Faith & Business

with business owners, Grace & Jacob Davis

What are you businesses and what roles do you play? My mission is to establish and expand God’s Kingdom in the marketplace. Currently we own and operate three businesses locally: Fire and Ice Snowcones in Bryan, Lighthouse Coffee Co located in the Post Oak Mall, and ISP Safety Services (a fire protection and safety company).

As Believers that are also business owners, how do you balance your faith, family, and business? It’s not a balancing act. Faith, family, and business are not three different areas of my life that I frantically run back and forth in between to uphold, rather they are all intertwined and prioritized. I used to have one scoreboard for family and one for business. Both would tell me if I was winning in that given area of my life. I soon found out that simply having two different scoreboards was causing me to lose! I was called by God to both my family and business, but felt like I was living in two different worlds. Repositioning myself to have one scoreboard across all areas ensured that there’s actually nothing to balance; it’s all of God. That one scoreboard asks me, “How well can you be a light and a place of refuge to the people in your life?” That starts with my wife, kids, then into my team members, customers, and vendors.

What does it mean to be a Christian business owner? How does your faith impact the way that you run your business? The traditional definition of success is thrown out the window! When I approach my businesses through the lens of the Holy Spirit, I understand I’m making decisions to impact people. That may or may not show up positively on the P&L statement, but that’s not everything. Money is a byproduct of a healthy business, but it’s only the means to the end, which is impacting people in a positive way.

Over the years, have there been any specific verses that have encouraged or helped the two of you in running your businesses? Why do these verses inspire/encourage you? Deuteronomy Chapter 11. When you love God, walk in His ways, and trust Him you don’t have to strive to achieve. Rather partner with Him to produce something better than you could’ve done yourself. To grow a crop in Egypt all they had to do was irrigate it by digging a trench. But for the Israelites to grow a crop in the promised land which was full of mountains and valleys they had to depend on God for rain. I envision myself being warm inside my home while God is pouring out a thundering rain over a mountainous landscape. Beautiful and various crops are grown and all I had to do was trust Him. I don’t have to get waist-deep in the mud to produce a crop. Applying that to business, I don’t have to worry about money. I don’t have to work 70 hour weeks and wear it as my badge of honor. My badge of honor is loving and trusting Him. He will make it rain. He will provide.

Have you faced any challenges in the business world because you’ve chosen to put God first? In what ways has God helped you overcome those challenges? Absolutely! I’ve given up dreams and goals that were years in the making to redirect my focus on what God was doing. Saying yes to God is tough when he asks you to do a 180, but I don’t want to miss out on Him. As far as challenges from other people there haven’t been many. But I overcome these challenges because I know God is always producing something inside me when I give in to His process.

Can you share with our readers the biggest lesson you feel God has taught you in your years of owning a business? Enjoy the process. The process is it. There’s nothing else. There’s no final destination. There’s no place I can finally reach to say “I’ve made it.” There’s always more money, more opportunity, more growth to be had. When is it enough? When will I be happy? When can I finally coast? Those are crazy questions because I don’t want to reach that place or else I wouldn’t be having fun anymore! Enjoying the process, being present, celebrating the highs and learning in the lows; that is the goal.