After speaking at a conference in Indianapolis, Chris Lambert stopped by the Truth At Work studio to visit with us about bringing God’s Kingdom to the community of Detroit through service initiatives that transcend race, politics, socioeconomic status, religious background, and social standing.

Bio:
In 2010, Chris Lambert started Life Remodeled, centered on building houses from the ground up in six days that were deeded to deserving families. After three years, Lambert partnered with the Detroit Public Schools to refocus Life Remodel’s efforts on under-resourced high schools and their surrounding neighborhoods, evolving into a transformative citywide community rebuilding initiative.

Over the last five years, Life Remodeled has mobilized over $26M and more than 55,000 volunteers from business, community, and church organizations to set the groundwork for sustainable change in four Detroit neighborhoods, each focused on bettering public education and creating safe passages for attending students.

Quotes:
“We all have something to learn from one another, and we all have something to give.”

“You’re on this Earth to make a difference.”

“Knowing who you are, knowing what your gifts are is so essential to you being able to figure out what role you play.”

Key Takeaways:
1. The key to everything is relationships
2. You can’t argue with someone’s story
3. Being present in the day
4. What is your gift mix?

Links:
Liferemodeled.com

Full transcript:

Ray: Hello everyone, this is a Ray Hilbert. I am your host here at Bottom Line Faith where we love to bridge the gap between faith and business and leadership in the marketplace. We get to interview some of the most amazing Christ followers in the marketplace from across the country, North to South, East to West and we’d like to welcome you back to another episode here at Bottom Line Faith. While I’m going to jump right in today with our guest who is joining us in studio. I am speaking with Chris Lambert, the CEO of Life Remodeled. We’re going to hear an amazing story today. Chris, welcome to Bottom Line Faith.

Chris: Hey Ray, great to be with you here today.

Ray: Chris, we are actually recording this in Indianapolis. You were in town speaking at a conference over the last couple of days and we’ve got connected and I’m just been looking forward to this conversation. So Chris, let’s jump right in. Let’s take a few moments. We’re going to learn all about Life Remodeled and what you’re doing in your organization to transform the city of Detroit. But tell us your story. Tell us a little bit about your background.

Chris: I grew up in a very small town in Northern Indiana called Milford, and when I say small town, I mean we didn’t have a four way stoplight until I was in middle school. Small town. And when it came to faith and religion, my parents would take my sister and I to church service about half of the year because they felt like it was the right thing to do. However, they never talked about God and the home for whatever reason, as far back as I can remember, I was this really spiritual kid, loved God. That kept increasing and increasing until an eighth grade. I had a nickname. My nickname was Lambert.

That’s my last name, Lambert, the Jesus freak. I was the kid who was going to try to convert everybody in school to Christianity. Of course, I never got close to that goal, but I thought I was doing God a big favor. That kept increasing until about shortly before I turned 16. I hit a growth spurt and as you can see, the listeners you can’t, but I’m only six feet. That didn’t last very long, but I became kind of a big fish in a small pond when it came to athletics at my high school. And I began to look around at my buddies who were not following God, and I started thinking to myself, wow, they’re having a lot more fun in life than me in my little youth group. So I’m going to become a little bit more like them without jumping off the deep end.

Now here’s where the story gets ridiculous, as if it wasn’t ridiculous enough already. But at 16 I decided I was going to do something crazy. I was going to start cussing for the first time in my life and tried to help me fit in. Yeah. So I’m a very intentional person. I remember driving down a country road and my Jeep wagon and I put down my rear view mirror and I said a word that I won’t say here on the radio, and I’m also an all or nothing kind of person. So I would go to school the next day. Every third words, the F word and son of a, and you name it, everybody drops their jaw. They said, what in the heck happened to Lambert the Jesus freak? So they’re laughing. I’m laughing. That’s a whole lot of fun for about 10 minutes and that wears off and eventually I decided the next thing I would do is be dating girls and all that comes along with that for a teenage guy who’s not following God.

Eventually that wasn’t enough, so I wanted to mix things up, through in some alcohol. Then a lot of alcohol. Then various drugs. Graduated high school in 1999 went to Indiana university to study business and get ready to go to law school. While I was there, I joined the largest fraternity on campus so I could have more of everything I was looking for from the ages of 16 to 22 I basically live my life by this. I was going to do whatever I wanted to do, whatever I thought was going to make me the most happy. And so life was going pretty great or so I thought, but there’ll be nights when I would lie in bed and I would think to myself, wow, I’ve got to be missing out on something here because this distance isn’t doing what I thought it would do.

So my solution to my perceived problem was just to do more of all the above. At 22 I decided to move to Australia my junior year and study overseas for six months. While I was there, I had what I would call a radical encounter with God and a couple of things happen. One, I started traveling around to Southeast Asia and various countries and of course Australia. And I began to realize the world is a very big place and I’m just a little itty bitty speck of dust on the planet. This thing doesn’t revolve around me, which was very important for my 22 year old ego. The next thing that happened was I met a couple of guys over there who became my best friends and they were who I would call Jesus followers, but they were pretty cool guys. They could go out to a bar, have a drink or two and then go home.

Meanwhile, I’d stay out doing everything they weren’t doing. Eventually they said to me, Hey Lambert, why don’t you come with us to our church service? And I was like, ah man. You know, I did that when I was a kid. I used to really believe in God. I even tried to go a couple of years ago to reconnect with them. Totally didn’t work for me, but I’ll go because you guys are going. So they go to this little Anglican church, which is church of England, or think Episcopalian church for some who might not be familiar with Anglican churches. And the pastor I remember distinctly wore skateboarding shoes and skateboarding shorts, which is very unusual for an Anglican church and I thought this is kind of a weird place. And the service was okay. It was good enough for me to go back a second time. Then I ended there up there a third time.

The third time I was there, this guest pastor from Indiana came there and he preached this sermon that basically outlined my life to a T and as he was wrapping up, I felt like God was speaking to me for the first time in my life, and your listeners will probably be familiar with where this comes from, but what I felt like he was saying to me was I was like lukewarm. I wasn’t hot, I wasn’t cold, and he was about to spit me out of his mouth. Now, the pastor didn’t say that that night, but I know I read that when I was a kid. What that did for me is it spiritually sobered me for a few seconds. I wasn’t on any drugs or alcohol that particular night, but I would say if there’s ever such a time in my life when I was spiritually sober, that was it.

And over the next few seconds I began to see visually that for the past six years of my life, God basically let me do everything I wanted to do. I got pretty much everything that I wanted. He didn’t mess up my plans, he didn’t get in my way, didn’t send me to jail. I should’ve been there for drugs and drunk driving and other things. And all of a sudden I realized that at no point during those last six years had I ever been as happy or as satisfied as I was when I was Lambert, the Jesus freak. So the pastor gave an altar call, which also doesn’t happen in Anglican churches. I went up to the front, I remember exactly what I did. I got down on my knees, I looked up, I said, God, from this moment forward, I will stop doing whatever you want me to stop doing and I’ll start doing whatever you want me to start doing. And that was a major climax in my life.

Ray: And so you’re 38 now, so we’re talking 16, 15 years ago.

Chris: Yeah, this was in 2010.

Ray: All right. So then just fast forward for us; marriage kids, just what’s the family scenario, like as we could spend I know a whole hour just on that, but give us the snapshot and then we’ll jump into leadership.

Chris: I married a beautiful Romanian. God fearing Jesus loving.

Ray: How did you meet her?

Chris: I met her at seminary in California. At Fuller Theological Seminary, and we have two amazing boys, Levi and Judah. They’re nine and six. They’re wild and crazy. I don’t know where they get that from, and we’re very proud of them. I have a suspicion. I know, I’m sure, my wife. Yeah.

Ray: So how did you end up in Detroit?

Chris: Well, my wife was born in Romania, but then moved to Detroit when she was two and when I was with her one time over Christmas, I began to talk to some of her family members that talked about Romanians leaving the church that had been born and raised in the church. And I started to pray that someone would do something about that. Never even imagining that I would have anything to do with that cause I never wanted to move back to the Midwest again. I love Los Angeles. I had an opportunity to pastor a church out there and over a series of months felt very called to Detroit and to break it down to two reasons.

I can explain that my wife and I are both very passionate about when it comes to where we want to live. We always want to live where there’s a lot of diversity and where there’s a lot of social need and LA had all that, but when we looked at what was happening in Detroit compared to what was happening in LA, we realized the need was so far greater in Detroit and that was how I could logically explain it, but as many of our listeners will know, it was definitely a very strong spiritual sense of calling.

Ray: Yeah, so there’s some family connection that was kind of like maybe the seed of drawing you back, but then God really moved in your hearts to be there.

Chris: I may tell you it wasn’t the family connection. My wife was raised in a home that she wasn’t allowed to hang out with a non Romanian, her entire upbringing and going back to the family at first was not appealing. We’ve since now formed wonderful relationships with her family, but that wasn’t the reason that we moved back. I have great people, God bless them. I love them, especially now. But we felt called to plant a church and we did that in 2007, but that’s not what ended up happening in the longterm.

Ray: Right. So what’s the story of Life Remodeled? How did that come about?

Chris: The story is we were church planters and in April of 2010, this buddy of mine came up to me, his name’s Alex McMannis. He’s the brother of Erwin McManus. Alex came up to me one day at a church planting conference and he said, Hey Chris, have you ever thought about doing a reality TV show? And I said, no. He said, well, I’ve got this concept for a show, kind of like the show Clean House. And I think you’d be really good at it. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that show. Probably not. Cause it only lasted a year. Then they pulled it. So I said two things to Alex that I’d never said in my life. I said, number one that shows sucks. I said, number two, if I was going to do a show, I’d probably do something more like Extreme Makeover Home Edition, but more holistic end of discussion. I wasn’t serious at all about it. Walked away from it. My wheels were turning. I wasn’t really serious.

But I started thinking about the concept and so I’m sure you’ve seen that show, Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I used to watch it from time to time. I would cry every time. I’d watch it right at the end, right when the producers wanted me to. But I always used to think to myself, I really don’t think this is the best thing to do for these families to build these gaudy homes and give them away for free. And then I learned that anywhere between 17% and 25% of families were losing them. So that led to this holistic concept that I invented and called Life Remodeled. The original concept was let’s build a house in six days, give it away to a low income family for free. Let’s take them through financial training, set them up with a financial advisor and Financial Peace University. Set them up with a clinical psychologist or process family dynamics, offer spiritual guidance and then invest in the surrounding neighborhood.

Not just the one home. Two weeks went by, I still wasn’t serious about it, but I felt like God spoke to me and said start it. And the two reasons why were number one, I knew it would make a significant impact in the lives of people living in poverty, which I’m very passionate about. The second reason is I knew it would bring people together to volunteer no matter what their views were on religion, politics, moral lifestyle, you name it. And so our church that had less than 200 people in a blue collar suburb of Detroit with $8,000 in the bank set out to do the impossible. And one year later we did everything I just told you. And then that evolved very, very quickly into what we now do today, which is very different and much deeper and much more impactful.

Ray: All right, so, one of my favorite passages in scripture is from Zachariah. It says, do not despise the day of humble beginnings. And you just walked us through what was kind of a casual conversation. Maybe to some degree, a flippant response to this question had been posted about a reality show. But it sounds like God planted a seed there, a very small seed, and now it has really, really grown. You just walked us through the early days, but give us the size and scope now of Life Remodeled. Then I want to back up and talk more about vision and implementation and really get into some blocking and tackling here.

Chris: So here’s what we do. We revitalize urban neighborhoods in Detroit and I’m here in Indy looking at hopefully one day coming to this city and Chicago and other cities. But our strategy is this. We do three things every year. Number one, we renovate a community asset and repurpose it. Number two, we repair owner occupied homes. Number three, we mobilize at least 10,000 volunteers in six days to beautify 300 city blocks. Now those three things obviously make a very significant impact on physical structures and spaces, but that’s not our mission. Our mission is we exist to bridge people across divides to help transform each other’s lives. I think we can all agree America is experiencing tremendous division. And I believe urban poverty does not have to exist, but it largely exists because that division is so strong and has been for such a long time and we’re about creating relationships that can overcome that division and create sustainable communities.

Ray: And so tell us a little bit about what the last 12 to 15 months have been like in the life of your ministry.

Chris: We are in a neighborhood that is very historical. It’s the neighborhood where the first high school in Detroit was started and it’s also the neighborhood where the 1967 Detroit riots started 51 years ago this year, and it’s a unique project for us that’s actually shifted our paradigm. We used to remodel existing high schools and then move to the next neighborhood. The next neighborhood. About two years ago, the district invited us to take over a gorgeous former school building that was built in 1927 with a slate roof and neo-gothic architecture. And they wanted us to repurpose it into a hub of opportunity for children, youth, and adults. And so over the last 12 to 15 months, we’ve been physically renovating that building and we’re bringing in tenants, nonprofits, and for-profits to move in because we are not a community development corporation. We’re not the nonprofit that’s going to start up programs to directly address social needs. We’re the community quarterback, we’re the connector. And so our role has been to find the best and brightest nonprofits and for-profits to move into the facility. They’re the ones providing job opportunities for Detroit or as real world, hands on, educational opportunities for kids, healthcare opportunities, literacy training, funding for for-profits to start up as entrepreneurs and our building, and so on and so forth.

Ray: Yeah, and I mean, it’s just exploding, right? And it’s become so much more than probably the original vision. And by the way, Chris, if someone’s listening here and they’re like already intrigued by this conversation, what’s the best way for somebody to learn about Life Remodeled?

Chris: We have a website, all right, and it’s LifeRemodeled.com. We’re nonprofit, but we went with a .com because it’s familiar and we are about to release a 167 page playbook for free, which will be on our website by December. That was funded by Chip and Joanna Gaines of the show Fixer Upper. They gave us the funding to be able to produce this playbook so we can give it out or across the country to try to inspire others and inform others of how we’ve done what we’ve done.

Ray: That’s extraordinarily exciting. Okay, so many of our listeners, they’re business owners, they’re entrepreneurs, they’re vision people, right? They’ve got goals, they’ve got things that God’s placed on their heart. Walk us through just kind of how it went from this conversation that you were asked about a reality show to where you kind of responded and then you walked away and you started thinking. How did it go from that to a real vision that you began to act upon? What was that like?

Chris: Yep. So the vision statement or mission statement that I just mentioned, bridging people across divides to help transform each other’s lives has really always been what we were about and are about. But I use different language initially and I was a pastor at the time and for me, my motivation is, and I speak about this free all the time publicly. I want to be like this certain Jewish construction worker who lived about 2,000 years ago, was brutally murdered and came back to life. And I’m very passionate about spreading that message with others. And what resonated with the church congregation that I led and the many other churches in our areas was the opportunity to share faith by demonstrating faith. And by having the opportunity to verbally communicate faith; that’s really earned when action is very palpable. And so that resonated with our church and in a variety of other churches where the first project we did was really done by Christ followers and a few construction companies who donated their labor materials, but most of them were Christ followers as well.

Where this thing really grew and evolved was when I would speak at churches, because I have a lot of relationships with pastors and I would communicate the vision and a businessman or a businesswoman would hear from the stage for the first time, maybe in their entire time attending the church. Wow, I can get my company involved in this. Yeah, and then that led to opportunities where as you’re familiar, most companies are looking for opportunities to volunteer what we have a great outlet for them. Then that turned into in kind services where all of our legal is donated. Almost all of our marketing is donated and we’ve found a way to get about 74% of the five and a half million dollars that we do a year donated through in kind of relationships through great companies and organizations that really want to give back in a meaningful way.

And so the key to everything I would say is very simple and very difficult. And that’s relationships and developing very diverse relationships, doing the best to never burn any bridges but to find opportunities where everyone has a role, everyone can belong and no matter what perspective they’re coming from, they have something to bring to the table. But always being very clear about who I am and what I believe. And I think that’s earned a tremendous amount of respect and that I’m not hiding my faith ever, but we’re very intentionally not a religious organization. And I share my faith publicly as this is my perspective and I always clarify it with this is not a religious organization. And what I found is that people are very gravitated toward hearing our stories and you can’t argue with someone’s story.

Ray: That’s right.

Chris: And people don’t want to argue with your story. They actually are very interested in what you have to say. And it’s not threatening when I’m telling you my story. And I found that a lot of people want to figure out how maybe that can be a part of their story in the process.

Ray: There’s a great parallel here because one of the things, you know, having run Truth At Work for 20 years, working with Christ followers who own and run businesses, we’ve often had this conversation. There is no such thing as a Christian company.

Chris: I agree.

Ray: You can’t baptize a company can’t.

Chris: Exactly.

Ray: Jesus didn’t come to die for an entity, you know, whether they’re an LLC or a sub S or a C Corp or whatever it may be. So there is no such thing as a Christian company. However, there are businesses that are ran and led by believers who want to do so on biblical principles.

Chris: Yes.

Ray: That’s the parallel here is so you’re not a Christian ministry per se, right? A Christian organization, but you’re a follower of Jesus Christ and you are bridging at all religions, all socioeconomic, race, ethnicity, and you even engage in these communities. Drug dealers and gang leaders. Tell us about that and why. You know, somebody might be listening like, that can’t be part of building God’s kingdom. How could that be? Those are evil people. How do you do that and why?

Chris: Well, I don’t know that the drug dealers and gang bangers are any worse than some of the other people leading a large companies that we work with who maybe not.

Ray: Yeah, exactly.

Chris: So sin takes many shapes, sizes, and forms. And one of our mantras is we don’t serve Detroit neighborhoods. We serve with Detroit neighborhoods. And so one of the most important components of neighborhood revitalization is engaging the local community to one, find out what is their vision for the future, to not import a vision from outside the community and then to engage them as much as possible on leading and implementing the projects and the goals for the future.

And so we do end up working with a variety of people who are dealing drugs, and in gangs or affiliated with gangs. And that all comes through a relational network where I think too often charity is this top down approach where you have your benefactors who are up top and your beneficiaries are down below and many times charity takes the form of where the benefactors are seen as the solution. The ones who have everything in life figured out and the beneficiaries are, their role is just to take the goods and say thank you and do something good with it, right? And instead what we believe is in many ways we’re very much on level playing field where we all have something to learn from one another and we all have something to give. And I think that that mentality has created a platform to where people like you just mentioned drug dealers, we have the Michigan department of corrections out there serving in those men and women have a blast because everybody feels like they’re equal. And that is a beautiful thing. Honestly, it’s my favorite week of the year when we have the 10,000 people. Not because it’s a bunch of people, but because it’s so many different people that normally would blow up in a room if they were together more than three minutes. And they’re each bringing a unique story and journey and pathway, but moving in the same direction with the same vision and the same objective.

Ray: And that’s really the great parallel to leadership and in business because we as Christ followers, those who are listening, who are owners and leaders in companies, we’ve got the exact same opportunity and platform here where we’re in a diverse community serving diverse customers and clients and employees. But when we have a common vision, when we have a common objective and we understand what that is, that’s when unity can occur. And Chris, you honestly are building God’s kingdom using both followers of Jesus and those who are not yet followers of Christ, correct? Is that a good way to put it?

Chris: That’s correct. And I based that on the way Jesus did ministry because I think we can all agree that Judas was not a believer and yet Judas was commanded to cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead. The same thing as the other 11 disciples and the 70 that Jesus sent out. And I actually do not believe any of the 12 disciples really believed Jesus was the Messiah. You know, you got Peter who liked to run his mouth. He was, Peter was a lot like me. I think we have a lot in common and he’s jumped, oh yeah, you’re the Messiah, this and that. And then we all see how that turned out when times got tough and yet Jesus included that and came back around.

Ray: He sure did.

Chris: There was a point.

Ray: Yeah, you’re right.

Chris: But yeah, Jesus included them. You know, Jesus didn’t just come to earth and say, watch me do all this cool stuff, but I want you to do it with me. And I believe that’s one of the best ways to introduce people to the kingdom, is to incorporate them in the work of the kingdom. Whether they know that they’re directly doing it for God or not, and then that just creates opportunities to give verbal context to the work in the midst of relationship.

Ray: So Chris, if there’s someone listening right now who’s like really intrigued by your story and how God’s used you and taken it from just a conversation to this amazing work, but somebody’s listening, maybe they’re discouraged, maybe they’ve had an idea, maybe they’ve not acted on it, maybe for fear or doubt, or maybe there’s naysayers in their life or they’re just out discouraged right now. What encouragement would you have for that person who’s listening right now going, where do I go from here?

Chris: Sure. I would say that the passage that really drives much of what has gotten me to where I am today and where I think God’s going to take me is when Jesus said that he who is faithful with a little will be given much. And so I never planned on leading a nonprofit. And at the time that I started this nonprofit, I actually hated raising money. And the part that I left out is we did produce a reality TV show pilot that I thought was going to fund this whole thing. So I never thought I’d lead a nonprofit before that. I never thought I would be a pastor. But once I did give my life to Christ, I found that being faithful in the little things, being present in the day and not fantasizing about the future, looking to the future, looking for where God is leading, but being present in the day of how can I maximize my opportunities to be like Jesus and do the things Jesus did with my spouse, with the current place of employment that I’m in, in this scenario that I’m in and developing deep relationships of some might call it networking.

I don’t really like that word because it sounds too intentional in maybe a negative way, but it’s not a bad word, but really developing relationships, and God works through relationships and God will lead you through those relationships of where he wants you to be. And he’ll give you the support that you need through those relationships to be able to carry out maybe the vision that’s on your heart right now, or maybe the vision that you don’t even see, but by you taking the steps you’re taking now, you’re going to see three years from now.

Ray: And what about that person who is listening and going, Yeah, but there’s just so much need out there. What do I do? How can I really make a difference? What encouragement would you have for them?

Chris: Well, I’d say you’re on this earth to make a difference. So one, just come to terms with that beautiful reality and know that, you know, we all play significant roles and what I try to do is stay in my lane and knowing who you are, knowing what your gifts are is so essential to you being able to figure out what role you play in that. Because you know, we are over inundated with information nowadays and needs galore. We can become overwhelmed really by the global needs and by the the needs that we have in our own backyard. It can almost become overwhelming and we want to try to do what whatever we can. Instead we need to learn who we are, what is our gift mix and that will very much help us learn how do we plug in to make our difference that we’re made for in this place we call earth.

Ray: Yeah. Just as kind of maybe a little tap onto that. Recently I had a chance to interview a Cheryl Bachelder who was the CEO at Popeye’s Chicken and led one of the greatest turnarounds in American business history. And she talked about the important thing is to focus on what we can do and not give any energy and attention to what we can’t do because that’s overwhelming of what can’t be done. But it’s just those little steps, right? That’s what you’re talking about.

Chris: Yes. Yeah. And for me, learning my visionary giftings, I’m very passionate about entrepreneur-ism and I’m very passionate about evangelism and learning that about myself, that I am not an integrator. I am not a COO, but for the early years of this organization, I had to play that role. But to get to the place where we are now, I had to work toward finding that right hand person who can do what I can’t do and learning how to build a team with the right people in the right seats. Otherwise, our organization would have folded several years ago.

Ray: So you’re what, 15, 16 years into this. So what do you wish someone would have told you in the first year that as you now look back over the last 15, 16 years, what do you wish you had known that first year that you’ve now learned as a big aha?

Chris: Well, I would say some of the biggest mistakes we made and I made personally were around fundraising in that because I hated fundraising, right? I wanted to just try to figure out, okay, how do we get the money and that God wants us to have and move forward? I had no professional fundraising training whatsoever and I never looked at the tithes and offerings that people were giving in our church. Cause I didn’t want to know the names of the people who gave, cause I didn’t want to shake a big donor’s hand better than a small donor. So I overreacted in many ways. And when I took that into fundraising, people were giving very large sums of money and I wasn’t staying in contact with them in relationship with them because I was so bogged down in the day to day and I was working in the business rather than on the business. And caused me to miss a lot of opportunities to build some very amazing relationships. Because what has changed my mind about fundraising is fundraising should be transformational for donors, not transactional.

Ray: That’s awesome.

Chris: And that has been very enlightening to where now I enjoy it because I’m not going out there asking you for money. I’m getting to know you and seeing if you want to bring your whole self to this. Cause if our causes intersect and if they don’t, I’m going to help you find another cause that intersects better with your life.

Ray: I love that.

Chris: The words that we use are so powerful. You know, when we start, you know, it talks about in Philippians 4, fix your thoughts on these things. You know, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, excellent praiseworthy and sober. Just by saying to yourself, I hate fundraising. You are planting wrong seeds.

Ray: I agree.

Chris: Negative seeds instead of Hey, I love giving people a chance for a transformational relationship.

Ray: And that’s where you’re at now. Right?

Chris: Correct. You’re right. That my mindset was very tainted by experiences that I’d had and that limited me. Well, hey, I think that’s called growth and we’re allowed to grow in those areas, right? And I think I got a long, long way to go and that’s part of what I love about this life.

Ray: That’s right.

Chris: You never arrive.

Ray: That’s right. Just as a reminder, Chris, again, just tell us the website that folks can go and learn more about you and the ministry. It’s amazing.

Chris: It is LifeRemodeled.com. And we’ve got videos on there. We’ve even got a full documentary of one of our projects that is fascinating. We’ve won five Emmys in Michigan, so it’s pretty good. And we would love for anybody that’s further interested to reach out to us. And again, we’re looking at other cities around the country. We’d love to connect with men and women who have a passion to possibly engage in something like this in your city.

Ray: I love it because you’re transcending politics. You’re transcending race and ethnicity and socioeconomic status and even the religious boundaries that we put up. And you really are bringing people together to bring God’s kingdom into the community. I love that. And so, well done. That’s awesome. That’s encouraging.

Chris: Well, thank you for the words of encouragement and I’m inspired by like-minded thinkers like yourself.

Ray: It’s fun, right? You know, the Bible talks about that, you know, being in community. And so Chris, we’re here at the end and for our regular listeners, they know that there’s one question that’s always my last question. And it’s based out of Proverbs, chapter 4, verse 23 where Solomon says above all else, guard your heart for, from it flows all of life. So you’re a young guy now, but let’s say that you’re towards the tail end of your time, this side of eternity, and you have a chance to gather your family, your friends, your loved ones, those who are most precious to you, and you’re going to get a chance to pass along the most what you believe to be the most important piece of advice. So rather than waiting then for that, why don’t you offer that same piece of advice right now to our listeners here at Bottom Line Faith. Fill in the blank for us: above all else.

Chris: Commit your life to not just believing in the life, death, and burial and resurrection of Jesus, but commit your life to believing that his example is one that can truly be followed and can truly be learned and continue to deeply dive into his life, his attitude, his practice, his reactions. And that’s a never ending journey of day by day become a more like him.

Ray: Oh, I love that. So not just be a hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. Chris Lambert, thank you for joining us today on Bottom Line Faith.

Chris: Thank you brother.

Ray: It’s been awesome. We are going to continue this relationship. There’s going to be some exciting things. If you have been intrigued, encouraged, inspired by learning about Chris and not only his story but his ministry and what they’re doing there in Detroit at Life Remodeled, please, please check out their website LifeRemodeled.com. Great tools as he has shared with us that are available there and I am sure that he would be delighted if you would even, you were telling me a story earlier about a guy from another city that volunteered, came up for six days and served.

Chris: Yes, we’ve had people come from Maine, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Indianapolis is the last story I was sharing with you earlier today, so you’re invited from anywhere on the globe. August 5th through August 10th of 2019 is our next six day project.

Ray: Okay, so check it out at LifeRemodeled.com it could be a truly transformational experience. Bring your employees, bring your family. I’m sure that it will be a very, very good six days for you. Well folks, as we wrap up here at Bottom Line Faith, we hope that you’ve been encouraged by our conversation today with Chris. We’d love it if you would check out, all the other interviews that we have. The website is BottomLineFaith.org and if you’re not a regular subscriber, you can certainly do so on Google Play, the iTunes store, Stitcher, all your traditional podcast platforms. If you’re a Christ follower and you’re looking for community with other business owners and leaders like yourself, check out TruthAtWork.org. Truth At Work is the host ministry here at Bottom Line Faith. Check out that website at TruthAtWork.org. Click on the round table link there and learn how you could join the community of hundreds of Christ followers connected in round tables across the country. So until next time, I am your host here at Bottom Line Faith, Ray Hilbert, encouraging you to faithfully live out your faith every day in the marketplace. God bless and we’ll see you next time.