God on the Daily: Faith in Real Life
Guest: Benjie Craig
Benjie Craig loves helping people discover their purpose in life, whether at work or in the neighborhood. He’s the go-to guy when it comes to electrical needs, running his own contracting business. At home, he's a dedicated husband and the proud dad of two adventurous boys.
Here’s a summary of this week’s story:
In this episode of "What's The Story?", we get into how faith influences every aspect of our lives with our guest, Benjie Craig. Join us as Benjie shares his personal journey of integrating faith with business, community, and family.
What You'll Learn:
Faith and Business: How Benjie's deep-rooted beliefs guide his entrepreneurial decisions and help him navigate the challenges of running a business.
Community Engagement: Insights into how faith motivates Benjie to actively participate and make a difference in his local community.
Family and Faith: The role of spirituality in family life and how it shapes personal relationships and parenting.
Overcoming Challenges: Benjie discusses the pivotal moments when faith played a crucial role in overcoming life's unexpected challenges.
Daily Faith Practices: Practical tips on incorporating faith into daily routines, fostering a deeper connection with spiritual beliefs.
Key Takeaways:
Be busy, work hard but always be ready to come alongside others and love them
If Jesus was you, what would it look like?
Love where you live
Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on our social media for more inspiring stories and life lessons grounded in faith and practical wisdom.
Links & Resources from today’s story
Also listen to:
At Crowd Church, we are committed to creating a space for you to explore the Christian faith, regardless of where you are on your faith journey.
What happens at Crowd Church?
Every week we livestream our online church service, we add extra content like this What’s The Story Podcast, we have weekly online community groups that meet up and all of that good stuff. You can find our more about everything that goes on at Crowd by browsing through this site and you can reach out to us via our contact page.
Come and Join In!
Are you interested in joining in with what is happening here at Crowd? We would love to meet you!
Join in with the Church Livestream
Subscribe to Crowd Church Podcast & What’s the Story Podcast
Follow us on Instagram
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel
Connect with us on Facebook
New to church? If so - check out the New Here link.
Any questions? Please connect with us via our Contact Page, or via WhatsApp: +44 7984 530 429
-
Matt Edmundson: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to What's The Story. We're an inquisitive bunch of hosts from the What's The Story team on a mission to uncover stories about faith and courage from everyday people. And to help us do just that, we get the privilege to chat with amazing guests And delve into their faith journey, the hurdles they've overcome and the life lessons they have learned along the way.
Now, if you enjoy our podcast, don't forget to subscribe and sign up for our newsletter on our website, which is what's the story podcast.com. It's your direct line too. The latest episodes and detailed show notes, and they all get delivered straight to your inbox. And the best part, it's absolutely free.
What's the Story? is brought to you by Crowd Church. We understand that stepping into a traditional church might not be everybody's cup of tea, and that's where Crowd Church steps in, [00:01:00] providing a digital sanctuary, a safe space to explore the Christian faith where you can engage in meaningful conversations rather than just simply spectating.
So whether you are new to the Christian faith or are in search of a new church family, we invite you to visit us at www. crowd. church. And if you've got any questions, just drop us an email at hello at crowd. church. We're here to help and would genuinely love to connect with you. And now, without further ado, let's meet your host and our very special guest for today.
Sadaf Beynon: Hi and welcome back to What's the Story Podcast. I'm your host Sadaf Beynon and today we have a very special guest, Benjie Craig, a husband, dad, church leader, and business owner whose story we're going to get into today. Benjie, thanks for taking the time to be here with us and a huge welcome to the [00:02:00] show.
Benjie Craig: Thanks for having me on.
Sadaf Beynon: Oh it's our pleasure. So actually I should say this Benjie and I know each other from our high school days. And so this is quite fun reconnecting after all these years.
Benjie Craig: Yeah. It's crazy to be able to say we met like a quarter century ago. That's
Sadaf Beynon: okay. Wow. Yes, that is.
All right you know what, let's just jump in and we'll, I'm sure that story's all going to unfold, isn't it, about your high school days and also, all right, so Benjie, you have a fascinating story. And I'm not going to waste any more time. Let's just start with you telling us a bit about your background and how you came to know Jesus as your personal savior.
Benjie Craig: Yeah, sure. I was born in Switzerland. And from there we moved to Pakistan when I was 13 months old, where my parents worked with Afghan refugees. So I grew up in Pakistan and then ended up going to boarding school, which is where I met you. And then from there moved to the [00:03:00] States for college and have been in the States ever since.
But growing up. My family came from a Christian background and so early on I was taught about Jesus and really I would say it was my senior year of high school that was where I felt growing up around a bunch of people who were just doing amazing things for God. But I'm going like okay, Maybe when I grow up, God's going to use me and he'll have a use for me and stuff like that.
And then really my senior year was where I realized okay, God wants a relationship with me. It's not just like he can use me for things. And that's where I really started leaning in. And then I got baptized When I was 18 in Pakistan and then moved to the States. So that's early on how I came to know Jesus.
And then it's been a real faith journey. Ever since of just following God, one of the things I thought growing up and early on was that I'd be working [00:04:00] overseas doing development work or something like that. And one of the biggest fears that I had was raising support. But then going through things, I ended up starting a business.
And the thing about starting a business is you're pretty much raising support every day, right? You're selling, you're trying to bring work in. And so it's been a thing of really learning how to trust God every day and seeing how he provides and early on in the business, it was one of these things where the one week I'd be like really stressed out because I'm like, I don't know how, I don't have enough work for the guys.
And then the next week I'd be so stressed out because I'm like, I've got too much work. I don't have enough guys to do this. And I was just watching this going this is not going to be healthy for me. And I had to go, okay. God, I'm going to give the pieces I can't control to you and it's been quite a journey just continually going okay, God, I'm going to trust you with these pieces.
There's pieces that I can do and I need to do, but ultimately you're the [00:05:00] one who provides.
Sadaf Beynon: Oh, that's cool. Thank you. So I want to take what you were saying earlier about high school and you got baptized and you were talking about how you came to the realization that God actually wanted a relationship with you.
He didn't just want to use you one day when you were old enough to go do something for his kingdom. And I, from the way you were talking, I'm thinking more like a missionary capacity like maybe your parents were, is that right?
Benjie Craig: Yeah, so my parents were Christian relief and development workers working with Afghan refugees.
There was like there's 3 million Afghan refugees that moved into Pakistan when the Russians invaded. And so they were doing a lot of community development work there. And then later on they moved into Afghanistan and were doing work there as well. And so growing up, I saw myself
doing something in Afghanistan as well. Just helping do things there. That's the picture that I had for myself at that point.
Sadaf Beynon: And raising support, the part that freaked you out, was that having watched your parents and other missionaries have to go [00:06:00] through that?
Benjie Craig: Yeah. It wasn't necessarily something that I ever saw my parents stressed out about.
There's stuff like that, but I just remember. Coming back to the States and going from multiple churches every week and talking, sharing about what was happening and raising funds and stuff like that. And it's just that was one of the things that stuck out to me. I really enjoyed hanging out at the different places and stuff like that, but it just that, I guess there was that trust piece that I had to give up, I wanted control of that, right?
Yeah. And so that's something that even today we're at a place right now where things are pretty slow. And I even ended up going on vacation while things were pretty slow. And it was one of those things where I just had to be like, okay, God I'm going to do the pieces that I feel are.
are next of what I have to do. And I'm gonna trust you for the provisions.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Yeah, no that's cool. And like you were saying, it's that piece about learning to trust the Lord and let Him take the control. That's a thread then, isn't it? That [00:07:00] gets weaved in and out of your life.
Yeah that's great. I want to, again, actually take you back to what you were saying about being in high school and being baptized was, did you face any particular challenges that kind of led you to lean further into the Lord and into your faith that led you to then maybe take the step of being baptized?
Benjie Craig: Yes. Junior year of high school, which would be 11th grade. I was, I got a call one day, this is Our school ended early July and started like beginning of August and in May, so it's like getting close to the end of the school year, I get a call from my mom, we're in a boarding school, and so she calls me and says, Hey, I need you to come home for the weekend and pack up all your stuff.
And I'm like, what's going on? And she says we're shipping a bunch of stuff back to the States. Because our visas did not get renewed. And we don't know what's going on. If we're going to be able to be back here next year or not. [00:08:00] And so that was quite a shock, right? And so I flew back and packed up all my stuff at home.
All of the things that I felt that I wanted to keep and ship back to the States. And so we did that and then wrapped up my 11th grade and we went to Switzerland for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. And there's three or four weeks where I didn't know if I was going back to finish my senior year with all my friends in high school in Pakistan, or if we were moving to the States and completely starting over.
And I remember there was one song by Petra called No Doubt, and I just play that over and over again. And there's a part that basically says something along the lines of no doubt, everything's going to work out, God's going to bring everything together for good, right?
And I just. Keep listening to that song reminding myself of okay, God's gonna make this work out, whichever way it goes I really wanted to [00:09:00] finish out my time in Pakistan at high school with all my friends and stuff like that And then I think it was like two days after school started so school had actually started I'm just sitting there like I'm missing it.
This isn't gonna work out. Then we got a notification from the Pakistani embassy in Switzerland that they had our visas. So went there, got them and I was on the next plane to Pakistan and it was just so amazing to go back. My parents came like a week later with my sister. But that was a real challenge.
Early on and then just seeing how God worked that through. So my sister and I got one year student visas, and then they gave my mom a one year visa to be with us. Cause they're like, we can't just have two minors in the country by themselves. And then my dad was able to use tourist visas and stuff.
Stuff to come visit and stuff like that,
Sadaf Beynon: wow. So great that it all ended so well for you, for all of you, but what was it like [00:10:00] receiving that call? I'd imagine it'd be terrifying and, but how did you feel? How did that affect you?
Benjie Craig: I was just so excited. Sorry. It
oh, the call.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. I was not very excited.
Benjie Craig: Yes. Yeah, it was it was weird, because I really didn't have much time to talk to my friends about what was happening. And I had to leave and go back. And I really didn't have anyone. and so it was just a shock because knew I was going to be there for my senior year finishing out the year and it's the academic stuff is wrapping up and you're just having some fun for the end of year stuff and your friends are graduating.
So it was quite a shock.
Sadaf Beynon: I can imagine. And that senior year is always the one you're looking forward to that whole time, aren't you? To be able to get to experience it. So yeah. And I'm glad that you were able to make it back and [00:11:00] be able to finish in Pakistan like you wanted.
Benjie, you'd been mentioning earlier about your business and how you've how the Lord's was even a part of that journey for you as well. Depending on him for the work, depending on him for the workers, and your, the fact that you had to trust in him daily. And so it's very clear that your personal faith actually extends to your workplace as well.
And in fact, in every aspect of your life. Could you share with us how you, how your faith has influenced your approach to the way you do business?
Benjie Craig: Yeah, I think I was working in a company before that everything was very reactive in a way.
And so there was like a lot of emergencies and we were like fighting our own fires and customers fires. And I just felt I think it could be different and I didn't have the opportunities to be able to change some things in [00:12:00] that business. So I decided, okay, I'm going to start out and trtry business myself and what I think the way I think business works, does it work and can we get it going? And think a lot of how we run the business, we try to be as proactive as we can, where we're trying to Build our systems and everything so that we're working on our customers fires, not our own fires and things like that.
And how does my faith play into this? It's a lot of how we treat people. How we care and love for them. They're not just a number, whether they're the customer or the employee, like we, our mission is we build lasting relationships. And our vision is that cities and people are empowered.
A lot of the people that we bring in here we're training and developing All the way through and building relationships with them about what's going on in their personal lives, right? Like it's relationship and we care and love for the people. [00:13:00] And through that, it's provided a lot of opportunities to really come alongside our staff and then also our customers and what they're going through.
And then building those relationships in the long term helps continue our business because those relationships provide long, provide more work over time and I think relationship is so important. Yeah. And then what happens is as you get to know people, you start out with superficial conversation and then over time it goes to meaningful and then there's times where it goes to spiritual and you're able to have spiritual conversations with people just about what's going through their lives or being able to pray for them for challenges that they're having or caring for them.
I've got one friend. Who's working with me now and he had to fly to another country and be with his family for a little bit. And, he's basically I'll still have my job when I get back. I'm like, yeah, totally. Of course. Like you're part of the team.
And one thing that was really [00:14:00] neat was he he was trying to get everything to coordinate, to go back and one of my other co workers in the business we've been talking to him about Jesus and he's been slowly getting to know Jesus a little bit. And then he actually ended praying for my friend that everything would work out for this trip.
And the next day my other friend got his, got the news that he was able to like things were going to move forward so that he'd be able to go on this trip. So it was just exciting to see one of my guys is he's slowly moving closer to Jesus start praying for other people on the team, so it's a fun journey.
Sadaf Beynon: I remember one of the things that you, that we spoke about in the pre call. You talked about the way you run your business. You want to make sure that you're not the bottleneck or when it comes to all the processes and stuff. So what led to that decision making?
Benjie Craig: Yeah There's a couple things. First of all if you look at [00:15:00] Jesus, the way he set things up, right? We are his plan A and he has no plan B, right? And if you look at what he did he came and started ministering and loving people and then he had some people that were with him and trained them up a little bit and then he sent them out two by two.
And then he brought him back and so how'd it go? And then coached him a little bit and kept sending him on. And I'd been taught that for a long time growing up and as I was building my business, I saw that I just saw where everything was bottlenecking with me.
Like I was. Everything was slowing down with me. I was like, okay, so I need to build a business that that I'm empowering people, empowering everybody to do what they need to do and continuing to give responsibility. And lot of my company runs. [00:16:00] Runs without me, so to speak that I don't have to, I'm not part of the process, right?
My favorite thing is to be coming alongside them and going like, how's it going? And how can I help, right? Like, how are the ways I can help you going forward? So
when I was baptized there's somebody who prayed over me and said, Benjie, you need to be like a person in a marketplace who is always busy. , but can make time for anybody right. To sit and talk and stuff like that. And so part of the way I've set up my business as well is so that I'm available to be, spend time with people and to connect and listen.
And I try to structure my. My work so that I can move things around for people and be able to spend time and
I just think it's so important to, as you're in a community, to be able to be available for everybody around so that you can love the community that you're in.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah, that's very cool. And it's quite actually your approach. Like you said that's what [00:17:00] Jesus did, that's what he taught.
And yet listening to you say it and thinking about it, playing out, it seems quite innovative, it seems quite different such a different approach to how people will normally run their businesses. That's just not usually how it's done.
And your approach is also quite insightful, I think, empowering others and wanting to come alongside rather than feeling like that you're the one who has to do everything and make it all happen. No, I love that. And also what you I don't know who it was that said these words to you, but to stay busy, but also be always ready to listen and to talk and to come alongside others.
That's very cool. I like that.
So Benjie, you mentioned community and that you're quite active in yours. I want to know more about that. So I know you're also involved in your church and in different parts of leadership. Talk to us about that. What does that look like for you?
Benjie Craig: Yeah actually right around the time that [00:18:00] I,
right around the time that I started my business, I was asked at my church to become an elder. I was an elder for about 10 years and was involved in a help helping the church shift, right? We were a very attractional church at the time, and we decided to shift a little bit and become more of a missional church and spending less time focusing on Sundays and more time throughout the week involved out in the community.
And and part of that shift for me as well growing up overseas, I came here and went to this church. It was a pretty large church at the time, and I really got involved in the church pretty much every day of the week, doing something. I met my wife at the church, our kids went to the school at the church.
And there was a point where I was kinda like, I'm a pretty bright light inside a building, right? Like I don't have any non Christian friends, like [00:19:00] something doesn't feel right. And it was a process of learning and really shifting in and then moving to how do I be out in the community?
How do I care and love for the community around me? Like I didn't even really know my neighbors that well, right? And there's a process of change where, you know, the school that my kids were going to ended up closing down and then we move our kids to public school.
And then it's been a lot of really leaning into hanging out in the community that our kids are in. I've also gotten involved in the economic development commission with the city of Fremont. Okay, Fremont's the town we live in. And then I'm now on the Human Relations Commission and also a Facilities Advisory Commission for the school district.
So really getting involved on the city level as well. But just in the community, jessica, my wife spends a lot of time involved in [00:20:00] community at the schools, right? And how to just be involved in support the schools and where our kids are. I volunteer at those, at the events themselves, but she's involved on the, at the PTO board level, which is Parent Teacher Organization and stuff like that.
That's really where she's built a lot of her friends now.
Sadaf Beynon: Wow, you sound very busy.
Benjie Craig: It can be busy, but it's a lot of fun, right? And it's a way I get to connect and meet new parts of the community that I don't know, and really engage.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. What is it about your faith that's driven you to engage
with your community at that level?
Benjie Craig: So I really think that you need to love where you live, right? And bless the people around you. And we are blessed to be a blessing to others, right? Like Genesis 12. And that means, like I can say, oh, I love where I live because all of these [00:21:00] amazing amenities or whatever.
Or you can say, I love where I live where it's like you're loving where you live. You're pouring your heart into where you live, right? You're trying to make a difference where you can. And really looking around and go what does good news look like to the people around us?
And how can I be involved in that is really where what I'm trying to do and just be a blessing to the people around us. And part of that looks like there's a bunch of kids that need rides to go to youth group, right? So I'm driving them to youth group. And
There's another family that they need community. And so how do we connect them to community and just be involved in their lives that way? And yeah, I look at Jesus and when he was walking around what did good news look like to the people around him? There's somebody who's blind.
So the first thing was they needed to be able to see and they or their cripple they want needed to be healed. And then, that opened the door. For them to listen. [00:22:00] But so how do we become fascinated by the people around us and learn about them and then, and love them and care for them?
Sadaf Beynon: I love what you're saying because it depicts the fact that you have to walk alongside people to know what good, what the good news looks like for them. You can't. Be removed and just assume that this is what they need.
Benjie Craig: It's very easy to try to create a program and try to push something, right?
And hey, you need to hear this or whatever. But I think relationship is so important, right? Because that's how trust builds. And then conversation can happen. And it's opportunity to do it. And this generation is the most marketed to generation ever.
So they can sniff a program out of everything. And but they, what is everybody longing for now? It's community engagement, love, right? Let's lean into that.
[00:23:00] I think so much I think what Jesus said when he left was go and make disciples. And so how do you make disciples? How did Jesus make disciples? He hung out with people. He spent time with his disciples that he was making, right?
He spent three years with them. And for us to make disciples, it's spending time with people, living life with them. And what that also means is the way I make a disciple is different than you do because we're different people. And something that I really connected with from one of my mentors, he said, If Jesus were you, what would it look like and then how can you become more like that, right?
And that helps me get a better picture of how do I need to grow, what do I need to become, right? Because if we just think of oh, how do I become more like Jesus? Like I can see things in the Bible, but what exactly was this personality like? I don't know. And we're not all trying to become the same person, but Jesus gave us all different personalities and how do we become more like him?
And so how we [00:24:00] engage the people around us in community is going to be different, but we're all discipling people. And I think that's so important. So for my wife, who's an introvert and me, who I'm an extrovert, it looks completely different, right? And I just think that's beautiful that Jesus has invited us to be part of something that we can grow really into who we are as people, right?
And it's not, we have to conform to one certain way of doing things.
Sadaf Beynon: That's really cool. What was it your mentor said to you? Can you repeat that? If Jesus was?
Benjie Craig: Yeah. If Jesus was you, what would it look like? And how can you become more like that?
Sadaf Beynon: I like that. Yeah, and it's one of those things, isn't it for you to pursue those things and to want to emulate Jesus in your community, but also in the way [00:25:00] that in how God's created you, and if you do it through that, then you flourish rather than trying to be the next the next person and trying to make it work because it worked for them.
Benjie Craig: Yeah, I think like for me, some of the challenges that I run into sometimes is I go, why am I not like that other person? Like, why I'm not? And why am I not as academic as somebody else? Or, why don't I have the specific drive that I try to push things a certain way or something like that.
And why am I not like other people in the Bay Area? Or just you compare yourself and then you have to keep, okay, like God created me different, right? We're all different. We're not all trying to become The same thing and living out who we've been created to be because each of us are a beautiful masterpiece that God's created.
And then how do we how do we live into that of what, [00:26:00] and it's work to continue growing as a person and then also not trying to become who God didn't create you to be, right? Somebody else's journey.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah.
Benjie Craig: So I think as we live out who God has made us to be, and how do we become aware of what God is doing in our communities? How do we come alongside the people? And Some of the things that we've started talking and really implementing at our church is really encouraging people to go on prayer walks go on walks around your community and pray a blessing on the community and ask God, where is he already working?
And how can you join him there? And through that, maybe you'll see who is out and about and who, or who isn't out and about and, what are the needs of the community? What missing? And as I'm doing my prayer walks, I do them first thing in the morning.
And there's a certain group of people who are also working, walking in the [00:27:00] morning. I'm able to have conversations with them, get to know them. And we actually two days ago, I ran into one couple who lives down the street that I've slowly been getting to know. And I got to bring them into our house and show them the remodel that we're doing, because they want to be doing some stuff.
But it's building conversation there, right? So it's, it starts with surface level conversations like, Oh, hey, that's a cool dog or whatever. And then it starts going into meaningful conversations, but then there's opportunities that they become spiritual conversations and opportunities to be able to pray for somebody.
And I think for me early on, praying for somebody was like a big deal. I'm like, I don't really know if I want to pray for somebody because, what if God doesn't answer the way I pray or something like that? And someone was Another one of my mentors said or taught me, he said if somebody's going through a hard time, why don't you say let's just say somebody's grandma's [00:28:00] not doing well.
It's do you mind if I pray for you for that? Because, I think it hurts Jesus too, that your grandma's sick. I'll say typically, but a lot of time it's Oh, I'll pray for you. And that's maybe you'll pray for them later.
But it's like a top down approach, right? Like I will pray for you versus can I pray for you is more you're asking permission. And I've never had anybody say no. I had one person go it's not really my thing, but but if it makes you feel good, sure, go ahead.
And so then at that point, praying for that person right there, with them. And then, the two things that I include in my prayers is I want to make sure, I'll say God, I know you love this person, I want to just say it as a statement. So they know that, they hear that.
And then pray that they have peace. And then pray for whatever else is going on. and what happens is like the next time I see the person I can ask them Hey, how are you doing? What's going on? And it opens a spiritual door, but ultimately, however God [00:29:00] decides to answer that prayer, that person knows that they're loved, right?
Like you're caring and loving for that person. And I think that's so important. And I've been, I was just reading a book where. I haven't really practiced this, but I've been processing through where they talked about like giving blessings instead of going, can I pray for you going can I give you a blessing?
And the picture that they gave was if praying, you turn away from the person and look at God. . But in giving a blessing, you're looking at the person with God behind you and blessing them. So it's something that I've been chewing on. I just read it in a book and I've just gone oh, I haven't had the opportunity to do it, but just something, yeah.
Process that I thought was .
Sadaf Beynon: Thanks for that, Benjie. I'm guessing many of our listeners are maybe sometimes struggling to bring their faith into their daily life or their professional life. You've given a lot of insight there, but is there any other particular advice you would give [00:30:00] them?
Benjie Craig: I think part of it is being willing to step out of your comfort zone a little bit. And noticing like being fascinated by the people around you where you're seeing where, what does good news look like to them? And how can you build relationship and be there for people, right?
And relationship is two ways. I think there's a lot of times where it's like, Oh, I have to I have to serve the other people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But no, it's a two way street. If we look at, if we look at in the Bible, when Jesus sent everybody, sent the disciples out two by two, he said, go look for people of peace.
And if there's a person of peace there, declare peace on the space. I think it's Luke 10. And if we look at many of the stories of the Bible the person that they were connecting with also served them like Jesus and the woman of the well, she gave him. Water, right? Paul and Lydia, she's you have to stay at [00:31:00] my house.
The jailer when Paul was beaten, right? Like he's being stitched up by them while he's sharing the gospel. And that just builds that picture of its relationship. It's a two way street, not I have to do everything. Yeah. I think, it's being willing to step out a little bit, but in other ways, it's a lot easier than we make it out to be.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. You're right benjie, it's been truly fascinating hearing how you've navigated the complexities of faith and leadership. And yeah it's been really good to hear you talk about these things. What's your one message that you would want to leave with our listeners today?
Benjie Craig: Yeah, I think love where you live, right? Like love love the people, love the place and see see how you can be a part of it, right? And step out and just gonna, one thing that just came to mind was there's this book called The Art of Neighboring and they go. Make a little tic tac toe board [00:32:00] and then put you in the middle and then go okay, all the neighbors around you, like, how can you get to know their names, get to know their families?
And start praying for them and, so just to yeah.
Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. No, that's great. Love your, love where you live is such a powerful message. It really resonates, especially in our fast paced world where it's so easy to overlook the community that surrounds us. And I also liked earlier how you made that distinction between loving where you live as in, I love everything about it, but this is different.
This is the relationship side. This is the part where you do the hard work. And having listened to your story, it's so clear that you're making a tangible, impact right where you have been placed, you and your family, and your proactive approach to faith and life is something that many of us can learn from.
So thank you so much for being on the show, for sharing your story, for [00:33:00] your insights. It's been inspiring to learn about the powerful ways that you are connecting your Christian faith with your work and your community.
Benjie Craig: Thank you so much for having me on. It was awesome.
Sadaf Beynon: Thank you to you. The pleasure's ours. If you're listening to the show and want to reach out to Benjie, you can do that by just heading over to the show notes for more information. And so this is it for this episode, bye from me and from Benjie. Until next time. Bye.
Matt Edmundson: And just like that, we have reached the end of another fascinating conversation. Now remember to check out Crowd Church at www. crowd. church, even if you might not see the point of church. We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus can help us live a more meaningful life. We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith, and a place where you can contribute and grow.
And you are welcome at [00:34:00] Crowd Church. Don't forget to subscribe to the What's The Story Podcast on your favourite podcast app, because we've got a treasure trove of inspiring stories coming your way, and we would basically hate for you to miss any of them. And just in case no one has told you yet today, remember you are awesome.
Yes, you are. Created awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear. What's the Story is a production of Crowd Church. Our fantastic team, including Anna Kettle, Sadaf Beynon, and me, Matt Edmundson and Tanya Hutsuliak, work behind the scenes tirelessly to bring you all these fabulous, stories. Our theme song is a creative work of Josh Edmundson.
And if you're interested in the transcript or show notes, head over to our website, whatsthestorypodcast. com. And whilst you're there, sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get all of this [00:35:00] goodness delivered straight to your inbox. So that's it from all of us this week here at What's The Story. Thank you so much for joining us.
Have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world. We'll catch you next time. Bye for now.