A couple of years ago I decided that I was going to take a swipe at becoming a writer. A few hundred thousand words later, I launched a blog and began networking with those in the similar fields that I wanted to be in. In the process of growing my network, my path crossed with Aaron Walker, my guest on today's show. In a short amount of time on a phone call, Aaron Walker ate my lunch (in the best way possible) and helped me to get on the entrepreneurial path that I am on today. What I saw back then and even see more clearly now is Aaron is a man who loves to invest in others. He has chosen a life of both success AND significance.

Most of us believe that both of these ideas are exclusive. We can't have both success and significance. But what Aaron works tirelessly with men to understand is that they not only can have both - but have it abundantly.

On today's episode of the Adventurous Faith Podcast, my guest Aaron Walker tells his incredible story of 40 years as an entrepreneur and a snapshot into the life God is leading him to create - a life of success & significance. Aaron's story isn't without a few ups and downs - but it is very much on purpose.

Aaron runs a coaching and consulting business out of the Nashville area called View From the Top. His ISI Mastermind groups are second to none and you will love our conversation. Aaron is full of life, wisdom and encouragement for those who need it.

• How It's possible to have a life that is both successful & significant.
• Money is important! It is a tool God has given us to use to make this world better and we have a responsibility to do so.
• Your road to significance is not found in stuff, but in healthy relationships.
• How humility is a character trait that must be fostered into your life every day.

- Aaron's book - View From the Top - Aaron's Mastermind Groups

After being off the grid for almost two weeks, I am back to the grind. I'm all about helping to get this start-up off the ground. And yes, I am saying "helping" for a particular reason. From the very beginning and inception of this business, I knew I couldn't be a principal partner in getting Adventurous Faith off the ground. I am going to need a higher power - God. But he doesn't just "come in." He's been there the entire time working, modeling and shaping me to grow this business into what He desires it to be. A lot is happening with the business, but let me tell you quickly what I'm focusing on right now.  

Coaching has been and will continue to be a primary focus for my business. It puts my best skill sets to work, allowing me to pour into the lives of young men and is going to help bring quick money into the business.

Growing the Adventurous Faith podcast is a close second to coaching. It doesn't have the potential right now to bring in near the amount of money that coaching does, but it helps get my message to get out there. This will help spread the word about the business and what I am doing. Oh, and I LOVE podcasting! 

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date with everything Adventurous Faith and this podcast. I think it's safe to say that God is up to something incredible right now. He is working in my life and this business, and I attribute a large part of that to all of what I am focusing on right now while keeping Jesus at the center of this enter thing. 

All of us are always looking for ways to improve our lives. Whether we are working hard to get out of debt, lose weight or grow personally in any way, we want to make ourselves better. We are taught as small children to use teams and others to help us become the people we want to become. But as we get older, this wisdom doesn't often stick. The more crusty we become we feel the need to go at life on our own.

But there is a better way. It's not just a better way - it's an incredibly more powerful way to grow the life you are looking for. Enter the power of masterminds. Masterminding, as you here on this episode combats the ideas that our ideas are the greatest, and the best way to achieve maximum results in your life, business and performance is to gather the collective wisdom of other people. That is what masterminding is all about.

On this episode of Adventurous Faith, I sit down with Anthony Witt, who has spent the majority of his professional career not just promoting the importance of masterminding but living it out every single week. He has a vast array of knowledge and wisdom when it comes to what it looks like to do life together, and if you're looking to up your performance game, this episode is for you.

• What a Mastermind is and what it isn't.
• The power of the collective wisdom of many people and how that can skyrocket your performance.
• The key elements that make up a successful mastermind group and how to achieve them.
• Some of the roadblocks that cause many masterminds to fail and how to avoid them.
• How to take the first steps in forming your mastermind.

• Profit First
• The Adventurous Faith Start-Up Guide
• Follow Anthony Witt on Instagram.

Many of us have learned the power behind the building the discipline of putting in hard work. We've recognized that if we do the hard work, put in the hours we often reap great results. But in our pursuit of hard work, discipline and getting things done, an important discipline and practice have been lost.  All the way back to when God created all that you and I now know and see, there was something else God created - rest.

You and I were made for work, but we were equally created for rest, too. This is a discipline that has gone completely lost to us in our modern world. I interact with young men on a daily basis who at times work between 70-80 hours a week and never take a day off. Sure, they may leave the office. But only to go home and fire up the e-mail and continue the process of work over and over.

Today, on the Adventurous Faith Podcast, I sit down with Matt Heffner of Our Daily Rest and we talk about the glaring problem facing each of us every single day - our inability to rest. Sure, it's easy to talk about taking a nap, but for Matt, our conversation is much more personal. It wasn't a passion for the afternoon snooze that brought him to a complete stop-still, but a diagnosis that ended up being a gift from God. Matt's journey into the discipline of rest is one you will not want to miss.

• Matt's story from a life running hard to finding rest in God.
• A Biblical Understanding of Rest
• Why it's important to pursue rest as fervently as we pursue work and our career
• Framework to begin thinking about implementing rest into your life.

• Matt's Company, Our Daily Rest
• ourdailyrest.net/slow

By listening to the recording, you may notice that I didn't record this episode in real-time as I have done with every other episode. That is because I am completely disconnected out in the California wilderness and unable to get to a phone, e-mail or track what is happening with my business.

To say I'm a little bit nervous is an understatement.

But even just calling out how nervous I am is a big help. Why? Because it helps me to process what I'm feeling. And despite popular beliefs among men, processing how you are feeling and what got you there is a good thing.

When I think about how nervous I get, I think about the amount of control I feel like I need to have on the business to make sure it stays afloat. That is a terrible way to live. I believe even more that it is a terrible way to run a business.

There is a reward that waits on the other side of our disconnect. It sounds and feels a lot like restoration, completeness and wholeness. Jewish people would maybe call it Shalom. I believe that is a good word.

God is not interested in us taking control of everything. He's more interested in us being obedient to his voice, disconnecting when we need to and being fully present to the world around us. That is my goal in this week as you read this post and listen to this episode. I want to be more present with Shauna, God and those around me.

This is the story of my start-up and what I am learning in real time. Thank you for listening. I'll be back in the saddle next week.

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Many of us spend our lives wondering if we will ever be enough. We work hard and try our best. We repeat the same process over and over again in hopes that we'll make it. There is a longing deep inside each of us to do great things and be someone - but what does it take to get there? Surrender.

Without realizing it, most of us have built our lives on The Rat Race. We move so fast for so hard, hoping to gain the approval of everyone watching and in the end, even if we win, we're still a rat.

Today, on the Adventurous Faith Podcast, I sit down with my good friend, Brandon Jackson. Brandon is a

dedicated Christ-follower, Husband, Father, Friend and the owner and operator of CrossFit Valley Park, a wildly successful Crossfit gym in the St. Louis area.

But Brandon's story wasn't always one of success. In fact, it was the success that almost ruined him. The way to the life Brandon always wanted needed to come by way of surrender.

Most of us get on the Rat Race because we hope we might stick out and find what we're looking for. But the truth is, the only path to the peace we are looking for is found in Jesus. Tune in to today's episode and hear how Brandon got there and what's keeping him there today.

• How Looking for approval from other's only leaves you empty.
• Pursuing a career path only to make other's happy will only destroy your life.
• How important it is to be accountable by God and your spouse.
• The best way to grow as a leader is to follow Jesus.
• Surrendering to Jesus is not just a one-time event, but a daily discipline.

• Brandon's Gym: CrossFit Valley Park
• Brandon's E-mail

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Before heading to bed this week a couple of nights ago, I realized how tired I was. I understand that isn't a new thing for us to be self-aware in, but I took notice of it because I was more tired than usual. I then thought about how much more sleep I had needed lately since starting this business.

You and I need to sleep more. That is something I am learning in real-time of my business this week. We know how to work and work hard - but rest is deathly important to growing the lives and businesses we want. We've just taught ourselves to be numb to it.

In the middle of learning what it's like to get more sleep, I'm reminded even further - I wasn't built to be the 80-hour per week guy. Not only do I not think it's healthy, but I believe it's unnecessary as well. If you want to grow a life and business that is going to flourish in the long run, you need to sleep.

This is my start-up story in real time. Listen in and hear what I'm learning.

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What causes a soul to grow? What are the activities, practices, and discipline one needs to develop your spiritual life? We have been asking these questions and those like it for years and still the battle is difficult to fight.

On this week's episode of Adventurous Faith, I sit down with Sam & Blaine Eldredge of "& Sons" and have this ever-important discussion on what it looks like for a young man to begin building and shaping the framework that is going to house his soul for the rest of his life. 

God has given us a template for growing our soul. Through his word, the practice of spiritual disciplines and other important places of apprenticeship and initiation with older men, God has given us all we need to grow and nurture a healthy soul. So, what are those practices?

In our conversation together, Sam & Blaine talk about several essential elements they have found healthy in their young lives that have helped to keep their souls in check. These elements aren't always about doing, but often about eliminating and being mindful of what is attacking your soul and how to combat them.

Our conversation took some different turns, but I think you will find it valuable in how to process and put into action the spiritual growth you are looking for as a young man.

• How important it is to be pursuing and living your story and not others.
• The template for developing a healthy soul.
• The constant battle against our soul's and practical steps on how to confront and win those battles.
• The desert fathers and the critical role they play as mentors in our lives.
• You are not late or too late in developing this incredible life God has for you. You are right on time.
• How important it is to establish and cultivate a healthy belief system and practice out of it.

• & Sons Magazine
• Be Sure to Subscribe and not miss some of the great episodes coming up!
• Show Notes: benweaver.org/017

I'm back at it this week after spending a week on the beach with my family. As I mentioned in last week's episode, it was difficult finding the tension and balance between working, resting and vacationing. When you have a new start-up that you are trying to get off the ground, it makes it difficult to turn your mind off. I knew there would be a process for me to get up and running.

So, coming into this week, I knew it would be a little tricky in my "re-entry". You probably know that anytime you come off of a break or vacation, hitting the grind again can be difficult.

I spent Monday looking at the next three months, this next month and what needs to be happening this week. I then turned my focus to following up with a lot of people that I have been working on connecting with. Here is the lesson I am re-learning this week:

This is hard to do in a results-driven world. We want to focus on what we are going to get - the prize - not on what we have to do to get there. This struggle is very real for me right now.

What I decided to do to cure me of my results-driven mentality is to focus on my to-do list and what needs to get done. This isn't always easy, but necessary to do in order to grow the business we desire to grow.

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In a world fascinated with being uniquely you, there is a consistent struggle in comparing ourselves to other people. It's a plague that seems to find us over and over. We spend our lives wanting to match ourselves up to the latest trend, fad, following or culture. At the core of this plague is us wanting and desiring the lives of other people. We love to compare.

I noticed this play out in my own life a few weeks ago. It was the middle of the day, and I found myself on Instagram, doing the typical Instagram thing of checking your profile 20 million times per day. I quickly recognized a familiar face and profile and was swept into the action. Before I even realized it, I was stacking my life up against theirs.

How many followers do they have? How often do they post? They look like they travel all the time - I wish I could do that. Their family is beautiful. I wish I had a life like theirs.

Boom. I found myself sucked into the vortex of comparisons and struggled to get out of it.

Day after day, week after week, post after post - you and I spend our lives stacking up everything we have against what others are doing...and it's killing us. So, how do we fix it?

Inside of each of us is a desire to be seen and heard. We didn't create this desire nor placed it there ourselves. Our Creator has hard-wired this into each of us. The battle of comparisons is won when we can fix our desire to be seen and heard by God, first.

Today, on the Adventurous Faith podcast, that is the exact conversation we are going to have. What exactly is this battle of comparisons that we fight every day and how do we win it? The answer is much more straightforward than you might think.

• Our constant battle of comparing our lives to one another and how it is affecting the men we need to become.
• You and I are hard-wired to be seen and heard. We cannot deny it.
• For us win the battle of comparing ourselves to others, we must first return to God and his view of us.
• We must also learn to return to healthy relationships with other people.
• Healthy relationships begin with encouraging and championing one another in their pursuits.

• Your Call to Action: Take One Step Closer to God and take one step closer to healthy relationships.