Over the course of my career I have been an entrepreneur in a number of ventures. Some worked. Some did not. And one came very close to taking me under entirely.
Becoming a real estate developer proved quite successful initially. I had built a track record. I understood the fundamentals. And then 2008 arrived.
The recession that followed was not a correction. It was a collapse. Projects that had made every form of financial sense ceased to make sense at all. The ground shifted beneath people who had built carefully and honestly, not just those who had been reckless. I was among them. I came close to bankruptcy. Closer than I care to remember.
I want to be honest about that, because there is a lie circulating in the world of faith and enterprise — the idea that if you build your life on right principles, you will be protected from failure. That God honors faithfulness with financial insulation. I do not believe that is true, and 2008 made sure I understood why.
Before real estate, I had other ventures. My friend Steve Stephens started MCLAS Technologies, a medical diagnostic company I was part of. Dr. Leininger and I once partnered on a smoked meats sandwich shop called the Sunday Smokehaus in Fredericksburg, Texas. Not every venture is meant to last. The learning from each one is what you carry forward.
I came out of 2008 with my company, Deltox, Inc., and a clearer sense of what I was actually for. Deltox has given me the ability to connect people with opportunities and resources. As I like to say, the language of the kingdom is connection.
That phrase did not come from success. It came from the years of rebuilding — from learning that what I had to offer was not primarily capital or credentials, but relationships. The ability to see what someone needed and to know someone who could provide it.
Failure strips away what is not essential. What came through was simpler and more durable.