Kingdom Leader | Kingdom Leadership Workshop | October 2026

Meet Cal Xant, president of Beatatenbow Homes and Beaten Bow Company’s board member. A leader whose life and leadership continually point to God’s

desire to work in partnership with his people. Cal is known for navigating complexity with clarity, leading through

highstakes moments with bold faith, and scaling business in ways that defy industry expectations. All while raising

up executives who can carry the weight of leadership with humility. He’s seen God move in ways no strategy could

manufacture. Especially when leaders choose obedience over control and collaboration over competition. CEOs and

owners lean in. Because when we partner with God, heaven’s solutions become the

competitive advantage. This is lived testimony. Please welcome Cal Zet.

[applause]

Hello friends. Um, that was cool. That was the first time I’ve seen that video of Brad Ellis and I actually got to be

his table coach a couple of times. Um, I know all the men in that video and I

can say what you saw was authentic and is also a result of transformation. And so when you watch stuff like that, you’re like, “Oh, I want to do stuff

like that.” Right? And you can go, “Okay, take Spanish lessons or I Honduras. Where is that?” You know, uh

that’s not how it started for them. I promise it’s not. In fact, the sticky notes on the computer I recognize. Uh

they would say, “Don’t look at the fruit.” Because really the power started when God started to transform

them first and the rest of it flowed out of that.

So don’t focus on the fruit. God wants to start with us as kingdom leaders. And there are a lot of really effective

leaders in this room. I know it. I know lots of you are leaders in business, but some of you lead in churches or schools

or nonprofits. And so we’ve been trying this a while and we’ve kind of figured out that uh there are some commonalities. While what God does is

unique everywhere in every organization, there is no copy and paste. There is no recipe. It will be new and different in

your organization. We do think there’s some truths that would be true about how the kingdom would be established in our time and place among leaders. And so I’m

going to try to share the hard lessons we’ve learned and what we believe those truths are. But really, this is about God helping us make the shift from

business leaders or or leaders of a nonprofit or a school or a church into kingdom leaders.

That’s what he wants for us. But what in the world does that even look like? What does that look like in the day-to-day?

And I have such great news. I am a practitioner. I am not a preacher. And so, I’m about to rapidfire a bunch of

stories really from the trenches of the business. I’ve been trying this for a little while in the middle of the every day and I’m going to share some of our

stories about what that looks like. Um, first, a kingdom leader establishes

God’s kingdom as the highest priority for your company or nonprofit or organization.

Did you know that 106 of the first 108 colleges established in America were established as Bible colleges?

That includes virtually all of the Ivy League schools.

And how many of those like like those people they were trying to equip people academically a and biblically for life

outside of school, but how many of those schools still have that as their highest priority?

It’s very close to zero. So what happened?

Well, there there was a kingdom leader at one point that established that as a priority, but then they stepped back or

sat down or fell down and something else found its way to be the highest priority.

Maybe over time, maybe rapidly. Was it academics? Was it beautiful buildings?

Was it tolerance? Was it a desire to grow?

No matter what it was, something else found its way to the top.

So the first truth is a kingdom leader is committed to making God’s kingdom the highest priority in whatever territory

they have responsibility and accountability over. Um so what does that look like in the dayto-day? So a

few years ago this other home builder came to love named Dr. Horton. And if anybody knows Dr. the largest builder in

the US they build about a 100,000 homes a year. They will build more homes in the first five days of the year than

beatenbo homes will the whole year. So they we had heard they were coming to town uh and they’ve even started talking

to some other developers. Just for a little more context that that company is worth like $40 billion and uh they had

come to love a few years prior uh like in the 2000s but had left. But then in 2021, Don Horton, the founder, Dr.

Donald R. Horton, said he wanted to come back to the LC market and this time they would make it work.

They have five billion dollars in cash on hand. So if they want to make something work, they can make it work. Period.

Um, so we had heard they were talking to some other developers and then one day, uh, Corey Cisco, one of our senior leaders right back there, walked into my

office and said, “Hey, I wanted to tell you, uh, Brock Baker has resigned because

he’s going to become Dr. Horton’s new division president here in Lok.

What you need to know is Brock Baker was our most veteran general manager of our largest operation in Labok.

He’d been with us for 13 years and he knew all of our secrets. He knew all of our cost and our pricing. He knew all he

had personal relationships with all of the trades and the suppliers. And honestly, if you were coming to town and hoping to take market share from the

largest builder in Leuk, recruiting Brock Baker was probably the best move you could possibly make.

And uh but when Corey told me that Brock Baker is going to be the new division president for Dr.

I can honestly say that within five seconds, I sincerely said, “Good for him.”

That’s probably a great opportunity for Brock.

Now, I feel like God has asked me to share what this feels like on the inside for every story that I’m going to share with you guys, which I would rather not

do, but I’m supposed to share what my internal dialogue is and what the wrestling in my own head and heart was like. So, I’m

going to do that. Uh, I admit the first thought that went through my mind when Corey told me that was a combination of,

“Oh crap,” and what? How dare he reject us?

What the Lord has taught me so many times over the years is that I don’t have to take offense. And the goal shouldn’t be to try to keep everyone here.

God’s kingdom is bigger than beating Bo Holmes.

And while it might look like something’s being taken from us, the Lord withholds no good things from his kids.

I believe that to my core. The Lord withholds no good things from his kids.

So within a couple of seconds, the first words out of my mouth were good for him.

But do you know what the Lord asked me to do within one hour of hearing that?

To start praying for Brock’s early success, which sounds so dumb. Like, okay, it’s

one thing to be really excited for the guy and sincerely in my heart, I’m happy for him.

but to then start praying for the guy that is working for the fiercest competitor in the US who is now in your backyard to pray for his early success.

But the Lord wore me down and by the end of the day I started praying for that.

And in my next meeting with all of my senior leaders at Beanbo Homes, I told them what the Lord had asked me to do.

And then I said, “And I want all of us to do that together right now.” Think about this.

Brock is a kingdom leader. In fact, he sat in a workshop like this and was a table coach a dozen times.

What if he took that to his new role as division president uh in in Dr. Horton

and somehow the Lord made his division more healthy and successful than anything else and they came and said, “What are you doing different?” And that spread through the organization.

Wouldn’t we want that?

If the kingdom is the highest priority, that is what we would want. But if our business is the highest priority, we would not want that.

There’s a big difference in moments like that. What really is the most important thing? Um, and you know what? Dr. Horton

has been building in Leach for 5 years now, and uh, they are successful here.

And today we are selling more homes in Lev than we ever have in history. Uh, six years ago before Dr. Horton came, we

were uh building about 500 homes per year in Levik. In the past 12 months, we’ll be closer to a thousand. The Lord

took nothing from us. Now, when I heard that news about Brock, I didn’t know any of that. I really believe they’re going to take market share. That that’s what

we all Yeah, probably going to happen, you know.

But I chose to believe the Lord withholds no good things from from us.

And while it might seem like we’re losing something and I don’t know who’s going to replace him, I don’t know who we’ll have that the Lord would provide somebody. He would want to give us something too.

Um that doesn’t mean uh it’ll always be pleasant or or what you

wished and hoped for. I I’ll just make that clear. But we have learned to trust him and to make his kingdom the highest priority. Even in moments like that, in the kingdom of God, there is abundance.

There’s not scarcity.

And we can’t be tribal or fearful as kingdom leaders.

And I mean, the question really comes down to this a lot of times. Is this God’s stuff or is it your stuff?

Are these God’s people or are they your people? And and I can get in a mindset sometime. It’s like, well, you know,

we’re using all this to glorify God, but that’s a that’s a way to say it’s mine.

And that’s not how kingdom leader thinks the Lord wants to show us a different way. Um, and what we’re really talking about here is spiritual leadership.

That’s the first time you’ve heard that phrase. Kind of sounds spooky, huh?

Like, what does that even mean? Uh, what if I told you you’ve been designated and even anointed by God as the spiritual

leader over the territory you’re leading right now?

I’ve talked to a lot of business people over the years and I’ll say the most common response to that after after they

let that sink in for a minute is no, not me. You actually don’t know me. I I

don’t I don’t know enough Bible or I’m I’m I’m actually still a mess myself.

And that’s exactly the people God picks. If you read through the Bible, he loves to

pick people like that. It’s like his favorite thing. Who’s the person that can’t do it? That’s the one I’m going to use right there. So, good news. That doesn’t matter what whatsoever.

In fact, it actually might be what qualifies you. That if you were prepared, if you were equipped to do the work God is calling you to, I bet he

wouldn’t have called you to it. That’s kind of how I see this. I think in the kingdom, that’s how it works. Um, I want to communicate really clearly, you are a

spiritual leader. And actually, all leadership is spiritual.

Watch this y’all. Adolf Hitler was a powerful leader. He was a very effective leader. Nobody could argue

otherwise. Uh he had everything he needed, opportunity, resources, a perfectly aligned leadership team.

And evil spirits had their way in him.

His leadership was spiritual. Now for us, oftentimes the spirit leading us might

not be murder or domination. I hope it’s not. Uh, but it can be sometimes greed

or a lust for more. Can we admit that?

Or maybe just worshiping the work itself. Uh, some of us have elevated work above the kingdom. And we might not say that out loud, but we have done it.

As kingdom leaders, we must be led by God’s spirit.

And listen y’all, nobody does this perfectly. I don’t do it perfectly. We don’t do it perfectly.

You will not do it perfectly. What uh Rick Beanbo always said is we just need to keep those seasons where another spirit is leading us short.

Here’s a key to staying more focused and letting the Lord fill you up. Spending time with the king.

How can we lead in his kingdom if we don’t spend time with the king?

This might be the primary message you need to hear this week. How can you have a relationship with somebody if you never spend time with them?

It’s critical for every kingdom leader to spend time every day, every single day where you sit with the Lord and hear from him

so you can be led by his spirit as you go. If you’re not spending time with the Lord, Whose kingdom are you building?

And I’ll be honest, you know what kept me from spending time with God for a long time?

Fear.

I didn’t want it ever to be quiet where he could talk to me so I’d stay busy because I was afraid of what he would say if I was.

I was afraid he’s going to bring up this long list of shortcomings because there is a long list, man.

And I could see how he’d want to talk to people who maybe didn’t have that long list.

But at this point, he’s pretty disappointed in me.

If that’s you, you should know that it’s not.

Condemnation does not wait for you in quiet time with the Lord. Love waits for you there. And the Lord

isn’t going to remind you of those things. He’s going to remind you of who you are. He’s going to tell you about who he created you to be that you probably don’t even know yet.

He wants to reveal all the wonderful things inside of you that he planted. He knows they’re there. You might not, but he does. And he wants to help you with

that. He wants to help you understand how to live life in a healthy way.

not to get something from you, to help you, not for some outside purpose for you because he loves you so much.

Don’t be afraid of that time.

Gosh, now I can’t even see my notes. Uh he wants to tell you who he created you to be and to help you in your dayto-day.

[snorts] That’s what’s waiting. Intimacy with the father. uh you know Jesus tells us multiple places in the gospels that

the Holy Spirit is given to us to help teach and counsel and if we’ve accepted Jesus

the spirit of God is in you and he is speaking hope everybody heard that in the

activation I’ve heard a few stories of that uh he is speaking but I think a lot of times s we might not have a hearing

problem. We might have an obeying problem.

For me, that that’s the case. Uh like we might know what God wants us to do or is talking to us about, but we

find convenient ways to explain it away or to not do it. That that’s crazy. But

kingdom leaders not only hear from the Lord, they obey.

So what does that look like in a business? Okay. So, let me take you back to March 2020. You remember what was going on then?

Uh, the whole world seemed to be coming undone. And I’m not saying go back to like COVID times, like right at the

start where really none of us knew what was about to happen. [snorts] Uh, schools shut down, businesses had to close. Um, they canled March Madness.

It’s ludicrous.

There’s more uncertainty worldwide than any time in recent history. And the same was true for us. We didn’t know if we’d have to shut down or if we’d become what

that phrase, an essential business. I still get like a little PTSD when I hear that uh essential. And for us at Beenbo

Homes, we really faced all that same uncertainty.

We didn’t know what was next. But here’s what we did know. We had more cancellations than any time in our history by a long shot.

Um, many of our customers were losing their job or getting put on furlowed so they could no longer qualify for a mortgage. But some people were just

scared and just thought, let’s not make such a big decision right now. Maybe the wise thing was to conserve cash or to invest in toilet paper. Remember that?

That’s so weird. Uh, tell our grandkids about that one.

I’ve been praying for God’s leading in our business for years at that point, but I’ll say the prayers got a little more intense in that season, but I can

honestly say I had a strange sense of peace and I was never like worried or overcome by that burden

by it. Uh I remember first praying for our team. So, I saw so much fear and uncertainty in our teams because lots of them had uh friends or family members or

spouses who had already lost their job and they were wondering what happens if I do. And so, I was hoping we could

reassure them of that to try to give them peace. And I thought that would be the Lord’s heart, too. But I’ll just say you should ask him sometimes instead of

just assuming that’s what the Lord wants to do. So, that’s what I did. Lord, can we can we make some commitment to our people that we’re just not going to

leave them high and dry? And after a couple of days of prayer, I feel like the Lord said we could. We could say

even if we had to stop for six months and had no closing for up to six months, we’d still pay every single employee.

And I took that to the board. They also had peace with it. So on March 30th, I sent out a video of me saying that and making that commitment to them.

Um, but we continue to have more cancellations. So you can see there’s

just more cancellations. They’re past that March 30th number. Uh, the big question was this. Should we continue to start more homes or should we just wait?

and the largest and smartest home builders in the country had already pulled back or completely stopped uh starting new homes, but we believe the

Lord’s the answer. So, I asked him and I asked the senior leaders on my team uh to join me in praying for direction on

that. And I I didn’t want to pull back out of fear or my own idea of what was best.

uh all three of us had peace that we were supposed to continue to start continue starting homes uh even if there

weren’t buyers attached to them but by the end of April the US housing starts were down 35% from just 60 days prior

and beaten bow the beaten bow home spec inventory had grown to over $18 million because of all the cancellations and the

fact that we were starting another 40 homes every week and just adding to it, piling them up. What a great plan.

Uh, a couple of the top 10 biggest builders in the US had stopped starting homes at that point for a month already.

And I know at least one of them continued that for three months. And honestly, that’s what Harvard business would likely teach is the right move in

that, you know, that when there’s so much uncertainty, conserve cash.

Definitely don’t continue blindly into the unknown.

So, we continue to pray. Lord, are you sure about this? Maybe I misheard. Uh, I admit what often might

come out of my mouth is, “Lord, are you sure about this?

I know you’re in control. I know you’re in control, right? And I feel like you’ve given me direction and peace, but if this doesn’t work, this could sink

the whole ship. And all of these people aren’t going to turn and look at you. They’re going to turn and look at me.

But I know you I know you’re faithful and I’m going to believe you’re going to be here, too. So, just tell me what I’m supposed to do next. What’s this

supposed to look like? What’s my right next step?

It honestly felt like walking in the dark. Like, I turned out the lights. I’m trying to make my way through a room in

the dark, pitch black. Uh he continued to give us peace to continue to start homes despite what the market was saying. So that’s what we did. But that

also means every day we continued to write checks to our trade partners and suppliers for work they were doing on the homes, materials they were

delivering. But at the same time, cash from closings weren’t coming in at the same rate. So we ate down this cash

reserve to the point that we could no longer fulfill that promise to employees. If this stopped, we wouldn’t have six months of payroll.

And so we went back to the Lord and I was like, uh, so I know I asked you about this. Remember when I was asking you about this? Did you know if the

music stopped right now, we wouldn’t have the ability to do that? You’re not going to leave us high and dry here, are

you? And he didn’t even respond to the question, which is frustrating. Uh,

all we felt is that he gave us peace to continue to start homes, which made me feel like a crazy person.

We actually couldn’t see how both of those things could be true at the same time, but we chose to be obedient and

really surrender to the last word we heard from him. And it’s kind of like Abraham. So Abraham, the Lord told him,

Abraham, I I will give you so many descendants through your son Isaac. But then he said, I need you to kill him.

I know for a fact Abraham could not reconcile those two things.

It it says he set out the next morning to go sacrifice Isaac. I know what that night was like before.

and ab Abraham wrestling with how can that be true Lord and what are you gonna do Abraham

and he chose to believe that the promises of God that while I can’t understand how this could both be true

that God upholds his promises and so the next day he packed up right

now I want to show you a chart of the hard data so you know this isn’t a preacher story

[snorts]

The green area on this chart represents total US housing starts and then I overlaid that black line that is beatenbo home starts for that same time

period monthtomonth and you can see we largely follow that national trend until March

where US housing starts plummeted but we didn’t get the memo and we just our line just keeps going

and while that line might look short that is three months. That is 90 days in the desert where I felt like a crazy person where we all felt like that.

By the end of May, our cash reserve was extremely low. So, we are a very cash intensive business. I would say our operating cash around that time would

vary from 15 to $20 million. Uh which is a good thing because we might pay out six million in a single week to trade

partners and suppliers. But there was times in May where that cash dipped below 5 million.

You see the problem? If some of the closings that were scheduled didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have enough money to pay our trades and suppliers, much less our employees.

At one point, our board, actually, I remember this conversation vividly, started talking about if someone doesn’t get paid this week, it will start with

us. will be the first ones to go without a check.

That’s how real it got. It was not theoretical at all.

And my prayers in that season were, “Lord, we’ve been trying to follow your plan here.

I know you’re pretty busy with this whole pandemic thing, but you’re not leaving us out here to die, right?

We don’t have a plan B. This is not what I would have done. You let us here.

You told us we could say that. How are we going to Lord? We’ve gone We’ve fallen way too far to be able to pull a parachute here.

You got to show up.

And you know, everybody wants to see a miracle, but nobody wants to be in a position to need one.

Me included.

I never want to be in that position of desperation where Lord, if you don’t show up, it’s over.

Of [snorts] course, today we know the rest of this story. Here’s what happened over the next couple of months. We entered into the largest housing boom in

US history, and it looked like we called it.

We were one of the only builders in the country that had a ton of inventory that was ready to sell.

It looked like we called. It looked like we were the smartest people in the room. That is not how that happened.

[laughter]

You now know [snorts] the behind the scenes.

Uh within 12 months, our cash balance was over 50 million, which was more than double the peak it had ever been before.

[snorts]

It honestly was hard to believe. It felt like one of those stories from the Old Testament that it’s like, “What just happened? [snorts]

I believe the Lord was saying, “Cal, if you can just trust me, if you can just trust me, I’m not only

going to provide for you and your team, which I know you’re concerned about, but all of the trade partners and

suppliers, and not just them, for their families.

I’m going to provide for everyone around you. If you can just trust me, my son, this is going to be hard, but you can do

it. I know what’s inside of you and you can do it.

And I believe the Lord would never have been mad at me, not for a second, if I couldn’t have done it. If I let fear overcome me and and I said, “We can’t do

it.” He would have still been so proud of me as a son. At the same time, there would have been real consequences.

Heartache would have entered the world that was not part of God’s plan.

that he didn’t want. There had been people around me that got hurt by that because I wasn’t able to be obedient.

I’m glad we didn’t just listen, but we obeyed.

And when you do that, lots of times you get to be in a position where you need a miracle and you get to see one.

I have so many stories like that. I have crazy stories. I can’t share all of them. I I gotta keep going. We’ll keep going. Uh

the fact is there’s there’s lots of moments where we were doubting and questioning God through that. I can say that I was there. You just heard the

behind the scenes. There was lots of doubting and questioning God in that.

And I feel like the Lord wants me to tell you that sometimes when you you are doubting or questioning God, you think

it’s because you don’t have enough faith. That is not true.

The doubting and questioning is you looking at the circumstances and trying to believe anyway.

It actually is your faith emerging.

It’s not the absence of faith. It actually that is your faith when you are wrestling with Lord I want to believe this but gosh this doesn’t look like

that is what’s going to happen. That is your faith emerging. you’re actually doing it.

When you doubt or question God, it’s not a sign of lack of faith. The wrestling is your faith emerging.

Okay. There are two keys to being a kingdom leader. The first one is to ask God to lead you.

If you take home just one thing from the workshop, we are all hoping it’s this.

This is the most important thing we’ll say all week.

Everything else we say can flow out of this. If you can get this one thing, I promise God can teach you the rest of it. You actually don’t even need to stay

for the rest of the workshop. No, y’all should y’all stay. We’ll tell more stories or something. We’ll at least have more coffee. Uh [snorts] there are a couple ways we can ask God

to lead us. And like the first one is just in general, and I hope everybody in this room has done this. Lord, would you lead my life in general? I’m yours.

Lead me. But the other part comes on a Tuesday at 3:17 in the afternoon when

you’re sitting in a meeting or you’re you’re in your vehicle or or you’re at home with your family. It’s like the practical tactical decision time

moments. Asking him to lead us in those is powerful. And I [snorts] believe Moses is right there in that kind of

moment for this verse in Exodus. He says, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” You

know, Moses had gone up on a mountain and some crazy stuff had happened. Uh God gave him the Ten Commandments, but when he

came down, all of the Israelites were worshiping an idol.

And Moses got pretty upset, but he was not as upset as God was.

Moses went back up to talk to him and God basically said, “Moses, take these people of yours and leave right now. Go.

Now, I’m still going to give you the land that I promised to your ancestors because I keep my promises, but I’m not going to go with you because I might kill you on the way.

I might kill you on the way.

I’ve been on car trips with my family and gotten pretty upset, but I’ve never thought, I’m afraid I might kill them on the way.

Uh Moses was just a shepherd. How could he lead two million Israelites through the desert?

He wasn’t qualified. Could he do it?

So, as a kingdom leader, Moses fell on his knees. And this is what he said. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to

find favor with you. And later in that same passage, Moses beg God’s begs God that if his presence isn’t going to go

with him, don’t send him away. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you.

Okay, let me tell you one more story of how this plays out. In a normal workday, there’s a section of land just a few miles from here. And I’d always see it when I came back into town from Midland.

like a stop sign. And I know Lok’s really flat, but this piece of land had a little topography to it. And I could just like see the rooftops and I was

like, “That’d be such a great place to buy land and build some homes.” And I I didn’t covet it, but it got pretty close

a couple times, I think. Uh then one day we were looking for our next big piece of land in Southwest Leach, and somebody had listed that piece of land for sale.

And we were like, “All right, see if we can make a deal.” Uh, I can say I’ve made a deal with like hundreds of land

owners over the years, interacted with lots and lots of them, but this guy was different.

Very weird. So, he would like propose something and even if you agreed to it completely, he would like change his mind or come up with a new stipulation.

It was like he was not trying to sell it at all.

But then there would be progress and then he would go silent for over a month.

And after 12 months of this, over 12 months actually, three of us got in a pickup

one morning at work and we drove over there and we stood on the land and prayed and said, “Lord, if this is

the land you have for us, would you give it to us? And if it’s not, would you release it? release us from it because we are tired.

We held hands while we were praying.

There’s three guys in a field holding hands. I just think about people driving by and then we left. That was about I I’ve

gone back and tried to figure out the timeline. I think that was about 9:30 in the morning before lunch that day.

Someone called our front office, just our main line at the front office, and said they were actually the owners of that piece of land, and they were ready to sell.

And I guarantee I was more confused than you are now. Like, well, we’ve been talking to him.

It turns out the guy who listed the land actually wasn’t one of the owners. His wife had a minority ownership.

It had been split among several family members, but the majority owner was the one who called our front desk. So we called them back and asked them if they

could meet. They could meet the next day. We made a deal on the spot.

That community is called Harvest. Anyone who lives in love, that’s how we got that land. That’s a true story.

Why did it take us so long to ask? Because it’s not in our nature to ask.

You know, as guys, I I hate asking for directions. like but

we don’t always remember to ask here. We don’t do it perfectly. Did you see that story over 12 months? These aren’t all

good stories of like faithfulness. Uh over 12 months. And I think the Lord will let us do that. Like he’ll just let

us No, you can make your own way. Just when you’re tired, just tell me and I’ll help. Uh that’s what it looks like lots of times.

Uh, God isn’t mad at us. He’ll let us make our own way, but I’m going to guess he probably had a better way if we would asked him. So, my daughter plays

volleyball and uh after a game, she had a game last night. I have so many great coaching

tips. You wouldn’t believe all the coaching tips I have. Y’all laugh.

Here’s what I’ve learned. Don’t give unsolicited advice.

If she asks me for feedback, and I think maybe once in the past year she has, I I can share some of those things, but if she doesn’t ask me, I don’t share them.

And God is a better father than me. He doesn’t want to force himself on us. He doesn’t doesn’t want us to chase chase us down.

It’s because his goal is not for us to get everything perfect. That’s not the end goal. It’s not to get something from

us. It’s to give us something. He wants to help us and he’s never disappointed when we disobey. But if we go, “Dad,

could you help with yes?” He’s there already. He He wants to help. The answer is always yes to whatever you’re going to say at the end of that question. Yes.

There’s nothing off the table. Who am I supposed to hire for this position? What am I supposed to offer in this negotiation? Where do I need to go to find my new framer?

or where did I leave my car keys? He wants to help you with the smallest and the biggest stuff.

Okay, another time I did remember to ask God first. I did. I’m proud of this one kind of. Uh there was a situation in

Midland where we bought land and started to develop it. Uh but later, much later in that process, city staff came back to

us and said only a small portion of that piece of land could be developed with their existing water infrastructure.

Um, the city made it really clear that they would only give us about 200 permits [snorts] and not the original 1,000 we thought we

would get on that piece of land. We basically have to go build somewhere else uh and then could later come back and develop it after they had built a

water tower and installed several miles of a 30-inch water man, which would take them several years to complete. But

here’s the problem. That small portion of the property only got gave us about six months of homesides

before we ran out. And what is a builder without a homesite?

Not a builder. Ask me how I know. Uh it takes over a year to get a piece of

land from the time you made a deal with a landowner through the city entitlement process and then get that first phase on the ground. We had six months. The

fastest we had ever done it in Midland was 18 months. [snorts] So, uh, this time I did remember though.

So, every morning in my quiet time, I’d pray, “Lord, you know, we need land in Midland.

Where should we go? Who should we talk to? What do you have for us? [snorts] I’m going to start there.”

Those prayers were tenacious. Uh but I didn’t feel like God said anything for two months.

So now we are down to four months and we are desperately in need of land.

The city is like I don’t know. I mean it’s a 200. We told you guys that.

And I’m a door kicker. you should know I could drive down to Midland and within a day at least three I could have land

bought but I’ve learned not to go do that my own way for what I feel like is best and so this really was me trying to

surrender and say Lord I know I’m supposed to start with you but you got to give me the plan quick and there was two months of me not

moving trying to believe I can’t see how this is going to happen then finally one day

I was walking in the garden that back here. And I’m starting in again like I always do.

I It was 7 a.m. I’m I’m just going to walk around. I’m going to ask the Lord. I’m going to spend some time with him.

I’m hoping he’s going to talk to me. And so I walk out the back door and I say, “Lord, you know when he’d land in Midland and I heard crystal clear, I

still remember this moment before the door had even closed.” In my mind, I feel like the Lord said,

“Do you Do you?

Okay, I’m supposed to tell you what it feels like on the inside. So, I was pissed.

I think angry doesn’t capture it. Uh,

I was mad. I could I can put myself back in that moment like, have you not been paying attention? I’ve probably said this over a thousand times at this

point, praying to you.

And you, what are you talking about down there? Do you need land?

Yes, I freaking need land.

A thousand people are going to lose their jobs if you don’t freaking show up right now. And I’m sitting here. I’m trying to say, “Lord, leave me.

Do you do you even care?

He didn’t say another word. I was like, what do you even mean? What does that mean, Lord?

Walk around the garden. He says nothing.

Next day, I mean, still same day, I remember that afternoon telling Rick, “This is what I think I heard. What in the world? I’m I’m still mad.”

and he didn’t know. He’s like, “God, that does that sound crazy. I don’t even know what that means either.” You see, I had neglected to start with,

“Lord, do we need land in Midland?” [snorts] Now, the most senior people at the city told me I did, but I didn’t start with Lord, do I?

I moved on to obviously we do. Cal thinks it’s good. That’s what they’re telling me.

And it turns out, you already You already know, huh? We didn’t need it.

We built 1,140 homes straight through that neighborhood and the water pressure never dropped.

We didn’t need it.

And the Lord showed me again that even when it looks like he’s not delivering, he is.

When I think this good thing, he’s just not given it to us. I’m wrong, not him.

And every time he’s teaching me to trust him more and more and more like a good father would.

He’s trustworthy. And next time, he’ll be able to take me a little bit further and a little bit further before I freak out. And he’s not mad at me when I freak

out. I mean, David, King David in the Bible, Lord, my enemies surround me.

Where are you? And he calls that man a man after his own heart. That wasn’t a lack of faith. That was David trying to faith in the middle of hard circumstances.

That means you’re doing it. That’s what faith looks like. I feel like that’s what the Lord wants me to try to convey.

That’s what faith looks like. Uh I feel like there’s a progression. This is what the Lord has taught me that we

all like start here. uh as let’s let’s call this level one. Uh and [snorts] it

is uh Lord, I’m gonna I’m I’m a Christian in business. I’m going to try to do business the right way. I’m going to try to honor you in it. I’m not going

to like cuss people out and I’m going to try to do it the right way. And the Lord is so pleased with that. So pleased with that. We’ll call that level one. Level

two, uh I I figured out this thing is progressive. That’s my experience. Level two is like, Lord, would you open doors and close doors? I’ve heard lots of

people pray that. would you use external circumstances around me to show me what your will is?

And the Lord is so pleased with that.

[snorts]

Level three is the lesson you heard me just learn. Uh

even when I know what to do, I’m going to ask you if you have a better way.

As business people, as leaders, oftentimes we know what the right thing is.

What submission could look like is I’m going to set that down and I don’t want the thing I want most. I want what you want most. So, do you see this differently?

I’m going to set down my own thing. Lord, how do you see this?

Hey, and I’m sure there’s a level four and a level five. God just hasn’t taken me there yet. So, I can just share. This is all I know so far, that little

progression. So, where do you recognize you on that? And what does deeper look like?

[snorts] Um, you know, back to Moses, the Lord said, “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” And

that’s his answer every time we stop and ask about everything. Nothing’s off the table. Where should we go? What should we do?

Where is the water leak in this home?

Okay. [snorts] One time I was talking to all of the managers in our company about this kind of thing and sharing stories and the [snorts] next week I got a call from our warranty manager, one of our

warranty managers in the city and he told me a story. He said they had been out to fix a leak in a home in one of

our homes uh several times. They had spent several hours there and still couldn’t find it. So he started thinking about what I had shared the week before

and he’s like, “Lord, you know where that leak is, right?

could you show me?

And he said immediately he got an image in his mind of the guest bathroom.

But here’s the problem. The leak was in the master bathroom.

There wasn’t a problem in the guest bathroom. You going to cut open that wall?

There’s not a problem there. you gonna are you going to cut into the drywall when there’s not a problem in there?

You’re going to look like a crazy person.

In fact, he decided he was he was going to try this. Let’s run a little experiment. Lord, I’m going to try this.

But he had to explain to his team first because they’re going to be confused on why he’s walking to the guest bathroom and cutting into the drywall, right?

And so he said, “Hey guys, I know this is going to look crazy, but when we go in there, I feel like the Lord I got this picture in my head and it’s it’s in

the guest bathroom.” Now, I know that doesn’t make any sense, but that young man went and cut open the drywall. And would you believe there was a problem?

Not everybody that works for our company is a believer. In fact, I’m going to guess some people on that team were not.

What do you think just happened?

And the Lord wanted to do that. But it wasn’t just about asking God.

It was about him being willing to take a risk in his faith because what if he’s wrong?

But think about it this way. My friend Casey always says, “What if you’re right? What if it’s right? What happens?

What what happened to those people’s faith, his team members faith in that moment? What happens to his faith? what happened to my faith from that story?

But we have to take a risk there. Um

[snorts]

I think probably one of the biggest things that helps me take risk in my faith is this

building a team around you that will be in it with you. So, so that whole 2020

COVID thing, I could not have done it if it wasn’t for Gina Roach and Corey Lusk.

That was the people who were praying, Lord, what do we do here? That was the Beaten Bomes leadership team at that time. And if they would have said, Cal,

you’re crazy. It would have ended that day.

But if they said, Cal, I feel the same thing.

That’s the power. And so key number two, number one, ask the Lord to lead you. If you forget everything else this week,

please don’t forget that key number two, build an align leadership team. Knight people around you to lead alongside you.

When I say leadership team, it’s it’s the group of people that decides whether the organization turns right or left. They’re the ones that set the direction.

Uh in some companies, that might be a board or executive team or management team. In a small company that might be husband and wife. The only rule is it

can’t be one, has to be two. Um, Rick told me when God first started talking

to him about this, he said he felt like Rick was he like God was telling him, “Rick, you’re going to die if you keep

going this way.” And so, the weight was going to kill him. And God didn’t want that for Rick.

You’re going to die, my friend. you need a team to spread the weight of this over. But then he said number two, which might have been harder for him to hear,

and Rick, not only would it kill you if you keep going this way, you’re going to kill my ministry disguised as a homebuilding company. You’re going to

kill it. It’s not safe from you unless if you have a team around you.

Having a team that is all committed to hearing from God creates safety. If I’m if God’s trying to get a hold of me and I’m not picking up the phone, maybe one of my team members will or my wife will.

It creates safety in that way. And actually, that’s where the boldness and taking risks come from together. We believe and we strengthen each other.

And you need that. If you don’t have a leadership team, you should. I don’t believe God has ever asked us to do this

in isolation where the one person at the top decides it all. That’s not healthy.

Rick also said in that season when God was trying to teach him about a leadership team, there was a couple of ground rules he felt like God gave him

and uh these are them. The senior leader is accountable to the team. I can honestly say my team holds me every bit

as accountable as I do them. The team I lead has had more corrective conversations with me. Right, Randy? Has

had more conver corrective conversations with me than the sum of all the ones I’ve had with them. And that’s the right thing. And it was the same way with Rick

Beenbo when he was leading me because he allowed it to be that way. The truth is the person with the most power must be the most accountable.

Those don’t come apart. They should come together in God’s kingdom.

And then the team is invited to weigh in on all decisions.

Let’s say we’re making a decision about something over here and somebody’s leading something over here. We say you can weigh in on this even though it’s

not your territory. We would like we all get to weigh in on everything. The whole leadership team weighs in on everything.

Uh that it’ll lead to better ideas and better decisions. Honestly, share everything with them. Don’t withhold anything.

And that means compensation, the financials, the profit, the income

statement, how much you take home, share everything with them. That’s what Rick would say. And then the third one is

this is not a democracy and this is an important one. Look, the Lord has anointed you over a certain territory and you cannot abdicate that authority.

We do not make decisions ever around here by popular vote. Ever.

really it’s up to uh it’s not up to the leader to come up with all the best ideas. It’s up to them to make sure all

the ideas are heard and the best one wins.

The way we say it around here a lot of times is people get a voice but they don’t get a vote.

So I feel like those are some of the biggest lessons we’ve learned. We’ll talk more about building an align team in a in a breakout session here in a

minute. But just as a recap to be a kingdom leader, we believe these three C’s. It’s what or the ABCs, sorry. Uh

ask God to lead you. Build an align leadership team. And I’m not about to crack open that next one. Commit to a relational style. My friend Brad will talk about in the keynote this afternoon.

Okay. Pray with me. Lord, we invite you

into our hearts to transform us. And thank you for inviting us to become leaders in your kingdom. We admit we are inadequate and incapable of doing that.

But if you say we can and you’ll go with us, we accept it. Thank you for being willing to help us. I ask that you lead every single person in this room.

May you open their heart to asking you for direction more often. I ask that for me as well.

Lord, I pray that you knit together aligned leadership teams among the people in this room.

That they’ll submit to one another, that they’ll love and honor one another, and that together they’ll expand your kingdom.

Lord, help us on this journey in the name of Jesus. Amen.

[applause]