What does it take to lead people well? Is it experience, confidence, the ability to make tough decisions, or something else entirely?

Craig Clutts has spent much of his life answering that question. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, he served 23 years as a naval officer, leading sailors and Seabees around the world, including in combat environments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today, Craig is an entrepreneur, Christian business coach, and author of Leadership Is Not Likership. He joined Mark Rowan on the 2000 Cubit Rule podcast to share what God has taught him about leadership, identity, and trusting Him through changing seasons of life.

And as it turns out, some of his most valuable lessons came from places you might not expect, including coaching six-year-olds in tee ball.

Leadership Is Not Likership

During his Navy career, Craig heard a phrase repeated by senior enlisted leaders: “Leadership is not likership.”

The idea was simple. Making the right decision doesn’t always make you popular. Sometimes leading people means confronting problems, addressing conflict, or making decisions that someone won’t appreciate.

But Craig wanted to understand what leadership actually was if being liked wasn’t the goal.

While running one day after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan, he began talking with God about that very question.

What he sensed God telling him was equally simple: Leadership is loveship.

That realization became central to the message he now shares through his coaching and his book.

Loving people doesn’t mean agreeing with everything they want or avoiding difficult conversations. It means considering what’s genuinely best for them, the people around them, and the responsibilities you’ve been entrusted with.

Craig points to Jesus as the example. Love should shape our decisions, including the difficult ones.

Five Things to Consider When Making Decisions

Craig shared five levels of consideration that have helped shape his approach to leadership.

1. The Individual: How will this decision affect the person involved? Does it help them grow, develop, and move forward, even if it’s not what they initially wanted?

2. The Team: Every decision has the potential to affect other people. Craig learned this firsthand while responsible for hundreds of sailors and Seabees. The needs of one person matter, but so do the needs of everyone working alongside them.

3. The Mission: What are we responsible for accomplishing today? A decision might seem beneficial in isolation but create problems for the larger mission.

4. The Vision: Craig distinguishes between mission and vision. The mission is what we’re doing today. The vision is where we’re headed. Good decisions should account for both.

5. The Legacy: For Christians, there’s another consideration. How do our decisions reflect God’s will, and what are we investing in that will have eternal significance?

These principles apply well beyond the military. Whether you’re running a business, serving in ministry, raising children, or simply interacting with someone in your community, the decisions you make affect more than yourself.

What Coaching Tee Ball Taught a Navy Captain

Of all the experiences Craig could draw from, one of his favorite leadership lessons comes from coaching tee ball.

Anyone who has spent time around six-year-olds knows keeping their attention can be a challenge.

Craig discovered something remarkably effective. When he regularly called each child by name, they stayed engaged.

They weren’t as distracted by the dirt, the dandelions, or whatever else was happening around them. They knew their coach was paying attention to them.

And the connection extended beyond the baseball field. When Craig encountered those children around town, they’d run up to him excited to see their coach.

Why? Because he knew them, and they knew him.

During our conversation, Craig connected that experience to the picture of a shepherd whose sheep know his voice.

That really stood out to me.

We all want to be known. Being liked can change depending on circumstances, but genuinely knowing someone requires time, attention, and relationship.

It’s a valuable reminder for anyone responsible for people, whether that’s at home, in business, or in ministry.

When Your Career Is No Longer Your Identity

Craig also talked about the challenge of transitioning out of military service.

For 27 years, including his time at the Naval Academy, the Navy was a major part of his daily life. He had the uniform, the rank, the responsibilities, and the identity that came with them.

Then one day, that chapter ended.

He was no longer Captain Clutts. He was Craig.

Of course, he had always been Craig, but after decades of being identified by a particular role, adjusting to something different wasn’t easy.

He credits prayer, mentorship, business coaching, and a program focused on moving from career success toward Kingdom significance with helping him navigate that transition.

I think this is something many of us can relate to, even if we’ve never served in the military.

It’s easy to allow our career, business, accomplishments, or even our ministry to become the primary way we identify ourselves.

But what happens when those things change?

Our identity as children of God remains, regardless of the role we occupy or the success we experience.

God’s Vision Doesn’t Always Include the Entire Roadmap

Toward the end of our conversation, Craig shared an illustration that his business coach had given him.

Imagine you’re planning to drive from the West Coast to Phoenix.

You know where you’re going, but you can’t see every mile of the journey. You don’t know what construction, weather, or unexpected circumstances you’ll encounter.

You can, however, see enough to take the next step.

Craig explained that he naturally wants to know the entire plan. With his engineering background and military experience, planning comes naturally.

But following God doesn’t always work that way.

Sometimes we have a clear understanding of the destination without knowing exactly how we’ll get there.

And sometimes God closes a door we were convinced would remain open.

That doesn’t mean we stop moving forward. It means we continue listening, trusting, and responding to what He’s showing us.

Learning to Trust God’s Provision

One of the most personal moments of our conversation came when Craig shared what God had been speaking to him about his business.

Like many entrepreneurs, he had experienced challenging seasons when things weren’t progressing as expected.

His response was to work harder.

He’d spend the day at the office or on a project site, take a break for dinner, and then continue working from the couch in the evening.

More hours. More effort. More activity.

Yet all that additional work wasn’t necessarily producing the results he wanted.

Craig shared how he felt God convicting him that, despite saying he had surrendered the business, he was still trying to make everything happen through his own strength.

He was reminded that his provision had never ultimately come from the Navy, his government career, or his customers.

It had always come from God.

That part of the conversation resonated with me because I’ve experienced similar moments.

When something doesn’t work out the way we expected, it’s tempting to double down on activity. We see someone else’s strategy working and figure we should do the same.

But how often do we stop and ask the Lord what He’s actually directing us to do?

Hebrews 4 speaks about entering God’s rest. There’s something important about learning to work from that place of trust rather than constantly striving to manufacture an outcome.

We still have responsibilities. We still take action. We still steward what God has placed in our hands.

But we also have to give Him room to move.

Making Room for God to Move in Business

Craig’s story is a reminder that the lessons God teaches us in one season often prepare us for something we can’t yet see.

His early desire to become a Marine eventually led him into the Navy, where he served alongside Marines as a Seabee. His military experience prepared him for new opportunities in government, business, and coaching.

And through those experiences, God continued developing his understanding of what it means to love and serve people well.

That’s part of what we explore on the 2000 Cubit Rule podcast.

How do we recognize what God is doing, respond to His direction, and make room for Him to move in our businesses and everyday lives?

Craig’s encouragement is to keep moving toward the vision God has given you, remain open when circumstances change, and remember that the provision comes from Him.

Connect with Craig Clutts

Learn more about Craig’s coaching and his book, Leadership Is Not Likership, at Engedi Life.

What’s the Message God Has Given You?

At SheepFeast, we help Christian entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants clarify their God-given message and communicate it to the people who need to hear it.

The Metamorphoo Method provides five practical steps to help you transform your message and multiply your impact.

Download the free Metamorphoo Method Guide and discover where you are in that journey.

The post Craig Clutts – Leadership Is Not Likership appeared first on SheepFeast.

What happens when something you believed God led you to build falls apart?

For Geoff Ladell, that question became very real. He had spent years building a successful business serving hospitals, universities, government facilities, and other major organizations. He believed God had led him into it, prayed over the decisions he made, and watched the company expand into new markets.

Then COVID hit.

Government buildings emptied. Colleges shut down. Hospitals became inaccessible for the type of work his company performed. Revenue dropped to zero, and despite Geoff’s attempts to keep things going, the business eventually collapsed. His personal finances followed soon afterward.

On this episode of the 2000 Cubit Rule, Geoff shares what happened next and how that loss changed the way he thinks about business, identity, relationships, and the economy of God’s Kingdom.

When the Thing You Built Becomes Too Important

One of the difficult parts of Geoff’s story was that he could not simply point to an obvious mistake and explain what happened.

He had prayed about the business. He believed God had led him there. He had experienced years of growth and success. So when everything fell apart, his questions naturally turned toward God.

Why did this happen? Had he missed something? Had he misunderstood God somewhere along the way?

Someone who had played an important role in Geoff’s faith journey eventually encouraged him to stop asking why and begin asking a different question:

Where is God leading you?

That shift changed the conversation.

As Geoff began looking forward instead of continually looking back, God started showing him something about the business that he had not recognized while it was thriving. His success had gradually become more than something he was grateful for. His business, title, income, and accomplishments had become connected to his identity.

Geoff came to recognize that the business had become an idol.

It was a difficult realization, but it also became the beginning of something new.

Who Are You When the Business Card Is Gone?

Before the collapse, Geoff could describe himself as a CEO, entrepreneur, business owner, and successful businessman. Then, in a matter of months, those labels were gone.

That exposed a much deeper question.

If your business disappears, your title disappears, and the things you once pointed to as evidence of success disappear, who are you?

Geoff began grounding his answer somewhere more secure. His value was not something he had earned by building a successful company. His identity came from being a child of God.

As he said during our conversation, “I learned that I don’t have to earn my value. I inherit it.”

That matters in business because nearly everything we build is capable of changing. Revenue goes up and down. Clients come and go. Careers change. Companies succeed and fail. Opportunities open and close.

If our identity moves with those things, our sense of worth is constantly being repriced by whatever happened that day.

Geoff began discovering another economy.

Relationships Are the Priority. Love Is the Currency.

Most of us understand a transactional economy because we participate in one every day.

A business provides something of value, and a customer provides money in return. Employees exchange their time and abilities for compensation. We buy, sell, negotiate, invest, and trade.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of that. Geoff still has bills to pay just like everyone else.

But through his experience, he began seeing what he calls The Kingdom Economy.

In this economy, relationships are the priority and love is the currency.

That changes how we approach people.

Instead of looking at someone and immediately wondering what the relationship could produce, we can ask how we can genuinely serve that person. Instead of beginning with the transaction, we begin with the person standing in front of us.

That has implications for sales, customers, employees, partnerships, friendships, families, and just about every other relationship we have.

What Happens When You Stop Leading With the Sale?

Geoff shared a great example involving a friend who worked as a financial advisor.

His friend was struggling to grow his business. When Geoff asked how he would introduce himself at a networking event, the answer was fairly typical. He helped people with life insurance and retirement planning.

Nothing was wrong with the answer, but it immediately positioned the conversation around what he sold.

Geoff encouraged him to look at the person instead.

What was keeping that person awake at night? What were they afraid of?

His friend realized that many of the people he served were afraid they would outlive their money.

Now the conversation was different.

Instead of approaching someone primarily as a potential sale, he could understand the problem that person was actually carrying and look for ways to help.

Geoff worked with him for 90 days. During that period, the advisor’s income tripled.

But the income was not the starting point.

Trust increased. Relationships deepened. Referrals followed. People were more willing to listen to his recommendations because they believed he actually had their best interests at heart.

That is a very different foundation for growth than simply figuring out how to close more transactions.

The Goalpost of Success Keeps Moving

There is another problem with building our lives around the transactional economy. The number we think will finally be enough has a habit of changing.

If I could make this much money.

If the company could reach this revenue level.

If I could land that client.

If I could get that position.

If I could finally buy that house.

Then I would feel successful.

But when we reach the number, another one usually appears.

Geoff described it as a hamster wheel. The goalpost keeps moving, and we keep running after it.

Money can solve real problems. Business growth can create opportunities. There is nothing wrong with pursuing excellence or wanting a company to succeed.

The problem comes when those things are expected to answer questions they were never designed to answer.

Money cannot tell us who we are. Revenue cannot establish our worth. A title cannot provide lasting security.

At some point, we have to change the currency.

You Don’t Have to Lose Everything to Make the Shift

Geoff learned these lessons through the collapse of a business he had spent years building. Thankfully, losing everything is not a prerequisite for examining what has our heart.

We can ask those questions now.

Has success become connected to my identity?

Have some of my relationships become primarily transactional?

When I meet someone, am I interested in who they are or am I already calculating what the relationship might produce?

What would change in my business if relationships really were the priority?

For Geoff, the answer did not begin with a new business strategy. It started at home.

He began looking for simple ways to serve his wife. When his son asked him to play a board game, instead of continually putting him off because he was tired or busy, Geoff began making the relationship the priority. He reconnected with people and became more intentional about what it meant to love the person in front of him.

That is an important distinction.

Love cannot simply become another sales technique.

If we decide to “put people first” because we have discovered it increases revenue, generates referrals, or improves retention, we have simply turned love into another transaction.

The Kingdom Economy Geoff describes goes deeper than that. It begins with receiving our identity and value from God and allowing that love to shape the way we treat other people without requiring something from them in return.

From there, we can still build businesses, make money, create jobs, sell products, pursue growth, and do excellent work.

We just do it with a different currency.

Geoff Ladell is the author of The Kingdom Economy: Build a Legacy of Love in a Transactional World. Learn more about Geoff, his book, coaching, and speaking at MyCurrencyIsLove.com.

What Has God Given You to Carry?

One of the things Geoff’s story reminds us is that God can use both what we build and what we walk through to clarify what He wants us to carry forward.

At SheepFeast, that is part of why we developed the Metamorphoo Method, a 5-step process designed to help you take what God has placed in you, clarify the message, make it understandable, build the resources around it, and ultimately multiply its impact.

If you have something you know you are called to communicate but you are still trying to get it out of your head and into a form other people can understand and run with, start with the free Metamorphoo Method Guide.

The post Geoff Ladell – Change Your Currency: Building Business in the Kingdom Economy appeared first on SheepFeast.

There is a temptation in business to look around, see what seems to be working for everyone else, and start adjusting yourself accordingly. You change the way you communicate. You soften the things that make you different. You adopt someone else’s strategy or voice because it appears to be getting results.

Katie Hornor has built much of her work around a very different idea: God created you with a unique voice for a reason.

Katie joined me on the 2000 Cubit Rule to talk about faith, business, calling, identity, and what she calls The Flamingo Advantage®. Her story began long before flamingos became part of her brand. She and her husband served as missionaries in Mexico, where circumstances eventually pushed them to find another way to support their family and ministry.

That opened the door to business.

When Business Becomes Ministry

Katie knew from a young age that she wanted to serve on the mission field. She studied education partly because teaching could open doors into countries where traditional ministry might not. After marrying her husband, the two eventually served together in Mexico.

When they needed additional income, rather than returning to the United States to raise more support, they began building a business.

What started in the Spanish-speaking homeschool world eventually developed into coaching, training, speaking, and the work Katie does today. Along the way, something shifted in how she understood the relationship between ministry and business.

She began seeing opportunities to share Jesus through business relationships that sometimes had not existed in traditional ministry settings. The conference room, boardroom, marketplace, and stage could all become places where faith was lived out.

Katie described work done according to God’s calling and for His glory as an act of worship. That challenged the idea that certain activities are automatically “sacred” while others are merely secular.

If God has given you an assignment, the question is not simply whether that assignment happens inside a church or ministry organization. The bigger question is whether you are faithfully doing what He has given you to do.

A Boat Ride and a Lot of Pink

The Flamingo Advantage began with a family homeschool field trip in Mexico.

Katie and her family traveled through the Yucatán Peninsula to see flamingos in the wild. After finding a local fisherman willing to take them out in his boat, they eventually reached an area filled with flamingos.

Against the green jungle, blue water, and blue sky were huge stretches of pink.

What caught Katie’s attention was not only how dramatically the birds stood out. As the boat approached, they did not panic and scatter. They simply continued doing what flamingos do.

That experience stayed with her.

Katie began researching flamingos and finding lessons she could apply to the entrepreneurs she was coaching. Those observations eventually developed into books, teaching, and The Flamingo Advantage®.

One of the central ideas is simple: you do not have to hide what makes you different.

Flamingos stand out. They also have unique voices that allow them to recognize one another. Katie connects that to something Jesus said about sheep: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Interestingly enough, we discovered during our conversation that sheep and flamingos have more in common than you might expect.

But the business application is important. Your experiences, gifts, personality, training, abilities, and even the journey God has brought you through contribute to a voice that is uniquely yours. You are not called to communicate with everyone in exactly the same way or serve everyone in the same way.

You are responsible for faithfully stewarding what God gave you.

Trusting God When the Roof Is Leaking

That confidence did not develop without some difficult seasons.

Katie shared about a particularly low point while her family was living in Mexico. They had purchased and renovated an older home during the dry season. Then the rainy season arrived, and they discovered the roof leaked badly.

At the same time, Katie was homeschooling young children, trying to build a business, dealing with financial pressure, and feeling increasingly isolated.

Eventually she reached a point where even trusting God felt beyond her ability.

The Scripture that came back to her was 1 Thessalonians 5:24: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

That season drove Katie back into Scripture. She wanted to know what God actually said about business, calling, trust, and her relationship with Him, rather than simply relying on what other people had taught her.

Those lessons eventually became part of what she would teach others.

There is an important distinction there for anyone building something God has placed on their heart. We can begin by trusting God, then slowly transfer our trust to the thing He gave us. We trust the business, opportunity, ministry, strategy, platform, or income stream.

But those things can change.

God is still God when the avenue changes.

Your Work Can Be Worship

Today, Katie works with entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, and others who want to build businesses without separating their faith from the work God has given them. She is also the founder of the National Christian Association of Professional Speakers (NCAPS), which was created to equip Christian speakers to bring excellence and biblical conviction into stages well beyond traditional Christian events. ncapspeakers.org

Her broader work through The Flamingo Advantage® centers on helping people embrace their uniqueness and build businesses around their life, calling, values, and purpose. The Flamingo Advantage

You can learn more about Katie, her books, speaking, coaching, and The Flamingo Advantage at TheFlamingoAdvantage.com.

Someone Needs the Message God Gave You

Toward the end of our conversation, Katie brought the discussion back to one central encouragement: don’t be ashamed of what God created you to be.

That does not mean making yourself the center of the story. It means recognizing that God was intentional when He gave you your experiences, personality, abilities, and voice.

There are people you can reach because of the way God has shaped you.

That is also why clarity matters.

At SheepFeast, we regularly meet people who know God has given them something to communicate, but they struggle to put it into words others can understand. The message is there. The calling is there. What is missing is a clear pathway for communicating it and helping others run with it.

That is exactly what the Metamorphoo Method was created to help you work through. It starts with the vision God has given you, helps you make that message plain, and then moves toward putting it into forms that can be read, shared, and multiplied.

If you know there is something God has given you to communicate, but you are still trying to bring clarity to it, start with the free Metamorphoo Method Guide at MetamorphooMethod.com.

Your message does not need to sound like everyone else’s. It needs to become clear enough for the people who need it to hear it.

The post Katie Hornor – Stand Out for God’s Glory appeared first on SheepFeast.

Elaine Lankford knew from the sixth grade that she was supposed to become a nurse. She followed that direction, completed her education, and built a successful career in pain management. Nursing was more than a profession to her. It was part of how she understood her calling and, eventually, part of how she understood herself.

Then, in 2008, the medical practice where she worked was closed by the Virginia Medical Board. Elaine suddenly found herself defending her reputation and facing the loss of a career she believed God had led her into. During that same season, her father passed away, and a few months later, her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 47 years old.

Within a matter of months, nearly every stable part of her life had shifted.

Elaine joined Mark Rowan on the 2000 Cubit Rule to talk about that season, how God used it to confront where she had placed her identity, and how He eventually opened a completely different path for her.

When Calling Becomes Identity

Elaine had grown up in church and known Jesus from a young age. For much of her life, however, her Christian walk had been relatively protected from major upheaval. She describes the loss of her career and the personal trials surrounding it as her first significant test of faith.

One of the hardest questions came from knowing that God had called her into nursing. If she had heard Him correctly, why would He allow that calling to be taken away?

As Elaine worked through that question, she began to recognize how closely her identity had become tied to her accomplishments. She had earned the degrees, collected the credentials, accepted greater responsibility, and continued moving forward professionally. None of those things were inherently wrong, but somewhere along the way, her identity as a nurse had begun to overshadow her identity in Christ.

God was not finished with Elaine, and He had not wasted her years in nursing. He was drawing her back to Himself while preparing her for work she could not yet see.

The transition did not happen quickly. Elaine describes it as a five-year pit, a long period of processing what had happened and discovering what would come next. Looking back, she can see that God used the pain, experience, and skills from her former career to prepare her to help other women move through their own obstacles.

“Go Home and Raise Up My Daughters”

Several years later, Elaine traveled with her church on a mission trip to Nicaragua. One morning, while sitting on a porch in Puerto Cabezas, she sensed God speaking clearly to her: “Go home and raise up My daughters.”

She did not immediately know what that meant. Elaine had led small groups, informally mentored women, written about her experiences, and begun speaking, but she had not developed a plan to coach Christian women into their callings.

After returning home, she began looking at the women around her differently. She knew many of their stories, abilities, and dreams. She also saw how many of them attended church each week without fully stepping into what God had placed inside them. Elaine began to understand that she was being called to serve as a catalyst, helping women recognize what God had given them and move forward with it.

That realization eventually led her into coaching and the creation of She Steps Forward.

The foundation of that work comes from Luke 1:45, where Elizabeth speaks over Mary: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Elaine describes her role as being an Elizabeth who looks for the Marys. She helps women believe what God has spoken and develop the spiritual and practical foundations necessary to carry it forward.

An Unexpected Door to Kenya

In 2019, Elaine held the first She Steps Forward International Women’s Conference in Hampton Roads. Approximately 60 women attended, several women-owned vendors were supported, and the event provided tangible help to three women-founded nonprofits.

One attendee had traveled much farther than anyone expected.

A woman named Teresa discovered the event while preparing to visit family in the United States. She traveled from Kenya to attend the conference and later invited Elaine to bring its message to Nairobi. Elaine had not been planning an international expansion, but she recognized that God had placed an open door in front of her.

In February 2020, Elaine traveled to Nairobi for the first She Steps Forward conference in Africa. Sixty women representing five African countries attended. While there, Elaine also visited local outreaches serving children and protecting vulnerable girls. She saw women doing extraordinary work with very limited resources, and the experience broadened her understanding of what She Steps Forward could become.

That work now includes conferences, faith-based coaching cohorts, humanitarian outreach, and seed-money grants designed to help women begin building businesses, ministries, and nonprofits. Elaine is also exploring opportunities in Honduras to help young women develop practical skills and create businesses that can protect them from exploitation and sex trafficking.

None of this began with a detailed international strategy. It grew as Elaine remained attentive to God and responded to the doors He opened.

Waiting With Expectancy

When people ask Elaine how she became involved in so many different areas of work, her answer is simple: she waits with expectancy for God’s next move. When He opens a door, she walks through it.

That does not mean she always understands what is on the other side. It also does not mean she has followed perfectly. There have been times when she moved ahead and needed God to pull her back. Her journey has taught her to watch for His direction, trust His preparation, and move when He moves.

That rhythm reflects the heart of the 2000 Cubit Rule. When Israel prepared to cross the Jordan River, the people were instructed to leave space between themselves and the Ark of the Covenant. God was going ahead of them, showing them the way because they had never traveled it before.

There are seasons when God asks us to wait and seasons when He asks us to move. Faith requires both. Moving too soon can take us ahead of His direction, while refusing to move can keep us from entering what He has prepared.

Elaine’s story is a reminder that a closed chapter does not mean God has abandoned the calling. He may be separating our identity from a position, redirecting our experience toward a different purpose, or preparing connections that we could never arrange on our own.

We may not understand why one door closed, but we can remain ready for the next one He opens.

Take the Next Step

Elaine now helps Christian women in the early years of building a business, ministry, or nonprofit. Her approach combines spiritual formation with practical strategy, helping women clarify whom they are called to serve, what they are building, and how to establish a foundation that can last.

Learn more about Elaine’s coaching at She Steps Forward Coaching and explore the international ministry at She Steps Forward International.

If God has given you a message or vision but you are struggling to make it clear, the free Metamorphoo Method Guide can help you identify where you are and what may be missing. Visit MetamorphooMethod.com to download the guide and begin turning what God has shown you into something others can understand, receive, and run with.

The post Elaine Lankford – When God Opens the Door, Step Forward appeared first on SheepFeast.

Leadership can be deeply rewarding, but it can also be incredibly lonely.

Entrepreneurs and organizational leaders regularly carry decisions that affect their employees, customers, families, and futures. Even when they are surrounded by talented people, they may have no safe place to speak honestly about the pressure they are experiencing.

Greg Frost understands that weight.

As the co-founder of The Well Exchange, Greg helps faith-driven entrepreneurs and marketplace leaders find clarity, conviction, and trusted counsel. His work is grounded in a simple but important belief: faith and business leadership were never meant to be separated.

In this episode of the 2000 Cubit Rule, Greg joins Mark Rowan to discuss hearing God in business, developing healthy leaders, building relational authority, and preparing for what God may do next.

From Athletics to Marketplace Leadership

Greg grew up in a Christian home and was discipled by his father to hear God from a young age. He was also a highly competitive athlete, participating in several sports before pursuing football in college.

After moving away from home, Greg experienced the isolation that can come with entering a new season without an established support system. During that time, he started an Athletes in Action Bible study that grew into one of the organization’s largest student-led chapters in Canada.

That experience eventually led him into campus ministry, where he worked with college, professional, and Olympic athletes.

Working with high performers taught Greg valuable lessons about pressure, identity, discipline, and leadership. It also gave him a natural connection with the entrepreneurs and executives he would later serve through The Well Exchange.

A Shared Calling With Angela

Greg’s wife, Angela, followed a very different path.

She was a competitive swimmer who reached Olympic qualifying levels and trained at the United States Air Force Academy. After a shoulder injury ended that chapter, she moved into event planning and education.

Her life changed dramatically when she was diagnosed with stage-three ovarian cancer and given a devastating prognosis. During that season, one of her students shared the Gospel with her. Angela gave her life to Jesus and experienced a radical transformation.

Greg shares that she was later supernaturally healed and went on to build a family with him, despite previously being told she would not be able to have children.

Their different experiences eventually came together in a shared calling. After years in ministry, Greg and Angela began building what would become The Well Exchange.

Bringing Prayer Into Business

The Well Exchange originally began as an intercession company. Businesses hired Greg, Angela, and their team to pray on their behalf and discern what God was doing within their organizations.

Over time, they noticed that some of the same issues continued to surface. Prayer was revealing the problems, but the leaders themselves needed help addressing what was happening beneath the surface.

That realization led Greg and Angela to expand their work into coaching and executive advisory.

Their approach recognizes that business challenges can have both internal and external dimensions.

Internally, leaders may be dealing with fear, unhealthy beliefs, unresolved pain, identity issues, or relational patterns. Externally, the organization may be facing governance concerns, cultural problems, team conflict, strategic uncertainty, or spiritual opposition.

The condition of a business often reflects what is happening in the heart of its leader. Addressing the external problem without examining the internal one may produce only temporary change.

The Leadership Area Business Owners Neglect

Greg identifies five foundational areas involved in growing a business:

1. Sales and marketing
2. Finance and accounting
3. Systems and operations
4. Team development
5. Leadership development

Most business owners devote considerable attention to the first four. They work on generating revenue, managing money, creating systems, and developing employees.

The fifth area is frequently neglected.

The leader invests in everyone and everything except themselves.

This becomes increasingly dangerous as the organization grows. Leaders may be unable to speak openly with employees, board members, investors, or even their spouses. They continue carrying the pressure alone, with no trusted person to help them process what they are facing.

This is where wise counsel becomes invaluable.

A trusted adviser does not need to possess every answer. The adviser needs a dependable process for asking meaningful questions, exposing blind spots, listening to God, and helping the leader move forward with conviction.

Hearing God in Business Decisions

For Greg, hearing God is not an optional addition to Christian leadership. It is central to the process.

Christian business owners may pray about their families, churches, health, and personal concerns while continuing to make business decisions primarily through human reasoning. Greg encourages leaders to intentionally invite God into their strategy, innovation, relationships, and next steps.

This can include setting aside time for what he describes as a business meeting with Jesus.

Instead of approaching God with a decision that has already been made, the leader creates room to listen. The objective is not simply to ask God to bless an existing plan. It is to discover what He is doing and how the business can participate.

God is not limited to addressing traditionally “spiritual” subjects. He can provide wisdom about hiring, delegation, partnerships, products, culture, timing, and organizational direction.

The leader’s responsibility is to create room to hear and then respond obediently.

Authority Built Through Relationships

Greg also challenges leadership models that depend too heavily on titles and organizational hierarchy.

Structure is necessary. Scripture contains clear examples of delegated leadership, responsibility, and authority. But a title alone cannot produce trust.

Healthy authority grows through relationship.

Leaders who constantly depend on their position to secure compliance may be revealing a deeper cultural or relational problem. Their teams may not trust them, understand the vision, or feel genuinely valued.

Greg points to the relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as an example of love, honor, and mutual deference. Each has a distinct role, yet their relationship is not driven by insecurity or the need to dominate.

Kingdom leadership should reflect that same character. The leader may carry the primary responsibility, but every member of the team should be treated with honor and recognized for the value they contribute.

You Cannot Lead Well in Isolation

The person who is often most difficult to lead is yourself.

Business owners can easily recognize weaknesses in a team member, process, or marketing strategy while remaining unaware of the patterns influencing their own behavior. This is why Greg places such a high value on mentorship, trusted friendships, and what he calls “belly-to-belly discipleship.”

A podcast, sermon, book, or conference can provide valuable teaching. However, information alone cannot replace a relationship with someone who knows you, sees your patterns, asks difficult questions, and reminds you of who God is and who you are in Him.

Greg’s most influential mentors did not simply tell him what decisions to make. They helped him recognize God’s character and his identity in Christ. From that foundation, he could hear God and make decisions with greater clarity.

Christian leaders need people who can do the same for them.

Preparing for What God Will Do Next

Greg closes the conversation with an encouragement for leaders who feel as if they are in a holding pattern:

“You couldn’t plan for it, but you can prepare for it.”

There are seasons when God’s next move cannot be predicted, manufactured, or reduced to a strategic plan. The opportunity, relationship, breakthrough, or assignment may arrive in a way you never expected.

Although you cannot plan for every move of God, you can prepare your heart.

That preparation happens through prayer, healing, obedience, character development, and time in the secret place. It also involves confronting the internal issues that could prevent you from carrying what God wants to entrust to you.

Preparation is not inactivity. It is allowing God to develop the character, maturity, and spiritual capacity required for the next assignment.

The question is not simply, “What is God going to do?”

A better question may be, “Who is God preparing me to become?”

Make Room for God to Lead Your Next Step

You do not have to carry the weight of leadership alone. Create intentional space to hear God, invite trusted counsel into your decisions, and address what is happening within you as carefully as you address what is happening around you.

You may not know exactly what God is about to do, but you can begin preparing for it today.

Learn more about Greg Frost and The Well Exchange at thewellexchange.com.

If your God-given message feels scattered across unfinished ideas, disconnected content, and complicated technology, SheepFeast can help you clarify it and build a practical pathway for sharing it. Explore the Metamorphoo Method and take the next step toward transforming your message and multiplying your impact.

The post Greg Frost – Hearing God in High-Stakes Leadership appeared first on SheepFeast.

Frank Amato gave his life to Christ when he was about 19 years old. Then, by his own description, he spent roughly the next 25 years wandering in the wilderness.

There was no dramatic rejection of God. It was more subtle than that. Frank knew who Jesus was, went in and out of church, and did what many people do. Show up on Sunday, spend an hour there, go home and assume everything is fine.

But there was something missing.

He did not have people around him intentionally investing in his spiritual growth. There was no one regularly walking alongside him, challenging him, helping him understand Scripture or showing him what it looked like to actually follow Jesus in everyday life.

Years later, after experiencing the death of his mother, a deployment to Afghanistan and a divorce within a relatively short period of time, Frank found himself at a low point. He got connected to a church again, but this time his relationship with God began to take on a different shape.

That experience eventually became part of the reason discipleship matters so much to him today.

On a recent episode of the 2000 Cubit Rule, Frank and I talked about his faith journey, hearing God, business, missions, healing, Biblical friendship and what happens when someone decides to simply say yes to God.

God Started Asking Frank to Do Things He Wouldn’t Have Chosen

One of the interesting patterns in Frank’s story is that God kept leading him toward things that did not make much sense from his perspective at the time.

After serving in Afghanistan, Frank remembered telling the guy next to him that he never wanted to leave the country again.

A few years later, he was sitting in church listening to missionaries from Kenya.

He sensed God telling him to go.

Frank did eventually go to Kenya, and that first response opened a door to years of mission work. He has since returned to Africa and traveled numerous times to Mexico, serving in communities, helping churches, building homes and putting the construction skills he had developed throughout his career to work for people who needed them.

During that same season, Frank also felt God telling him to go back to school.

Because he had spent most of his professional life in construction, his first thought was something practical like construction management.

Instead, he sensed God directing him toward theology.

That made even less sense.

He followed the direction anyway, eventually earning a master’s degree in Biblical studies and later a doctorate in pastoral counseling.

Looking backward, the connection becomes much clearer. God was preparing him for the work Frank now spends a considerable amount of his time doing, sitting across from men, listening, counseling, discipling and helping them grow closer to Jesus.

That is one of the strange things about following God. We often want Him to explain where the road ends before we agree to take the first step.

Usually, He doesn’t.

Hearing God Starts With Knowing Him

Because so many of Frank’s major decisions have involved sensing God’s direction, I asked him what hearing God actually looks like for him.

He did not describe a booming voice from heaven or a series of dramatic supernatural experiences.

Most of the time, it has been much quieter.

Sometimes it is a thought that comes strongly and unexpectedly. Sometimes God uses another person to say something that suddenly brings clarity. Frank mentioned a friend who once listened to what he was doing in discipleship and told him, essentially, “I think you’ve found your purpose.”

Frank had not been thinking about it that way, but the comment stayed with him.

His wife has also been one of those voices in his life. Frank joked that she may not always have a lot to say about everything, but when she does speak into something, it can be profound.

The bigger point, though, is relationship.

Frank compared recognizing God’s voice to recognizing the voice of a family member in another room. You may not be able to see them, but you know who is speaking because you know the person.

That familiarity develops over time.

The more we know God through prayer, Scripture and walking with Him, the more familiar His voice becomes. Frank was also careful to emphasize discernment. Not every thought that enters our minds came from God, which is why what we believe we are hearing needs to line up with His Word.

It is not primarily about learning a technique for hearing God.

It is about knowing Him.

Sometimes God Uses the Parts of Our Story We Would Rather Forget

Frank’s ministry with men also did not develop simply because he earned degrees.

A significant part of it came through his own healing.

His upbringing included instability, alcoholism, violence and the absence of a consistent father figure. His mother married four times. Her third husband adopted Frank and his sister, but shortly before Frank’s first child was born, that man died by suicide.

Frank entered fatherhood carrying the loss of the man who had become his father.

There were abandonment issues, questions of identity and wounds that did not simply disappear because Frank became a Christian.

In 2021, he attended a 72-hour trauma and suicide prevention program called Save A Warrior. He described the experience as one of the most profound things he had ever gone through.

For Frank, it became a point where he finally gave himself permission to heal.

That healing now influences the way he sits with other men.

He understands what it is like to carry things for years. He understands how experiences from long ago can continue shaping decisions, relationships and identity. He also understands that following Jesus does not mean pretending those wounds never happened.

As we talked, Romans 8:28 came to mind. God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

That does not mean everything that happens to us is good.

It means God is capable of redeeming what was not.

Frank can look back now and see how experiences he would never have chosen have given him an ability to walk alongside someone else who is hurting.

The wound does not have to remain the end of the story.

Biblical Friendship Has to Be Honest

Frank talks frequently about Biblical friendship, and one of the things he means by that is the ability to tell someone the truth.

That sounds obvious until the truth becomes uncomfortable.

There is a tendency, even in Christian relationships, to confuse being loving with avoiding hard conversations. Frank sees it differently.

If he is discipling someone and sees something that needs to be addressed, he believes one of the most loving things he can do is talk about it.

Not harshly. Not with arrogance. Not as though he has everything figured out himself.

But honestly.

The relationship needs enough trust for one brother to be able to look at another and say, “There is something here we probably need to talk about.”

Frank expects that same honesty from the people around him.

That kind of relationship requires vulnerability, humility and time. It cannot be manufactured through a program alone.

And it points to something the church cannot afford to overlook.

We can introduce someone to Jesus, but then someone has to walk with them.

Frank believes churches can often be very good at evangelism while missing what comes afterward. Someone gives their life to Christ, walks into church excited and ready to grow, but who is going to invest in that person?

Who is going to invite him to coffee?

Who is going to open the Bible with him?

Who is going to answer the questions he is embarrassed to ask?

Who is going to notice when he begins drifting?

Frank knows what it was like not to have that person.

Now he tries to be that person for someone else.

The Goal Is Not to Keep Someone Dependent on You

One thing I appreciated about Frank’s approach is that his definition of successful discipleship is not someone needing him forever.

It is multiplication.

He told me about men he worked with for a couple of years who have now stepped into ministry, mentorship and discipleship themselves.

The relationship changes.

Someone who initially needed considerable guidance begins maturing. Over time, the relationship can become much more peer-to-peer. Eventually that person begins investing what he has learned into someone else.

That is the point.

We sometimes treat discipleship as though a mature Christian gathers a permanent group of people who continually need his wisdom.

Jesus modeled something different.

Disciples become disciple-makers.

The person being fed eventually learns how to feed someone else.

Building Houses and Building People

There is an interesting connection between Frank’s business life and his ministry that neither of us planned going into the conversation.

Frank is a builder.

He has spent decades in construction, including military engineering, residential construction, custom homes, renovations, rental properties and real estate projects.

In his late forties, after years working for an established company, he felt God leading him to go out on his own.

It was another one of those decisions where the safe option was obvious.

He could have remained with a large company where he had already spent more than 16 years and probably continued there comfortably until retirement.

Instead, he left and started building homes himself.

Frank described that season as one of the first times in his life where he had to completely trust God. There were properties to purchase, plans to create, contractors to hire and homes to sell, all while competing against large national builders.

God provided.

Today that business also gives Frank something that has become very valuable to him: flexibility.

He can organize portions of his work around the time he spends discipling men.

So professionally, Frank builds houses.

Increasingly, much of his ministry has been about helping God build people.

The two worlds are not as separate as we often make them.

In fact, Frank has seen discipleship opportunities emerge right in the middle of business. Contractors call when life is falling apart. A supplier becomes someone he has been talking to about Jesus for years. Younger family members working in the trades have an opportunity not only to learn construction but to see what it looks like to follow Christ in the middle of everyday work.

Your workplace is not an interruption to ministry.

It may be where a large portion of your ministry is supposed to happen.

What Is Already in Your Hands?

That same pattern shows up in Frank’s mission work.

When he travels to Mexico, he does not have to suddenly become someone else.

He knows how to build.

So he builds.

One trip may involve pouring concrete and laying block for a church. Another may involve framing and finishing a small home for a family near the border. In Kenya, the work may look different, including serving schools, helping communities and sharing the Gospel in areas facing poverty that is difficult for many Americans to fully comprehend.

Frank brings what God has already placed in his hands.

That is worth considering.

We sometimes make calling unnecessarily complicated because we assume serving God requires doing something entirely disconnected from what we already know.

Maybe it does not.

Maybe your profession, experiences, relationships and abilities are already pointing toward the people you are supposed to serve.

Say Yes

Near the end of our conversation, I asked Frank what he wanted to leave people with.

His answer brought the entire story together. Say yes.

There have been plenty of moments when Frank wanted to understand everything before moving forward. He has worried about outcomes, wrestled with fear and tried to figure out how all the pieces were going to work.

At one point his wife gave him some advice he has not forgotten.

He didn’t need to figure everything out.

He needed to listen to where God was calling him.

Frank is quick to acknowledge that fear and anxiety are real. He is not suggesting that following God makes every concern disappear.

He is saying they do not have to make the decision.

Sometimes following God will be difficult. Sometimes it will be uncomfortable. Sometimes He may ask us to do the exact thing we had already decided we would never do.

Frank had no intention of returning overseas.

Then he went to Kenya.

He did not see any reason to study theology.

Then he earned a master’s degree in Biblical studies and a doctorate in pastoral counseling.

He could have stayed in a secure job.

Instead, he started a business.

He spent years without someone intentionally discipling him.

Now he spends a significant amount of his life discipling others.

None of that happened because Frank had the entire plan mapped out.

It happened one yes at a time.

And maybe that is the question worth sitting with.

What has God already been saying that you have been trying to figure out instead of simply obeying?

You can connect with Frank on LinkedIn and learn more about his work at DiscipleshipConnections.com.

Is There a Message in What God Has Walked You Through?

Sometimes the experiences God has redeemed in our lives become part of the message He entrusts us to carry to others.

The Metamorphoo Method helps you identify that message, make it clear and build a pathway for putting it into the hands of more people. It is a 5-step process rooted in Habakkuk 2:2, “write the vision and make it plain.”

If you know God has given you something to communicate but you are still working through how to put it into words and move it forward, visit MetamorphooMethod.com and start with the free guide.

The post Frank Amato – Saying Yes to God appeared first on SheepFeast.

For most of our working lives, retirement is presented as something off in the distance. You work, build a career, raise a family, save what you can, and eventually reach the point where you can finally stop working. For some, that picture includes travel, hobbies, time with grandchildren, or simply having more control over the calendar.

There is nothing wrong with any of that. But for a follower of Jesus, there is another question worth asking: What if leaving your career does not mean leaving your assignment?

That question was at the heart of a recent conversation on the 2000 Cubit Rule with Bill Hennessy, known as the Retirement Igniter. Bill helps people 50 and older consider what God may be calling them into during a season of life that our culture often treats as a winding down. After 45 years as a pastor, missionary, educator, and executive, Bill has lived through enough transitions himself to know that what comes next is not always what we planned.

In fact, sometimes the thing that looks like an ending is the very thing God uses to open up the next assignment.

When the Plan Changes

Bill’s story started long before retirement. He came to Jesus at 16 in what he describes as a “train smash conversion.” He was not looking for God, and by his own account he had plenty in his life that was heading the other direction. Yet in the same season when he surrendered his life to Jesus, he sensed a call into ministry.

That call eventually took Bill through ministry with the deaf, pastoral work, missions in Nigeria and South Africa, international ministry, Bible college leadership, and nonprofit executive work. Then, after decades of serving in a variety of roles, he faced a transition he had not been looking for.

A nonprofit he had joined went through a major funding disruption. One of Bill’s first responsibilities was helping make painful cuts, including laying off hundreds of people and cutting his own salary. Eventually, he stepped away so the organization could balance its budget.

Bill had a plan, but God allowed the plan to change.

That part of his story will sound familiar to a lot of people, whether they are 30, 50, or 70. We make plans, and we should. Vision matters. Preparation matters. Stewardship matters. But we also recognize that God is the One who orders our steps, and sometimes His path takes us somewhere we never expected to go.

For Bill, that unexpected transition caused him to begin thinking seriously about what happens after a career ends. He started studying how people handled that stage of life, eventually writing about it, starting a podcast, teaching workshops, and helping others rethink what retirement could look like.

He did not simply stop doing what he had been doing. His assignment changed.

Retirement Is More Than Leaving a Job

One of the interesting parts of the conversation was the simple observation that you really do not find our modern concept of retirement laid out in Scripture. You certainly see people getting older, responsibilities changing, and physical capacities shifting, but there is not much of a biblical picture of reaching a particular age and then disengaging from usefulness.

Bill pointed to the Levites as an example. Their responsibilities changed as they aged. They were no longer expected to carry the same physical load, but that did not mean they stopped serving. Their role shifted.

That may be a much better framework for Christian retirement. The question is not necessarily, “When do I stop?” It may be, “What am I supposed to carry now?”

That is an important distinction because careers and callings are not the same thing. A career may provide income, structure, responsibility, influence, relationships, and even a sense of identity for decades. When that disappears, whether voluntarily or unexpectedly, it can leave a significant gap. If our entire identity has been attached to a title, a company, a ministry role, or a position, losing that title can feel like losing part of ourselves.

But our purpose did not originate with the title.

As Bill pointed out during the conversation, Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He prepared in advance for us to do. There is no indication that those good works automatically expire when the paycheck stops.

The work may change. The pace probably will. Our physical capacity may change significantly. But God is not surprised when we turn 60, 70, or 80.

Your Dream May Need to Change Too

There is another side to this that requires some humility. Many people create a picture of retirement when they are in their thirties or forties and then spend decades moving toward it. The problem is that the person who finally arrives at retirement age may not be the same person who created the dream.

Bill told a funny but painfully practical story about a man who had spent years dreaming about owning a fifth-wheel RV. He followed the models, knew exactly what he wanted, and eventually reached retirement and bought the dream. Then came the truck needed to pull it, the additional expenses, the work involved in maintaining it, and the reality of maneuvering a massive RV around campgrounds.

Within weeks, the dream was gone. They sold it at a major loss.

That story is humorous until you realize how often we do something similar. We can become so committed to the plan that we stop asking whether the plan still fits.

Health changes. Family circumstances change. Financial realities change. Interests change. Sometimes God changes the direction altogether.

A person who dreamed of living far from civilization may eventually need to live close to doctors. Someone who imagined spending retirement doing a favorite hobby may develop physical limitations that make it difficult. Others may discover that the thing they thought would satisfy them simply does not.

That does not mean retirement becomes disappointing. It means wisdom requires us to reassess where we actually are and ask God what He wants to do from here.

There is freedom in being able to release a dream that no longer fits instead of spending the next 20 years trying to force yesterday’s plan onto today’s life.

The Wisdom You Have Is Meant to Go Somewhere

Perhaps the strongest theme in the conversation was the responsibility older believers have to younger generations.

By the time you have lived five or six decades, you have accumulated something that cannot be downloaded, Googled, or produced by artificial intelligence. You have lived experience.

You know what it is like to make mistakes and recover from them. You have seen plans succeed and plans fail. You have watched relationships change, businesses change, churches change, families grow, children leave home, finances rise and fall, and the culture around you shift. If you have walked with God through those years, you have also seen His faithfulness in ways that someone younger simply has not had enough years to see yet.

Bill calls some of this “galvanized wisdom,” and that wisdom becomes incredibly valuable when it is given away.

That naturally led our conversation toward mentorship and discipleship. Bill suggested that one of the simplest ways to begin is to look for a need that is not being met. Who needs help? Where is something not getting done? Is there someone younger who could benefit from what you have already learned?

Bill is living this himself. He continues serving in an international church, working alongside younger people and helping prepare another pastor to eventually take greater responsibility. He is not doing it to add another line to a résumé. He is doing it because the opportunity is there, God has given him something to contribute, and someone coming behind him can benefit from what he already knows.

There is an important Kingdom principle in that. The goal is not to hold onto the position forever. The goal is to help someone else become ready to carry it.

That is discipleship. It is also multiplication.

Leaving More Than Money Behind

Retirement conversations tend to revolve around finances, and understandably so. People need to know whether they have enough to live, what their expenses will be, and how to steward what they have saved. Bill is quick to point out that financial planning is not his lane and encourages people to work with qualified professionals in that area.

His focus is on another question: Now that you have reached this point, what are you going to do with what God has entrusted to you?

That includes money, but it also includes experience, time, relationships, knowledge, stories, generosity, spiritual wisdom, and the lessons learned over a lifetime.

Bill described retirement as a potential mindset shift from accumulation toward distribution. Much of the first half of life is spent building. We build families, businesses, careers, ministries, networks, resources, and knowledge. At some point, we should begin asking how those things are going to flow outward.

That conversation led naturally into generational inheritance. We often think about what we will leave our children financially, but there is also a spiritual inheritance to consider.

Bill talked about deliberately telling his children and grandchildren where they came from. Younger generations can look at where their parents or grandparents are today and assume life was always that way. They see the house, the experience, the stability, or the wisdom without seeing the years it took to get there.

Sometimes they need to hear about the hard years too.

They need to hear about the early days when furniture was improvised from boxes. They need to know about the things that failed, the seasons when money was tight, the prayers God answered, the doors He closed, the lessons learned the hard way, and the moments when obedience mattered.

Those stories help the next generation understand that difficulty is not necessarily evidence that they missed God. Sometimes difficulty is part of how God builds something that will eventually be passed to someone else.

When we tell those stories, we are doing more than reminiscing. We are helping the next generation understand the wells that were dug before they arrived.

Finish With Something Still in Your Hands

Toward the end of our conversation, Bill talked about his in-laws and the decades of life they lived after traditional retirement age. His point was simple. If life is essentially over when the job ends, then what are those next 20, 30, or even 40 years for?

For a believer, those years still belong to God.

That does not mean running at the same pace forever. There is wisdom in slowing down. There are seasons for rest. There are physical limitations that should be respected, and there may be responsibilities we simply cannot carry anymore.

But there is a major difference between slowing down and checking out.

Bill said he wants to reach the end of his life still looking toward tomorrow, knowing there is something God has given him to do. Ultimately, he wants to finish well and hear the words every follower of Jesus longs to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

That is a powerful way to think about retirement. Maybe the goal is not simply to retire. Maybe the goal is to refire, not by manufacturing another big dream for ourselves, but by becoming available for whatever God wants to do with the years, experience, wisdom, and resources He has already placed in our hands.

You may leave the workforce, but that does not mean God has finished with your work.

Learn more about Bill Hennessy and the resources available through Ignite Retirement at IgniteRetirement.co.

What Has God Given You to Carry Forward?

One of the things we believe at SheepFeast is that God has given His people messages, experiences, wisdom, and vision that are meant to serve others. Sometimes the challenge is not whether there is something worth sharing, but how to take everything God has built into you and communicate it clearly enough for someone else to receive it and carry it forward.

That is why we created the Metamorphoo Method, a 5-step process based on Habakkuk 2:2 that helps you write the vision, make it plain, put it into forms people can access, and position it so others can read it and run with it. If you sense that God has given you something that needs to be clarified, communicated, or multiplied in this next season, visit MetamorphooMethod.com to learn more.

The post Bill Hennessy – Retire or Refire? Finding God-Given Purpose After 50 appeared first on SheepFeast.

Goals are everywhere in business.

Revenue goals. Growth goals. Sales goals. Impact goals. Personal goals.

But for someone following Jesus, there is another question that has to come first:

Whose goals are we pursuing, and who gets to define success?

Phil R. Taylor, founder of Goal Achievers Summit, joined Mark Rowan on the 2000 Cubit Rule for a conversation about achievement, business, sales, adversity, and what it means to pursue meaningful goals while keeping God at the center.

For Phil, pursuing goals is not contrary to dependence on God. In fact, when properly surrendered, goals can become part of how we steward what God has placed in our hands.

God Is Not Against Goals

The name Goal Achievers Summit raises an interesting question for Christians.

Should we really be focused on achieving goals?

Phil believes the answer is yes, but with an important qualification.

Scripture repeatedly shows people planning, building, stewarding, working, and moving toward specific outcomes. At the same time, Scripture makes it clear that our plans remain subject to God.

We make plans. God directs our steps.

That means having a goal is not the same thing as controlling the outcome.

There is room to plan boldly while remaining completely surrendered to God’s direction.

Phil described God as a “goal achiever,” pointing to the intentionality and purpose seen throughout Scripture. Humanity itself was created with purpose, gifts, assignments, and opportunities to steward.

The question is not whether we should pursue goals.

The deeper question is whether those goals are submitted to God.

Success Starts With Identity

One of the strongest ideas from the conversation was Phil’s reminder that believers do not have to achieve their way into significance.

In Christ, our identity is already secure.

That changes everything about how we approach success.

Instead of saying, “I need to accomplish more so that I can become successful,” we can begin from a different position:

God has already given me value, identity, and purpose. Now I get to faithfully steward what He has entrusted to me.

Achievement becomes stewardship rather than validation.

Business growth no longer has to prove our worth.

Recognition does not determine our significance.

And failure does not have the authority to define us.

Our work can flow from who we already are in Christ.

God May Redirect the Plan

Goals also require flexibility.

Mark shared a principle he often returns to: we make plans, but God orders our steps.

Those two realities can exist together.

We can create the plan, set the goal, build the strategy, and move forward faithfully. Then God may redirect the entire journey.

That does not necessarily mean the original plan was wrong.

Sometimes the plan simply gets us moving.

Joseph could never have designed the path that eventually placed him in a position to save countless lives. His journey included betrayal, slavery, false accusation, imprisonment, and years of uncertainty.

Yet what others intended for evil, God used for good.

The same pattern appears repeatedly throughout Scripture. God’s destination may be clear while the route looks nothing like what we expected.

That is why surrender has to remain part of goal setting.

What If Sales Were Really About Serving?

The conversation also turned toward one of the most practical areas of business: sales.

Phil’s approach begins before scripts, funnels, tactics, or closing techniques.

It begins with the heart.

Do you genuinely care about the person in front of you?

That question changes the entire sales conversation.

Instead of approaching someone primarily as a transaction, we begin looking for an opportunity to serve.

What does this person actually need?

What problem are they trying to solve?

Can I genuinely help?

Am I listening?

Am I operating with kindness and truth?

Phil pointed to Proverbs 3 and the pairing of kindness and truth as a powerful standard for communication and business.

A salesperson grounded in both does not need manipulation.

Truth keeps us honest.

Kindness keeps us focused on the person.

Together, they create trust.

Sales then becomes less about convincing someone to buy and more about discovering whether we can meaningfully serve them.

Hope May Be One of Our Greatest Contributions

Phil also shared an insight he heard from Tom Ziglar at one of the Goal Achievers Summit events: people are looking for hope.

That carries particular significance for believers.

Scripture tells us to be ready to give a reason for the hope within us.

That hope is not limited to church environments.

It travels with us into offices, businesses, sales conversations, conferences, partnerships, and everyday interactions.

Someone may first encounter the hope of Christ because they experience something different in the way a Christian conducts business.

They encounter integrity.

Generosity.

Kindness.

Patience.

Excellence.

An unusual willingness to serve.

And eventually they may ask why.

That is Kingdom influence.

Difficulty Can Become Preparation

Phil’s own story has included unexpected turns.

After attending Bible school as a young man, he was kicked out during his second year. His journey eventually took him into sales, entrepreneurship, communication, events, and ultimately the work he is doing today through Goal Achievers Summit.

Looking backward, experiences that seemed disconnected can begin to reveal a pattern.

God wastes very little.

Pain can become preparation.

Disappointment can produce empathy.

Failure can expose what needs healing.

Unexpected detours can position us for assignments we never would have chosen for ourselves.

The goal is not to pretend difficulty is enjoyable.

It is to recognize that God remains at work inside it.

The Kingdom Definition of Success

Near the end of the conversation, Phil returned to Philippians 2 and one of the most countercultural instructions in Scripture:

Look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Consider others above yourself.

That is radically different from much of what the world teaches about achievement.

The Kingdom does not eliminate ambition.

It transforms it.

Instead of asking only, “How far can I go?” we begin asking:

Who can I serve along the way?

Instead of asking, “How much can I accomplish?” we ask:

What has God actually entrusted to me?

Instead of asking, “How do I make myself successful?” we ask:

How can Christ live through me in this assignment?

That may be the greatest goal of all.

Not merely achieving more, but becoming more surrendered.

Not simply building something impressive, but allowing God to build something through us.

And not pursuing success for ourselves, but becoming faithful stewards of whatever He places in our hands.

About Phil R. Taylor

Phil R. Taylor is the founder of Goal Achievers Summit, LLC, a national event platform connecting entrepreneurs, speakers, founders, and business leaders. With more than two decades in the events and speaking industry, Phil is passionate about bringing the right people, ideas, and opportunities together to create meaningful growth and impact.

Learn more about Phil and upcoming events at GoalAchieversSummit.com.

Make Room for God in What You’re Building

If God has placed a message, assignment, or vision in your heart, clarity matters.

The Metamorphoo Method helps Christian entrepreneurs, coaches, authors, and speakers clarify the message God has entrusted to them, make it plain, and build a pathway for greater impact.

Explore the Metamorphoo Method and begin putting language and structure around what God has called you to carry.

The post Phil R. Taylor – What Does Success Look Like in God’s Kingdom? appeared first on SheepFeast.

Why do we keep doing things we know are not helping us?

Why do procrastination, perfectionism, overwhelm, self-doubt, or the need for approval keep showing up, even when we genuinely want to change?

According to success mindset and abundance coach Valerie Pugsley, the answer may be found in the stories and patterns we have been reinforcing for years, sometimes without even realizing it.

In this episode of the 2000 Cubit Rule, Valerie joins Mark Rowan and Dr. Je Hammonds for a conversation about mindset, biblical truth, the power of our words, and what it looks like to approach personal growth with both grace and curiosity.

The Invisible Walls That Keep Us Stuck

Valerie works with entrepreneurs and side-hustlers who find themselves running into what she describes as invisible walls.

Fear. Self-doubt. Procrastination. Perfectionism. Overwhelm. Self-sabotage.

On the surface, these can look like productivity problems. We may assume we simply need more discipline, a better schedule, or another strategy.

But sometimes the behavior we see today is connected to a story we learned much earlier.

Our minds naturally develop patterns and responses based on our experiences. Over time, those responses can become so familiar that we stop recognizing them as patterns at all.

That is where Valerie encourages a different response.

Instead of immediately judging yourself, get curious.

Why am I responding this way?

What am I believing right now?

Where did that belief come from?

Is it actually true?

And most importantly for the believer, does it agree with what God says is true?

Grace and Curiosity Instead of Shame

One of the most compelling ideas Valerie shares is what she calls her Grace & Curiosity Approach.

When we recognize an unhealthy pattern, our instinct can be condemnation.

I should be further along.

Why do I keep doing this?

What’s wrong with me?

That condemnation rarely produces healthy transformation. Instead, Valerie encourages people to begin with grace and then become curious about what is happening beneath the behavior.

Grace does not mean ignoring something that needs to change. It creates room to examine it without shame.

That distinction is especially important for Christians.

Scripture calls us to transformation through the renewing of our minds. It also tells us to take our thoughts captive. There is participation involved. We are not powerless observers of every thought or pattern that enters our minds.

We can examine what we believe, bring it before God, and begin replacing false narratives with truth.

Personal Development or Biblical Truth?

Valerie’s journey into mindset coaching came with an important tension.

As a Christian, she encountered concepts within psychology and personal development that were genuinely helpful. At the same time, she recognized that some approaches eventually placed the individual at the center of everything.

That was the dividing line.

There is a significant difference between recognizing the abilities God has given us and believing that we ourselves are the ultimate source of our power.

Yet Valerie also noticed something else. Many ideas promoted by modern personal development resemble principles Scripture has taught for centuries.

The Bible has long told us to renew our minds, examine our thoughts, focus on what is true and praiseworthy, seek wise counsel, and understand that our words have tremendous power.

The problem comes when we either remove God from those principles or reject useful insights simply because they are presented outside traditional Christian language.

The better approach is discernment.

Test it. Examine it. Compare it with Scripture.

Keep what is true.

Your Words Are Programming Something

One of the most practical parts of the conversation centers on language.

Valerie gives a remarkably simple example.

She used to frequently say:

“I forgot.”

Then she recognized something interesting. At the exact moment she was saying she forgot something, she was actually remembering it.

So she began changing her language.

Rather than continually reinforcing forgetting, she began focusing on remembering.

The distinction seems small, but it illustrates a much larger principle.

Pay attention to the phrases you repeatedly speak over yourself:

I’m terrible at this.

I’m always overwhelmed.

I’ll never be able to do that.

I can’t remember anything.

I’m just not disciplined.

When a phrase becomes habitual, it can become part of the story through which we interpret our lives.

The question becomes: What are you repeatedly telling yourself to expect?

Reframing Doesn’t Mean Denying Reality

Biblical mindset work is not pretending difficult circumstances do not exist.

Valerie shares a powerful example from a season when someone she loved was hospitalized. Her schedule had been completely disrupted, emotions were high, and she found herself repeatedly thinking:

I’m in a crisis.

The circumstances were real. But Valerie recognized that continually describing everything as a crisis was adding another emotional layer to an already difficult situation.

Her reframe became:

“This is an unplanned schedule change.”

The circumstances had not disappeared.

But her ability to respond to them changed.

A crisis feels uncontrollable. An unplanned schedule change is something you can begin navigating.

That is an important distinction. Reframing is not about lying to yourself. It is about examining whether the language you are using accurately and constructively describes what is happening.

When Achievement Becomes Identity

The conversation becomes especially important for entrepreneurs, ministry leaders, pastors, coaches, and other high achievers.

Dr. Je Hammonds shares how easily service and accomplishment can become connected to our need for affirmation.

We can serve.

Build.

Lead.

Produce.

Help people.

And even do all of it in the name of ministry.

But beneath all that activity can be another question:

Am I doing this from calling, or am I trying to prove that I am valuable?

Valerie points out that high achievement can sometimes become a coping mechanism. If someone’s sense of worth has become connected to productivity, recognition, or approval, slowing down can feel threatening.

That creates a difficult possibility.

Healing may actually change what motivates you.

You may still accomplish significant things, but you no longer need accomplishment to tell you who you are.

For Christian leaders, that is an important distinction between working from identity and working for identity.

You May Need Someone Outside the Bottle

Valerie uses a memorable analogy during the conversation.

When we’re inside a bottle, we cannot read the label.

Sometimes we need someone outside of our situation who can see what we cannot.

That could be a coach, counselor, pastor, mentor, trusted friend, or another wise person God has placed in our lives.

Valerie demonstrated this herself in an earlier conversation with Mark. She noticed seemingly harmless words such as “just” and “finally” that were subtly minimizing progress. Mark did not recognize the pattern because those words had become natural to him.

Someone else heard them.

That is part of the value of wise community. Other people can sometimes recognize patterns that have become invisible to us.

What Are You Rehearsing?

Perhaps one of the most practical takeaways from Valerie’s message is simply to start listening to yourself.

You don’t have to identify and solve every pattern today.

Start noticing.

What phrases do you repeat?

What assumptions do you make about yourself?

What happens internally when something goes wrong?

Where do you immediately go emotionally?

What story are you telling yourself about what happened?

Then bring grace and curiosity into that moment.

Instead of simply saying, “That’s just how I am,” ask a better question:

Is that who God created me to be, or is that simply a pattern I’ve learned?

Those are very different things.

And patterns can change.

Trusting God From a Place of Expectation

Valerie closes the episode with a powerful reframe of prayer.

Sometimes our prayers acknowledge God’s will, but the way we approach His will can almost sound like resignation. Valerie challenges believers to approach surrender differently.

Drawing from Ephesians 3:20, she has learned to pray with expectation that God can do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we can ask or imagine.

That is still surrender.

But it is surrender rooted in confidence in God’s character rather than fear about what He might do.

We may not know exactly how God will work through a circumstance. We can still trust that He sees more than we see, knows more than we know, and is capable of outcomes beyond what we could construct ourselves.

That is a reframe worth remembering.

Connect With Valerie Pugsley

Valerie Pugsley is a Success Mindset & Abundance Coach who helps entrepreneurs and side-hustlers uncover the invisible barriers keeping them stuck. Her work addresses areas including procrastination, perfectionism, overwhelm, self-sabotage, intentional language, marketing, and sales.

You can learn more about Valerie, her coaching, resources, and upcoming opportunities at Val Cares.

The post Valerie Pugsley – The Hidden Programming Running Your Life appeared first on SheepFeast.

The Metamorphoo Method may be new to the public, but the idea behind it is not.

It actually goes back to 2018, several years before we launched SheepFeast.

At the time, I had an idea to help authors take the transformational messages contained in their books and turn them into online resources that could reach and serve more people.

The working name for the idea was Metamorphoo, or Metamorphoo Life.

It was still conceptual, and we never officially launched anything under that name. But the idea stayed with me.

When we launched SheepFeast in 2022, the name changed, but much of that original vision came with it. Over time, I began to realize that the need was much bigger than helping authors turn books into online resources.

Coaches, speakers, entrepreneurs, ministry leaders, and others were facing the same challenge.

They had experience. They had stories. They had teaching, content, programs, and ideas. Most importantly, they had something God had placed in them that could genuinely transform people’s lives.

The message was not the problem.

The problem was bringing everything together in a way that other people could clearly understand, apply, and eventually share.

Part of the vision might be in a notebook. Other parts may be spread across years of presentations, sermons, coaching sessions, podcast conversations, and social media posts.

They may already have a book, a course, a website, or several programs. The problem is usually not that they have nothing.

Quite often, they have so much that it becomes difficult to explain how everything fits together.

And honestly, that has been part of our journey at SheepFeast as well.

We have spent years working through this process ourselves. We have had to capture the vision, clarify the message, create resources, build the systems to support them, and learn how all the pieces connect.

Some of that journey simply took time. Some of it involved trial and error. And some of it involved recognizing that we had created valuable pieces without always having a clear pathway connecting them.

The Metamorphoo Method grew out of what we learned along the way.

Our hope is that other leaders will not need eight years to bring everything together. We cannot remove the time required to seek God, develop the vision, or do the work well. There are parts of the process that should not be rushed.

But we can provide a clearer process. We can ask better questions. And we can help leaders avoid some of the confusion, disconnected efforts, and unnecessary steps that can make the journey take longer than it needs to.

In many ways, the Metamorphoo Method is what that original vision has been growing into all along.

Why Metamorphoo?

As the Metamorphoo Method began to take shape, two passages of Scripture helped me understand what it was really meant to do.

The first was Romans 12:2:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

The Greek word translated as “transformed” is metamorphoo. It speaks of genuine change, not simply receiving more information, but becoming different because of it.

That is the kind of message many Christian leaders carry.

They are not simply trying to give people more information. They want to help people think differently, live differently, lead differently, and become who God created them to be.

But carrying a transformational message does not automatically mean people will understand it or know what to do with it.

That is where Habakkuk 2:2 comes in:

“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.”

I love the progression in that verse.

Write the vision.

Make it plain.

Put it into a form people can receive.

Then give them something they can run with.

That progression is at the heart of the Metamorphoo Method.

How to Clarify Your Message Through the 5 Steps of the Metamorphoo Method

As I looked at the journey from carrying a vision to seeing that vision transform other people, I began to recognize five connected steps.

1. Capture the Vision

Before creating another course, website, program, or piece of content, we need to understand what God has already placed in your hands.

What is the vision?

Who are you called to serve?

What have you experienced and learned?

What transformation do you want to help people experience?

This step is about getting everything out of your head and bringing the important pieces together.

2. Clarify the Message

Once the vision has been captured, it needs to be made plain.

This means identifying the central message, understanding the audience, defining the intended transformation, and organizing the ideas so other people can follow them.

We are not trying to change what God gave you. We are helping remove the confusion around it.

3. Create the Assets

Once the message is clear, it can be turned into resources people can actually use.

That might include a book, guide, workbook, course, coaching program, podcast, presentation, video series, or social media content.

The goal is not simply to create more content. It is to create the right resources to serve your audience and help people take their next step.

In some ways, this step is most closely connected to that original idea from 2018. What began as helping authors transform books into online resources has grown into helping leaders transform their entire message into the right collection of assets.

4. Build the Pathway

This is where I have seen many good messages get stuck, including some of our own.

The content may exist, but there is no clear way for people to discover it, engage with it, and continue moving forward.

Through our work at SheepFeast, I have come to understand that the message and the systems supporting it cannot be treated as completely separate things.

The pathway connects the website, communication, courses, community, appointments, payments, and technology that support the message.

It helps people move from simply encountering your message to actually applying it.

5. Multiply the Impact

The final step is about helping the message move beyond you.

That multiplication may happen through coaching, communities, partnerships, certifications, memberships, or other leaders who can carry the message forward.

The goal is not simply to build a larger audience. It is to see genuine transformation multiplied through other people.

You Probably Do Not Need to Start Over

This is an important part of the Metamorphoo Method.

We are not assuming you need to throw everything away and begin again.

You may already have years of valuable teaching, content, experience, resources, and relationships. Some parts of your pathway may already be working well.

We want to help you see what is already there, how it fits together, what may be missing, and what the right next step should be.

For one person, that may mean clarifying the message.

For someone else, it may mean turning years of teaching into a practical resource.

Another person may already have the message and resources, but no clear pathway connecting them.

You do not have to tackle all five steps at once. You simply need to understand where you are and where God is leading you next.

How to Begin

We have created several ways to help you begin, based on where you are in the process.

The best starting point for most people is the free guide, The Metamorphoo Method: 5 Steps to Transform Your Message and Multiply Your Impact.

It introduces the complete method and helps you see where the pieces are already working together and where something may still be missing.

If you need space to pause, seek God’s direction, and talk through what comes next, the 2000 Cubit Rule Session is designed for that conversation.

The Make It Plain Intensive goes deeper into the first two steps, helping you capture the vision and clarify the message before moving ahead with more content, programs, or technology.

Then, when it is time to connect the systems supporting the message, the Farmwork brings the tools and support together in one place.

But you do not need to figure out the entire journey today.

Start with the guide. Take an honest look at what God has already placed in your hands. Then ask what the next faithful step should be.

This idea has been developing since 2018, and we have lived much of this process ourselves. Now, we want to use what we have learned to help other leaders bring their vision, message, resources, and pathway together more clearly and effectively.

It does not need to take eight years to figure out how all the pieces fit together.

If you have a transformational message, we want to help you transform that message for maximum impact.

Learn more and download the free guide at metamorphoomethod.com.

The post The Message Isn’t the Problem: Why I Created the Metamorphoo Method appeared first on SheepFeast.