AI Agents Doing the Work of a Hire

Kevin Baisley, founder of Listen 4 Wisdom, joins Doug to talk about obedience, joy, and building an app by faith with no tech background. Kevin shares how a counselor of 15 years turned a sleepless night into a tool that gives Scripture, psychology, and practical next steps in seconds, why he says to hug the cactus when life gets hard, and why specific prayers matter. Encouraging for any Christian business owner who feels unqualified for what God has put in front of them. In this episode Kevin's faith journey and the move from Minnesota to Florida The idea behind Listen 4 Wisdom Scripture, psychology, and practical steps in one answer Obedience and trusting God's timing Building an app with no tech background Hugging the cactus: facing hard things with faith Prayer, patience, and perseverance for entrepreneurs Where the joy of the Lord comes from Links Listen 4 Wisdom Try the app Turn your next faithful step into action with Goal Getting

What if the way you run HR, hire, and lead one-on-one is really a form of discipleship? In this episode, Doug Greathouse talks with Brett Billups, a longtime HR executive, former CHRO, and author of Biblical HR: Applying Eternal Truths to Everyday Work. Brett shares how biblical principles can transform HR practices and organizational culture, with a focus on leadership, discipleship, and strategic alignment for profitable, kingdom-focused businesses. Brett has led HR in Fortune 100 companies, for a large employee-owned general contractor, and for the world's largest chaplaincy service. He explains how he learned to connect Sunday and Monday, why he believes there is no such thing as work-life balance, only one life lived under God's priorities, and what HR looks like when it acts as a business driver instead of a paperwork department: planning the people you will need, hiring for heart, holding people accountable the way Jesus did, and why one-on-one workplace discipleship may be the missing piece behind employee engagement. In this episode: Why Brett says there is no work-life balance, only one life Religion versus relationship, and what changed when Brett realized he was not as saved as he thought What it means to pray without ceasing Moving HR from administration to strategy, with a simple people strategy model Why engagement and well-being matter more than any single training program Workplace discipleship: why Brett replaced staff meetings with weekly one-on-ones How to bring biblical principles into a workplace where not everyone shares your faith Hiring the heart, plus interview questions that reveal character Accountability and termination: the woman at the well versus the Pharisees The biggest lie leaders tell themselves about culture CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Brett Billups and Biblical HR 01:05 Observing Leadership Styles in Any Environment 02:06 Brett's Journey to Biblical HR and Faith 04:17 Connecting Faith and Work: Personal Transformation 06:57 Religion Versus Relationship 12:02 There Is No Work-Life Balance, Only One Life 14:32 What Praying Without Ceasing Really Means 16:29 What Surprised Brett Most About People in Every Sector 18:00 The Role of Joy and Culture in a Healthy Organization 19:44 Shifting HR from Administrative to Strategic 26:36 The Biblical Model of Selection, Engagement, and Development 32:39 The Power of Personal Discipleship in Organizations 39:32 Applying Biblical Principles in a Modern Workplace 41:37 Human Dignity and Hiring the Heart 47:13 Correction, Accountability, and Performance Management 50:25 Common Misconceptions About Company Culture 52:34 Resources and Next Steps for Implementing Biblical HR 54:09 Final Thought LINKS Brett Billups: https://biblicalhr.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-billups-3488666/ Book: https://a.co/d/00yjGVlm Turn your next faithful step into action: https://goalgetting.app Keywords (from Doug's show notes): Biblical HR, organizational culture, leadership, discipleship, strategic HR, Christian business, employee engagement, workplace transformation

What does it look like to make prayer part of the way you run your business, rather than something you fit in after everything else? Doug Greathouse talks with James Williams, author, podcaster, speaker and creator of Dark Waters, about what James calls partnering with God in business. James shares how he organizes his day around prayer, learns to discern the Holy Spirit's direction, and makes room for faith when work feels overwhelming. The conversation moves into James's views on spiritual warfare, repentance, generational patterns, and the relationship between priesthood and kingship. Doug and James also discuss business setbacks, sacrifice, removing distractions, and praying for protection over a business and home. In this episode: - Making time for prayer when business feels overwhelming - Hearing God's voice through prayer, scripture and experience - James's perspective on repentance and generational patterns - Why James connects spiritual life with business leadership - Learning from business setbacks and trusting God - Removing distractions to make room for spiritual growth - The "gates of prayer" and James's biblical explanation - Praying for protection over your business and home CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and welcome to James Williams 01:40 Organizing the business day around prayer 06:06 Overwhelm, sacrifice and partnering with God 12:08 Hearing God's voice and discerning His direction 21:37 Repentance and spiritual communication 26:38 Generational patterns and the bloodline 32:55 Priesthood, kingship and business leadership 44:18 Removing distractions for spiritual growth 49:17 The gates of prayer and their biblical basis 54:35 Praying for protection over business and home 01:06:32 Where to follow James and a possible part two 01:08:22 Final challenge: make time to pray

What does it actually feel like to work for you? You can put Christian values on your website. You can talk about servant leadership. You can say people come first. But your employees experience your culture every single day—and their experience may tell a very different story. In this episode of the Profitable Christian Business Podcast, Doug Greathouse sits down with Douglas Shaw, author of Curative Culture: Stepping Away from a Toxic Workplace, to explore how leaders can build healthy, high-performing workplaces rooted in dignity, trust, accountability, purpose, and Christian values. Douglas says employees are constantly evaluating three things when they enter a workplace: Am I safe? Can I trust your intentions? Can I respect you? Those questions reveal far more about your real culture than a mission statement hanging on the wall. Douglas also challenges the idea that healthy culture means soft leadership. A curative culture still demands excellence. It still requires accountability. It still requires difficult conversations. And sometimes it requires removing someone—even a high performer—to protect the rest of the organization. In one of the strongest stories from the episode, Douglas explains why he hesitated to deal with two highly productive but toxic employees. A consultant finally challenged him: if leadership continued tolerating their behavior, the rest of the company would assume leadership approved of it. Douglas acted. The employees left. And something unexpected happened: Other people began to flourish. In this episode: What Douglas means by Curative Culture How nature helped inspire the idea behind the book How quickly you can sense whether a workplace feels healthy The three questions employees silently ask Why leadership owns culture How Christian leaders should think about the Imago Dei Why treating employees with dignity does not eliminate accountability How Douglas handled an employee he initially wanted to fire Why understanding context can change a difficult personnel decision How a firing can sometimes become a blessing Why healthy culture isn't "soft" How culture affects retention and profitability Why toxic high performers can damage the entire organization Why what leaders tolerate becomes part of the culture How to improve culture starting with leadership self-awareness Why leaders should ask, "How do I want it to feel to work here?" Why values must be embodied instead of simply written down How servant leadership changes the use of power Why great leaders ask questions instead of always making pronouncements How leaders can stay connected to employees How Douglas maintained culture after his company went remote Why remote teams still need intentional in-person connection Why asking employees for their opinions builds confidence Why purpose can keep employees engaged longer than compensation alone Douglas ends with a powerful leadership challenge: Help employees understand what they are actually accomplishing through their work. Don't simply give people a job. Help them understand the mission they're part of. Connect with Douglas Shaw Doug Shaw Perspective: DougShawPerspective.com Douglas Shaw & Associates: DouglasShaw.com Book: Curative Culture: Stepping Away from a Toxic Workplace Turn Clarity Into Execution Knowing your culture needs to change isn't enough. The Goal Getting App helps entrepreneurs turn one important outcome into a focused 90-day goal, identify the needle-moving actions that matter, and consistently execute. Start Your Next 90 Days with Goal Getting

What if the biggest problem inside your business isn't your people? What if it's the system you've asked them to work inside? In this episode of the Profitable Christian Business Podcast, Doug Greathouse sits down with organizational architect, executive coach, best-selling author, and transformation expert Adam M. Ward to explore organizational friction, systems thinking, sustainable growth, burnout, aggressive goal setting, and faith-driven leadership. Adam has spent more than 20 years diagnosing broken systems across multiple industries. He tells Doug that after doing this long enough, he can often spot organizational problems in about 30 seconds. One thing he looks for? Stacks. Stacks of inventory. Stacks of emails. Stacks of meetings. Stacks of projects. Anywhere work continually piles up can signal that part of the organization isn't flowing properly. But Adam makes an even stronger argument: "If you're blaming people, you have a system problem." Most employees don't come to work intending to fail. When capable people repeatedly depend on heroics, workarounds, phone-a-friend solutions, or constant firefighting just to get through the day, leadership needs to examine the environment those people have been given. In this episode: What completing an Ultraman taught Adam about business transformation Why you shouldn't ask a "couch potato" organization to immediately run an Ironman How Adam defines organizational friction Why different business problems require different improvement frameworks How to recognize a system problem versus a people problem Why Adam looks for "stacks" when diagnosing a company How to prioritize when multiple systems are broken Why revenue and profit are outputs—not the underlying processes Why Adam says "money masks everything" Why leadership humility determines whether transformation can happen How to perform a simple internal systems audit Why every company has more good ideas than it can execute Why repetitive processes need documentation and continuous improvement The difference between the entrepreneur who dreams and the operator who scales Why startups need to transition from startup mentality to production mentality Why broken systems—not simply workload—can cause burnout Why leaders should ask frontline employees how to improve their own work Adam's approach to aggressive but realistic goals Why leaders underestimate what's possible long-term while overestimating what's possible short-term Why progress should still be celebrated when a stretch goal isn't fully achieved How Adam's Christian faith shapes the way he works with clients Why character matters more than getting ahead What it means to trust God when business outcomes aren't controllable Why a friend once told Adam to put down the whiteboard and fast and pray Adam's candid story about self-reliance, burnout, and eventually needing intensive recovery and pastoral care Why successful leaders need accountability and Christian community Adam's final challenge around integrity, vision, direction, and trusting God Free Organizational Diagnostic Adam offers a free 30-question organizational diagnostic on his website that provides immediate results. Adam M. Ward — Website & Free Diagnostic Stop Drifting. Start Executing. Once you know what needs to change, you still need to execute. The Goal Getting App helps entrepreneurs turn clarity into a focused 90-day goal, identify the needle-moving actions that matter most, and consistently execute. Start Your Next 90 Days with Goal Getting