Why I Stayed in a Kingdom Factor Peer Group for Nearly 20 Years

If you had told me back in 2005 that I’d still be showing up to the same kind of peer group meeting nearly two decades later, I’m not sure I would’ve believed you.

Not because I didn’t value growth—because I did. But because life changes. Businesses change. Seasons shift. And most commitments don’t survive the ups and downs of real leadership.

But Kingdom Factor did. And it’s not because the meetings were “nice” or because I had extra time. It’s because, over and over again, this community became one of the most practical, faith-building, business-strengthening parts of my life.

My Business Story Started With Family—and a Lot of Real-World Pressure

I got involved in the printing and marketing business back in 2000 with my mom. We ran and operated that business together, and eventually I bought it from her. I owned it for about 25 years.

And like any long run in business, we went through cycles—“some really great years and some very challenging years.” That’s not a tagline. That’s reality. Growth seasons. Stress seasons. Great wins. Uncomfortable setbacks. And the constant pressure of payroll, customers, production, and leadership.

Over time, what I learned is something most business owners won’t say out loud until they’re honest: being a business owner is hard—and it can be lonely.

That loneliness isn’t just emotional. It’s strategic. It’s spiritual. It’s the feeling that you’re carrying decisions you can’t fully process with your employees, your customers, or even your closest friends.

And that’s one of the reasons I kept showing up.

Kingdom Factor Became the Place I Could Talk About “Intimate” Issues

I’ve always appreciated professional advisors—accountants, lawyers, consultants. But there’s a limit to what you can bring to those relationships. They serve an important purpose, but most of the time they’re not the people you can sit with and say:

Here’s what’s going on inside my leadership.
Here’s what I’m afraid of.
Here’s what I don’t know how to solve.
Here’s what I’m celebrating.
Here’s what I’m carrying.

What I found inside Kingdom Factor was different.

It was “being involved with a group of other like-minded individuals… having someone you can take to and talk about your issues… at a very intimate level about your business—celebrate the wins—and also talk about some of the challenges.”

That kind of peer counsel is rare. And it’s the reason I don’t treat the meeting as optional.

A Turning Point That Transformed My Business

One of the clearest business outcomes I can point to happened in the late 2000s. Our group studied The Advantage and spent time focusing on culture—specifically the power of a healthy organization and what it looks like to build clarity as a leadership team.

As part of that, we did core value exercises together—work that felt simple at first, but ended up changing everything.

Those core value exercises “really transform[ed] our business.”

I’m convinced it was a turning point in our business cycle—one that helped us scale with more clarity and consistency. The outcome wasn’t just better morale or nicer language on a wall. It shaped our leadership behavior, our expectations, our hiring, and our execution.

And the result was tangible: it “allowed us to really double the size of the company in this next few years.”

That’s not theoretical value. That’s a measurable outcome tied to content, community, and implementation.

The Sabbath Decision That Tested My Faith—and Strengthened My Business

Another moment stands out even more, because it wasn’t just about business. It was about obedience.

Early on, our business was very busy. The Lord had blessed us with a tremendous amount of work. We were production-heavy—manufacturing, facility, printing—and whenever things got busy, we’d do what we had always done:

We’d work Sundays.

At that time, I was still early in my faith. I hadn’t really studied the importance of the Sabbath, and I hadn’t seriously considered what it meant to honor God with the rhythm of work and rest.

Then our group did a study on Sabbath—and Ray challenged me directly: put this before the Lord, and stop working your people on Sundays.

I took that back to our leadership team, and to be honest, they thought I was crazy.

They said things like, We’ll never be able to serve these customers.
We’ll fall behind.
We’ll lose business.

But I told them, “Look, let’s pray about it and let’s put it in the Lord’s hand. We honor Him—He’ll figure it out.”

So we made the decision.

And here’s what happened next:

“We never worked another Sunday the next 15 years.”

And we didn’t lose the business like everyone feared.

“We never missed an order. We never had a customer say we weren’t gonna do business with you because we weren’t working our people on Sundays.”

That was a true test of my faith. And it taught me something I still carry today: honoring God isn’t a threat to good business. Often, it’s the foundation of it.

Why I Kept Showing Up, Even When I Didn’t Feel Like It

People assume that if you’ve been in a group for almost 20 years, it must be easy.

It isn’t.

There were plenty of times when I felt tempted to skip. There were moments when I thought, I shouldn’t be here. There are more important things I need to tend to inside the business.

And I’ll say it the way I said it in my story: I think “it’s the enemy playing on” that pressure.

But here’s what I can promise:

“I never left a meeting and said, ‘Boy, I wish I hadn’t come. I wish I’d have stayed at the office.’”

I always learned something I could take back. I was always encouraged.

And there’s another side to it too—something that surprised me over the years:

“It’s not all about receiving.”

There’s a real kind of growth that happens when you serve other leaders. When you show up with your experience, your hard-earned lessons, your perspective, and your honesty—someone else gets what they needed that day.

It still amazes me how often someone has thanked me after a meeting because I spoke something they needed to hear.

That’s the beauty of community: we’re all gifted in different ways, and God uses that.

Even After Selling My Company, I Stayed

Eventually, I sold my company—and entered a new season.

God opened a door for me to work with a dear friend of mine who started a nonprofit called Hope Grows / Rafa Road. We help men coming out of short-term recovery through three sober living homes. We walk with these guys over the course of a year—helping them “reestablish new habits,” sharing the gospel, and giving them real support.

It’s been “an amazing blessing” to be part of.

And even in that transition, I stayed connected to my Kingdom Factor peer group—because I still find tremendous value “working with other Christian business owners and leaders.”

The need for wise counsel doesn’t disappear when your title changes. If anything, it becomes more important.

What I’d Tell Someone Who Thinks They’re Too Busy

If you’re considering joining a group like this and your first thought is, I don’t have time, I understand. I’ve lived that pressure.

But I’ll tell you what I’ve learned:

“What you put on your calendar is important to you.”

For me, I made a commitment to fully understand that “this was God’s business and I was the shepherd of it.”

And if that’s true—if God is the CEO and I’m stewarding what He’s entrusted to me—then I need godly counsel. I need a board of advisors. I need a trusted group of leaders who can help me think clearly, lead faithfully, and handle stress wisely.

That’s what Kingdom Factor became for me: part of my “board of advisors.”

And when I saw it that way, it stopped being optional.

My Bottom Line

Kingdom Factor didn’t just make me a better business owner. It helped me become a better steward.

It transformed my company through culture work that helped us scale.
It strengthened my faith through obedience around Sabbath.
It gave me community through decades of business highs and lows.
And it reminded me that leadership isn’t meant to be carried alone.

If you want to lead with faith, wisdom, and endurance—don’t do it in isolation.

Find your people. Build your board. And commit to the kind of community that will still be standing with you years from now.