John had considered staying in the military.

He appreciated the discipline, people, and sense of purpose. But when he returned from deployment, he could tell that his father wanted him to come back and help with the family company.

John used a word that is not heard as often as it once was: duty.

He felt a responsibility to his family.

That decision placed him inside a business that was in serious trouble.

The facility had:

• Broken windows

• Rats and mice

• Leaking roofs

• Leaking pipes and buckets

• Old and depreciated equipment

• No useful documentation

• No standard operating procedures

• An outdated internal phone system

The company produced private-label personal care products, including items such as:

• Shampoo

• Mouthwash

• Rubbing alcohol

• Peroxide

• Hair care products

• Body wash

These products were sold under retail store labels.

At the time, however, the business was the smallest company in its industry and was making very little money.

John had to learn quickly.

He taught himself to drive forklifts, repair equipment, fix roofs, and work on pipes. There was no YouTube library waiting to show him how to solve each problem. Unlike the military, there was no established team of experts around him.

He had to roll up his sleeves and begin.

When asked why he stayed in such a difficult situation, John returned to the idea of duty.

But he also noticed something spiritual.

The business was so difficult that it drove him to prayer.

He had no other option.

During stressful seasons, he would turn to the book of Psalms and ask the Lord to keep him stable and focused.

John’s experience reflected a truth many entrepreneurs understand: much of business is outside the leader’s control.

Customers can change.

Competitors can appear.

Regulators can intervene.

Large companies can affect smaller businesses overnight.

Financial pressure can build quickly.

Rather than making John feel self-sufficient, business made him more aware of his dependence on God.

He explained that Psalms and Proverbs became stabilizing influences.

The Psalms helped him manage the emotional weight of pressure.

Proverbs helped him think through decisions and practical wisdom.

He did not describe these books as substitutes for understanding the whole of Scripture. He described them as something to hold onto during a storm.

Sometimes a leader simply needs something solid enough to keep standing.

John knew he did not have ten or fifteen years to slowly figure out the business.

He identified three ways a person could learn.

The first was spending enough time in the job.

The second was reading and studying everything available.

John did that extensively. He subscribed to trade magazines, read books, and took hundreds of courses over the years.

But reading still required time.

The third option was to learn from experienced people who had already traveled the road.

John began connecting with retired professionals from related industries. Some of these men had spent their careers inside larger companies. They were no longer competing with him and were eager to share their experience.

They became informal mentors.

Their advice often came in the form of small observations.

One mentor noticed that the tops of bottles were touching the inside of the boxes. He asked why the company was using more corrugated material than necessary.

By leaving a small amount of space, the company could reduce the box size without causing the bottles to fall out.

That single adjustment saved approximately $17,000 in the first year. As the company grew, the same kind of savings became much larger.

The broader lesson was clear.

Hundreds of small ideas from people with experience can transform a business.

Mentors can help leaders:

• Avoid preventable mistakes

• See waste that has become invisible

• Improve processes

• Think more practically

• Learn faster than experience alone would allow

But advice is not enough.

It has to be implemented.

John’s father often referred to the teaching in James that faith without works is dead.

John applied that principle to both faith and business.

Core beliefs that never become action are ineffective.

A leader may believe in integrity, quality, care, excellence, or service. But those beliefs matter only when they become visible in daily decisions.

That is why execution became such an important theme in John’s story.

Ideas do not transform a company by themselves.

Books do not transform a company by themselves.

Advice does not transform a company by itself.

The leader must act.

The conversation emphasized that faith should show up in fruit. It should affect:

• How leaders make decisions

• How employees are treated

• How customers are served

• How quality is managed

• How pressure is handled

• How promises are kept

Christian faith in business cannot remain a statement on a website.

It has to become conduct.

John connected excellence in business with the biblical instruction to do all things as unto the Lord.

For him, excellence was not just about reputation.

It was a reflection of belief.

Leaders set the tone for an organization. A company rarely rises beyond the standards established by its leadership.

When leaders compromise, employees notice.

When leaders cut corners, others begin to cut corners.

When leaders care about quality, consistency, and improvement, those priorities can spread throughout the company.

John was careful to distinguish between absolute standards and aspirational standards.

Integrity is not something a leader slowly works toward.

But operational excellence often involves continued improvement.

A company may not reach every quality goal in one day, but it should be moving in the right direction.

That mindset also shaped the way John approached regulatory organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration and OSHA.

He believed the company should make its best good-faith effort to meet required standards, even when leaders disagreed with certain rules or believed some requirements did not make sense.

The result was not only ethical.

It was good business.

Quality is good business.

One of the leadership principles John learned in the Marine Corps was simple:

Take care of your people, and they will take care of the mission.

He carried that principle into business.

John frequently told his associates:

“I care. You care. We care.”

That meant employees were expected to help one another.

Someone may be having a difficult day. Another person can step in and help because eventually, everyone experiences a difficult day.

John also emphasized that respect cannot simply be demanded.

It has to be earned.

Leaders have to prove that they will be present, particularly during hard times.

Caring for employees did not mean ignoring poor values or allowing destructive behavior. It meant creating a culture where people were supported while maintaining clear standards.

When John was asked what advice he would give younger Christian entrepreneurs, he focused on the people they choose.

Who you surround yourself with matters.

This includes:

• Employees

• Managers

• Advisors

• Suppliers

• Business partners

In a small company, a few wrong people can cause enormous damage because the organization does not have the capacity to absorb repeated mistakes.

John warned that a person may possess extraordinary talent, intelligence, or experience and still be the wrong fit.

If the person lacks integrity or does not share the company’s values, their talent may become a liability.

John saw this principle apply to suppliers as well.

Business relationships require trust.

The right people strengthen the organization.

The wrong people can take it down.

John admitted that he sometimes wondered whether it was possible to survive while doing business the right way.

He watched competitors appear to prosper without following the same ethical standards.

That tension is not unique to business.

Scripture also describes the frustration of watching people prosper while doing wrong.

John’s response was persistence.

Continue moving forward on the path you believe is right.

Doing the right thing may cost:

• An account

• A business opportunity

• A supplier relationship

• An employee

• Short-term revenue

But compromise also has a cost.

John chose to keep pressing forward.

Over time, the company grew into every major retail channel, became a leading supplier in its category, and earned vendor recognition from companies such as Kroger and Walmart.

The business moved from the smallest in its industry to the largest in its category.

That growth proved that strong values and strong performance were not mutually exclusive.

Success did not come in a straight line.

John described periods when the company was upside down, overextended, behind on payables, and close to its final dollar.

During those seasons, his deepest concern was not simply personal failure.

He felt responsible for:

• Employees

• Their families

• Suppliers

• Vendors

• Associates who trusted him

He worried that he had let people down.

Yet the business eventually turned around.

Everyone was paid.

No employee lost an hour of work.

Nearly every supplier remained with the company.

The story reinforced how much responsibility business leaders carry. Financial decisions affect real people.

Leadership under pressure is not merely about preserving the company.

It is about stewarding the trust others have placed in the leader.

After eventually stepping away from the company, John did not stop working or serving.

He continued supporting Christian missions, educational efforts, wounded warriors, Gospel ministry, and international work.

He also wrote a book called Gospel on Point.

The book grew out of his concern that the Gospel message is often surrounded by added expectations or confusing instructions.

John wanted the central message to remain clear.

He dedicated the book to his grandchildren and connected it with the desire expressed in Psalm 71:18: to declare God’s power to the next generation.

That desire captures the larger theme of his life.

Finishing strong is not about appearing spiritually complete.

John openly acknowledged that he still struggles every day.

Challenges continue.

Faith continues to be tested.

He does not view spiritual maturity as reaching a point where a person no longer needs God.

He sees it as continuing to press forward.

His encouragement to other leaders was direct:

• Do not be discouraged when you stumble

• Get up again

• Do not place leaders on pedestals

• Keep your eyes on Christ

• Forget what is behind

• Press forward

• Never give in

• Never give up

Near the end of the conversation, John referenced a poem his grandfather had shared with him:

“I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.”

That idea summarizes the episode.

Faith must be seen.

It should appear in how a company operates, how a leader responds to pressure, how people are treated, how mistakes are handled, and how standards are maintained.

John’s journey demonstrates that Christian business leadership is not about avoiding struggle.

It is about remaining faithful inside the struggle.

It means praying when the outcome is uncertain.

It means learning from mentors.

It means executing good ideas.

It means caring for people.

It means refusing to compromise simply because others appear to be getting ahead.

It means continuing to serve after the business chapter changes.

And it means waking up each day ready to press forward again.

Watch full episode on YT - https://youtu.be/L84hKxup4z4

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