Mission work needs funds in order to bring the Gospel to regions of the world where Jesus’ name isn't widely known. But what could be a source of funding that is sustainable and makes a stronger impact on the communities we are trying to reach? What if we use business ventures so that local business proprietors, communities, mission workers, customers, and everyone linked to the business can know the love of Jesus?
That’s what our guests today, Brandon and Jessica Hotz of Elevate and Activate Global, are doing - using kingdom business and its funding model to spread the Gospel. By helping start small businesses in developing countries, they are able to reach impoverished, hard-to-reach communities, teaching skills and providing meaningful jobs and steady sources of income to people in need — all while doing mission activities and sharing the word of God. Listen now and get to know how Jessica’s and Brandon’s unique business ministries are helping improve communities, building meaningful relationships, and addressing social and economic needs along with spiritual needs.
Key Points From This Episode:
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Click to Find out more about our upcoming event: "Crafting Your Kingdom Investing Thesis"
About Jessica and Brandon Hotz
In their early 20s, Brandon and Jessica Hotz started a leather goods company called Elevate to help solve the problem of sustainably funding ministries in unreached countries. Out of that successful business, they started a nonprofit organization, Activate Global, to train and equip mission leaders in over 20 countries. Through these leaders, they have started 312 businesses to fuel ministries in some of the hardest-to-reach areas in the world. When Brandon and Jessica aren't traveling the world, they find their home base in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Mission work needs funds in order to bring the Gospel to regions of the world where Jesus’ name isn't widely known. But what could be a source of funding that is sustainable and makes a stronger impact on the communities we are trying to reach? What if we use business ventures so that local business proprietors, communities, mission workers, customers, and everyone linked to the business can know the love of Jesus?
That’s what our guests today, Brandon and Jessica Hotz of Elevate and Activate Global, are doing - using kingdom business and its funding model to spread the Gospel. By helping start small businesses in developing countries, they are able to reach impoverished, hard-to-reach communities, teaching skills and providing meaningful jobs and steady sources of income to people in need — all while doing mission activities and sharing the word of God. Listen now and get to know how Jessica’s and Brandon’s unique business ministries are helping improve communities, building meaningful relationships, and addressing social and economic needs along with spiritual needs.
Key Points From This Episode:
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Click to Find out more about our upcoming event: "Crafting Your Kingdom Investing Thesis"
About Jessica and Brandon Hotz
In their early 20s, Brandon and Jessica Hotz started a leather goods company called Elevate to help solve the problem of sustainably funding ministries in unreached countries. Out of that successful business, they started a nonprofit organization, Activate Global, to train and equip mission leaders in over 20 countries. Through these leaders, they have started 312 businesses to fuel ministries in some of the hardest-to-reach areas in the world. When Brandon and Jessica aren't traveling the world, they find their home base in Lincoln, Nebraska.
EPISODE 18
[INTRODUCTION]
ANNOUNCER: Imagine taking your generosity to the next level, impacting more lives, and leaving a godly legacy for generations to come. Get ideas and strategies to do just that when you listen to these personal stories from high-level Kingdom champions.
The Kingdom Investor Podcast showcases business leaders who have moved from success to significance, sharing how they use worldly wealth for Kingdom impact. Discover how they grew in generosity, impacted more lives, and built godly legacies. You'll find motivation, inspiration, and practical steps to grow as a Kingdom Investor.
Daniel White (DW): Hello, and welcome to The Kingdom investor Podcast. I'm your host Daniel White, and today I get the pleasure of interviewing my friends Brandon and Jessica Hotz. In their early 20s, they started a leather goods company called Elevate to help solve the problem of sustainably funding ministries in unreached countries. Out of that successful business, they started a nonprofit organization to train and equip mission leaders in over 20 countries. Through these leaders, they have started 312 businesses to fuel ministries in some of the hardest-to-reach areas in the world. When Brandon and Jessica aren't traveling the world, they find their home base at Lincoln, Nebraska.
You're in for a real treat with this episode. And without further ado, let's get right into the show.
[INTERVIEW]
DW: Hello, and welcome to The Kingdom investor Podcast. This is your host Daniel White. And today I have my friends Brandon and Jessica Hotz. 'Hots' is that how you pronounce it?
Brandon Hotz (BH): It's actually 'hutz' but close enough.
DW: All right, Brandon and Jessica are the founders of Activate Global a ministry committed to taking the love of Jesus to the hardest to reach places in the world and Elevate, a nonprofit social business that creates fair and empowering employment opportunities for leather artisans in East India. Many of these artisans have lost their homes, families, and jobs for following Jesus, and now are welcomed into a missional family. Brandon and Jessica call Lincoln, Nebraska home and enjoy the simple life before the next flight to that country you may have never heard of. Jessica and Brandon, would you share just a little bit about your story, your background, you know where you're from, and how you got into what you're doing?
BH: Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Daniel, for having us. This is so fun to be able to virtually be with you and share a little bit about our lives and what God's done in it. Yeah, we're from Nebraska where, you know, we have more cows than we do people. Both of us were born and raised here in Nebraska. But early on in our walk with the Lord. God brought us together, we actually met on a mission trip in India for the very first time. And it was really in that environment where God gave us a vision of how do we create something that could really help people not only physically but also spiritually, and not just temporarily, but long term that really became the foundation of our thought processes. How do we help people long-term in their life?
Jessica Hotz (JH): Yes. And I was raised in a town just in central Nebraska. My town itself was pretty dynamically multi-ethnic and so I got to enjoy experiencing life from a variety of different cultures and people in my town which was a part of my early experience that the world was bigger than me, and my reality and what I knew and was exposed to. And so it just created a longing in me to be a part of something bigger, I think, just from a natural environment level. And like Brandon said, when we met and we were serving in a, in a short term, summer kind of context, God just really birthed vision in front of me as far as like, you could do this with your life, like I had a trajectory of plan in a very pretty set agenda for my life. I would say that I've never lacked a ton of drive or vision. So it was kind of pursuing that. And when I experienced the power of God to kind of shift that into more of what he had for me. That's where the fun started, honestly, and that's what being in that short-term, six-week context really helped me to see that we can do this with our lives and that is what really brought Brandon and I together in a relationship because that was obviously pretty important that we were both aligned that way before committing to each other. We were also committed to what God had kind of called us to in a trajectory sense.
JH: So we had education backgrounds, and finished college, came back to the States after a short-term trip and started dating or married, not too long later, about a year later. And then reality set our hearts on, we gotta get back to the nations. It broke our heart that there were a hundred thousand street kids in that city alone, that there were so many short-term and short-sighted things happening without longer-term trajectory and sustainable pathways. It broke our hearts that Jesus wasn't known in many of these places to so much of the world. And so that's kind of what set us out on what would become the two organizations that we serve with now, but really was every step just felt like this little act of faith that felt big at the time.
JH: And that's kind of still what we're doing is following one step at a time. But yeah, we got early exposure to a lot of things that with good intentions were very short-term minded as far as western involvement in foreign mission. And so yeah, our hearts were just ignited to serve and accelerate locals in the most empowering and longterm way possible. So that's a little bit of us and come from really awesome families. We're thankful to be here from Nebraska.
DW: That is so cool. Thank you guys for coming on the show and sharing your story and everything. So, I wanted to ask you, what was one of the catalyzing moments in your life that really put you on this trajectory early on, it sounds like? Do you guys have a moment like that or something that you can share?
BH: Yeah, we're actually we're coming up on a 10-year anniversary of that moment, actually, which is kind of fun. Here next month, we're going to be back in South Asia, and some of the nations there. But we were actually on a rooftop together during this six-week trip that we were living overseas. And we saw God just do incredible things. During this time, we saw people come to faith, we saw people who were empowering locals. I mean, we just saw so many cool things that God was doing. And Jess and I had a moment together when we're on this rooftop just looking over this massive city of 16 million people. And we had this thought that God gave us that if he could do this in six weeks, what could he do in a lifetime? What could he do if we gave our whole lives to this work? Like, what can we see him do? And that moment, I mean, it's really, that was a big defining moment for us. As we've now been running after this for 10 years. We've seen over 300 businesses started across 20 different countries. We've seen thousands of people now come to faith. It's just been. It's been amazing. And it feels like such a short amount of time. But yeah, it's just that was a huge moment for us. Just dreaming of what God could do with a whole lifetime committed to him.
JH: Yeah, I think another moment for me, this song just popped into my head, but it's like the things of this world will go strangely dim in light of His glory. I think in a grace or something like that. I don't ever really remember the exact lyrics. But that became true of us, the more we were with God's people aligned to God's mission and just more in sync with obedience and his yes, and just in kind of stepped out of the temptation of the American dream that was very much available to us, and kind of stepped deeper into like intimacy with Jesus, like purpose.
The more that the themes of the world group are growing, and this is still a work in progress for us, strangely dim, and the more life and radical purpose and risk a lot of the things that we do involve a lot of risk and security and a lot of things that the in a worldly sense.
Why in the world would you go from this peace and calm, simple place in Nebraska to the places that we serve now?
JH: But it was like the more we heard the father's voice and the more we stepped in alignment with him, the more that all of the other things kind of got a little quieter. I remember coming home from being on the field which is extreme need and just purpose ignited and just felt like we were giving more than we had to give, you know what I mean? Just like of our time and energy and resources and coming back to the states to latte lines and Instagram was like a little overwhelming. And it's not to say, it's not to attach shame to any of that but it was to go, hey, I can enjoy these things without finding life in them. And that was a epiphany for me, to be honest, those are small moments that I was like, hey, these things are cool. But like, I've experienced real life. And some of that stuff gets a little dimmer as I keep experiencing the deeper things of Jesus and the plans that he has that he's unfolding for us.
DW: Yeah, that's, that's a really good catalyst really, a moment to look back on. What led you guys to taking that first six-week trip?
BH: Yeah, I think for me, the biggest thing that God was doing in my heart at that time was just realizing that there are places in the world that have never even had an opportunity to hear the gospel. Like there are a whole cities in places that don't have one, or even a handful of believers. And so I think it was reading scripture, and reading the Bible personally and realizing, man, Matthew 20:18-20, some of these verses that say, "Go and make disciples of all nations." I'm taking that personally, and this applies to me to not just oh, that was good for the disciples at the time. But when I felt like I started really taking God's word personally and saying, okay, this applies to me, how do I help the widow and the orphan? How do I make disciples of all nations? That's, that's what's really the motivation for me to take that step of faith and see what God had.
JH: Yeah, that's so good, Brandon. And mine was so much driven out of this intimacy I was learning. Early Christian, like as far as surrendered life in Christ, college. sitting there going, I felt like I was starting to hear God's voice more. And I was starting to understand that the person of the Holy Spirit and in the work in that like that inner audible that came to me in certain moments that wasn't from me, as much as I wanted to ignore it, Daniel, like, honestly, how many times have we all been like, I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear that one. But I was sitting and they presented an opportunity. I was just at a college ministry, just kind of there, someone came up and shared about the opportunity. And that inner audible voice that was very much again, not in alignment with my plan for my life came. And in that moment, I knew, I remember thinking this, I have a choice here. I can pass that sheet of paper, like I didn't hear it. Or I can trust the Father who knows better than I know. And I can put my name on it. So it's like, that's as simple as it was, for me, it was trying to be hearing and be responsive.
JH: I actually was starting to learn that God loved us. He has a better plan for me than I do. And me and my very best and most audacious attempts at doing all that I can in life aren't a fraction of a comparison to who he is and what he has. For me, I was starting to actually trust him. And I was starting to, like, hear and be responsive. So for me, it was kind of like, I knew if I didn't put my, I didn't know that I was going to be going on the trip. I just knew by putting my name on the paper, that it was like that was a big, that was big for me. Like I said, every single thing in this has in the hindsight is like that was a pretty small act. But in the moment, it was an act of obedience and just like intimate response to the spirit in me, and then the paper led to a lot of other powerful encounters that solidified that, yes, you're going on this trip, and I will provide for you to go on this trip because I had no money. And yes, I'm going. And so it really was this like this relationship for me. And like Brandon said, the scriptural response is powerful, too. But for me, it was definitely more of that. Hearing, responsiveness because Lord, I trust you better than I trust me with my life.
DW: Wow, that's a really cool. And it's neat that God worked at really, I guess, both of you at the same point your life, right?
JH: Freeing us knowing each other which was kind of cool.
DW: Okay, so how did you meet then?
JH: We met on the trip.
DW: Oh, really?
JH: Yeah. So we're both from Nebraska and we meet in the city of 16 million across the world. I mean, we'd done one pre-trip, like kind of connection before we left, but yeah, that was the context for us even meeting each other. So that was kind of special too.
DW: Yeah, that's, that's fascinating. So tell us a little bit more about the story from when you guys met and how that trip went? And then how that was a springboard into really starting these nonprofits and doing the work that you're doing now?
JH: Yeah, that's a great question. We found ourselves in this. I mean, I think like anyone, especially if your position of influence or you know, substantial degree of things in front of you where you're at, to step out and to be a really insignificant player in a, in a really big picture, global problem is vulnerable. It's like, we went and we're like, we came home, we got, we got married a year later, we reengage this nation, we go for a more long term setting. With all these and at the time, of course, we just, we didn't have much to give, we were seemingly small, it felt like a really insignificant move. But again, just kept unfolding in front of us. And literally, a part of our story was that we just positioned ourselves to be a servant of those who are the ones that we knew that were going to make the biggest difference, like, just like that whole concept of like localizing solutions, I just believe that and basically every and a lot in a lot of senses, that's where things come down to. And so we're like, hey, if we want to localize the gospel, then we got to work with locals. And we want us and so I'm having to go, I'm crossing so many cultures here, so many languages, traditions. And so for me to invest my time and doing anything other than to serve and accelerate and develop, those who are at the most local level, going to address so many of these problems that were breaking our heart would be, to me, it just didn't make sense.
JH: So that was where Brandon and I really nestled in was getting to know locals, developing relationships with them. We didn't go with a Western team. We went and formed, you know, relationships at the local level, not to say that that's a wrong way of doing it. This is just our story. And they started kind of helping us to understand what the real problems were. So, we could have came in with a prescribed idea based on a really Western way of thinking. So, we just came with questions. I think just like any entrepreneur, you're trying to solve problems. And so we were just trying to be kind of in that missional entrepreneurship mindset. And go, how do we solve problems here. And that's where the issues that birthed our organizations. It was really just a response to a felt need. That was grouped big enough that it kind of didn't need a new expression of administrative form. And so that was really more of a concept level. But Brandon, I'll let you share more in a practical at a practical level too.
BH: Yeah, so really what birthed out of that, Daniel, was this, this idea of a leather business that we would start with our partners, and that the purpose of that leather business would be to fuel and empower their ministry long term. So, it wasn't okay, here, invest or give us this gift one time, that then is finished after a month or a year or two years. But making investments in us long term that can multiply itself. And so that's where we started this. How do we do something that's not just gonna fizzle out, but it's gonna go long term? So, we gave them a loan to start this leather business. And it was amazing. Within the first year of operation, they saw 20 house churches started. House churches just being small groups of families, individuals, 10 to 20 people gathering in a home. These are 20 house churches started and they saw 120 new people come to faith in Jesus, which, for us, you know, it was amazing. We looked at each other thinking, if we spent our whole lives, you know, here, and we can walk away saying, Man, we saw 20 house churches started. And 120 new people come to faith like we would have been successful and happy, right? So to see that happen in the first year of business, really unlocked it for us where we've realized, wow, if we can put business in the hands of the right people, mission minded people, we could see communities transform, we could see families changed, we could see mission sustained.
BH: From that point on, we started thinking how do we do this for others. So now, eight years later, after starting the leather business, the way that it works is Elevate, we sell online, we sell in wholesale stores across the US. We've worked with certain corporate companies, the profits from that business, the Elevate, go into the nonprofit, Activate, where we've now helped over 300 families start small businesses to support their ministries and their families. And this has been across, primarily, it's been across about 12 different nations that we're really working in. But there's footprints in about 20 different nations where we've now not only equip families, but we're starting to teach other organizations and businesses how to use our materials, our tools to do sustainable church planting, and sustainable disciple making.
BH: And so it's been so exciting seeing that multiplied from one city, one country to now, dozens of cities, several nations, and just seeing these families now empowered. And what's fun about that is it is long term. So this leather business eight years, I was just talking to some of our other partners in South Asia, where they've been running businesses now for five years, other countries in Africa, where they've been running businesses for three or four years, really is seeing long term impact. And a lot of the loans that we give, are in that, you know, $1,000 to maybe $2,000 range, just to give an idea of this, right. So you know, we give $1,000 loan to this family. And they're starting a chicken farm, or they're starting a mobile phone repair shop, something like that, a taxi cab, a small motorcycle, or three-wheeler and some of these nations’ taxi service. And that's sustaining them, that's helping them earn for five years. So when we think of that investment, not only has that helped that family for five years, but as they pay back that loan, to our local partners, they're then redistributing that out to other partners and other people who are then launching their businesses. So that's one of the really exciting pieces to what we get to do.
DW: Yeah, that's really fascinating. So let me just try to break it down. And, and maybe give me some feedback, if this is what I'm hearing. So Elevate, was really the proof of concept, you guys learning how to start a business, how to run a business, how to help others, be equipped and use business to fund their ministry and their churches and different things. And then once you guys got some momentum there and seen some business success there, it started generating money for you guys to focus on some other things and to kind of scale it. And then you created, Activate, to be able to really go into these different countries and train and equip leaders, and pastors, and people that are in ministry to be self sufficient. And I think, you know, one of the things that I learned is that so many of these different countries, the churches are so impoverished that they can't really support a pastor. And so you have to have some other vehicle to support that pastor or that leader. So, is that about what happened?
JH: Yeah, that's a pretty good articulation. Usually, we lose people and everyone's like, I see you started 300 leather businesses, that we scaled the idea. We didn't scale, just the one business. So we knew that in order to be really catalytic, we were going to have to help these frontier church planters start something that they knew, that they were good at, that was going to make sense in their community and was really addressing a community need. So really, out of the experience we gained from Elevate, we developed a small business curriculum that was centered on kingdom. So we call it our Kingdom Business Training. And it's, you know, three modules 12 to 14, we're adding a few lessons on how do we engage a business for a friend here, missionary, local person that's taking the gospel to really challenging places, and how do we help them be successful in that and it had to have a little different flair than microfinance, and a little different than your typical all kinds of businesses mission expression.
JH: And so we just saw a need to kind of innovate in that space, making these tools. And this possible for those very most local workers who are taking the gospel and just breathing life into some really hard places in the world, and in a way that was gonna, you know, exceed a project limit or a three-year funding time or, and we love those things they spark they can catalyze, but we really felt a calling to hone in on the long term trajectory of what's the life of that worker looking like, long term, and what we found was actually pretty tragic, the kids aren't in school, not able to get medical care. So, like you said, the local church isn't able to serve and support that local pastor in the same way. And what we like to see is that what we're modeling can be reproduced locally. So if you have foreign funding to support that local worker, that's very not reproducible, that is just not reproducible at a broad level.
JH: But even if the local church, you know, supporting them, there's limitations to even reproducing that. But what we definitely see is that, really, the this honing in the embracing of a tentmaker lifestyle is reproducible and of course, to step into those things. If and as God wills and leads, that's wonderful. But we didn't want to limit the work of that gospel by that expectation. And that's what we were seeing on the field is that business is bad, there's are misconceptions on the field, it's bad, it's evil, I'm not be doing it. But it's a secret, I don't want anyone to know. But at the end of the day, I really need my kids to be able to see a doctor if they need it. And I would love if they were in school, I mean, we're taking basic needs of some of the workers out on the field. And we just felt like some of the existing strategies weren't serving and supporting them in a way that we that we wanted to be a part of.
DW: So, you guys now are really kind of high-level business coaches that travel around the world and train and equip teams to multiply this business and self-sustaining ministry model to their people. And then they can pass it down and train others. Is that correct?
JH: Exactly. We lead leaders. So our coaches, our Activate team, we help train localize teams, who really are the ones doing the more local business mentorship, walking through the modules. So every kingdom business training that happens on the field is done in the most local language possible in the most local way possible. So they're not waiting for us to come and do training. So when we go, we train training teams or trainers, and then they go from there. So we're really trying to grow our team now. And more people wanting to be Kingdom business coaches and mentors, to lead nation directors. And we're just getting to that next level of capacity building ourselves, so that we can serve and support those teams at the local level, as they support so many more the broad level of the local church planter in their country. So, we would have one more team in between us and that local church planter that's getting trained, so that everything that's getting breathed into them is really from a local expression, language and context.
DW: Yeah, that's so cool. And I liked the fact that you really went in with asking questions, and then trying to offer different solutions and seeing what works, and then taking that and really running with it and scaling that. So talking about the 300 businesses, you said over 300 businesses have been started as a result of your training. Is that correct? So, how does that correspond to the number of house churches that have been planted or the number of ministries that have been supported? Or is there a correlation there? Or do you know what those numbers are, that information?
BH: Yeah, for sure. So a lot of those numbers do coincide pretty close together. So we've started over 300 Kingdom businesses, technically, it's like 312.
DW: Hey, 12 matter, man.
BH: 12 does matter, you're right. You're right. It's awesome. And yeah, the number of churches with that, and again, we're talking house churches. So it does look different than you know what people are thinking of maybe a traditional church. It was actually on a side note. We were meeting with some leaders a couple years ago and and one of the one of the pastors kept saying, we have to focus on mega churches. And we're like in our mind like, man If we're talking about like, like, we're not really thinking along those lines, so we're just kind of taking it slow, like letting him share and other people share. And but yeah, so when we say churches we are we're usually talking house churches, smaller groups of believers there. But in that there's about 350 house churches that we know of, that our partners are engaging in. And so in some ways, it is hard for to track every single multiplied house church in that. But conservatively, that's where we can say, yeah, we've know pretty confidently that our partners are investing in this. And the way that that can happen is some of these church leaders are leading multiple house churches. So on Monday, they're they're gathering with a group of 12. And then on Thursday, they're gathering with a group of 20. And then on Sunday, you know, they're gathering with another group. So some leaders are leaving multiple house churches, and other people, they're actually in situations where maybe they haven't started their house church yet. But they're going into new regions, or their emerging leaders that we're hoping will be feeding house churches, maybe they're just leaving smaller Bible studies or some disciples, but they haven't really grown into that, that church function yet.
JH: And another big part of this is that our partners' participation and partner selection is a critical part of our process. And so when we look at our processes, when we're doing intro calls, when we're doing connections, and informing partnership agreements, the people that are even a part of that conversation, we feel like, like a conviction to give our tools away. Help anyone that wants to embrace kind of this model. So we freely give those with some coaching. But as far as our internal partners, where we're investing time, coaching and resources, in the financial space, we're selecting people that are causing a reaction that we want to catalyze. So their main mission and goal is to multiply churches and disciples among unreached people, their goal is to have the churches be transforming to the community and a blessing to people, right. So it's really important that we solidify partnership on the front end, so that even if we can't track all the data all the way down the line of that kingdom business and the leader we supported, and how many, because a lot of times leaders were supporting our apostolic just meaning they're kind of that want to go to new places and establish and move to the next place.
JH: And sometimes that business can transfer, sometimes they passed on to a disciple and go to the next place. And so we're talking about a lot of dynamics here. But all in all, what's most important for us is that very front end, is we know that what that organization, that partnering group, that local partner, is making upon the table, what they're alive for is the same thing that we're alive for. And that really makes partnership and long term impact, super fun. Even if we can't capture all the data points in it, though, that's an area we're really excited about. And we're leaning into a bit more in our database and kind of under mainly to understand and excavate. What's actually happening. Where do we, were things breaking down? Where do we need to inject more support. And really, in the long term sense, we'd love to just make this information available to the missions community at large. And the more we know about it, what isn't doing, how and where it's thriving, breaking down, the better we can serve. So that's kind of a new area for us we're leaning into.
DW: So going off of what you just said about, like, how do you select who you work with, because you gave us a little bit of criteria, but then like, what's the practical like steps that you take to actually find those partnerships and do all of that?
JH: Yeah, that's a great question. It's probably one of our most frequently asked questions. And we have what we call the Activate way. So we have a step, we have phases that we go. So our Initiate, Engage, Launch, Move, Mature phases. And so in our initiate phase, that's where we have a partner validation checklist. That's where we're looking at, are we here for the the same things as far as deeper levels of partnership, we also have partnership levels, like I mentioned, giving the curriculum away, an active partner, maybe we're partnering with them and then nations level in that in a regional level. So we have different areas and ways of partnering with people as well. But as far as like what we're talking about here, which would be an in country partner that we're looking at, we have a partnership checklist where we're just going our hearts aligned here. Because ultimately, that's what matters most is that we're helping the right people, though got that go faster and further. But if it's not the right person, we've experienced this, it just wasn't a great experience.
JH: And so those were early things that we had to learn of going, oh, I think we didn't nail our selection here, which is why your question is so important with selection. So we have a various criteria involved in selection. As far as who even knows about this, to even be considered to be in that selection, or to be in a conversation together, we've actually found that it's, it was super helpful for us to be in the room with giants, like, when we were 22 years old, we were in a room of missions, thinkers, primarily from the West, some from Asia. That were, I mean, we were just like, who are we? And why are we here? It was, so it was intimidating. But we loved it, because that was the conversation we wanted to be a part of. So we asked our pastor, we said, who's working in the hardest to reach people, who's going for the people that no one's tried to reach out, and he's like, you need to go to this thing on this day in California. And I know you don't have money, so we'll pay for you to go because we were supporting missionaries. And so we just got in the room with people that were at these levels of conversations, though, for a few years, people were kind of kept wondering why we were there. I think we were also wondering, but it was just really cool, because it helped give us a bigger vision instead of kind of going in small. And of course, we were vetting our model this whole time, met with a few partners.
JH: So our initial partnership came out of living in country and seeing people face to face knowing their vision, knowing they were the type of people we wanted to go for. Basically, if you're thinking about audiences, that's our audience, that's the audience like list we want to duplicate and go find, right? So it's like kind of that in that vein, it's like going, hey, these are the people, these are types of partners, is our audience or partnerships working? Where are those audiences at. And we found that our audience in that sense was in those settings. So global church planting networks, critical conferences, many of which aren't the blown out, fancy looking, pretty produced calm, it was like kind of Nietzsche spaces and so, but we knew that God was using them and had been using them to do amazing things. And that's the room we wanted to be in. So, we got connected that way. And then God just started relationally connecting us. And now, we're at the point where we have more inquiries coming in from the field side than even what we're able to say, like a capital Y, yes to. And that's what kind of repositions us to build capacity in our team to serve and support more people.
BH: Absolutely, I'd say one other critical part that we look at, Daniel, is we've felt like as an organization, Activate and Elevate, both is our call is to really reach some of the hardest to reach places in the world. And so that finds us, one of our criteria is working with people that are going into what we call unreached areas, like places that have very little or no access to the gospel. So that lands up and countries that are war-torn, countries struggling with oppressive governments, which is why you don't hear us talking about specific nations. But that is a big criteria for us, people that are working in those areas. So yeah, when we hear of somebody that has that same heart that says, man, I feel called to this challenging place of the world, that's usually a pretty good indication for us to say, hey, let's talk a little more because we have that same kindred spirit. And we that's where we want to figure things out, and we don't have it all figured out. Well, we really want to give our lives to figuring it out, or at least figuring parts of it out in these challenging places. So that's another big piece for us, too.
DW: So it sounds like you guys have had a really incredible journey so far. I want to ask a couple questions. One being what is the most surprising thing that you guys have learned along the journey? And I'm sure there's a lot but maybe just think about one or two.
BH: And if you don't mind sharing, I think for me, early on. I, I thought that my, I thought we were going to be the solution. You know, early on we thought okay, we could come into this country or we could help because we have these ideas or we have these strategies and very quickly realized any one organization alone, any one individual alone does not have the solution. You know, it has to be done in collaboration. We have to work together to really make the kind of impact that we want to have. So I think that was something early on, I was thinking, man, if I learned this language, if I work hard, if I go far enough into this village, I could see lives transformed, and just realizing, I have a part to play. But, you know, so does my brother, Daniel, so does my sister here. So does my, my friend, you know, and that all working together, we can actually do way more in the long run, which is so exciting. It's so now that's one of our favorite things is collaboration. I would say that was a thing for me.
JH: Yeah, I think one of the most surprising things for me was seeing, like, what led to really explosive faith movements around the world. And a part of that is something I had never seen modeled which was kind of the elimination. I know it probably everyone has an opinion on this, which is fair and good. But on the sacred secular divide, like we group things that are business, and then ministry. And I'm like, I just didn't see Jesus doing that as much like there are contexts for preaching and teaching and, and just direct discipleship with his people. But the marketplace, and the people of God are primarily doing things all day like, and so to eliminate, and to kind of have this separate ministry activity, which is you always have additional training other kinds of settings as well.
JH: But to not dynamically leverage where people are at all the time for disciplemaking is insane to me. And it's something I don't think that we've done well. I don't think that we've done well at helping marketplace leaders and people working. Whether they're the ones innovating the company, or they're the ones working in the company, at a significant level, know how to leverage that for the gospel, because that's what I saw in the early church was this explosive dynamic of seeing this multi-ethnic family of God going forth everywhere. They were all the time. And of course, there were additional evangelism, things happening, additional trainings, gathering community happening as well. But I think it was just like, whoa, some of the places in the world where we're seeing this most dynamic engagement around this is where people are actually leveraging and not just saying, oh, you need to leave that to do this. There were there were cases in our cases where that happens, or a seasons of time where we're stepping out of different things. And, and so, but I think that that we're not doing disciple making, even in the North American context of justice, if we're not giving significance to and helping to equip our marketplace believers, how do we leverage that and like that, those are the simple things like it sounds cool, right here.
JH: And overseas, it's like, someone's taking their horse cart to an unreached part of the world. But I'm like, you guys, we have accountants important, Portland, that that, like, you know, what I'm saying that we need to equip to see that as a valid role. And there's contextualization in Portland that is different than, you know, Morocco, or something like that and the role is different, but the overall mission is the same. And I think that it kind of shocked me that that was at the end of the day, one of the because a lot of times when we're training in kingdom business, some other organizations until they catch the essence of where we're coming from, think, oh, this is just a distraction, distracting, additional program. This is more compassion ministry. And I'm like, it completely blows me away that we continue to not be able to see how those things collide for a long term indigenizing of the gospel around the world. And I think part of that is because that's not exactly what we're doing here. And so there's just kind of things that have made me scratch my head along the way that again, like Brandon said, don't have all the answers to but yeah, kind of some shockers in that way.
DW: So you guys being so well traveled and getting in the room with some of these high level mission leaders and really getting to experience something that a lot of us don't get to experience, can you maybe pull back the curtain a little bit and and give us a glimpse of what does the global church look like? And what does the mission organizations and leaders and all these people come in together to complete the Great Commission? What does that look like? Can you share a little bit about that? And, and maybe enlighten us a little bit?
JH: Definitely. Yeah, there are things that I obviously didn't know of, I think a lot of the reason Daniel is because a lot of our local churches in the North American context aren't a part of them. Which is fascinating. Some are but most of them are not most of our local churches have our own missions, branches or projects. But we're not attempting that audacious question you just asked how who's like at the table when you're talking about completing the Great Commission, you know, and for me, it's not people who are walking in that room, and like we're gonna do it like, it's like people who are like, humbly, just, for the most part, humbly, just saying, We believe that God can, and we believe that we're his plan A for seeing it through. And so that has resulted in some amazing leaders who have birthed concepts, like mission, Nexus, the Global Alliance for church multiplication, 2414, like, these are just some names of where people are like, I want to be one of those tables. Um, some of those are in there attempting similar things with a different way. But they're all for the most part, from what I understand. And this isn't my area of expertise, like know of each other, shared some shared leadership and at least relationship. So we're not duplicating too much.
JH: I know, it's been a concern in the nation's world, because sometimes we're duplicating where we're leaving this over here with no one and 20 people aren't over here. And so that's something we're working on with databases, and other amazing people are attempting those issues. But those are some names, I would just encourage people, if you want to be a part of the conversation, I think for missions leaders, if any, are able to be listening to this. Now the primary audience, I don't think but it's like we need to see like our kingdom investor partners, like your audience, Daniel here, and like this community, that it's not it's yeah, resources, and finances are a part of that picture. But there are often been times where I'm like, I just, we need people on our board, I can just hit the whiteboard with good thinkers. And so many of our exceptional thinkers and problem solvers are in the for profit space, or in the business realm. And so going, hey, get over here, not just for, for helping resource it, but helping us the asset of your mind, in your experience in your network and your connections. And so many of those rich components that are coming out of the marketplace aren't necessarily bleeding over strategically into those rooms, those table, great commission places, but when, when they are, I would just encourage people, if you want to be a part of the conversation, look into some of those networks, and and go to some of their global meetings. And that's where we just started meeting people, both in country partners, and then broader level organizations that we could engage with. So yeah, I think there's a lot to be learned from each other. And again, continuing to not create the divide, but being a part of going, no, like, let's do this together, because we need all of us.
BH: I think another piece of that, too, is, as you talk about pulling the curtain back, what does this global church look like? A lot of it looks like the early church, taking things back to the table, a lot of this work looks like really large Jesus in the upper room, with his disciples having a meal. It's really more intimate and beautiful in that way. I specifically because of the challenge of some nations where it's illegal to follow Jesus, where they have to be in secret, they have to be quiet. But I think in a lot of ways, it's the small groups that are multiplying and and just organically sharing this hope, this newfound joy that they found in Jesus, it's really exciting. And so just seeing that happen to the ends of these, you know, nations and into these really challenging places. Something I've been so encouraged by no matter what nation that you can think of, no matter how difficult the situation, wherever the gospel of Jesus is being shared, people are coming to faith.
BH: People are coming to faith, people are starting to find hope, despite how difficult it might be around them. And I would say that's the thing. One of the major things we've even learned from our partners, so often when we're there training, are looking at them, like, I want to just learn from you. Like I've not been to prison. You have tell me what was that like? You know, I've not walked somebody who's been kicked out of their family, and is never going to be able to return like to teach me. So it's not always an easy path that maybe we sometimes envision following Jesus is really hard in these areas, but the hope and the joy that are in these families and in these individuals lives is just undeniable that God has touched them and they don't want to keep that for themselves, they want to, they want to take that to the rest of the world. And they want to take that to the rest of their family community. And it's so inspiring to see that from our local brothers and sisters in that in the world. It's fun.
DW: Wow, yeah, that that's really encouraging and to hear how all of these different organizations are working together to complete the Great Commission and to take the good news of the gospel to people who've don't even have access to it currently. So what would you say is are some of the top challenges to finishing the Great Commission in this generation?
JH: I'll never forget this. I'm stealing an answer here. Um, my favorite answer to this question, and I don't know if it nails it completely. But I think that it's incredible. So I was at a mission, one of these conferences I was telling you about. And we were, I was listening to a man, his name's Paul. And he was a key mission leader in our time and helped innovate and start what's called the Jesus Film Project. And we were by the elevator and there was a heated conversation and I was totally just listening. I was not a part of this conversation. And someone asked him, Paul, why are the unengaged still unengaged? People who had no worker, no gospel, no Bible, and then he just got in the elevator, doors are closing, and he looked at him and he said, a lack of focus. And then the door shut, I felt like there was like this.
JH: And I'm a person of extreme focus. So maybe that's why, um, but I do think that, that we are getting distracted. Like Brandon said, we need to go back to the table. Because though that's what the following the Lord looks like into is a few people around a table, my favorite networking, relationships and conversations and most dynamic partnerships are happening around a table. We need people on the stage giving us bigger vision, but we need more time and context for relationship for getting around the table for looking at who else is there that we're not acknowledging? Because we again, overlap is a challenge of our time and resources, and, and going, can we embrace each other's different enough? Because we care mostly about people knowing Jesus like that don't know him. And there's challenges of the divisions and the boxes and the labels we've created around faith and the questions that we all have of church and theology and doctrine. And but saying, hey, when we're creating those contexts, when we're practically engaging in those contexts, it's going to be messy, we're gonna have to remain in a constant state of like humility and absolute surrender. And we're gonna have to embrace new wineskin. Like, there's this new wineskins that, that we're doing missions in a way that's different. And I think that that's, that's a challenge as well going, it's not going to look exactly the way that it's always looks looked before. And that doesn't mean that we don't appreciate love and admire those who went before us. And so, I think that one of the biggest challenges is a lack of focus. And people thinking that's for the Navy SEAL Christians. What if this was actually for everyone, Daniel, like, you know, I'm saying like, for people listening, what if this was actually for you?
JH: And then we all start, like Brandon said, originally start qualifying ourselves and engaging that scripture, like he was talking to us, because I believe that he was, I think that we could do it. And then there's a lot of other components, right, like data, geographical, all these other things. But I think if we got enough people at the table kingdom of God starts coming forth through people, then I think that those problems would melt. But I think, a big part of that as we get to proudful prideful, we get in the way. And so we got to stay humble, we got to stay low. We gotta stay at the table. And I think we need to be very conscious of the humility bleeding in everything we do, not branding it not taking ownership, or, you know, some of our favorite partnerships or with some of your friends, you know, and we're like, miles and, and city for the nations and going like, can we what if, like, no one just put their logo on all of this, like, we just call it we and there's some of those components that really birth out of a place of humility, that I think are critical components and and we're young so I'm sure if you asked like a longer lived expert, they would give you maybe a different answer, but those types of things are what get me up, get me out of bed and get me going, too.
DW: Wow, that is incredible to hear your passion and and to hear a little bit about what's happening in in places that we've never been, in rooms that we've never been. And I just think about, you know, when he, when Paul was saying focus is one of the one of the keys. One of the keys to being a kingdom investor is having a kingdom focus. And so we're really talking about how everything else fades away. And, and we focus on the kingdom. And we focus on, on collaborating around completing the Great Commission and investing in the kingdom. And it's just been incredible to hear your story about how you've really used your time, your talent and your treasure, in so many ways to advance the Great Commission and reach unreached people groups and, and it's just really encouraging to hear, like, a lot of times you hear somebody using their their money or somebody using their time, but you don't often get to hear how somebody has used their time, their talents, their treasure, their business knowledge, their business itself, the systems and all of this incorporated together into a beautiful organization that that generates life change, and really advances and grows the kingdom and helps the kingdom flourish in these these desolate places, in these hard to reach places. That's yeah, that's just so encouraging.
JH: Oh, thanks, Daniel, we appreciate people like you who are calling us together, who are bridging the gap, honestly, because you say, hey, most of our audiences over here. And it's like, hey, you're creating the context for this to even happen. So it's a great demonstration of that yourself. And we were really grateful for your words. It's encouraging.
DW: Thank you. Yeah. And, you know, getting to get into jump into kind of the missions world and see some of the things that God's doing around the world. It's like, I've got to share this with other people. Because before I knew, like, I was just overwhelmed, I guess. And maybe there was a lack of focus, because it's just like, well, where do you even start? You know, the task is so enormous. What would you guys like to share or what piece of advice maybe could help us get involved, get plugged in, be a better steward of everything that God has given us? To advance his kingdom? Do you have any, any tips or advice or maybe even practical steps that we can do to get involved?
JH: That's great question. Email us. And I'm kidding. We can't help everyone. But um, it would be really cool to have this conversation, I think just who's that person in your life, right, like all of us can't maybe know of or could know of that person in our lives who are approaching attempting, going after Great Commission and really hard to reach places and just engage conversation. And in a deeper level, and so I would just encourage everyone to start talking to the Lord about how Hey, like father, like, I want to really be a kingdom investor, I want to I want to leverage my life for the gospel in the most impactful way that I can. And I really do think that he helps create roadmaps, things that are blurry, he can crystallize in a second. But sometimes I just think that he loves our pursuit of him more than he likes giving us the crystallized next step, because he wants us to want him not necessarily just the answer, and to know that we are valuable because of who we are in Jesus, not just because of what we can do for and with him. And so I love getting to that place.
JH: But in a practical next step would be like, yeah, start talking to Lord about it and start networking, start looking into organizations, who are doing fantastic work among the unreached and frontier kind of final to reach places in the world and start engaging conversation get around the table, like Brandon said, I love that it's just take it back to the table to relationship, because that is the beautiful part of it all that we all love, right? The strategic engagement and the audacious attempts, like the working heart, that striving, like it's so fun to strive together toward the gospel. But it's also fun to do it together to do it with people you love, in a way that you that you're proud of make sure that the imprint in the mark that you're making with your global partnerships is empowering, is locally facilitated as soon as possible. If they're not local leaders yet, like we need people to go so partners People who are going and help to build up locals as soon as possible. Yeah, that we're treating others the way we want to be treated. And yeah, those are some of the thoughts that came to my head.
DW: That's good. Do you, do you want to share your email? If people do want to reach out?
JH: Now, I'm like, do I? Yes, sure, totally. Um, check out the work at ElevatePeople.com. That's our product line. If anyone, honestly, if anyone's in that world, knows of people who would love to share and broaden the product line opportunities, and we're looking for kind of position now to grow that in some ways. And so that's ElevatePeople.com. And check out the beautiful product line that's supporting the work of the gospel in South Asia, and then ActivateGlobal.net is our small business training program, and outworking my email is Jessica@activateglobal.net. Brandon is Brandon@activateglobal.net. And yeah, just truly appreciate people engaging with us, listening. And truly like more than anything, engaging the Lord on what he may be calling people into, as far as participating with him in this work. So it's really exciting to think about.
DW: So last question for you guys to kind of land this plane. What is your what is the vision that God has given you for, I guess, where you're going? And and what are some of the pieces that you need to get together to accomplish that vision?
BH: Yeah, I would say you know, where we're going our our vision moving forward, we've started 312 kingdom businesses, our vision right now is that we would start at 1000 Kingdom businesses, among 500 people groups, that's kind of our our short term in a sense of 10 year goal, like where we're going here in the next several years. But I think, bigger than that is, is that vision that Jess was sharing of just wanting to reach people with the gospel. So that's something people also have a passion for. That's where we're running. And that's where we're going for life for long term, I think the people is to get there, I think you can speak to that better, Jess.
JH: Yeah, like Brandon said, like, we have our trajectory and that 1000 Kingdom businesses to meaningfully engage 500 unique people groups is really our pathway to scaling and growth. Beyond that, honestly, we're trying to innovate mission culture, we're trying to innovate empowering solutions at the local level, to build capacity and national leaders, and help revolutionize this concept of everyday disciple making to form churches to reach the least reach people in the world. And we think that empowerment and sustainability solutions are a big part of that, because then we get to see the kingdom come in a variety of ways. As a byproduct of that, we have to see communities empowered families transformed, it kind of bleeds out from the way we engage and enter. It really sets the tone and the posture for the community of faith and how they're going to react, react and respond to so many of the challenges they're going to face in their local churches in their local places.
JH: And so that is a big part of our heart that components to get there right now for us are getting like minded people who are going, we're not going to do this with like all this, we're we got it figured out like we need people who are humbly wanting to attempt this with us to join team as far as nation directors in supporting our local teams around the world. We're needing that right now, as far as getting getting properly staffed. That's one of our goals in the next year. Also, we're doing we're undergoing the great work of process documentation, right or documenting our processes. The like Spirit lead, of course, but we're like going we need processes to document to really help be able to, to drive this as it goes down to the field level, and enhancing our database and our data that's coming in so we can continue to channel our time, talents and treasures in the best way possible.
JH: In our time, it said that I think 1% Maybe two now of missions giving is even going to reach the people that had the least amount of access to the Gospel. And so we want to see that that one increases because we have an awareness of that, but also that the percentages that are used are used toward things that are going to be revolving and that are more sustainable approaches to just getting in there with us that way. And so we're we need to be able to collect that information to know that we're doing that well. And so yeah, we're setting up data. We're setting up team setting up processes to scale. And yeah, I think that's that's kind of where we're at right now. But we're excited because does our We kind of shifting that direction. And we're having we're onboarding several team members right now and, and are looking to grow pretty significantly in the next few years. So we're thankful for that.
DW: Wow, that's incredible. And I'm so excited to watch you guys grow and reach that goal. Is there anything that we can we can do to help you reach that goal? Or is there anything that we can be praying for you guys?
BH: What do you guys have for us?
JH: Yeah, right now, I'm sorry, I'm answering this because I'm excited about it. I was processing this yesterday, and it's like, who needs to be at the table? Right now, we really are forming a relational kind of advisory board to oversee some things. And so just kind of going, Who is the Lord drawing to that who can help advocate for this work among the kingdom, you know, in their own spaces, because we're limited and who we know, and who engages, we're overseas a lot. We don't have a normal like life where we have it, you know, like, our life isn't normal. So we don't have the same types of opportunities other people have that are, you know, running their companies and are more like, consistently dialed in at a local level. And so just there's opportunities to serve in an advisory level of this is really doing something to people, there would be a conversation and connection to be made there.
JH: Other than that, like we have, you know, people joining us in prayer and kind of just see what's going on on the field level, we always are needing more people joining us in in that way, strategically, we have a prayer guide that gets updated every other week with relevant areas of prayer. Also know that some people are like, hey, just tell me what you need practically. And we have regions teams and individual business level adoptions as far as what it's costing us to do what we're attempting. And so there's that as well, both at a, you know, a regional adoption level, we've had churches adopt nations and the budget for that nation for the year, or business owners and families. Or there's, you know, the, like, Hey, I'm just in with you guys and want to give like annually this much to see this thing go around. So we have a variety of things that kind of suit people to partner with us to make the work happen. Because like you mentioned before Elevate in our company does resource about a fourth of what activate needs to grow, but activates needs have grown substantially.
JH: And so now just the give portion of the business is not in the same line, as it was when we started when it was really small. And so to to really complete the other portion of our of our operating budget, we have gifts that support the other component, though, elevate the supply some of that, which is which is really cool and meaningful as well. So different opportunities for involvement, both at a advisory prayer and financial partnership level is definitely something that that we're in need of because again, and networking it telling others with your people is a huge blessing and a way to, to come alongside of the work.
DW: That's a really good and an exciting for you to find those key people that can really move that mission forward. One really practical way that I think that we can help you is so my I bought my wife, one of your leather bags, and it is amazing. She loves it. It's really strong. It's beautiful, really great leather. So go buy their leather products. Do yourself a favor, get it as Christmas is coming up. And it it's not only a blessing for you and the person receiving it, but for these guys and the mission that they're doing and and you know, just help fuel their business and support them. I know you guys wouldn't say that. But I'll say that. I love it.
BH: That's awesome.
DW: Absolutely. Hey, can I pray for you guys before we jump off here, amazing,
BH: Man, thank you.
DW: All right, let's pray. God, I thank you and praise you for Brandon and Jessica. Lord, they are such a blessing. You are using them in mighty ways. Lord, I thank you for their obedience to the call, to fulfill the Great Commission to take the gospel to the unreached to to transform lives and communities with their business and the skills and the abilities that you've given them. Lord, I'm just so excited to hear how you are working around the world through through them and through different organizations that they partner with God, I pray for all of the people that they're teaching how to start these businesses, I pray for their ministries, their churches, the different businesses that they're starting. God, I pray that your hand would be on them, that you would, you would use these, these people and these businesses to further your kingdom to build your kingdom. Lord, let us not get sidetracked in in the business but let the business be the fuel for for the true business of advancing your kingdom and completing the Great Commission. Got to thank you, for my friends, and I pray a blessing over them. And that you would bring all the right people and all the right resources together to accomplish the vision that they've shared with us. Lord, I thank you that they were able to come on the podcast and to share their story and how you are using them. And ultimately, it's your story about how you are faithful and you are using different people around the world to to fulfill, fulfill your calling. And God we thank you and praise you for all that you're doing in Christ and pray.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[OUTRO]
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