4/29/22 - Building a Glorious Reflection: Jerry and Carol Meeks, Glorious Reflections

Welcome to the, iWork4Him podcast. I'm Michael miracle producer of the, iWork4Him radio program, the voice of the faith and work movement. Our mission is to transform the workplace of every Christian and do a mission field. What does that look like in your workplace? Let's find out right now.

Jim: Hey, you've tuned into, iWork4Him, the mouthpiece for the faith and work movement, we're your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg.

Martha: Thanks for joining us today. You know, I'm excited because it's not often that we get to have a husband and a wife join us when we, as we are husband and wife.

Jim: We are?

Martha: You know, that Jim hope our audience knows.

Jim: Yes. Okay, fine.

Martha: He's teasing me today, everybody, but I'm just excited for what's ahead in our conversation.

But if you are interested in finding out past episodes that we've had, make sure to go to, iWork4Him.com or even on just your favorite podcast platform, you can go and scroll through past shows and catch up a little. Everything is also on the awaken podcast network, a place where you can find not only iWork4Him shows, but for him and more than a hundred other podcasts speaking into some form of a conversation around faith and work,

Jim: and on iWork4Him. We're constantly seeking out stories of Christ followers, living out their faith in their work. Many times we get a chance to interview the business owner, but their spouse isn't available

today we get a double. Jerry and Carol meek own a construction company in Arizona. They build fabulous dwellings and do fantastic remodel jobs. Now there may be some of you thinking can a general contractor really live out their faith in the rough and tumble and cutthroat world of construction? Absolutely.

Categorically. Yes. Jerry and Carol Meek have lived it, made mistakes, experienced failure, and seeing great success all along learning to follow Jesus and be a glorious reflection of God in their lives. Today. We're going to talk about their love story, their work story, and how the two stories jelled together to be a lesson in love, obedience and sacrifice, Jerry and Carol meek.

Welcome to iWork4Him.

Jerry Meek: Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here today.

Jim: Well, we're glad that you're here and we hope that you are happy to be here after we're done with the podcast. Jerry, you started your company at age 18 with your dad. Why the construction business?

Jerry Meek: Great question. And thank you for asking.

I actually started going to work my dad at five years old. And I just loved spending time with my dad. At 14, I bought a truck and started a landscape business, paid somebody to drive it for me. And the more time I spent with my dad and the industry, I just, I really loved accomplishing things and building things that outlast me and frankly, my dad said don't go into construction.

And that was kind of my form of being a rebellious son. It's like, I really liked it. And so that's why.

Jim: So, were you a Jesus follower at the time when you started the construction business?

Jerry Meek: Yes, but I was very early on my walk.

Martha: So what, what does that look like then if you were very early in your walk? AT what point did you have a deeper commitment with Jesus?

Jerry Meek: I am. I'm not a person who had say a watershed event in their life. Mine has been more building blocks and stepping stones that I would learn something. And my superpower was not what I learned, but I like to apply what I've learned in our industry. We get resumes. I've got 10 years of experience, 20, 30 years of experience and so on, but really they have one year of experience they've repeated 20 or 30 years.

There's no growth. And so that was what I tried to do in my life and still do.

Martha: So Carol, I would love to hear from you, how the two of you met.

Carol Meek: We met actually in high school. It was our junior year and Jerry had moved; he'd been at 10 different schools and this was his first year at this high school.

And we met in choir. Our choir had been selected for the youth and music festival in Vienna, Austria the next summer. So we spent all year doing work projects, raising the money to be able to go. And we just worked well together. We were great friends. Didn't date or anything. And then my freshman year in college, we had one, our first date.

We went to an Audrey crouch concert. And then we just stayed in touch off and on through college. He was, he was working at the time and I was going to school. And then my senior year, I, I had contacted him to take him out for his birthday. It was actually our third date. And he proposed. And I said yes, because it was just one of those with one of those friendships where I, if I never saw him again it the kind of thing I would want to know when I got to heaven, what did you do with your life?

Because I felt like he was somebody really special and God's hand was on him. And I just wanted to see what he's got accomplished through a lifetime, but. We got married nine months later, I thought about quitting school, but it was like, no, we need to finish this, but it was just, we've worked together.

We've done life together, but I just, I feel like I married my best friend and so much more.

Jim: We started together in high school choir as well.

Martha: And I moved to the high school when I was a junior. So, so, you know, this is such a great story.

Jim: I didn't have the hair the Jerry had back in high school, I've seen Jerry's high school pictures.

I am sure that's what you like. I was hard picturing when I saw Jerry with the afro. I'm like I just picture and Jerry with the afro today, but

Jerry Meek: you know, it's so funny, so I'm, I'm being interviewed by a college president and one of the students asked the question. If you could do anything different, if you could go back, what would you do?

It's easy. I would have brought about 10 toupees of my natural hair and preserve it so I have it.

Martha: Oh, back when that was an option. So Carol, tell me your Jesus story.

Carol Meek: I was, I was fortunate. I grew up in a Christian home with race in the Lutheran faith, but I felt like it was a good foundational Faith that's to come from strong work ethic, but I would say it was probably in high school.

I just really had a hunger for the Lord. And at that point it was just kind of what I did on my own. Just the, you know, I would spend hours in the word and just, it just was, it was a fresh new hunger after the things of the holy spirit. And I feel like that's where I really grew. And. That was really foundational to who I was and what I was going to need to be prepared for in life ahead.

I think sometimes that's the same thing. I think construction, where you've got to, you got to plan how you're going to build the foundation because you don't know what's coming ahead. What's going to shake that foundation. And I really feel like the Lord allowed me those teenage years and early twenties to just really build that because once we got going and we were moving, it's like it had to come from within us.

And I just, I'm thankful for that time to grow up.

Jim: So talk to us about your faith playing out in your marriage. Jerry, you said that your faith was in its infancy stage when you know, when you were in high school and in your early twenties, when you and Carol got married, how did your faith play out in your married life?

How did your faith become a bedrock for your marriage?

Jerry Meek: Well, I think that's a continuous improvement attitude that I've had, but honestly, I was baptized Catholic. And, you know, it was like following rules created by somebody else. And I moved around kind of schools as Carol mentioned, but I was beat up and bullied and I had a lot of fears and insecurities and at 14 years old, I was at a little assembly of God, church in Mesa, Arizona.

My family actually started going to church together. And I, the youth pastor was amazing. I wasn't really, I didn't have a personal relationship at that time, but I was able to accept Christ and it changed my world. My insecurity started to go away. The more I filled up with the work and doing the right things.

But my faith in our marriage basically it's, what's kept us together. We've never blamed each other. If an issue happened,' if the faucet's broken and I broke it, we focused on fixing the faucet. She doesn't blame me that I broke the faucet.

Jim: Do you break faucets often? Is that a thing that you have an issue with?

Jerry Meek: I like instant, hot water. What can I say?

Jim: All right. Well, we come back lots more from Jerry and Carol meek, their story, their business story, and how their faith plays out in the day to day. You're listening to iWork4Him, and we'll be right back.

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Go ahead. Check out Awakenpodcastnetwork.com and then be that kind of person and tell a friend,

Jim: Hey, welcome back to iWork4Him. As we talked with Jerry and Carol meek, you can check them out online. Maybe you want to, maybe you don't want to. I think you should. JerryRmeek.com. That's M E E k.com.

Jerry R meek.com. Both of their stories are out there. It's actually fun to actually read them. That's how I knew that Jerry had curly hari in high school. Jerry, just so just for the record and for the, iWork4Him audience, when we were in our early twenties, I think I was 22. I'd always wanted to have an Afro, but I grew up with really straight hair.

Yes. I had hair then. And so, and 1988, Martha came home one day and I greeted her and I had gotten an Afro and she screamed.

Martha: I did. A little fact about Jim and Martha

Jim: Thanksgiving pictures from 1988, demonstrate that I did in fact have curly hair for six months. All right. Back to Jerry and Carol meek and their story running a business as a couple is challenging.

There's lots of stressors. Whether you work in the business or not there's stressors. Carol, are you involved in the day-to-day the business?

Carol Meek: Yes, I am. I have been on since we were married, it's like I originally had a full-time job and then I would work nights and weekends doing bookwork counting, things like that for him, whatever he needed.

And then at one point when the business got really busy, about five years into that, I did quit that other job. And then I was working full time with him, but corporate officer pretty much handled the accounting side contracts, client interface HR. Those kind of things,

Jim: everything, but putting the nails in the board, everything, but putting the boards in the nails.

All right. So, but the construction business has a lot of ups and downs. You know, we have one major. I mean, you had probably 20 plus years of ups, and then you had 2008, which is probably a little rough. How do you deal with those financial stressors in your marriage? And personally, as you guys are trying to run a business, but you're seeing the tidal wave coming at you I'm sure.

2008 was probably a big challenge.

Carol Meek: I think the biggest thing at that point in time, Jerry found just every day, he just had to give people hope. It was kind of like, I mean, in Phoenix, in the Phoenix area, we had thousands of people laid off. We had businesses closing, we had architectural offices closing and it's like, when they aren't drawing work, then we're not building work.

. But I think the biggest thing, wherever he went, it was just, you had to figure out how to, how to have for people to have. We had met with our people and told them that we would not be laying people off that we would go without a salary if that's what it took in order for everybody to get through successfully, there was a point in time, too, where we had the opportunity to work with Phoenix Dream center.

And we brought together a lot of our trades to at the time, just to see what could be done for others. And everybody had time on their hands. But we had the opportunity to work there on Jerry can tell you more about what we did with that, but yeah, there's up and downs, but I think that's the biggest thing.

You've just got to remain firm, keep that foundation solid to know God's going to get you through and that there are going to be opportunities. But I think what we always face too, is people are always watching you and how you respond to that. And it's like, if we were afraid, that's how they were going to see it.

And that's how that they would respond. But we just had to have a hope and a confidence that everything's going to be okay, God's got this and nothing's taken him by surprise. I think we were so blessed that sometimes we just think we're going to live and expect to live in this place of blessing all the time, but that's not realistic either.

Jerry Meek: The other thing I'd like to piggyback on that. I made a really bold statement when I brought our team together. And I said, if we're going to start a business today, what would it be? And I said, it wouldn't be construction and everybody started to panic, but I said, Hey, we've got a great team. We've got the best clients, the best trades.

What can we do? And I, I pretty much shocked. Everybody said, we're not participating in this economy. I sent this down to economy. And I said, I believe in God, and I believe God's going to get us through this. And that takes a lot of courage from a leader when your people, aren't all believers and probably a third were at the time, we have a lot more now, thankfully, but that we're not going to take a check that would involve a whole lot longer than I had ever planned on - years.

It was tough. We didn't lay anybody off. You know, we, I believe got out of bed or would have turned around. We were busier sooner than everybody else in our industry. We didn't have to retool and get new people. So God is a big part of our success is all of our success in business.

Jim: People are such a key in the business and when they know they're valued, all of a sudden they go, Hey, I work in a construction business and my boss values me.

Well, what's up with that. That gives you an opportunity, Jerry, to really live out your faith daily. Talk to us about how, how you live out your faith with your people and with your subs. Cause you know, your, your business, isn't just your people. You're dealing with subcontractors.

Jerry Meek: Yeah. And that's really interesting because I look back at, you know, my dad, my dad passed last year back, both of our parents, my parents, and Carol's mom all within six months.

And it gives you a chance to reflect, or my dad taught me. He said, Jerry, the only thing you'll ever honor is your integrity and keep working on it. And my dad, amazing story for another day on time, what he overcame and what my mom overcame. I just decided that I moved around a lot. I didn't have a lot of friendships.

So I think that I wanted to be more, I'm a relational individual. That's more important. So we built that and basically I had some rough challenges. It's like my insecurities would pop up when I didn't want them to. And it was early in the business. So my dad came up to me. He says, son, you know, I love you.

I said, yes, dad. He goes, if you don't lighten up, I'm not even going to work for you. I was turning over people and it was one of those, you know, how did God get into this? Wait, I have to lay out clear expectations. I have to train the people and build a team. And that really helped. And my, my mantra became about point with everybody, our employees and our hundreds of trade contractors.

How can I help you succeed? Or what obstacles are in your way? Yeah. And that was about worked for us. It was always people before profits.

Jim: Hmm, that's a beautiful.

Martha: It has to be refreshing for the subs, especially to have someone approach them that way, that how can I help you succeed? Not what can you do for me, you know, as the first I'm sure they're used to just being taken from, but you've filling them up in that way.

Such a great example. So I am sure over these years, even, even aside from the economy, things in your business have had success and failure. Can you maybe Carol, can you share a story of something that a notable time when you saw God show up in a way that maybe surprised you in the midst of a hardship and a victory?

Carol Meek: It probably all revolves around people. And you've figured out that they're your greatest asset, but I feel like that's, we're very much relational rather than transactional, but it's also like, we depend on our people to do all that we do. It's like, we can't do what we do just us two. But I think one thing that we learned early is sometimes, I mean, you make the best choice you can when you're interviewing people and getting to know them, but it's based on very limited amount of time spent with them.

And I think in the early years we would try so hard to make it work when it didn't seem like it was. But we were trying harder than the employee was. And so over time, I think we got to a point where we knew when it was time to just let it go, you know, and Jerry would say, you know, help them to their future

Jim: Free their future.

Carol Meek: And usually it's the other employees who say, wow, we were wondering what took so long, but it's like, I think with experience too, when you realize that, you know, and that's the, Lord's leading too, to know if it's not working out to just go ahead and part ways sooner than later, because it's hurting everybody in the process.

But I think of also people being so important we, in 2015, we got two of the largest projects we we'd ever had. And I feel like every, and like Jerry was saying building blocks, it's like everything we've learned and developed and grown through the years, what's a building block to this point in time.

But the first thing we did is we went to our trade owners and just sat down with them to find out what's your capacity, what's your commitment. You know, we're taking on something larger than we've ever done before, but we can't do it without everyone. But, you know, what's your commitment. And they said, you know what?

You have, you have been there for us through the hard times, but they said, we're going to be there for you, whatever you need. We'll set aside whatever we need to, that this is our priority. But I feel like it's that, that way of working together or working through things together. And there's always, there's always tough things that you encounter, but how are you going to work through it?

That you're not, you're not blaming, but you're figuring out the solution and moving forward with it, or how can plan ahead so that you don't face some of the situations too?

Jim: Jerry, did you ever imagine all your years at desert star construction, that you'd be where you're at today and that you've seen the hand of God in the intimate details of your business?

Did you ever expect that?

Jerry Meek: Not to the level where I started my first 20 years. And this is probably embarrassing. I'm not very proud of, but our average income for 20 years was $17,000 a year. I really don't know how we made it. Yeah. And that was just a lot of hardship in there. And I think what it was for me, it's like, God took that, that resilience and that commitment not to quit.

And the majority of our clients are the wealthiest in the world. They're. They're household names and everybody listening to your podcast, uses their products. If they have a cell phone, have to have a computer. If they shop at the largest retailer in the world, they're the largest automobile company. And I'm a guy who grew up in a trailer who was beat up and bullied.

So this is all God, because I couldn't do it on my own. And I believe that it's Christ confidence. It's not Jerry's confidence. Yeah. And if we have time, I'll tell you a few of the things that really were watershed.

Jim: Give us, give us a ball points, give us a bullet points, and then we're going to take a break.

Jerry Meek: Okay, well, you said something about failures.

I put on my notes, it's like there's too many to list. So big picture don't ever do a personal guarantee. That's a story unto itself as well. I guess I know while I was a personal grade and a lack of due diligence, but anyway, I think when it was Jim, it came, it was a turning point. These were watershed events for us that we stopped setting income goals and started creating giving goals.

And it was so much more motivating to do the work. And the big one, I stopped asking God to bless what I was doing and started saying, God, what do you want me to do? And that changed everything, right? The biggest projects in the country. And it's phenomenal. So God has really blessed us. It's been phenomenal journey and I truly believe with God's help.

The best is yet to come.

Jim: And we're going to hear more about that best. Let's talk about glorious reflections. We come back after the break, hang on minute.

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Jim: Hey, welcome back to iWork4Him. As we talked with Jerry and Carol Meek from desert star construction, you can find out more about them online.

If you want to type that one in desert star. Or online about Jerry and Carol at JerryRMeek.com. All right, Jerry you've written three books. What are they about?

Jerry Meek: The first one was lots of pictures and not a lot of words. It was the Team Builder Toolbox. People want to know how do I build my team? And I realized there was a need out there. And it's a story about that.

Be Great was a message that a friend of mine spoke on. And I had wished I had information like that about what true greatness is. He was speaking at a high school, college graduation, and I got his permissions to steal the title. And I did that.

And then my most recent book Leadership on the Level. It's really about building your team, Jim, it's how Jesus found the disciples, how we, how we called them. He got a team that went up the mountain and then, then he acknowledged and empowered them. And then he trained them. And that's based on the beatitudes and some personal stories in there as well.

Martha: You know, I'm just thinking that you're just not much of an overachiever or anything there. You guys know you have a lot going on in your world and yet that's not it. Your latest adventure is called Glorious Reflections. Tell us what that's all about.

Jerry Meek: For me, it's a platform to be able to invest what we've learned and lived into other people.

So many business people and some believers and some, to-be believer - they they're focusing on the what and not the why. And it's who are they reflecting? I feel like the Lord gives us everything we need to reflect intelligence, kindness, humility, generosity, diligence, integrity. And that's what that's all about.

And when you invest in people, you've like, when you make an investment, your 401k, you follow up on it. Some people want to give away what they've learned. I want to invest that into people.

Jim: So if somebody wants to take the Glorious Reflections challenge, what do they do ?

Jerry Meek: It's pretty simple text "challenge" to 5, 5, 4, 4, 4.

That's challenge to 5, 5, 4, 4, 4.

Jim: And what are they what's going to happen?

Jerry Meek: They're gonna get a full, very nice introduction letter, but every day for 21 business days, no weekend just give people a break, but they're going to get it. They're going to get a little personal journal and it's more than a devotional.

I don't like to just say: let's create priorities. You don't need any steps how to prioritize your life and it's questions about how am I reflecting God in this area and the feedback we've gotten from people that have gone through it already is very encouraging that, Hey, I didn't know, I should stop and pray before my day.

Or I realized that I was pleasing everybody else and not my wife. And it's just been really helpful, but it's, it's simple. I'm a business guy. I value time. So it's gotta be worth your time.

Martha: Awesome. So the number we'll have it all in the show notes, but 5, 5, 4, 4, 4 text the word challenge, and you will be signed up to be a part of that 21 business days.

I love that idea.

Jim: Actually kind of drives me crazy. That means you could have, like, you can have four full weeks and then one extra day. And I said, why not 25?

Martha: Okay. Start over. So if you're listening to this podcast, it released on a Friday. Start it today.

It's a beautiful, all right,

Jim: Carol help. Help me out. There's a lot of spouses out there that are the unsung heroes in Christian, small businesses across the country, speak some encouragement out there to those spouses that help their spouses look good each and every day and keep the business running.

Carol Meek: Okay. I think the biggest thing is encourage them. It's like, I don't think you can ever encourage your spouse enough and they're not normally going to get it from anybody else because everybody else is looking for what they need from them. I think that it's been really important to plan our personal time because otherwise your business can just consume everything you do.

You've got to draw some healthy boundaries too. I know that he enjoyed if I would plan a weekend away or sometimes it would just be a matter on a Sunday afternoon, shut off your phone and computer for two hours and just not worry about because when you're kind of on call 24 7 with this. But when we would plan some time away and a lot of times it needed to be a way because as long as you're here, there's always stuff that needs to be done or people can get ahold of you.

But I think you really need that time away to just refresh your perspective. Sometimes it's just ro sleep because they're exhausted, but you just need that. We needed that one-on-one time, just us as a couple and not as a business. And that, that was really healthy. I think it's just so important to be respectful of each other and realize that people are always watching.

Everything you do. Every reaction, every word you speak. But to know that so much a part of your faith and your testimony and what you do, but it's also teaching people how to respond to difficult situations and how to always be respectful of people all around you.

Jerry Meek: Jim, I'd like to piggyback that with two things.

One, I think that in a marriage you have to be a hundred percent behind your spouse's success. And to the businessmen out there, you need to make sure you're treating your wife better than your best customer.

Martha: Powerful,

Jim: Some guy wrote a book, treat me like your customer. Yeah, that's right. That's a very famous author.

I wish I could think of her right off the top of my head. You'd actually recognize the name, but treat me like a customer. Martha, any final questions?

Martha: You know, I just think this is such a great, valuable conversation for so many people that are in a position - maybe even now they've created a you know, a family business, and they've never thought about some of these things that go with the the, the responsibility as leading the organization. So I just pray that this is really meeting the needs of those that are listening today. Thank you for sharing from your own lives and your own experience. We know that it didn't all come over night. You've learned this it's been a process and we continue to learn together.

So thank you so much for that.

Jim: The reference to that book, Louis Upton's Jr.

Jerry and Carol Meek. of desert star construction found online at jerryrmeerk.com. Thank you so much for being on iWork4Him today.

Jerry Meek: Thank you. It was our pleasure.

Jim: You've been listening to, iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg.

We're Christ followers, our workplace it's our mission field, but ultimately iWork4Him

Outro: . Did you know that God has a calling on your life? It's true. He's called you to bring Jesus to the world. For some that may look like a pulpit or a foreign mission field put for most of us, it looks like a construction site, the cubicle, a hospital, or a classroom, wherever it is that you work live volunteer and invest - that is your mission field.

To learn more about integrating your faith into your work and retirement check out our books: iWork4Him. sheWorks4Him and iRetire4Him by going to, iWork4Him.com/Bookstore. Thank you for listening to the iWork4Him podcast with your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, please visit. iWork4Him.com to learn more about connecting your faith and work to join the iWork4Him nation or subscribe to our weekly blog. You can also follow us on social media @iWork4Him to stay up to date. If today's message spoke to you, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Your review we'll launch more workplace missionaries across America. That's @iWork4Him and online iWork4Him.com. I work the number 4 Him. Dot com.