How David Schwartz is Saving the World One Faucet at a Time

[00:00:00] Matt: Hello and welcome to the Eternal Optimist Podcast. My name is Matt Rankon, and I am your host today and every day for the show that helps you figure out how to blend gratitude, curiosity, and self-compassion together, and do a cocktail. It helps you to grow, helps you to overcome those biggest challenges in life.

[00:00:19] Matt: My friends. Let's do that today. Let's make progress today in overcoming some of those challenges. Let's learn and have the antennas up because we have an amazing show today. Before we get started, I wanna encourage you, you can connect with me on social media, follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Eternal Optimist Podcast.

[00:00:35] Matt: Also, I have a live stream every morning, Monday through Saturday at 7:00 AM Eastern for 15 to 20 minutes. I talk about what's going on in life in eternal optimist, learning lessons from the past week, and also challenging situations, and how we turn those to our a. Today's episode, who? Man, this is a big one.

[00:00:53] Matt: This is a good one. Our guest today embodies giving and service, and we might all benefit to borrow a page from his playbook. Mr. David Hendrickson. His resume is impressive. First off, he served at the top of the ladder in for profit companies, so he is massively successful in business in that way. Mr.

[00:01:17] Matt: David Hendrickson is the c e O of the Giving Company and host of Walking Through Samaria podcast, which shares stories of good Samaritans doing selfless deeds to serve humanity. Now, this nonprofit giving company now is in charge and responsible for doing many amazing things. One way that David is helping right now in foreign countries like Ethiopia.

[00:01:41] Matt: By building wells to provide clean water to over 8,000 people, mainly women and young girls at home and in their schools. He's leading teams to help battle the human trafficking trade, which is desperately needed in our world. He served as an interfaith forums around the world and brought Muslim and Christian leaders together to help kids.

[00:02:05] Matt: David's married. He has a family. He has life wisdom. Listen to his tone and demeanor. Feel how he models humility, compassion with a focus on progress and results. He's like the blend of someone in corporate America that knows how to get it done, and he has this humility and heart about him, which is, from my experience, rare, you know, in this corporate American landscape.

[00:02:31] Matt: I felt like I was prepared to be more accepting and more compassionate after this discuss. David's a man who could ride to the sunset into a life luxury, and instead he chooses to push forward for the betterment of people. He truly is an eternal optimist who is playing as Simon Sinek would say, an infinite game.

[00:02:51] Matt: It's my pleasure to share this conversation with my new friend David Hendrickson. Enjoy.

[00:02:59] Matt: without any further ado, it is my privilege and honor to introduce and welcome my new friend and our, guest to the show today, Mr. David Hendrickson. David, good morning, sir. How are you today?

[00:03:09] David: Good morning, Matt. Thank you so much for having me. I'm, doing well. I'm here in remote Seneca, South Carolina, out on the porch with the fire going, and it's a little cool this morning, but beautiful and, excited to talk to you.

[00:03:22] Matt: Absolutely. I'm excited too. I, I'm even adding that excitement is that our little conversation we had a moment ago where, and I hope this doesn't alienate too many folks. It might, we were talking about college football and you've got some girls that are at Georgia, so you are now a U G A. Fan, as am I.

[00:03:38] Matt: what do you think the chances are of the Bulldogs taking it all the way this year?

[00:03:42] David: Well, it's, funny that I'm on the Eternal Optimist podcast, Matt, because if you're a real Georgia fan, you're actually not that optimistic. You've seen a lot and experienced a lot that would tell you that. Anything bad can happen, at, at any time. I have a daughter who's in law school at Georgia.

[00:03:59] David: She graduated from undergrad there as well. My son's a senior and a religion major and hoping to go to graduate school in theological studies. I was really excited that they got, A national championship last year when they were there together. They're still there together, so I'd love another one, but counting my blessings and would love to see an s e c championship tomorrow.

[00:04:18] David: And then anything after that is, all good or whatever.

[00:04:21] Matt: Awesome. Well having started off with Bulldog momentum that we have right now, we're gonna carry on and we're gonna take things in a totally opposite direction and maybe go serious here. And I'm gonna ask you about something that's been challenging in your world. So if you could take us back the time machine, sometime in the previous part of your life, anytime you'd like, what's something that's been very challenging for you that offered you learning lessons?

[00:04:43] David: Gosh, I mean, I could go all the way back to, when I was young, my parents were divorced. I think I was in seventh grade and. Dad disappeared, he was out for a big chunk of my formative years as a male. And I don't wanna come off as toxic masculine or anything like that, but I do have a strong perspective that dads matter and particularly dads matter in the lives of sons and the development of future men.

[00:05:11] David: And there's probably a little void. In me even today, Matt, from that experience. And then there was another sort of round of trauma that I went through shortly thereafter and so the biggest learning that I have from that, that you could carry forward to college, my professional experience, corporate America private equity now doing nonprofit work for the last almost eight years is that I just firmly believe God puts.

[00:05:38] David: People in your path and in your life for a very specific or very specific reasons. and I can go back to. My friends in high school that kind of walked with me, I was, frankly just with a few of them at the Georgia, Kentucky game back in Louisville, Kentucky, or Lexington, Kentucky a few weeks ago.

[00:05:58] David: Speaking of U g A football, the people that are now on my staff today at Giving company, helping us navigate this crazy world of Christian media and running a nonprofit when our competitors are all for profit everything in between, I just have. A conviction that God shows up in lots of ways, but for me, predominantly it has been the people that he has put in my life, including my wife of almost 30 years now.

[00:06:23] David: The time that I met her when I was outta college and in Chicago and kind of wandering around, lost spiritually and relationally, I meet Rhonda and, it's just been amazing ever since. from a marriage and relational perspective.

[00:06:35] Matt: Wow, 30 years Mary. Congratulations.

[00:06:39] David: Yeah, it'll be May. So, 29 and a half, I guess. Exactly.

[00:06:42] Matt: Awesome. I'd love to come back to Rhonda and ask about that, but the first part I'd love to dive into is you said the dads matter in the son's lives and the development of future men, that's something that you've come to a conclusion that's important. I'm wondering why is that a conclusion you came to?

[00:06:57] Matt: Why is that important?

[00:06:58] David: I think part of it has probably been the relationship that I have with my son, drew, and he's 21 now. Really strong believer, great musician. just a really good kid and. You know, he went through, without getting too specific, he went through kind of his own challenges in, high school and self-doubt and uncertainty and those kinds of things.

[00:07:20] David: And What I saw is that it was super important for proximity to be a thing between he and I and look. I wasn't always the best example of a father. I had anger from time to time, frustration from time to time, stress from time to time. But there's just something about I think having an older male as a man that you can learn from and dialogue with and relate to.

[00:07:43] David: And drew and I probably have our best times on the golf course or on the fly fishing stream. Just doing our thing, but hanging together, being together, and sort of letting the conversation flow naturally. And then for me, if I were to dial back the clock where we started, like I said, I just feel like there's been a little void in my soul.

[00:08:03] David: And look, my mom is amazing. She's 83 years old, incredibly healthy. She stepped up. I was the youngest of three. I only have older sisters, so I literally was with women from the time I was 12 for, The next round of life, which included middle school and high school and early college, which is tough times for men, probably tough times for people, period.

[00:08:27] David: Mom did an incredible job, taking care of me and, and shepherding me. But I just feel like there was a void in really important times where As a boy, you know, I become a teenager. I learned to drive. I'm looking at colleges, deciding what to study, all those decisions.

[00:08:43] David: it felt a little bit on my own, if you will, in a time when I think a dad would've been helpful and filling that.

[00:08:51] Matt: Have you found peace with that now

[00:08:55] David: Yeah. You know, dad passed away a few years ago. He and I had a, a pretty good relationship. I would say probably starting from the time that I had kids, you start to realize the perspective of a parent and we all make mistakes and, he was really involved in my kids' lives and.

[00:09:09] David: that was meaningful for me. Certainly. I think it's mostly if, I were to say what my observation is, is that there are really critical years in the development of children, and they're all important. Don't get me wrong. My daughter's gonna be 25 next week. We talk almost every day, and she relies on me for advice and, guidance and all sorts of things.

[00:09:30] David: Maybe she's just appeasing me, but all the ages are important, I guess is my point. But at the same time, there's really critical years. I think, a, as a child turns double digits and kind of navigates their way through the next 10 years, it's amazing the significance of the decisions that they.

[00:09:48] David: In those years, schools that they're gonna attend, majors, where they're gonna live, who they're gonna date, who they're gonna ultimately, partner up with. Those are like major life decisions. And kids are young, they think they're old and they know it all at that time, but they're young and inexperienced and certainly for me, I was immature.

[00:10:06] David: and I just think mom did an amazing job, but it, felt like there was a bit of a void there that I just had to navigate with other people.

[00:10:13] Matt: Well, thank you for uh, taking the trip down memory lane. It's something that's been challenging. I'd love to go with one of your learning lessons. You shared that, God puts people in our path for a very specific reason. And I'm curious if you could, take us to a person that was in your path that you may or may not have understood the reason why at the time, but what caused you to have that learning lesson that God puts

[00:10:36] David: the easiest default one is obviously Rhonda, she and I both met one another. At an interesting time in our personal and professional lives, and almost like Link Forrester and Carla, who I'm sure your audience has heard from.

[00:10:51] David: You know, we kind of decided that our relationship was gonna have a strong spiritual component and we were gonna commit ourselves to things of God and, that's been how we've walked together. But, that's an easy one though, Matt. I'll maybe go to some other ones. there's a dear friend of mine Mike Higden.

[00:11:09] David: his dad he's retired now. The pastor at Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

[00:11:14] David: And poor Pastor Higden, Reverend Higden had to watch Mike and I. Growing up in all the stupid, crazy, wild things that we did in our teenage years, and he just had to roll his eyes, I'm sure most of the time. But when I just look at how important it was for me to have Mike, who was constantly inviting me to youth group, you know, activities at Broadway, Baptist, and getting me involved with the church.

[00:11:41] David: And then his dad who was sort of this really strong, spiritual mentor and example maybe I was so intimidated by Reverend Higden. He and I didn't really probably talk personally until I was a little bit older. But he would give me books and he would give me advice and that whole experience, I just think of what a sensitive time it was that I met Mike, which was my freshman year.

[00:12:03] David: In high school and he and I remain really, really close friends today. It's just a great example of God, like, hey, the very best thing for David right now in these years would be probably to spend a little time at Broadway, Baptist Church, in the youth group. and I remember, Tons of those people, Doug Evans and Bethany Hendrix, now Bethany Lavec, and certainly Mike, and that, youth group.

[00:12:27] David: It was just really important for me to have that experience at that time.

[00:12:30] Matt: Oh, amazing. So at that time where you were searching for your identity from, adolescents to adulthood, you had an important figure and Reverend Higdon may have been very intimidating Figure at that time. And you took the learning lessons you and Mike are still friends this day.

[00:12:45] Matt: That's great to hear. What's another example of a person you've, shared Rhonda, Reverend Higdon is there another person or group of people that are important on that journey? After Reverend

[00:12:55] Matt: Higdon,

[00:12:56] David: kind of move down the, timeline, if you will. this is gonna be probably the, opposite end of the spectrum, but, The board of directors of, giving company, the company that I have, the, the blessing to lead right now. It's a nonprofit in the, digital media space and faith and family.

[00:13:12] David: And, that board is, Rick Jackson, Mike Kendrick and Larry Powell. And then we have a newer board member by the name of Trent Dunham. But he's, newer, so sorry, Trent We'll move you to the side for a second just for the purposes of this conversation. But Mike, Rick and Larry are all, dare I say, older, strong believers.

[00:13:33] David: They've been together as friends, small group participants, business partners for many, many years. I think for Larry and Rick specifically, it's been over 30. and I've been able to see all of it. and by all of it, I mean, the way they help lead me, the way they counsel me and guide me as the c e o of the company, as directors of organization, the way they relate to one another.

[00:13:59] David: how close their friendship is, how smart of business leaders they are, how experienced they are, how thoughtful they are. that's been an incredible experience for me to have a board that is developing me as a professional, right? And as a senior executive, but also at the same time, giving me examples of, being good fathers, being good husbands, being good friends, being good stewards, being good followers of Christ.

[00:14:27] David: it's just been. really great experience for me over the last almost eight years. In fact, it was probably close to eight years to the day that I, first got the call about, the opportunity and I didn't know these three gentlemen at all at that point. Maybe Mike Kendrick a little bit, cuz our kids went to the same school,

[00:14:43] David: but. and again, another great example of as I'm getting older, I'm now 55, I've been able to sort of look at these guys and go, wow, what a way. They've spent, their kind of later years investing in companies, investing in people doing really good kingdom work. it's been an incredible experience.

[00:15:01] Matt: Awesome. I wanna pause and appreciate you for a moment cuz you're, Modeling of really strong leadership quality that I always wanna point out to our audience is that you at the young age of 55, are a real humble learner, meaning that you hear talking about mentors and leaders you know, I coach so many CEOs and leaders who.

[00:15:25] Matt: Start with that, who don't share that they are still learning and they're very mentored by someone. And I love that you have the courage to share out loud with everyone that yes, you lead a large organization, you have accolades, a business success, and still learning, still humble learner. So I wanted to point that out and appreciate you for that.

[00:15:42] Matt: I love that mindset. So

[00:15:44] David: Well, thank you, Matt. I appreciate it. I just have that in my d n a I appreciate the humility part, but I am a lifelong learner. like I wish I would learn two more languages to speak. You know, like I have a big pile of things that I'd still like to learn my life, I'm glad you said Young 55, because I'm like, Hey, I still got, you know, 25 years to do some other things and learn, learn a lot, and I do really enjoy people. I think I'm probably an extrovert by nature, and my staff at Giving Company right now is an incredible staff. I've learned a lot from those folks.

[00:16:15] David: And

[00:16:16] David: why not right?

[00:16:17] Matt: Absolutely. I feel You're leading an organization called The Giving Company, I feel there are undertones of a, a value, a core value of yours. That might be something around service, and I wonder if there's anything that shows up for you when I ask you about your core values, if, service might be somewhere in there.

[00:16:36] Matt: Cause I think I'm feeling that right now.

[00:16:39] David: Yeah, well, you're very intuitive. our corporate values have the acronym give

[00:16:44] David: and the G stands for giving. The I stands for Inspire. The V stands for value and the E stands for excellence. So it's sort of a really nice way to use our heart and our mission with our corporate values acronym.

[00:16:58] David: And so we see giving two ways, Matt, at the company. The first is that we're a giver of content. we're a giver of inspirational content. That might be a book that we publish. It might be a blog article that we put on one of our websites, family christian.com or dove.org, or i disciple.org or christian cinema.com.

[00:17:18] David: Might be a movie, might be an episodic series. It might be a devotional, a digital or print devotional. There's a whole range of products and services that we produce at giving company, and so kind. Big G number one is making sure that we're giving content to people that inspires their journey with God, that inspires their journey with others, and frankly motivates them to be a giver as well.

[00:17:44] David: And you know, that could be financial, but that isn't really the way we, talk about it in that sort of first aspect of giving. The second aspect, however, is that as an organization we do give money away to two partner organizations. One is World Vision. And the other is Crisis Aid International. Our relationship with World Vision goes way back to even before I was a part of giving company, and we give a portion of a at least one revenue stream to the Water Initiative of World Vision.

[00:18:17] David: Over 8,000 people in impoverished nations and communities around the world now have access to clean water for. It reduces the child mortality rate by half. It allows women to go to work. It allows girls to go to school. Keeps everyone safer and healthier. and so we love that program. We've actually funded four water points in Kenya, which is a way that clean water actually gets delivered directly to the village, if you will.

[00:18:44] David: You know, it gets delivered locally through a water point. I just actually got a note from Mike Gillespie at World Vision yesterday that said we had funded our fourth water point. So we're super excited about that. And then our publishing business and our streaming business gives to crisis aid international. And that is an organization that does some real hard work. They actually rescue girls from the Red Light District in East Africa who've been trafficked. Many from ages as young as 9, 10, 11. Just really, really, Tough work, but inspiring work, trains the girls, gets them jobs, gets them educated, keeps them safe.

[00:19:19] David: It's just an incredible ministry. Pat and Sue Bradley founded that organization I think about 20 years ago. We were fortunate to publish Pat's book called Born for Rescue, that's now available wherever Christian books and meaningful books are sold, and they're just an incredible organization.

[00:19:35] David: So at our heart,

[00:19:36] David: We sort of walk this balance all day long at giving company every day, every week, every month, every year of our business model is providing content and the, byproduct of our business model is being able to financially give to organizations that are just doing incredible work for the kingdom in Christ's name around the world.

[00:19:57] David: So it's a pretty great job, , if I had to say so myself for those reason.

[00:20:02] Matt: Well, a tear literally just came in my eye when you're talking about trafficking especially now as a father and then having Mitzi Perdue on the show talking about traffick in Ukraine and now you're sharing stories of trafficking in Africa. And just these, stories really touches the heart.

[00:20:15] Matt: And I know that there is evil out. And it feels like you were a voice for, in a force for good. So I wonder why the giving company, you could have done anything. I saw your resume, you've had success in corporate America. Why did you end up with a nonprofit, the Giving Company after years in corporate and success there?

[00:20:33] David: You know, Matt, I just saw another ad for Top Gun Maverick in my Instagram feed this morning. And if you remember when he is like, it's one of life's mystery, sir. You know, it's one of his lines in the movie . So I think it's less of a mystery, but it is an interesting question and I love working.

[00:20:51] David: You know, I went to business school after college I went to school part-time so that I could still work full-time. I really loved corporate America. I've worked for great organizations like GE and McKesson and Carestream. Got into healthcare technology through General Electric, which I'll always be, thankful for.

[00:21:08] David: And that, journey put me in private equity. And I was running a company in Tampa, Florida called Next Tech Systems. Love that business, love those people. But I was commuting from Atlanta to Tampa and I had to make a decision about was I gonna actually move the family to Florida?

[00:21:25] David: Because you know, it was, challenge, right? It was just a challenge for the family. My kids were older. My daughter in particular had stated that the University of Georgia was her, was her desired destination. And so moving the family to Florida at that time, 2000 and 14. Seemed like a tough decision. My

[00:21:45] David: daughter was gonna go to college two years later and then, God showed up in an interesting way where I got a call from my kid's headmaster, David, David Rhodes at Kings Ridge. Shout out to David. Really good guy. And he said, Hey, there's a nonprofit company at the time it was called I Disciple, part of the Family Christian Organization.

[00:22:08] David: If your listeners remember, family Christian stores. And they're looking for a technology c e O. And I said, well David, thanks for thinking to me, but I don't wanna do this. You know, I love my job and this seems strange for me to kind of step off and do nonprofit work. Well, I kind of entered the search.

[00:22:25] David: To help Mike, Rick, and Larry find the right person.

[00:22:29] David: You know, that was sort of how I was kind of thinking about it, and I just assumed I'd get chopped off after one of the interviews or one of the tests or one of the profiles or whatever that they were doing to find their c e o. And about 90 days later, at the end of the process, I was the one person left standing.

[00:22:47] David: And I really wrestled with it to be very honest. I said, God, if this is what you're asking me to do, my answer is of course, yes.

[00:22:55] David: And that was literally my, conversation with God. But I said, if this is not you, if you're not in this, I don't wanna do it.

[00:23:01] David: it's got huge financial implications, you know, it's got all sorts of implications.

[00:23:06] David: But what I did love about the company was, It was in the consumer technology space. So we do websites and apps and streaming and e-commerce and all those fun things that are more in the consumer space, which I didn't have a lot of experience with technology. My world was always corporate and business to business, but the, giving aspect of the mission was brought on early by the board.

[00:23:31] David: And they really wanted giving of money for the causes of the marginalized and the, ignored and the underserved around the world to be a part of the business model. And it just so happens that personally, my wife and I had been involved with World Vision for many years already, and so I kind of was like, wow, what would it look like to combine work with, service and giving.

[00:23:55] David: I said, you know what, God, I guess you are asking me to do this. And there was a little side benefit that my family really did need me a little bit closer to home as well. So I, do have to say, hey, there were definitely some very personal. Realities that I was dealing with that maybe God was saving me from as well.

[00:24:10] David: So that's how it went down and it's been the last eight years. And I love the work and I love the team and I love our partners and like I told you, it's a really great job.

[00:24:19] Matt: Oh, amazing story.

[00:24:23] Matt: and now a quick break in Word from our sponsor. Today's episode is sponsored by patients, and I don't mean the classic Guns N Roses song, or people who roam the halls of hospitals looking for better food. I mean, the choice to deploy patients when your children are yelling at each other and misbehaving.

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[00:25:33] Matt: You're welcome. Now back to the show. i, hear you and appreciate you and value for sharing the story because a crossroads here. of, and I see it all the time in corporate America, there's a crossroads of where do I spend my time? Do I chase the dollar? There's a lot of money over here. Do I move the family and my present with my family?

[00:25:54] Matt: And then there's this passion mission calling, you know, and I wonder, in your conversations with God, I and finally come to that conclusion?

[00:26:03] David: it's a really good question, and this side of heaven, none of us know, right? Like, we really don't know. It seemed, like an interesting time when I was presented with the opportunity. I wasn't aware of, the challenges that my job and my commute was creating for the family. There were significant financial benefits of being in private equity that, look, these are real things, right? I mean, my, employees are employees, a giving company. they're thinking about career progression and salary and all these things that are real things, and You have to juggle all these things and make the best decision that you can.

[00:26:37] David: I will say that my daughter's senior year, this is just one example of maybe reinforcement. I don't know if it's a direct answer to your question, but it's what comes to mind. My daughter and I, when she was a senior in high school, she got the opportunity the seniors could have lunch off campus, and so every Thursday, Was our work from Home Day.

[00:26:57] David: We had to work from home day way before Covid, and so on Thursdays I would go have lunch with my daughter every week and she was a senior in high school and this is gonna be tough for me to get out, but we're having lunch one day and she said, dad, I hope you know how much this means to Drew and. That you decided to be home and you know, my kids are teenagers, right? So I'm like, do they even care that, you know,

[00:27:24] David: that I, they even care that I'm around, you know, like maybe it would be better for them if I was commuting more because they would have more freedom and they would have less in position on test scores and doing their homework and what time are they gonna be home at night and all those things.

[00:27:38] David: But, My daughter's super intuitive and really deep as a person, and, she said, look, this is just incredibly meaningful to us. So anyway, that was a good reinforcement early on. You know, the work is hard. I think this is the other thing that I've learned, I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent for a minute, but, I was having a conversation with Mike Bowles, my dear friend, Mike Bowles.

[00:27:57] David: He works for Back-to-Back Ministries earlier this week, and he and his wife, Karen, amazing people, they adopted three girls from Mexico, all Sisters. They were, 10, 12, 14, somewhere in that age range when they got adopted. Well, it has been a really tough journey to say the least for Mike and. Really tough and so I, would also say that kind of about giving company, like the work isn't easy. It's really hard. We're in technology, which changes all the time. You know, apple and Facebook and Google change their algorithms all the time. They fight with each other, which puts the consumer and the crosshairs, which is never good.

[00:28:36] David: As I mentioned earlier, we're a nonprofit competing with really well capitalized for-profit competitors. Like it's hard work and, you know, our employees are wanting to be fulfilled and they're wanting to make good money and they're wanting to provide for their families, and yet all of them have leaned into the mission of giving company.

[00:28:54] David: And so, to all your listeners, eternal optimism is the right phrase because. Doing what God wants you to do asks you to do Living in his will. Doesn't mean it's all rosy, and it doesn't mean it's not hard, and it doesn't mean you're not gonna wrestle with what is your destiny, this side of heaven.

[00:29:13] David: Those are all really tough questions. And after eight years, Matt, I, still wrestle with some of those, but the reality is I love the work and at least for, some period of time my kids recognized that there was a bit of sacrifice there as.

[00:29:25] Matt: Man, you had me literally in a tear again a moment ago. And as a parent, sometimes it can be the most gratifying thing in the world, and it can also be the most frustrating place about a

[00:29:37] Matt: map.

[00:29:38] Matt: And to get that just every once in a while from lily pad to Lily pad, I leap and I get that.

[00:29:44] Matt: Input from daughter that's really appreciative and grateful that is so worth it. So I, feel you when you're

[00:29:50] Matt: sharing that conversation,

[00:29:51] David: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would agree.

[00:29:53] Matt: you mentioned eternal optimism that it's here and it's a good phrase because it's not always easy. If I were to ask you what is eternal optimism?

[00:30:00] Matt: What is the definition of that, or what does that mean to you? What would you say?

[00:30:04] David: very often in, discussions like this, Matt, you know, I have to recognize and frankly communicate that there's a spiritual component, but there's also a, personal. Worldly component, if you will, to all of our experiences, you know, and to our journeys. And you wanna keep those overlapped as much as possible.

[00:30:21] David: But the reality is there's a physical realm, there's a spiritual realm, there's you know, a mental realm, right? that we all sort of have to deal with. For me personally, maybe not for the universal phrase, but for me personally, I believe that people are good. I believe that God is good and I believe that the more we give of ourselves, I have a personality according to Patrick Le, that's called an enabler and not bad enablement, right?

[00:30:51] David: Like enabling bad habits or addictions or anything. But enabling his definition is helping people. I wanna help people succeed. And I think the older that I've gotten, you realize maybe it's financial in some ways. Maybe it's just wisdom, maybe it's just experience. Maybe it's sharing all the failures or mistakes that you made and helping people avoid those. But it sure seems like you get to a point where giving is truly better than receiving. And I think that's probably where I've arrived in my journey is. Life is good. God is good, people are good. Work is good, but it doesn't mean it's easy and it doesn't mean it always works out and yet I think for those of us that are kind of around my age, I was doing a survey earlier this week and I had to choose, you know, over 50 as my, as my age group. And I'm like, oh gosh, I. hate selecting this bubble. But, if you can give of your time, if you can give of your resources, if you can give of your wisdom or experiences, if you can give of your money, if you're blessed, it just rounds out your life. It just shapes your life in a way that is caused for optimism.

[00:32:07] David: Right. I'm so passionate because of my last eight years of experience about the value of giving

[00:32:13] David: and I wish, I know a lot of times, maybe in the pews it's, you're tithe, right? And that, probably gets hammered away quite a bit for churchgoers. But for believers in non-believers alike, if you want a life well lived, If you wanna leave a legacy, giving just has to be a part of the equation and give what you have.

[00:32:36] David: You know, the elderly woman who gave two coins in Jesus' parable, you know, Whatever it is that you have, somebody is gonna benefit and so I just love looking for opportunities to give to employees, whatever it might be. it's been a fun experience for me, for sure.

[00:32:52] Matt: Great definition eternal optimism. What I feel you've just shared is that it grows as you get to a point where you learn and come to realize that giving enables you or empowers yourself to grow and empowers you to continue to see that life is good, not easy, necess. very good and your optimism has grown as you become more open and.

[00:33:14] Matt: More giving. So by that rationale, you continue to grow all the time. Cause you're leading the giving company and giving so this is a great cycle that you've, discovered. So great to see. I would love to segue into your podcast because we

[00:33:27] Matt: met through Mr. Link Forrester, who was on your podcast.

[00:33:31] Matt: And I remember listening to that episode on the 24th minute I started to cry because it was such a powerful moving. And there was some humor in there and some serious, and I, loved it. Can you talk a little bit about the mission behind the, Walking Through Samaria podcast and give us a little bit of context.

[00:33:46] Matt: Whatever comes up for.

[00:33:48] David: Well, I appreciate you asking, and it frankly fits really well into the conversation we were just having. Your audience probably knows I'm pretty verbose in my answers, but I do need to give you some context for this. So my co-host Dan Riveros and I went to Ethiopia with World Vision to see some of the water work.

[00:34:06] David: We went with a few other giving company employees as well. We guys, Alex and Alejandro and Tim Boner, I think Maryanne Osborne from World Vision was our host with Mesra. the team at, World Vision Ethiopia. But anyway, we were there to see water, right? We were there to see wells that were dug and clean water flowing through the pipes and all those things.

[00:34:26] David: But world Vision, in their infinite wisdom and maybe a little bit of God as well, we started out going to this interfaith forum and the interfaith forum. Ethiopia is a combination of Muslim religious leaders and Christian religious leaders who get together and work side by side solely for the purposes of child protection, reducing child marriage, reducing divorce provision, health and nutrition, et cetera.

[00:34:53] David: And I'm sitting there in this meeting, we're in a small room at a World Vision Office up. Ethiopia, and I'm just speechless because everything you hear about in the West is the conflict between Christians and Muslims. I mean, that's all we, hear about. Save maybe I think Christians have done a nice job supporting Muslims in China, I mean, I literally couldn't get any words outta my mouth because I was just so blown away. And the Christian leaders help the Muslims build mosques and the , Muslim leaders, help the Christians build Sunday schools and they go to one another's kid's birthday parties. And I mean, I was just like, what is going on?

[00:35:31] David: This is unbelievable. And the Muslim leader, I wish I could remember her name, but she talked about her child. Being able to go to the state university in Ethiopia, and as you and I do, Matt, at this point I'm weeping, like I can't even hardly breathe. And I'm like, well, you and I have something in common. My child goes to the state university in Georgia and I just sat there and I was like, this is such a moment of humanity and of everybody mattering to God, right?

[00:36:05] David: Everybody matters to.

[00:36:07] David: if Muslim and Christian leaders in Ethiopia can set their differences aside for the benefit of children, you know, isn't that a message for all of us? And so I dove into the Good Samaritan parable in Luke, chapter 10, and I did a ton of research and talked to a lot of people and there were a number of folks from World Vision that were helpful with this.

[00:36:26] David: And I realize that there's incredible significance to Jesus making the Samaritan. The hero of the story, it was the Samaritan that chose to give. It was the Samaritan that chose to sacrifice. It was the Samaritan that kind of doubled down and came back a few days later and made sure that the Jewish person that had been robbed and left for dead was still okay.

[00:36:50] David: And the significance for all your listeners, sorry, I'm so preachy about this, but it's so meaningful to me, is that at the time, Jews and Samaritans were religiously, politically, culturally, ethnically at odds with one another.

[00:37:04] David: would, you would put them in the category of Democrats and Republicans in the United States.

[00:37:08] David: You would put them in the category of the, Catholics and the Christians in Ireland. You would put them in the category of, Syria or Lebanon, or, Turkey or China. the Palestinians and the Israelis at complete odds with one another. And yet, frankly, multiple times in scripture, the hero is the Samaritan.

[00:37:27] David: The woman at the well was a Samaritan woman.

[00:37:29] David: And so I said, you know what? Jesus is telling us something here. Jesus is saying, you know what? I love that you give. I love that you serve, but it's more meaningful to me if you give and serve to people that are not like,

[00:37:41] David: And so walking through Samaria is real stories of real people that do just that.

[00:37:49] David: And, you know, whether it's people involved in gang violence or people involved with, rescuing girls from sex trafficking. I mean, the stories that have been told of Good Samaritans on the walking through Samari podcast are just incredible. And, you know, I work for a media company, right?

[00:38:05] David: And so there was a bit of my media brain that went into it that said, I'm not sure Christianity is doing a great job marketing itself as being an inclusive, forgiving, gracious, merciful faith, which is what it is, which is who Jesus was. And so there's a lot of that kind of woven throughout the conversations, but it's because of the parable.

[00:38:30] David: Like we didn't make this up, right. It's exactly what I think Jesus is telling us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10, and I'm obviously super passionate about it, Matt, as your listeners probably know, but it's been a blast to kind of discover these amazing stories of amazing work that people are doing around the world.

[00:38:47] Matt: Absolutely. And you had an important topic that you were there in Ethiopia on the story that you shared, and you're there with Muslim leaders Christian leaders, and you're all there together. On the same mission to serve kids, to help kids, to help the world. And the main message that I got is that everyone matters to God and it doesn't matter you know, what your preferences are, where you come from or what you look like.

[00:39:10] Matt: Everyone matters. And ultimately, I feel you just eloquently express that. so if someone were to tune into your podcast, what would they expect to listen to or hear if they tune into this week's episode?

[00:39:22] David: Yeah, really good question. So, well, this, week's recording was Mike, Bowl's story that I alluded to. So it's, two. Middle class, middle America, Christians whose kids, you know, two boys are older and almost out of the house, and they make the decision that they're gonna take in three girls who've suffered incredible trauma.

[00:39:45] David: They have no parents, just a grandmother who can't take care of them in Mexico. And I'm like, you know what? what a great picture of being a good Samaritan and Part of the reality of Luke chapter 10 as well. You have to sort of search hard to find it, but there's sacrifice. in that parable.

[00:40:02] David: And there was the sacrifice of the Samaritan crossing the road where that road between Jerusalem and Jericho is known for being robbed, you know, for being assaulted. Like that's what it's known for. And the Samaritan's like, well, I'm gonna cross over cuz I gotta take care of this guy who's on the other side.

[00:40:20] David: And then he offers his time and his finances and, all those things. So you're gonna hear stories like Mike Bowles. You're gonna hear people that have given up professional, success and gone to different countries in Africa or different ministries in the us. you'll hear, one of the stories we tell is the reconciliation of Dan, Kathy and Shane Windeyer, who is the executive director of Campus Pride.

[00:40:44] David: And the way that Dan Kathy approached him as a believer. Because you know, he felt he had done something to kind of insult Shane. And you know, Shane speaks very highly of Dan, Kathy in the way that he was. To your point earlier, Matt, humble and wanted to learn and wanted to understand and wanted to serve.

[00:41:04] David: And Shane's story is a real lesson, I think for all of us son. How to interact and serve and love people that are different from us.

[00:41:13] David: anyway, I think we've done four seasons, 13 weeks, you know, a season. like the calendar. And you'll hear they're about an hour long, so they're, I think, a little bit longer than yours.

[00:41:24] David: And you do have to hang in there as a podcast listener. But the stories are incredible. I would venture to say there's more tears than not, but we do laugh and we talk a lot about college football and all those kinds of things. it's a ton of fun.

[00:41:36] Matt: Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that walking through Samaria podcast. And know, I've enjoyed listening to link Forrester's episode and there's a lot of great. Stories there. So encourage our listeners to check that out. I would like to invite you to our lightning round of questions.

[00:41:50] Matt: David, this is a new thing we're trying out here, and I've got some written down. I might even throw some pivots in there. We'll see. You've already answered one of them. What does eternal optimism mean to you? I'd love to ask you if there's a movie or a song that really inspires you and gets you feeling good.

[00:42:06] Matt: What might uh, your favorite movie or song be for that?

[00:42:08] David: Oh my gosh. all of my favorite movies are redemption, you know, are redemption movies. So you can imagine, the original Rocky there's one with Harrison Ford and Annette Benning called regarding Henry, which is an incredible redemptive, movie of a mean lawyer.

[00:42:26] David: And you know, he all of a sudden comes out the other side as somebody who's redeemed and kind And Serviceful, I, I do have to answer the song one, Matt, just because we all got our Spotify wrapped, summaries earlier this week or late last week whenever they came out. And there's a song called Jericho by Andrew Rip, I think is his name.

[00:42:45] David: And I think it was my most listen to song of 2022. Not that I always listen to Christian music, but talks about the walls coming down, And that I think is part of the conversation that, we've been having. Walls between people, walls between us and God, whatever it might be.

[00:43:01] David: And anyway, that would be one I would encourage your listeners to lean into.

[00:43:05] Matt: Excellent. Thank you. How about a favorite book or two that inspire you, that you're learning from or have learned from in the past?

[00:43:12] David: oh gosh, I love to read. From a fiction perspective, I love Dickens a Christmas Carol cuz it's a great redemptive story when it's not too late, you know, when you're older. The book I'm reading right now is from Simon Sinek called The Infinite Game. And for all of us who are believers and followers of Christ, we are in the infinite.

[00:43:33] David: There is no finite ending to our game. There's no finite ending to our life. There's no finite ending to our ministries, and I don't think Simon Sinek is a believer. Sorry, Simon. If you're listening, I, don't know entirely, but. That book will change your perspective

[00:43:50] David: on work, on relationships and on eternity.

[00:43:54] David: That's really the essence of the story. So anyway, not probably a Christian book, but it will shake the hearts of believers for sure.

[00:44:02] Matt: Absolutely. it goes from thinking short-term to, you know, I think there's a quote in that book, something along the lines of, I like to play long-term games with long-term people. And that's the infinite game and. feel that way as a Christian as well to be thinking long term and the core values right behind the webcam up here.

[00:44:18] Matt: You know, do what's best for people long term. And I'm so glad that you've mentioned that book, that that's got me inspired to go pick it up again. Great.

[00:44:25] David: It's a good one. right? It's older. I heard Simon speak at Willow Creek Church at the Global Leadership Summit many years ago, and he referenced the Ted Offensive and the Infinite Game, and so it may have been published in 2012 or 2014. It's been around a while, but it's a very good read and certainly relevant for.

[00:44:40] Matt: very good. Well, let's see here, David, where else where we might be able to find you and find out more about what you're doing? Website, social media? How can we uh, connect with you?

[00:44:51] David: Oh, thank you. I would say, giving company.com is kind of where all things giving company sort of, Congregate, if you will. We do own a bunch of different media properties so people are customer facing. Our, consumer facing brand is not giving company. It's dove.org. Many people know Dove family christian.com.

[00:45:12] David: Many people know Family Christian Christian cinema.com i disciple.org. Our publishing imprint is, I Disciple publishing and family Christian publishing. The Walking Through Samaria podcast is wherever you know, you might listen to podcast, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, et cetera. You know, for me, you can probably find me on LinkedIn.

[00:45:31] David: My name is spelled really weird. Nobody spells it correctly, so I'm easy to find. I do have a website, david hendrickson.com, that's got some links to the podcast and some of the other things that we're doing, but, most of my work is giving company work, Matt. So the walking through Samaria podcast and giving company.com would be great places for people to come and find out more about us, what we're doing, and, get engaged in this incredible journey called giving.

[00:45:56] Matt: Amazing. Well, I want to take this chance to say thank you for investing in time today and coming on the show and being able to share great examples of just human of giving, of service of love for other people. It's been a really amazing pleasure. So thank you so much, David for joining us today.

[00:46:13] David: Well, Matt, I've really enjoyed it. It's been a great conversation. All my family members are probably laughing cuz they're like, well, David gets mad and is stressed out and , he works all the time and all those things. So anyway, like all of us, I'm as complex as anyone, but. I love being on this journey of, giving and love that, you know, it sort of has a strong correlation to eternal optimism cuz I, think they're highly correlated and connected.

[00:46:39] Matt: thank you David. Take care.