For Brad and his wife, real estate became more than a business move. It created space for other parts of their calling.

Both Brad and his wife have been trained in biblical counseling. They do a fair amount of marriage counseling and discipleship in general.

This matters because it challenges a common divide. Many people think in categories like:

• Business over here

• Ministry over there

• Family over here

• Discipleship somewhere else

But Brad’s story does not fit neatly into those boxes.

His work creates freedom for ministry. His business relationships create opportunities to serve. His family stage shapes his vocational decisions. His faith informs the way he views all of it.

The transcript does not present a formal framework for this. It simply shows it in motion.

A business can become a tool for freedom.

Freedom can create room for ministry.

Ministry can happen through the relationships already in front of you.

Brad also shares about his daily radio broadcast, SWAT Radio, which stands for Spiritual Warriors Advancing Truth.

The show airs every afternoon from 3 to 4 o’clock on the East Coast and is carried on about 10 to 12 stations around the country.

The origin story began with a friend named Doug, a missionary who had been a Marine, then an FBI agent, and eventually became a missionary. Brad and Doug had known each other since Brad moved to Jacksonville in late 1997.

Doug later returned to Jacksonville and started a men’s Bible study at the beach. It began with a few men and grew gradually:

• Six to eight guys

• Then 10 to 12

• Then 15 to 18

• Then 20 to 25

• Then more studies in different locations

• Eventually a couple hundred men

• About 18 churches represented

The Bible studies eventually became the foundation for the radio program. What they teach during the week, they bring to the radio the next week and go deeper.

That progression is important.

The platform did not begin as a platform. It began with men gathering around Scripture.

A few men became more men. One Bible study became several. Local teaching became radio teaching.

That is often how faithful work grows. Quietly. Relationally. One step at a time.

Brad admits he did not initially think he was the right person for the radio program.

When Doug asked him to do it, Brad said he loved the idea but did not think he was the guy. He even offered to point Doug toward a dozen other men he thought would be better.

Eventually, Brad agreed to help get it started. He said if Doug could raise the money for six months of airtime within two months, he would help for a couple of weeks.

Two weeks turned into eight years.

Steve jokingly calls this a pattern: the reluctant hero.

That moment brings warmth and humor to the episode, but it also carries a serious point. Many meaningful assignments begin with hesitation. Many people God uses do not feel like the obvious choice. Many callings begin with a small yes that grows over time.

There is also a brief discussion about boundaries and the difficulty of saying no. Steve mentions being a recovering people pleaser and learning that “no” can be a complete sentence.

That, too, is part of faithful stewardship. Saying yes to the right thing often requires saying no to something else.

Brad then shares about founding the Northeast Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce with his friend Jeff Dalrymple.

Brad and Jeff met at a luncheon with a small group of men. They discovered a mutual passion for making disciples, and the conversation moved toward a question:

How does disciple-making take place in everyday life?

Brad points to Jesus’ command to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe all He commanded. He emphasizes the phrase “as you go.”

That phrase becomes a central theme.

Where are Brad and Steve going?

They are going to work. They are going to family. They are going into the community.

That is where discipleship happens.

The Christian Chamber was created to gather faith-based business people together. Yes, there is networking. Yes, business may happen. But Brad says the ultimate purpose is making disciples.

He describes the Christian Chamber as a large funnel. People may come in because they identify as Christians. But the desire is for them to hear the Gospel, build relationships, and become iron sharpening iron.

This is not networking for networking’s sake.

It is relationship for the purpose of discipleship.

One of the strongest sections of the conversation centers on stewardship.

Brad references 1 Peter 4:10 and explains that each person has received gifts and is called to use those gifts to serve one another as faithful stewards of God’s grace.

That means stewardship is not limited to one kind of work.

Brad can do that in real estate. A plumber can do that as a plumber.

The question becomes:

How are you using your God-given skill set to serve your fellow man?

Brad also refers to a simple idea: work should be good for people and glorify God.

That is clear, practical, and deeply challenging.

It asks Christian business leaders to consider:

• Is what I am doing good for people?

• Does it glorify God?

• Am I using my skills to serve?

• Am I stewarding the gifts I have received?

• Am I seeing my work as a place of discipleship?

This is where the episode becomes especially practical for entrepreneurs, business owners, professionals, and leaders.

The work itself is not detached from discipleship. The work is one of the places discipleship can happen.

Steve asks Brad what role becoming a disciple yourself plays in being an effective disciple-maker.

Brad responds with a phrase he learned from Tommy Nelson: as a Christian, you cannot pedal unapplied truth.

In other words, you cannot faithfully go make disciples unless you are being discipled.

That sentence cuts through a lot of noise.

It is possible to talk about truth without being shaped by it. It is possible to teach ideas that have not taken root in your own life. It is possible to stay active in Christian activity while neglecting the deeper work of formation.

Brad’s point is simple: if you are going to pour into others, you must be poured into as well.

He connects this to the value of one person pouring into another. In his own life, that included his brother-in-law, business partners, clients, and others who shaped him spiritually.

Discipleship is personal before it is programmatic.

It is one person helping another follow Christ.

Another major theme is the call to examine Scripture daily.

Brad references Acts 17:11 and the Bereans, who examined the Scriptures daily to see if what they were hearing was true.

He notes that we live in a time with endless information: podcasts, pastors, communicators, and teaching everywhere. But he says we need men and women who are not just filling pews and consuming content.

We need people who examine the Scriptures.

Brad compares examination to going to the doctor. A doctor does not merely glance at someone. There is an exam.

That is how believers should approach Scripture.

For business leaders, this is especially important. Brad says that if he is not in the Word, he will lean more heavily toward the world than the Word.

That line is honest and helpful.

It does not take long to become shaped by the world’s values, priorities, and noise. Scripture is not an accessory to Christian leadership. It is nourishment.

Brad uses a water bottle illustration to make the point. If most of what fills a person is what the world has to offer, and only a small portion is spiritual nourishment, then that person is spiritually malnourished.

That is a strong warning for Christian leaders.

The question is not merely whether you know Scripture exists.

The question is whether Scripture is shaping you daily.

As the conversation continues, Brad narrows the application to husbands and fathers. Steve adds grandfathers.

Brad says a man’s primary ministry is at home.

That is a needed reminder in a world where leadership can become public before it becomes personal.

Brad and Steve speak about finishing well, and Steve notes that Brad has 15 young people watching him.

That line carries weight.

The people closest to you are watching. Your children are watching. Your grandchildren are watching. Your family is watching not just what you say, but who you are becoming.

The episode does not treat home as a distraction from mission. It treats home as central to mission.

For Christian leaders, that means faithfulness cannot be measured only by business outcomes, public influence, or ministry activity. It must also be seen in the private places: marriage, parenting, grandparenting, daily habits, and spiritual consistency.

One of the most moving moments comes when Brad reads from a Bible his brother-in-law gave him in 1981.

That Bible has been rebound twice and is falling apart.

Inside the Bible, his brother-in-law had written words from Psalm 1, encouraging Brad to delight in the law of the Lord, meditate on it day and night, and let God’s Word rule his heart and mind.

He urged Brad to read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and love it.

Brad says those words shaped his mission for the past 40 years.

That is discipleship.

One man invested in another. One Bible was given. One written encouragement became a lifelong direction.

There were train wrecks along the way, Brad admits. But the importance of having wise people in your life, people who know the Word and have experience, is vital.

That moment beautifully reinforces the entire episode.

Discipleship is not always dramatic. Sometimes it looks like a Bible, a note, a relationship, and a faithful investment that keeps bearing fruit for decades.

At the end, Steve gives Brad the floor to speak directly to young entrepreneurs.

Brad returns to the importance of meditating on and memorizing Scripture.

He references 1 Peter 2:9 and reminds listeners of their identity: chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, people of God’s own possession.

Then he points to purpose: that they might proclaim the excellencies of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.

That purpose applies wherever someone works:

• Real estate

• Electrical work

• Roofing

• Home building

• Medicine

• Any other field mentioned in the conversation

Brad’s final encouragement is clear:

Go proclaim His excellencies.

That is the charge of the episode.

Not merely to build a career. Not merely to network. Not merely to study. Not merely to consume Christian content.

But to live as God’s people, in the places God sends us, using the gifts God has given us, to serve others and point to Him.

This conversation is not about separating faith from business. It is about seeing the everyday places of life as places where faith is meant to be lived.

Real estate can become a place to serve.

A chamber of commerce can become a place for Gospel conversations.

A radio program can grow from a men’s Bible study.

A business relationship can become iron sharpening iron.

A Bible given in 1981 can shape a mission for 40 years.

A husband, father, or grandfather can finish well by remembering that his primary ministry begins at home.

And every Christian business lea

Watch full episode on YT - https://youtu.be/8IMJ0yCVg2g

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Read Part 1 here: https://www.ibam.org/christian-business-leadership-how-faith-failure-and-discipleship-shape-a-leader

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