Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - Woman Evolve Replay: From Hustle To Harvest w Bishop T.D. Jakes

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

Previously Recorded They say just because you graduated, don’t burn down the school house—and today W.E. find out why! As one of the world’s most revered communicators, successful entrepreneurs, multi–New York Times best-selling authors and global leaders, Bishop T.D. Jakes details his journey as a CEO and Chairman. In this episode with SJR, Bishop Jakes elaborates on how he transitioned his day-to-day focus to other ventures while maintaining a stance at the intersection of mission, ministry and marketplace. It goes without saying that power moves from one idea to the next, so let's get into this message of expansion, succession, ownership, legacy and MORE! If you're on the entrepreneurial path, seeking a harvest then head over to the GoodSoilForum.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Both the promise and the pain that shaped you has a lot to do with the power that emanates from you. You can't just have power and not have patience. Knowledge may drive the thought, but wisdom causes it not to destroy. You can disrupt without becoming destructive. First of all, let me say that I did get an update. We had an episode called a valuable currency with Victoria Washington. And in that podcast, we had a question that came over that we finally got an update on. So if you guys didn't get to hear, this question was from a woman who was wondering whether or not she should leave her job.

Sometimes she wants to quit and find a different job opportunity because the weight that it is causing on her mental and emotional health often has her conflicted. But she also is wondering, am I supposed to be the light in this place and I'm supposed to surrender

to the discomfort so that I can let my light shine. She wrote back and she says, Hey, sis, just listen to one of the podcast episodes and heard your response to my question. Thank you for hearing me. It was so helpful. I wanted to send an update. I actually got let go from the job not long after was upset about it, but not really because I wanted to leave anyway.

Lol. Maybe that was God's way of making a way. after, was upset about it, but not really because I wanted to leave anyway lol. Maybe that was God's way of making a way. It was a good thing though because it allowed me time to reset, learn and unlearn some things and find myself again in God's hand, not a paycheck. Anyway thank you for all that you are and do and praying for you continually. Thank you so much. One, for sending an update because when I mind your business and you don't tell me what happened I be out here with the ultimate cliffhanger.

And that's not right. Don't do your friends like that. Secondly, I'm glad to hear that God made it increasingly clear what your next move needed to be. And I am praying that you just continue to get more and more wisdom about how you move into your next. Okay, so now it's time for me to mind someone else's business. I did not read this in advance. So oh, this interesting because this is a question based off of the podcast that Victoria's

question was not Victoria's question that the young woman's question was on with Victoria Washington. Anyways, it says I recently heard the episode on relationship with money. I've been responsible with money all my life, but I've been surviving and not living for so long. I'm a single mom of a 13 year old money all my life, but I've been surviving and not living for so long I'm a single mom of a 13 year old girl all her life My income really hasn't changed but God has sustained and always provided I went through a time where I was unemployed for almost a year and I was faced with eviction and repossession

It's created a trauma for me and I'm afraid of that happening I'm anxious when I spend money because I want to make sure I'm not without. I pay my tithes, offerings, and I believe that God will bring financial freedom but I'm now 41 and I'm wondering when it will be my time. I work to pay bills because that's what it is after I budget and make sure I take care of home first. I'm a giver at heart and I've helped guys in previous relationships in a huge way and but that debt fell on me when they walked away from the relationship. How do I get over the hump? I'm starting to feel stuck and stressed.

OK, so this is a great question. I will be honest, I'm not a money whiz. So I know that there are resources out there that are better suited to help you get the support that you need. Some of those people that we have introduced the delegation to or presented to the delegation because the delegation was already familiar was the Finance Bar.

They have a social media page that helps you to navigate financial choices and decisions. The Budgetnista is someone who we enjoyed and obviously Victoria, Washington. I will say that the numbers are relatively, I want to say quote unquote simple. If you cannot increase your income, then if you can decrease your expenses, even if that means downsizing,

even if that means getting creative with the way that you guys are living, that may be one of your only options. Sometimes people move to different cities because of the cost of living. But I think that if you're in a situation where you're tired of feeling like, man, I am literally just working to pay bills, there's nothing left and I'm still stressed,

that may be considering if you've done all that you can on the money tightening up side, what can I do on the expense side to bring things down? Is there a way that I can leverage an opportunity to add additional income? But I do think that exploring your cost of living, the cost of living in other cities, whether or not your job will transfer, if the money will stretch in a different way, are pretty much the only options that you have. Or like I said, trying to consider different ways of income, even if it's taking on a skill

or talent that is an investment at first, but then it's something that you can ultimately use to create an additional stream of income in the long term, that may be something to consider. I understand completely the frustration and feeling like I just work to pay bills. There has been many times in my life where I really didn't feel like I had

much of a cushion. And I think what I did in those moments where I didn't have much of a cushion, I made some choices that I think allowed me to bring additional income. There were some waitressing jobs that I did. Oh my goodness, I did some childcare, I did some house cleaning. This was when I dropped out of college and I was intent on making away from me and my son and my parents and I were just going through a strange stage in our relationship. So I took on a lot of different odd jobs. And so that maybe there's something that you can do in that lane. If not, I would attack those expenses.

But those resources that I mentioned are much more equipped to help you figure out the best path forward than I am. But I do know that sometimes what we lose in maybe not living in the way we want, but gain in the joy. So I say that to say, so there's a woman I saw on TikTok and she's got a family I think it's like three or four children. And she has a one bedroom apartment and she turned the living room into her bedroom, the main bedroom to the kids share and the dining that she has for one of her older

children, I may have the layout wrong, but she's maximized the space of this one bedroom to make sure that she has space for the children and she's doing what she has to do for now. But what I'm saying is like, okay, so maybe she doesn't have the two or three bedroom apartment, maybe she can't afford it, or maybe she could afford it, but she would be stretched and afford and get what she did and getting creative in her living space has presented an opportunity where she may not be jumping into into the two or three bedroom but as her money increases, she's able to store or maybe even splurge in a way that she wouldn't be able to if she was stretching to make ends meet.

I'm not necessarily saying that this is your path. It's just an example of how people have used different options to maximize their ability to make sure that ends are being met, that children are being housed and fed, and that those coins are going for as long as they can. So I hope that you get plugged into those resources that are much more knowledgeable than I am. But there's nothing like feeling stuck and stressed. If you can decrease your expenses,

even if it means changing the way you live in an exchange for that, you have a little bit more cushion. You and your daughter may be to do things that you may have not been able to do because you were trying to maintain a housing situation that wasn't ideal for her, it could pay in the long run. So take some time, do some exploring. Hopefully that helps.

This is part of the reason why having a conversation about surrendering to believing in transition is so necessary. While my conversation with my father doesn't speak to this specifically, I do want to take a moment and just talk about the reality of having to believe in seasons of life transition. When I went on tour, we did a tour called the Hope Revival Tour. In that tour, I used Hagar as an example. Hagar was forced into a situation where she had to transition. Things were relatively okay for her, but then God literally tells Abraham to send her and

the boy out, and he sends her out with water. And it's not enough to sustain her and the boy, and it's frustrating. And she's getting ready to quit, and she's ready to give up. And the boy cries out on her behalf, and as a result of the boy crying out for her behalf, God answers her prayer to have provision in a space where she would have had lack. There are so many times where we can get so frustrated by the lack that we don't even know how to cry out for provision. And I love this text so much because it doesn't say that God built a well, it doesn't say

that the woman started digging or the boy started digging. Something happens in her exchange with the Lord where she opens her eyes and there's a well in front of her. Maybe the well was already there, but she was so blinded by the lack that she didn't see the potential for provision. I do believe that it is God's desire for us to live a life of peace, of rest, of I want to say surrender, but surrender, I do think in many ways it's a lifestyle of surrender where we're willing to lay down our idea of what our life should look like in exchange for the reality of how His presence can meet us where

we are. I also believe that God wants to partner with us in us really maximizing whatever moment we're staying again. And in those moments of transition, if we partner with our frustration, if we partner sometimes it's unknowingly partner with a lack mentality, we can miss out on the opportunity to partner with God for us to experience provision. And so my prayer for those of you all who are in a season of transition right now is that God would help you.

I'm crying out even right now on your behalf that God would help you to see the ways that your perspective may be limited to only look for what's wrong. Limited because you've experienced so many disappointments that you're not even positioned to think about innovation or creativity because you're just so tired. God, I pray that those who this apply to would experience rest. Rest in the area where they've been weary, rest in the area where they've been weary, rest in the area where they've been stretching

and feeling so pulled and yet not seeing a harvest for the things that they have sown. God, I pray that you would allow them to experience your comfort. Even the comfort that comes with you laying them on my heart at a time where they can't pray for themselves. Lord, I'm crying out for their behalf. I'm crying out that they would see you, that they would know you, that they would believe

you in this moment of transition, that they would not miss the unexpected provision that exists for them in this moment. God, I pray that if they have resources available to them, but they're afraid to ask God of pride, that they would open their mouth so that they do not miss the Miracle that was connected with them Opening their mouth God if they have no one to call on no provision that they can see God I pray that you would create it for them that they would open their eyes and in an area where they once saw drought They would experience it. they would experience living water.

God bless them as only you can do. Bless them first for the inside that they would have rest and peace and comfort, and then practical resources available to them. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I'm excited about this conversation with my dad. He's seen a lot of transition in his life, and I believe that his wisdom on the current state of affairs, his wisdom on what's happening in the world is going

to be helpful and beneficial to you. So let's get into it. So last time you were on the podcast, you had just drug me around Atlanta, passing the baton with very little remorse. I have, you know, very little remorse. And that was in 2022. And it's been over a year. And I feel like there's been, like maybe that was the beginning of transition, but I felt like we're a little bit further into transition.

So I'm just wondering, like, how are you feeling since everything happened? Everyone's always asking me, how did I feel? How have you been feeling since that moment? I feel great. I don't do anything without a lot of prayer and a lot of deliberation.

So I generally don't make uncertain moves, especially of that magnitude. I might be an impulsive shopper. But that big of a transition was something that I prayed about and watched and thought about several years before we did it. So when we did it, I felt really, really good about it and felt really, really great about it. And I'm still involved in a supportive role in the background. And that's kind of refreshing. I like it. I feel like what happened at WOM and Thou Art Loose happening at the same time that Taree and I moved to Dallas was just speaking to growth and expansion as well.

I'm wondering, as I've seen you begin to move more into your role as a chairman with the foundation, more into real estate with the ventures, what are you sensing is happening generationally with the passing of the baton? And how has it felt for you introducing like new ideas and concepts into something that has already proven to be very effective? Well, you know, a lot of my generation is retiring. Unfortunately, some are expiring. I am moving more into semi-retirement

and as it relates to pastoral duties as you and Torrey take over more and more aspects of the leadership of the church. It has freed me to work in the foundation and with TD Jakes Real Estate Ventures and TD Jakes Airprises. And that's really exciting for me because when I was focused primarily on every Wednesday night, every Sunday morning, doing everything over there, I didn't give it the attention that I'm able to give it now and it needs that attention.

And as you all move into that role, I wanted to do it gradually because the weight of responsibility that comes with welding the sword from that platform is bigger than leading a church. We have a global church. We have a church around the world. And I wanted you to have a chance to adjust to that and not just drop the weight of it all on you and just walk away into the sunset. I think that's irresponsible.

And I like to think of it like a skin graft. You know, they'll take skin from one part of your body and graft it to another part of your body. And even though it was always in the body, it still has to graft both by the peripheral skin as well as the new skin. It still needs time to graft in order to work. And I think that's good. And how I feel about it is, it's interesting because on one hand, you don't build something of that magnitude from the ground up and not have intense passion and feeling about it. And on the other hand, I do feel excited.

For me, what I'm doing with real estate and what I'm doing with entrepreneurship and what I'm doing with the foundation is just the word made flesh. It's still ministry, you know, creating opportunities for underserved communities. It's still ministry. It's Jesus feeding the multitude. It's providing for basic needs. If your brother had need of a coat, don't give him a sermon. And so now I'm able to work in another aspect of meeting people at the point of their needs, but still ministry. And so we haven't completely transitioned, you know, but we have began the process of that skin graft taking place. And it's a, it's a, it's a grafting you can't control. That makes me a little bit uncomfortable

because I might occasionally have control issues, but it's a grafting you can't control because it's not totally at the mercy of the new skin or the old skin. They both have to accept each other. And that has to be a natural, organic process of deliberation. And as long as I live, I will always be around and I will always be supportive and I will always be in some aspect of speaking, preaching, leading, developing, that sort of thing. But to give my day-to-day attention over to other things

and to see people have a place to stay, workforce housing, to see people have an opportunity to build their business, especially with technology coming in and changing the future for so many jobs that we have come to rely upon as American citizens. I think it's very, very important that we have a stabilized economy as a country. Yeah. So, I think it's the work of the Lord.

It's all the work of the Lord. It's all the work of the Lord. But to God be the glory, you so deep, you so saved, Bishop. Well, well, it is. No, it's true, it's true, it's true. I do want to talk a little bit though, because like, you know, I just had this book, Power Moves came out, and literally part of the latter part of the chapters talks about

how power moves from one idea to a next and how something that once worked in one system in one generation may not be what works in the next. I want to talk a little bit about succession and not just familial succession, but as we see emerging leadership from millennials into workplaces where maybe boomers or exers have had a particular way of doing things, we see technology changing the way things have done, we see quite literally power moving from one concept to another. What is one thing that you think an incoming generation must do in order to successfully expand what has already been done while also honoring the people who are maybe still in decision-making positions?

First of all, I think that when we think about it generationally, we don't really give power moves the full credit when we do it by age. It varies by region. What works in California won't work in New York, what works in Chicago won't work in West Virginia. There's all of those different dynamics other than age. But we generally talk about it generationally and not regionally, but there are different approaches and that's some of the struggle when you go to a conference and you come back with all these ideas. You also have to siphon them through, will this work in Tuscaloosa? Will this work in Birmingham? And then when you add the generational component

in it, our message remains the same, but our methods change. The core that creates ministry is the gospel, and that's going to be what it's going to be. That's not going to change. The way in which we express the gospel, receive the gospel, the way in which we are able to communicate the gospel. For example, the fact that we can stream. Paul never got to stream. He never got to tweet. He never got to post. But we can still communicate the gospel through technology in a way that we didn't have an opportunity to do before. And in the local church setting, church music is faddish, like all music. It goes through stages. And when you lived a long time, you've seen a lot of stages.

I've seen a lot, when I came along, the caravans were before the Clark sisters, okay? And then the Clark sisters came along, they were contemporary. Now they're considered traditional. And the beat goes on and then there's Christian music, mainstream, worship music, all the hymns, anthems. It's gonna take on many iterations

based on creativity and time. But again, the core remains the same. You know, you can put bananas in cornbread, banana cornbread, but you can't leave out the cornmeal. There are some basic things that still are applicable as you try new things and do creative things that are unique, not only to the generation, but to the individual.

I think you have to be true to who you are, not just true to who your generation is, but true to who you are. What do you bring to the table irrespective of age? And then, because you cannot move as a generation, you have to move as an individual who happens to be a part of a generation. But every person in that generation doesn't have the same giftings, the same talent, the same education, the same mentality, the same wisdom, the same charisma.

It is so individualized. It's the difference between the book of Hebrews and the book of Romans. Yes, they're both in the Bible, but you can see the style of the writing deviate by the individual who records it. And I think to that own self be true, is what I would say to the coming generation, being true to your core and your essence and what shaped you. Both the promise and the pain that shaped you has a lot to do with the power that emanates from you. And that power moves as you age. Different stages of parenthood, of marital life, of stage of life you're in,

all of that plays a part in what you bring to the stage. When you walk across the stage to that mic, every experience that you had leading up to walking across the stage walks with you. And those experiences continue to change and your worldview changes. So your depth of revelation is in part based on the eyes that behold the text. I can't tell you how different a text looks to me now than it did 20 years ago. Because my life's experiences, the text is still the same, but my life's experiences make me extract from the text different elements of truth and wisdom that add to the style in which Jeremiah writes versus the style in which Isaiah writes from Isaiah to Ezekiel, who were primarily in the same era. But their style of expressing

their revelation, their focus of what was important. Isaiah is talking a lot about the future. Ezekiel is talking a lot about the conditions as it's going on in Israel at that time. Neither one of them are wrong. And I think when we start to get down to right and wrong rather than different, we make a mistake. You know, this is wrong. This is out of style. Clothes go out of style. Hair may go out of style. But truth and authenticity never goes out of style. And I think the way you may remain relevant at my age is to be true to who you are.

And the way you remain relevant at your age is to be true to who you are, whether you're in the corporate world. Like people say, you know, you're a minister, you're involved in entrepreneurship, we're getting ready for our Good Soil Conference, we're training people in entrepreneurship. Well, I'm a minister, but I'm a person too.

And I tell them if I could sing like Marvin Winans, I would. But that's not what God gave me, though he and I are pretty close to the same age. You know, I'm not gonna be Rob Parsley, though we're the same age. I'm not gonna be Creflo Dollar, though we're the same age. There are certain things that we have in common, but you can only give to people what has been given to you.

As Jesus said, as the Father have loved me, so love I you. And so what has been poured into me is all that can pour out of me. And that changes at every day of your life, every meeting you go to, every country you visit. Your vision expands of the world as you travel more, as opposed to somebody who's never left but hustle. They've got the same Bible, but their view of the world when they read the text is imaginary. But if you've been to the promised land, if you've been to Jerusalem, if you've been to Israel, your view expands as you expound the scripture. Do you think that for someone who is trying to be true to themselves in systems

that only honor maybe one expression of gifting, one expression of talent, do you think that their job is to honor the difference? But like, how do they not lose themselves? I'll make this a little bit more grounded. I get a lot of communication from people who are like, hey, maybe I feel called to a business or I feel called to a church,

but I have such great ideas on how things could be done differently, on how we can reach more people, on how we can change the way things have been done. But I feel like I'm constantly being shut down. Do you think they go to a space where they can flourish or do they stay in this tension of being called to a place that doesn't necessarily feel like it has flexibility

and wait for it to become more flexible? How do they navigate them being in those rooms? You know, when you were a very, very, very little girl, I had 55 gallon fish tanks, aquariums, and we would go to the fish store and pick up fish in a plastic bag and bring them home. We didn't just dump the fish over into the tank. You'll shark the fish and kill it.

You put the bag in the water in a isolated environment and let it adjust to the environment and then ease the fish into it. Sometimes we can have great ideas, but we introduce them in ways that are offensive. So charisma and wisdom and timing has a lot to do with whether those ideas are accepted or not. And sometimes respecting the old ideas while you introduce new ideas is a gradual process. The world changes gradually.

Culture in an organization changes gradually, not suddenly. If you're gonna change the culture of an organization, you have to do it gradually. If you're gonna change the culture in a church, you have to do it gradually. So patience is required with power. You can't just have power and not have patience. And part of being a great shepherd is patience, because sheep don't run, not fast. So you've got to have patience if you're going to be a great leader and introduce your creativity

incrementally without insulting that which was because the people who are there are part of that which was. And so when you insult it, you insult them. And so I think you have to do it in such a way that you don't, you're not, I tell people the plane is going like at 500 miles an hour, but you can't feel it in the cabin. You know, you want the ride to be smooth. You don't, I don't want to be sitting there with my jaws blowing back, you know, and I'm holding onto my seat like this, you know.

And I think sometimes when we're excited about our ideas and we wanna come in and make it right now, you make people's jaws blow back when in fact, it is possible to go 500 miles an hour and still have a smooth ride inside the cabin. And that's what you want to do as a leader, whether you're in corporate America, whether you're in a business, there's

subtle changes. There are graphic changes, changing the color, changing the logo, little steps, changing the mood, the music, the tone, the texture, exposing the audience or the company to new ideas and different thoughts where it's not all coming from you. Let it be birthed in them like it was birthed in you. In West Virginia, we used to have a saying, just because you graduated, don't burn down the school. Now you've got a great idea and you've graduated, but don't burn down the school because you were a good person before you had the great idea.

So give me a chance to take the class two and let's grow together. And I think that's part of wisdom. Knowledge may drive the thought, but wisdom causes it not to destroy. You can disrupt without being becoming destructive. Okay, so I love what you said about culture changing gradually. Because I do think that part of being in an internet generation in a microwave generation as you all call, which I have to tell you, you know, people you say, you know, this is such a microwave generation, you press a button, it comes out so quickly that there was a part of me that felt like a little offended by this.

But now that I see how quickly we expect for change to occur, and I look at the stories of people we admire who, you know, 12 years here, 20 years working there, before they became these legendary icons that we understand, it helps me to understand that we do have an expectation that my idea should be manifested, realized, transforming things within a year or I'm giving up. And it makes me think about how you're also changing

the culture gradually about entrepreneurship within our communities. I think for a long time, we felt like success was owning a business, success was being a business owner, but what I hear you saying is that it is time for us to change the mentality around entrepreneurship from not just being starting the business, but how do I scale it, how do I make sure

that I'm not the only one who is doing all of the parts? Can we talk a little bit about entrepreneurship, why it's important in this day and age where technology seems to be taking over things that would have once been businesses, and how do we begin to see ourselves as more than just starters, but people who are established for generations? Wow. Big question. Big question. Let's roll all the way back to a we as a people came here as a product.

And when you are introduced to a country as a for sale item, it affects you even in freedom to think in terms of working for somebody rather than owning. So the first hurdle to get over is to get to climb the hurdle of being attracted to ownership when you have once been owned. Wow. Okay, so let's start there. And then once you do that, and about 92% of all black businesses have less than two employees. So that means that a lot of times, we have people running a business

because they have a talent, but not because they know how to run a business. And so just because you can, to simplify it, just because you can fry chicken doesn't mean that you should open up a chicken shack. Because quite honestly, you can get somebody to fry the chicken, but you might not be able to get somebody to do the books and to think whether you should scale the business. Bringing more people and the right people when you bring more people can cause your business

to accelerate much more rapidly. And we're trying to teach them how to get soil, how to get access to capital, what to do with that capital when you get it. Not to take the capital and spend it on luxury items, not necessarily even for you, but to bling out the restaurant when you need an accountant,

to bling out the restaurant and you've got fancy plates and cups, but you haven't paid your quarterly taxes, you don't have your W-2 set up, you don't have estate planning set up. You don't know whether it's, you're doing a DBA when you need to be doing LLP or LLC or what have you, investigating and develop.

We do all of that at Good Soil. We teach you, we expose you to the people who have the capital, even when you don't have full credit. We talk you through the process of still working a job because you need to eat while you're doing it and growing your business to the point that you're working yourself out of a job into ownership. And the reason it is so vitally important is because stats say that 70 million jobs will be deleted because of artificial intelligence. Now they're going to be replaced with 80 million jobs. But the question is, are you qualified

for those jobs? And if you're not trained and qualified to not just to buy technology, but to create technology or make technology or repair technology, then ownership becomes a way in which you can own a business that causes you to be able to flourish because you might not be able to go back to school and go through a full STEM program and go after technological engineering degrees at 40 because you've got three kids or five kids or the other, but you could start a business or you could do something on that regard

and you could hire people to do it. If you get profitable, you can hire people to do it and run a tech company. Some of the biggest tech companies in the country, I mean billion dollar tech companies are not owned by people who have tech backgrounds. So ownership means that you can go out and hire what you don't know and own a business because business principles are transferable. Whether you run in a car lot or whether you're running a truck driving service

or whether you're running a restaurant, the basic principles of business remain the same. I'm reading a book now called Business Made Simple and listening at the basic principles are transferable into real estate development, it's transferable. Even into leadership of the church, you have to have a certain business acumen if you're gonna be successful

or you don't get the loan at the bank, or you don't have the financials prepared to do business with the world. We're not in the world, but we're still of the world, and we have to be able to understand the world in order to function within the world. That is so good and so necessary because not many places are having these conversations in ways that we can access the people who need to be caught up the most. And I feel like good soil is an incredible opportunity to do that.

So between good soil, what I see you doing with the foundation, what I see you doing with the real estate ventures, it feels like you are more intentionally, I think you've always thought about legacy, but I think you have more intentionally been thinking about the remaining marks that you want to leave as a part of your legacy in the world. They asked you this at the Milken Institute, but I want to ask you, as you consider the essence of who you are, what you've been able to offer to the world, what is it about what you know about the world, what you know about God, what you know about ministry that you want to stay in the earth?

You know, I'm going to give you a very deep answer. The Bible said Aaron's rod, which was a dead stick, but it blossomed and brought forth fruit. Okay? Whether it's in the budding stage, the blossoming stage, or the bringing forth fruit stage, you're always evolving, but you are still coming from the same place. And so for me, as I think about legacy

and the innovation and the things I I've been able to do. When I go back and check my DNA, I just 10x to what my parents did in front of me. You know, and it looks innovative and it looks creative and it is legacy. And it is important that you leave your mark in the world in something that outlives you and outlives you. But the root is not that different from the fruit. And my mother owned property, she dabbled in real

estate, she collected rent until she passed away. My father owned the business, that was the environment from which I was extrapolated. And I did not know that it was in me like that. But over time, you bud, you blossom, you bring forth fruit. And this is a stage where I'm bringing forth another kind of fruit and leaving legacy in the earth. But that does not negate that the greatest legacy that I leave in the earth are the people who were touched by my ministry, who were changed by my messages. The greatest legacy I leave in the earth is my children

and what they are able to grow up and do and be. That's legacy too. Not all legacy is tangible and face forward to the public. Some legacy is incalculable in terms of the changing of a human heart. So I'm adding to that legacy in very practical pragmatic ways to help to deter the projection that by 2050, the average median income of African

Americans is projected to be zero. If I can subvert that and bring it up just 20%, 10%, I will have made my mark on it and somebody else will have to do the rest. And when we talk about African American median income, you're talking about the country's median income because we represent a significant portion of the population. So when we do better, everybody does better. Since we are at the bottom of the chain when it comes to income disparity, if we go up, everything else goes up too. So if it's good for us, it's good for the country. It's good for the other business owners.

It's good for the mortgage company. It's good for the banking business. It's good for the carpenters and the electricians when you own your own home. Your success creates jobs for all kinds of other people. You do a movie from hairstylists to makeup artists to food prep people that are never seen in the credits when you were on the credits. All of those people had a job because you did a film. And so it's like the quantum theory of the butterfly. The butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil and a storm breaks out in Alaska. It's a residual perpetual effect of better. When you do better, I do better. And I might not do better directly,

but indirectly your better affects my better also. Okay, so before we go, I have to ask you, as you are kind of semi-retired, not really, you just left your semi and then you picked up another semi so you still full eye. Don't tell my bitches like that. I'm snitching, I'm snitching. You know, rest, what does it look like to give yourself permission to rest while also recognizing that there are other things that you want to accomplish? Rest for me becomes difficult because my mind is moving faster than my body. And I have

to be intentional about getting rest. I have to supplement my body with magnesium and things like that to shut my brain down so that I can get rest. And I slept all day Monday. You know, I slept late into the day and then I went back to bed again. And then I went back to bed early again to get rest. But rest isn't just about sleep. Yeah. Rest is about fun time, relaxing time, sitting in the backyard under a tree, taking vacations sometimes. For me, a lot of times, I don't always get to go travel and spend 10 consecutive

days of rest, but little moments of rest. You know, Jesus stole away from the crowd and went up into the mountains. And what led to him walking on the water is that he was coming from that respite of getting away from everybody pulling at him and in prayer and contemplation. He was on the boat, sleep on the boat. Sometimes you have to get it where you can, especially when you've got a lot of responsibility. You might not be able to get it in traditional ways, a pedicure, a manicure, that sort of thing,

enables you to keep going till you get to a place where you can shut everything down. Rest for me is having a good team around me that I can count on so that I'm not sitting on the beach answering texts and responding to phone calls. And I can't rest, it doesn't matter where I fly to, if I'm gonna be worried while I'm there, I might as well sustain where I am.

So rest for me is knowing that everything is handled, everything is safe, everything is well, because I was raised to be responsible. And that's a pro and a con. It's good because I am very responsible. It's bad because I'm so responsible that I have to fight off guilt when I take a break, you know? That guilt lessens with knowing that the essentials are covered in my absence. And the greater the people you hire, which goes back to good soil, if you're only, you

working and your mama or you working and your mama or you working in your cousin and you working in your sister, how would you get rest? Because if you can't back away from it a few weeks without it caving in, it's not a business. It's a gig. It's a hustle. And what we're trying to do is to get people from a hustle to harvest so that they can get moments of rest and reflection, which incidentally makes you more creative when you come back because you had a moment to stand back and stare at it.

And you're better when you come back than you were before you left. Okay. I just needed that soundbite so I could play it for you. Thank you for that. That is evil and wicked and I'm praying for you. Everything's fine, Bishop. Well, it's not my, it's one of my weaker strengths. As your mother would say.

I heard her when you said that. Yeah, it's one of my weakest strengths to let go. But I did find the key to my weaker strength becoming strong. And that's hiring competent people. Yeah. and that's hiring competent people. And that makes it easier for me to walk away and really be present in the moment at the beach and not be sneaking, looking at my phone, trying to respond to something.

So I get better. You're doing better. You are, you're doing better. I'm a work in progress. I love you daddy. I watch movies and everything. I know and you binge watching, I'm proud of you. You're doing better. I'm giving you credit. I'm a work in progress. I watch movies and everything. I know, and you binge watching, I'm proud of you. You're doing better. I'm doing better.

Love you. Thank you for the opportunity. Love you too. Thank you, daddy. I hope that you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I love having an opportunity to sit down with my father and just to pick his brain. If you want more information on Good Soil, make sure that you log on to his social media page.

We still have a few spots left and I believe that it's going to be just a rewarding opportunity for you to be in the room with people who are in the same lane as you as entrepreneurship or moving in a lane that you feel called to. So you can check out the Good Soil Forum by a simple Google search or heading over to Bishop's page where they've got all the details about the conference. All right, listen, oh my gosh, next week, I am releasing an episode with Priscilla Shire. Let me tell you.

Blessed, okay? It was so, so good, a mentorship moment. If ever there was one. You do not want to miss all of the incredible conversations we're having about Transition this month. So make sure that you are subscribing, downloading, rating the podcast because we've got more goodies headed your way. Evolve.