Leaders On Tap

Will Cox spent 15 years in ministry with Young Life before stepping into the business world. When he did, he didn't start at the top. He started at the bottom of the org chart, getting feedback on his emails from a 23-year-old scheduler. Today he leads 700 caregivers serving hundreds of Maryland seniors and their families as CEO of Avila Home Care.

But this conversation isn't really about home care. It's about a truth Will learned leading teenagers and now sees every day with seniors: your value has nothing to do with what you've accomplished.

In this episode:
- Why a Young Life leader moving two doors down changed the trajectory of Will's life
- How his father came to faith, and the locked-door moment that connects Will to the work he does now
- The mentor who saw "executive leadership" on a resume that just said "Young Life staff"
- Why Avila is named after a saint, and what "Christ has no body now but yours" has to do with hiring caregivers
- How to build culture across 700 people with brutal industry turnover
- Why clear is kind, and how direct feedback is an act of love
- Ephesians 2:8-10 and the tension of working hard without trying to prove your worth
- The breath prayer Will says in his driveway before he walks in the door

Leaders On Tap is brought to you by C12 Maryland, where Christian CEOs and business owners come together to build great businesses for a greater purpose.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Will Cox is the CEO of Avila Home Care, a private duty home care agency helping seniors age in place across Maryland. Avila's motto is "thriving in the home you love."

CONNECT
C12 Maryland: https://c12md.com
Take The More Audit (a 7-question read on your leadership): https://themoreaudit.com
Avila Home Care: https://avilahomecare.com

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⏱️ CHAPTERS

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:01:51 Growing up in chaos & discovering Young Life
• 00:03:25 His father's transformation at Young Life camp
• 00:04:17 Honoring your father & seeing God in the pain
• 00:05:25 What is Young Life? Relationship over program
• 00:07:03 15 years in ministry & the passion to see people thrive
• 00:09:00 From area director to care coordinator: starting at the bottom
• 00:12:22 Avila Home Care: 700 caregivers & the sacred work of aging in place
• 00:15:00 The door between us: his father's final months & the role of caregivers
• 00:16:25 Teenagers and seniors: the same struggle for value
• 00:17:58 Senior prom & thriving in the home you love
• 00:19:18 Building culture with 700 caregivers: the power of being seen
• 00:22:37 Sacred work: stepping into someone's home & owning our mistakes
• 00:24:31 Coaching, candor & the cost of sloppy agape
• 00:27:12 Scaling the business & learning to say no
• 00:29:32 Work hard, stay humble & the two things he looks for when hiring
• 00:31:38 Saved by grace, created for works: the Ephesians 2 tension
• 00:32:54 Spiritual disciplines & the litmus test of multitasking with God
• 00:34:16 The fruit 20 years from now: kids who want to come home
• 00:37:01 Do the right thing & trust God with the bottom line
• 00:38:58 Four hours: a breath prayer for showing up at home
• 00:41:12 Making faith relatable: adventure, friendship & the awe of God

Steve Tate calls himself a pilgrim, not a CEO. After 25 years at the NSA and 20 years building BCT — a defense IT company protecting the country in silence — he's still showing up to work at 75 because the business is a vehicle for something bigger than the business itself.

In this conversation with David Weigelt, Steve opens up about the 17-year journey through his late wife Jackie's cancer, the philosophy that's shaped every decision ("pray as if it all depends on God, work as if it all depends on you"), starting Bible studies in classified workplaces, building a benevolence foundation that may outlive his company, and what it looks like to remarry at 75 to a woman who'd already had a 48-year successful marriage of her own.

Steve's story is unusual because he didn't come to faith and then build a company. He was saved in 1986 by an imperfect boss who handed him a Thompson Chain Reference Bible inside one of the most secretive workplaces in America, and the trajectory of everything that followed — the company, the foundation, the mission trips, the marriage, the way he leads people — flowed downstream from that moment. He's spent four decades testing whether the gospel actually holds up under pressure: under classified clearances, under federal contracting cycles, under the slow grief of a wife dying by inches, under the question of what to do with money you didn't strictly need.

This is faith and work without the platitudes. A fellow operator sharing what he's actually learned, in his actual voice, about an actual life.

🎙️

ABOUT THE GUEST Steve Tate is the founder and CEO of BCT, a 100-person federal IT contractor doing classified work for the U.S. intelligence community. He's a former NSA executive, a mission team leader, and the founder of a benevolence foundation supporting pastors, churches, and ministries. Earlier in his career he led a controversial program at the agency that earned him panic buttons on his desk and a Thompson Chain Reference Bible from the boss who introduced him to Christ.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

(00:00) Welcome to the new Frederick Creators Studio

(00:55) "I'm a pilgrim" — Steve's operating posture

(03:20) The circle technique and who gets in

(05:10) Saved in 1986 by an imperfect boss

(08:30) Leaving NSA and the program that earned him panic buttons

(12:15) His father, ELINT, and a chair at Johns Hopkins (17:00) Bringing Bible studies to classified workplaces (20:30) Pray as if it depends on God, work as if it depends on you

(24:10) Sloppy agape and the theology of good work

(27:45) Tithing the company and using business as a vehicle

(31:20) Jackie's 17-year cancer journey and the miracles along the way

(36:00) The foundation, Mark Mayer, and stewarding pastors

(42:30) Mission work, generosity, and a glimpse of heaven (47:15) Remarrying at 75 — two pilgrims, two worlds

(52:00) Reaping what you sow: the fruit Steve couldn't have engineered

(55:30) Final word: encouragement for the journey

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What does it look like to build a company where grace is a core value, generosity is a way of doing business, and the name literally means "the glory of God"?

In this episode of Leaders On Tap, David Weigelt sits down with Scott Ryser — former co-founder and CEO of Yakabod, a Frederick, Maryland-based tech company that served the federal government and intelligence community before being acquired in 2025 after 22 years.

Scott shares the raw, honest journey of going from attending church as a habit to genuinely knowing God — and what it meant to try to live that out on Tuesday. He opens up about launching Yakabod during the dot-com era, navigating federal contracting, surviving sequestration, pivoting the business three times, and ultimately recognizing that the company was less a tech venture and more a laboratory for learning how to do kingdom business.

Whether you're a business leader wrestling with what faith looks like at work, a founder facing a hard pivot, or someone sensing there's "more" to your calling, this conversation will challenge and encourage you.

Topics covered:

• Going from religion to relationship with God
• Launching a faith-named company (Yakabod = "God's Glory" in Hebrew) and defending it at startup conferences
• 50/50 business partnerships — why they often fail and why Scott's worked
• Federal government contracting with Kingdom values
• "No/Know God → For God → With God" — the three stages of faith in business
• What makes a kingdom business different from a Christian business
• The peace that showed up in Yakabod's office — and why even non-believers noticed
• Surviving fiscal cliffs and sequestration by leaning into generosity
• Three pivots across 22 years and how to know when to reinvent
• The Kingdom Operating System: Identity, Strategy, and Territory
• Scott's book: At Work As in Heaven
• The acquisition story — how faith shaped the decision to sell
• What Scott is building next (and why he's okay not having it all figured out)

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#kingdombusiness #christianleadership #faithatwork #christianentrepreneur #LeadersOnTap #marketplaceministry #BusinessAndFaith #ChristianCEO #kingdomculturemovement #entrepreneurship #maryland

We're all finite, fragile, fallen, and fallible humans — me king amongst those people."

In this episode of Leaders On Tap, host David Weigelt sits down at RAK Brewing Co. with Vineet Rajan — Co-founder and CEO of Forte, the mental fitness platform helping employers care for the whole person, "for the healthy AND the hurting."

Vineet is a former U.S. Marine Corps Major and intelligence officer, a Stanford MBA, a Cambridge-trained scholar, and a multi-time founder. He grew up in Maryland, joined the Marines a week after 9/11, spent 11 years in uniform, and was on the verge of buying a company when — on a walk through the woods — he felt called to build one instead.

What we get into:
- How a walk in the woods during COVID redirected his career path
- Why "anything worthwhile pursuing, you're not qualified to do"
- The rebrand from Paraclete → Forte, and from "soul care" → "mental fitness"
- The loneliness epidemic: 3–5 close confidants in the 80s → less than 1 today
- Why Forte's coaches are the "magic" — and why an EAP is not a people strategy
- AI in mental wellness — and where humans are non-negotiable
- Privacy, data ethics, and the time he tore up a Fortune 50 contract
- Building a faith-driven cap table ("God's will, God's bill")
- "We're not building a cult, we're building a company" — board governance
- Navigating a co-founder transition with grace
- Imago Dei in the product — without a single "Christian" word
- Live audience Q&A with a special appearance from Vineet's 10-year-old daughter Neylah

Whether you're a CEO, founder, C12 member, or leader trying to care for hurting people on your team, this is one of the most candid, faith-forward conversations on what it takes to build a healthy company.

Charles Griffin, former founder and CEO of Next Rev Technologies, shares his journey through exit and post-exit, highlighting the challenges, faith, and family balance. The conversation explores the pivotal moments, decision-making, and the impact of the post-exit period on personal growth and purpose. The conversation delves into the personal and professional journey of the speaker, highlighting the impact of identity, financial success, and time freedom. It also emphasizes the importance of faith, reflection, and discernment in decision-making.

Takeaways

• Faithful Leadership
• Balancing Work and Family Identity and Financial Success
• Time Freedom and Family
• Faith, Reflection, and Discernment

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Charles Griffin
• 07:11 Vulnerability and Family Impact
• 14:09 Deal Closure and Post-Exit Period
• 20:26 Post-Exit Reflection and Purpose
• 33:00 Time Freedom and Family
• 39:18 Faith, Reflection, and Discernment

In this inaugural episode of Leaders On Tap, David Weigelt sits down with AJ Ballantine, Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Remodeling and RENDR, for an honest conversation about the realities of leadership during seasons of rapid growth.

AJ shares the pressures of leading two fast-growing companies, the personal toll of striving to keep up, and the lessons he learned about shifting from control to trust. Together, they explore what it looks like to grow not just a business, but the leader behind it — integrating faith, resilience, and practical leadership insight along the way.

Leaders On Tap features authentic conversations with faith-driven business leaders who are building great businesses for a greater purpose.