The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - A Message to Young Catholic Entrepreneurs

Episode Date: January 29, 2021

Young Catholic entrepreneurs are needed now more than ever. Today, Jeff shares his experience working in the Catholic media industry and offers us ten tips for young Catholic entrepreneurs today. Snippet from the Show “What has God put on your heart? What is it he wants you to do?” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail] Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kaven Show, episode 203, a message to young Catholic entrepreneurs. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. Well, I have wanted to do this show. for quite some time now and have been praying about it and taking stock, putting some notes down over the weeks, and I just feel it's the right time to talk to you. And if you are a young Catholic entrepreneur or you know of a young Catholic entrepreneur, this show is for you. I want to

spend some time, kind of like a fireside chat, I guess you could say. In fact, I do have my fire here in the cabin and my cup of coffee and my favorite best dad mug. And I just, I wanted to share some things with young Catholics today who are making a difference in the world. They're involved in social media. They're involved in video, singing, writing, podcasts, you name it, vlogs. And I thought, you know, I have been going at this for a long time now. and I wanted to take some of my experience and share it with you and to not tell you what to do, but to give some advice. And I think after 45 years of being in television and radio and podcasting and writing and speaking, that I have learned some things. And I want to share them with

you. And I've been watching and listening to a lot of young entrepreneurs online and And to be honest with you, I'm impressed. I think there are some really, really good things happening in young Catholic's lives when it comes to communicating the gospel online or in singing, whatever it might be. But I have so often wanted to sit down and talk to you, young entrepreneurs in the church. I came in at a very interesting time into the whole thing of Catholic television and radio. I was with EWTN. I started Life on the Rock. I started morning air on relevant radio. I've written over 10 books and got the podcast and just a lot of experience in the media. And the time that I came in was so interesting. Scott Hahn and I

were involved. There were a number of other people that were involved in teaching and speaking and conferences were beginning to really take off. But it was also a very difficult time as there were a lot of barriers to change. Catholics saying, well, we don't do it that way. In fact, I remember when I first kind of started to shop around the Great Adventure, which I developed in 1985, and I was looking for a publisher. What's interesting is that I was rejected three times by publishers who said Catholics are not going to study the Bible. It's too large, it's too big, and Catholics will never pay for a Bible study. And I was convinced, you're wrong. You're absolutely wrong because it's a story that really matters. And went on from there and met up with Matt

Pinto at Ascension Press, and the rest was history. And the Great Adventure Bible study has done very, very well. Adventure Bible. But it was a difficult time back then, and there really was no such thing as, quote-unquote, which you hear so often Catholic rock stars, which is a term that I personally do not like at all, because I don't think that it accurately describes people who are laying their life down for the gospel and trying to proclaim a message which is diametrically opposed to the culture that we are living in. And I think, when I think about young entrepreneurs today, I would say that you are needed more than ever. You really are. The world has changed so much in the last 25 years, and you wouldn't know that

unless you grew up in the era that I grew up with telephone attached to the wall and black and white television and radio was personality radio. It was just so different back. then. But everything has changed and you are adapting and you're skilled, you know, with the phone, the smartphones and social media. You're gifted in many ways, and I love the enthusiasm of young Catholic entrepreneurs. Technically, you are skilled. Sources for formation are plentiful out there. And you're used to being filmed and recorded. You know, you're used to the whole social media thing. But here's some advice that I want to give you. And by the way, these points, I'm going to come up with 10 of them today. I'm going to go through them. These are going to be

available on the show notes. And all you have to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, to 3377. And I'll give you all of these show notes. And I hope you can share this with other young Catholic entrepreneurs. And I think it will make a difference in your life and in their life. So here's my advice to you. Now, these points are said in love and with a lot of experience. I'm not your pastor, and I'm not your bishop. I'm your brother. I'm your brother in Christ, and I have 45 years of ministry experience, and I have made a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes. But I have also learned a lot in the last 45 years, and I wish I had this list that I'm going to give you 45 years ago. And so I share all of this in love with the hopes that you'll take it to

heart and share it with one another and pray about these things. Number one, I would share with you, young Catholic entrepreneur. Number one, that you are created for love. You are created for love in such a way that God loves you so much, and you're created to receive his love, and you're created to love other people and to lay down your life for other people. But one of the things that I see going on today with young people, which I think is very dangerous and falls short of what you are really called for, and that is that many people, all of us, in fact, are created for love, but we settle for likes. And we're short-changing ourselves because we're not created for likes. That's not what God created you for as a Catholic entrepreneur, as a mom, as a dad.

You're created for love. And nothing will ever take the place of the love of God in your life. And nothing will ever take the place of loving other people, laying down your life for other people, preferring other people, and their eternal good. But if our life is going to be centered around likes, then we're going to miss the boat right at the beginning. We're going to miss it because that's not what we're created for. But I have been surprised at how many people I hear, particularly young Catholic entrepreneurs, talking about how many likes someone has, opening up interviews and making a point out of, wow, you've got so many likes, as if that was the measure of success. And it's not. You're created for love. Don't settle for likes. Number two, I would really encourage you to find out what God wants you to do.

What is your niche? What problem are you trying to solve? Whether you are speaking, whether you are writing or you're singing or you are the host of a of a podcast what is it that god wants to do through you i say this because one of the most common questions that i receive from young catholic entrepreneurs that are leaving college is this i'll get an email or some kind of text and it goes like this they'll say they'll say jeff i you know i listen to the show i've been in the great adventure bible study i heard you at a conference i want to do what you're doing. And I will respond and say, well, what do you mean you want to do what I'm doing? And they'll say, well, I want to speak and write. That's what I'm called to do.

I'm called to be a speaker and a writer. And I will ask one simple question, and that is, well, what do you want to write about? What do you want to speak about? And seriously, this is the response. I don't know, but I know I'm supposed to be a speaker and a writer. And that tells me sometimes that people are more infatuated with the idea of being a writer than actually communicating something. Or they are more infatuated with the idea and more attracted to the idea of being a speaker up on the stage, but don't know what they want to say. I would really encourage you to start off with finding out what is God put on your heart? What has he given you? A unique message, a niche that nobody is in, a place of pain that needs to be.

be addressed? Is that what you're about? And I would really encourage you to get some time away and ask the Lord, what is it you want me to do on social media? What do you want me to do in video or singing, whatever it might be? It's not about just being a speaker or a writer. It's about doing what God has called you to do in life. Number three, I would say, do not believe that the number of likes or publishing a book or being a so-called influencer results in success. It doesn't. Trust me. It doesn't.

Be the right kind of influencer. The one that draws people to Jesus. The one that speaks the truth. The one that acts kindly and is merciful and is focused on the good of other people. I think that people believe that if you wrote a book or you are called an influencer or you have so many likes in social media, that that is success. And it's not. There's a lot of people who have a lot of likes in social media that aren't influencing many people at all. They're there, but they're not necessarily influencing people. We influence people because we are Christians. We are disciples of Christ, or what I like to call an activated disciple, and we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and we have been given a specific message, and it's about Jesus. And I think that sometimes we have to change our relationship with the concept of success. And that would be one of my

points in a message for young Catholic entrepreneurs, is change your relationship with the concept of success to line up with Jesus' concept. And what did Jesus say? You might remember him praying in the gospel of John. He said, Father, I did all that you sent me to do. I accomplished what you sent me to do. That's the kind of influencer that the world needs. The world does not need influencers right now to influence what they wear or how they talk or what they drive. They need the, the kingdom of God needs influencers who will point people to Jesus. I'm going to tell you something that is very, very important to remember and will change your outlook. The vast majority of people in the church today who are really influencing and changing the world are not even

on social media. Your parents, priests, religious, great bishops, hardworking parish employees, those who are there day in and day out serving Catholic school teachers, they are influencers. They're changing the world. And the vast majority of them are not even on a stage. They haven't written a book. They don't have a podcast. And they're not called influencers. Just an important point to remember. I would also encourage you as point number four, as a young Catholic entrepreneur, to have a deep, deep, deep prayer life. This is one of the most important points of all, is that if we're going to be leaders in the church, or we're going to be people who are on the front line, sort of speak, in the area of social media, communications,

literature, whatever it might be, song, singing, you need to spend more time with Jesus than following your followers. If you will spend more time with Jesus, you will get such a rich, rich relationship with him, and that everything will flow from that. And what I mean by this is prayer in the sacramental life. If Jesus is there, be there. And I think that one of the greatest lessons I've learned over the last 45 years is that my quote-unquote ministry life really parallels my prayer life. And you can tell by listening to someone whether they have a deep prayer life or not. When you read the catechism, you'll see that the catechism tells us that that Jesus, everything he said and everything he did, everything he said and everything he did was an outward

manifestation of his private prayer time with the Father. You see, everything that Jesus did, everything that he did was anchored in his time of prayer. And that is something really important to remember. and I know that over the last 45 years, there have been periods of times where I lost my prayer life. I was too busy. I was recording. I was writing. I was flying. I was speaking. I was in hotel rooms. I was, you know, on and on. And I was just too busy to have a deep, deep prayer life. And as a result of that, I suffered. I did. I learned some lessons about it. And so I'm asking you, dear young Catholic entrepreneur. Keep a deep prayer life. Find a time every day and keep it. Take a journal with you. Take your Bible with you. Do Lexio divina. Hear the word of God every day in your

life. Don't go. Don't go day in and day out and week after week and month after month without having that deep prayer life. I cannot overstate this how important prayer is. It keeps you so grounded with the Lord. And it helps you in walking in humility. The humility is where you have a proper assessment of who you are in relationship to God and a proper assessment of who you are in relationship to other people. Prayer life. So important. I would also encourage you, no matter what you're doing, this is point number five, whether you're a singer, writer, speaker, whatever you happen to be as an entrepreneur, Maybe you're starting a business for finances or a business for helping the poor, whatever it might be. When I talk about being an entrepreneur, I'm not talking about just social media and speaking and singing and all that.

I'm talking about any kind of startup that you might be interested in. Point number five, get to know salvation history. What do I mean by that? Salvation history is knowing God's overarching plan. his plan, which is in scripture. I've spent my life trying to teach scripture to people and to know the overarching story with the great adventure Bible study. That's what my life has been called. It's what God has called me to do in my life, is to teach people the story. Because everything springs from this amazing story. And this will be your currency in communicating with other people.

is knowing the heart of your Heavenly Father and knowing his plan. And when you know his heart and you know his plan, you have a platform on which you can trust, a foundation that is a sure foundation. And what people need to know from you is not just your opinion. To be honest with you, we are absolutely oversaturated in our culture with opinion givers. We are. And if I fall into that,

I am sorry, and I would repent of that. I do not want to be just an opinion giver. But I want to try to give my best. And the best that I can give you is God's amazing story. If you don't know the story of salvation history and you're trying to be a Catholic entrepreneur, start today. And I mean today, get the great adventure. And there's a short version and a long version. Soak yourself. Get to know his story. because your story as an entrepreneur will spring from his story. And if your story as an entrepreneur is not coming from his story, then you're on your own. You're doing your own thing. And so become acquainted with the currency of communication, that is, his heart, his plan in everything that you do. I've got five more for you, and I'm going to share those with you, and I'll be back in a moment.

This is The Jeff Kaven Show. All right, my friends, what I'm about to say may change your life forever. This June, the 1st through the 13th, Father Mike Schmitz and I will be leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Now, this is going to be for people ages 18 to 35, but we will look the other way if you want to come and you're over 35. Now, we're going to be joined by some of today's greatest musicians, at least in my mind, Ali Alia, Taylor Tripodi, Xander Wave, and we're also going to be joined by Andrew and Sarah Swafford. And, of course, Father Mike Schmitz and myself, now listen, we're going to visit. We're going to visit all the great places in the Bible where Jesus, Mary and the disciples lived. Mass will be in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Copernum,

and we're going to visit the baptismal site of Jesus, plus much, much more. You say more? Yes, we're going to pray the rosary at all the places where those mysteries actually took place. And we're going to have concerts on the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem with some of today's best Catholic musicians. You're going to have time for prayer, and you will have a rare opportunity to go to confession on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Now, this is really, really the trip of a lifetime. If you're seeking God and trying to figure out what he wants from you in your life, then this is the trip. Go to jeffcavens.com and click on pilgrimages and get signed up. The country is opening up and we are free to go at this point. If not,

you get your money back. So I hope to see you in Jerusalem. We're talking today about some lessons learned in my 45 years of ministry, if you call it that, whether it's television, radio, writing books, speaking, pilgrimages, all the things that I have been involved in over these years. I've learned some lessons, made some mistakes, but I've learned some lessons. And I want to give you five more that I think are critically important if you're going to be a Catholic, a young Catholic entrepreneur today in this world. Number six is learn what the proclamation of the gospel is. Oh my, this is important. Wow, is this important.

When I talk about the proclamation of the gospel, whatever you are involved in in building, You must know the basic proclamation of the gospel. Now, what I'm sharing with you is something that I know for sure that most people that I talk to don't know. They don't know what the basic proclamation of the gospel is. We would call it the churigma, the proclamation. And it's actually very simple. And I wrote a book about this called The Activated Disciple, where I tried to really hit this hard. And I hope I did.

I hope I hit the mark here, but the basic gospel message that is incorporated in everything that we do as entrepreneurs is, number one, God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life. I don't know of anything that is better to hear in a broken life than that God loves me, and God does indeed have a plan for my life. but number two, sin has broken this plan. Sin has disrupted radically this plan. That's the second point. And that's a truth. And if you're going to be a Catholic entrepreneur, do not be afraid of the truth that sin has broke our lives, broken our lives in a serious way. And if you want to find a more clever way to put that, challenge you. I'll give you a week. Write me. Have you come up with another way to put it? It's the truth. And if we're Catholic entrepreneurs, the people we talk to and we sing to and

write to, they deserve to know the truth. The third point of the corigma is that Jesus loves you and died for you. And that's the good news right there is that he loves you and he died for you. And the fourth point is he's asking us to repent, which the catechism puts it like this, a radical reorientation of your life to Christ. In everything that we do, we must bring these principles into our conversation, our writing, and our songs, and everything else, is that we're called to radically reorient our lives and then be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit and join his amazing family, his church. That's the basic proclamation of the gospel. And as an entrepreneur, it is important that you not only know it, but you proclaim it and you live by it.

It becomes a guide in your own life because as a young entrepreneur, you're going to be looking for that good news. You're going to be looking for that story of the Lord. And you know as well as I do, we blow it at times. But thank God he died for us. And now we need to radically reorient our lives to him. Number seven, and this one is critically important, if you're going to be a young Catholic entrepreneur, this might be near the very top. If I were to categorize these 10 points, here it is. Avoid, avoid, at all costs, avoid envy. It will kill you. I can't

cannot over-emphasize this too much, young entrepreneur. Envy will sidetrack you. It will destroy you. It will eat you from the inside out. And if you don't think that envy can touch you because you're in ministry of some kind, my friend, you are kidding yourself. You are kidding yourself. Do you know what envy is? There's a difference between envy and jealous. jealousy. Jealousy is simply, I want what you have. And that can be a good thing, actually. You've got a great marriage. I'd like to have a good marriage. Oh, I'm jealous of that, right? I'm jealous of that. That's nothing wrong with that. Jealousy can be bad. But there is a distinct difference between jealousy and envy. Jealousy is, I want what you have. Envy is, I don't want you to have what you have.

and whether you want to accept it or not people who are involved in ministry whether it's singing writing speaking whatever it might be podcasting or vlogs they have a tendency to watch other people who are doing what they do and when their brother or sister in the body of christ is doing significantly better than themselves envy can set in it makes you sad you become sad you become restless You become anxious when other people sell more books or other people have more followers or whatever it might be. Envy will kill you. It really will. And I can't over-emphasize this enough.

And the answer to envy is, you as a young Catholic entrepreneur, you need to be okay with what the Lord is doing with you. you have to avoid the comparison game as much as possible because somebody else we trust is doing what the Lord wants them to do and let the results play out. You do what God is called you to do and let the results be up to the Lord. Leave the results to the Lord. He can take care of it. And the results, as you see them, may not be an accurate, engage as to what is really going on. You say, Jeff, does that really happen among Catholic and Christian writers in spades? That really happens with conference speakers in spades. It happens at the family level. And envy will absolutely stop your entrepreneurship. And it will eat away at your

life and it will affect your marriage and it will affect your relationship with your children. Flee from envy. Be okay with what God is doing in your life. Tend to your own knitting as someone that I know said often. Don't compare. Number eight, this is something that I have learned over the years. And if I could go back and change this, I would. Put God and family first. Put God and family first even above your entrepreneurship. I would change if I started over. I'd travel less. I'd speak less. I'd write less and spend more time with my family. I think over the years there has been a bit of a suffering on my part. because of this. Billy Graham echoed this when he was asked in an interview, if you could do it all

over again, Billy, what would you do differently? And he said without even thinking, without even a flinch, he said, oh, I would minister less and be with my family more. Listen to what I'm about to say, young entrepreneur. Don't gain followers and lose your family. I call it the David syndrome. In the Bible, King David was king, right? It's good to be king, but his family was a mess. Don't allow yourself to get into that mess, and how do you avoid it? Put God in family first.

That is your primary vocation to God and family, and everything else flows from this. I was recently invited to be by a good friend, really good. good friend, invited to be an extra in the chosen. They were going to do the feeding of the 5,000 scene. And I thought, wow, this is going to be cool. This is going to be really, really neat. And I had to call and say, you know, I had to text and say, I'm sorry, I can't do it. And you know why? I had to put my calling first. What God had called me to first, I had obligations at home. I had obligations with my local obligations in the Twin Cities. Would it have been fun? Sure. Would it have looked good on social media? Sure. But I have things to do. Maybe later. Who knows? But put God and family first. I'll never forget something that took place in my life when I was about into my fifth year of being host of Life on the Rock on EWTN.

I was traveling every week and going back and forth. My little daughter, she was about three years old, I think at the time, four years old, something like that. And I was getting ready to go into the garage, to go to the airport, to go down to Birmingham, Alabama. My little girl came up to me with tears in her eyes, and she said, Dad, she said, Daddy, and I said, sure, what is it, honey? she said every time you go on the airplane and she pointed to her stomach and she said it hurts down here I knew I needed to talk to my wife at that point and I said I need to make a change I need to make a change put God and family first number nine live like a disciple resist the rock star mentality. Live as a disciple. What do I mean by this when I say live as a disciple?

I mean, live in deep relationship with the Lord. And in everything you do, be relatable. Be relatable. Tell a story. Tell the story of how God has been active in your own life. And that is really, really important to be relatable. that you can, you understand where people are at, what they're going through, and you know how the Lord can meet them, and use your own life as part of that story, what you've learned and what you've noticed. But to live like a disciple means that you have been with Jesus, and you're with Jesus constantly, and in every opportunity that comes your way, you're saying yes or no, you're responding to people in a relatable way so that they can relate to you. So often we make quote unquote rock stars, and I do not like that, that term at all. That should never be what we introduce

someone as a rock star. We should be relatable. Rock stars are not relatable. Oftentimes people up on the podium are not relatable. The writer is not relatable. Be relatable in the way you write, and the way you speak and the way you talk to people when you're done speaking. Give time to them. Look them in the eyes. Take an interest in other people. As one of my friends says, you know, says, you're not all that in a bag of chips. You're a disciple of the Lord. Live like a disciple. Relate to people as a disciple, not a rock star. Here's something to keep in mind. when it comes to photos and video and the like you don't have a best side it's all you I'm being funny but it's all you live with it we see it all you you can't hide so you so you

might say well I don't like my voice live with it we have to I'm just saying that being funny here, but live like a disciple. Be relatable. Don't be somebody else if you're not a rock star. I encourage you to long for the words, well done, good, and faithful servant. And then finally, number 10, I would say to you, my dear young Catholic entrepreneur, seek wisdom. Seek wisdom. James says, do you need wisdom? Ask. Ask. Be an innovator, a problem solver. And in everything you do, pray that Jesus will be seen and loved and ask for wisdom in everything that you are doing. Seek wisdom, hunt down wisdom, dig for wisdom. What is wisdom? Well, there's a difference between wisdom and knowledge. We have so much knowledge accessible.

We have so much knowledge on the internet, you can find out anything with just 10 seconds. I can type right now into my computer and say, what was Mickey Mantle's batting average in 1957? Boom, there it is. There it is. I can find out anything, tons of knowledge. But wisdom is the right and holy application of knowledge. Not all. knowledge is good. But wisdom is the godly application, and that's what we need in young Catholic entrepreneurs. Wisdom, new ardor, as Pope John Paul II said, new ways of going about the way we're going to live our faith, new ways that we're going to communicate with people, new ways that it's going to bring us together. You know when Facebook and Twitter and a lot of the major platforms

today when they first started out. Do you know what the promise was that they gave you? The promise was that this would bring the world together, closer, community, friends. And all the studies, all the studies show us that it was the opposite, that people are more lonely than any other time in our recent history. And young entrepreneur, you can do something about that in the way that you relate, and the wisdom that you that you seek, and the way that you live, you can be a part of change. Well, that's it. I'm glad I had some time to share with you, and I've got many, many more things on my chair a minute later podcast, but again, I share this with you not as a no at all, not as an expert, but as your brother. As I said at the beginning of the podcast,

I've made a lot of mistakes, but I have learned a lot over the years. please do not take anything that I say personal in a bad way. Take it personal in a good way. And take these points. Get the show notes and pray about it. Maybe you're part of a young team that's trying to do something in the world today that could bring about some really great changes. Maybe it's a new platform on the internet. Share them with your team. And if you come up with some kind of mission statement? Mission statements. Yeah. If you come up with some kind of mission statement, make sure that it's Jesus' mission statement. Because you only have one life, you only have so many days on earth. Make them count. And I'll see you in heaven. In the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I love my young Catholic entree. entrepreneurs friends. Oh, God, I lift them up to you today, and I ask you, Lord, to draw them close to you in such a way that they will know your heart and your plan. I ask you, Lord, to give them wisdom and prudence in everything that they do. I ask you, Lord, to help them to see reward and success in your eyes, and not in the way that the world thinks, as Lord, you said, my ways are above your ways, and my thoughts are above your thoughts. Lord, we want to know your ways and thoughts. Help us to make the changes in our life

that would more clearly reflect the fact that we are following you as disciples. God bless my friends. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I love you. Thank you.