Adventurous Faith: Life To The Full

This week, my family and I are enjoying our annual trip to the beaches of Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. We've been venturing to these coastal waters every July since 1994. It's a natural place of rest for us with a lot of memories. FINDING WORK IN THE GAPS OF REST I get it - it's backward. Shouldn't this be the other way around? It should, but this week at the beach has been different for me. I've never stepped into this favored week with a brand new business I'm trying to get off the ground. I find myself thinking about and processing more about work, and it's tricky. There is something to learn through this process. The entrepreneurial life for me is something that is enticing. No, not working ungodly amounts of hours - but creating a life that I don't have to vacation from. That's the goal. But I am only just beginning, and this goal is still a bit out of sight for now. FIND THE TENSION Until then, I plan on still trying to find the tension between work, rest and what vacations may need to look lik

Sometimes, life can throw you a curveball - and it's never fun to take a swing. Jesus said that "in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart - I have overcome the world". What exactly did Jesus mean when he said those words? He was reminding you and I that we will experience difficult trials and struggles as we go through this life. But in the midst of those trials, there is hope - Jesus has overcome every little last bit of what we may be struggling with. IN SICKNESS & IN HEALTH On today's episode of Adventurous Faith, I sat down with my friend, Jim Barnard and had him share his struggle of a current and ongoing "trouble" he finds himself in: a chronic illness his wife is suffering with. Jim didn't ask for this. He didn't bargain or even want this life for himself. And yet, God has done some incredible through him and his wife, Alisha's life that Jim could have never even seen coming. God has taken what the enemy has meant for evil and destruction and turned it all around for good. A HEALTHY MAR

Every once in a while you come across one of those conversations that sort of light a fire underneath your soul and keep your ignited to keep moving forward. This last Friday, I had one of those conversations that not only helped me to see marketing from an entirely different perspective, but it gave me a good handle on what I need to be praying for in my business moving forward. GOD LOVES MARKETING Fast forward to earlier this week. I was sitting in front of a potential client wondering if he was tracking with what I was sharing about Adventurous Faith. God nudged me - "Just go there." So, I did. And before I knew it, in full confidence in who I was and what Adventurous Faith is I was sharing with him how important Jesus is to this entire process. It was coursing through my veins, and I couldn't stop it. GOD LOVES NUDGING US God continues to work in this little start-up of mine, and this is my story, in real time of how he is doing it. Thanks for listening. REACH OUT TO ME Facebook Instagram Twitter Li

Success is a loaded term in today’s world. I feel as if I am having this conversation more than ever when it comes to how people define it. To some, success means money, fame, stuff, and achievements. To others, it means family, friends and a well-rounded life. And this isn't a wrong conversation to have - but I'm wondering if there is a better way for Christ-followers to begin re-framing the way we view what it means to be successful. WHAT DOES SUCCESS MEAN TO YOU?  Maybe an even better question is what success should mean to you?  Of all the things Jesus talked about, the word success never came up. Is it because He doesn’t want us to be successful? Not likely. It’s because there is a much better path. Today, on the Adventurous Faith podcast we’re going to talk about that path and how as different as our lives of success may seem, Jesus is calling us all to the same path leading back to him and a much more balanced life.  HOW DID JESUS VIEW SUCCESS? While Jesus spent a lot of his public ministry talking abo

I shared on last weeks chapter of my start-up story that through a series of meeting certain people I was connected with a company here in St. Louis that works with helping to get start-ups off the ground. I'm being pretty vague at this point in the story about who that was not because I think it will fall through but because I want to protect them and the process that we are going through to see how this may work. I believe I'll be able to share with you in the future about what this partnership fully looks like. BIG IMPORTANT MEETING This last week I had this important meeting with this company. I had my guns loaded and I was excited to see what might come of us talking about what their needs were and how I might be able to help them. After a lot of conversation, we turned to talk about how I could help and it all took a turn. Why? Because there wasn't a deal to be made. Was it because I wasn't good enough, smart enough or didn't have the skills? Nope. It was because there wasn't the opportunity I was looki

Each winter for the last several years, myself and some of my closest friends head out west for some adventure on the slopes. We call it "Bro-Skiing". Each trip comes with its own set of stories and memories. With every new year comes new traditions and hopes for what a week on the mountain will bring. I never thought I would have a trip like this. I am beyond grateful for it. YOU & YOUR FRIENDS NEED TO START TAKING ADVENTURES TOGETHER Do adventure and risks have the look of something epic every time? Of course not! An adventure that grows your friendships is one that begins just outside your front door. This means it is going to look different for everyone. A trip like b-ski is often what works for me and my friends. The point of taking risks and going on an adventure together isn't to do something crazy. The point is do something outside of normal. Normal is good - normal keeps life...normal. It's good and steady at times. It serves its purpose. But, normal isn't always what you and I need. If we want t

It's been almost a month since I cut out on my own to begin this new business called Adventurous Faith. It's been quite a ride but hasn't come with exciting challenges as well. Over the last month, I am focused on getting the message of Adventurous Faith out there. I want to create a vast amount of awareness for this brand. So, where did I start? Meetings. And not just meetings. I'm talking meetings on meetings on meetings.  40 MEETINGS AND COUNTING Since firing this business up full-time, I have sat down 42 times to talk about the vision of Adventurous Faith. Some may call it accessive. I would call it being as strategic as possible.  Along the way, God and others have taught me so much about how to position myself, my business and even the small things like what sort of language to use when talking to people. It's given me a chance to hone my message in ways I could only learn by talking about it over and over. I consider all these sit downs a huge blessing.  THIS DOESN'T MAKE GROWING A BUSINESS EASY Hear m

We live in a world consumed with the idea of confidence. Many other voices to us to build our lives around being self-assured - to live brashly, boldly, courageously and brazenly. We are told to live out and proclaim self-confidence - you can do anything and everything you set your mind to. But, is this the way God intended confidence? Is this the way our days were meant to be lived - formed completely out of the self-made life? CONFIDENCE ON THE MIND I've been processing the idea of confidence and the self-made man a lot lately. This is part of the reason for this episode so early in the Adventurous Faith journey. I believe part of the reason it's been so close to my heart is that the more I process Adventurous Faith, the more I realize that the call to this life that Christ has for you and I isn't about us. Sure, we "take the risk", but in the end, the goal is that it is all about Christ - with him and control. And you can't get too far down the road of losing control of your own life only to find it in Jes

A couple of weeks ago I was having a conversation with Sam & Blaine Eldredge of & Son's Magazine. After recording our podcast episode, I wanted to ask them a couple of honest questions about what it means to start a business. They were very forthright in their response and they shared with me two pieces of advice that I wanted to share with you in this chapter of my Start-Up Story. THE WAY JESUS DIRECTS YOUR BUSINESS & WHAT CONVENTIONAL WISDOM MAY SAY COULD BE WILDLY DIFFERENT.  When I first got into wanting to start my own business, I thought all the voices that God would put around me to listen to (both far and up close) would give me the direction I should go. As in - if they say it, it must be the right direction I should go. But that isn't the case at all, even as I am in the infant stages of Adventurous Faith. What Sam shared with me was that sometimes what the world may say to do with its conventional wisdom, and what Jesus would say to do may look wildly different. I know what you may be t

Life in the corporate world can be cut-throat. It doesn't make it any easier when you're working for one of the most powerful and profitable companies on the planet - Amazon. Many would say that in order to be successful at a Fortune 10 company, you need to sell your soul. But is that really the case? I've never spent any time in the corporate world, but there is one thing I am learning about what it means to be "in business". You have to be very intentional about your time, what you do with it and what you don't. This is what today's guest is still working on, but in a way has mastered in fine fashion. HOW TO WORK FOR AMAZON & LIVE FOR JESUS Tony Biaggne is a Creative Director for the North American division of Amazon. His world moves fast. His team is responsible for a lot of creative content that is used all over the world. Tony's story is fascinating in that the collection of his life experiences have helped him to make his way through the Amazon jungle and keep his faith at the same time. For Tony, i

  I like money. In fact, I like A LOT. I enjoy it so much that I think it's OK to make a lot of it. Now, I'll be honest with you from the beginning of this post and let you know that I've never made a lot of money. But, it's still something I would love to do. DON'T YOU WANT TO MAKE A LOT OF MONEY? I think that's a fairly simple question you can answer. Anyone who tells you they aren't interested in making good money - or A LOT of it is merely lying to you. But sometimes we convince ourselves (or...at least I have) that making money or too much much is flat out evil. Well...it's not - and it never will be. But even still, I have wrestled with my relationship with money for a long time, and in starting this brand new business, I have had to work through some of my baggage of how I think about money. I'm through a lot of it, but it sometimes creeps up on me. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MOVE THE NEEDLE? I bring up the money idea because this last week on a video call with my coach, he asked me the ever important coach

A few years back I realized something about my mornings - they were terrible. And by terrible I mean I would roll out of bed and then before I knew it or realized it I would find myself at the gym. Later in the day, I would notice how much purpose it lacked. I wasn't sure of where it went. Pretty soon I realized that if I wanted my life to go somewhere and have direction, I needed to build better days. It didn't take me long to realize that in order to build more productive days, I needed to begin with a morning routine.  A MORNING ROUTINE TO SLAY YOUR DAY, WEEK, MONTH & LIFE It took me a while to figure it out, but I began to grab some traction with my mornings. I would change it up to see what worked and chuck anything that didn't seem to fit. My mornings, over the course of time, began to take shape. It was then I noticed something pretty amazing - my days began to look radically different too. And I don't mean I had "better days" or that I felt better - although that was mostly true. My days became mu

Hey friends, welcome to another episode of the Startup Story. This is chapter one. Last week I introduced the segment series on the Adventurous Faith podcast where mainly what I want to do is just kind of tell you my story of this new business that I'm starting. If you haven't had a chance to go listen to that episode, you should go check it out. But essentially in those first few minutes, I just talk about how I feel like God has called me to quit my job and to start this business. What I just to do in these short, very simple episodes is share with you just a little bit of the struggles and the lessons that I'm learning along the way in real time. And so that brings me to today - chapter one. CHAPTER ONE Last week was sort of introduction of sorts. Today is chapter one. I actually was going to wait until next week to release another episode of the Startup Story Podcast, but I felt it really important to share this.  I wanted you to get the reality of what I'm feeling. FEAR & ANXIETY CREEPING IN Last Fri

The more crap I go through in this life the more I realize I cannot do it on my own. I would simply fail time after time at trying to get things done, accomplish goals, and see good done in the world by my own hands. There’s a good chance you find yourself in the same shoes. You want to make a difference in this life you’ve been given, but sometimes you’re left wondering how in the world you’d like to go about doing it. Here’s the reality we need to remember - The vehicle for thriving in this life and making a dent in this world happens through people. If you want to succeed in life, you have to succeed in friendships.  [clickToTweet tweet="If you want to succeed in life, you have to succeed in friendships. " quote="If you want to succeed in life, you have to succeed in friendships. "] Today, on the Adventurous Faith podcast, I am joined with one of my best friends Kenny Deshields, and we are going to take a deep dive into the 5 friends that every man needs to thrive in life. If you want to be the best man po

On a Friday night in early March of 2016, I found myself exhausted on my couch after a week's worth of triathlon training. Early that winter, I decided I was going to chase down another Ironman finish in the summer of 2017 and was going to use the next year and a half to get there. As I sat on my couch that evening, there was one thing which became clear to me - I hated the entire last week of training. But my feelings drew deeper than hate. I no longer had the mental edge in my tank to pursue this "dream" one more time. It just didn't feel right. I can hardly even explain it to this day. It this most unexplainable moment I wanted to make sure my heart took notice of what my mind was telling me. As I thought more about it, something else began to stir inside of me. It was this desire to write. "You'll Write Books." Years ago, writing was a passion I wanted to pursue. "You'll write books," my friends declared over my life in college. Even back then I remember there being something to the pitter patter that wen

Vulnerability has become a nasty four-letter word among men today. Being vulnerable is viewed as unneeded and especially unwanted in our world. But, what if the way God designed us was different? What if being vulnerable was the key to helping us become greater men instead of lesser ones? A couple of years ago I went on a first date that changed my life forever. No, I didn't end up marrying this girl and spending the rest of my life with her. In fact, I never saw her again. But in the small amount of time we spent together, she gave me a gift I will never forget. She was humble and honest about the man she was sitting across from and spoke words about me that I needed to hear. SHE TOLD ME THAT I LACKED VULNERABILITY. Naturally, you might think I would be disgusted by her observation. But I had been searching for what was keeping me from building healthy relationships in my life and I discovered it through her honesty. On this episode of Adventurous Faith, I sit down and re-count that famous first date and hav

I don't know much about the stock market. I don't know much about investing money, where you should put it, mutual funds, 401k's or "retirement packages." All I know is that I have one and I think that it's doing pretty well. Good thing today's episode has nothing to do with money. IT DOES HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH INVESTING. We live in a culture in which we have been taught to take rather than give and consume rather than invest. We do this with just about everything imaginable. For most of us, we consume so we can get ahead. We consume so we can get the life we want. And guess what - for a while, our consumption of anything and everything around us gives us precisely what we want. But if there is anything I am learning about my journey it's this - the life I want and the consuming I want to do isn't always what is best for me. What I should be doing is building the life I need. If I can learn to do that, then I know it will turn into the life I want. STOP CONSUMING PEOPLE. START INVESTING IN THEM. On today

When I first realized that I sucked at relationships, there were all sorts of ideas and practices I began to learn about how to build and maintain healthy and strong relationships. But the more I dug into these principles there was always one principle and practice that kept making its way to the top of the list in what it meant to good at relationships: pain. No, I'm not talking about the physical pain you and I seek after in search of the perfect workout or body. I'm not even talking about the weird and random scars you may have from pulling whatever stunt as a kid. I'm talking about something much more profound. In fact, it's not even surface level. I'M TALKING ABOUT EMOTIONAL PAIN You and I struggle to be good at relationships because we aren't good at leaning into the un-comfort and pain that often come with interacting, caring for and loving other people. We don't like to deal with emotional pain. Why? Because we don't want to experience the hurt it may bring. ANSWER ME HONESTLY - WHERE HAS THAT GOTTEN

When was the last time you left a group of friends feeling more alive? Have you been struggling when it comes to dating? Are you disappointed in the way you find yourself handling things at work? Or maybe you know what it’s like to feel spent as though you have nothing left to give...without knowing why.   For a long time, men have pursued life on their terms. It’s left them with dead ends and a life of loneliness apart from people and relationships. Something needs to change. Today, on the Adventurous Faith Podcast we are going to address an issue that has been plaguing men for years - sucking at relationships. Yep - we’re going there.    Show Notes: benweaver.org/005   Resources mentioned in the show:   Relationships Are Everything: How to Not Suck at Relationships & Make A Dent in this World 

Men today are fascinated by performance. It understands us, compels us and pushes us. We go to great lengths to achieve it, no questions asked. Goals, accolades, 401k’s, Careers, Health, Fitness, Cars, Money and much much more. It’s all costing us something…but what? What is the daily grind and the pursuit of performing to the best of everything we know really costing us?     More than we think.   It is costing us our future if we continue to allow it to rule our lives.    Today on the Adventurous Faith podcast, we’re going to have a conversation about the plague of performance affecting every man and how we can begin to take steps towards healing. It may not be what we want to hear - but it’s all about what we need to hear.    Show Notes: benweaver.org/004 Resources Mentioned in the Show: Scripture: John 10:10 The Adventurous Faith Start-Up Guide