When Chad Vandervalk shifted from pastoring across Canada (literally coast to coast!) to launching Purpose Pivot and leading Strand 360, he set out to integrate faith and purpose into everyday business. Drawing on his pastoral background and entrepreneurial journey, Chad reveals how business can serve others, reflect God’s heart, and create lasting impact beyond the church.
In this episode, we discuss the realities of moving from ministry to business, practical ways to discover your purpose at work, and how faith can inform authentic leadership. Whether you’re a pastor or an entrepreneur, you’ll find inspiration to bridge faith and work in any context.
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When Anthony Ho stepped into the North End of Winnipeg — one of the poorest postal codes in Canada — he didn’t just see boarded-up homes and broken systems. He saw potential.
As Director of Operations at Inner City Youth Alive and Step Up Construction, Anthony helps men find purpose through meaningful work, bringing a movement of transformation — equipping fathers, husbands, and leaders to rebuild their lives and their community.
Through construction projects and daily discipleship, Step Up Construction provides more than job skills — it offers belonging, accountability, and hope. The team’s upside-down model of leadership, where the newest crew member is served first, is redefining what Kingdom business can look like in action.
In this episode, Anthony shares his journey, the power of work to transform lives, and why he believes God is using work to restore the North End of Winnipeg.
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When Sam Dick and his partners brought the first green coffee beans from Myanmar to Canada, they weren’t just starting a coffee company — they were stepping into a story of hope, dignity, and transformation.
As co-owner of Lighthouse Coffee, Sam has seen firsthand how business can restore communities and provide alternatives to harmful industries like opium farming. By partnering with local producers in Myanmar through Bright Lantern Coffee, Lighthouse Coffee is helping families move toward sustainability and purpose, while also roasting high-quality beans for coffee lovers across Canada.
In this episode, Sam shares his journey of integrating faith and business, what it means to steward even the smallest beginnings for Kingdom impact, and how everyday purchasing decisions — like the coffee in your breakroom — can ripple across the world.
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Raised as a missiologist and trained as a cross-cultural missionary, Chris Morris never imagined business would become central to his calling. But through his journey from Canada to the middle-East, and back, Chris discovered the powerful role that business can play in advancing the Kingdom.
Now serving as the National Director of BetterIt Workplace Chaplains, Chris is mobilizing chaplains across industries and communities to bring care, wellness, and Kingdom impact into the workplace. His story highlights how integrating faith and business creates more pathways for mission than we often realize.
Listen in to hear Chris share his personal journey, how his faith has shaped his ambition, and why business leaders in Canada should embrace their role as missional leaders.
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How many times does God have to call you to something before you can no longer say no? Does it take one sign? Or maybe two or three?
For James and Jen, owners of Phnom Climb Community Gym, it took prayer, faithfulness, and many miraculous signs before they said yes to God's call to Cambodia. Now, four years later, God has given them an opportunity to do BAM in a very unique way.
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What does it mean to "finish well"? How do we set our sights on God even after a lifetime of mistakes and bad starts?
John Kok, President of Navigator Ministries and Navigator Financial, explores what it means for his clients to finish well through Christ-centered financial and estate planning. Through his own hardships, John has explored what it means to finish well in his own life, trusting God every step of the way.
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What does it look like to integrate family and business? How do you balance that integration while honouring God throughout it all?
For Nouver Cheung, Co-Founder of Wakefield Agency, this integration took form in a videography business. With a background in engineering, it took adjustment for Nouver to see the way God was working for his family through video entrepreneurship. Little did he know, this business would bless his whole family through the doors it opened and mission it started.
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What makes someone an entrepreneur? Is it a lengthy resume, a heavy academic record, a successful business? Or does being an entrepreneur mean something else entirely...
Dylan Gallagher, Founder of OndeWork, has been exploring what it means to be an entrepreneur ever since he was a kid. With years of youthful exploration and practical experience in the business world, Gallagher has developed a successful people-driven company that is built on a foundation of trust in God. Through this business, God has shown him what it means to be an entrepreneur and a Kingdom-seeker.
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What would happen if you decided to use your business, and its profits, for good?
Carissa Youssef, Executive Director of One Day's Wages, feels passionately about the need for intentionality and accountability when using business as a force for good.
Through strong community and willingness to make a difference through our profits, human flourishing could come a lot sooner than we think...
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A lightbulb moment. Sometimes that's the way God works to bring people into their callings.
The business journey of Thomas Park, the Co-Founder and CEO of REITIUM Technologies Ltd., had two significant lightbulb moments. The first came when his mom gathered a group of her friends to each invest $30K into real-estate and the second came when Thomas learned more about church real-estate. Out of these lightbulb moments, he and his co-founder created a digital marketplace that empowers churches to raise capital through donations, debt, and equity, and use that capital to build community centres, daycares, and affordable housing on their excess land. What's so special about it is that the everyday person can get involved in the whole process!
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What is your reaction to risks? Do you take all risks that come your way, careless as to the consequences of them? Or do you cautiously avert them?
Nathanael Hollands created a fake Red Cross badge to get into Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. You can probably guess what his response to risk is.
Now as the Co-founder & Executive Director of Kinvest Impact Foundation, Nathanael uses the experience he gained in humanitarian work and business venture to help Rwandan entrepreneurs. This work involves risk, but Nathanael believes this is a part of living out his faith. After all, faith is all about embracing risks because of the great hope we have.
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How do you make your mission statement real to every one in your company?
"You pay them."
This was the advice John Neate was given by the executive he hired to help create a strong and unifying mission statement for his business, JJ Bean Coffee Roasters. So John and his team came up with a rewarding audit that motivated all the employees across 23 locations understand and live out honouring people through great coffee, customer service, food, and amazing spaces.
Through this, John is helping all those who work for JJ Bean to love their neighbour and be a light in their community.
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How have the past few years of business been for you? Through the pandemic, through economic hardships, and now through tariffs?
For Jackee Kasandy, Founder and CEO of Kasandy Inc. and the BEBC Society, the past few years have been a tough go. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Jackee's business was growing, making its way to the $1 million revenue mark. But these past few years of hardship have shown their way to be such a challenge. Yet, these challenges have not been for nothing. God has clearly been using this time to shape Jackee, leading her on the path of surrender.
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With the goal to improve the sustainable energy of 1 million homes, businesses, and organizations by 2050, it's easy to get focussed on the big picture.
And while this is the goal for Chris Chukwunta, founder and CEO of International Renewable Energy Systems (IRES), he also has his eye on each individual he helps. For him, the goal of renewable energy is about helping people thrive, in addition to caring for the earth.
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What do you do when God calls you to own a business that is so niche, there's very few people to follow?
You rely on Him. You look to Him for guidance. You spend your down time with Him.
Those are the answers Isaiah Redfern gave as the founder and working doctor at Ottawa Performance Care (OPC). OPC is a medical business that focusses on treating patients through clinical neuroscience-based strategies. There's about 10 other businesses that are alike across Canada. Clearly, it's a niche business. And yet, Isaiah has no doubt that this is where he's meant to be.
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Could you imagine gathering together a group of your competitors to share a meal? What about using that meal to confess to them, ask for forgiveness, and seek to grow community among them?
Enoch Weng, CEO and co-founder of Rise Above Finance, did that exact thing. Since desiring to reconcile faith and work in business together, Enoch has been in continual conversation with God about all the matters of his work. So in this particular circumstance, God led Enoch to do the unexpected and seek deep community with his competition.
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Have you ever heard of a conversation with a pastor leading to the start of a business?
Well that was the story of Joel and Kaitlin Bromley. Joel joined us on the podcast to share about how he and his wife began Bromley Financial Coaching. Their pastor had urged them to lead a marriage small group and then not long after lead a financial small group. After leading the group and learning alongside those who were a part of it, Joel and Kaitlin realized that they had the gifts and desire to walk alongside people on their financial journeys. People needed cheerleading and guidance.
Learn more about their missional business story in this episode!
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After losing a job he had held for 25 years, God gave John a vision to start his own business. He thought the call was to engineering, as he was familiar with this, yet God had something different in store.
John, task-oriented and not particularly relational, found himself the owner of a contract staffing business, employing up to 150 employees. For 15 years now, God has been using this business to transform John through and through. Then in the middle of a pandemic, God called John to start a second business - a backend bookkeeping and payroll company that served other organizations. All these things may have been a surprising to John, but through these things he realized there's truly no surprises with God.
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Have you heard of Level Ground Coffee? You know, the coffee that comes in the colourful bag with the fun illustrations on the front?
In this episode, you'll hear from Level Ground Coffee Roaster's Co-Founder, Stacey Toews. Grab a cup of your own coffee, sit down and take a listen as Stacey shares about how he and his wife started the business 28 years ago, the work they do to be intentionally holistic in their sustainability, and how they've been adaptable in an industry that's continually changing.
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Growing up in Ghana, David Harlley witnessed how Africa struggled to develop when it was being supported solely by aid.
As he gained experience studying and working in Canada and Europe, David realized he had a desire to use the power of investment to support in the development of his home continent.
Now as the CEO and Co-Founder of ThirdWay Capital, David is doing just that. Listen in to his episode to learn more about the work that he's doing to bring economic growth and social transformation to Africa.
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