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    Reformed Brotherhood | Sound Doctrine, Systematic Theology, and Brotherly Love
    Sacred Priorities: Rethinking Christian Influence in Career and Calling

    Reformed Brotherhood | Sound Doctrine, Systematic Theology, and Brotherly Love

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2025 61:00


    In this thought-provoking episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony and Jesse explore the complex relationship between Christian vocation and professional ambition. Moving beyond the obvious prohibition of inherently sinful professions, they examine whether certain legitimate careers might still be inappropriate for Christians if they compromise our responsibilities to family and church. The hosts challenge the common assumption that Christians should seek maximum worldly influence, suggesting instead that faithfulness in our threefold calling—to work, family, and church—should guide our vocational choices. Drawing on Reformed theology's rich understanding of vocation, they offer practical wisdom for believers navigating career decisions and workplace responsibilities while maintaining spiritual priorities in a culture that often glorifies professional success at any cost. Key Takeaways Vocation is threefold: A proper understanding of Christian vocation includes responsibilities to our work, our families, and our church—not just our careers. Lord's Day conflicts: Professions that regularly prevent church attendance and Lord's Day observance may be inappropriate for Christians, regardless of their potential for influence or impact. Family obligations: Scripture teaches that Christians who neglect family responsibilities are "worse than unbelievers" (1 Tim. 5:8), suggesting that careers demanding excessive time away from family may be problematic. Christian influence vs. gospel proclamation: We must distinguish between transforming culture through worldly influence versus the actual proclamation of the gospel, which can happen at any level of employment. Sacrifice is expected: Following Christ often requires sacrificing career advancement, prestige, or financial gain to fulfill our primary callings. Priority check: When considering job opportunities, Christians should evaluate church options in a new location with the same care they give to schools, housing, and other community factors. God calls us to faithfulness: Our primary calling is to faithfulness in our responsibilities, not necessarily to positions of maximum influence or cultural power. Balancing the Threefold Calling The hosts challenge the idea that Christians should prioritize career advancement and influence above all else. They argue that vocation in the Reformed tradition encompasses more than just our paid work—it includes our responsibilities to family and church as well. This means that even if a career opportunity seems beneficial for "kingdom influence," we must evaluate whether it allows us to fulfill our other God-given duties. Tony points out that while some professions clearly contradict Christian ethics, others may subtly undermine our ability to be faithful in all areas of life. A high-powered executive role might provide platforms for influence but could require such time commitments that family relationships suffer or regular Lord's Day worship becomes impossible. As Jesse observes, "vocation is fundamentally God's doing," not simply about finding personal fulfillment or maximizing impact. This framework helps believers evaluate career choices more holistically. The Question of Christian Influence A central question emerges throughout the episode: Should Christians pursue positions of maximum influence to advance kingdom values? While this idea sounds appealing, the hosts suggest it often masks a "theology of glory" rather than embracing the "theology of the cross." Jesse notes that "God doesn't call us to necessarily have outside impact. What he's calling us to is faithfulness." They distinguish between the transformative power of the gospel—which can be proclaimed regardless of position—and other ways of transforming culture through worldly influence. Tony explains that "whether you're the janitor of the hospital or whether you're the CEO of the hospital, the gospel is the same and your role in proclaiming the gospel is the same." This perspective challenges Christians to reconsider whether pursuing leadership positions always aligns with God's calling, especially when such roles might compromise other spiritual obligations. The hosts argue that faithfulness in ordinary circumstances, not exceptional influence, should be our primary aim. Quotes "Would it be great if the CEO of a major Fortune 500 company could be a Christian? Yeah. That would be kind of cool. But if the trade-off is that person has to sacrifice their genuine Christian convictions, that's not worth it." - Tony Arsenal "I do think we have to sit back and ask, is that the calling? So that we're pursuing what is our vocation, not just our potential... I think there is a real temptation to somehow say like, what we need to do is to infiltrate in all the places. And I think what we mean by that is that things here will be better." - Jesse Schwamb "I think the Bible is clearer about a person who is taken away from their home more than is reasonable and more than is healthy for their family, or a Christian who never is able to worship on the Lord's day... than it is on something like identity politics and some of the tangential ways that might cause a person to need to compromise a little bit at a high level." - Tony Arsenal Practical Applications The hosts suggest several practical considerations for Christians evaluating career opportunities: Will this job regularly prevent Lord's Day worship? Does it require sacrificing time with family beyond what's reasonable? Could you negotiate Sabbath observance with potential employers? When relocating, evaluate church options with the same care given to schools and housing Consider whether a lower-paying job that allows faithfulness in all areas might be better than a higher-paying one that doesn't Full Transcript [00:00:00] Introduction and Episode Overview [00:00:08] Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 458 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse. [00:00:16] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast where even your work is unto the glory of God. Hey brother. Hey [00:00:24] Jesse Schwamb: brother. You know that's right. It [00:00:26] Tony Arsenal: is. That's why I said it. [00:00:28] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it was. That's a great way to open. We, I think from time to time come back to the topic of work and we've got a great, I think, conversation in the queue for this particular episode. [00:00:39] Jesse Schwamb: Now it's gonna sound maybe on the face. Right off the top here. Familiar. So of course, like we've talked before, how scripture makes it clear that Christians are to be salt and light in the world. And we've talked, I think, at length about, well, how exactly do we carry out that? And though we know that we're not saved by our good works. [00:00:57] Jesse Schwamb: Again, the Bible teaches very clearly that God expects good works from Christians, that that is in fact what he saves us to do. Again, we're not saved by those good works, but the question I think still remains, and we're gonna come to it in this conversation about what exactly does he want us to do and where does he want us to do it. [00:01:13] Jesse Schwamb: So in other words, we know that according to scripture, God providentially, governs and cares for his entire creation. So how does that play out in human society given the reality of sin? So we're gonna get to topics like. Well, should Christians be in every line of work? Is that the ideal? Are there jobs or positions or responsibilities that seemingly may not be obvious that Christians really shouldn't be a part of? [00:01:37] Jesse Schwamb: Because it takes them too far afield, maybe from the responsibilities that God gives us holistically to think of our calling is and our families and our churches in our work. So it's a bit more nuanced play of a conversation we had before, but hopefully something that's gonna have all kinds of practicality wrapped around it. [00:01:55] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. So that's what's coming. [00:01:56] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I'm stoked. I think this is gonna be a good conversation and I think I, I think this is one of those topics where like there's a lot of different angles to come at it from, right? We talk about vocation and work, and we've had those conversations before, and I think other shows and other venues have had that conversation before. [00:02:15] Tony Arsenal: I don't think that I've encountered a conversation really to this like angle of it. So I'm looking forward to this. [00:02:23] Jesse Schwamb: Me too. It's gonna be great. And of course, before we get to all that goodness, all that greatness, which I'm sure is about to transpire shortly and will be of course the definitive conversation, the one to end all to, I guess both to your point, bring it into the world. [00:02:36] Jesse Schwamb: Then to shut it down because we'll have accomplished both ends in just a single hour. [00:02:41] Affirmations and Denials [00:02:41] Jesse Schwamb: Before we get to that, let's do some affirming or denying. This is the part of our conversation where you and I always pick one thing either that we're affirming with and kind of the tradition of the reformed faith, where we take something that's undervalued or something that excites us, we think has great merit or worth, and we put out into the world and say, we're standing behind this thing, or conversely, we deny against it in that same kind of tradition by saying, this thing is overvalued, not worth it. [00:03:05] Jesse Schwamb: Not our jam. So in our tradition, I ask you are you affirming with something or are you not against something? [00:03:11] Tony Arsenal: I'm affirming with something specific that will lead to something general. So, okay. [00:03:16] Exploring AI in Learning [00:03:16] Tony Arsenal: I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I've been playing around with Google Gemini, which is Google's AI platform. [00:03:22] Tony Arsenal: And uh, I've been using it in a sort of interesting way. So Google has, uh, Gemini has these things called gems, which are basically like predefined personalities or predefined. I dunno, like instructions. So they have one gem that is a learning guide where basically you can give it a topic and it will, it will deliver mini lectures, give you quizzes, you can prompt it. [00:03:46] Tony Arsenal: So like I can paste in, um, you know, I can take in Lagos, I can paste a copy of the Bible, like a chapter of the Bible into the learning guide. It'll summarize it, it'll ask me questions. It'll basically gimme many lectures on it. Um, that's the specific thing. This is such a cool technology. And in my mind, this is really where AI is strong, is that you can take large sections of text and it will summarize it and synthesize it into a very usable format. [00:04:14] Tony Arsenal: Um, so what I've been doing, like I said, is I'll read, I'll read a, a chunk of text from whatever it is I'm reading, and then I'll copy and paste that entire chunk of text if it's an electronic text into the learning. Learning guide module and ask it to act as like a seminary lecturer and quiz me on the content. [00:04:33] Tony Arsenal: Um, which really helps to solidify the content I'm reading rather than just passing my eyes over it. I'm actually, um, processing it and retaining it more. I think you could probably do something similar with just about any AI platform if you had the right kind of prompt, which is where the general one comes in. [00:04:50] Tony Arsenal: And I would encourage you, listener to think a little bit about how you might utilize this, because I think we all read lots and lots of things. Our, our, um, particular audience tends to be a little bookish, and so I'm sure we're all reading things as we go, but I'm not sure we're always processing things in the most effective way. [00:05:07] Tony Arsenal: So think a little bit about like how you might use something like chat, GPT, which is available for free, or Claude, which is available for free to do this kind of like. Almost like simulated classroom lecture. Um, and I know there are some questions about ai. Like I, I heard an argument that ai, when you're generating content is, is a sort of form of sophisticated, uh, plagiarism, which I'm not sure I buy it, but I understand the argument. [00:05:33] Tony Arsenal: This is something very different where you're really just using the, using the AI to synthesize and summarize text and sort of spit it back to you in a new format. Um, you're not trying to generate anything new. You're not trying to create anything. That you're gonna publish or anything like that. It's really just a, a form of synthesis. [00:05:49] Tony Arsenal: So I've really found this to be super beneficial. Um, I'm having a really great time at it. I'm, I'm using it for language studies, so I'm reading through mount's basics, biblical Greek. And I'll copy and paste the whole chapter in, ask it to act as a lecturer, and it will walk me through the chapter. It'll stop to do quizzes. [00:06:08] Tony Arsenal: It'll drill me on vocab as I'm going. And then when, when I up, the instruction I get is, don't move forward until you are convinced that I've mastered the content. And so when I get something wrong, it goes back and makes me redo it. So it continues to iterate until it's, until the AI has. Synthesize that I have mastered the content, and then it asks me to provide the next chapter. [00:06:30] Tony Arsenal: So it's a cool technology. It's a, it's a sort of novel use for the technology. Um, again, Google has built in modules that do this, but I think you could probably use chat, GPT or Claude or Orrock or whatever AI model you're using to accomplish the same goal. [00:06:45] Jesse Schwamb: There's no doubt that AI is great for like building study notes, helping you create space, repetition, all those like little hacks that we have long talked about. [00:06:53] Jesse Schwamb: And this provides it to you in a really bespoke course customized way, but it gets you involved. I'm with you if you wanna do this the old fashioned way. I'll go back to something I I've affirmed with before and that's this very famous book originally authored in the 1940s called How to Read a Book by Mor Mortimer, j Adler, and that is an exercise. [00:07:13] Jesse Schwamb: Helping you do some of that stuff in real time as well. Yeah, so I think there'd be a lovely compliment to say you're reading actively and then you get to test immediately that active reading by way of using ai. So even before, like, maybe even just jumping to like, well, let me read it, but I'm, I'm gonna trust that AI's gonna really kind of supplement me or fill in the gaps and just gimme what I need to know. [00:07:33] Jesse Schwamb: Trying to do that in real time. Pausing in your reading. Again, kind of studying as you go along, thinking out loud through what you've just read and then saying, alright, now test me is a great way to, 'cause who wants to like read stuff unless you can remember this stuff and then unless you can apply it, right? [00:07:48] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. So it's such a joy to be able to read things and then to remember. And if you haven't had that experience yet, I like your affirmation. I think this is a great way to test it out. [00:07:56] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, just to maybe flesh this out. So I, I asked it to, and I'm, I'm doing this sort of as an experiment just to see how it works, but also just 'cause it's, it's useful. [00:08:06] Tony Arsenal: I asked it to act as a seminary lecturer and I copied and paste the entire first chapter of the Westminster Confession. And rather than split it up by section and actually combined paragraphs that were. Um, related to each other. So it combined the list of Bible, uh, books, and then the chapter on apocrypha and gave me some like lectures. [00:08:25] Tony Arsenal: But here's what it said about, um, about chapter 10. It says, paragraph 10, declares the supreme judge can be no other than the Holy Spirit speaking scripture. This is the ultimate outworking of sola Scripture, means that every other authority is lesser authority that must submit to the judgment of the word of God. [00:08:42] Tony Arsenal: This includes decrees of church counsels. Opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, private spirits. It goes on for a little while longer. Then it says, I will give you a brief final quiz covering the whole of chapter one, and it asks questions like A historian makes the following claim. The Bible only has authority. [00:08:59] Tony Arsenal: It does because influential councils in the early church, like the Council of Carthage officially voted on which books would be included in the cannon. The church therefore gave the Bible its authority drawing from your knowledge of paragraphs three, uh, three, four, and five. Provide a two-part critique of the historian statement. [00:09:16] Tony Arsenal: Which then I had to type it out. It critiqued, um, it analyzed my answer. Um, I happened to get that question right. I did at one point think maybe this is actually just like finding a way to say everything that I say is right. So I purposely put a wrong answer in and it did identify that the answer was wrong, and then it made me go back and revisit that content. [00:09:35] Tony Arsenal: So it's very, it's a very cool use case. I'm glad that Google kind of built this in. They have all sorts of other gems. If you have, if you have a way to get access to Google Gemini, um. It's not the best AI for everything, but it's got, it's pretty versatile. It's got a lot of utility, so check it out. [00:09:53] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that sounds great. [00:09:53] Jesse Schwamb: Again, there's all kinds of fun things I think we could be using AI for to help us be better learners or to really enjoy our interaction with data and information more. Yeah. It is a really great way to conversationally help you to learn something, and that's what makes it so much better. It stands way far apart from, again, just leading, just reading or just creating flashcards or even just, just creating study notes, but that back and forth to test you on something, even if it's just like casual knowledge that you can really want to internalize. [00:10:21] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. I found that to be super valuable. Again, like, man, if you're a learner, if you're a reader, if you're a human being, what an amazing time to live in the world where data is so prevalent, but it's increasingly being brought into a place where we can put our arms around it in a way in which we're trying to really understand it. [00:10:38] Jesse Schwamb: You know, I think about how we used to search for something, I mean. Used to like this that like, that wasn't like last year. You know what I mean? Like we just go on to our, your favorite search engine. Type in a topic or maybe type in even a specific question. And at best you'd have to sort through this litany, this plethora, this morass of all these links about articles that may pertain to what you asked. [00:10:58] Jesse Schwamb: Or maybe they pertain to it generally, but not really specifically. Yeah. The specificity with which you can have a conversational interaction that engenders knowledge is wild. I mean, I really think that is like the huge play of ai. Just lean into it and enjoy it. [00:11:12] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. Jesse, what are you affirming or denying tonight? [00:11:16] Nasal Spray Affirmation [00:11:16] Jesse Schwamb: I'm going a totally different direction. It's an affirmation, but I'm taking it from my ears, nose, nose, and throat doctor who affirmed this to me, so I might be totally late on this. There are very few things that I can say like somebody's recommended to me or affirm. It's been like absolute game changer, like just drop dead from the first moment I used it or employed the thing that it just changed everything. [00:11:38] Jesse Schwamb: This is one of those things. Which maybe I've just already oversold, but the affirmation is with something called it's, it's spelled X-L-E-A-R, I think it's still pronounced clear, but it's called literally phonetically XL nasal spray, and it's a. This doesn't sound very exciting, but bear with me everybody. [00:11:57] Jesse Schwamb: It's a natural, non-addictive saline nasal spray featuring Zi Atol as its primary active ingredient. So if you're not familiar with Zi Atol, which I wasn't until I went to my ENT by the way I've seen for many years and only just recommended this to me. So I had some words 'cause I was working, where's this been all my life. [00:12:14] Jesse Schwamb: But Zito is a naturally occurring alcohol sugar. It's found in like many fruits and vegetables, and it can be commercially produced from like birch wine or corn fiber. It looks and tastes similar to like table sugar, but it contains fewer calories, so it can be used and is often used as like a sweetener in sugar-free foods like chewing gum, mint candies, jam, stuff like that. [00:12:35] Jesse Schwamb: Here's one of the strange side effects. That they notice though about Zi atol, and that is it totally, uh, cleanses, moisturizes and soos nasal passages. And it gives you all kinds of relief from like common congestion stuff like colds, allergies, low humidity, humidity, science, pressure, stuff like that. What it does is it actually breaks down or lubricates your inner nasal passages, including like flushing out the mucus. like it works actually with your body. So what's amazing is it's, it's really great for, it's kinda like a soap for the nose. It clears up bacteria, pollens, dander, molds, like all kinds of irritants. [00:13:14] Jesse Schwamb: It also studies have shown blocks, adhesion of other pathogens like bacterial, fungal, viral to the mucosal tissues, helping the body to wash them away. So [00:13:23] Jesse Schwamb: this thing is absolutely. Wild. And I can say for certain that if you're the kind of person like me, where let's say like you're, you're hitting the Flonase hard at different seasons because you got those seasonal allergies because of the fall and because sin is real. I'm with you. That dries out your nose. [00:13:42] Jesse Schwamb: This thing is like a, a sauna or a spa for your nose, and then it literally like clears everything out. It's almost magical. I, I'm serious. It's so fantastic. So if you've been looking for something to really help with that and it, again, it's safe. There's no drug in it. It's not addictive, so you can use it all the time. [00:13:58] Jesse Schwamb: It's just saline and zi etol. It is phenomenal. So go get yourself, do yourself a favor. Do, do your, do your nose and your sinuses a solid and, and get the solids outta them by using. X clear. I feel like a bat just flew by your face or like a giant bird. [00:14:17] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So, uh, first of all, that sounds like a really great thing to check out. [00:14:22] Tony Arsenal: Is this clear stuff? Um, I have had struggles with like sinus infections over the last couple years, so I'm gonna check this out when it gets to allergy season in the fall year. [00:14:32] Hummingbird Moth Encounter [00:14:32] Tony Arsenal: But yes, uh, one of the rare, uh, moths that I've learned lives near my house is called a, uh, what's it called? Uh. It commonly, it's called like a hummingbird moth. [00:14:44] Tony Arsenal: Have you heard of these things? Yeah. Oh yeah. Um, I've never seen them before, but the reason they're called hummingbird moths is 'cause they look like hummingbirds, but they're actually moths and I right now. Hopefully this will change eventually, but. It will have to, 'cause it gets cold here. Um, I'm recording outside and a hummingbird moth literally just flew between my computer and my face. [00:15:05] Tony Arsenal: Um, I wasn't talking at the time so you wouldn't be able to see it on the screen, which is too bad. Uh, but yeah, Jesse saw me freak out a little bit, which is uh, which is fine. [00:15:16] Jesse Schwamb: It happened the [00:15:16] Tony Arsenal: first time I saw one. I was like, is that a huge bee? No, it's just a hummingbird broth. [00:15:21] Jesse Schwamb: Somebody, everybody should look them up though, because they're kind of wild looking. [00:15:25] Jesse Schwamb: Like if you've seen it in real life, they have that hummingbird pose where the body, body is kind of laid back and the wings are going crazy. Like they literally do hover like that. Yeah. And they're, they're almost that big. The one that tried to attack you there was pretty large. [00:15:38] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. They don't, um, they, they. [00:15:41] Tony Arsenal: Move a little different than hummingbirds, which is why the first time that I saw one, I thought it was a bee. Um, because when they, when they land on a flower, they crawl inside the flower the same way that a, like a bee or a bumblebee will, um, they don't hover outside the flower like a hummingbird, but they do. [00:15:57] Tony Arsenal: They, their body is, I mean, their body is probably an, an inch and a half long like a hummingbird. Um, and it's thick like a hummingbird. They don't look like moths at all. So I'm not sure they must be part of the Moth family, I guess. Um, I'm trying to remember. It's. They have like a specific name, I wanna say Scarab, but that's not right. [00:16:14] Tony Arsenal: But it's something like that is the, the technical name of it. They're like a scarab moth or something like that. But [00:16:20] Jesse Schwamb: yeah, I've just come up. It's a wild name. [00:16:22] Tony Arsenal: This is your top 50 Entomology, uh, podcast apparently. As well as the top 50 health cath. We're gonna, we're gonna uh, com combine the two tonight, so yeah, I'm gonna check that out in the, the spring or in the fall here, Jesse. [00:16:34] Tony Arsenal: My, my allergies always go a little bit crazy when we get to September. Yeah. With all the, like leaves falling down and crumbling up and stuff, it just gets in the air, so I'll just, I'll spray some artificial sugar. It's not artificial. I'll spray some pseudo sugar in my nose and see what happens. [00:16:48] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. It does have the added benefit that because it is a naturally occurring. [00:16:53] Jesse Schwamb: Sugar, like it's a type of sugar alcohol that if it drips down the back of your throat, all you get is a little like, mm, sweet. [00:17:03] Tony Arsenal: I wanna know who the first guy who was like, let me put some of this fake sugar in my nose and see what happens was it's, [00:17:09] Jesse Schwamb: I'm telling you, it, it's better than any actual, like, prescribed nasal spray I've ever taken. [00:17:15] Jesse Schwamb: You can get it like just at your g it. Yeah. Or you can get it on Amazon. I, I will, I forgot about it for a while. I, maybe I use it daily now it's become my go-to. But I mean, I don't wanna make this weird or gross, but it's the kind of thing like if you wake up in the morning and you're stuffy and you, it feels like somebody parked like a bus way up in your sinus cavity. [00:17:32] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And you're like, I can't even blow my nose. There's nothing there where, where's all this stuff? There's nothing there. If you use this, when I use this within two, two, I'd say like seven minutes, I can just. Drop a huge load of mucus right outta my face and you feel like a million bucks. I don't know how to describe it. [00:17:49] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's like better than like a sinus rinse or a netty pot. I know this sounds wild, like I'm way too excited about this stuff, but that clear spray is wild. And what I especially love is that it's all natural, that I'm not doing any harm to my nose or my face by using it. And that it, I just feel better afterwards because it's like moisturized everything. [00:18:08] Jesse Schwamb: So, and there's, there's, the debate is I think ongoing. There's a lot apparently, because I went down the rabbit trail and looked at all these scholarly studies and peer-reviewed journal papers, all this stuff. There's a lot, I guess, uh, still somewhat in debate about like its ability to really help prevent certain things like COVID, any kind of like nasal airborne kind of like, yeah, because it helps to flush and it prevents literally bacteria from sticking, uh, inside your nasal passages. [00:18:34] Jesse Schwamb: So that could be a benefit. I can't say anything about that. I'm not a doctor. What, [00:18:40] Tony Arsenal: what I would love is, uh, if you are a listener who has seasonal allergies or whatever, uh, if you would join our telegram chat at t.me/reform brotherhood. Well done. We have what's normally a tastings channel, which is like people get like new foods they wanna check out, or a beer they like or whatever, and they'll, uh, they'll do a little tasting and a review. [00:19:04] Tony Arsenal: I would love if some people would join the channel and do some, some clear, clear. We'll go clear, uh, a tasting of this nasal spray. Yeah, please don't show us. 'cause that's disgusting. Right. But, uh, let us know. Let us know what you think of it. I think that'd be great. So that's t me slash Reform Brotherhood. [00:19:21] Jesse Schwamb: There you go. Come hang out with us. It's a lot of fun. I see we've had some people join that group this week, so I see you out there, brother Sean. Crushing it, getting in the mix. Welcome everybody. Come again. Spend a little time in there. And there's, I love that the channel for like the conversation about our episodes is. [00:19:37] Jesse Schwamb: Hot. It's going strong. I love that. And we gave the call last week. You should listen to last week's episode when we were really speaking about, uh, God's faithfulness and a challenge of how we seek after piety, under the care and the direction, the kind direction and the convicting influence of the Holy Spirit. [00:19:55] Jesse Schwamb: So many good things were said there. I really loved reading all those. And it probably goes without saying, but I'm gonna mention it anyway. You and I read everything that pops in there. Yeah. For the most part. I mean, sometimes I look at it and there's 150 messages, right? And um, it got wild. But I go back through and always, always read those. [00:20:10] Jesse Schwamb: But I especially love like the conversation when we invite people to say, like, now it's, we'd love to hear from you. And so I think that's gonna be a large part of what we talk about. On this episode as well. [00:20:20] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. So, Jesse, why don't you lead us in here. This was the topic you brought up. I think it's a great one. [00:20:25] Tony Arsenal: I'd love to to dive into it here. [00:20:27] Christian Vocation and Work [00:20:27] Jesse Schwamb: I think one of the things that Christians always have to come to terms with at some point, every generation has to, but every person as well is, so where is my role as Christ child in something we might generally call like Christian activism? By which I mean like, of course, like Christians. [00:20:44] Jesse Schwamb: Attempt to improve or influence society through time, especially in our work. And as I was thinking about this recently, I think one of the hard things we have to measure out is well. Are there different places where we would, there's certainly jobs where we say Christians shouldn't hold that position because it contravenes God's law directly. [00:21:05] Jesse Schwamb: But what about these kind of, as we've talked about before, this threefold responsibility that we have in our callings, which you can go back to our previous catalog, which is all in the reform brotherhood.com, by the way. Listen to where we talked about this idea of like the vocation that happens in our work, in our households, in our church, and is it possible that in the work sphere that there are jobs that like Christians just shouldn't hold because it takes them too far away from their responsibilities in the other two spheres, which there are equally parts of their vocation, or if we want to put like a really fine point in it, and I don't really mean to derail the conversation with this question, but this would be exemplifying kind of what we're after here, which was like, should Christians be involved and. [00:21:47] Jesse Schwamb: In politics, are there other jobs like that where we'd say, listen, we, we tr we trust God in his sovereign superintendent will that he's always doing his good work. And you and I have talked at length about what it means to be living in the, under the normal principle of God using ordinary, normal means to do great and extraordinary things. [00:22:06] Jesse Schwamb: So how does all of that fit with our work? Are there lines to be drawn or. Does it not really matter? [00:22:15] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I mean, I think for the sake of our conversation, we can just sort of take some professions off the table. Right? Of course, there are some professions of course, and calling them professions is probably even, probably even a misnomer. [00:22:27] Tony Arsenal: But there are some ways to earn money that are just intrinsically sinful that are outside of the scope of the conversation, right? You can't, uh, there's no argument for a Christian to become like. An assassin or like a drug dealer or a prostitute, like, there's no, there's no valid argument or discussion to be had around those. [00:22:45] Tony Arsenal: So we can just exclude those entirely. But I think for, for the sake of this conversation, we're talking about professions that do not involve, intrinsically involve sin, um, and, and may or may not have, um. Prudential reasons why they are not the best idea. Right. So I, I'm thinking like, the one that came to mind when you asked this was like, and it's funny because I, um, I mentioned the topic to my wife and, you know, she kind of joked, I was like, well, yeah, like Christians can't be. [00:23:15] Tony Arsenal: Can't like be porn stars, like that's not something you can do as a Christian. But then, then I, she said, well, what, what other professions would it be? I said, well, like, like a professional football player, right? And like the question is like, can a Christian be a professional football player? I think instinctively, right? [00:23:29] Tony Arsenal: We all say yes. But, but is that actually true? Right. And, and I would, I would make the argument that no, like a Christian can't be a professional football player or really, really any kind of professional sports, um, figure because it, it necessarily takes you away from the gathered fellowship of Christians on the Lord's day on far too often a basis. [00:23:47] Tony Arsenal: Right? I don't think you can make a good prudential argument to say like, well. It's fine for a Christian to be absent from the lord's uh, Lord's Day worship in his congregation of membership, you know, 60% of the time. Like, I just don't think you can make that argument. So I think in a lot of these cases, the immediate instinctive answer is yes. [00:24:07] Tony Arsenal: Uh. Christians can be part of any profession, and there's a certain, there's a certain way that that's true, but when we actually start to look at the way some professions actually play out, we have to analyze that a lot deeper. And this is actually not all that different than our conversation last week. [00:24:23] Tony Arsenal: Right. Involving like a. Pop culture and like media consumption is we have to look at what is actually, what the actual cost is. Uh, opportunity cost, I guess if we want to use like economic terms, what the actual opportunity cost is here of a particular profession in respect of. Our obligations and our commitments as a Christian and our obligation to the law of God, our obligation to our Christian brothers and sisters, all of that. [00:24:49] Tony Arsenal: So I think this is gonna be a great conversation. I'm excited to get into it. Um, but I do think it's one that we should think through a little bit more than just sort of like our gut reaction. Like we, of course, Christians can be involved in any profession. [00:25:00] Jesse Schwamb: Let me add to that. 'cause that's perfect. That's exactly, you're not on the same page as usual. [00:25:04] Jesse Schwamb: That's exactly where my mind was going. And what makes like this such a rich opportunity to really explore what the scripture has to say about this particular topic? I think you're right on that we need to weigh out, which we often just kind of glance over. What are the other responsibilities by taking on a particular line of work or job. [00:25:20] Jesse Schwamb: Does that necessarily mean that we must sacrifice and preclude these other areas? We should have direct or more intimate involvement because that is also part of vocation. Part of that, like we've talked about at length before, is responsibility in the Lord's day. So we might set that up as one particular test. [00:25:36] Jesse Schwamb: To that end, another one might be exactly what you were saying. So here's like the opposite of like the professional footballer or American football or whatever. Pick your, pick your sports. What about like high level? High responsibility, let's say leadership positions like in all kinds of areas of industry that would require the man or the woman to, let's say, like be on call continually, or maybe to sacrifice long hours at that job as part and parcel of what's required to do it effectively. [00:26:04] Jesse Schwamb: And that might mean that necessarily like not being very connected with family or having to be away from their family a lot of the time. I think what we often come to is this idea that, wouldn't it be great if Christians were just everywhere and were infiltrating all the things all the time at all the levels. [00:26:21] Jesse Schwamb: I think the question here that's under the surface is, is that what God assigns in a life of vocation? And maybe it's, it's of course more nuance than that and it could be for the person. Again, I wanna be clear that, like we said before, vocation is a very specific and narrow term in that we're talking about an actual calling being called out for a particular purpose. [00:26:42] Jesse Schwamb: And if we're using that in the right way, then it's possible that with the exception of some things like the Lord's Day, the other thing I just talked about, season of life. And your particular commitments or entanglements, they might be different from person to person. Therefore, allow for a direct call that God gives to a particular purpose at a particular time. [00:27:01] Jesse Schwamb: I think what I'm really kind of weighing out here is if we understand how the reformers viewed all of this. We have to come to this conclusion that God assigns us a life and then God calls us to that life. And that really is what vocation is all about. And notice in that there's nothing that's said about choosing a vocation or finding your true vocation or being fulfilled even in your vocation. [00:27:24] Jesse Schwamb: We may experience a struggle with all of that, but vocation is fundamentally God's doing. So what is. God doing in our society. And as you said, are there roles that he's, in a way not calling, let's say like the, the quintessential or the normative, I don't wanna say average 'cause that implies the weird thing, but Right. [00:27:44] Jesse Schwamb: Kind of Christian too. And I think. We've gotta, we've gotta wrestle with that because you're right. Like we too often just run to, we need Christians in all the places now let's get them everywhere. Doing all the things. Yeah. And that might be good from our perspective, because Christians should be the best workers as we said that we should. [00:28:01] Jesse Schwamb: The most kind. There is the salt in lights everywhere. However, it takes a Christian to do all those things. And can a Christian in certain roles have great fidelity to the threefold? [00:28:13] Exploring the Theology of Work and the Lord's Day [00:28:13] Jesse Schwamb: Calling and vocation of life while upholding certain jobs and responsibilities. [00:28:19] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think, um, I think that may be like a little bit of progam is, is warranted here too. [00:28:26] Tony Arsenal: Like there, you know, there's the, the, the conversation at the top of like, some, some professions are just out of bounds. Yeah. Um, but there's also, you know, a pretty robust theology. And I think a lot of this is gonna center around. Uh, maybe just for simplicity's sake and for the fact that we have 30 minutes left of a conversation that probably could be multiple hours, um, there's a pretty robust apparatus in reform theology that is designed to help Christians understand whether or not, um. [00:28:57] Tony Arsenal: A particular activity is acceptable on the Lord's day. And we've, we've had conversations in the past about like, if, if all of your theology of the Lord's Day is about what you can and can't do, then you're missing the point entirely. [00:29:11] Jesse Schwamb: That's right. [00:29:11] Tony Arsenal: But there is an element of what you can and can't do in terms of understanding the Lord's day. [00:29:16] Tony Arsenal: Right. We're, we're not supposed to engage in worldly recreation or employment on the Lord's day. So we have to talk about what that means. And so I think. [00:29:24] Works of Necessity and Charity on the Lord's Day [00:29:24] Tony Arsenal: I think to start with, like there's categories, like works of necessity, works of charity, um, that, or, or like works of ministry, which would, would sort of be a third category that's not necessarily, um, not necessarily enumerated in many of the sources, but it's assumed that like pastors who are working on the Lord's day are not, they're not violating the Sabbath by doing the work on the Sabbath. [00:29:47] Tony Arsenal: Um, I think we have to have those categories. 'cause I think that helps us inform too, like. If you are the CEO of a major retailer, does that mean you have to work on Sunday, right? Well, probably it does. Like, it probably means that on a regular basis you're gonna be checking emails on your phone, you're gonna be taking phone calls. [00:30:05] Tony Arsenal: You've got, you might have partners in markets overseas where it, it's Sunday morning for you, but it's Monday afternoon or you know, Monday morning for them or something like that. Um. I think that the industry you're in largely is going to drive whether that's an acceptable or, or an appropriate role for you. [00:30:24] Tony Arsenal: So I could see a situation where you could make the argument that being the CEO of a of a major medical center, right. Where the work that's being done at the medical center falls easily within that sort of definition of, uh, works of necessity. A nurse who is working in the emergency room or a police officer or a firefighter or somebody who is fixing the power, like in our society, right? [00:30:47] Tony Arsenal: Electricity is, is not an option for most people. It's not a, it's not a luxury for most people. So those, those professions. It's acceptable to work on the Lord's Day when it's a work of necessity, and so the higher level leadership positions that make those possible and constrain them also, I think. Would fall under that same work of necessity. [00:31:06] Tony Arsenal: If the CEO of my hospital, I don't know if she's a Christian or not. I, I'm, I'm not speculating on that, but if, if the CEO of my hospital was a Christian or is a Christian and she has to take an important phone call on Sunday morning and miss the Lord's day because if she doesn't take care of that, the hospital's not gonna function correctly and people may not have emergency services. [00:31:26] Tony Arsenal: I don't think that's a violation of the south principle. If the same scenario is happening and it's the CEO of Best Buy and they need to take a phone call, otherwise people won't be able to buy widgets on Sunday afternoon, that's a different calculation. So I think like right off the bat, we have to start having those conversations about what's the nature of the work, what's the, what's the tell loss of the work or the end aim of the work. [00:31:46] Tony Arsenal: That's really important as well. [00:31:48] Balancing Professional Responsibilities and Christian Obligations [00:31:48] Jesse Schwamb: So it sounds like though what we're saying, both of us in a way, is that if you run that test, so to speak, like you go through that algorithm and you come out with this idea that you know, it's, you're saying your industry is more like Best Buy and less like your local hospital, then there might be significant and maybe insurmountable roadblocks to taking that position Should be as a c. [00:32:08] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, I mean, that's kinda what we're saying. [00:32:10] Tony Arsenal: Oh yeah, for sure. And you know, like this is a real world application I think for a lot of people. I remember when I was in college, um, I had the opportunity to take a promotion. I worked at Best Buy. I, I'm not using Best Buy as an example for any specific reason, but I worked at Best Buy. [00:32:23] Tony Arsenal: I worked in the Geek Squad area and I had the opportunity to take a promotion. Um, and the sort of the strings that came with the promotion is that I was expected to be available to work on Sundays. I didn't have a super robust doctrine of the Lord's Day at the time. Like I wasn't super theologically versed on Sabbath theology and stuff. [00:32:39] Tony Arsenal: Um, but it just didn't sit right with me. And so initially I didn't take the, I didn't take the, um, promotion because I didn't feel comfortable saying at the time, it was mostly about like, I'm not gonna miss the church service. I didn't feel comfortable saying I need to be available. And that might mean I Ms. [00:32:57] Tony Arsenal: Church to, to be able to take this shift. Um, eventually the management adapted and said, well, we'll just figure out something else. We really want you to take the position, but that's the kind of question we have to ask. And then that same question, as you move up in an organization, it expands and you're more likely to need to be drawn away from Lord State worship or just general. [00:33:19] Tony Arsenal: Obligations on the Lord's Day. [00:33:20] Personal Experiences and Real-World Applications [00:33:20] Tony Arsenal: And I don't wanna make this entirely about the Lord's Day 'cause there are other obligations that Christians have and it probably will be interesting to get to those. But I think, um, the, the other thing maybe that I wanna push back on a little bit too is I. I, I've never been a CEO. [00:33:34] Tony Arsenal: I probably never will be a CEO. You're far closer to a CEO than I ever will be. But I think a lot of times we assume those positions have no flexibility. Right. But in reality, some of those people are absolutely able to say, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take Sunday, and just not. Yes, I'm not gonna do work on Sunday. [00:33:52] Tony Arsenal: I'm gonna delegate that. You know? And then this is a whole other question. I'm gonna delegate that to someone else. Well, there's a whole different question that comes with that, but saying like, I'm just not going to do work on Sunday is actually within the options for a lot of positions. So that's the other question is when we take a position, do we have the option to set aside the Lord's Day? [00:34:11] Tony Arsenal: Even if we might acknowledge that occasionally, that's not gonna work out. There are oftentimes in all of our lives that we're drawn away from being able to fulfill our ordinary obligation of the Lord's Day, and I don't think that that's intrinsically sinful. If on a rare occasion you're not able to attend the Lord's Day worship or something like that. [00:34:29] Tony Arsenal: So I think those are questions we have to ask. Then what? What kind of other Christian obligations do we have? And this is hypothetical, but you're welcome to answer if you've got one in mind. Like what other kinds of Christian obligations do we have that any particular vocation or particular job might make difficult or impossible to fulfill? [00:34:47] Tony Arsenal: I think those are questions we have to ask. [00:34:49] Jesse Schwamb: I'm with you. And that's actually more where my mind goes because again, we've talked before and for some Christians it's easier to identify the stuff that certainly explicitly contravenes the Lord's Day. And I think it's more difficult to say like we, again, I think we talked before about that threefold responsibility and the vocation that is to like work that is like our industry, so to speak, and then to our household, then to our church. [00:35:10] Jesse Schwamb: So the church often does. Again, in a very finely pointed way, connect very tightly with the Lord. Say what about that household stuff? Yeah. So what about these jobs that would just make you too busy? And I think like what's interesting to your point is I agree. Like I think part of this conversation is just a thoughtful assessment of what the job entails, and then even as like maybe you're taking a job or considering a job. [00:35:33] Jesse Schwamb: Having a conversation with your potential employer about what opportunity is there for flexibility given like certain convictions that you have? All of that could fall into place neatly and I think would still be within the bounds of yes, but I think part of this is if it's truly a calling that we, we have to be praying through it and assessing whether God is calling us through that. [00:35:50] Jesse Schwamb: Part of that is passing it through the sin of what the scriptures require in each of those threefold vocational responsibilities. So sometimes I hear there is like a pushback or counter, this argument says, but wouldn't it be better? [00:36:01] The Role of Christians in Leadership Positions [00:36:01] Jesse Schwamb: Wouldn't it be fantastic if you get a Christian as an opportunity to be a CEO? [00:36:05] Jesse Schwamb: Isn't it better for them to be a CEO and to be in that role, even if they're crazy busy, even if they're sacrificing so much for their family, for their household or for the church because they simply, they're gonna be a Christian and think of the role model and the emphasis and the impact they can have. [00:36:19] Jesse Schwamb: And to that, I would say we gotta be really careful with that loved ones because God, I don't think God's calling us to necessarily have outside impact. What he's calling us to is, is faithfulness. Invocation, invocation pulls us back into those three responsibilities, and we know the way in which God prefers to work His jam is these ordinary means, these natural ways of in the normative work of our lives and faithfulness showing that his power is demonstrated in this weakness. [00:36:44] Jesse Schwamb: Somehow we're back to the theology of. Glory and theology of cross. But you know, it's interesting to me that there are no calls like in the entire scriptures, of course, to withdraw into like a private ghetto or to take back the realms of cultural and political activity. And so I think we have to be really careful about even how we kind of pull that into then how. [00:37:03] Jesse Schwamb: Our jobs that like, shouldn't it be my goal as a Christian to get as most influence as possible? And I think I wanna push back on that and say like, you know, the, the church, the Christian exists within the world as a community of word and sacrament. But it doesn't always have to seek influence in larger society. [00:37:19] Jesse Schwamb: It can. It can. And when God provides the opportunity by way of clear calling, I think internal and external that is appropriate. However, often that calling is gonna come at a much more normative level, I think. And, and I do not believe that we are somehow compromising or sub-optimizing the work that God does in the world merely because we might have a Christian that says, I don't know if it's right for me to be in this leadership role, and therefore a unbeliever is going to vault above that person's speaker or take that role on that somehow. [00:37:51] Jesse Schwamb: Again, God's superintendent will, or his strong arm is, is somehow pulled aback from what he wants to do that we need like more Christian plumbing in the world. I do kind of bristle that idea a little bit. Specifically because I wonder if sometimes we go outside of that calling. [00:38:08] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I, I'm picking up what you're putting down and I think, I think there's, um, it, it does all come back to theology, the cross theology of glory. [00:38:17] Tony Arsenal: And I'm glad that, that, that conversation happened before this. 'cause I think there's good framework there. I, I think, um, we, we as Christians can often confuse. The transformative power of the gospel with other ways of transforming culture. Yeah, that's good. Right. So, um, it is totally, um, I wanna be careful how I phrase this. [00:38:42] Tony Arsenal: I'm not post mill, I'm probably never gonna be post mill, but I'm okay with a kind of post mill theology that says that the gospel of Jesus Christ, as people become Christians, the culture will. Change along with that. And the gospel has a transformative power in that it changes individuals and individuals make up, make up the broader society. [00:39:05] Tony Arsenal: And so the society itself changes. Where I struggle with some flavors of postal theology, and this is where I think the theology of glory comes in, is there are some kinds of postal theology I'm thinking, I'm thinking, um, like Doug Wilson, they just, uh, opened A-C-R-A-C church in Washington, DC specifically with the goal of gaining influence with politicians. [00:39:26] Tony Arsenal: Right. I might be misconstruing that a little bit 'cause I haven't read all of it, but that's, that's the impression that I'm getting from some of their promotional material. I, I think we can, we can look at it and say the gospel can change culture as the gospel. And so where that. [00:39:43] Sacrifices and Priorities in Christian Vocation [00:39:43] Tony Arsenal: Levels of playing field is that whether you are, and this is where I think a genuine Protestant reform theology of vocation comes in, whether you're the janitor of the hospital or whether you're the CEO of the hospital, the gospel is the same and your role in proclaiming the gospel is the same. [00:39:58] Tony Arsenal: And you might have more people's ear as the CEO than you do as the janitor. Although I would maybe question that knowing how many people janitors interact with at the hospital, um, you may have more people's ears in a higher level position, but the message that you're proclaiming, the influence that you're wielding or you're using, I don't know what you wanna say. [00:40:18] Tony Arsenal: It's not different because it's still just the gospel. [00:40:21] Jesse Schwamb: That's good. [00:40:21] Tony Arsenal: Um. Where I think we can get confused is when we look at it and say, but we have these other opportunities to transfer, transform the culture by, um, for example, I, I'm the supervisor in my patient relations department. I'm making changes to the, to the policy and the way that we as a sort of service recovery resolution group, the way that we interact with patients, I'm making changes to that. [00:40:46] Tony Arsenal: I think those changes are consistent with the law of God as revealed in the light of nature, and I'm. I'm informed of those things and my whole outlook and ethos is shaped by the scriptures, but. I don't see the transformation of the way we interact with patients as somehow propagating the gospel, right? [00:41:05] Tony Arsenal: So we can, we can make transformation and make society better, right? If you're a politician, you can, you can legislate things that make society more outwardly in conformity with the law of God or more pleasant and more prosperous, and more flourishing, and those are all fine and well, but that's not. [00:41:21] Tony Arsenal: Building the kingdom of God in, in a strict sense. Right? And so I think what we're getting at is our, would it be great if, if, you know, the CEO of a major Fortune 500 company could be a Christian? Yeah. That would be kind of cool. Sure of That'd be nice, of course. And yeah, they could probably do a lot of good things and they could probably shape the way that that business runs and they could probably, um, have more opportunities to share the gospel. [00:41:42] Tony Arsenal: They could probably shape their business into a vehicle that, that moves forward. Missions, all those things are great, but. If the trade off is that that person has to sacrifice their genuine Christian convictions, right? That's not worth it. And I think we, we look at this and we might be able to identify certain. [00:42:00] Tony Arsenal: Obvious ways that we would say, no, it's not worth it. Right? If a CEO, uh, the CEO of a major retailer has to give way to all of the, um, transgender LGBT sexual, you know, identity politics has to give way to that in order to survive as CEO, I think we would all look at that and go, yeah, it's probably a hard sacrifice, but that's a sacrifice we would expect a genuine Christian to make at that level. [00:42:25] Tony Arsenal: Where we might not look at it is saying, well, I don't know. The Bible says that if you don't properly care for your family, then you're worse than an unbeliever. That's right. And so that CEO that is at the office for 70 hours a week and is never home, um, and their kids don't, you know, their kids don't have an opportunity to know their father or their mother because their. [00:42:44] Tony Arsenal: Constantly jet setting around the world. I don't know that we would as readily identify that as a sacrifice. I would actually argue that, that the Bible is probably clearer about that being a problem than it is about identity politics or other sort of, of social issues that, that, uh, a business person might have to. [00:43:04] Tony Arsenal: Hold their nose a little bit and, and, you know, sign off on a commercial or something that they don't necessarily want to, I'm not advocating that they should do that, but I think the Bible is clearer about a person who is taken away from their home more than is reasonable and more than is healthy for their family. [00:43:20] Tony Arsenal: Or a Christian who never is able to worship on the Lord's day, um, or, or something like that. I think the Bible is clearer about that than it is on. Something like identity politics and some of the tangential ways that, that might, might cause a person to need to compromise a little bit at a high level. [00:43:35] Tony Arsenal: So I, I think this is a, it's an interesting question that we probably don't think about it from the right angle most of the time. [00:43:41] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's just too easy to consider this in light of if we can get more responsibility, that should always be a good thing. And I think that proclivity is, is fine and maybe even noble, but sometimes I think we do get it twisted where we get this sense that we are trying to make the world into something moral like the church. [00:43:57] Jesse Schwamb: And if we could do that in our jobs and get the most influence in that greatest sphere of impact. We should always take on those additional responsibilities. And I do think we have to sit back and ask and say, is that the calling? So that we're pursuing what is our vocation, not just our potential. [00:44:13] Jesse Schwamb: There's a lot of brilliant, God has made all kinds of brilliant people. Many of them are his children, and as a result of that, we might say like we should always again be trying to move up. And this is not to say that we shouldn't take great initiative, that we shouldn't want to try to do more and be more productive. [00:44:27] Jesse Schwamb: You and I have always been outspoken about that kind of thing, but I think there is a real temptation. To somehow say like, what we need to do is like to infiltrate in all the places. And I think what we mean by that is that things will, like, whether we wanna admit it or not, that things here will be better. [00:44:41] Jesse Schwamb: And I, I don't know all the time that what we're saying is what you just said, which was that what we're really concerned with is that the gospel get proclaimed more forthrightly. More loudly, more specifically, more cogently in all places. But that if we just had good examples of moral behavior and good character, yes, those things are profitable in and of their own ways, but there's also a lot of common grace we see God bring about good leaders who are not a Christian at high level to do that kind of thing. [00:45:05] Jesse Schwamb: And sometimes I do wonder, just depending on the job, quite honestly, whether it's really possible for Christian to be successful in that job. [00:45:14] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:45:14] Jesse Schwamb: As like the world or the industry or the company has defined it. I'm not sure that's the case, so I don't wanna put like too high a line on this. I think we're trying to just drop a bomb in some ways and say, I'm not gonna make it overly prescriptive and say like, as a Christian, you can't be a CEO. [00:45:29] Jesse Schwamb: Move on. That's not true at all. Of course, again, here are hopefully what we said about the particulars of that wrestling through it and again. Really sensing where there's an actual call on your life that God has given for that role in a particular time. But I do think we ought to question where there's always and everywhere appropriate for any Christian to take on, quite frankly, any job. [00:45:51] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And so I'm with you. Sometimes it's super easy when I first start out in banking, when I was looking for my second banking job. I had a great interview. It was a very nice company. The bank actually doesn't exist anymore, but, uh, one of the things, one of their big, like, kind of gimmicks was they were open seven days a week. [00:46:09] Jesse Schwamb: And so I said to them, well. I attend church on Sundays. That's my day of rest and my high conviction on that. And I said, is there any flexibility with that? And they said, Nope. You would still have to be on the schedule. And though they very graciously offered me the job, I was thankfully in a place where I, I turned that down. [00:46:26] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. Actually I didn't have a job at the time, but I turned it down trusting. That God would provide. And this wasn't my great act of faith on my part. It was more of just, I think what you were saying, Tony, growing in our conviction that those things really do matter. Yes. And that it's sometimes just too easy to kind of push them aside and say, I, I know it's gonna be really stressful. [00:46:43] Jesse Schwamb: I know it might take much more of my time than I want to give. I know I might be at home a lot less. I know I might have less like attentional fortitude and space to think about my spouse or my children, but it's gonna be worth it because. I'll be able to like have this big influence. I do think sometimes madness lies that way. [00:47:02] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. Certainly a great deal of foolishness. This is just hopefully a call for all of us as God's children to, to think through that. I don't wanna discourage anybody from taking on bigger and bolder things for the kingdom of God. I think we all have to think about what it is that we're. Promulgating or proclaiming when we talk about the Kingdom of God coming and whether or not we're just trying to make the world a better place, so to speak. [00:47:26] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. By bringing our like quote unquote Christian influence into a setting where really that influence is now particularly strong and what it's actually compromising is the vocation that we're meant to undertake. [00:47:37] Concluding Thoughts and Future Discussions [00:47:37] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Are you ready to, for me to drop two bombs? Just, just straight up. You got, [00:47:41] Jesse Schwamb: you got two of them. [00:47:42] Jesse Schwamb: Let's do it. I, I've [00:47:43] Tony Arsenal: got 13 minutes or less left on this episode. There go. So I actually got into a pretty big, uh, like a pretty big dust up with someone way back in the day when I was in the reform hub over actually this topic. And I'm surprised I didn't think of it earlier in the evening. Um, we are using like CEOs as like kind of the proxy for this, but there's all sorts of jobs where, um, your, your job may be admirable and it may be. [00:48:06] Tony Arsenal: Right. Even something that's sort of quote unquote necessary for society. But I got into a big dust up with someone who was an overroad trucker, right? And they were constantly, um, posting in the pub at, at back in the day. They were constantly posting how discouraged they were and, and how difficult their faith was and how much of a challenge it was to just remain faithful as a Christian. [00:48:27] Tony Arsenal: And I. Originally, I kind of naively and, and I think innocently said like, well, you know, like, have you talked to your pastor about this? And the person said like, well, I don't have a regular church because I'm always on the road. And I said like, well, there's your problem. Like there's the first step is like, figure out your local church thing. [00:48:43] Tony Arsenal: He said, well, I can't do that

    The Drive
    Hour 2 – Being Back for Buffalo is the Top Priority

    The Drive

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2025 43:11


    The Drive explained how the suspension for Rice doesn't affect the Chiefs biggest game of the season, the matchup with the Buffalo Bills.

    Crossland Community Church
    Episode 291: King's Speech - Week 3 - Highest Priority - August 25, 2025| Crossland Community Church

    Crossland Community Church

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2025 46:25


    King's Speech - Week 3 - Highest Priority - August 25, 2025| Crossland Community Church

    Dukes & Bell
    Falcons priority is to 'protect' Michael Penix Jr, with play calls in Week 1

    Dukes & Bell

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2025 10:40


    Carl and Mike come back with some more Falcons talk as they share more thoughts on why Carl believes in Week 1 Michael Penix Jr. needs to be more of a game manager due to the fact that they will be figuring out their right tackle situation.

    Surgical Hot Topics
    Making Efficiency a Team Priority in Cardiothoracic Surgery

    Surgical Hot Topics

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2025 2:23 Transcription Available


    Efficiency in the operating room isn't just about working faster—it's about making every movement count, communicating clearly so needs are understood, and simplifying systems to support the team. True efficiency is a collective achievement that the surgeon can lead by understanding team needs and fostering coordinated, high-performing teamwork. When the team focuses on efficient processes and clear communication, the ultimate result is improved workflow and the highest quality patient care.

    Podcasts – Guard Frequency
    Guard Frequency Episode 526 | Strictly Rigid Ponzi Scheme

    Podcasts – Guard Frequency

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2025


    Cits and Civs, Captains and Commanders, you’re tuned to episode 526 of Guard Frequency — the best damn space game podcast ever! This episode was recorded on Friday, August 22 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 at GuardFrequency.com [Download this episode](Right click, Save As…) This Week’s Schedule Links & The […]

    Touchline Fracas
    Kop End Fracas | The Monday Night War | A Liverpool FC Podcast

    Touchline Fracas

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2025 111:56


    This week on Kop End Fracas, Fahi is joined by Gerald, Manny, Tobi and Peter to dive deep into the latest happenings in the world of Liverpool Football Club. The trio cover: Szoboszlai's successful stint at RB Did it mean too much for Newcastle? Ekitike's successful start in the PL And of course ... Alexander Isak Whether it's transfer talk, tactical insights, or matchday breakdowns, Kop End Fracas brings you sharp analysis and passionate debate from the fan's perspective.

    On to Victory Podcast
    Spiritual Priority

    On to Victory Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2025 1:10


    Pastor Wayne Van Gelderen shares biblical truth that will bring hope and comfort in these uncertain days. May we draw closer to God through this time and impact those around us for eternity. https://fallsbaptist.org https://baptistcollege.org https://www.theegeneration.org https://ontovictorypress.com If you'd like to support this ministry - https://fallsbaptist.org/give/

    Dynamic Lifestyle Podcast
    Ep.664- Health Is the #1 Priority And Most People Are Sleeping on It

    Dynamic Lifestyle Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2025 35:02


    Your job as a Nutrition & Fitness Coach is to help your clients shift their mindset around putting their health first. Your messaging in your marketing is pivotal to attract the right clients.   In today's episode we dive deep into making Health a Priority and how you the coach can really become a great marketer with your messaging and using this powerful resource we discuss.   There are so many nuggets and takeaways in this one, so make sure to take notes and listen to the full episode.   Keep serving, impacting lives, and getting 1% better all around!   In This Episode, we discuss: How to sharpen your messaging in your marketing How you can use this one powerful resource that we share Why people should be paying you a lot more money for the impact you make   Follow Us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisandericmartinez/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Dynamicduotraining    Attention Nutrition & Fitness Coaches: "Apply For Our Mentorship and Get a FREE 15 Min Business Consult”  See HERE   *Free High-Ticket Pathway Masterclass:   Discover How Nutrition and Fitness Coaches Install a Proven System That Adds Six Figures to Their Business Without posting endless organic content, sending 100's of cold DM's, and charging low ticket priced programs   Watch Here   See the full Show Notes to this episode here: https://www.liveadynamiclifestyle.com/podcast/health-is-the-1-priority-and-most-people-are-sleeping-on-it/

    VEST Her
    Breaking the Autopilot Cycle

    VEST Her

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2025 15:02 Transcription Available


    How many times have you ended the day exhausted, only to wonder what you actually accomplished? That feeling of spinning your wheels without moving forward is a signal that your workflow isn't working for you.At VEST, we recently explored this challenge with our members and uncovered some powerful lessons worth sharing. In this episode of the VEST Her Podcast, we'll walk you through how to evaluate your current workflow, identify blockers, design a system that works for you, and reset with confidence when things go off track.Why Evaluate Your WorkflowMost of us live on autopilot, answering emails, sitting in meetings, or reacting to client demands. Rarely do we stop to ask: Is this the best use of my time and energy? Through time audits, members discovered surprising patterns about when they feel most focused, what drains them, and how much of their time is lost to tasks that don't actually move the needle.What Gets in the WayThe most common culprit? A false sense of urgency. We often mistake busyness for productivity, rushing to put out fires while our real priorities sit untouched. Other blockers include living in our inbox instead of our priorities, overcommitting, and the guilt of saying no.Designing a Better WorkflowCreating a better system isn't about rigid control, it's about clarity. A few simple strategies can help:Time blocking: Schedule focused work, admin, and rest.Priority buckets: Sort tasks into must do today, can wait, can let go.Non-negotiables: Protect what fuels you, family time, exercise, quiet moments.When members applied these approaches, they found they could finally protect what matters most and reclaim a sense of purpose in their work.At VEST, we believe your workflow should work for you, not the other way around.Tools and resources we discussedTime Tracking EvaluationWorkflow Resetting ChecklistIf you enjoy the episode share it with a friend, leave us a review and don't forget to hit the subscribe button. If you are ready to take your career and business to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Learn more at www.VESTHer.co

    Tabernacle Church Sermon Podcast
    Soul Priority: Gospel Glue

    Tabernacle Church Sermon Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2025 48:46


    Join Pastor Craig as he takes us through a new series, "Soul Priority," a series in 1st Timothy. Listen as Pastor Craig talks about how we are all leaders who are being watched and we all have influence in this world.

    RecTech: the Recruiting Technology Podcast
    iCIMS August Workforce Report

    RecTech: the Recruiting Technology Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2025 23:44


    Meeting Summary: ICIMS August Workforce Report Analysis Hiring Market Dynamics & Trends Widening gap between job openings and actual hiring activity represents a significant shift in recruitment patterns Hiring declined while openings increased 5% year-over-year in July (06:20) Applicant activity remains higher than previous year despite reduced hiring velocity Historical correlation between openings and hiring has broken down - previously moved together like "twins" but now diverging significantly Perfect storm conditions created by economic uncertainty, workforce changes, and analysis paralysis among hiring managers Root cause identified as growing dissonance between C-suite hiring plans and ground-level hiring manager reality (07:41) Application volume surge across all ATS platforms creating operational challenges Top-of-funnel noise drowning out qualified candidates in the system Quality candidates getting lost in increased application volumes, affecting both candidate experience and bottom-line talent acquisition Recruiters must double down on quality candidate identification processes despite higher volumes Numbers game mentality among job seekers contributing to application inflation Five-hour weekly time savings threshold identified as critical tipping point for AI adoption success (10:26) 24% of current AI users report minimum 5-hour weekly savings versus 13% of non-users believing AI can achieve this level Two-hour minimum threshold appears to be baseline expectation for AI solution viability Non-AI users show higher expectations for minimal time savings (less than 1-2 hours weekly) Clear adoption barrier exists where non-users cannot visualize significant time savings beyond the 2-hour mark AI functionality priorities differ from industry assumptions based on user experience data 55% prioritize screening and assessing candidates as top AI value-add (12:15) 40% focus on matching candidates to jobs as secondary priority Sourcing candidates ranked third, contrary to expected top position Priority alignment reflects current market stress points with high application volumes requiring better filtering Candidate-side matching data shows strong positive response when AI suggests additional qualified positions within organizations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Revolution22
    Priority: Bearing One Another's Burdens | Demer Webb

    Revolution22

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2025 35:54


    Click here to view this week's sermon manuscript!    Get connected: We want to connect with you! Click here to ask for prayer, update your information, or sign up for your next step.  The Church Center App is a great way to stay up-to-date with events, groups, serving, and giving! Find us on Facebook and Instagram!

    The Derek Hunter Podcast
    What's the Priority for Democrats?

    The Derek Hunter Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2025 32:21


    Hint: It is not you.

    DK Pittsburgh Sports Radio
    DK's Daily Shot of Pirates: Top priority for new GM

    DK Pittsburgh Sports Radio

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2025 15:37


    Dejan Kovacevic's Monday-Friday morning commentary on the Pittsburgh Pirates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Wendy Bell Radio Podcast
    Hour 2: America's Top Priority

    Wendy Bell Radio Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2025 38:24


    Saving the Children is a top priority for President Trump as the story of how little the Biden/Harris administration did to protect unaccompanied kids from other countries crossing into America comes more sharply into focus. Major news about voter registrations as voters in all 30 states that keep records of it are showing a huge swing to the GOP - as in 4.5 MILLION! JD Vance, Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller go to DC's Union Station to thank the National Guard for cleaning up and making it safe again. Miller proves why he's a national treasure.

    The MAC Effect
    S6 Ep53: Co-Parenting, helpful personal experiences & making the children the priority'

    The MAC Effect

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2025 49:42


    Let's jump right in!! Co-Parenting!!! How many of you are struggling with this ugly new “norm” of co-parenting??? Well… grab your coffee, tea, listen while you're driving or in the shower!! Because my cohost and I go from superficial all the way to the corners, down and dirty of the root of these issues. Not saying we have the solutions and that “here are the 8 steps to successful co-parenting” Not at all. But what we do share is our hearts, our experiences and complete vulnerability to hopefully teach, show and save you some years of anger, frustration and expectations!! Crazy as we share and open our hearts, how the connection with you all us just so real, so genuine and sincere. We come to a place of judgment free, a place where the unthinkable, the unspoken gets talked… why??? Because its so important to connect and do life with others! We are created to connect and bond! To share, lough, cry, fight and make up. Grab your note book and pen, your notes on your phone, because truly, some great ideas, suggestions and some solutions are provided. Please share your experience with us too, please. I (we) want to hear the stories, the battles, the victories you live? Because your story can be my srtegthn or the other way around, or your comment can bless a viewer / listener.. nothing is waste, unless your heart isn't ready. Enjoy; we deliver this with all of our hearts' Any questions you may have for myself or cohost, please ask, reach out… (just ask)  My email is Themaceffect19@gmail.com for all questions and inquiries. I promise you this will bless you. How do I know, because God's word is never void. My heart is ever so grateful, Thank you seems like I'm stealing from you, but its all I got… Thank you! #Themaceffect #maceffect #mac #mikecampos6 #god #love #hope #faith #joy #question #hurtpeople #hurt #healing #healpeople #healingmind #healingbody #heartofgold #healingspirit #morals #chorebelieves #growingpain #thewilltofight #keepgoing #youhavepurpose #awakening #understanding #building #fundamentals #ihaveaquestion #iwanttolearn #growing #growingpains #letsgetitright #nottoday #nottodaysatan #jesuschrist #inJesusname #lovealwayswins #peace #letsgetit #testing #learning #process #developing #maturing #fatherhood #motherhood #husband #wife #partnership #equals #tildeath #god #processing #process #guest #podcast #shorts #growth #development #growth #purpose #will #plans #goals #challange #opportunity #welcoming #bringit #letgoletgo #lakersin5

    Eat Sleep Nerd
    Star Trek a priority at Paramount + Tom Holland Spider-Man costume + DCU Superman Saga | Nerdy News!

    Eat Sleep Nerd

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2025 47:33 Transcription Available


    This week in the nerdy news, we discuss Star Trek being a priority at Paramount, James Gunn talking about a Superman Saga in the DC Universe, the Tom Holland costume reveal for Spider-Man Brand New Day, the death of AOL Dial-Up, and more!Chapters00:00 Introduction02:27 Star Trek Strange New Worlds05:23 Warhammer Kill Team07:24 Baldur's Gate 309:09 The Alters15:22 Star Trek a priority at Paramount22:58 RIP AOL Dial-Up26:43 DCU Superman Saga36:43 Deadpool in Avengers Doomsday?39:20 First look at Spider-Man Brand New Day costume

    Touchline Fracas
    Kop End Fracas | it's not you, but it's not me either | A Liverpool FC Podcast

    Touchline Fracas

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2025 88:22


    This week on Kop End Fracas, Krish is joined by Cav, Gerald and Julian to dive deep into the latest happenings in the world of Liverpool Football Club. The trio cover: The Reds 4-2 victory against Bournemouth to kickstart the season The electric start of Hugo Ekitike Transitional woes and tactical flows Isak's IG statement of intent Whether it's transfer talk, tactical insights, or matchday breakdowns, Kop End Fracas brings you sharp analysis and passionate debate from the fan's perspective.

    Revolution22
    Priority: Spreading | Jack Morgan

    Revolution22

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2025 35:15


    Click here to view this week's sermon manuscript!    Get connected: We want to connect with you! Click here to ask for prayer, update your information, or sign up for your next step.  The Church Center App is a great way to stay up-to-date with events, groups, serving, and giving! Find us on Facebook and Instagram!

    Think Out Loud
    Development of male contraceptive pill should be a priority, argues Washington State University scientist

    Think Out Loud

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2025 19:14


    For decades, scientists have been trying to develop a male contraceptive similar to the birth control pill that can be taken orally and is reversible, with minimal side effects. An oral male contraceptive could also be a more effective alternative to using a condom or undergoing surgery for a vasectomy, while helping to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies which account for nearly half of all pregnancies worldwide.    Wei Yan is a professor and director of the Center for Reproductive Biology and the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University who has spent two decades in the quest to develop a male contraceptive pill. His current investigation involves a compound derived from an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine that is showing encouraging lab results. In a commentary he recently wrote for an academic journal, he argues that the development of a new male contraceptive needs to be reframed as a “women’s health priority” that would allow reproductive responsibility to be more equitably shared.    Yan joins us to share his perspective, the status of his own research efforts and the funding landscape to advance this work.   

    Luminary Leadership Podcast
    288. Legacy > Launches: Burned Out by the Hustle? How I'm Trading Launches for Longevity & Leadership

    Luminary Leadership Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2025 24:52


    We've been told to believe that launching was the way to grow. That if we aren't constantly pushing out a new offer or sprinting toward the next big thing, we will fall behind. But the truth? That model led me straight to burnout—and it wasn't aligned with the business or the life I truly wanted to build.In this episode of Your Big Next, I'm sharing the major shift I've made in my business: moving away from the constant launch cycle and stepping into a legacy-building model that feels way more grounded, intentional, and sustainable.These are the moments that woke me up to this shift, the cost of living in launch mode, and the four-part framework I now use to lead from overflow—not pressure.Pace over push. Priority over pressure. Presence over performance. Profit over proving.This is how we build differently. And this is how we create businesses that actually support the lives we want to live.If you're craving more space, more peace, and more profitability without the constant grind, this episode is for you.Inside this episode, I share:

    Claret & Blue - An Aston Villa Podcast
    Frustrated Malen, priority signings & Tielemans' best role

    Claret & Blue - An Aston Villa Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2025 35:35


    Dan Rolinson and John Townley take the Q&A on the road for the first time to answer your Aston Villa questions after the opening weekend of the season.

    WFYI News Now
    City Backtracks On Unhoused People Camp Closure, Lost Music from Indy Group Rapture, AES Customers Can Give Feedback On Rate Hike, Policymakers Keep Elementary Literacy Top Priority

    WFYI News Now

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2025 6:48


    The Office of Public Health and Safety appears to be reversing course on fully closing down a camp for unhoused people in Fountain Square. Long lost music from the Indianapolis group Rapture, which thrived in the local 1970's funk scene, is available for the first as a limited edition vinyl LP. AES Indiana customers will soon be able to give feedback on a proposed rate hike that would raise electricity prices. Indiana policymakers have made elementary literacy a top priority, investing in educator training and evidence-based teaching. Want to go deeper on the stories you hear on WFYI News Now? Visit wfyi.org/news and follow us on social media to get comprehensive analysis and local news daily. Subscribe to WFYI News Now wherever you get your podcasts. WFYI News Now is produced by Drew Daudelin, Zach Bundy and Abriana Herron, with support from News Director Sarah Neal-Estes.

    WeeklyTrek: The Tricorder Transmissions News
    WeeklyTrek #282: Star Trek a "Priority" as Paramount/Skydance Merger Closes

    WeeklyTrek: The Tricorder Transmissions News

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2025 46:07


    On this week's episode of WeeklyTrek, TrekCore's news podcast, host Alex Perry is joined by Marina Kravchuk to discuss all the latest Star Trek news. This week, Alex and his guest discuss the following stories from around the web: Deadline: Paramount's Movie Priorities Under New Skydance Owners Include ‘Top Gun 3', ‘Star Trek' & More; Execs Expound On Vision (10:37) Variety: How ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Used a Murder Mystery to Pay Homage to Shatner, Roddenberry and the Original Series: ‘We Didn't Have Any Adult Supervision' (18:26) TrekMovie: Exclusive: Scott Bakula Eyeing Star Trek Return In President Archer Series Pitch From ‘Enterprise' Producer (27:40) TrekCore: Master Replicas Debuts New STAR TREK Light-Up LCARS Displays (35:22) In addition, stick around to hear Marina and Alex discuss whether they think, now the Skydance merger has closed, some kind of Star Trek announcement might be coming before the end of this year…maybe at New York Comic Con in October? *** Do you have a wish or theory you'd like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!  

    Pole Creek Baptist Church
    Priority Number 2: My Family's Christ-likeness

    Pole Creek Baptist Church

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2025


    RHCC Sermons
    Fighting for the Priority of the Gospel

    RHCC Sermons

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2025 34:50


    Sun City Church Podcast
    The Priority of Love

    Sun City Church Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2025 41:49


    In this final week of our series titled The Daniel Dilemma, we'll discover how to stand firm in truth without losing the priority of love. Learn why influence comes through kindness, humility, and service, not arguments. See how Daniel, and ultimately Jesus, modeled a life where truth and love worked together to change the world.

    #DoorGrowShow - Property Management Growth
    DGS 303: Unlocking the Secret to High-Performing Leasing Teams with Peter Roisman

    #DoorGrowShow - Property Management Growth

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2025 40:05


    In working with property management entrepreneurs, we have noticed that sometimes the leasing side gets neglected. In today's episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with Peter Roisman, founder of REV Leasing, to talk about unlocking the secret to high-performing leasing teams in property management. You'll Learn [01:38] From the Sports Industry to Innovating in Leasing [06:39] How to Hire an Amazing Leasing Team [20:27] Why Leasing Should be a Priority [28:37] How REV Leasing Can Help You Transform Leasing Quotables “Having instability in that position is kind of dangerous from a property owner standpoint and from a management standpoint as well.” “It felt like, you know, if I could read, write and speak well and clearly and concisely, then it gave me an edge on the majority of the world and the world in general.” “Leasing is sales in a way.” “Owners tend to be focused on the bottom line, on the value they're creating because it's usually long-term and it affects them directly. Third-party managers are trying to get a job done and they're trying to do it as efficiently as possible.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Peter Roisman (00:00) So I was talking to a high, high up person at live core. this person said to me,   Listen, I'm afraid to invest in my leasing people because they turn over so often. You know what I said? I would be afraid not to invest in my leasing people because they turn over so often.   Jason Hull (00:14) All right, I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses,   helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profit, simplify operations, and build and replace teams. We are like bar rescue for property managers. In fact, we have cleaned up and rebranded over 300 businesses, done websites for hundreds more than that, and we've run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. At DoorGrow, we believe that good property managers can change the world and that property management is the ultimate   high trust, gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to expand the market, change perception, build awareness, eliminate the BS, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. All right, so today, my guest is Peter Roisman of REV Leasing. Welcome, Peter.   Peter Roisman (01:36) Thanks Jason, glad to be here.   Jason Hull (01:38) Great to have you. So before we get into REV Leasing and talking about the topic at hand, which is related to leasing teams and getting all that going, give us a little bit of background of how did you get into entrepreneurism and give us the backstory of leading to REV Leasing.   Peter Roisman (01:56) Yeah. So I guess I was born to be an entrepreneur because I started my first business at 23 and, uh, stayed in that business for 15 or so years. was a sports agent, sports lawyer, and, ran around the country representing athletes and coaches and other types of sporting celebrities. And then had a younger family and wanted to be home a little more than being on the road 26 weeks a year. So I got into other kinds of businesses.   including real estate, started developing surgery centers probably another five years after that, and did that for 10 years, developed 21 surgery centers around six states. And from there, I got into the multifamily leasing business because my business partners, longtime friends,   I saw a void in that particular position within the multifamily property management world. As you know, it's a high turnover position and, you know.   It's the tip of the spear, as you say, and probably deserves a lot of respect because it's responsible for 97 % plus all revenues. And it's the first person anyone meets on a property. it sets the tone and is really important. And having instability in that position is kind of dangerous from a property owner standpoint and from a management standpoint as well.   Jason Hull (03:16) Very cool. So what kind of inspired the, you went from sports to surgery centers to multifamily, then to property management. How did this path work out in your mind?   Peter Roisman (03:28) Well, when   I was in law school, my wife will remember this, I was debating very hard between being a developer and being a sports lawyer, sports agent. And the sports agent won because I had my first client when I was already in law school. And so, you know, I was started and I got going and didn't have a lot of time for real estate development at the time as I was doing this. And I was always, you my father was a real estate developer as well as a lawyer and it ran in the family. But, you know, a lot of my friends   are many decade developers and owners and property managers. And so it was a natural evolution. The development of surgery centers kind of led to the next phase of my real estate journey.   Jason Hull (04:07) Got it. Okay. Interesting. Interesting path. What do you feel like, I mean, being a sports agent and doing that, that's a very different and interesting career than doing the property management stuff. What do you feel like that empowered you or educated you on or enabled you to do? I mean, it sounds like there's some unique skills that come along with that.   Peter Roisman (04:28) I think so. I like to think that the thing I learned in college and I went to a liberal arts school was to communicate. it felt like, you know, if I could read, write and speak well and clearly and concisely, then it gave me an edge on the majority of the world and the world in general. So.   I think, you know, understanding for the sports agency world, had to understand value and marketing as well as contracts and positioning your clients. So, you know, it's not that different if you think of a client as a property in a way. It's how do you position it best? It's kind of similar. It was true when I   got to, you know, think that was similar when I was a sports agent, I was managing, you know, high profile.   you know, successful, strong ego people. And when I was in the development of surgery center business, the only reason I was able to get in it was because I had done that. You know, doctors very much parallel athletes in that way. They're   Jason Hull (05:27) Yeah.   Yes, yeah, a lot of ego there. how is that? also curious, part of your job, guess, in being a sports agent with spotting talent and picking potential. How is that translated into business?   Peter Roisman (05:43) Well, I think that's absolutely true. And there's a saying that, you know, what determines whether you're a sports agent or not, whether you have a client.   Jason Hull (05:52) Yeah.   Peter Roisman (05:53) That's your qualifications. If you have a client, you're now a sports agent. So I happen to have a legal background, but many of the people I was competing against in the world of sports agency did not have legal background. They would just hire legal and they were, they were more marketing and recruiting based. And, you know, so I had, I had to take on marketing and recruiting skills and develop them and they had to hire legal so that we were in the same place.   Jason Hull (06:17) So you had a little advantage because of the legal act.   Peter Roisman (06:21) say a slight advantage and certainly in contracts and negotiating, sure.   Jason Hull (06:26) Got it. Okay, so cool. Well, that leads us, you know, towards getting close to REV Leasing. So how did REV Leasing come about? What is it like? Give us, connect us to that.   Peter Roisman (06:37) Sure.   Yeah, so it's different today than when we started six years ago. We started in 2019. We realized that as we talked a little bit about in the intro here, the leasing position is very important, but really, would say not.   The focus on it isn't quite where it should be in order to maximize performance on the property. the turnover is a scary thing.   When you have two or three times turnover of the same position in a year, and I think in a statistics was, was more than two times a leasing position turns over a year. it's highly unstable as a position that's that destabilizes properties. And so we realized that, you know, what people were doing to fill those voids, the job openings, a lot of times was hiring temp agencies, BG and Liberty being the two largest.   And, and oftentimes these were either recycled people from, from who put in a resume that said, Hey, I leasing somewhere else, or they were people really lacking qualifications and, and each of those presents a problem. And so what we realized was we could go outside of the industry, find talented people who could communicate and, and train them to be successful leasing agents. And so we did this about 500 times and we only took.   under 1 % of the candidates, we looked at resumes and took a half of 1 % and hired those people and trained them and put them out there in the field. think at any given time, the most people we had working on our team was about between 80 and 90. And so we had a pretty sizable kind of leasing replacement business, if you will. And so then from there, realized our first person we hired and trained was a manager of a restaurant.   And so she went out on property. We only had a trainer for maybe two weeks, which was not a full training program. It was a partial training program, but the client needed it. And so we put her out there and within a couple of days, they wanted to hire her from us as a property manager. we thought, check the box. We had done something correct for the industry because the industry recognized it. from there, we did that for a while and we realized.   it would be hard to manage hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of people across the country. It's a very challenging ordeal to try to do that. And so we didn't want to be in this.   grand scale human capital business. So we realized that we wanted to be great leasing teams. And so we built these these teams. We took the best people from our 500. We put them on these teams that, you know, if you've heard of the company class, it's sort of like what we became. They're these expert leasing teams that do lease ups and distressed properties and come in and fix a problem and then depart. And so that's what we did for our next, you know, iteration of our   business. We did that for a couple of years. We had all success. had no failures. We took properties that were anywhere from 78 % occupied to low 80s. And we took them well into the mid 90s and all the properties were stabilized and the owners were happy. that was great. But again, we realized the same thing happened. We could become class. I think they have 50 people leasing for them at any given time. But we didn't want to be that, again, that human capital business. So we   again, reinvented ourselves and now this is where we are today. We invented ourselves to be a product company. And so we've got two products, essentially. One is an assessment tool, a REV Leasing score, if you will. And one is a training program. you know, 130 online training courses and we customize the training courses to the people who are supposed to learn. so, you know,   It's an opportunity for us to help the broader market because we're not limited by human capital. ⁓ We can help hundreds, if not thousands of properties at the same time because it's a self-learning program. We can do some consulting to get them on the right track, but essentially it's an ongoing process of self-improvement and people getting better to capture more revenues.   Jason Hull (10:52) Got it. So the assessment tool piece helps to figure out if somebody could be a good leasing agent or is this broader than that?   Peter Roisman (11:00) Well, that's one way to look at it. I think we're taking people as we find them. So let's say we find a client, they have 10 properties and they might have anywhere between 10 and 20 leasing people. And so...   We'll train them all and each one of them doesn't need the same thing. So we will customize the programs. And so as we assess them, we come up with scores and we know where some of their gaps are, if you will. And, you know, the three major areas, if you had to pick three areas that are common for focus in our business today, it's discovery, it's benefits selling, and it's closing.   And so we find that if agents can do those three things exceptionally well, that covers most of the ground. Now there are other, you know, there's seven or eight other major topics, but those are the three, big three I like to call them.   Jason Hull (11:52) for leasing agents to get properties leased. Those are the major things.   Peter Roisman (11:53) Correct. Yeah,   I can explain why real quickly if you want. It's, you know, discovery is where they get to know the person that walks through the door, right? And so once they know the person, then they can benefit sell to fit the person's needs and desires. And so if they haven't done a good job in discovery, they're certainly not going to do a good job of benefits. And so, but while this is all going on, they're moving towards closure, asking for the lease, right? And so.   Those are the three areas. There's, as I said, seven other areas. We have about 10 major topics. And so, you know, that's kind of where we are with our course training.   Jason Hull (12:32) So it really sounds a lot like sales training.   Peter Roisman (12:35) Yeah, it's absolutely leasing is sales in a way. mean, it's connecting with the person, understanding their needs and desires, upselling if you can a little bit. mean, there's just, want to create a home for someone, right? And sometimes that home has to double as an office, right? We've seen that a lot lately in the world.   And so, you know, if that's an opportunity, that might be a great benefit sell, right? That's something, if you have to work from home, listen, we have the highest speed internet available. We have this area of your home where you could use it as an office. You know, those are the kinds of thoughts that we put into our training.   Jason Hull (13:12) Yeah, now you guys were in the placement sort of space and now you're more in the education sort of space. Do you guys still get involved in placement or do you partner with companies that do placement and to provide training material to them?   Peter Roisman (13:25) That's a   great question. We are not really in the placement business, but we're actually in discussions right now with a placement company to up train their leasing placements so that they go in with higher levels of skill and perform better when they land. yes, that's something we're actually, it's funny you mentioned it because I have a meeting on Wednesday, a second meeting to discuss that exact topic.   Jason Hull (13:51) Okay, cause I was thinking, man, maybe I should connect this guy to my contacts at sunroom and some others. okay. Yeah. All right. Very cool. So, you mentioned earlier when you were kind of entering sort of this space that you noticed some people had bad habits, they lacked skill. Um, I think one of the big mistakes that I've seen in the industry, and maybe you could touch on this is that a lot of people.   Peter Roisman (13:58) Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (14:18) like property managers when they're trying to hire somebody for their team, they get caught up in this really limited thinking that I have to find somebody with property management experience. And it really seriously limits the candidate pool to the point where they almost really can't get good candidates. And they're getting people with bad habits, like old dogs who can't teach new tricks to maybe people that are like, or they have to go and find people with no skill.   Peter Roisman (14:32) So.   That's so true.   Jason Hull (14:47) or that are the wrong personality fit for the role, instead of just going find somebody that, for example, is just good at sales in general, and maybe has some natural personality towards sales that can be trained in property management. What are your thoughts on that? What have you seen?   Peter Roisman (15:02) That's   exactly the premise that we started our business on six years ago. We realized that it would be harder to untrain someone and then teach them from, if you could get them near scratch, to teach them from the ground up, then it would be to find people with those personality traits and skills, communication skills, and just start them at zero.   You don't have to undo anything to start the training process. So at those 500 people we trained and hired, none of them had any leasing experience. And so that's precisely what we did. And I think the more that the industry looks outside of itself and doesn't, by the way, someone that shows a resume with leasing may or may not be good.   But I can tell you this, the way promotions happen, as you know, if you're very, very good at leasing, what happens? You get offered a manager's job.   That's very typical in our industry. And so if you're offered a manager's job, oftentimes takes you away from the leasing floor and you're looking at a computer all day. And so those skills that you use really well to lease apartments don't necessarily mean you're going to be great at being a manager. It doesn't mean you won't be, but it doesn't mean they translate directly to it. the people that, so you have that group of people that got promoted, right? Out of the leasing position. What about the people that don't get promoted?   Those are the people whose resumes are circulating. If you think about it, not, it's the unpromoted talent pool that most people are looking through. They're sifting through trying to find the diamond in the rough.   Jason Hull (16:31) Yeah.   Yeah. I think salespeople like business development managers, for example, in a property management business and property managers, which are, you is a really loose term in this industry. It's a miscellaneous term that means just about anything, depending on who you ask. But in general, property managers, if you look at them as customer service people or client success people or client retention people, that's a very different personality type than a salesperson.   And so I would imagine that some of these, some of your training and some of these people that are coming up in as great leasing agents would probably like if they were going to take a step up, it would be towards being a business development manager. Cause those are important people. They bring in money into the business.   Peter Roisman (17:24) They bring in all the money into the business other than pet fees and parking fees and who knows what these minor minor fees. So I think one way to look at it is because of the promotion up and out right up and over to manager from leasing from sales.   Jason Hull (17:26) Yes.   Peter Roisman (17:41) You know, we like to recommend for our clients that they create a sales silo, if you will. So when they get promoted, they get promoted to a manager of, instead of the person on the floor, maybe they're a manager of a couple of properties and they oversee that. There's no reason that there can't be a sales career, step ladder, if you will. And it actually would really stabilize a portfolio in a company that owns multiple properties.   Jason Hull (18:07) Yeah, I agree. agree. Well, cool. What do people typically ask about REV Leasing let's convince some people that maybe it's a good idea for them to get some support from you guys.   Peter Roisman (18:17) Yeah, so we typically tell people go get a demo from us, see what our courses look like, try to understand. If you're a mid-cap company, you might be 20 properties to 100 properties, right? You're not Graystar, you're not LivCorp, you're not these massive companies that have thousand properties or whatever they have. I think LivCorp has 2,800 properties or something like that.   Jason Hull (18:41) Yeah, a few.   Peter Roisman (18:43) These large companies, they're very large. If you have 50 properties, you're running a large portfolio. This is a way to have, I don't know, what do you call it? A level scorecard? You can actually measure all of your leasing people against the same standard.   And that's great. You can train them all the same way. And so it's a way of portfolio managing. And that's a really good thing. It's a way of stabilizing a property. Now, when a property is stabilized, I like to think of it from a financial marketplace as well. A stable property gets better treatment from the financial markets. There's no question about it. A stable property will get better interest rates, a lower cap rate when it sells.   It will, you know, essentially...   It's one of those things where it increases the value of your property to be stable. And a great way to stabilize is to have the same leasing person there for a couple of years instead of turning over in six months or four months or whatever it is. Because when you're going to retain your residents, they always like to know who they leased from initially. They'll go back in the office and they'll talk to them. And so you'll have a much better retention, resident retention rate if you've got stability in your leasing office than if you have huge turnover.   And so, you know, we like to recommend, you know, by the way, you're, let's say you're,   you know, you're looking for capital investment, investment capital in the marketplace. You're going to attract more investment capital if your properties are stabilized than if they're destabilized. So, I mean, there's no reason to not add value to what you're doing if it's as simple as just training up your team and keeping them and having them feel important and be important to your organization. It's just empowering.   Jason Hull (20:27) You know, this is interesting because I think there's a lot of property managers I've spoken to that feel like the leasing side of the business is not that important. They just, they really just focus on business development and they focus on operations and they're like, and you know, seasonally I need some leasing agents. So they go and kind of tap some real estate agents on the shoulder and say, could you kind of open some properties and do some leasing for us and help us get these things turned over?   And these agents are probably not super well trained in leasing in general. And so how could, what do you say to that? And then what, how could REV maybe fill in that gap?   Peter Roisman (21:07) Yeah. So again, I'll go back to the stability thing because if you're thinking long-term, which real estate should be a long-term investment, The markets do change, you know, month to month, but you're buying something. You're typically not going to flip it the next month. You're going to flip it if you're even a flipper. know, people are buying whole too. There's no reason not to build a portfolio if it's cash flowing, right? Cash flowing positive. Why not? So the end of the day,   Stability is a good thing in real estate. know, instability is a bad thing. And so if you can stabilize your team and it's the, I had, I had, it's, the position that's probably the most unstable. think, I think maintenance is also a problem area, but we don't work in maintenance, but, certainly leasing is that position that turns over all the time. So I was talking to a high, high up person at live core. Okay. Just having dinner. said, listen, you know, this is what we do. And, and this person said to me,   Listen, I'm afraid to invest in my leasing people because they turn over so often. You know what I said? I would be afraid not to invest in my leasing people because they turn over so often. You know, I like to attack problems. mean, when I see a problem in business, I think you come up with the most creative solution you can and go attack it and make it affordable for people to use, make it make sense, and just fill that void. There's sort of a void right now when it comes to   keeping skilled leasing people in position. And I think we can help a lot of people with that.   Jason Hull (22:33) So do you feel like REV will help with decreasing the turnover? Or do you feel like turnover is just part of the game with leasing? And so it's really about being able to ramp them up quickly.   Peter Roisman (22:45) I think both. think you ramp them up as quickly as you can. But when people are successful at something, they tend to stay at it for a little longer. And if you compensate them well, and good leasing people should be compensated probably at the high end of the scale. Because as you said, they are responsible for revenues. And every dollar that comes in essentially is due to them. And so, due to their efforts. so,   You know, I would be afraid not to invest in my leasing people. I would want them to be the strongest, most confident, most capable people in my office. The management team has to be really, really good, but the leasing people have to be stable and do a great job. As I said before, they're the first person you meet when you walk in the door. They represent your company in so many ways. They're like the advertising for your company.   Jason Hull (23:37) So I think there's also this perception that a lot of property managers, they're so focused on getting their third party management clients that they're not paying attention as much to the residents or the tenants in some situations. then when it gets into, when the market kind of shifts and it's a little bit more difficult to rent the properties out, because there's certain times, you know, where it's very easy, right? There's maybe low inventory, it's really easy to get the properties rented out. But as soon as it gets a little bit tough,   Nobody thinks, well, maybe I need better leasing agents. I never hear that. They're usually like, it's the market. And they're just blaming the market. you're one of the first I've heard to kind of bring up maybe this counterpoint. So could you touch on that a little bit?   Peter Roisman (24:17) Yes, absolutely. So I'll step out on a limb a little bit too to do it because at this point in the late 80s, the Resolution Trust Corporation, when there was a huge number of foreclosures, right? So the government had to step in and this quasi-agency, quasi-government agency, Resolution Trust Corporation stepped in and created third party management. Up to that point, it was all owner managed.   And so that was the beginning of the shift to 40 years later, nearly 40, 35 years later. Today, did you know 51 % of all properties, multifamily, are managed by third-party management companies? More than owner-managed at this point.   Jason Hull (24:56) Interesting.   No, that   sounds like that would be even higher, much higher than a long-term residential, like single family, stuff like that. Yeah.   Peter Roisman (25:08) Yes, absolutely   right. So think about the third party management companies. They're highly competitive with each other. ⁓ I don't think they compete very well with owner managed companies because the bottom line is it's so important to owner managed companies. Every dollar saved multiply by 20 and that's what it means to them in value. Pick a number, pick by 16 if you want to use a, you know.   Jason Hull (25:25) Yeah.   Peter Roisman (25:35) six cap, you want to use a five cap, whatever you want to use. At the end of the day, a dollar means $20 is the way I think about it. And so that's not true for third party management companies. They're there to perform a job. They do by and large a pretty fair job, but they're not thinking leasing. It's not primary in their minds.   We're finding the owners are really paying attention to this. I would love for a day, maybe someone listening to your show, who's a third party manager, to get the edge on all the other third party management companies and provide leasing as one of the primary things that they do for a property. You know, when a class goes in today, or when we used to go in as this...   Jason Hull (25:55) Right.   Peter Roisman (26:18) I don't know, fire department, SWAT team, whatever you want to call it, to fix a property that's in distress or is a lease up situation. When we left, we found that we would get a call six months later and they'd be in the same situation. So isn't it just better to fix the problem on an ongoing basis than have to keep fixing the problem and bringing in a SWAT team? I think so. It seems to make sense.   Jason Hull (26:32) Hmm.   Yeah, so it sounds like I think, you know, when times are good for property managers when it comes to leasing, they probably get comfortable and think, well, this is just normal, even though it might be exceptional. And then when the market shifts and it's a little tougher to get tenants placed and to get properties rented out, you need to create a competitive advantage. And it sounds like making leasing a primary focus instead of an afterthought could be that competitive advantage.   that because you're getting properties rented out much faster than your competition when the market's tough instead of just saying well the market's tough and losing business.   Peter Roisman (27:13) Yes.   I think that's true. think, I think in all moments, you know, it makes sense to perform better than your competition. If you can get more dollars per square foot, uh, if you, know, if you give fewer concessions, if you don't have to use locators, if you can cut your ad budget. mean, all that stuff is cost savings. There's no reason to not save costs at any moment in this world. Okay. So we're really talking about revenues 95 % of the time, but at the same time, if you use us, you do save costs because.   people will will concess less often. will not use locators as often and their ad costs will be cut. So there's money to be found on both ends of this. We think the revenue side is a lot greater, but the impact immediately of saving bottom line dollars is real.   Jason Hull (28:04) So some people, some property managers maybe listen to this might think, well, maybe this solution of Peters is something that makes sense if I have a decent, like a pretty large portfolio, or maybe I've got a bunch of multifamily properties that I'm struggling to, you know, with vacancies on. What about the mom, pa shops that maybe have a hundred units or less that are managing maybe 300 units or less.   that would make sense for them to be reaching out to boost up their leasing chops, so to speak.   Peter Roisman (28:37) Yeah, the beauty of because we're a product at this point, it would be a lot harder for us to help those smaller companies if we were providing human capital to fix it.   Jason Hull (28:48) Right.   Peter Roisman (28:49) So every one of those situations still has somebody doing the leasing. So there's really no reason to have that person perform at the highest possible level and take the courses, get a training program that's customized to them and do the best they absolutely can and capture the dollars that they can capture. I think it's really, it's from small to large. think, could LivCourse or someone at the top end of the market use us? Probably.   That would be challenging, but it would certainly give portfolio comparability. If you've got properties all over the place, how do you compare your leasing team? You're looking at bottom line numbers. don't know. I always think about it this way. Let's say you're buying a property and you're looking at financial statements and you see how many leases they're getting a month and you see what they're for rental rates.   You don't know, we do because we now, we discover it, but from reading those financial statements, you don't know whether the leasing team closed.   eight leases out of 30 opportunities that month, or they closed eight out of nine, right? You just don't know their performance. And if you're buying a property, I know if I'm buying a property, I want to know if the leasing team is maximizing or not maximizing the opportunity that's there. And so if they're not maximizing, it leaves a lot of money on the table where you could actually go in and buy a property and fix that and then increase value to the property. So, you know, I look   Jason Hull (29:56) Okay.   Peter Roisman (30:18) at this, this is new data. This is data that can help investors, it can help managers, it can help ⁓ asset managers, it helps owners. It's just there's no reason not to be the best you can be. That's kind of the way we're looking at this.   Jason Hull (30:32) So some, think there's probably many property managers that will listen to the show and think, well, I don't think I have a problem with leasing. What blind spots can we expose for them right now? Like what, what leaks or problems are they most business owners kind of blind to when it comes to leasing? Cause I think some are probably thinking leasing simple. Like I just, you know, if the property is vacant, I might just go have somebody open it up and show it. And I'll use my showing tool like Tenant Turner or ShowMojo or Rently.   get them in and like, you know, it's just, sort of happens. maybe they're not tracking, maybe they're not maximizing, as you say. So like, let's, I think sometimes if they're not already reaching out for help like this, it's maybe because they have a blind spot or two. What are some of the blind spots you've noticed or realized that, and what impact could this have on this or what impacts have you seen?   Peter Roisman (31:06) Yeah.   Jason Hull (31:27) that maybe they're missing, what benefits are they missing out on?   Peter Roisman (31:30) I think the blind spots are some of the things we already talked about, maybe some others too, but the blind spot to me is.   dollars left on the table, you know, an empty unit, you know, if it's empty for a couple of months, that's revenue loss forever. It's like an airplane took off without a seat filled. And so, you know, and the other way to look at this is let's say a property is 95 % leased. I've seen a lot of properties that are 95 % leased that are not maximizing. They may be.   they may have missed an opportunity because the market around them is leasing at, you know, 30 cents more a foot and they're missing it. Maybe they needed to do some value adds, some small improvements, but they didn't capture everything that was there and available to them. And so from an owner's perspective, owners tend to be focused on the bottom line, on the value they're creating because it's usually long-term and it affects them directly.   third-party managers are trying to get a job done and they're trying to do it as efficiently as possible. so just one, I mean when I talk to third-party management companies...   They won't call us typically, at least in other iterations of our business, until they got a real problem and we were the fire at that point, because they thought they could fix it. And you know what? Most of times they probably could, but it did take focus. And I know people that are property managers watching this know when they're in a fire drill, because it'll be all hands on deck when they've got 20 units vacant, everyone gets involved.   Jason Hull (32:40) Right?   Peter Roisman (33:01) But you don't want to get to that point. You might as well have a stabilized leasing team that doesn't get ever get there. And it stabilizes your resident renewals. It stabilizes, you know, your lack of using, you know, advertising sources, your lack of using, you know, locators, all of the things. It's, it's. I guess if I had to tell someone listening to this program, I'd say, listen, just focus on leasing for a change in multifamily because it's important.   And you will save costs doing it, but you're going to gain on the revenue side significantly if you train your people up.   Jason Hull (33:36) Got it. Yeah, I think, you know, you mentioned dollars left on the table. Obviously you're going to lose clients if you're not getting stuff rented out. And if you're doing third party, you said 95 % might be leased, but they're not maximizing, which means maybe stuff's rented out, but they aren't pulling in as much rent as they could be. They may be not getting some of the other fees. So your system trains the leasing agents on maximization. Is this part of the process?   Peter Roisman (34:02) I think the system at this point, yes, we train our people to upsell. That's part of our program. We train the managers.   of the program, managers of the leasing team, to watch for things like that, to be aware of the market, to know who your sub market is, know people down the street that are charging, you know, know, $50 more, $100 more, and why they're getting it. So, you know, it's, it's, it's literally just more information and more opportunity to compete well. I mean, it's no guarantee you're going to win. But you know what, if you compete well, you could very well win your sub market.   Jason Hull (34:45) And so it sounds like one of the glaring blind spots that's created is just a lack of data, a lack of tracking, lack of metrics. They're not paying attention to how many showings have we done versus how many have gotten leased out. It sounds like your training also isn't just for the leasing agents, but it helps maybe the business owner or the head of the property management arm of the business to kind of figure and learn how to do this piece as well.   Peter Roisman (35:10) Absolutely. So they get regular reports from us. They'll see how the team's doing. They'll figure out a way to incentivize the team to do better because incentives do factor in here. We have a certification program. We're certified by the state of Texas, you know, for certified leasing agents. And so they can, they can put, you know, certified leasing professional, you know, letters after their name, if they complete our course, full course program. So that's kind of cool. And there's only two states in the country that offer that Virginia and Texas. And so.   We've got a Texas certification because we're based in Texas. But yeah, we're serious about helping the marketplace. And we think we can help virtually anybody that wants to help themselves.   Jason Hull (35:50) Now you've mentioned multifamily. What about property managers that are more in the single family residential, maybe individual condo units, small multi kind of space? this be beneficial to them as well?   Peter Roisman (36:03) I think learning leasing is beneficial to anybody. And so, you know, the answer is yes. I think, you know, the opportunity is probably greater in the mid cap portfolio play because you're improving 50 properties, you're getting 50 times the return on it, right? If you're improving one property, you know, you know how it goes.   Jason Hull (36:26) Okay, got it. Well, this has been super informative. Really interesting to take a fresh look at the leasing side and making that a priority. I can see how that would be a benefit, especially right now while some markets are really struggling to get things rented out and that vacancies are a little bit higher in some markets right now. I think this could be a big advantage for those that are wanting to up their game there instead of just   be a victim of the market.   Peter Roisman (36:55) It is, it's take the bull by the horns time. And it is a little difficult out there right now. know, interest rates are not low. They're in the middle. They're not as bad as they could be, but they certainly could go lower. And so the cost of operating a business, multifamily business is high. And so you have to find revenues where you can. If you can save costs at the same time, why not do it?   Jason Hull (37:16) All right, well, we know there's some big changes coming down the pike with the big, beautiful bill. And I think real estate investors in general are optimistic and excited about this. So it should be interesting to see what happens and how that affects leasing. But, you know, eventually. Well, Peter, I appreciate you coming on the DoorGrow show. This has been very insightful. Any parting words for some of the property managers out there that are listening?   and how can they get in touch with you and your company.   Peter Roisman (37:45) Sure, sure. You can get in touch with us at rev-leasing.com and you can request a demo. It's a good way to find out about what we do. And I guess if you had to take one golden nugget from this, I'd say don't ignore leasing. It's something that's not, know, that's really hasn't gotten the focus, the attention of the marketplace. I go to conferences and I hear talking about cost savings all the time and I'm not...   diminishing the value of saving costs, it's always very good to consolidate when you can, but nobody, and I mean almost nobody is talking about how to grow revenues in a realistic way. And so why not have your people be trained as well as they can and capture all the revenues you can.   Jason Hull (38:30) There you have it, Peter Roisman , awesome. So don't sleep on leasing and go check out rev-leasing.com and you might be able to grow your revenue.   Peter Roisman (38:43) I think they can.   Jason Hull (38:44) All   right, Peter, appreciate you coming on the show. So, all right, for everybody else that's watching this and listening, if you felt stuck or stagnant in your property management business, you want to take it to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. Also join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. And until next time, remember the slowest.   Peter Roisman (38:47) Thanks.   Jason Hull (39:13) slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.

    Dedicated to Disneyland Paris Podcast
    220: Cracking the DLP Code: Priority Tips, Princesses & Christmas Magic

    Dedicated to Disneyland Paris Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2025 51:47


    This week, we're tackling Catherine's fantastic questions about visiting Disneyland Paris with mobility challenges - perfect for first-timers navigating DLP's accessibility! More In This Episode:

    VIBE with FIVE
    I'M A BALEBA! Man Utd's New PRIORITY! | Hojlund Out & Grealish to Everton?!

    VIBE with FIVE

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2025 16:56


    Welcome to the channel! The transfer window is in full swing and we've got a bombshell coming out of Old Trafford. Manchester United's new priority is Carlos Baleba!We dive deep into the reported £100m bid for the Brighton star and ask the big questions:Why is Baleba "the one" for United's midfield?What are his key attributes, and who is he best suited to play alongside?Could other United players like Mbeumo and Onana have played a role in persuading him to join?But that's not all! The transfer window is in full chaos:Hojlund is OUT! Fabrizio Romano has confirmed his loan deal to AC Milan is close to completion. United are clear: they want him to go. We break down the details of the deal.Donnarumma is being linked with a move to United and City after quotes from his agent and manager. Is a Premier League switch on the cards?Jack Grealish to Everton on a loan-to-buy? The rumour of a £50m move is a real surprise!We also give a huge shout-out to Brighton for their incredible business, with insane fees for players like Caicedo, Pedro, and Cucurella. Are they the best club in the world at buying and selling?Let us know what you think of all this transfer madness in the comments!#ManUtd #ManchesterUnited #MUFC #CarlosBaleba #Baleba #Transfers #TransferNews #BrightonFC #Hojlund #RasmusHojlund #Donnarumma #JackGrealish #Everton #TransferWindow #PremierLeague #Football #Soccer #RioReacts #ExclusiveSubscribe: http://bit.ly/15QO9WERio Ferdinand Presents: rioferdinandpresents.comRio Ferdinand Presents Instagram: https://instagram.com/rioferdinandpresentsRio Ferdinand Presents Twitter/X: https://x.com/FIVEUKRio Ferdinand Presents Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rioferdinandpresentsRio Ferdinand Presents TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rioferdinandpresentsRio Ferdinand Presents Threads: https://www.threads.net/@rioferdinandpresentsRio Ferdinand Instagram: https://instagram.com/rioferdy5Rio Ferdinand Twitter/X: https://x.com/rioferdy5Rio Ferdinand Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RioFerdinandOfficialRio Ferdinand TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rioferdy5Rio Ferdinand Threads: https://www.threads.net/@rioferdy5 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Imperfect Parenting
    Priority experiment

    Imperfect Parenting

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2025 15:30


    Support the showAs MENTIONED in the podcast: Times are strange in the world.. and there's so much possible.. My gift for you.. is making my time more available to you during uncertain times:) I'm holding sacred space, just for my audience. What about a lift up? Space held for your story, going within, with a dash of clarity and grounding? $39 for 15 minutes of nourishing time.(click the link above) If you enjoy that session.. and want more.. You can apply that $39 spent on that connect and grounding session you experience.. to a longer session:)..:) ********************** Also, I am SOOOO proud of my husband for creating a cycling app that allows a calmer experience and space: Do you like to cycle? Mats' new app is out! Definitely click and download Cyclanow, especially if you like less busy-ness in your world!:)) _____ IMPERFECT Parenting Free parent de-stress tips:http://bit.ly/34TmARwInstagram: @Ip_parenting Tik tok @imperfectparentingariel Website:https://imperfectparenting.netWrite me: Ariel@agreenbalancedlife.com...

    Why Isn't Everyone Doing This? with Emily Fletcher
    90. Making Your Health A Priority with Gabby Reece

    Why Isn't Everyone Doing This? with Emily Fletcher

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025 95:54


    What if the secret to lasting health isn't found in the perfect workout or diet plan, but in how you show up to your relationships every single day? In this grounding episode of Why Isn't Everyone Doing This?, Emily sits down with Gabby Reece, volleyball legend, entrepreneur, mother of three, and co-founder of Laird Superfood, to explore what it really means to make health a priority in a world designed to keep us distracted. Gabby reveals her most powerful practices, from getting sunlight in her eyes first thing in the morning to her daily "weeding" ritual that keeps her relationships clean and her emotional slate clear. We dive deep into why she believes "it's all mental" and how every interaction becomes an opportunity for spiritual growth.

    In A Vacuum (A Peter Overzet Pod)
    ☕ Priority Targets After Preseason Week 1 - 6 BBM Drafts (Best Ball Breakfast)

    In A Vacuum (A Peter Overzet Pod)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025 236:25


    Best Ball Breakfast heads towards the home stretch of draft season with 6 more drafts in the Best Ball Mania 6 contest on Underdog Fantasy. Pete Overzet begins with 2 solo drafts, welcomes on Pat Kerrane and Mike Leone, then finishes up with special guest Ian Hartitz of FantasyLife. Topics discussed: Unstacked Caleb Williams Day, are suspensions actually priced in, 3QBs in the window with stacks, Leone holding the line with Adam Thielen.⁠☕ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Become a "Best Ball Value Hound" Youtube member⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get access to Best Ball After Dark interviews and the Bash.

    The Jon Gaunt Show
    Do the Feral, Feckless, Foreigners & Freeloaders Get Priority Over Us?

    The Jon Gaunt Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025 39:43


    JonGaunt #UKNews #ImmigrationCrisis #BorderCrisis #Starmer #UKPolitics #SoftJustice #BenefitsScandal #LiveShow Are WE being pushed aside in our own country? Fresh figures show a staggering 40% of benefit claims now come from non — UK nationals yet the Government still treats them like VIPs while ordinary Brits are left struggling. Since Starmer came to power, over 50,000 illegals have entered the country, yet he somehow found the time to interrupt his holiday to meddle in Donald Trump's meeting… but can't be bothered to face the border crisis at home. Priorities, anyone? Meanwhile, the “justice” system is a bad joke. A man who exposed himself on the Tube walked free after playing the “mental health” card — and now police are hunting down the men who actually stopped him. This is soft justice gone mad. Hotels for illegals, excuses for offenders, benefits for those who've just arrived — while the rest of us are told to put up and shut up. Watch now as I break down the chaos, call out the hypocrisy, and ask: Do the feral, feckless, foreigners & freeloaders get priority over us? #JonGaunt #UKNews #ImmigrationCrisis #BorderCrisis #Starmer #IllegalImmigration #UKPolitics #SoftJustice #BenefitsScandal #LiveShow #BritishPolitics Jon Gaunt live, Jon Gaunt show, Do the feral feckless foreigners & freeloaders get priority over us, UK border crisis 2025, UK immigration crisis, illegal immigrants UK, benefits for immigrants UK, Starmer border crisis, Starmer immigration policy, illegal immigration Britain, UK hotels for migrants, benefits scandal UK, 40 percent benefits immigrants, Starmer Trump meeting, Starmer holidays, illegal immigrants in hotels, UK asylum seeker scandal, migrant benefits UK, mental health justice system UK, soft justice UK, Tube incident mental health, police hunt Tube heroes, two tier justice UK, migrants priority over citizens, Britain border security crisis This video is a politics blog and social commentary by award winning talk radio star, Jon Gaunt

    The Handmade Shop
    205. Etsy deserves to be your top priority

    The Handmade Shop

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025 5:53


    If you've been pulled in a hundred different directions with your marketing and you're not seeing the growth you want, this episode is your permission slip to simplify.Because Etsy deserves to be your number one priority. Not Instagram. Not email. Not whatever new platform just launched.In this episode, I'll walk you through:Why Etsy is more than a marketplace and how it actually works in your favorThe difference between chasing attention and showing up where buyers already areHow Etsy's algorithm rewards focused, consistent effort (aka the Etsy snowball)And why you might not be seeing results yet, not because Etsy isn't working, but because it hasn't been your focusIf your energy has been stretched thin and you're ready to finally build the kind of visibility that grows over time (without burnout), I want to invite you to join me inside my signature program, Etsy Visibility Accelerator (EVA).EVA is open for enrollment through Thursday, August 22nd, and it's where I'll help you build a visibility strategy that actually sticks.Join EVA here: https://sarahjwaggoner.com/eva

    Podcasts – Guard Frequency
    Guard Frequency Episode 525 | Geoff's Gone!

    Podcasts – Guard Frequency

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025


    Cits and Civs, Captains and Commanders, you’re tuned to episode 525 of Guard Frequency — the best damn space game podcast ever! This episode was recorded on Friday, August 8 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday, August 12, 2025 at GuardFrequency.com [Download this episode](Right click, Save As…) This Week’s Schedule Links & The […]

    Touchline Fracas
    Kop End Fracas | Movin' Out (Isak's Song) | A Liverpool FC Podcast

    Touchline Fracas

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2025 84:51


    A new season, same old KEF. This week on Kop End Fracas, Krish is joined by Manny and Cav to dive deep into the latest happenings in the world of Liverpool Football Club. The trio cover: Liverpool's active pursuit of centre-backs Marc Guehi and Giovanni Leoni The latest developments surrounding Alexander Isak A full Community Shield Review Friday Night Football: The season opener vs Bournemouth at Anfield Whether it's transfer talk, tactical insights, or matchday breakdowns, Kop End Fracas brings you sharp analysis and passionate debate from the fan's perspective.

    The Charlie Kirk Show
    Ask Charlie Anything 234: Angry Young Men? Lonely Young Women? College's #1 Priority?

    The Charlie Kirk Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2025 32:45


    Charlie takes an hour of questions live from CK Exclusives subscribers, including: -Why are so many men embracing very dark worldviews online, and what should they do instead? -Why is running for office a good idea, even if you don't win the race? -What should be the top priorities for your time when starting at college? Become an Exclusives subscriber and ask Charlie a question on-air by going to members.charliekirk.com.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The Charlie Kirk Show
    Ask Charlie Anything 234: Angry Young Men? Lonely Young Women? College's #1 Priority?

    The Charlie Kirk Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2025 32:45


    Charlie takes an hour of questions live from CK Exclusives subscribers, including: -Why are so many men embracing very dark worldviews online, and what should they do instead? -Why is running for office a good idea, even if you don't win the race? -What should be the top priorities for your time when starting at college? Become an Exclusives subscriber and ask Charlie a question on-air by going to members.charliekirk.com.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    One Place Church
    The Priority Of Baptism

    One Place Church

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2025 33:02


    Victory Family Church
    The Promise Takes Priority over Genetics

    Victory Family Church

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2025 34:28


    Sundays at Victory Family Church with Pastor Peter Reeves.

    priority genetics victory family church
    Land & Legacy - Sportsmen's Nation
    Top Priority Deer Checklist to Complete in August

    Land & Legacy - Sportsmen's Nation

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2025 59:49


    During this week's podcast Matt and Adam cover the long list of top priority items to get completed for the month of August if you are a deer hunter and land owner. In addition, we discuss bachelor groups of bucks and if you have them how to keep them, plus if you don't how to attract bucks once the bachelor groups break-up into fall home ranges. August is the make or break month for food plots. It's time to make the critical decision to know if you terminate and move on or if you just overseed for the fall. We break down the case by case scenarios to assist hunters in this decision making process. From perennial food plots to grain plots and even summer annual blends, we walk you step by step through the process of ensuring you have a successful food plot for fall.

    DK Pittsburgh Sports Radio
    DK's Daily Shot of Steelers: A whole new No. 1 priority

    DK Pittsburgh Sports Radio

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2025 16:44


    A whole new No. 1 priority (and it's not wide receiver). Hear award-winning columnist Dejan Kovacevic's Daily Shots of Steelers, Penguins and Pirates -- three separate podcasts -- every weekday morning on the DK Pittsburgh Sports podcasting network, available on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/dkpghsports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Daily Radio Program with Charles Stanley - In Touch Ministries

    Put God's will first and choose the Lord's way whenever you're faced with a decision.

    Daily Radio Program with Charles Stanley - In Touch Ministries

    Our heavenly Father desires that we make it a priority to always obey Him.