A Christ-Centered Company Serving the Native American Community (w/ John Harris)
On this episode, we’re joined by John Harris
John Harris is President of the Rocky Mountain Christian Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Thunderbird Jewelry and part of the ownership group of Thunderbird Supply Company (like Home Depot), which has been proudly serving the wholesale Native American jewelry and crafts industry since 1974. John is passionate about honoring Christ through business, serving the Native American community, and discipling the next generation of Kingdom-minded leaders.
Thunderbirdjewelry.com
www.LinkedIn.com/coachjohnharris
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Christian Business Leader is the podcast for marketplace Christians seeking to explore and apply God’s will for business for the purpose of cultivating Christ-Centered Companies.
Full Episode Transcript
Heads up: This transcript was created with AI, so you might notice a few typos or small mistakes. We recommend listening to the episode for the best experience!
SPEAKER_01 0:02
Welcome to the Christian Business Leader Podcast for Christ following business leaders explore God’s will and ways for business tech. This show is a ministry of the Center for Christianity Business Tech at Houston Christian University and features conversations with today’s Christ centered business leaders who are representing Christ faithfully in the business world. I’m your host, Darren Shear, and if you want to make your work of leadership and company culture more Christ-centered, you come to the right place. John is president of the Rocky Mountain Christian Chamber of Commerce and CEO of Thunderbird Jewelry and also part of the ownership group of Thunderbird Supply Company. So if you’re making Native American jewelry, that is, you probably know about Thunderbird Supply. They’ve been proudly serving the wholesale Native American jewelry and crafts industry since 1974. He’s passionate about honoring Christ through business, serving the Native American community, and discipling the next generation of kingdom-minded leaders. John, welcome to the Christian Business Leader Podcast.SPEAKER_00 1:09
Wow, this is great, Darren. This is an honor. I am proud and I am humbled at the same time to say thank you because as I go from Colorado to New Mexico, I get to listen to your podcast. So this is really exciting to be on your podcast because I get to listen to what you’re talking about. And I know there’s probably other people like me that are either on planes or on the road. And so I want to honor them too and say, hey, thanks for listening to Darren’s podcast because he’s doing a lot of good things. So, Darren, I’m I’m really grateful to be on this podcast with you.SPEAKER_01 1:45
Oh, well, thank you for saying that, John. And I’m so glad we’re able to connect at the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce uh conference about a month ago in Orlando, and just fascinated and inspired by what you’re doing there from Colorado all the way down to New Mexico, and then from New Mexico, anywhere people are making and selling um Native American themed jewelry, and you guys are making it as well uh there through your company Thunderbird Jewelry. And so you guys have a family-based business that owns Thunderbird Supply, which as you described it to me, is kind of like the Home Depot of Native American Jewelry uh supplies, and then you are also the CEO of Thunderbird Jewelry, where you guys are making the jewelry and selling it yourselves.SPEAKER_00 2:39
Correct. Yeah, and we’re buying a lot of it too. We buy from over 70 silversmiths and artisans, so it’s kind of fun. We we we have our own crew that makes it, but we also have over 70 people that make it for us. So awesome. Yeah.SPEAKER_01 2:54
So when did you first realize God wants to be involved in your work and business?SPEAKER_00 2:59
Oh wow. Well, um, as we were talking about before, there’s a lot of left turns and right turns. Um, when I was in college, I was taught that the highest calling um you know to serve the kingdom was to be in full-time vocational ministry. So you’ve heard this before. I think most of your listeners have too, that you know, whether it’s you know, a pastor, whether it’s a missionary, whether it’s being in an ordination, you know, a minute, some kind of you know, well, just community ministry. That all those were considered the highest calling in the church that I was attending. And I think they meant well. And I I don’t think that there was any kind of uh malice or anything bad about that, but but that’s what they they really thought. And and I thought that’s what I needed to pursue too. So my last semester in college, I was gonna go to seminary, but I ended up being hired by Thunderbird Supply Company, um, and just doing deliveries in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and going and and bringing um silver and turquoise and and buffing cloths and all kinds of stuff to to all these different companies across the Phoenix metro area. And I found out that that Thunderbird Supply Company had a mission, and that was to take care of their customers, but to do it with a biblical perspective and to spread the love of Jesus as we were working with the folks. Now, I know it seems a little backwards because Phoenix is not in the middle of a Native American community, but the the the company’s based in Gallup, New Mexico, where it’s right in the middle of the Navajo Nation, and that’s where it took off. And and so I I got to understand the company, I got to understand how they were serving the Navajos and the Zoonis and the Hopies and a lot of other tribes and pueblos. And and I was really excited about that. So I had this crisis where I had to make a decision. Am I going to go to seminary? Which there at that time there was a very, very reputable seminary that was getting started in Phoenix. Um, it’s now Phoenix Seminary, or do I continue to work at Thunderbird Supply? Well, I chose, um, and it was a hard decision, Darren. I I had I chose to stay with Thunderbirth Supply. Now, one of the factors that did come into play is what there was this cute girl that I met, and she she was part of the ownership group, but her dad started Thunderbird Supply and Thunderbird Jewelry, and I fell in love with her and I wanted to be near her. And I asked God, I was like, Am I disobeying you by pursuing this young lady? And he said, No, you need to pursue. I want you to pursue her, I want you to chase this path. And I said, But God, the highest calling is I, you know, I’m supposed to go to seminar. I should go to seminar, I should go drink, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He says, John, that’s that’s I I appreciate that. I appreciate your willingness to obey. I’m asking you to obey me, and I want you to to stick with this plan of going to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and eventually end up in Gallup. And I want you to pursue this. And I’m telling you, I had an alignment issue here because I’m thinking that just seems just a little bit too self-centered, you know, serving myself. And God said, No, this is what I put on your heart, and this is what I want you to pursue. Well, one thing, you know, one thing turns into another. I end up marrying that beautiful girl who is my wife, Carol Lee, and we’ve been married for 33 years. And I end up in this ownership group with no real training of business at that point. But what happened was my my father-in-law put me into a, I would say, a discipleship opportunity where he taught me how to be a leader, how to manage a business, how to understand the key components of a business, including accounting, including inventory control, sales, marketing, all of that. He put me in a four-year program that wasn’t highly organized, but it was just simply getting your hands dirty, getting into the business, and learning these different departments with the eventual goal of being in leadership in the businesses in both Thunderbird supply and Thunderbird Jewelry. And I’m telling you straight up, I ended up getting an MBA education out of that in four years because I got to apply master’s degree, any in some cases, doctorate degree, strategies and principles with a group that was highly, I mean, highly educated in the practical side. Here’s the crazy part. We only have three people in both organizations, Thunderbird Supply and Thunderbird Jury, that have college degrees. Yet we’ve been approached by different businesses, including people that have their master’s and their doctorate in business. And they’ve said, How in the world did you guys figure that out? How in the world did you figure out how to do all this? Well, it was based on a discipleship model. They would disciple each other and they would teach each other and they would get people to consult with them. And in turn, they would impart that wisdom and those strategies to their employees, and they still do it to this day. We still do it to this day, where we have best practices throughout our company, but it’s in practical discipleship of here, here’s how you walk this out, here’s how you do this. But in in the middle of all that, it’s about serving God and it’s about serving the people that we have in front of us. And it’s intentional about looking at your relationship with God in let’s do this in partnership with him, not just for him, but with him, and to seek, seek his will, seek his input, seek his practical advice and and and for him to to show you, right, and show all of us how to do it the right way, to pursue that in practical ways. So that’s what I grew up in. And I didn’t realize that was faith at work. It wasn’t called faith at work, it wasn’t called businesses mission, but I’ve been doing that for 35 years. And and I’m just being candid. I don’t know any other way to do it. I mean, I I got my MBA, it was a great time, but it was really a certification process. It wasn’t an education. I basically got my certification through my MBA because I knew about 90% of the material that was being presented to me because I had walked it out for years with people who were doing it on a daily basis. And that’s a lot of fun because it then I got to impart my knowledge and my experience with my fellow students in my MBA programs or MBA classes to show them how to do this in in practical ways, which is part of that discipleship that we’ve talked about.SPEAKER_01 9:48
Yeah, yeah. So kind of a classic um marry the farmer’s daughter, boss’s daughter love story. And I don’t think in 334 episodes, we’ve had any anyone say that it was their father-in-law or an in-law that helped to disciple them in business. Um, and so this is such a such a great story. Um, and so before we get into more of the the specific things that you’re doing, uh, and and what when you say disciple making through the business, what that looks like. What’s one of your favorite stories that illustrates the impact being made through Thunderbird?SPEAKER_00 10:34
Well, this one’s gonna be a little bit um different. This is gonna be one of those one in a million stories. So there was one guy um who worked for the company and did a great job. And he actually worked in our stone department. So that would include turquoise and other semi-precious stones that we sell. And this guy did a great job, um, but he ended up focusing more on satisfying the customer instead of doing what was best for the company. He wasn’t balancing it well. In simple terms, he was allowing customers to pick the best turquoise. We would call it creamy, you know, where he would he would show them the the turquoise, they would pick the best stones and he would give them a great price. But then all the stones that were maybe lesser quality that he should have been selling to them, um, he wasn’t selling to them. Instead, he just had buckets and buckets of of turquoise. And the number was in the six figures. I mean, that and so what happened was he ended up he ended up putting um this turquoise in different places um so that nobody would find it. Yeah, it right. It it is it’s in and I’m looking at you right now, Dara. Yeah, the expression you’re giving me is is perfect. It’s like, yeah, you kind of and and and we’re showing we can see on the on the the books, you know, we can see in the accounting that we’ve got all this inventory, but we can’t find it. And my father-in-law um pursued it and and figured out what happened. And so he confronted this this this man and said, you know, I I I told you that you know, if you’re gonna sell this at this price, you you have to you know sell both you know top grade as well as medium grade turquoise. It wasn’t bad turquoise, it just you know wasn’t as nice. But you haven’t done that. All you’ve done is just sold the best stuff, but you didn’t sell the other stuff, and you you were supposed to sell it at a higher price, and you didn’t do that. And I warned you repeatedly, you didn’t do that. So he says, I’m gonna have to let you go. Now, I now you think that’s a tragic story, and it and at that point it was, but my father-in-law did it intentionally, and he explained the why, the what, and the how in the whole process to this this gentleman. And he’s let him go. He said, Look, I have to do this from a business standpoint, but I’ll always care for you, I’ll always love you, and I’ll always appreciate you. I just can’t, you know, I can’t let this go. This gentleman then decided, well, I’m gonna start my own stone business. Now he started his own stone business, but he took all the things that he learned from the company from my father-in-law and from other leaders there, and he started the simple stone company, and it turned out to be a successful company. Now, the success story that comes out of that was after that, right before that guy decided he was going to retire and sell his company, he approached my father-in-law and said, You had the the greatest impact on my life because you showed me how to run a business. But he said, But you also showed me how to do it um with integrity and to do it with honesty, but also to do it with grace. And he said, and you fired me, but it was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me because I learned well some principles out of that. And he said, I wasn’t angry at you at the end. He says, I was angry at myself because I had failed you, but I realized this is what you know, this is what needed to happen. And he said, All the principles that you taught me and all the principles I learned from everyone else benefited me, and now my family has benefited and people that I’ve taken care of have benefited. And he said, So, Don, I gotta give you credit. He’s like, You you you did something remarkable that no one else was ever able to do. Now, when was the last time you had an employee who got fired actually turn around and bless the company and say, you did me a favor, you treated me with with respect, you were fair, you had to make the hard decision, but you you through that whole process, you never shamed or embarrassed me, and you never you know disrespected me, and you never spoke badly about me in the in the public in the marketplace, which we didn’t, you know, and my father-in-law started that level of respect from the beginning. He said, Well, this is how we’re gonna handle this, and this is what we’re gonna do, and this is what we’re gonna say, and we’re gonna bless this guy’s business, you know, whatever he decides to do, and and and we’re gonna support him. And there were times where we were referring business to each other. It wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t a I mean, we were technically competitors, but we still took care of each other and we still showed each other respect. Yeah. So so I know a little bit of weird, you know, kind of a different story, but I think that’s a bigger testimony than maybe just just being successful financially or that someone accepted Christ, which we’ve had people accept Christ in our businesses. Yeah, but I but I think in this case it was really showing a balance of of who God is, and especially Jesus’ example in the in the word. Yes, about balancing that you there’s things that you gotta do, but you’re still honoring and you’re still taking care of people, and that the relationship is more important than the transaction.SPEAKER_01 16:01
Yes. This actually the story reminds me of the parable of the the shrewd servant that was marking down everybody’s debts and then he gets and then he gets fired. Um uh well he’s fired and then he goes and starts marking down the debts, even though he had no authority to. So so did this guy ever like own up to or confess like I I know that what I was doing was unethical, ask for forgiveness or anything like that?SPEAKER_00 16:34
Absolutely, yeah. I I I mean, I don’t know if he would use the word unethical. I think it was more along the lines of, yeah, I probably should have done this better. Because I don’t know it in in his in fairness to this guy, and I think this needs to be made clear, he was trying to take care of the customer, his heart was for the customer, but it wasn’t he didn’t he didn’t exactly follow instructions, but uh really at the end of the day, he was trying to do right by the customer, and I think that even is implied in in the parable that you’re talking about that Jesus shared. Is it there was a relationship there, but there’s also transactions that need to be done, you know, and and I think everyone understood it wasn’t it wasn’t malicious and he wasn’t trying to cheat the company, he really wasn’t. It was just a case that he just he simply disobeyed instructions, you know, and and there was a cost to that. Um and uh you know now I obviously, you know, when you have a company for over 50 years, you’re gonna have some situations where you’re not gonna have that level of integrity. And and but yet in this guy’s case, he he did have the level of integrity to say, yeah, I I probably should have done this a little bit better. And he he’s openly said that it should have handled that situation better. But even but I think from a discipleship standpoint and from a missional standpoint, his focus was on the customer. And the focus was keeping those relationships strong. His focus was blessing these companies and these people that he was serving. And I think that it it’s hard to punish somebody, you know, in a case like that, but yet there’s also some standards that you have to keep. And that’s the balance. That was the the the hard part that my father-in-law and the rest of the management team had to deal with. You know, do you do you let somebody go in this case? You know, and I know there’s a lot of prayer in that. It wasn’t just uh, you know, well, yeah, we’re just gonna cut cut him out and we’re gonna get him out of here right away. No, it was what does God want us to do? But but there was also the concern of where is he gonna land? Where how are we gonna take care of this guy? Because even if he’s not an employee, he’s still part of our community, he’s still, you know, he’s he’s he’s kind of part of our family.SPEAKER_01 18:55
Yeah, and there was no non-compete or anything like that.SPEAKER_00 18:58
It was so long ago, Darren, that non-competes, NDAs, all those those forms were not in play. I mean, this was many, many, many, many years ago. Yeah, and I’d say most most people wouldn’t even know this even happened because it’s been so long ago. Yeah, it’s it’s yeah. And yeah, and it was it was very instructive to me. It was instructive to our employees.SPEAKER_01 19:23
It’s a powerful example of forgiveness, um, and and also the power of discipleship and the fact that he came back and attributed all of the great qualities of your company and what your father-in-law had instilled into the culture of the of the company, that he would say that that’s what I’m that’s what I’m after. And that’s what I have I I owe my success to you. Um, I don’t know if he was able to in in any way kind of uh materialize that um uh or if it was just kind of uh a thank you sort of thing. But but either way, I mean, power of forgiveness uh and discipleship. And you know, when you when you one of the the great leadership quotes that I love, which is often not thought of as a leadership quote, is when John the Baptist says, he must increase, I must decrease. And and he increases through other people. And so when you invest yourself into people and train and disciple them, um uh they they should go on and do, you know, Jesus said greater works than these. Will you do? And so to to feel like we have uh we have control over that, or that we need to continue to um be able to benefit financially or have some kind of uh a um formal relationship is it’s it’s just not it’s it’s not realistic, it’s not fair, it’s not really kingdom either to have that that expectation. Um and and so I I just love the heart for discipleship. Can you give us some more examples of what when you say that this is a company where disciples are made, what does that look like? Sure.SPEAKER_00 21:24
So especially for our new employees, uh and and I’m gonna um I might be hopping between a little bit with Thunderbird Supply and Thunderbird Jewelry because we’re involved in both of them, even though I happen to be president of the jewelry company, definitely involved in what’s going over Thunder going on Thunderbird Supply. I think um we’re focused on systems in both places and building systems and teaching people how to to do things intentionally. So we do talk about the why, what, how of and and we start with why. And part of that why. Is we want to have impact in the community. I was in a meeting yesterday and we’re talking about prices. And, you know, as this is being recorded, you know, uh Sterling silver price is pretty stable right now. But we we had, you know, we went from $40 something dollars back in October of last year to $120 an ounce in silver. And then now today it’s it, I think I saw it was $75. And it seems like it’s staying in that range. But we had to explain to our customers and to our employees that we still have to make money, but we’re also being careful about how we price things. We want to make sure that people can buy them. It’s a big deal because some of our customers literally in both places, some of our customers have to make a choice. Will I feed my family today or will I buy silver? Or will I buy product to make make my jewelry? In in many cases, in many families, that’s what we’re dealing with on a daily basis. So we explained to our employees that that shrinkage, you know, things you know being stolen or just things being broken, or all of that matters because it affects our bottom line, but it also affects you know how much can we buy, how can we work our prices? Because if our employees are not taking care of what they’re responsible for, we’ve got to make money to make sure we pay them, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing putting money away for growth. And we also are paying, you know, for for all kinds of expansion and other things. All that matters. So we’re we’re telling them you have to be good stewards of what it is that God gives you, and that’s on a daily basis. And so we stock, we talk about stewardship, you know, from a practical standpoint. Well, that’s a biblical principle, too. I mean, we don’t we don’t necessarily you know start quoting Bible verses, but we do bring biblical principles in stewardship right off the bat. So we realize we’re entrusting you with a lot of valuable items because we do have a lot of valuable things. If if our employees walk off with stuff or they give it to a customer and the customer doesn’t get charged, all that matters. And so we’re very intentional about saying, well, you know, we’re we’re we’re in charge of this, and you’re in charge of this, and we’re entrusting this to you. And here’s how you need to do this the right way. Kind of similar to the story we just talked about. It’s it’s a different product, but when you consider there’s you know a million dollars worth of silver in that building in Galp, New Mexico, it’s yeah, it gets, I mean, it’s a little scary at times. I’ll just be you know candid. It’s it you think about we’re responsible for all this, and our employees are responsible for it. So we start with that, but then we also start with educating and and we and we share more insights on how to do this the right way. And then we really do try to raise up folks to be able to serve in management and be able to have more responsibilities. So we start teaching them different areas that that and we’re asking them and we’re trying to find what is it that fills their tank, what is it that gets them excited, what if it was it they have interest in, what if it seems like they’re taking on and and asking about, and then we start moving them in those directions because we also see that God has called them in certain areas, and and we’re blessed. We our our current general manager has been there for over 40 years. He started when he was right out of high school, and he was just simple clerk to now where he’s the general manager, and we have multiple stories like that where people started, where we just kept building them up, raising them up, and that was part of the discipleship to find out what it is that they were drawn to. He he ended up being a buyer, but they ended up being in charge of a sales department, and now he’s he’s a general manager, yeah. And he he does a great job, and we have other people that are kind of on the same track, so yeah.SPEAKER_01 26:03
So, what is the the relationship and perception of the Native American community and your area uh and and your stakeholders toward the church and and toward the Lord and uh Christianity? And how has a company like yours been a part of that perception or or or shaped that perception?SPEAKER_00 26:26
Well, the challenge that we have out there is is you have you know big $10 seminary words, syncretism in simple terms. We have a belief system that the Nabos have or the Zunis have, and then they also believe can believe in Jesus. And so we have to balance that out a little bit because we we don’t want to um we don’t want to get confrontational on their belief systems. You know, medicine men and medicine women are real. I mean, and they they represent the religious aspects of the Navajo Nation or the Zuni Pueblo or some of these other places, and and so we’re we’re dealing with that on a regular basis. And we also deal with cultural issues where they have their ceremonies and they have their events, and and so we work with them on that. However, um, you know, do we we’ve had to be careful not to just point people to a church um because you know you start getting into all the the theological arguments and the religious arguments, and we’ve we’ve had some times in our history where we’ve had employees um get very confrontational with each other about a religious matter, a theological matter. And so we’ve we said all those discussions, if you want to have them, um, you need to have them off site. You know, if you’re gonna get into an argument about that. But if you want to talk about your relationship with Christ, if you want to talk about what’s going on with you, by all means, that’s okay. You know, and and we know legally that’s okay, but I think it’s also from a relationship standpoint. So have we pointed people to you know different places to fellowship? Absolutely. But I think the more important thing was to understand and pursue a relationship with Jesus, which is part of the church. I mean, that’s they need to do that with a local group of believers, but we’re also encouraging them to pursue the word and pursue those that they know have a deep relationship with Jesus and spend time with those people. That obviously opens up doors for all kinds of opportunities. Um, one of the things that’s kind of cool at the supply store is that we’ve been giving away our daily bread devotional books for decades. And we have people that are in the community that know that we give those away, we give Bibles away, and they they don’t do a lick of business, they don’t buy anything. They just come in and grab you know a half dozen of those devotionals and they scoot out and wave and say hi and then they they go. And I think I think that works, you know. I think it’s it’s it’s having impact because they know that they’re not gonna go to a church to go pick up those devotionals, but they’ll come in our business to do it. If they need a Bible, they’ll come and they know that they can pick up something from us, and we’ll happily give them what they need. And if they need more resources, we’ll be happy to answer those questions. But I think the key is is I I think we get more done in the break room, and I think we get more done in the hallway, and we get more done in in those discussions um as we go on with our day, because we do talk about those things during the day. And we’ve we’ve you know, we got work to do, and so what we do is we talk about our relationships, you know, and we talk about our relationship, excuse me, with Jesus as we’re working, you know. It’s not like we have a set break time of we’re gonna have a Bible study or a devotional. Instead, we’re talking about it intentionally as we go, yeah. Um, which is a different model. I I love the companies that are having those break times, and I think that’s great. We just do it as we go.SPEAKER_01 30:08
And you’ve also launched the Rocky Mountain Christian Chamber of Commerce. Uh, tell us how that’s going.SPEAKER_00 30:14
Well, we we’ve launched it, we just haven’t launched it say officially in regards to we don’t have our meetings yet. We’re building a team. Um, Colorado is a challenging place. Um, we’ve got a lot of things going on politically and in our churches and in our communities, and so we’re gathering as a group of leaders, you know. We talk about um the ecclesia, you know, and the ecclesia, most people understand that to be the church, but but there’s a nuance there that it’s the leadership of the church. And so we’re working as leaders to put together what it is that we need to do that’s gonna have the best impact and and it’s going to have transformation in our communities here in Colorado. So we’ve officially launched this organization, but we’re working on again discipleship from a different perspective and a different model, but yet have discipleship in the marketplace because we there are some challenges in Colorado. You you you can be a Christian and you can be a uh a business leader, no doubt. But there is some overt um, I’m gonna say challenges, you know, from different community, community leaders and different folks that don’t know Jesus, that they’re trying to fight any which way to see the gospel, you know, they want to see the gospel just shut down in these different places. And that’s that’s a real challenge. So we’re praying and we’re looking to the Holy Spirit to inspire us and to show us where do we need to be, what is it that we need to do, and what’s going to have the best impact. And and this is new for me. I mean, this is a challenge because I can’t do this by myself. Um, and God’s calling others like me to come together, and we’re coming together to seek out what is it God wants to do in an impactful way. We’ve got elections coming up, we’ve got a lot of challenges on the politics side, and and and we have a lot of leave to say, I don’t, John, I don’t, I don’t want to be in that. I don’t want to argue over who’s the best candidate or whatever, and I don’t want to start endorsing people. And that’s that’s kind of a new one for me because it I’m thinking, well, that’s part of government, that’s part of the marketplace, that’s part of the discussion we have to have. Yet it’s just it’s a challenge right now on trying to navigate those things in the midst of all the other challenges we have of being a Christian and a Christian leader in Colorado. It’s it’s a little bit more um more challenging.SPEAKER_01 32:48
Yeah. Uh what is your advice to somebody who might want to start up something like a Christian chamber of commerce in their local area and begin to fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ who are in the business community and their local areas?SPEAKER_00 33:05
Oh, I love you asking that one. That’s a good one. Um, so the U.S. Christian Chamber, as you know, um, is led by Crystal Parker, and Mina Carlson is just walking right along with her. And both of them uh are exceptional leaders. Um they have lots of vision, but they have a lot of practical understanding and knowledge on how to do this the right way. And and we are partnering with Mina um very, very strongly because she’s doing a lot in Arizona because she’s not just the vice president of the U.S. Christian Chamber, she’s also the president of the Arizona Christian Chamber. So for those that are looking to start a Christian chamber, I can’t recommend highly enough talking to either Crystal or Mina at the U.S. Christian Chamber on how to do this the right way. Um their systems are solid and their procedures are clearly stated, and they can they can show you how to get um a 501c6 started to how do you do your marketing, how do you uh put people together, how you know what is it that you need to be working on, all those kind of things. It uh the I would strongly recommend anybody contact um the U.S. Christian Chamber and say, I’m interested in doing this. And I think you know this. They started with off with what five organizations or five chambers about two and a half, three years ago. And now I think the count is up to 34 across the nation. So they know what they’re doing. And and and and yeah, and I also think that when it comes to starting a chamber of commerce, no matter what, there’s challenges, but a Christian chamber has some some additional chant challenges. These people will walk with you all the way and they’ll help you get started. Yeah.SPEAKER_01 34:55
Yeah, yeah. I know Crystal, uh, we we got to publish Crystal’s book, the Christian CEO, through our my company, Hybridge Books. And we’re gonna have her on the podcast here pretty soon. She’s still kind of getting you know back on uh on on a wagon after the the the conference and everything, but we’ll have an interview with her coming up shortly. Um but that’s great advice. Reach out uschristianchamber.org, I believe is the website. And and they they know what they’re doing. Um they’ve got the they’ve got the plan and they’re not looking to control. Um that that’s something that’s really special is that they’re not looking to control what you’re doing in your local area. They just want to come alongside and provide some templates, provide some best practices, and and so you don’t have to repeat mistakes that have that have already been made. Uh so uh John, thank you so much for that.SPEAKER_00 35:53
Sure. Yeah, and let me add one thing. I think that one of the local leaders here in Cairo Springs told me, John, we don’t need another holy huddle. We don’t need holy huddles. And he would, I mean, that’s very wise, and I think that’s solid advice. And the U.S. Christian Chamber is not about holy huddles, it’s not about creating this group where it’s not having impact in in any other area other than the members. And that’s the U.S. Christian Chamber’s heart is to have impact in the marketplace, to be open and to reach out and not to be isolated and not to be so protective that they’re not having any kind of impact anywhere else. So it’s hard to find an organization that is that open about we’re going to make make disciples in the marketplace um through a Christian chamber. I it it’s incredible.SPEAKER_01 36:47
Yes, yes. Well, thunderbirdjewelry.com is the website. Uh anything you also else you want to say about how people can connect with you and find out more about the these great products you’re offering.SPEAKER_00 37:02
Well, thanks, Darren. I um yeah, they can contact me at jharris at thunderbirdjewelry.com. It’s pretty straightforward. And if you have any questions or you’re trying to figure out how to do this this whole practical discipleship, um our uh mutual friend Chuck Profit calls it contextual discipleship, and I think that’s a powerful term. Um, and so um Chuck and I are working on some things. Um once he gets done with this Faith at Work Summit, which I think um you know a little bit about. Yeah, I’m coming back. Are you going? I’m going. I’m seeing you there. Yeah, and I know you’re gonna be there. Um after we get that taken care of, we’re gonna start talking about contextual discipleship more intentionally. Um, so if people are needing help on that from a practical standpoint, I’m more than happy to help them. And I’ll connect them with others that are doing um the same kind of stuff around the country because there are there are some very good companies that are doing this kind of model. We just need to get it to where it’s more systematized and and more defined. Um because we just haven’t, you know, like I said earlier, you know, faith at work, businesses mission, you know, some of these businesses they didn’t know there was a label or a or strategy behind this, but now we’re discovering that that God has placed um his kingdom in these different organizations very intentionally, and now we’re all starting to talk about this. So I believe there’s a movement uh that’s that’s coming where we’re gonna see this discipleship go to a whole higher level than even what I’ve experienced. Yeah. Yeah, and what you’re doing and and what your your podcast is about and all the things that you’re working on, you’re building that right along with us. And I’m excited about what God’s gonna do.SPEAKER_01 38:50
Yes. Thank you for that, John. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation and getting to know you, and um, I really appreciate you taking time out to share your wisdom and your heart with our listeners today.SPEAKER_00 39:03
Thank you. Thank you, Darren. Thanks for all that you do. Uh, like I said, for for all of us that are on the road uh one way or another, uh appreciate all that you do and please keep bringing it. Please keep um encouraging us with with all the work that you’re doing, but also informing and educating us and motivating us to just get better at what we’re doing every single day. Awesome.SPEAKER_01 39:26
Thank you for that, John.SPEAKER_00 39:28
You’re welcome.SPEAKER_01 39:28
Y’all drive safe out there, all you road warriors. Don’t text and drive. All right. See you on the next episode. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Christian Business Leader Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and tune in for the next episode as we continue exploring God’s will and ways for business.
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