Work with Purpose | Purposeful Work Panel | February 2025

Description

Explore how discovering and embracing your purpose in the marketplace can transform the way you approach work. In this insightful Work with Purpose Panel, Amanda Bullen, Betenbough Companies leader, along with Al Escamilla of RigID and Bo Dunagan, from Dunagan Transport, share their personal journeys of integrating faith into their work and the profound impact it has had on their businesses and communities. From shifting mindsets to aligning values, they discuss how serving others with purpose—from small acts of generosity to fostering trust in the workplace—reveals the Kingdom of God in action. Through real-life stories and practical examples, you’ll be encouraged to reflect on your own calling and to invite God into every aspect of your work, creating a ripple effect that extends beyond the office and into the lives of those you serve. Key topics include: • How knowing your “why” shapes the impact you have in the workplace • Shifting from self-centered success to Kingdom-centered purpose • Practical steps to integrate God’s purpose into daily work, relationships, and responsibilities • Real-life examples of vulnerability, humility, and generosity that bring Kingdom values to the marketplace Watch now and be inspired to live your purpose every day, no matter where you work.

hey we’re going to talk about that right

now with two of my friends my name is

Amanda bullan and I work for beaten bow

companies um I get to lead the Kingdom

at work team uh our HR team and our

health and wellness team and I have two

of my friends here with me that are in

the marketplace and we going to spend a

few minutes talking about what it looks

like to know your why and to work with

purpose so why don’t you guys tell us

who you are and how you serve in your

communities Al you want to go first sure

I’m Alice Kama uh my wife Krist and I

own and operate rig ID in Midland Texas

and um we started in 2014 and um believe

that you know that was our purpose and

it’s been a a great road that has been

led by God and we’re glad to be here

today thanks uh my name is Bo dunigan

and uh I’m the CEO of dunan Transport my

wife and I have been operating at the

business is we’re second gener I’m

second generation we’ve uh we’re almost

45 years in business um we operate abene

St Angelo and Midland and we provide a

tank truck service in the oil and gas

industry awesome thank you both for

being here so we want this to be like an

interactive panel and so uh we might go

off script because I’m not going to lie

we don’t have a script that’s what makes

it fun so what shift begin um to happen

in the way that you viewed your work Bo

let’s start with you okay you know there

was a big shift in my life I didn’t get

saved until I was uh 35 about 10 years

ago and man my life was a wreck I tell

you I was I I was raised in abene and

spent most of my my life with boots on

the ground either on a farm ranch or out

in the oilfield and so I was a Christian

by default and what I mean was I wasn’t

Muslim or atheist so from West Texas you

just must be a Christian right um man

that’s a dangerous spot to be but anyway

my life was a mess at 35 and I broke my

business was broke um my marriage was on

you know a Sho string and so um I

surrendered it to God and I tell you God

he he allowed he’s a he’s a god of order

he allowed me to get my relationship

with him then my wife then my family and

once that was stable I was able to um

get back into the business and start

saying okay God this is a mess how do I

how do I re-enter the world of Dunning

and transport or am I supposed to enter

the world of ding a transport and uh

that’s how it initially went for me uh

in the in the in the

beginning I love that you said that that

God is in the business of

order and he got you and him in order

and then your wife in order and then he

got you in your work in order yes ma’am

yeah so in your work driving into that

just a tad bit deeper what shifted like

what shifted with the way that that you

worked how did your mindset change well

you know we typically are driving

Enterprise Value in our business and in

our case you know the the more trucks we

have on the road and more customers we

have you know the higher our Enterprise

Value and we pretty much do that almost

or I did almost at any cost and so um

God completely took that away you know I

held my as we all do our Rolodex of

customers and those were mine and I

wouldn’t let anybody have those because

that meant that that I had security with

those customers and immediately God said

hand those over and I I really haven’t

been able to pick them back up that was

a big shift in just trusting the team uh

and they’ve done a lot better job with

it than than I would have uh but that

was a very hard part for me initially

yeah that’s good Al how about you can

you tell us about what happened in a

shift with you in in your life and in

your work I think the key word there is

shift because mine has had mult multiple

gears right so started in first and I’m

not sure what gear we’re in right now

but uh as I was telling you yesterday as

you drive out here Big T news uh the

building is still there by the airport

most of you you know if you’re famid no

dust you know which one it is and my

wife’s first day at work I met her and

it wasn’t by accident so I happened to

decide that I thought that I needed to

be on TV when I really didn’t but I but

I was ended up at the station that day

her first day of work and I would say

that was the first big shift is when I

met my wife and then um the second was

when our first born was born you drive

home and you’re just like okay this is

not about me anymore and as I mentioned

earlier you know prior to having

children it was a lot about me and so

when you have kids and that drive home I

still remember driving you know 10 miles

an hour with the car seat in the back

not not sure what what I was doing um

and my life changed that day I mean you

know everything that I did from from

that point on

was really about serving God first and

then serving family and I wanted to make

sure that you know you’re going to make

mistakes along the way whether it’s in

business and in family and gosh we all

do right and it takes us through

different seasons I mean in our business

you know we were in the uniform business

and we still are but during covid we

turned our store into a grocery store

for 30 days and then you know the white

uniforms that people wear when they were

testing so I invented a thing called the

um it was It was a coat and that’s what

the hospitals wore so we between Leck

and El Paso we sold about 500,000 of

those uniforms to serve people for

testing and so that took us through

several gears right there but along the

whole way we were trying to serve God

and serve our community regardless of

what it was whether it was groceries or

uniforms we wanted to grow where we were

planted and make sure that that we

served him and we served our family and

I think the key to it all you know as

you’re going through that shift is you

just can’t give up

yeah really great nuggets of truth I

hope yall wrote some of those down one

of the things you said Al and we’ve

we’ve talked several times you’ve you’ve

told me that you know the birth of of

your first born you went from me

centered and kind of being chasing

titles and money and what you thought

was success to being we centered and

being more focused on the outside yeah I

think there’s a lot of different ways

especially when you’re young you know um

and now in the of social media success

can be measured so many different ways

but really success at the end of the day

is what are you doing for others and how

you how are you serving the lord doing

it and you know George W Bush when he

left office um he came to Midland and

one of the things that he said was we

have an obligation to help those that

can’t help themselves and that’s always

stuck with me and um and and I think

through our business regardless of what

we’re doing that that’s that’s what we

really have to do and and just help

however we can

yeah so when you start down this journey

of knowing your why that like man

there’s purpose wherever God has placed

me and whatever season whatever role

he’s placed me in there’s going to be a

journey of ups and downs so Bo why don’t

you tell us some of those ups and some

of those Downs in this journey that

you’ve had okay yeah so um yeah there’s

there’s many you know one thing when you

start clearly God gave me a p the only

purpose to get back into the business

business uh the only reason to get back

in the family business was um to find

Value and learn to love to love people

now loving 100 plus truck drivers

individually is tough and so he doesn’t

expect that from me but he’s taught me

how to learn to love a group of people

uh as a whole and and then

individually um has connected me with

many and so that and then the bigger

thing and I I strugg with it today and I

struggle with it then is accountability

and you’ve heard it said loving

accountability and so uh I’m a

relational guy and so um you know full

of Second Chances and a lot of times we

want it worse than the person themsel

wants it and so uh obviously in our

business is highly regulated and uh the

Regulatory and and just the safety uh

demands of the industry is that we have

a pretty low tolerance for mistakes we

have to and that makes it really

challenging you know if if they don’t

want to better themsel or they don’t

want to uh to see you know themsel grow

and we we see the potential in them it

is I really struggle with that um but

with that being said we see you know we

tend to fixate on like maybe less than

10% of the of the things that don’t go

right but there are little nuggets every

day that we see and it’s God speaking to

us and and showing us that he’s with us

um he hears us he sees us and you really

have to be involved in the company like

it’s not this big um grandioso you know

split the Red Sea although I believe in

those Miracles and you know

wholeheartedly love to see them when

they come around but it’s more of a

subtle you know nuggets each day in the

workplace and that’s the uh you know

that’s the the fruit of it and that’s

the results but it is messy you’ll hear

you know is it messy and it’s extremely

messy so you get to work with a bunch of

Rowdy guys yeah and you say I want to

love these guys like what does that

tangibly look like on a daily basis well

you know um one of the key one of the

key indicators that I was to get back

into business is that I had a ug I mean

I had an ugly pass from you know youth

using drugs and abusing alcohol and

going off and doing things that uh no no

husband should do and um and so God

spoke to me very clearly like he does

all us and said I didn’t use all this um

just to put you on a different path and

so a lot of times well not a lot of

times more times than most U I can

relate with the driver I’ve I’ve done it

um I am a truck driver I started in a

truck I didn’t go um to college and get

an accounting degree and come back to

the family business I started uh boots

on the ground and and was you know

pretty dang wild and so I have I can

relate with them and and know where they

are and so I know that’s uh God showed

told me early on and he uses that and

and it’s and it’s really a good thing

about being uh you know transparent and

vulnerable in um that we’ve been on

their path and we we know what we’re

going through and that there’s a better

way that’s so good you can meet people

right where they are and the sweet thing

that that I love that you said like God

didn’t just get you on the right path

for you he does it for for so many

others and if you’re humble enough to

let him use it and to speak into others

lives like that’s a great way to love

people right where you are Al why don’t

you tell us about the Journey of kind of

some of the ups and the Downs that that

you guys have faced um in the

marketplace how much time do we

have it’s you know the journey is again

I think it’s going to be bumpy it’s

going to be great it’s going to be a lot

of things um one of the things that I

learned is that you have to really

believe in what you’ve been blessed with

right so believe in your blessings and

when you hear people say well I built an

organization and you’ll hear hear the

advice you know hire your weaknesses you

know if you’re not good at accounting

well hire a great accountant if you if

you’re not you know understand law hire

a lawyer so I really believe that you

know God blesses us with it’s kind of

like when you go to college and you get

a major that’s really your blessing

whatever you understand and what you’re

good good at that’s what God’s blessing

is and so in order to get Su through

some of those you know um troughs that

you’re given if you if you really find a

team that has blessings that that you

don’t have it’s going to help you along

the way you know and I’m listening to B

story and um if I’m his dad I’m sitting

here going God why did you you know take

my son through this and then at the end

of the day he ends up running the

company that he built none of that

matters cuz he’s right where he wanted

him to be and and so I know as a dad and

as a business owner that that’s what you

know that’s that’s a dream you know to

to be able to to do what what Bose

achieved so the the road is always going

to be bumpy it’s never going to be

straight you know straight downhill for

sure so I I think that you know

understanding what you’re blessed with

and taking advantage of it thanking God

for it every day and and using it as

best as you possibly can that’s the key

uh one of the ways that you were telling

me that you partner with God in your

work is just by

listening and listening and then asking

like what am I supposed to do about this

you were telling me a story um about a

team member that you just were listening

and they had a need for club sports for

their kid not anything holy um not

anything um big but it was big to them

will you tell us about that yeah so we

you know we had one of our employees and

she’s a single mom and when we were

backstage I was sitting there thinking

uh we have three women that work for us

that are all single moms and this one in

particular was has had a 13 has a

13-year-old son and uh um you know just

like any other teenager coming home

getting in a little bit of trouble U

really no guidance and so you know she

he he loves football and so it was not

football season it was track season so I

called my friend John Norman who runs a

youth sports league in Midland and I

said hey I want to pay for this kid to

run track this summer and um and so you

know we called the employee in and said

hey look this is already taken care of

we we just want you to get him out there

and I’ll tell you it was a life shift

for him

and so as employers you know we try to

listen and like as both alluded to

earlier sometimes we want it more than

what they want it themselves but I think

regardless of that you know you have to

be who you are and sometimes it works

and sometimes it doesn’t and so in this

case the kid ran track he’s played

football he’s doing offseason football

and you know I went out and took

pictures of him uh playing football

during the fall and he’s you know so

small but he’s so gritty and so gutsy

that it just makes you so proud and you

know so um I think that being a good

listener and understanding what your

employees are saying and doing and

treating them like their family

sometimes it doesn’t always turn out the

way that you want it to but if you just

stay true to yourself and what God’s

telling you then you know you’re doing

the right

thing just this week I was listening to

a podcast and they talked about how one

of the evidence of the kingdom of God in

your life is that just serving just

flows out of you and that that is

beautiful that we hear in both of you

and that wherever you are you can hear

people and then you can serve them by

just hearing what they need you know

whether it’s affirmation whether it’s

paying for a kid to be on a club track

team maybe it’s buying a meal for

someone well one of the things I want

everybody to leave with is like what is

a tangible action that anyone can start

practicing right now in the marketplace

Bo yeah so for me I was thinking about

this early on and still today and it’s

something that I’m I’m I’m comfortable

with but I but I have to really focus

and be intentional about it to get

comfortable with but uh you know again

growing up in the in the oil and gas and

the in the truck and just you know I saw

myself as a you know tough guy didn’t

show any emotion my wife would tell you

that she never saw me cry the first 15

years of our marriage and um so when all

this you know when I figured out okay

this is what God has me planned so I got

with our crew our leadership crew and we

sat down and just being transparent and

vulnerable and I just laid it out there

I remember sitting in that conference

room that I’d sitting in for 15 years

and you know threw things against the

wall and cussed and said things and and

I I just went and dismissed all that and

I really just you know broke down in

tears and put my heart out there and

said guys I’ve been doing it wrong um

we’re going to do it different I don’t

know what that looks like but here

here’s what’s going on and man the

feedback and the support and the

understanding but more than that it just

opened up

conversation um with the whole team and

it still does when I find myself I tend

to want to hold my cards and I tend to

not want to be open uh want to carry the

load and I feel like that’s my job as a

CEO to to carry that load and what the

kingdom has showed me is that that is

exactly wrong it’s it’s the it’s to

share and and be open about what what

challenges uh owners or CEOs or

presidents or anybody in your in your uh

Team to share those experiences together

and so that’s something that I still

from early on and then today um is just

being open and

vulnerable yeah that’s great you don’t

hear that a lot of times in this

industry do you especially for men

thanks for saying that Bo

Al well just you foro you know he’s

talking about you know being vulnerable

when you get to be my age people can ask

you how are your kids and you start

crying so just just so you know um I

think a couple of things you know that

that have worked for me um in our family

is you know you really had to take care

of yourself and lead by example so you

know Krist and I we we exercise every

day and we pray every day and I always

tell my friends and my employees and our

family that those are the two things for

me that I never feel bad about I feel

great when you walk out of you know

church or when you walk out of the gym

those are the two things you never walk

out going man I wish I wouldn’t have

done that you know it it it really does

help and so we try to carry those

encourage our employees to do that and

then also um as part of being vulnerable

being able to say man I really messed

that up if you have a customer that’s

upset or an employee that’s upset

instead of just trying to put blame on

someone it’s easy you’re regardless of

whose fault it is it’s always the

owner’s fault right um and just and

owning it and understanding that because

it helps the employees also own their

mistakes as they as they make mistakes

and you’re always going to have them and

then that becomes an opportunity to put

a new process in or put a new system in

place and so you grow from that just

like you do in life and so I think just

being vulnerable being honest

transparent just like Bo said it’s no

secret but also making sure that you you

know give the glory to God because it

that’s what we’re here that’s what our

purpose is and you know I think I told

you yesterday I don’t wake up every

single day you know dying to go to my

shop to do embroidery I enjoy doing

embroidery because it gives us the

ability to provide to our family and

provide to our community and so

again you know own your blessings

understand them and and you know grow

where you’re planted yeah I think what

Al just said is huge and that he doesn’t

wake up every day dying to go go

embroider something but that’s what God

has placed in his hand so he’s going to

Steward it well so we’re going to take a

few minutes and read two reflection

questions for you to think on and then

I’m going to dismiss you for a break so

the questions that we have um here how

has your perspective on work and

purpose evolved over time and where do

you see God shaping your journey

today so something to think on the

second one what is one practical way

that you can invite God into your daily

work whether through prayer a mindset

shift or maybe an act of generosity so

we’re going to give you just about a

minute minute and a half to think on

those

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