CEOs or Christian business leaders in the marketplace have 840 times.

More impact to the unchurched than a pastor on Sundays.

And when you look at what's happened with COVID, they're saying seven

out of 10 people are not in church.

And so how else are we going to make a kingdom impact if we

don't do it in the marketplace?

And so what really God has really illuminated for me is that our.

Businesses are our greatest platform to reach people for kingdom

Um, uh,

How can blending faith with business revolutionize the way we work?

us today on Seek Go Create the leadership journey as we talk to

Crystal Parker, a bestselling author, speaker, and president of the U.

S.

Christian Chamber of Commerce.

Crystal is a former executive in the oil and gas industry and she has

turned her 25 years of Organizational management experience into a powerful

platform for change, impacting culture through kingdom commerce.

In her book, the best robot wins.

Crystal dives into the modern business ethos, merging corporate

efficiency with human integrity.

for a compelling conversation on leading with faith, culture,

and the transformative power of Christian values in business.

welcome to Seek Go Create.

Thanks, Tim.

I'm thinking I should bring you with me on that intro.

You bet.

Well, I had a lot of rich content to pull from, and we're going

to, have a fun conversation.

I'm very excited.

I'm always excited my friend, I'm sure your friend, Sabrina

connects me with someone.

And I know this is going to be one of those.

mind altering spirit, spiritual, but yet practical and business conversation.

So I'm, I'm excited about this.

first thing though, I used to ask everyone you do is kind of my first

question, kind of a technical question.

Kind of an icebreaker is what I do when I'm out and about.

And it's a great networking question if you're in a chamber or something like that

event, I'm going to give you a choice.

Would you rather be asked, what do you do or who are you?

Which question would you prefer to start with?

And just tell me that and then go with the answer.

Well, who I am is a very important question and it really hits me in

the heart after I left corporate and I had spent 15 years there really

creating my identity in corporate, I was Crystal Parker, vice president,

fortune 200 oil and gas company.

That's who I was.

And I led with that, I was that, I owned that, I believed that, I drank that,

I bled that, you know, everything I was, was that identity that I created.

And once I left that behind, and I remember even telling my daughter at the

time when I was like, Leaving the company, she looks at me, she was young and she

had big, big crocodile tears in her eyes.

And she looks up at me and she says, if you're not Crystal Parker,

vice president, who are you?

And I was so busy grappling with that answer that it didn't even dawn on

me that my daughter of like four or five years old didn't know me as mom.

that.

identity was everything.

So thank you for that question.

And I am an evangelist for Jesus Christ disguised as a businesswoman.

I'm sold out for the kingdom.

I'm a daughter of the most high king, and I get to live in that identity.

And the cool thing about being in that identity is nobody

can take that away from me.

There is no failure.

There's no misstep.

There's nothing that can take away the fact.

That I am a child and a daughter of the most High King.

So super opening question for me and one with great, great, great meaning.

Yes.

me to start changing and you know, here's why, you know, we're like

almost 300 episodes and what you do has been my opening question every time.

This is the first time crystal that I have that and it was a home run.

you hit it out of the park and I'm, I'm sitting here loving the response so much.

I'm thinking, Hmm, I wonder what else I might need to change in the way I do it.

You know, you brought up a word, Identity that I don't

know that we talk about enough.

I think, we have a lot of things that are superficial.

I think the question, what you do is a very superficial

question, but it's a good one.

Okay.

Cause it's a way that I could start talking to someone and

then find out more about them.

But, tell me more about The identity of crystal because that it's got

to be a gut wrenching question when your daughter a four year old I've

got granddaughters that i've been hanging out with for almost a month

now and it just Keeps us so grounded.

but, what was that like to get that question?

And was that the beginning of you shifting that identity or had that started before?

Tell me more about identity and what was going on there.

Yeah, so that change was huge for me because when you leave behind

your identity and you're, you're in essence starting over and you're

thinking to yourself, well, who am I and I start, I actually am an adjunct

professor for university and part of our ethics courses, we ask our

students to just start with that.

if you just strip away all those things that the world attaches to you, that

is a very daunting and scary question, especially for people that don't really

find their identity or understand what it means to be a child of the King.

And so that is a powerful, even so much that our conference that

we did in April of 2024 this year, We did a conference for the U.

S.

Christian Chamber of Commerce.

It was our global expo and business conference, and identity was the

very foundational principle of that.

It was, we called it SWC 2024, which was Spiritual World Citizens 2024.

And we really attacked identity in Christ, as the first.

And I think business owners or anybody, if you can understand who you are, first

building on that is so much easier.

It's almost like building on the rock, right?

it's biblical.

What we're told

Sure.

so 20 plus years ago, when you were like deep into corporate oil and gas,

you know, top company, et cetera.

would you have had an identity conversation at all or was it something

that wasn't even on your radar?

I was a 52 hour a year Christian, a Sunday Christian.

And so I knew about God, but I wasn't living God.

I didn't have relationship with God.

And so I would have never Ever even one time considered telling anybody that I was

a child of the king or an evangelist for Jesus Christ disguised as a businesswoman.

Never would I ever, because what I was taught as a professional Christian, a

one hour Christian a week was that you go to church and then it's separate.

you can't be in ministry and work.

You don't bring them together.

And actually it's funny because when I'll open up in

conferences, I like to say, okay,

And this is for your audience, too.

I like to get to know who's in the room.

And so I'll just say, If you're in full time ministry, could you please stand up?

And there'll be maybe one person that stands in a room of 150 people.

And it's actually the pastor.

And then I'll say, Oh, thank you for standing.

Are you a pastor?

He will typically say yes.

And I'll say, stay standing.

I don't think the other people in the room, these are Christian conferences.

I would never do this in a secular conference, but I don't think the

people in the room heard my question.

So let me just ask it again.

If you're in full time ministry, please stand up.

See, we have conditioned people to believe that they're not in full time ministry.

Although it's, We are ordered to be fishers of men, not just on Sunday.

This is a, this is a really big conversation for sure.

sort of two subtitles here, crystal.

One is the leadership journey and and I, and I think this is an important

topic for leaders of any of any.

type, you know, business, ministry, organizations, things like that.

And so we may dive into that in just a second.

And then we also discuss redefining success, kind of

what does success really mean?

And so I think The identity topic is important for both.

I work with leaders and leadership teams of organizations.

and the thing that I identify early on what we'll call a healthy You know,

sometimes we use the term self image.

That's kind of a worldly term for identity, but you can really

tell leaders that struggle.

If they really don't know who they are.

And, and one of the reasons I think is such a cool question and I'm so glad I

started with it it's such a good question because you know what, I would love it

if someone would even admit that, I, I'm not sure, don't know what my identity

is because I think that helps us even move forward with some conversation.

And I think it's even okay for people that are the child of the King that say they're

part of the kingdom to say, you know what?

There's a lot in the scriptures.

There's a lot to our instructions and being obedient.

And I believe that I'm this, but I'm still not exactly sure.

I mean, that's okay too, right?

absolutely.

I think there's a struggle between, Who am I knowing what it means to

really be a child of the King, but also what am I called to do in this world?

what's my purpose in life?

And I think that's something that, you know, people allow.

I always say this, the fastest way to kill something special is

to compare it to something else.

And when people fall into that comparison game, instead of thinking about, well,

This is why I love to do, you know, I love to be a teacher and, or I love to

work at the whatever, fill in the blank.

That's perfect.

Because my mentor, when I graduated from college, so I dropped out of

college and I ended up going back to school, had a great mentor.

And after I graduated, she wanted to meet me outside of work and

she brought me a book and it was the secrets of six figure women.

And I devoured that book because at the time I was maybe making

30, 000 or something a year.

the whole theme of it was this, and I'm not recommending people read it.

it doesn't matter what you do.

If you do what you're passionate about, then you will be very

successful financially or whatever it is that you're seeking.

And I think that God gives us all a different passion, a

different burden, a different, you know, desire and experiences.

And so it's really just.

Stepping away from what the world shapes and says, because my, my sister,

when she was going to college, she was following in her brother's footsteps.

My brother was a pharmacist.

He got out of college.

He made, you know, multiple six and, She thought, Oh, I'm going to do that.

So her first year in college, she started taking all of the things you need to

take if you're going into pharmacy school, which is math and all of this.

She hated it so much.

She calls me up.

She calls me up and says, I'm dropping out of college.

And I said, why?

She said, I hate it.

I said, why don't you switch your major first before you drop out?

Now I'm proud to tell you that my sister is a doctor, in education

and works at the collegiate level.

But she had to find what was her passion, not chase money, not chase

the things the world tells you or make you successful, chase what God has

placed in your heart as your passion.

And that works for people that don't even know the Lord yet.

They could just follow their passion and then find the Lord.

And that's okay too.

Well,

little bit later and really go into some details about all that you're doing there.

But I think all this is a good buildup to it.

I have found.

I'll say it this way, when I was not following Christ, I didn't really

think too much about my purpose.

I was just going after it.

You know what I mean?

I was a hard charger, ambitious, was going to go make me some money.

I knew that when I was growing up, I wanted to be a coach.

Both my parents were educators.

And then somehow I found out how much money they made and I went,

Ooh, I don't want to do that.

Let me become an engineer.

Went to Georgia Tech.

I did corporate, and this was late 80s, early 90s, and I kept gravitating

back towards teacher, coach, teacher, coach, everything I would do.

then I got saved around that time in a business setting too, by the way,

not in a church and, but Crystal, then it seems as if I started.

wrestling more with what's my purpose.

I don't think I did it when I was like, you know, a total heathen,

Gentile, unwashed, whatever.

But now, and I really do think that that's a big challenge within what we'll call

Christian business, Christian leaders.

I went to Bible school for a few years and there were people that were

just sitting and waiting for the Lord to down on from on high, what it is

you're supposed to do in this life.

And I think there's a big struggle with that.

Do you observe that in some of the roles you're in that it almost becomes a

bigger struggle when we admit that we're that, Christian follower disguised as

a business woman, as you said earlier,

I definitely think that there is, well, I follow you on what you

said, because that was me too.

I was really good at business.

I didn't know it at the time.

I mean, my dad had told me you're not as smart as your brother and sister.

You're probably gonna have to get lucky into something.

And I wore that.

Like, you get it.

Maybe you've heard that too.

Well, my dad was in education

dad.

My dad is in education.

he thought book smarts were the only smarts, but you know, there's a study in

Harvard that says that 85 percent of job success, well developed people skills,

but we don't need to go there, dad.

I learned a really hard work ethic because school was harder for me.

So I had a great work ethic.

I was good with people and that translated very well in the world of corporate.

I didn't really realize it, but what I was doing was, I had a fear of failure

and I was striving because of those words that were spoken over my life.

So I had to prove something to somebody.

So I wasn't doing it for the right reasons.

once I fully gave my life to Christ, you know, it was amazing how God's

been able to use all of that.

So all of that's part of the story and how he's redeemed it.

And he's allowed that me to be very successful to use that.

That for what I get to do today.

So I think really to answer that question, people that are confused

or that don't really know what their purpose are, they're waiting for this

big magical lightning rod to happen.

I would just say, walk, walk.

It's progressive revelation.

God doesn't give it to you all at once.

if the Lord would have told me, Crystal, you're going to be the president of

the U S Christian chamber of commerce, and you're going to launch it.

I would have laughed so hard.

Because that would not have ever been what I call for my life, but I just

kept walking and stepping and going with, you know, that next, what's the

next right thing to do and then do it.

And God will reveal it piece by piece and progressively.

I believe that.

did you grow up, was your family Christian, church going, whatever

family when you were growing up?

I'm surprised.

I don't, I should have this plaque on my wall.

my family got the 52 Weeks a year for 10 year perfect attendance award at church.

literally 10 year perfect attendance award at church.

So that's 520 church services in a row without fail Even if we traveled

my dad would preach or something and we'd do the church service

We were one hour, 52 hours a year Christians.

And so we thought we were Christian.

That's what I knew growing up.

We said our nighttime prayers and we prayed before a meal

and it was God is great.

God is good.

Let us sing him for our food.

Amen.

And that was our prayers.

And we did that.

And we thought we were Christian.

And so, you know, I'm so thankful that my mom and dad allowed

me to have the cornerstones.

In my life of the word of God.

So the word of God was stored in my heart.

but I certainly was not living like any kind of Christian so much.

So I know people looked at me who called myself a Christian and said, if that's

a Christian, I don't want anything to do with it because I was not, there was no

fruit, no fruit at all around my trees.

there had to be some foundational ethics or mindset or you knew some

Bible stories or something, right?

I knew Bible stories.

I sure did.

But we lived in chaos.

I mean, my, unfortunately, my dad struggled with alcoholism and,

our home was just unpredictable.

There was always something churning.

My mom was very successful in, the elevator grain business cause

we were in Southwest Kansas.

And so she was working all the time it was just kind of a

challenging existence, honestly.

but it was rich.

There were some rich things that every Sunday we could count on it.

And my dad had passed me lifesavers at church.

my dad's no longer with us anymore.

But those are some of the best memories to have, you know, and it did

create those cornerstones in my life.

I think that allowed me to be where I am today because of those lessons.

had that foundation growing up.

You, obviously we're, we're told you may not make it by dear old dad.

Thanks dad.

And, and you're going to, you're going to have to work harder, Crystal, than the

rest of them, because these, these, these other siblings, they're pretty darn smart.

They're becoming doctors and getting pharmaceutical And so you obviously

into corporate world, and then at some point, you obviously went up

that ladder, at some point, something started to either change, was it, you've

mentioned progressive revelation, was it progressive, or was then a, was there an

event, was there a catalytic, I, I have this theory that sometimes Our greatest

change occurs with a catalytic event.

We would love for it to be focused, progressive change.

usually it's a two by four to the head.

For me, it's been that way.

How about you?

When did things start adjusting and changing?

It was the two by four to the head.

so even when I was in corporate, I started to raise up the ranks and I got involved

while I was a supervisor in corporate, in a direct sales, like an MLM company.

And so I was doing that alongside my job.

this MLM company believed that they were selling product, but

truly it was a, it was all about.

They were like, in disguise, a development company.

And so a lot of professional development in that company.

And that was when I first got introduced to John Maxwell and some of his work.

so there's little things coming, some points along the way.

However, it was the two by four for me.

Second divorce.

5, 000 square foot home in Windermere, Florida.

I am a failure, you know, two time failure in marriage, huge bank

account, great house, wonderful life from the white picket fence on.

But I was emotionally, socially, physically bankrupt.

And it was that I strove, I strived and strived and strived for all the things

the world says makes you successful.

And it's all a stinking lie.

And no matter how much I got, the more it was empty inside and ugly.

And so here I am sitting in this house and I'm realizing that this way

that I've been going is not working.

And so all those lessons, all those things that were placed inside of me.

And I finally just said, okay, God.

You've got me if this is real.

And it was amazing, Tim, because I got to experience the living water

of Jesus Christ just washed me clean.

And it was an experience like I've never had before in my life.

and it was that abounding grace of Christ in me.

Threw me in that moment where I was just at a full surrender and it

wasn't like I was heaving crying.

It was just like the Lord just healed me right there in that moment.

and from that moment on, I say, never want to be separate from Christ again.

And so it got all those lessons that were in my head flowed into my heart

and it was a true surrender for me.

Interesting, Crystal.

You know, there's a scripture that says that He is the

Lord and Savior of our lives.

one thing that's interesting, and I, I've observed this with me and, I don't think

this has to be a theological question.

It might just be your personal experience.

Were you saved?

Was he your salvation prior to that?

And that is when he became Lord over your life?

surrender, or am I trying to make something out of nothing here?

No, that's so interesting because.

I thought that I was.

And I think I probably would have gone to heaven, just because I had surrendered

to God, like not fully surrendered, but like I had, you know, I believed in Jesus.

I believe that Jesus was the savior of the world.

I just didn't know what it meant to allow him to be the savior of my life.

I talked to a gentleman, director at Palm Beach Atlantic and he said, Crystal, he

said, I was a nice guy going to hell.

And, I thought a lot about that and I wonder if I would have been, I don't

even think I was very nice, honestly, climbing up that corporate ladder.

I know I wasn't.

but I wonder if I wouldn't have been somebody that wouldn't have,

you know, enjoyed the fruit of eternal life with Jesus Christ,

but I can tell you one thing.

I do know this life now Knowing Christ and being in relationship with Christ,

which means praying with him, abiding with him being with him reading about

him exploring and learning more.

That's what it means for me and I can tell you right now

my life changed significantly.

My goals, my striving, how I parent, how I speak, who I am, every

single thing changed about my life.

Less chaos, more peace.

Less chaos.

And now I recognize the chaos.

And I say, so much.

So I remember I was really struggling.

Um, I was the president central Florida Christian chamber first, before we

launched us and, everything's going well.

I became the president a couple months after COVID It was a dying chamber.

We brought it back to life, put in a process, created this

really great flagship Christian chamber in central Florida.

And so, you know, when everything's going well, that's usually when God's

like, okay, you know, so, but I got that tap on the, on the shoulder.

The Holy spirit was very clearly moving me and shifting me into

launching U S Christian chamber.

And we had helped launch West Ohio.

We'd helped launch Jacksonville Christian chamber all from central Florida.

And so when I started to get that feeling that sense that the Lord was moving me I

was a little disobedient in that because it's like I'm finally at this place

where I'm getting paid I've got assist like we've built a chamber here with

salaries in here And still that gnawing and I hadn't told anybody but my husband

that I just was really sensing this and here's How the Lord got my attention in

my prayer time I just truly sensed that the Lord was sharing with me that if you

do not be obedient, I won't be with you.

In other words, you want to do it your way.

Remember that corporate crystal.

Remember that.

and I'm telling you, that was enough to just get me back in alignment

because it was like, oh, my God.

I can't do business without God.

I can't do business without the Holy Spirit.

And I don't want to be without him trying to do this on my own.

Well, because I know what it means for God to go before you.

I know what a hedge of protection feels and looks like, and I'm not willing

no way, no cost, no how, no chance.

Am I ever willing to go back to that life where you're completely uncovered?

it's just not fun.

It's really not.

And so that's when I said, okay, Lord, My life is yours.

I'm here to serve you, whatever you've called me to.

And funny thing was two weeks after I fully surrendered it to the Lord,

a 16 year banking executive who is a member of the Christian chamber

came up to me and he had this really bewildered look on his face.

he says, in my prayer time, God told me that I'm to be the

president of the Christian chamber.

And it's just so funny because I had said this to nobody, except for my

husband and God was just waiting for my yes to give me that next step.

It was amazing.

Yeah,

year, we're recording this late in 24, think it'll probably be released in 24,

and late 23, my wife and I kept getting the nudge to meditate on this word in

Eternal, eternal mindset, eternity.

And it's really to reframe, our perspective on time.

and so it's interesting about it.

I used to be roll out of bed, got a business idea, website

up by midday, go, go, go.

I've got a team that's trying to put things together and

we're coming up with a product.

I'm slightly exaggerating, but I'm sure that's what it felt like to be around me.

It's like, Oh my gosh, what is he going to, what is he going to put on us today?

And I have, it might be a little bit of age, maturity, grandfatherism,

stuff like that, but I'm just like really slow now to do things.

And you know what?

I actually think that's more kingdom you were just talking about you delayed,

but I think God's okay with that.

I think he would rather there be a delay And then a hundred percent Then a roll

out of bed and get going with something that's flippant and then all of a sudden

it's like oh my gosh What was I thinking?

I don't know any thoughts on that any I mean you could rebut me

you could say no tim, whatever

I definitely, I mean, a lot of people say to me, like, how do

you know I'm hearing from God?

and it reminded me of Shay Bynes, who's on our board, and she wrote

a book called Grace Over Grind, and

She's been

really,

a guest here at seek go

she has, She's, she's really mentoring me a lot in that too, of just, you

know, settle down a little bit, like, make sure you know that you're

hearing from God before you run off and chase it, do it, try it.

And, I just, you know, I've been ahead of my skis many times and

I've tumbled down that mountain.

It's either the hard way or God's way.

It's just, there's only two ways, the hard way or God's way.

And so learning about that delay, that process.

Pause even your wisdom today before we even hit recording was just like,

let's just breathe for a second.

Let's just pause.

I think there's so much power in the pause and just making sure.

And so people will say, how do you know you're hearing from God?

And typically it's not just a one nudge.

God is so beautiful to confirm his word and, it'll be maybe through

somebody like what I experienced, you know, you'll hear it in prayer,

you'll read it in the scripture or.

You will know that, you know, that, you know, that it is of God.

and oftentimes it defies what the world says is the right thing to do.

not in an unethical way, but for example, when I told my family, you

know, I'm leaving the chamber, they knew.

Leaving central Florida to launch U.

S.

They knew what I went through to build that.

And they said, so, you know, what, what does the U.

S look like?

Well, it's a big dark hole.

I don't know.

there was nothing, and well, what's it gonna pay you?

Well, there's, I don't know.

I mean, and so that to the world's people that don't have the spiritual

eyes to see, it seems a little Crazy.

And 16 months ago, I would have agreed with you.

It certainly was contrary to what the world said was the right thing to do,

but now that what we're seeing in this movement is such affirmation that yes, God

definitely has called us forward for this.

That's exciting.

And I want to, I'm going to dive more into the Christian chamber here in a second.

There's a couple of things that are still lingering from

our last few questions we had.

First thing I want to tell you is that was saved in a business setting

and it was a multi level marketing.

conference, we were with the Amway network.

I got involved with that about two years in.

And I don't know that I personally want to go back to doing any of

that, but I'm so thankful that my wife and I did that for 10 years.

Number one, I was saved.

I think I was a better husband, father, et cetera.

And a lot of the personal development that I went through was because

of that system and that network.

So I want to

Yeah,

sounds like it had some impact on you too.

Correct.

100 percent because I mean, really, to do that type of work

and that's, that's challenging work and it can be very rewarding.

and it's a wonderful low barrier entry into owning your own business, but it

definitely takes some hard work and that development is so important, that

personal development, because what it's doing is building leadership.

Building leadership because the greater the leader, the better the

teams and the better performance.

to be successful in those types of businesses, and I would say almost

any kind of business where you're dealing with people, to be a strong

leader is really the best way to grow your company and grow your business.

And so, but yeah, those professional developments in those MLM

companies by far hands down.

And I'm thrilled to hear that you found Christ in a business

setting like that because, that's, that's really what it's all about.

I read a statistic that said that CEOs or Christian business leaders

in the marketplace have 840 times.

More impact to the unchurched than a pastor on Sundays.

And when you look at what's happened with COVID, they're saying seven

out of 10 people are not in church.

And so how else are we going to make a kingdom impact if we

don't do it in the marketplace?

And so what really God has really illuminated for me is that our.

Businesses are our greatest platform to reach people for kingdom, because if

people, if I could just kind of like a little bone to pick, I've heard people

criticize the church, all the church is this, the church is dead, the church is

this, and that kind of irritates me a little bit, because We're the church.

Well, you're talking about yourself because here's the thing.

We need our pastors to be a Bible preaching, courageous pastor on

Sundays so that we can, we as the marketplace, as people in the world,

we can go out and share about Christ and inspire people to want to know more

and then feed them into the churches.

What's our job?

So every time people criticize the church, for whatever reason, I hope they see those

three fingers pointed right back at them.

Because I really do believe that we need pastors on the pulpit.

And we need people in the marketplace reaching people for kingdom.

And it all works together.

It says in the Bible, one person plows, One person plants and then

I'm the guard, God of the harvest.

And that is how the system works.

We're the body of Christ.

We're not, you're the church.

We're the marketplace.

We're the body of Christ and every joint will supply in this body.

Yeah.

sorry.

I am actually one that may have been critical, but I think I'm critical.

I am critical of the current.

structure, we'll call it the 501c3 structure that we have because it has a

tendency to promote full time ministry as being the ultimate profession.

And I saw this a lot when I was in Bible school and around a lot of Christians

there's this pecking order of, You know, missionary in some third world countries,

like the most virtuous, you know, pastor is next, an evangelist, et cetera.

And then way down the list is business person, maybe right above

lawyers, you know, or used car salesman or something like that.

Right.

I'm exaggerating, but not totally.

So that's my criticism is that I don't think

Yeah.

between what I would say is that church structure and something like the Christian

Chamber of Commerce or a business person that's called to do Did you ever?

Either feel a little pressure or a nudge or wonder, maybe I should go to Bible

school and become a minister and do that.

Did you ever feel that at all when you were going through your

submitting to the Lord process?

No, sir.

Never?

No.

No.

Wow.

Well, you're much better than I am.

I was feeling, I like going, you know, and I ought to just preach.

I can still make a.

Good bit of money outside.

I mean, here's the coolest thing about this is I've actually, been

asked to lead a funeral for somebody that didn't have a church home.

I guess I was the most Christian person that she knew and

she wanted that for her mom.

And so I was able to bless her in that way.

I've preached on the pulpits, cause God's opened those doors for me.

but it's funny one time, Tim, I ran into this.

So I was speaking at a secular conference.

It wasn't Christian.

So how to behave a little.

And I told them, you know, I was talking about my book, but I said,

this book is based on the holy living Bible, but it's not religion.

Okay.

Just to kind of put people at ease.

You say religion, people get a little.

Tense.

And so anyway, so as I'm talking about the book and I use the parable of the seed

sower to really break down processes and how to build your business to maximize the

competitive advantage through your people.

And as I'm talking, you can just see this flicker of the Holy spirit start

to kind of catch in people's eyes.

And it was almost like the masks are starting to come off.

So as I'm sitting, I'm signing books at the end and I had somebody

come up to me and say, like, quiet, like covert, like I'm a Christian.

And I'm like.

Good for you.

I know.

And so then this one guy comes up to me and he says, he says, when I retire in

three years, I'm going to be a pastor.

And I said, sir, I said, sir, can I tell you something?

And he said, yeah.

And I said, you already are.

Just don't tell anybody and he was like nobody had ever given him permission

and so I get your point I understand what you're saying I do think that's one

of the lies from the pit of hell and I think it's a Terrible rumor that's caught

fire that you're either in ministry or you're not and that's not true And so

What we want to do is empower people and really bridge that gap with the church.

And I do think there's a lot more pastors that are starting to get that.

I mean, Billy Graham said it the next greatest move of God's coming

through believers in the marketplace.

We know we've heard it.

And so I just, I really believe that there is a real opportunity for unity in the

church and the marketplace coming forth.

Yeah.

One more quick question about your previous life.

Do you believe it sounds like you were going through a transition,

you submitted to the Lord and then things kind of took off.

do you believe with where your heart is now if you went back into that corporate

setting, Things would be, different.

You would behave differently.

And let me add this to it.

That complicates the question a little bit.

Mm-Hmm.

have found that the current corporate structure, is a bit controversial.

Okay.

by men for men

sure.

that are really, really good, aren't either rewarded well, or

they struggled to be more like men.

I guess I'm asking if you go back with the heart you have now, what

do you think that might look like?

Just, Kind of played a little game here.

What do you think that might look like?

that I have never been asked that question before, and so that's good.

That's really good.

One of the classes I teach at university is women in management and

there is 100 percent implicit bias.

There is a pay parity.

it's not, I think it's, I know it's statistically valid.

It's true.

And it's not necessarily intentional.

I'll answer your question as I'm thinking about it, but I'm laughing

about myself because here I am teaching women in management.

I'm all about women in the workplace.

When I started in my career, and I was an oil and gas.

And so when I became an officer at 34 years old, I was the

youngest officer with only five.

I was the fifth woman out of 60 officers in this multi billion dollar organization.

there was many times in my journey that I was the only woman in

that workplace, in that space.

And I remember even going to my boss and saying to him, Early on when I was

the secretary, saying to him, you know, I think I want to, I want to do more.

Is there opportunity for me?

And he kind of gave me that little pat on the head.

Well, little lady, you know, little sweetie, you know, you'll have to just

move and take another corporate job up there up in the corporate office.

And it was funny because at 34 years old, here I am running the West side of

Texas, all the gas company, corrosion, construction, engineering in 47 cities.

And so it was amazing that, you know, women, and so this is kind of like taking

a turn, but I think it's important to say women often don't have a straight.

path to success because it's illegal to discriminate against women.

Sometimes it becomes a labyrinth for us and we have to be willing to move.

And so many people would ask us, are you in the military?

My poor daughters had like 11 or 12 houses.

Like we moved with the opportunity every three years.

moving up and over and looking for those opportunities.

And so I don't know if I was.

as strategic as God was just walking along my path and going before me because of

what he had planned for me later in life.

Now, if I went back into that environment, what would be different?

well, I don't know if I could survive in an environment like that.

because I can tell you, You know, sometimes things will slip

out of my mouth and I am saved.

And I thank you for that, Lord.

And I'll say, Oh, sorry.

I worked for the gas company for many years and there's a different language.

There's a different way you move in some of those environments.

And so I think if I went back to corporate, it would

be either one or two things.

I don't think I could grind my way to the top like I did.

but I do think that if I went in a top line, I would be more successful in

my leadership because I have empathy and kindness in my heart to really be

able to be a true, authentic leader.

And so, yeah, in that, if you take that same environment and

a different me, could it happen?

I guess the answer is only if God would allow it because that's just the truth.

Yeah.

And I kind of bring that up because sometimes when we have these

conversations, someone listening might go, Oh, I'm not supposed to be in corporate.

I'm supposed to be doing my own thing.

But I know you would agree with this.

There are people that are supposed to be in corporate.

Oh, yeah.

they've got the demeanor and the heart and the grace is there.

And so anyway, that's kind of one of the reasons I asked him.

I'm glad I asked that question.

That was a great answer.

I appreciate it.

So somewhere along the way, Crystal, you wrote this odd titled

book called Best Robot Wins.

Okay.

didn't have the time to go through all of it, What the

heck is up with best robot wins?

I remember my publisher was like, yeah, this looks great.

We're going to change the title.

And I said, no, God gave it to me.

And they said, all right, well, we won't mess with it then.

but yeah, the best robot wins.

You know, I'd really see business as a machine.

And if you really create a machine so that when your people are

plugged into the machine, then they're going to be more successful.

So if you think of business as a machine, or even the person, when the title

hit me, I remember I was launching, you know, working on central Florida

Christian chamber, trying to get it to the point where it could pay a president.

I was.

In the middle of creating our first ever expo and conference.

And I was a single mom at the time.

I was still working as a professor and I was working a lot of hours.

And then I had this opportunity to write the book.

And I remember thinking if I'm going to be successful, I'm almost

going to have to become machine like, meaning very regimented, very,

intentional about everything I do so that I could flow in this world.

Through this book and that really is it.

But then there was also this other thing that dawned on me when I was writing this

book, which is Holy Spirit, 100 percent because this book's three years old

and look at where we are today with AI.

And what hit me when I was writing the book was.

there's no disaggregate in how we treat the human worker versus

how we're treating the robot.

we talk to our A L E X A, I'm just doing that for your audience so nobody's thing

goes off, but we talk to that or Siri.

And we never say thank you.

so we're basically training ourselves to be able to ask and get work

without the common courtesy or, you know, speaking to human beings

and treating humans like humans.

throughout the book, I just want to share stories about how people should

be treated, especially with this robot revolution that's happening, that

was Three years ago, and so it's only exacerbated what we're seeing today,

but it really is about your competitive advantage is the human worker.

And if you can set up the business in a way that your human worker

flourishes, then your competitive advantage is going to keep you around.

It's going to keep your company agile, and you're going to be

able to evolve and innovate with the best companies in the world.

Yeah, I work with leadership teams and I'm an industrial and

systems engineer Georgia tech.

So process structure systems.

I know your organizational management background and expertise and all of

that stuff does work extremely well.

Within what we'll call that world system, that Babylonian system.

And I think those skills are going to be needed.

However, I find myself more about love and compassion relationship.

I mean, we've got to do all those things.

We need the proper structure.

We need to make sure people understand all those things, but I

find myself interjecting more love in to what I do than anything else.

Do you observe that?

It just, what you're making me think of is just the scripture.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can't overcome it.

And to me, love in this very, very dark, cold, shifting world

is that light in the darkness.

And he also talks about salt and being salty.

And I think about a very sterile environment and then somebody brings in

roses and boy, the fragrance is beautiful.

That's beautiful.

That's the fragrance of Christ.

And so what you're talking about is all of the beautiful fruits of the spirit

in the corporate world that is so attractive and beautiful and different.

And I think we will see that shift, you know, towards people

are going to be attracted to that.

They're going to want to know what's different.

And I would just tell you, be ready to share your story and your testimony for

anybody listening that chooses love.

You know, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self control in this world because people are going to

say, what's different about you?

And that's our greatest opportunity to share Christ in the marketplace.

The robots and the technology.

I think they have value.

I love

quite a bit.

Yeah, me too.

but think how we will distinguish ourselves.

Yeah.

apparent the difference between that, I call it the Babylonian system, the

Babylonian system and the kingdom of God.

becoming extremely vivid, the difference between the two.

And I think people are going to be asking questions about it.

So in light of all of that.

Somewhere along the way, the Lord instructed Crystal to, I think you

said the organization you were over in Central Florida, they had the website,

they had some of the assets of the U.

S.

Christian Chamber of Commerce, and you felt instructed, assigned to dust

off that old website and to, Just release, spread those nets to the world.

Tell me a little bit about that.

And then I definitely have some questions about it.

So the founder of the entity, 21 years ago registered the business

as us Christian chamber of commerce.

And then they put it underground and built central Florida Christian chamber on top

of it, like is a fictitious business name.

And that was it.

They held it, but they did steward it.

They steward it.

they just didn't know what to do with it.

And I don't think the timing was right either.

And so then when I became president in central Florida, it was, Two

months after COVID, There was this vaccine mandate and there was this

real separating of Christian values in the world and closing of churches,

keeping liquor stores open, and we started to see a lack of leadership.

for Christian values in the world and a real paradigm shift between the two.

And so that chasm just grew and people were lonely and looking for connection.

We started to grow our Christian chamber outside of central Florida.

And then I got the calls from Las Vegas, Christian chamber

of commerce, help us grow.

Somebody in Alaska called me and said, Hey, could you help

us start a Christian chamber?

Who's supposed to help these people?

West Ohio Christian Chamber.

We helped them.

Jacksonville, we helped.

And I realized as I'm looking up there, there's no U.

S.

Christian Chamber of Commerce.

That's us.

Whoa, that's us.

And it was like God was just, Dropping these little seeds and these little

things to show me and grow me and prepare me for this launch of the U.

S.

Christian chamber.

And I really mean you would have to literally be living in a tunnel and have

no contact with the, not in a, not an RV and a tunnel with no contact in the world

to not believe that the time is right.

For Christian chamber of commerce, because this nation was founded

on godly principles on the Bible, many references to the Bible.

We are lacking kingdom business leadership in local cities and in our nation.

And so we want to aggregate those people, unify the body of Christ and

put God back in business in this nation.

some might argue as Christians, we need to.

into what would be the regular chamber of commerce.

This might be a good opportunity for you to define what a chamber of

commerce is just not Christian, but just because I've been part of those,

around the country, especially in the Atlanta area when I was there.

and maybe not everyone understands what a chamber of commerce might be,

but why would we need as Christians our own or as opposed to us just,

attempting to share some of our values in, a regular chamber of commerce.

There's a few reasons I'll hit you with the high levels.

number one, Christians do business.

Christians that are head and heart.

Christians do business in the rest of the world.

you go to a regular chamber of commerce and you talk about the Holy

Spirit while they're having their drinking fest and networking it,

or you talk about, can I serve you?

People don't understand that they take advantage of it.

And it's not a place for Christians to go and be open and grow.

Number two is.

We're called to use our business as ministry.

People in the world do not understand that.

And so where are you strengthening that marketplace mission,

business's mission, if you're in the regular chambers of commerce.

Second or third point is we have got a huge hole in our boat.

Meaning if I don't know who the Christian businesses are, How am I

supposed to do business with a Christian when I do business with somebody that

has a different worldview than I do?

They take that money and they poured into causes and initiatives of things

and people that hate our values, that seek to destroy everything

that we believe in, in this nation.

So if you're okay with your dollars getting leaked into the world and

poured back into, I don't know, Planned Parenthood, whatever.

Or something like that that destroys the values of what we believe in.

Then go continue on in your regular chamber of commerce.

But what we want to do is we want to provide a place where Christians

can do business with Christians.

They can be safe to do business the way that we're called to do

with the Holy Living Word of God.

And when we do that, that rising tide lifts back.

All ships, and it helps us to transform cities in a way

that makes a city flourish.

It's almost like if you've ever given money to something to say, we're going

to match your dollar and you're like, well, I give 100 and that's like 200.

That's what it's like doing business in the Christian chamber.

So your social capital becomes Christian businesses, and that changes everything.

now with this mindset, you're now ready to go be in the world, to be prepared to

be in the world with a stronger resolve, with a biblical foundation and a knowledge

of who you are and how your business is to be used for kingdom advancement.

I'm not suggesting that all the Christians leave chambers.

We have Chamber members that are both types of chambers.

but truly to join a Christian chamber of commerce is to truly grow as a

Christian in business, strengthen other Christian businesses and to

see transformation in your city.

So This is kind of a cynical question.

To join, number one, how do you know I'm a Christian?

Do you need some kind of statement of faith or something?

Or can I just put a fish on the side of my truck and then I'm good to go?

I'm looking around at times going, I'm not sure if some of these folks are on the

same team, but, how do you go about that?

That seems like it could be complicated.

Yeah, it is, Crystal Parker, the corporate Crystal, that one I was telling you about.

She would have joined a Christian chamber because she thought she

was a Christian and I love it.

That's exactly the type of people we're looking for because there's such a mix

of people that are all out Christians.

They know God, they're like God is my CEO and then you've got

somebody coming in like I'm just coming here for a business meeting.

That's okay.

But when they become a member, they sign a statement of faith that says,

I believe in the birth, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And I believe that the holy living Bible is real.

And if we can get there, we're non denominational.

We're nonpartisan.

We're not going to go in there and say what we're, you know, against and for.

The only thing we're for is Christ.

And so we just get on that basic foundation.

And so what ends up happening is there's an accountability structure

within the Christian chamber.

So if you do have somebody, if we just use this word, that's just a

wolf in sheep's clothes, or maybe just a jerk and they're doing business.

but calling themselves a Christian.

Now you have accountability.

I can tell you how many people as the president of central Florida would

call me and tell on our members.

And, because they were like, this lawyer says he's a member of your

Christian chamber and, and this person did this, this, and this, and this.

And so it was good for me to give that feedback to him.

But our members, our chamber leaders, presidents and boards, we have

in our bylaws that we can remove you from the Christian chamber.

And we will for the integrity of that chamber, but also we vet people as well.

So it's not just signed the statement of faith, but if I pull your website

up and I see things, or I pull you up on social and I see things that are

not, It's not about kicking you out.

It's about bringing you closer and it's about really showing you,

Hey, you know, you want to be a part of the Christian chamber.

Let's have a conversation about what might be looked at from the world.

How can we help you grow?

And so it's not about exclusion.

It's about inclusion and it's about really inclusion according to the Bible.

to clarify, you do allow lawyers into the Christian Chamber of Commerce?

That's so bad.

That's so bad.

I love having lawyers there.

Okay.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

I don't, I, we won't edit that out.

We will leave that in because that's, important to keep there.

So,

That's too good.

Crystal, I,

I love it.

I think I heard you make a statement on a podcast I listened to or something,

I might mess up the statement, but I think this is a good way for us

to start landing the plane here.

It was something to the effect of you used to worship work and now you

consider work to be your worship.

And if I messed that statement up, Correct me if I got it wrong

and how that relates to people that are in the Christian chamber.

Sure.

So yes, statement is I used to worship work.

Now I use my work as worship.

And if you look back at work, even from the very beginning, it is a form of

worship as you're working in your calling and you're serving God with your work.

It's, Such a beautiful way to worship the creator.

but before I knew that or understood it, I really did worship the work.

I mean, the work was the savior for me.

And instead of using work to worship the savior.

And so that really impacts the work that we do and priorities in our life.

I think that was one of my biggest opportunities as a person before I really.

Found what it meant to be surrendered to the Lord my

priorities were way out of whack.

I was serving work.

Work came before everything in my life, money, power.

Those were all the top things.

And then it might've trickled down to family and then God.

And now it's completely upside down.

God's first and foremost.

And when I serve him first and focus on him, everything else pours out

and flows according to his will.

And that becomes family, becomes more important than the work and work.

Work becomes one of the last things on the list, which is so.

Ironic in this whole story.

So, if someone is a business owner and they're a Christian listening in, should

they join the Christian of Commerce?

Should they pick up the phone?

We're going to tell them how to reach you in just a second.

what does that look like?

Absolutely.

I mean, we really seek to serve Christian led companies to help them grow their

businesses and grow their impact.

And if that's you, if that's somebody that says, Hey, I want to grow my business to

make a greater impact because you realize it's not about chasing the dollars.

It's about impact in lives.

This is a great place for you to come in and be surrounded by Collaborative

people that want to give you resources and help you to really become the best

business owner because you're stewarding something that God's given you.

And so you want to make sure you're stewarding in a way that

gives him the glory and not you.

And so, yes, and you can get ahold of us at uschristianchamber.

com.

It's uschristianchamber.

com.

You can hit that contact us, just join.

Just be a part of this movement of God that's, really a new wineskin.

It's marketplace.

It's, serving him and hopefully we're waking up a lot of people that get

hungry to get back into church and really find a new relationship with God.

Yeah, listen, Marketplace Ministry.

is part of the church.

It's part of the ecclesia.

yes, the buildings and the churches and the pastors, that's part of it

too, but we're out there every day and I am so in agreement and so

supportive of what you're doing.

I'm sitting here thinking in my mind, I'm going, Hmm, I probably need to go

click on and join because I love working with leaders and leadership teams.

And at the very least, I could probably connect with people that

I need to be doing some work with and are helping or supporting also.

crystal.

Thanks for that.

We'll include all the details and I encourage everyone to just go connect.

Crystal, we're seek, go create those three words, and I'm going to allow

you as my last question to pick one of those that just means more resonates.

Seek, go or create, which one do you choose and why?

Well, I've got that personality style like you do.

And I'm going to go with go, just go.

just don't wait for any of it.

Just go and God will show you the way.

Excellent.

Crystal Parker, thanks for joining us.

I was excited about this and it exceeded my excitement.

So thank you for that.

In fact, I'm sitting here going, know, wish I could do about another 45 minutes,

but, try to keep these close to an hour.

Go connect with Crystal, go connect with the U.

S.

Christian Chamber of Commerce.

I see no downside.

I see only upside to more people being connected and establishing

and growing that organization.

So I appreciate her coming on and sharing that.

If you've been listening in to Seek Go Create, we have new episodes every Monday.

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Keep it up because we love getting these conversations out to the world

until next time, continue being all that you were created to be.