From an Appalachian workshop to boardrooms, war rooms, and breakthrough labs—led step by step by the voice of God.
The short version
John Anderson’s story is not a formula; it’s an invitation. He went from an atheist kid sleeping in a cold electronics shop to a Navy nuclear officer, Fortune-level executive, advisor to public leaders, and founder working on world-scale problems. The constant thread? Learning to recognize and obey the voice of the Good Shepherd—then watching doors open that hustle alone couldn’t budge.
“If there’s a God, He could do that.”
John grew up poor in Appalachia, living behind the family garage. He didn’t believe in God—until a sequence of three nights changed everything. The first two nights, he dreamed of a robed man and found himself arguing with…himself—half surrendering, half resisting. On the third night (February 29), he wasn’t dreaming. He says a man stood before him; when John looked into his eyes, he saw his whole life—past and (if nothing changed) future. The overwhelming sense he felt: disappointment, then disgust. He dropped to his knees and prayed the prayer he had been fighting not to pray.
Nothing “magical” happened. So he prayed again—this time, meaning it. He appealed to God’s promises: You said if anyone comes, You won’t cast them out. And that’s when, as he tells it, the Spirit of God filled him and loneliness left like a dragon taking flight.
What followed was hunger. He read the entire New Testament cover to cover—every day for a week. He didn’t have the language for it yet (“born again,” “saved”), but his life had turned.
Scripture, then skill: the student who taught the teachers
With no pedigree and little money, John set his major to physics. He felt wildly underqualified—until a single verse gripped him: “Because of Your word, I have more understanding than my teachers” (Ps. 119). Study habits sharpened. Memory strengthened. Professors began asking him to guest-lecture and help crack tough problems. He graduated summa cum laude, earned national recognition, and contributed to research that reshaped understanding of the strong nuclear force.
Principle: Revelation doesn’t replace discipline; it fuels it.
“Go into the Navy.”
The only audible word John says he’s ever heard from God sent him to a Navy recruiter. The path led to an interview with Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear Navy. Odds of selection were about 1 in 10,000. He was chosen.
At 23, John became a class director, advising commanding officers and leading 25% of the command. He helped shepherd the first women through nuclear training, solved long-standing operational problems, and unlocked 55,000 man-hours a year—wins born from listening and acting.
Called to business—without a “career”
In 1978, John sensed a shift: out of science, into business. Not a single ladder, but “one short-term assignment after another.” Over the years he held 34 executive leadership roles across seven management disciplines and 12 industries, advising university presidents, lawmakers, governors, and global leaders. He insists there were no three steps to success—only a series of yeses to God’s invitations.
Miracle #1: A year of work in a week
While writing software for an oil company and cramming daytime pre-med classes, he prayed for help. He says God let him “see” how an entire year’s system should fit together. He wrote a program that generated a year of work—in one week—then paced delivery so no one would balk. That margin funded classes, family, and ministry.
Miracle #2: Averted path
Medical schools invited him. But peace evaporated. Confronted by 1 Timothy 6, he saw his motives—status and wealth. He declined the offers. Years later, those pre-med skills helped him lead biotech companies and even draft patents that others couldn’t thread through the USPTO.
The question that changed everything
In a waterfront corner office in the late ’90s—eagles nesting outside, life “set”—John sensed God asking, “Why are you still here?” He admitted: for the money. Then came a bigger assignment:
“What will the planet need 50 years from now—and who else knows it, and what are they doing?”
His research left him shaken: powerful interests racing to corner scarce resources, not to preserve life but to control it. The invitation that followed: build enterprises that deliver solutions 10x better at 1% of the price—at a scale that serves people rather than enslaves them.
It came with terms. John believes he negotiated the “cost” of the anointing for that work—placing on the altar everything he valued (finances, health, reputation, even calling) and asking for a return of greater value (impact, souls, nations served). The result was a wilderness: net worth swinging from many zeros positive to many zeros negative, phone going silent, reputation attacked—even a false arrest later thrown out. Yet he also points to “Daniel 1:20” technologies (ten-times better) and benefactors now rallying to fund world-scale deployments.
The key that unlocks stuck doors: forgiveness
Amid healings and helps, one theme kept surfacing: people who could believe God forgave them—but wouldn’t forgive themselves.
On a plane, a dairy farmer’s wife wracked with pain whispered four words, “I now forgive myself.” She straightened as her body crackled back into place. In a church, fibromyalgia of three years vanished. A husband’s decade-long back pain left. With a dying tech executive named Jerry, the breakthrough began when his wife forgave a careless driver, failed clinicians, even God. Then Jerry forgave his sister—and life flooded back in.
Jesus’ first key of the kingdom was forgiveness (John 20).
It applies to others—and to you.
How John reads the Bible (and why it matters)
He’s the first to admit he often misses the author’s intent. But he clings to two guardrails Jesus gave religious experts: “You don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.” Both matter. Read—and believe. Let the Word change you before you ask it to change circumstances.
What to do with this story
1) Say yes early, say yes often.
God isn’t a respecter of persons; He’s a respecter of faith and obedience. You don’t need a master plan—just ears.
2) Pair revelation with rigor.
Pray, then study. Listen, then execute. Expect favor—and put in the reps.
3) Audit your motives.
Good paths with wrong motives become traps. Let God purify why you want what you want.
4) Forgive—others and yourself.
If grace sits on the porch, unlock the door. Try the four words: “I now forgive myself.” Mean them.
5) Ask the 50-year question.
What will your community need in 2075? Who’s moving in that direction? How can you build solutions that set people free?
Final word
John frames our lives as part of a bigger covenantal story: the Father receiving a family, the Son ruling the nations, the Spirit indwelling a people. Your “yes” isn’t just about your career; it’s about God getting what He promised Himself.
So start where you are. Listen. Obey. And watch the adventure unfold.