked, like the more praised you were. That was important actually in our
culture. And so, you wanted to work 15 hours. I mean, I didn’t have any sort of personal life when I lived in Dallas because I drove an hour and a half,
worked 14-hour days, and then drove home. I mean, your day is gone if you want to get any sort of sleep. That reminds me so much when I was in Greece
last year of just the Roman Empire. When you look at that empire, I mean that was a really unhealthy culture that happened. So this is not new to anybody.
You know, the apostles were dealing with this kind of tension, clashes of the different cultures, but the kingdom, it
offers a different set of values. It says things like, you know, the kingdom is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.
Y’all, if any of y’all know the song, my kids know the song, you know, but things like gentleness and self-control. Does that describe anything that you see on social media?
Do we look like a world that really is um encouraging or exaggerating self-control or gentleness, you know?
So, these are things that are going to be very different. Or it says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, right? Blessed are those who mourn.” I mean, these are
like ideas of the kingdom. These are the values of the kingdom. So, you can see where that tension lies. But a culture
Chapter 3: Culture is a garden: cultivate what you want to grow
can be like a garden. And anytime I think of a garden, y’all, I can’t not think of the one that’s just really right behind me and up those stairs. But
your culture, it is like a garden. This is a flourishing one. You know, everything in this picture is thriving.
But everything also like it’s playing its part. It has a role. Every single boulder, plant, tree, water fixture that
is in that place has a role. And a that it is playing to establish uh this garden. And what I’ve always thought was
so interesting is that here’s everything that’s around it. It sits in complete contrast to everything around it. That’s what a
kingdom culture feels like. It’s actually why it’s refreshing to people because it’s so different than
everything around it. And in a garden, you don’t have to do anything for weeds to grow, right? That’s just going to
happen on its own. But if you want fruit, if you want something to look like this garden photo, then you’re
going to have to cultivate things, you know. But the most beautiful part is you can do it because even the grayest,
brownest, dustiest, ugliest, messiest places can look like that, y’all.
Because it looked just like everything around it. You know, that land isn’t like all of a sudden special. It’s just we went to work. We went and made that
look different. And you can do any you can make things fruitful with the right attention and care. And you know, the world advises people right now to
prioritize yourself just above every decision. But the kingdom is aiming to for you to take the humble place. We’ve
talked about humility a little bit this week, but we haven’t like sat on it. But if you haven’t caught a theme, this is
going to require new measures and levels of humility to lead like this.
This requires you to take the lowest place if you want to lead in the kingdom.
And so this isn’t about pri prioritizing yourself. It’s doing what’s best for the people. This is the balance. Doing what’s best for the people collectively, but not forgetting the individual, too.
But that’s what the kingdom is seeking to do. And for us, that is what we call a shalom, like a flourishing. You know, to us, shalom isn’t simply just peace.
Chapter 4: Shalom: wholeness and flourishing
And so, we’re not out for success. We’re out for flourishing. That’s what we desire here. That’s what the kingdom is
about. And you know, that word shalom, it isn’t simply just peace. That’s not exactly what it means. It’s more about
wholeness. You know, I always think it’s about right relationship. Sorry y’all. This is not moving forward.
the clicker.
There we go. This is about now it’s working. Thank you, Eli.
But this is this is more about wholeness, like completeness. Everything being in right relationship with God, with God’s people, with God’s creation.
And y’all, that is so exciting.
Actually, that makes me feel really good. I think oftentimes what we think about is peace. with peace is like this absence of conflict. But no, this is the
presence of something. This is this is a work. This is a cultivating. This is the flourishing that we’re talking about.
And you can have that right where you’re are where you are if you’re willing to give it the attention necessary, you know. And so I want to introduce you.
This is my family, the Roach family. And my boys, they want me to give you a disclaimer. I am in wedges that are about 4 in taller than I actually am.
And my son that is taller right next to me, that’s Liam. He’s 13 and 5’11. So he wants you to know that you know that
that mom is not that close in height to him. Um and so that’s my husband Andrew in the back, Olivia, our daughter, and
Colin. And I really love these kids. Um man, they are such a blessing in my life. But if you’re a parent, have you
ever loved them but really not liked them? Some days, wof, even this week, we’re like, “Wow, okay, maybe we need to
separate for a minute, you know.” But when they were little, especially, we would find ourselves coaching them on the same things over and over. In my
house, we would always say things like, “If you can’t be kind,” they would answer, “Be quiet.” They still know that today, but we were saying it all the
time. And then we’re frustrated because we’re like, man, they’re not catching on to this, you know? And what we realized is we had never actually clarified the expectations for them. We knew them.
They were kind of secret to us, but we hadn’t clarified it to them. And so Andrew and I sat down and we decided, okay, that’s not really fair. And so
we’re going to determine our house rules because what we know is the kids were trying to define them. If they didn’t know them, if we didn’t define them,
then somebody’s going to. And they were they would like to define them. This very Lord of the Flies uh in your home.
But man, your house rules. They can be this blueprint for peace for people to have structure and order in a home. We know this about kids, y’all. We’re no
different. And so, these can be a blueprint for peace in your home. And so, here are our roach family values.
In this home, we are kind. We take responsibility. We serve others. We
laugh. We try new things. And the whole point of this was kind of to go, hey, what is important to us? Not everything
is important. If you were to sit down in your home, your values would look different. They should look different.
Your home is different. Your family is different. But this helped us establish order in uh with our family. And so, you
have to do that. And just like uh just like in our home, you know, rules aren’t meant to restrict you. They’re to help you. They’re actually freedom. You know,
it’s no fun. play a game uh that you don’t know the rules to. You ever played a game where everybody changes the rules and you’re like that is not actually the
rules of Uno. I’m sorry you made that up. Like some families do. They make up these rules and then their kids think like that’s actually in the game and
then you pull it out like it is not in the game. And so a clear culture like having clarity around that these house rules brings peace and predictability
for people and that’s what we want to do. So in our just like in our home, you have to go define your core values in
Chapter 5: Defining your organization’s core values
your organization, your house rules. So you’re going to have to define them, defend them, and then go celebrate what
is core. And these are things that are already they’re unique to you and your group. Like they’ve grown up organically already over time. We didn’t sit down
together and go, “Guys, what do we wish our uh what do we wish our company was like?” No, no. We said, “Hey, what are words that we would use to describe us?”
you know what makes us different from everybody else. That’s the unique part of it and those actually we had the
ability to give insight input at managers into that but the senior leadership team should decide it. You know Andrew and I in our home are the
senior leadership team. We made that decision. That’s how that should go in your organization. That senior group it can gather input from everybody else but
that group should come together and finalize those core values. And our suggestion is limit them. Too many
values in an organization can become valueless. And if you’ve se there are some organizations really prominent ones actually that they have like 13 to 15 of
them. And sometimes like you’re at number 11 and you’re like doesn’t that kind of contradict number four. You know when you have that many it just becomes
kind of like propaganda and actually it it it’s a bit stressful and anxietyinducing to try to feel like you got to you have to live those out every
single day to be successful in a culture. So limit them. You know, we have four. That’s a really good number.
And small numbers allow people to actually repeat them. Our people actually know our core values. 15 are hard to know, but they can repeat them.
They can retain the information, too, that we have given to them as we’ve defined them, but they’re things that you have to get off the wall and into
Chapter 6: Bringing values into everyday conversations
daily conversations. If you’ve walked around here, you have seen our core values. So they are on the wall, but we are talking about them and teaching on
them constantly. You know, even with our kids this year with our house rules, we sat down at the beginning of school and we said, “Okay, here are our family’s house rules. Where are we missing it?
Where do we think we’re doing really, really well? And where are we not actually living up to these right now in our home?” And and our kids, we talked
about this. Everybody had a pen and paper and we wrote that down together.
We’re talking teaching about these things all the time. And that’s what we’re doing in our culture as we go along our days because I’m going to tell
you, your values mean nothing if you’re not living them out. They don’t mean anything if you’re just like or or you guys are like, “Hey, you guys do that,
but we’re not going to do that.” No, the leaders have to walk in this fully. You know, Enron violated every value that
they claimed was important to them. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be in that culture? respect, integrity, communication, excellence.
All the while they were like had shell companies that were hiding debt. They were manipulating financial statements in their organization.
Like we have to be held accountable to these things at every single level of the organization. And look, you’re not going to have policies around every
scenario. Some people love policies. We were like, people say policy to us and we just like get fiery mad almost. Cow’s
laughing because we’re like no policies ever. You know, we do have policies. You do need policies, but you’re not going to have them for every scenario. But
your core values, they can serve as a compass for people. They go, that’s how we do things. I cannot tell you how many times we learn something or I’m out in
the community and people thank me for something I had no idea this group did.
And I couldn’t even tell you maybe where it happened or how it happened. But it’s it’s an exhibit like of our core values being lived out outside of this place.
And I didn’t know it because it’s not what I do. It’s not what Cal does. It’s not what Brad does, Lisa does. It’s what we do. Our core values are what we do.
Things that we all have within us. And I’ll just tell you as you define your values. I think it’s really important though to test them. Like everything,
you should test things and go, are these really true? You know, are these really what are core to who we are? And so, you
have to look at the people in your company. You know, when you just go, man, they are killing it. like they just oh they if I had a hundred of them you
know you go well do they have them do they have these things do they value the same thing that we do and then you got to look at the people that you’ve separated with too and go hey were they
missing one of these and that’ll help you understand actually what is really important to you Cal will always tell our new employees when we we huddle with
them um early on in their time here he’ll say hey these are just like our quirks like we’re quirky just are you quirky like we’re quirky and that’s what
we’re looking for you know when people join our organization and um I love it when we started to define these in 2011 actually. So look
we were almost 20 years along in our ride. I think sometimes when people hear these stories you think well they in 1992 Rick and Ron gosh they had it all together and they did all this stuff.
This was 20 years almost into our existence before we had core values. So if you’re like hey we’ve grown too much
or hey we’ve this the time is now. It does not matter. this kind of clarity is so critical for your team and honestly
ultimately I think for the success of your organization moving forward. So, in 2011 though, um there’s this funny story
Chapter 7: Excellence, belonging, and shared values
that we always tell around here where we actually had a builder who was struggling in his role. Like he just couldn’t get his daily task done, having
a hard time staying late for things. And his construction manager didn’t know what to do about it. And he’s going on
and on about the work and what’s happening. And he’s like, he’s just not really excellent at his job, you know?
But man, he’s such a cultural fit. I mean, he’s such a faithful guy. and he was a youth pastor before he came here and our board member John at the time
said, “Are you saying that we have a culture of not getting our work done?” And I love that story. When I heard that story right afterwards, I was like,
“There is not a sillier statement because from the moment I stepped into this building in 2006,
I did not have to doubt for a second that excellence was one of the most important things in this organization.” So for someone to go, do we have a
culture of not being excellent is like the craziest question to ask. But but that helped us have insight into something and it was that you know a
culture is not this is not a Christian culture. That’s not actually what we’re talking about. You know it’s not just Christians that work here. We don’t hire
only Christians. We don’t want to hire only Christians at all. You know this is not a holy huddle that we’re trying to create here and just get it bigger and
bigger and bigger. You know, but we want to invite people in to something that is different. We want them to come and belong well before they start to
believe. The hope is that they believe that they believe in what we believe that they get to experience love right at the core just like the Vapor team
talked about. But no, we’re just looking for people who can come and live out these values just like we have.
But hey, the most important thing uh for you guys though is that you know as leaders you’re culture keepers. This is
Chapter 8: Leaders as culture keepers
really important because you are the people who open and close that gate to let people in your organization and
that’s why you have to define these you know as you’re as you’re defending them.
This is your biggest defense. A gate is a defense mechanism right? It’s a protection. And so you have to think about this and when you define them, you
got to hold strong to these things. And I know some of you talked yesterday um about how we uh like reinforce these are correct based off of these things in the
healthy teams section, but this is what we do, you know, because we we select people based on these. Yes, we
celebrate, right, people with these, but we separate based on these core values, too. And that happens a lot here because we’re all going to agree when we come.
We’re inviting people to come and they’re saying yes when they come here to these values. And so then we’re going to hold them accountable to walking them
out. Oh man, I’m just going to tell you, anyone unwilling to commit to the house rules has to go. I had a brother who was
14 when I was born. So he was a teenager in my young childhood days. And he was a rebellious kid. And he just could not
the rules. He just he thought they were just the stupidest thing my parents could ever do. You know, he wanted no part in any sort of rules. And so
finally after a while, I mean, I think I was like three years old, my parents had to kick him out of the house because anyone who is going to disrupt your
peace or try to divide in your home, you have to be willing to do that. Can you imagine as a parent doing that, I know,
I remember my mom talking about that how hard that was for her and it is hard.
But if you want a flourishing garden, you can’t have one without pruning.
You have to prune things. Even in your culture, you got to play the role of gardener.
But I’m going to tell you the best way, the most fun way to reinforce your culture is to celebrate.
No surprise here that they’ve let me talk about this. Y’all could probably tell I like to celebrate. I like gifts.
I I think this is just the best way. And it’s because what’s celebrated gets repeated. So we try to find lots of ways
to celebrate things. You know, Rick would always say, he’s like, Gina, go look for what’s going right. Go look for what’s going right. You know, and when
Chapter 9: Celebrating what is going right
you see what’s going right, then you celebrate though. And you want everyone to know. So we do this in big and small ways. We just had um like all hands
meetings for a couple of the companies last week and they highlighted people that were living out our core values and the peers nominate them. Like the peers
nominate, they go, “Man, that person, they exhibited excellence and here’s the story to go with it.” And so then what happens? It multiplies. Now we all go,
we know what excellence looks like in Beatenbo Homes. And so now it gets multiplied within the organization. Man, that is the best way to do it. So I I
always just say, “Hey, whatever it is, sometimes it’s a text message when you see something. Sometimes it’s in a in a small team meeting sharing something with that group.” You know, it doesn’t
have to be on a big stage, but just up and celebrate. Just do not move past that. We are so good at what I call
wrong spotting. We can find everything wrong. Like we just list list list all the things. We do that even to
ourselves, you guys. So, of course, we would do it to others. But so, go look for what’s going right and then celebrate that. When you consistently do
that, when you name it, you honor it and reinforce it, it just begins to take root in your people. And it does. It multiplies outside of you. It’s like
that campfire. It just continues from generation on to generation on. And it’s about more than good behavior or strong
performance. You know, those come too though in a flourishing. That’s what happens. You know, people come here. My hope for everybody is that they love
coming to work. You know, what a joy that could be that we all love to go to work. So, this can help you start that and produce flourishing.
Uh but the ultimate aim for a kingdom culture isn’t just a healthy workplace. um it’s where the people thrive, right?
Chapter 10: Extending flourishing beyond the workplace
It’s even it should make its way outside of your organization. And so let’s shift from what we celebrate maybe um just
internally here towards what does this mean as it plays out outside of the organization and as we actually work
towards this shalom. This is a holistic approach like we’re in every sphere of influence. You’re trying to bring the kingdom. So the core values here that’s
what our team members have to agree to when they come in the organization right they do not have to agree to our purpose but they do have to commit to our core
values and so then they come in and what happens though in the kingdom everything should flourish you know what we spend a
lot of time talking about is marriages are our marriages flourishing what are what are mar I cannot tell you how many conversations I’ve had about our
marriages flourishing what about people um like spiritually how is this going for people what is happening That’s those are the things that you start to
talk about, right? When you’re trying to bring a flourishing, if it’s in right relationship with God and one another, we talk about things like accidental alliances and how that creates division
in organizations. You know, this is what we’re doing. And I’m going to tell you, it might start with the employee, but it overflows into every area of their life.
When we hear stories of impact, which we gather every year, that is the biggest takeaway is it overflows into every area of their life. And then what happens?
Your communities get better. Families don’t just get better, but communities get better. You know, I’m like, if the communities we’re in are not better because we’re there, we’re not doing it
right. Something is wrong. But this is also about customers, right? So, when a customer comes to us and has an issue,
we truly ask ourselves. I think we go beyond actually, you know, the the just loving your neighbor. Uh there’s I look,
my daughter’s had lots of disappointments this year. This is the first time we’re like actually parenting through disappointments.
her disappointments were harder than anything that’s ever happened to me here. And so we go, well, if that was my daughter, Cal will always say that. If
that was my daughter, I have my mom is going to be 85 next month. I’m like, if that was my 85year-old mother, what would I hope that the company would do?
And you know what? That’s what our teams go do. I mean, Cal and his team just a couple years ago learned that we didn’t have a starter shingle on some of our
roofs. We didn’t know that when we built the home. We got to learn that afterwards. And then they went and sent people to inspect all of those homes and
then proactively went and re-roofed all of those homes to a million and a half dollars proactively.
That’s what you isn’t that what you would want someone to do for you? Like that honors God so much. And then what about being a trusted partner? You know,
if you’re if you’re a kingdom business, you should be a trusted partner. Like, do your partners really believe that if they’re not in the room that you have their interests at heart, that you’re
not just trying to scrape off the most for you? You know, these are things we ask ourselves. And then our construction teams and look, I’m telling you stories
I wasn’t a part of, okay? But these are things that we do. 0% loans. I mean, you heard when Schuber Mitchell filmed yesterday. What’s the interest rate going to be on this, Rick? Zero.
Nothing. We help that with We help our trade partners with that. You know, we’re trying to have the flourishing for all. This isn’t just for us. We want it
to make its way out. We’re trying to advance the kingdom of God in every sphere of influence that we have. And shalom, it just flat out doesn’t choose
favorites. You know, it should flow to everyone that comes in contact with you.
But we just simply get to activate kind of this like current of the kingdom. You know, this it’s like a river. I feel like it just flows through and touches
everybody along the way. But here’s what’s crazy.
Chapter 11: Jeanna’s story: experiencing love at work
We told you everybody on stage I feel like it they’re the ones have had the most transformation in that area. They
get to talk to you because the irony of this conversation is always that this young girl in 2006 named Gina Roach,
actually Gina Hendrickson was not married at the time, joined this organization and had no idea the setup
that she had. I had grown up uh Catholic. I grew up in an Air Force base actually. So, we were Catholic, but like we didn’t have like a church we went to
or like a priest you connected with because they get stationed just like everybody else does. And so, I was at church all of the time with my mom mass
and CCD, but when I came to college, the only times that I ever stepped into a church were when I was at home for Easter and Christmas. And there are lots
of people probably like that that you know. Um, I was just broken and lost um when I entered this organization. And
here’s what’s really cool is this was the first person to greet me at the door. This is Ron. This is me and Ron
beaten B years ago. Uh Ron would always say, “Love is a secret sauce.” He was the first person to greet me at the
door. I I still don’t know why or how he was there, but he was. And I just remember he said, “Hey, Gina, we have
been waiting on you. We actually we read your creative writing sample and we read it at the all company meeting yesterday
which I’m like okay I hope that went well. Um but he’s like welcome he’s talking to me. I have no idea who this
person is. You know he never told me Ron never boasted in his name ever. He never even said Ron be said Ron. That’s how
they would introduce themselves. But Ron’s motto was love is a secret sauce.
And I I just told you my mom’s going to be 85. So, I actually uh was a later in life child. My siblings were 15, 14, and
12 years older than me. And my dad was just not interested anymore in being a dad. Talked about this yesterday. It’s like there’s still healing to happen.
But he was not a good example.
Uh those things of the kingdom, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, those were not in him. He was very angry
all the time. um just a hard man. He had a hard life, too. But man, he was tough and he spent a lot of time running
around with women versus running around with me in the backyard. Multiple affairs on my mom. Man, she is so tough,
you know. But multiple affairs, he just wasn’t around. But when he was, my memories of him are like this. Him holding my sister by her throat because
he didn’t like the guy that she was dating or me. Like I was literally just on my knees one day, hovered over my
bed, and he came in and kicked me in the gut. I don’t remember why, but
that was what I knew of a loving father when I came here, you know. So, you can imagine what it felt like
when someone’s motto is love is the secret sauce and they’re the same age actually as your parents. And man, he
agreed to me on that first date. And Ron just loved me. He just loved me from that point on. It was just the sweetest thing. He was a mentor, father figure.
He and his wife Connie, they would go on trips, y’all. They would do the craziest stuff. They would bring back gifts for my kids.
Like, they would be in Italy and bring a gift back for my kid. They’d be in Memphis. They brought a gift back. We still have these things because I treasure them so much because it’s like
I’m like a daughter to him. That’s what he was doing, you know? But he was my boss.
his wife, Connie. I remember one day she’s like, “Gina, I want to help you unpack your home.” I’m like, “You are not.” I’m like, “Okay, Connie,” we walk
out the door and I’m like, “Connie beaten B is not unpacking my home.” Well, I’m going to tell you, Connie Beaten B unpacked my kitchen. She did
actually come and unpack my home. And then there were moments that like Holly beaten B and Carrie Richie, he was on our leadership team for a long time.
They played Santa and Mrs. Claus for many years here. Hundreds of kids coming and sitting on their laps here for community events. And I’m going to tell
you, have you ever tried to sit and have little kids sit on your lap for four hours and smile? That sounds easy, but
they were worn out every year. And I had that had been my responsibility as marketing manager for about 10 years at
that point. But I was going to miss one day because my son Liam actually was born on the same day as a Christmas open house. And I remember we were shutting
everything down that day and I get a on the door at the hospital and we’re like
I’m like another nurse, you know, like we just want to go to bed and it’s uh Holly and Carrie dressed up as Santa as
and Mrs. Claus to come take Liam’s first Santa photo on the day he was born. That’s what it looks like around here.
That’s what the kingdom culture can be like for you. And it changes hearts. It was just it love was central to every move that they made. There wasn’t this like angelic like moment in time for me.
It was like many just small moments just showing up for those things. You know, y’all know people’s time is precious. So
when they give it that way, gosh, that speaks volumes to you. And it changed everything. Ron never preached to me. He
just lived love. He just loved me. I uh he passed in 2024.
But message. You know, I was thinking on Father’s Day, do you know who I think about? Ron. Never think about my dad,
but this, you know, he would call me Sweet Pea.
I get emotional because I just think, how good is our God? He knew that about me. He knew that I what I needed
and that’s what he gave me. Someone to call me daughter man. Ron was just he lived out his
faith. That’s what he did. Nobody here was preaching, you know. This was just like their faith expressed in love is
what happens around here. And here’s the crazy thing. My husband grew up in Saudi Arabia.
Chapter 12: Andrew’s journey of faith
And so he has seen heinous things done in the name of religion. you know, he would talks about um the religious police that they had when he was there
that they l literally carry batons and if you weren’t following their rules, they would beat you with those batons in the streets.
And so this to him is what faith is like. And so he joined this organization. Both of us have no faith.
Yes, we were equally yolked. Neither of us had faith. And so I just want you to hear what it’s been like for him as a
spouse, too. And then there’s Andrew, my husband. My kindest person you’ll ever meet. Zero judgment. Loves every person he meets, but does not believe in God.
Husband.
But he cannot ignore the way he has been loved on, cared for, prayed on, and prayed over. And he goes to church with me every Sunday.
He actually serves at our church every Sunday. He’s actually in a small group.
God is doing something. God gave me a vision when Olivia was a baby that they would be baptized together. And I hold on to that. He still doesn’t know that.
So don’t tell him.
But I know that God’s promises are always yes and amen. And so I know that.
And one day I tell you that. So one day you’ll see on video him standing here maybe giving his testimony about how his spouse was impacted by this culture and came to Christ.
one month to the day Andrew came to the Lord in Europe and it was it’s just been the biggest miracle in our lives and it’s changed everything.
I grew up in a Mormon church first. Uh my dad was Baptist. We lived overseas. I went to a Shiite mosque, a Sunni mosque.
I went to Buddhist temples. All my friends were different religions. You know how confusing that is? Most of the time I was talked at frequently. this is the way you’re supposed to believe.
Whether it was Christian, whether it was Buddhist or Muslim, didn’t matter. Most of what I witnessed most of the time was more religion than it was love. And I
was never talked at here. And that’s a big deal. I think, you know, now I feel like I’m the person I’m supposed to be
versus when I was then. I let all this other stuff get in my head that shouldn’t have been there. You know, I don’t work at Beaten B.
I I don’t work at Edenville.
That That’s what you need to know. Um I haven’t worked there, but as a result of
it that I am changed, man. It doesn’t get old if you were here
for that story. It just doesn’t get old because it was 12 years of prayer. 12 years.
And when I stepped off that husband, she’s back. And when I stepped off that stage that day, this lady had I was
coaching a table and she said, “Hey, the Lord told me he’s waiting on an invitation.” And I think this just an encouragement for someone. I was like, “I don’t know.
She didn’t see him at church on Sunday.
He wasn’t singing the worship.” So, you know, it’s like we that that’s what we want to do. You don’t know what God is doing, but he is working. He is he is
going after his kids. He goes after the one, and that’s what he will do. So you just go and you just plant seeds, you know. And nobody Andrew Roach was never
a project here. This is not about making people projects. This is about being a changed people. That’s how you change
people. You are a changed person. He saw the change in me, too. And he’s going, “What is this?” He had a different wife all of a sudden. I was a different mom
all of the sudden. And sure enough, a month later, I could not believe it. We had actually cut out that section of me talking about that vision from that film
so he would never see it. So he would never see it because it just kind of came out. And here we are. A dream that I didn’t even know to dream. Andrew
baptizing both of our boys a few years ago. Gosh, that was that wasn’t in the vision, but it was so sweet to do, you
know, like what a blessing that is. And so all of that to say is a kingdom culture really is a flourishing y’all for everybody.
Chapter 13: Putting Kingdom culture into practice
It’s not the absence of anything. It’s the presence of someone.
The people here lived out their faith and then when you asked them about it, they would tell you about it. It was an invitation. And I think today, you know,
we just need to remember love is the secret sauce. It is a secret. It’s a hallmark of a kingdom culture in your company. And so, go do it. You guys are
doers. Look, you’ve you’ve heard all the content. You’ve heard our best hits.
This is what Cal calls our greatest hits album. You got it. There’s lots of mistakes in between. You can always ask about them. But now you know what we’ve
learned. And you’re leaders. So you got to go do something about it. You know, it’s not enough to just come and hear.
That’s not what leaders do. We go do things, right? We bring order, establish order out of chaos. So go bring your
core values, define them, establish that order within your organization, and then just go care for the people that you
lead. Go love them. Look at it collectively and individually. And then just what God will do with that submission. And so, I’m going to pray
for you right now. Father, God, we just thank you for your love that your word even says like um if
Chapter 14: Closing prayer
we’re your disciples, then they will see our love for one another, God. And so, we just pray that love reigns, Father.
Truth and love would rest upon all of us and the businesses that we lead, Father, I pray for homes and marriages. Father,
would you redeem and restore things to your original design for this flourishing this shalom? Shalom, God, is
what we pray over this group. And as they walk out of this place today, we know the enemy is not happy that we
spent three days together, camped out, talking about you and your kingdom, God. And so I pray a protection over them.
Send angels to be to surround them, God, be with them. But Father, we just say we’re running into the fire. We are not
going to stop. Kings and queens are in this room, Lord. And so, we’re just going to go and establish your territory
exactly where our feet are, the areas that you have given us. And so, we thank you, Father, just that you first loved us.
I just pray that everybody here knows the love of the father, God, and that that would exude into every area of
their lives, including their businesses in Jesus name. Amen.