Kingdom Leadership Workshop | October 2025
Description
What does love look like when it shapes an entire culture? In this powerful keynote from the Kingdom Leadership Workshop (October 2025), Jeanna Roach, CEO of Betenbough Companies, shares how Kingdom Culture transforms not only workplaces but lives.
Through humor, vulnerability, and heartfelt storytelling, Jeanna walks us through the power of cultivating a culture that reflects the heart of the Father—where people are seen, known, and loved. From defining core values to defending unity and celebrating what’s right, Jeanna paints a picture of what flourishing (shalom) looks like when love becomes the standard.
You’ll learn how to:
– Define and defend culture that reflects
– God’s Kingdom Build core values that create peace, not performance
– Lead as a gardener, not a mechanic—cultivating growth, not control
– Multiply love beyond your business into your community and partnerships
– See how love is the hallmark of Kingdom leadership
– This message will remind you that the Kingdom of God is not a concept to be studied—it’s a culture to be lived.
I wanted to start though, I haven’t typically done this in my talk, but I wanted to kind of take us back just to the beginning of the journey really, if
you haven’t noticed. We started first with just trying to introduce you to the to the kingdom. What did we learn when
we had this revelation of the kingdom? What was that? And then Brad uh jumped into spiritual calling that your work is
a holy calling given to you by God. you have gifts and talents and skills that
God gave you to use for his kingdom right where you’re at. And then Cal
broke it down for us on right how to how to ask God to lead us in our lives. I mean in our everyday decision making and
so here so here we went from this big picture right of the kingdom and then we took it down to you as an individual and
what does that look like? Now, when Tai came and talked to us, it was like, “Hey, now, okay, directly to my team.”
But the culture, the culture of the kingdom that we’re going to talk about, it permeates into every corner and every
space in your organization. And so, that’s where we are today. And I get to talk. I’m like, who let who gets the 315
talk on day two? Really? So, okay. So, I’m going to try to be a little lively
and add a little bit of humor along the way, but man, do I love to talk about
this. Hey, M. I need some advice. I didn’t realize we were going straight
there, but we’re going to because I just want to tell you a quick story about people um that I’m close to that really
embody culture. So, just watch this quick video. Hey, M. I need some advice. That’s easy. Eat something. No, no. It’s about this
friend I have. Oh, even easier. leave them. They need something.
And um man, I have to tell you this resonates so deeply with me. I My mom is
full-blooded Italian. She’s actually actually Sicilian. She’s about 411,
super dark skin, black hair. And so this is such a picture of what it’s like to
grow up in an Italian family. Number one, when she’s like making fun of her mom, she’s in the kitchen. So, if you
know anything about Italians, they love food and they love family. Everything revolves seriously around meal time and
the kitchen and I they’re opinionated and I love it in there. Uh my mom like
Italian moms are kind of like um they’re just they can be abrasive a bit and so
it’s like if they like you they like you and if they don’t they’ll cut you. Like that’s kind of how my family is. I mean
my mom’s last name was Banano. Have you ever heard of the mob families? The Banano mob family. I mean that was my mom. the net rose bonano. And so this is
the kind of family that my mom came from and the kind of home that I grew up in. You know, um my mom would say things
like this. Is that what you’re going to wear? Translation: Go change.
Um are you going to put makeup on? Translation, go put makeup on. You know, and all the time she would say, do you
have lipstick on? Which means, hey, you should go put lipstick on. Okay. So, if you see me putting on lipstick 15 times
a day, that’s because that’s just kind of what I grew up in. And I was thinking, you know, Italian, they care
about appearance. That is one thing that it’s called Italian leather. Uh, nobody ever says like Kansas leather. Sorry,
Austin. Nobody ever says like even like they say Texas beef, right? But nobody’s like Texan leather. And it’s because
there is this culture, a really strong culture that Italians have. So much so
that it translates into so many families. Every other Italian person I’ve ever met or has a Italian mama is
the same. They’ve experienced so many similar things. And that is because this
culture, people get passionate around it. It’s kind of like a campfire. People are drawn to it and they circle around
culture and it provides this sense of belonging. And if there’s anything that God wants
you to know, it’s that you belong. And he wants his people to feel like they belong. And we hope that you’ve actually
just kind of felt that when you’re here. But here’s the thing about a campfire. You actually have to care for it. Like
you have to give it fuel. You have to sit there and pay attention to it or what? It’s going to burn out. It’ll
fizzle out. So it’s going to take a lot of care if you want a really strong culture or it’s going to burn
uncontrollably. And that’s scary. And you don’t want that either. And so let’s just start by
saying what what a what is culture? And I’m going to give you a definition because you need to know every
organization has one. You have one right now. You have a culture. This is kind of
this collective um traditions, right? Your values, um beliefs that you have, behaviors.
This is what this is for a certain group. It’s why Italians, you can start to name some of those for Italian families just based on what I told you.
And if a significant amount of time is spent at work, well then of course the culture that you’re in is going to shape
you y’all for better or worse because I know some cultures in town that are actually extremely toxic and the impact
of that on their team members is the same. It’s not been my story here. So
what do you want to choose there? And that the world it offers you one set of
values. uh things like busyiness, we’ve talked about that. That’s been mentioned, right? It’s all about money
or status or uh power. Uh we just got to go with a beat and bow trip to Greece.
And as we were there again, we just got to witness some of the artifacts left behind by the Roman Empire.
And so that it was such a reminder to me of what God was going through, what Paul was going through with the Roman Empire.
I mean, an empire is just that it brings war, right? It brings all of these things. It’s about status. You know,
it’s about making sure that people feel below you, right? And you’re establishing yourself as the most
is not like that, right? I mean, the fruit of the spirit, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, self-control. There was no self-control in the Roman Empire. You know, just go read in Matthew the
biatitudes. That’ll give you an idea of what the kingdom is like. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who mourn. Do th those are tough things. And when you think
about the culture of the world or the Roman Empire, those are not values of
either, but they are of the kingdom of God. And that’s why it’s this upside down
culture. And people are like, “What is that?” And they’re like a moth to a flame. They’re attracted to it. And so
it’s so important that together we just take care intentionality towards it
because it’s like a garden. And man, anytime I think of a garden, I’ve seen so many beautiful gardens, but I’m going
to tell you this one’s my favorite. This is our garden back here. And your
culture is like a garden. It is. This and this is such a picture of a beautiful and flourishing, thriving
garden. And what I love about it is everything about this has been intentionally crafted. Like there was a
vision for this garden. It’s changed, you know, over the years, new vision. But I mean, every waterfall, every
plant, every rock has its place and it has its role in the midst of this
garden. And everything is just playing a part. But here’s what’s interesting. This is
it that surrounds it. It is nothing like that garden. Isn’t
that fascinating? It is surrounded by nothing but brown dusty spaces. Look at
all the concrete. I mean, there doesn’t even look like there’s life around there. That this is the contrast, you
guys, of a kingdom culture versus what’s happening in the world. People are thirsting for something that’s
different. And man, here’s the crazy part. You don’t have to do anything for weeds to grow in your garden, do you?
Nobody’s over there trying to make weeds grow in their garden, but they come anyways. So, if you want your garden to
look like this one, then there’s going to take some intentionality and care and you’re going to have to cultivate it.
And I think um I said this at the last workshop and I felt it again this time. We are not mechanics. We are gardeners.
If you are in the kingdom, you are not a problem solver. You are not trying to fix people’s problems, but you are trying to cultivate an environment that
builds something that looks like that versus the things around it. And so, how
do we do that? you know, in the world, um, you’re told to prioritize yourself,
right, above everything else. Sorry, going to get this. Um, but that’s not what the kingdom
says. You know, the kingdom aims to do the best for the most people. And this word shalom is a Hebrew word. And
oftentimes you hear people use it as peace, right? But just like avoda, you
know, um Hebrew, it has multiple um definitions kind of of one word. We have
to break it down in our English into multiple. But it’s not just peace. It’s things like completeness and like safety
and security. And that is what God, he wants to bring shalom back here. And we
get to be a part of it. And if you don’t know yet, you are on this apostolic
calling in this mission to take back territory for the kingdom of God. And you get to do it. And it’s so much fun.
If you haven’t heard that yet, you should know it’s a blast and it’s an adventure, but it’s so much fun. But
this word is so much more than peace. This is everything being in right relationship with God, his creation, and
his people. Man, that sounds really easy when I break it down like that, but y’all, we
know it’s not. People are messy. We’re messy. Every single one of us is messy. The
people up here on the stage, you know how why we get to talk about it? Because we were the messiest. And it’s a miracle
that we get to stand before you. That’s the truth of it. And I know all of our stories very intimately. And so I’m that
is fact, right, guys? I mean, that’s just the truth of it. And so shalom
isn’t like an absence of something. It’s not the absence of conflict. It’s about what’s present. It’s about a flourishing
for all. Every one. And this can be your culture if you’re willing to cultivate it right where you live and work. And so
if you haven’t realized by now, guys, the kingdom is between your two feet. It’s wherever you are. Where you go is
where the kingdom is. It’s a holy calling that you have that you have been given from God. But I want to just
introduce you really quickly to to my family. This is from last summer. So gosh, the kids are already taller, you
know. Uh the very tall one in the back, the you know, one of them is not like the rest of us there. That’s Andrew, my
husband. That’s our daughter Olivia. She’s 14. Uh Liam is the second tallest
from her. Um he is about to be 13 next month. And then Colin is going to be 11
uh next month. And gosh, we love these little people. But have you ever loved someone
seriously so much but not liked them? Because I was laughing thinking Cal when you were like, “Uh, hey, when we’re
driving, we have a road trip.” I mean, I’ve never wanted to kill my kids. I’m like, “I man, I don’t know. We kind of have an extra.” I’m always like, “Hey,
there’s, you know, those boys. There’s two of you. We’ll still have one.” Um, and so some days that’s just how it goes
in our family. Um, and we, Andrew and I, we were finding ourselves so frustrated
because we’re coaching and talking to them about the same things over and over and over. And then we are ticked off,
right? When they don’t meet our expectations. I mean, y’all, have you ever done this as a leader, right? The
expectations weren’t clear. That’s what we realized. We go, “Oh man, how are we frustrated? It’s not even fair to them
because they don’t know actually are.” And so we did what we should have done
before that probably and we sat down and we said well what is important to us what are those things you know we are
constantly all the time I would tell my kids if you can’t be kind be quiet like
so much so that I would say it if you can’t be kind they would just go be quiet and it’s like yeah you get it and
so it’s like clearly that’s something that’s important to us was kindness not be nice we want you to be kind people
you know our son Liam would always be like hey uh not to be rude and we’re time out. What’s coming after that is
not going to be kind. And so when we were getting frustrated with them, we realized these are things that we value in our home. And so we sat down and we
said, “Okay, what else are those things?” And here’s what we came up with. Oh, because house rules, look,
just like a home, these things are a blueprint for peace for people. Do you
know structure is important for kids? If they have a schedule and they have a structure, it’s important. Look y’all,
we’re just a bunch of little children. We need that kind of structure in our life too. So we need this blueprint that
will bring peace and clarity for people. And so we defined them and here they
are. We are kind. We take responsibility. We serve others. We laugh. We try new things.
And man, these were things that together were important to Andrew and I. So you know, if you look at this in your home,
they would be different. That’s the truth. But what we knew is if everything was important, then nothing was truly
important. So we said, “What are the important things to us and in our home?” And these are going to be the house
rules for how you operate, whether you’re in this home or you’re on the basketball court or your volleyball
practice. Okay? We’re going to bring these things wherever we go. And I’ll
tell you that just like in our home, if if you have these rules, these are meant to free us. These actually don’t enslave
us. They actually bring freedom. having this kind of clear peace and predictability for people. So like our
home, you’re going to have to define your core values. Your house rules for your organization are your core values.
You’re going to have to define them, defend them, and celebrate them. And I want to just tell you a little bit how we do that here. And first, as you’re
defining these things, they need to be unique to you and your group. Look, I told you you have a culture. Just go ask
people what are those words. And I’m going to I some of you already have core
values in your organization and I’m going to ask right now that you don’t tune this out, but that you instead just
go back to those and make sure that they’re still the right ones and make sure that you have actually maybe refine
them to where you are now. I’ll tell you, we have added sub bullets to ours over the past five years. We’ve changed
one of them in the past five years to make it more clear. So don’t tune me out. Just listen um to this part. These
are things that are organically building up in your culture. Just like in our home, Andrew was the try new things.
Andrew grew up in the Middle East. He lives in Saudi Arabia most of his life. And so, guess who had the opportunity to
try lots of new things when he moved when he was nine. I grew up in the same town of Witchaw Falls, Texas my whole
life till I came to Leach. So, that was not something that I even appreciated at the time, but Andrew brought that to our
group. And that’s how this works in your senior leadership group. Everybody adds something. So include them in it. See
what’s built up organically over time. And don’t try to find aspirational values, not things that you’re aspiring
to, things that you truly value in your organization. Because this is just about how we’re going to operate together.
Okay? Limit the number of values. I have seen organizations that have like 13
values. And basically what happens is that just becomes propaganda on a wall. it becomes valueless. You know, your
values, they need to be your people need to be able to easily recall them and then explain them. And so, we have four
core values. That’s how we operate. And we have sub bullets in there to go, hey, what does that actually mean? And that’s
what we hold people accountable to. And too many of them, it’s another thing
that happens is I find is people start striving in that. Do you know what I that you’re you’re just creating more of
a performance type of culture when you do that. Because I’m going to tell you, on any given day, our kids living by
those four core values is tough. It’s tough. Serve others. Be kind. Try new
things. I mean, y’all, we can’t get them to try sometimes something simple as broccoli, you know, or green onion. And
so, of course, some days those are hard for them just to live out those five. So, imagine if there was eight more. It’s the same with us. limit those for
the sake of people. And we have them on our wall, but I’m just going to tell you, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got all
your core values written, you know, refined and on a wall if you’re not
living them out. It just does not matter. People are paying attention more to what you do than what you say. And so
I always give the example of, you know, respect, integrity, um, excellence, communication. Those are all really
worthy core values until I tell you they were the values for Enron.
I mean, they literally lied on their like financial statements for 15 quarters in a row. Like they hid debt
through shell companies. They did all sorts of stuff. I mean, integrity is not a word that you would use to describe
what they were doing. And so it’s just, you know, in that moment, what do most people call it? like hypocrisy. And if
we’re in the kingdom, then what our actions are speaking and pointing back to our faith. And so, it’s so critical
that we walk the talk. And you’re not going to have policies for every single
scenario, but your values can serve as a compass for your people. And so, a GPS
is going to give you right a turn by turn kind of thing, but a compass helps you point to the true north. And that’s
what’ll help for people because you’re not you can’t policy everything to death. man, don’t do that. That’s how law
that’s how all those laws got written in scripture. Do y’all love reading that? That’s a rough one for this girl. And
so, don’t do that. Rick Beanbo would always be like, we we’d say, hey, we think we need a new policy. And it was just like, nope. No. But we have these
values. And this is kind of where it all began for us. You should know that. I was thinking about that. It actually didn’t start with one-on- ons. It didn’t
start with spiritual leadership. This is where we started. It had the most impact at that moment, too, on the group. And
so we started here with our core values and I remember in 2011 so 15 or 14 years
ago now we got together and the management team got to have that voice in this piece. So Rick and Carrie and
and the board at the time they came to us and said hey what are words that you would use to describe our culture and
that’s how we got started. Now, we didn’t get to make the final decision. That is the senior leadership group, but
we did get to have a say in that. And what was so interesting is we took those words and we tested them. Like, who are
the people that are seriously successful in your culture? So, if you already have some, you can go do this test right now
and go, who are those people that like you really are like, man, they embody the culture. Well, what is it about them? Clarify that. Make sure that
that’s true. And then we had people that we separated with and it’s like, hey, well, let’s go back. Was it one of these
reasons? Was it one of these values of why they’re not here anymore? And that helped us gain clarity.
But man, in 2011, we had this kind of simple epiphany though, like right
afterwards. And maybe it’s what kicked off actually this conversation. But we had a construction manager who had um a
builder on his team at the time who wasn’t able to get his daily work done. And that construction manager was like,
“Man, I just don’t know what to do about this guy because um he’s such a great guy. You know, he’s just this faithful
guy. He’s such a cultural fit. He was a youth pastor, but he’s just not getting his job done.” And on John Jackson on
our team at the time, he said, “Are we saying that we’d have a culture of not getting our work done?” And I was going
to tell you the rainbows and unicorns uh thing, Ty, thank you for that. I have said that for years because that someone
asking that question was the silliest thing to me because the minute I stepped onto the scene here, one of the things I
knew about Ron and Rick Beatenbow was everything they did was with excellence. So to ask that question was so
ridiculous, but it helped us put into perspective right then something that we didn’t know that on both of those lists
there were Christians. Actually, we we have former youth pastors that were successful here, but we have former
youth pastors that weren’t. And so, what was it about each of those situations? And that’ll really help you establish
truly what you value. And what we learned through all of that is a culture isn’t a Christian culture. Christian is
a person, not a culture. And look, we don’t hire only Christians.
We really don’t. We don’t I don’t even know. I I don’t know who’s a Christian. I know our leadership team is because
just like Cal explained to you earlier, but outside of that, I don’t know. But we do want people who can come and live
by these values that do reflect the kingdom of God. And so we try to use
words that are not overtly Christian, but look, they are all connected to the kingdom of God. Unity is important in
the kingdom of God. I can point to scripture there to tell you that. And so
they reflect the kingdom, but we try to make them not overtly Christian. This isn’t about a church club. It’s not
about, you know, your Sunday potluck. That’s not what we’re trying to do here. Not a holy huddle, right? It’s about
bringing that sense of belonging. And when we all agree on those values, then we all belong. And Cal always tells our
people, then we’re just kind we’re kind of quirky. These are our little quirks about us that we all have in common. And
man, when it’s powerful like that and we’re all have this sense of belonging and believe the same things, it is like
that campfire. it starts to attract likeminded people to it. And leaders are
the culture keepers in an organization. You know, if the people make the culture, then the leaders are the
gatekeepers. You’re who decide who gets in and out of an organization. That’s going to have the most profound impact
on a culture. So, you need to know and establish your values so that you are making sure that people are aligning
with those. So, leaders have to model, reinforce, and you got to correct based
on this. We start this conversation with people from the minute that they walk in the door for an interview. We start
talking about these things. We’re asking behavioral questions around these values because man, if just like in that
garden, if everybody has a role and a place, part of the flourishing is making sure that there are cultural fit here.
We aren’t the kingdom of God here. There’s lots, right? You all have businesses. You all love the Lord. Maybe
these people need to work for you. Maybe there are things that you value differently than we do. So, we need to do our due diligence in that and make
sure that this is a fit for people so that they can flourish. But I’ll tell you, we correct based on these things.
This is how this works for us. You know, we select and we do, we celebrate, but we separate based on these role values.
And I’ll never forget in probably 2012, I think, um, I received a call that said
that four managers had gotten promoted to executive management out of our like 11 person management team.
And I just knew I was one of those four. News flash, I was not. Did not handle
that well. I got to have what’s called a 911 call in our culture. Like emergency,
like press the brakes. Something’s got to change. When Rick Beatenbo called my
unity into question and he said, “Are you submitted to the leadership of this group?”
And you know what? I wasn’t. But I had to get there. He said, I said, “Hey, 5050.” That was my response. And
he said, “Hey, Gina, that’s great, but tomorrow it needs to be a hundred.” And so that what happens in those
moments, don’t be afraid of those moments. That that’s where that love piece is. See, accountability oftentimes doesn’t sound like love, but that was so
characterbuilding for me. That’s when my journey of humility started to happen.
And sometimes, you know, to get to humility, it takes some humiliation. And it did that for me. in that moment, but
I had to get honest with myself and say, “What is my problem?” And, “Oh, it’s me.” But we do. We sep we’ll separate on
it. I knew that. I had no doubt what that Rick never said, “Hey, this is a 911.” I didn’t have to doubt what that
conversation was. And so, I knew that I was accountable to getting back in to alignment. And then anyone that’s
unwilling to commit, if you can’t commit and change, then you just can’t stay in the house. I’ll never forget, I have an
older brother. He’s 14 years older than I am. And he just would bring chaos into
our home because he refused actually to adhere to the house rules. And I
remember my parents lamenting over this. I mean, I was little since there’s a 14-year age gap. And they finally had to
kick him out of the house because he just it was an absolute refusal. That’s what has to happen here. Or else they
bring chaos into this place and it’s toxic for people. And so you’ve got to
define them. You got to defend these things because shalom, that kind of flourishing, it doesn’t happen in that
garden without some pruning. That’s the truth. You’re going to have to do some tough things. But if you’re the role of
gardener, you know that. You know that. And the best way to reinforce culture, y’all, is to celebrate it. Rick would
always say, “Hey, go look for what’s going right, not what’s going wrong in a culture.”
Because what’s celebrated is repeated. And so you got to celebrate in your organization what’s core. That’s the
best way for this to multiply. That is the best way for this to multiply. So
whatever it might be, if that is an all hands meeting you call it or an all company meeting, you know, you might
celebrate in big ways when someone lives out the culture. It might just be an email about, you know, to that person
and copying the team and thanking them. We try to be really specific about the story and what someone did and why we’re
celebrating them and tie it back to our core value. I mean, just the basics of
it is stop, drop, and celebrate. And if you are in this room, you’re likely not good at that.
Leaders, we tend to just go on to the next thing, right? We see the next issue and we go on and we become mechanics. Oh,
can you hear me? Sorry, guys. And so we become mechanics in that, you know, and
so we just have to be careful. Just stop, drop, and celebrate. And when we
consistently celebrate what’s core, when we name it, honor it, you know, reinforce it, it starts to take root in
our people. And see, then they start living it out. I can’t tell you how many times we find out things that have
happened in our organization that we had no part of. People think we’re a part of it. They just think we know everything
that goes on. And they’ll be like, “Thank you for such and such, or so and so did this.” And you’re like, “What?
That’s amazing.” And it’s because the culture has multiplied outside of us. It’s not what the board does. It’s what
we do together. That is what a flourishing can look like.
Oh man. But the ultimate aim of a kingdom culture is not just a healthy workplace. You know, it’s a place where
people and relationships and entire communities can thrive. And that is what the Bible does call y’all shalom. So I
want to shift from like celebrating internally to go what does that look like externally when the people here
come together and the culture is strong how does that overflow into those outside of here because it does that’s
what happens when it becomes something we do those in our sphere of influence
um just like Vernon was talking about they our partners you know our customers
our suppliers we start to view them differently we go what is shalom the best for the most look like and we have
to ask ourselves that all the time and so I’ll never forget last year Cal and his team had a customer issue come up um
in which we didn’t have we had a trade partner who didn’t put starter shingles on some of our homes in one of our
regions and this can create lots of warranty issues. We saw future potential warranty issues that would come. And
look, the truth is, they might have never come to us or asked us to.
But here’s what that group did. They went and they had a team of people that went out and found every roof that that
trade partner had roofed and tried to identify every single home that didn’t have starter shingles. And then they
proactively went and fixed that to the tune of $1.5 million.
Because when we’re in those moments, we ask ourselves, “Hey, if this was my 83year-old mom who lives in one of our
beaten bow homes, what would I hope that Cal and his team would do?” And you know
what they do? They ask themselves that and then they go do it. Isn’t that just the coolest thing? Who does that? Most
people don’t, right? They’re trying to hide things or, hey, we just if they come to us, we’ll react. And this was
pro-active. What about our partners? You know, are we a trusted partner with people? like
do they really believe that we have their best interest at heart even when they’re not in the room? You know, there
are things that our organization has done over time for our trade partners like paying every day. You don’t have to
do that, but we do. We believe that that’s the right thing to do. We have
zero interest loans. Man, that’s amazing what that can do. Some of these people might never ever qualify for a business
loan, but we can give them a 0% interest loan. And that’s because shalom doesn’t
choose favorites. So this isn’t just for your team. It should multiply and ripple outside of
you. That’s what culture does. And it touches everything around you.
And the irony of this talk is that it’s coming from someone who entered this organization as a as a young girl. I
always say I grew up here. Um had no idea what I was getting into. Actually,
the first time I saw the website, I saw the word ministry, and I had never heard that word before.
I actually had to look it up and go, “What the heck does that mean?” I saw a bunch of people holding hands, praying
on a website, and I thought, “Well, how bad could they be?” You know, I’m a PR girl. I was in Dallas, Texas. I needed a
PR job. And so, I there weren’t many in Leach, Texas, I’ll tell you, in 2006. I
was like, I better take this opportunity. And so, I did. Came for a job.
And when I entered the organization, the first person I met was this man named Ron. Never told me his last name. Got to
know that pretty quick since it was on the building. And Ron’s motto was always
um this that love is a secret sauce. And he embodied that so well. And you
see, I’m a late in life child. Like I said, my mom, she’ll be 84 this year. So, um both of my parents were in their
40s when I came along. I have three siblings that are older than I am, 12, 14, and 15 years. And um so Ron and my
mom actually were born the same year. But I had an experience with my dad that
um was not an example of a godly and loving father. And the best way that I
can always um probably capture that is he was someone who was just more busy
running around with women than he with me. And I had a very different dad than
my other siblings did. But man, that man, he was angry. He could just lose it
at the drop of a hat. I remember one time I was like just Sorry.
I was leaning over my bed. I don’t even know what I was doing. And he came and just kicked me in the ribs because he
was just upset about something. You know, when you’re teenager’s mouth off, you know, you might want to do that. You
don’t do that. He did. I mean, he just did that. And I remember my earliest memory is of my sister who’s 15 years older. He was holding her up by her
throat in our hallway. So, this is what I grew up in.
This is what I came here. You know, the kind of baggage that I had. And then what does he do when I’m 16? I grew up
in a small town 4A school. He has an affair with a girl in my grade with her
mom. She’s also married. It’s 10,000 people. So, guess what? Everybody knows.
They know what’s happening. You know how humiliating that was for me and my mom?
That was hard. And so, I had decided that I was going to make my own way. I
didn’t need anybody. That was what came in here. And a loving father, whatever. Those don’t exist in
my world. And I’m telling you that because there are so many people walking into your organizations just like that
today. And all of a sudden, here’s Ron welcoming me, encouraging me like he had
he had read my job sim. I had to submit a creative writing piece. He had read it, man. And he told me about it, and I
was just going, “What? Who is this guy?” You know, and he eventually became like a father figure uh to me. So, this was
years later, Ron and I. Um we lost him last year. Gosh,
Ron. He was just the best. He loved me like a daughter completely,
y’all. In every way. He tried to buy a house one time that I had. We were supposed to close.
We had bought a new home. We had a home. We were supposed to close on a new one. Buyer, you know, last minute they’re
gone. And he says, “I Connie and I talked. We just want to buy that house for you.” What?
But, you know, that was a powerful moment, but it was the smaller ones that speak to me so much more.
Like when Ron and Connie would go on vacation and they would think about me and my family and they would bring back
gifts for my kids that we still have today. Or when I bought a beaten bow
home, of course, and they were like, “Hey, uh, we want to come and unpack your house.” And I’m looking at my
husband Andrew, I’m going, “Connie Beatenbo is not coming to my house to unpack my kitchen.” And she’s like, “I’m
so good at it.” And I’m like, “Okay, okay, Connie, I’ll tell you.” I’m like, “I’m not calling her.” Uh, well, guess
what she did? She showed up anyways. And you you can guess who unpacked my kitchen for me in that home. They were
the first people to walk in our doors. I remember our daughter was three, and she was like, “I want to give you a tour.”
It was one of Ron’s most favorite memories. That is the kind of love that he had for
me. Gosh, this is a business owner leader. Why? I just wow. You know, then
Holly and Carrie, they were loving me so well, y’all. It was silly things like
this. We do a Christmas open house every year. We do Santa photos in our community. I’m talking hundreds of Santa
photos. People come and they like line up. Okay. Now, for this, we’ve done these for 20 years. Well, I was the
marketing person. Carrie was my boss. He always played Santa. And then Holly Beatenbo loves little kids. So, she
would always play Mrs. Claus. And I mean, they would have to be on for four
hours. Do you know what I mean? Smiling through there, asking little kids what
they want, dealing with screaming kids. It was exhausting. Like, I was just a part of it. I wasn’t even one of them.
And I would be exhausted. And I was missing my first ever Christmas open house. And I had been here for like I
don’t even know at this point, 10 years probably or more. And it’s my first Christmas open house that I’m missing.
And it’s because I’m being induced that day with our second kiddo.
And we I remember we were getting ready for the to end the night and we got a
at the And there were Santa and Mrs. Claus to take Liam’s first Santa picture.
Who does that? That’s what I was asking myself. Who does this stuff? Why in the
world would these people do this? You know, Holly was there. My mom was had cancer. And what does Holly do? She
comes and prays over her. Praise over her. I mean, this is just the craziest
stuff. But love was central to every single move that was made.
And it was never this big angelic moment. It really wasn’t when he offered to buy me a home. It was all of these
little mini moments over time, this investment in me just to see me. You
know, you’ve seen it in our um building. It says, “You are seen. You are known. you are loved and because that is true
and you have never locked eyes with someone who does not matter deeply to God. Do they know that? Do they feel
that when they’re with you? You know, people feel it long before you say it. And that’s our hope even when you’re
here that you feel it. That you feel love like you belong here even if you’re not a part of our team.
And Ron didn’t preach at me. He welcomed me. He just lived love. I’m talking like a real sacrificial just humble love. And
as I moved from pain, you know, into this healing, from work to encountering
a God that I just didn’t even know exist in my life began to transform. But Andrew grew up in the Middle East.
Like I said, in Saudi Arabia, they would do heinous things in the name of religion there. I’m talking still in the
90s. They were cutting off people’s hands in the name of religion, hanging
people. This is serious stuff. is not happening that long ago. And this is where Andrew grew up. And so people
would always say, “Hey, well, y’all aren’t equally yolked.” And I’m like, “Well, we were when we got married. Neither of us had a thought about God
when we got married.” And so I just want you to hear what it’s been like for him just through a short video to have
watched me walk this journey here. 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. Um,
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.
[Music] 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 from different
religions. You know how confusing that is? Most of the time I was talked to act
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 the time was more religion than it was love. And I was
never talked out 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 Bow. I I don’t work at Beatenbo.
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 never gets old. It just never gets old that story um to me because it was a miracle in my life. You know when
I got off the stage that day I’ll never forget I was a table coach and I walked back to my table and this lady said hey he’s just waiting on an invitation.
And you know what? Even after saying that, I was like, I don’t know. You didn’t I mean, this week at church, he wasn’t singing the worship song. You
know, we just want to go there. And I I for some of you, I I’m wondering
too if today in this workshop isn’t just an invitation for you to join in with what God is doing to just be open. There
is no pressure. Andrew was not a project. He is never a project. People are not projects. Nobody here saved God.
I mean, saved Andrew. But God, we just loved him. Cal was my leader. He prayed
all the time for me, for Andrew. Carrie, too, man. Rick, everybody, y’all, that
is love. They loved us for who we were, right in our middle of our mess. And we
were messy. We’re still messy. We still got things. But gosh, I’ll tell you,
it’s an invitation for fullness of life. And here we are. This was a dream I didn’t even know to dream. my husband
baptizing our two boys. Could not have ever foreseen that. We did get baptized,
Andrew, Olivia, and I all together because I decided it was time for me. I grew up Catholic. I had I was baptized
as a baby and so I wanted to take that step of faith, too. And we did that. And then a few years later, here he is with
our boys. This is the ripple effect of a kingdom culture. And the hallmark of a
kingdom culture, y’all, is love. It ain’t nothing else. You can try to want to put all the things a part of it, but
it’s just love, pure and simple. So, please uh don’t over complicate it.
Don’t try to add like we do things to it that are unnecessary. Just go love the people. Go love the
people. And just if if there’s a struggle for you and you don’t know how to love, I
feel like I didn’t know really well at first how to love. Ask God to help you with that. Ask him to bring people
around you that love you. Ron changed my life forever because of his love. Not
what he did for me or bought me, but the way that he loved me. Cuz man, love
truly is, y’all, the secret sauce of the kingdom. And shalom isn’t about the
absence of anything. It’s about the presence of someone. Every time I’d ask them, “Why would they do this? Why would
you do this? Why are y’all doing this?” every time they pointed to the person of Jesus. Every time. And you want to know
how people know that it’s a kingdom culture? I’m going to read to you. I read this this week,
this past week about the beaten bows. It’s John 13 uh 34 through35.
If I can find it. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another
just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this all people
will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. That’s
how the world will know that we belong to the King of Kings is by our love for
one another. Nothing else. And I love how this is put here. Just the um the Institute for Faith Work and Economics
is something probably Cal brought to us. He’s you know he finds all these cool things. And it says, ‘We believe when
Christians live holistic lives and integrate faith and work using all the tools that God has given you, including
economics, that they are renewing shalom, that flourishing for everyone.
And it results in the flourishing of both the community and individuals. Are the people in your culture, are they
loved? Are you is there healing happening? You know, does your community know why you’re doing things?
Because man, this is a group of doers. That’s what I know. Cal said he’s a door kicker. There there’s a whole group of
them. About a hundred of you in here. And so if you’re doers and you’re door kick, go do something. Go do something.
Don’t let any of this overwhelm you. Just go do one thing. God has told me
this whole week that you guys are just waiting for your next orders. You know, a lot of these terms are military terms
that we see in scripture and you just want your next orders. So don’t let this overwhelm you. You have everything you
need in Christ. So Father, we thank you so much for the two days, God. We thank
you for the way you’re moving here amongst us, um God. And we just we say
thank you for the invitation to be sons and daughters of the most high. That we
are royalty here together, God. And that you have given us the marketplace as our
mission field, Lord. Would that never ever feel like a burden but a blessing?
And would we walk in the flow of your spirit as we leave here in Jesus name.
Amen.
Tags: Kingdom Culture
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