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Summary & Intro

Spotlight: Radford Harrell

“Rad” (as he often signs his emails) is a passionate and fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, a husband, dad (of 3 kids), elder and executive pastor at Community Bible Church in lovely Savannah, Georgia, a startup guy, a Lean Startup evangelist, entrepreneur, business owner, community organizer, a No-B.S. adviser and mentor and a guy I trust when it comes to proper balanced perspectives on the collision of the business and spiritual world.

 

Synopsis

How do we make sure our identity as entrepreneurs and business-minded men doesn’t come from what we do and how well we do it? How do we process the collision of the business and spiritual worlds? How do we navigate faith in a culture of wars and voices telling us who we are? How do we process success and failure? Where do we find true hope? Our identity is not in the creative work of our hands but in the hands of the Creator and His work on our behalf.

*Referenced in my intro but not he interview: My Fast Pitch presentation about the award-winning mobile app company I launched in 2014! See the pitch that helped us win the whole competition: Lokal (Go Local – a local event app)

 

 

*The following are my favorite top quotes from Radford and I. Use them freely and widely, but please offer credit where credit is due. Thanks.

I’ve been an expert at failing or as Edison said “learning what not to do”.

I would read enough of the Bible to shut up Christians who were proselytizing.

For the first time in my life I heard the story of Christ in the OT and NT. And it floored me, both cerebrally and spiritually.

The guy who married my wife and I was a bench chemist and pastor. I woke up to Jesus in April of 2000. God knew that’s who I needed to hear the Gospel from.

My mom left my brother and I when I was 7. She stole me from my dad and didn’t have custody yet. Flew back when I was 9 and checked me out of school and took me states away. Growing up with a single working mom was a struggle. All of the junk comes with that lack of a father figure during the crucial moments of a boys’ life. It dramatically shaped what I found my identity in.

2 Things: 1. I placed a significance on the girl I was dating. It was a smokescreen for me to hide behind. 2. I was a reasonably smart guy and I think I began weaving more of that into my identity in how I presented myself to the world. Because it got me ahead and gave me a prideful position.

Ultimately it was about devaluing others and valuing myself.

My wife’s grandfather, a wise godly 75-year-old man, began poking holes in my facade. How he treated his wife. How he loved others. How he handled getting frustrated or upset. He had a peaceful strength. There’s something about a man who’s on fire for the Lord and knows himself that is provocative.

It’s painful at first but it’s really good when those walls start to come down. (Jonathan)

“Nature abhors a vacuum and so does the human heart.