Adam Weisner was a staunch atheist until 18, then kept his faith out of his work for more than 20 years. McClain McKinney asks what changed, and how a kid with a tongue ring ended up opening company meetings in prayer.

Adam's answer: in small business you can do whatever you want, "so if you're not bringing Jesus into your business, it's because you've decided not to." For him that shift came four years ago, when he joined C12.

He was on Oprah at about 14 as a young Kurt Russell lookalike. He studied string theory to argue with Christians, until physics convinced him something had to exist outside space and time. "He used the very thing that I thought proved that he didn't exist to show me that he did." Then came 18 years of corporate work, from an AT&T Wireless kiosk in a Pomona Walmart to a bank branch after Bank of America bought Countrywide in 2008.

McClain admits it took him until last year to see Scripture as applying to his own business, and asks the "dumb question" most owners are thinking: why does a P&L matter if you never spend more than you bring in?

A coach at a Fortune 150 bank: "Just because you have a good idea doesn't mean you need to share it."

A $60 million company with 400 employees netting $1 million, next to a $6 million company with 12 employees netting twice that.

Law three of his book: close the books in seven days, hold seven months of cash, and get paid faster than you pay out.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Praying before recording

04:10 "It's not Sunday school. It's daily school."

06:47 On Oprah at 14

12:14 Parenting: finish the season, then decide

17:08 A tongue ring, a tattoo bluff, and Taco Bell

22:09 Atheist until 18, and the physics that changed his mind

25:49 The dentist appointment card

34:21 "There's a lot of fish in the sea"

38:35 Faith, marriage, kids, in that order

48:22 From tongue ring to bank branch manager

51:37 Six months married when Countrywide fails

57:51 The coach who told him not to share every idea

1:01:45 Leaving corporate for automotive suspension

1:05:38 Needs-based selling

1:15:35 "People don't care what you know until they know that you care"

1:19:44 The four leaders who shaped him

1:27:34 One-year goals and monthly cycles

1:30:30 What small businesses lack: conviction

1:37:07 Law three: close the books in seven days

1:43:22 Keeping faith out of work, until C12

1:49:26 Advice to his 18-year-old self

FOLLOW THE SHOW

YouTube: youtube.com/@biblicalbusinesspodcast

Instagram: instagram.com/biblicalbusinesspodcast

ADAM WEISNER

CEO of Sherman Research. Author of Biblical Business: Seven Unbreakable Laws of Leadership.

Instagram: instagram.com/thedispensableceo

TikTok: tiktok.com/@thedispensableceo

YouTube: youtube.com/@TheDispensableCEO

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adamweisner

Book: biblicalbusiness.com

MCCLAIN MCKINNEY

Founder and CEO of Chalant.

Instagram: instagram.com/mcclainmckinney

TikTok: tiktok.com/@mcclainmckinney

YouTube: youtube.com/@McClainMcKinney

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mcclainmckinney

Agency: chalant.us

Send this to an owner who keeps faith and work in separate rooms.

What separates a business from a biblical business? Adam Weisner's answer is one sentence, and living by it cost him a company.

This is episode one. Adam Weisner and McClain McKinney open the show on the question everything else hangs off of. A biblical business, Adam says, is one the owner understands was never his. A business is something a person owns and grows for himself.

Then he refuses to let that be a soft answer. You cannot run a biblical business badly. Sloppy books, no processes, nobody minding the marketing, and a cross in the logo is not a biblical business. It is a poorly run business with a cross in the logo.

Adam grew up an atheist, climbed to managing director at a Fortune 150 bank, and until about three years ago treated his faith and his work as two separate things. A C12 group finally put them together for him in October 2022. Inside of a year he had sold his ownership in the company he was running and taken over Sherman Research, where 51% of net income goes to advancing the gospel.

McClain comes at it from the other direction. On his first job out of college, a director of photography told him the two rules of working on set were no politics and no religion. He was 22, and he wrote it down like it was wisdom. He ran a company for twelve years before he questioned it.

Along the way Adam explains why "Christian" in front of a noun came to mean second rate, and calls that a disservice to the creator of the universe. He thinks most Christian business owners quoting "preach the gospel, and when necessary use words" simply do not want to use the words, because words carry consequences. On letting someone go, his position is that showing them Jesus in that meeting is already far too late. McClain brings up the hire he got wrong and the severance he paid anyway, which made no business sense to him until he stopped calling it his money.

CHAPTERS
00:00 The difference between a business and a biblical business
03:42 The C12 meeting that turned business into a ministry
07:51 The two rules McClain was handed at 22
14:53 Selling his ownership and taking over Sherman
18:41 The 51%, the teardown rebrand, and Galatians 5
23:07 You cannot run a biblical business badly
23:48 Why "Christian" in front of a noun came to mean subpar
26:24 What people hide behind when they say "when necessary, use words"
32:20 A thousand videos in a year
59:13 AI as commoditization, and why trust becomes the separator
1:06:00 Firing people differently, and what grace is not
1:11:01 Why showing someone Jesus in the termination meeting is too late
1:13:09 The hire McClain got wrong, and the severance that made no sense
1:18:06 "He's been there the whole time. He's just watching us fumble the bag."
1:33:29 The book, and what's next

Adam Weisner and McClain McKinney host Biblical Business together. Adam is the CEO of Sherman Research and the author of Biblical Business: Seven Unbreakable Laws of Leadership, at biblicalbusiness.com. McClain runs the creative agency Chalant and does most of the asking.

Every episode is a long conversation with a founder who loves Jesus and is actually building something.

Follow the show so you catch the next one.