11/22/23 - 2017: A Business You Can Believe In

Martha: This episode of iWork4Him is brought to you by SaferNet, online at SaferNet. com.

Jim: You've tuned in to iWork4Him, the voice of collaboration for the faith and work movement.

Martha: We are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, and our mission is to transform the workplace of every Christian into a mission field.

What does that look like in your workplace? Well, let's find out right now.

Jim: You know, if you're in business or you work for a business, the ultimate aim for almost every business is to make money. And when you make that money, there has to be a plan for where the profits go. What is amazing in today's world is that so many companies take their profits and support campaigns and ideologies that are completely the opposite of the biblical worldview that the United States of America was founded upon.

Where we spend our dollars makes a huge difference. Today we're going to explore the roots and origins of a company dedicated to God, dedicated to the family, and dedicated to supporting the United States of America. That country is Patriot Mobile. Founded upon Christian values and living them out daily in the marketplace.

Patriot Mobile is taking a stand in an industry filled with companies taking the opposite stand. Scott Coburn joins us today to tell us the story of Patriot Mobile and his own story of living out his faith at work. Scott Colburn, welcome to iWork4Him.

Scott Coburn: Well, hello, Jim and Martha. It's a pleasure and an honor to be with you guys.

You know, we love what you guys are doing. We love taking time to tell you a little bit about what we're doing, our story and what we have going on. So this is just a pleasure. So thanks for having me. It's great.

Jim: It's great to have you. And I want to start off with just the real importance of it. Scott, what's your Jesus story?

Scott Coburn: Yeah, so my Jesus story is is an interesting one as they as most of them are but I grew up in a somewhat religious family. I like to say a under the spirit of religion and without much of a concept for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and about 12 years ago I had an encounter with a living God.

I went on a, I went on a quest with a, or a ministry called Fellowship of the Sword. And it's literally five and a half days running after God's heart with your Bible in your hand and just running after it. And it changed my life. And since that day I have given my life to the Lord. I live every day for Him.

You know, I, I just try to put it in his, in his hands and it's, it's just wonderful. And it's just really nice to be able to come to a company like Patriot Mobile where we're encouraging our employees and we're encouraged to bring Jesus into the workplace and we can pray together, we can worship together, we can minister to each other freely and openly, which is, like I said, incredibly refreshing.

Martha: What a great atmosphere it sounds like. Thank you. So Scott, with the journey that God has had you on in your own spiritual walk, how has your work been affected by that? How, how do you let your work be impacted by your faith?

Scott Coburn: Well, it's an interesting question because literally the, the day I got back from, from that quest I was talking about earlier God spoke very clearly to me that He wanted me to have a career change.

I left corporate America literally the week after I got back from my quest and I started my own marketing agency called pro V3 media, and that was short for Proverbs three, and there's so much meat there in Proverbs three that I felt I needed to build a business around. And I spent the next several years growing that agency.

And then as I continued on and found myself here at Patriot Mobile I became very aware that I needed to be a place where I felt led and I felt like God had his hand on what I was doing every single day at work and where I felt a passion to come to work every single day.

And I'll tell you, it's been two and a half years now here at Patriot Mobile and I, I still get out of bed every morning and I thank the Lord for this opportunity because I really do feel like what we're doing here individually, but collectively as a company too, is making an impact on the kingdom and is making an impact on our country, and as far as defending our God given constitutional rights and freedoms.

Jim: It's incredible to hear how God led you to Patriot Mobile. Love that story that your faith really, you're like, Hey, I need a place where I can do this on a daily basis. So saying that you're going to let your faith impact your life as you're living out your faith in corporate America is one thing. Being able to actually do that and being able to sustain it while working in a pretty cutthroat industry like that cellular carrier industry is another thing. Tell us how, how is it possible to live out your faith to the fullest while you're living and working in corporate America? What does it look like for you?

Scott Coburn: Well, you know, it's funny Jim, I get asked that question all the time. They said, Hey Scott, you know, you work for a company that outwardly says that we are Christian. Like what, what is that like? I get asked that often. And here's the way I answer that. Personally you know, I go back to the scriptures in Matthew when, when God gives us the great commission and he says, we are to go out and make disciples and I can't find anywhere in that scripture where it says, go out and make disciples on Sundays and Wednesday nights and maybe reel a few in on Christmas and Easter.

No, it says go and make disciples all the time, including in the workplace. So you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't take an opportunity to bring my faith into my workplace every single day and minister to people and try to make disciples. I think that is really, when you talk about the Great Commission, that is what we're really commanded to do in all aspects of our life.

And we're able to do that here at Patriot Mobile. And like I said, you know, I'll go back, take a step back to really God opened the door for me to come here to Patriot Mobile. This job found me. I didn't find this job. I mean, literally God threw open a door and I ran through it as fast as I could. And, and I believe that that's part of my story every day here is seeking opportunities to spread the good news, to encourage people, to lift people up in their faith. And to make disciples.

Martha: You know, so as you talk about that, Scott, in making disciples, a lot of times there is a resource or someone who has come alongside you to help you in that time of growing as a disciple. Is there something that's been impactful for you, whether it's a book or an organization or I don't know, a ministry that has helped you in that journey?

Scott Coburn: You know, there really has been a couple of different things. I still stay plugged in with fellowship of the sword. We're a tight group. We still do monthly breakfasts and I have found myself fortunate enough to get with a small group of men. We have seven of us that meet every Tuesday morning for the last 12 years.

And that, that's who I do life with. And I'll tell you, it's refreshing to know that I have an accountability group. I have a group of men that I can go to and when I walk in the room on Tuesday mornings for coffee or breakfast, they read my mind. I mean, they know if something's not right, they're like, okay, Scott, let's talk it out. Here we go.

And, to me, that's essential, to not individualize and not get carved out of the flock. We've got to stay together and, and have men and women in our lives that encourage our faith and that we can go to and grow together.

Jim: You mentioned there was a couple of things. So the Fellowship of the Sword is one of them. Has there been another resource, a discipleship ministry or a book or something that it's also been a heavy influence?

Scott Coburn: Oh, yes, for sure. And we, so I don't know if anybody from Patriot Mobile has shared this with you guys, but we have the honor to have Pastor Rafael Cruz here every Wednesday in our office and he leads a Bible study.

He's been doing this for more than two years now, and this is our opportunity literally, to get away from work, to get into the Lord, to have Rafael come in and give us a teaching and, and open it up for discussion, and it's been such a blessing. Not only that, but Rafael comes around quite a bit, individually, one on one, if I need prayer, or I need counsel, godly counsel, or if I need to talk to somebody.

He's always there for that. And that's, that's hugely important in addition just to having a bunch of like minded people surrounding me here at work that I know I can lean on if I need, if I'm having a bad day or I need to seek out some prayer or counsel. I've got dozens of people around me that I trust with my heart and I know they have my best interests in mine and I can go to.

Martha: You know, it's so good to hear those things because a lot of times people - like I'm, I'm the kind of person I want to see what it looks like. What does it look like for someone else as they're walking things out daily? And at iWork4Him, we love talking about those resources and organizations that are helping people to better connect their daily life and their faith.

And you know, a lot of people refer to that as whole life discipleship. You were talking about discipleship. And Jim and I are just really excited to be a part of several events in the next year that really are going to focus on that for people. So listeners, I just want to encourage you to go to our events page at iWork4Him. com forward slash events. And there you're going to find out about some things that are happening around the country in 2024, that you can participate in and learn more about connecting our faith and our work in many different aspects. So just want to invite you all along on that journey.

Jim: Yeah. Super excited about some of those things.

All right. So Scott, can you tell us the story of Patriot Mobile? Why does it exist in a crowded field of mobile carriers?

Scott Coburn: That's a great question, Jim. And, and I'll tell you. I'll first start by saying that, and you guys know this, but maybe some of your listeners don't. So we are a cell phone service provider, and we're a really good one, right?

We offer nationwide coverage across the country, the, the best 4G and 5G networks, all of that. We check all the boxes that say that we are a cell phone company. However, our mission has nothing at all to do with cell phones, right? So our mission is to defend our God given constitutional rights and freedoms, and to do so in a way that glorifies God.

Now, the genesis of Patriot Mobile goes back 10 years, and about 10, actually 10 years ago this month, we're celebrating our 10 year anniversary. Actually, tomorrow night. So ten years ago our co founder, Glenn Story, and, and another associate of his saw an opportunity, and what they saw was there was a progressive cell phone provider on the left that was funding progressive causes and doing it very well, making a large impact, giving millions and millions of dollars to progressive causes.

And they looked around and said, you know what? We don't have anybody on our side doing this. So that opened the door for the idea of Patriot Mobile. And that's really what we try to do. We are the only Christian conservative alternative in the cell phone service space. So if you want to align with companies, like we've been talking about building this parallel economy and supporting like minded companies, we are the only alternative in that space.

And so that was really the genesis of Patriot Mobile and why we came to be. We're just providing a place for people to switch their cell phone service and make sure that their values and beliefs are being supported at the same time.

Martha: And that's so powerful because Jim and I are very sensitive to like where our money goes. Everybody, we don't think about the profit side of it and what it's supporting. And yet we know there's a lot of organizations doing things that we don't believe in. So Scott, take a minute and talk to our listeners and tell them why would it be impactful for them to, to switch over to Patriot Mobile?

Scott Coburn: Absolutely. And so what we do at Patriot Mobile, how we carry out our mission, well, we, we start by carving out a portion of every dollar we earn and we donate it back to Christian conservative causes and we focus our giving on four key areas. We call these the four pillars of our company. So those would be first amendment, second amendment, sanctity of life, and we support our military and first responder heroes.

So what we do is we carve out a portion of every customer bill that is paid to Patriot Mobile and we donate back to causes that align within those four pillars. And last year alone, we were able to give away almost 2. 4 million back to those causes and our goal is to give away even more this year and beyond. I mean, we really, our heart is to grow this and give more. That's really what makes us different than the main cell phone carriers.

Jim: So how do you choose those organizations? I mean, because it seems like you should have somebody full time vetting those organizations because there's some organizations that say they're pro God, pro family, and, and pro country, and yet 95 percent of their dollars go towards administration and 5 percent goes towards, you know, what they actually say they're going to do. I'm not going to name any actual organizations, but how do you vet them? How do you choose them?

Scott Coburn: That's a great question, and one we get asked often, actually. The way we do that is we have a committee and we meet as a group every other week in the committee, and we review all of our giving, where the money is going, and we actually have a very stringent process by which we vet each organization.

We look at their past. We look at their leadership. We look at the impact that they are making with their dollars. We want to make sure we're picking organizations and supporting organizations that truly get the most out of every dollar donated. So we take them through that process. We get to know their leadership, we build a relationship with them, and then that's how we choose those.

And you know, like I said, we get a ton of new opportunities and new causes to support all the time. And that's great. We want to support more causes. However, we do want to make sure they align within those four pillars that we talked about. And we do want to make sure that they're being good stewards with, with the money that's donated.

Jim: Yeah. What you just described, Scott, it's what every company being driven by Christian values should be doing because most companies driven by Christians, and I don't call them Christian companies because they can't, you know, companies can't be saved, so that's just one of my nuances, but people in leadership who love Jesus are running these organizations.

And they want to give money away, but you got to have a good vetting process. And I love the fact that you got a committee and you got studied people studying it. That's fantastic. That's great advice for anybody listening. Anywhere your money goes, you should know where your money's going and how it's being spent.

And I love the fact that you guys are sifting through that and making sure you're making a good decision. That's great, great example for everybody.

Scott Coburn: Absolutely. And I'll just say one thing. I 100 percent agree with that statement. I don't believe that God blesses businesses. He blesses people. And the people here are really what, what make up Patriot Mobile.

Every single employee in this building and across the country that work for Patriot Mobile, they're not here simply to draw a paycheck. They are activists themselves. They believe in the mission, they're boots on the ground at our events and at the causes that we support, they're supporting with their own personal money as well, not just what we give as Patriot Mobile. This is what really makes us different- down to a man. We feel like that we are making a difference and that we're going to just continue to grow.

Martha: You know, and I can really vouch for that, because we've met several of the people that work for Patriot Mobile, because we have recently become affiliates of Patriot Mobile here at iWork4Him, and working with the people that we have had the opportunity to do that with, We've seen firsthand their belief, not only in the company, but all that it stands for and their faith and the excellence and the follow up.

Fantastic. So people that know us know that when we get a hold of something that we're really excited about, we want other people to know about it as well. So this, I would love for you to just take a moment and tell our listeners, you know, what does that mean for, iWork4Him to be an affiliate now with Patriot Mobile?

Scott Coburn: Yeah. And that's, that's, I love telling the story of guys like you that really understand and they get it. I mean, it's, it's really is about finding other partner organizations to work together and build the kingdom that way. Right? And so when you partner as an affiliate with Patriot Mobile, you truly become a partner.

We want you using the service. We want you to experience what it's like to switch your cell phone over to Patriot Mobile. We want 100 percent U. S. based customer support. Who will, by the way, even pray for you. If you have a prayer need, you know, who does that, right? I mean, you call in to get a cell phone service signed up and they're going to pray with you. That's that's just what we do, but we want our affiliates to really experience what we're about in our heart and really have the opportunity to get to know us, not just our service, but get to know us as people. And I feel like you guys do a wonderful job at that and bringing us into the fold, telling our story, telling your users about what we do.

And, you know, switching over is, we've made it quite easy. I mean, with you guys as an affiliate, you just go to Patriot Mobile. com/ iWork4Him and you're going to get all the information right there, how to switch. If you use the code, iWork4Him, you're going to get free activation and we were going to get, take care of you guys that way.

And then, and then in doing that, what we do is provide 5 percent of every customer bill that comes through iWork4Him to Patriot Mobile, we provide that back to iWork4Him, the organization, every month. So again, this is to help fund the ministry and to help grow their mission and their ministry and really get the word out on there and what they're trying to do to grow the kingdom. That's what we believe in with our Patriot Mobile affiliate program.

Jim: You know, as Scott has been sharing with us the heart of Patriot Mobile, it might give some of you pause as you contemplate, who does my cell phone carrier support and where are those dollars are going? You know, every month, every one of you listening has a cell phone.

I haven't met somebody without a cell phone. We live in a small town in Southwest Missouri. Everybody here's got a cell phone. So if they do here, they got them everywhere. How much you spend on a monthly basis makes a difference. And where those dollars are going makes an even bigger difference. We would like to encourage you to check out Patriot Mobile, go to our affiliate link: patriotmobile.com/iWork4Him. that's I worked the number 4 him.

You can learn more about making the switch and intentionally voting with your dollars, because when your dollars walk, your dollars talk. And all the while, while you're doing this, when you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're blessing iWork4Him and giving us the ability to continue broadcasting and sharing the stories of people living out their faith at work.

We'll definitely have the link in the show notes for reference later, but once you make the switch, make sure you tell a friend, tell us so we can thank you and encourage all of you to let your dollars support biblical values as well, a biblical worldview. It's all about God, family, and country. PatriotMobile.com/iWork4Him

Scott, so excited, you know, for - really for eight years, we've been talking on the show about biblically responsible investing. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, but it's basically what you guys have done as a company. There is financial planning around this whole idea that you only invest in companies that are at least neutral on cultural conversations or pro biblical worldview.

And so everybody in our audience is already familiar with this idea of of investing in companies that don't fight us every day, that aren't paying the enemy to fight us, and so that's what makes us even more excited about Patriot Mobile. You know you you guys are a company run by believers dedicated to honoring Jesus and being committed to him and all that you do. You know, people get confused by the language of a christian company but we know that really what you're doing is honoring God at what you do. Explain what that looks like on a daily basis.

Scott Coburn: So it really boils down to this, right? I mean seek God, listen and take action, right? Everything we do, every major decision we make here at Patriot Mobile, we put before God first and that in and of itself at least gives us the notion that, Hey, what we're doing is in God's hands, right? Nothing takes God by surprise. You guys know this.

We believe in living out our lives at work every day here for God and putting him first in everything we do. And when we do that, it takes all the burden off of us because we know it's his will. We see it, we see it all the time, right? I mean, when we went and put all the in God we trust posters back in the schools - I'm not sure you guys had heard about that story. But we gave over 3, 000 posters to school districts all over Texas, and there was a Texas law passed that said if you present these In God We Trust posters to these school districts, they must prominently display them in every school in their whole district, or their whole ISD.

We gave away, we've given away over 3000 of those. And again, when that happens, we get attacked. People say, well, Patriot Mobile, why are you doing this? Well, because this is what God told us to do. We prayed about it and we acted on it. So that's just one example of many of things that we just, we put it in his hands and he just shows us the way to go.

Jim: Wow. That's great. Great Governor too, that says, Hey, look at this stuff.

Martha: You know, it's so great to hear those very practical, very big impactful in this case, you know situations of you as an organization coming together and saying what can we do about it? You know, it's so much more than the hardwired Cellphone and how the wire gets across the country and all that good stuff, But how you're living out in the practical ways every day I love that. And I know when we were talking before the show you were talking about Bible studies that you have in your offices and things like that too, so You know, just is there anything else, Scott, that you would like to share about your leadership that might impact our listeners today before we go?

Scott Coburn: You know, as far as my leadership style, you know, I have a wonderful team. I tell my sales team all the time, I have the best group of salespeople in the world, and I really believe that I empower them to, to do their thing, to do it their way. I think because we work with a group of very strong believers who are strong in their faith, I trust that they go to the Lord, you know, frequently with their daily decisions.

And it helps them, gives them the strength and the courage to carry out their jobs that quite frankly can often be difficult just because we do go out there as a Christian company and we are under attack frequently. It just gives us the sustenance that we need to, to carry on. And that's what I try to lead by.

I try to lead by example. I don't always you know, sometimes I fail, like we all do. But I also know what it looks like to have forgiveness and to show forgiveness and to seek, to seek prayer. When you know, in James 5:16, it says, you know, that we lay our hands on each other and we pray for one another so that we may be healed. We carry that out here in the office frequently. And I need prayer as much as the next guy. So that, that's how I kind of live my day to day life here at work.

Jim: So when you fail, as we all do, what's different about how you handle your failure?

Scott Coburn: Well, first of all, we know we're going to fail. That's, that's a given and we don't let that take us by surprise. Most importantly, we know when we fail that we learn from it, right? And if there's, if it involves repentance, we repent and we move on. That's how we grow. We grow by continually learning from our mistakes. And to again, seek the hand of God. When we do make a mistake, to show us the correction that we need. And that's not just in our personal lives. That's in how we run the business.

Jim: Yeah. Mercy Me had so many great songs. One of the greatest songs that I love is Dear Younger Me, you know, as Bart has gone, Holy smokes, I wish I'd have known some things.

So what is it that you, Scott, would love to have told, love to tell if you could go back and tell your 25 year old self one thing, what's one thing you wish your 25 year old self would have known?

Scott Coburn: Well, when I was at 25, I was a very different person. So I would go back and tell myself what are you doing?

You know I would have to tell myself, you need to be seeking God's face and you need to be in the word daily. That's the biggest thing is trying to get in the word daily. I noticed a difference in my life. When I get in the word first, I give God my first and my best every day.

When I give him my first and my best, I set myself up for a good day. And if I could go back to anybody that's younger, that may not have found the Lord yet, or may just be earlier in their walk - give the Lord your first and your best every day, and you're going to have a good day.

Martha: Hmm. Such good words. Thank you for that. And Scott, it's been so great getting to know you and more about Patriot Mobile during this episode. And, you know, like I said before, getting to know the staff that we've been working with is why we are so thrilled to be able to share with our listeners that we are affiliate now with Patriot Mobile.

So we're going to put the link in the show notes, PatriotMobile.com/iWork4Him, and I would love for each and every one of you to take some time, look at it. You know, this is just one area of our life that we can say, Lord, I want to make a difference with it. I'm spending the money. Where's that money going and how can it better go to serve the kingdom? And by making this switch, it's a great way to be able to do that with Patriot Mobile.

Jim: Scott Colburn, Chief Marketing Officer for Patriot Mobile. Thanks for being with us today on iWork4Him.

Scott Coburn: Well, thank you, Jim and Martha so much. God bless you guys. God bless all your listeners. And we'll talk to you guys soon.

Jim: You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers and our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately, iWork4Him.

Martha: This episode of iWork4Him is brought to you by SaferNet. Online at SaferNet. com

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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, but for most of us, it looks like a construction site, a 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 in retirement, check out our books. iWork4Him, sheWorks4Him, and iRetire4Him by going to, iWork4Him.com. Thanks for listening to the iWork4Him podcast with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg.

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