Have you ever heard of Paul Harvey. I used to love to hear his stories on the radio. He would always say something like: “here is the rest of the story”. So as I told you last week about the “rest of the story” for God-Built the Company, The Vision, here it is:
“Now let me back up a little and lets go back to my “beginning years” of personal training. As I said I was very blessed and over time during those 5 years of health and life coaching before the official opening of God-Built I built up a good clientele base. And it was the first of the year in 1998 when I actually went “all in” and commited to personal training full time and being completely “self employed.” And from that point forward is when my business really started growing. And it was over that time I was able to save a decent amount of money, which would serve a great purpose for God-Built in the future. See, when we found our space to rent for God-Built, we got a good deal on the monthly rent, but in turn we had to do the renovations, and boy did it need some. The great thing is that since I was so blessed to be able to save that sum of money over the years, we were able to open God-Built without borrowing any money!!! We paid cash for all the renovations, materials, and equipment. Now yes I did a lot of the work myself, and had help from friends and family too, but there were a lot of costs involved and again we didn’t have to borrow money!! Man that was awesome. And yes it pretty much drained all those funds I had saved, which I didn’t expect. But thank God it was there!! This is the time where I learned the lesson particularly concerning construction: It usually costs you twice as much and takes twice as long as you think. I know it doesn’t have to happen this way, but boy I was very young and ignorant in this area at the time and it did take twice as much money and more than twice as long as I planned. Hey, that is fine though, we got it done and it was great.
When we first opened the doors of God-Built, we were a “specialized” Training facility. We offered private 1 on 1 or semi private small group personal training. We worked with young kids all the way up to older adults. We also worked with athletes for Sports Performance. We had some people wanting us to open up as a “regular” gym, but that was not in our plans. Over the years we have had that request a lot, but have just never felt like that was the direction for us to go, so we never did.
I was led by God to coach and train people to improve their health by approaching fitness different than most do. God started showing me, and is still revealing to me even to this day, how to lead people to take control of their health and life by using His Principles that are in His Word. This plan or system is what we have used from day 1: Spirit, Soul, Body. We have always taught and coached people to take control of their health and life using this same pattern of teaching people: You are a Spirit being person; You have a soul which is your mind, will, and emotions; You live in a body. So our belief is that you have to approach fitness and health in this order if you want to truly succeed in your health and in any other area of life. And as I said earlier, He is still revealing to me, to us, how to lead people and coach them for health and life success.
Also during those first years in operation, we had many different “personal trainers” come to us looking for a job. One of the first things we looked for, and still do, in a trainer is someone who could “tie into” our vision of “teaching people who they are in Christ through fitness.” Then of course the trainer had to be one with great experience in coaching people to improve their health and life. We have had many come to us with the experience and background personal trainers and some of those were seemingly “excellent” at their job, but they did not fit into our belief or way of teaching fitness. Over the years though, God has brought us trainers that are not only great in the area of teaching people how to take control of their health and life using God’s Principles, but also are excellent at teaching exercise principles, encouraging individuals and groups, and constantly keeping the atmosphere at a high energetic level. We have been blessed with some truly great trainers, thanks to Him!!
In 2005 an opportunity opened for us to move into a new bigger and better facility. This opportunity was also for us to own the facility. So in april of 2005 we purchased the facility we are still in today, 2013. This was a huge opportunity and with opportunity usually comes challenges. With His help and direction we have been extremely blessed to be in this building and this location. We love it here and it has been great for us.
Being that our new facility had much, much more room we started looking at other programs to offer. This is where our Super Circuit Training program started. We decided we wanted to offer our “specialized” services to larger groups of people, and be able to offer it to them in a “group” setting. So we started up our Super Circuit Training group training program. As it happens in many cases, it was slow at first. Over time the program has grown and is still growing. We have been able to extend our services, our ministry for His Kingdom, to many more people now. And I believe that we literally haven’t even truly begun to see the fullness of what He has for us to do. We have been extremely blessed since the very beginning days of God-Built, and we expect so much more to come. I truly see that He can use us more than we ever thought possible in literally “Going into all the world teaching people who they are In Christ.”
As of date, here is what we offer: Personal Training- 1 on 1 or semi private groups; Sports Performance Training; Super Circuit Training; Corporate Health and Life Training on site and off site; Corporate Management Health and Life Training; Church / Ministry Health and Life Training. We see that our website, godbuilt.com, is probably our next biggest tool to do His works of “going into all the world teaching people who they are In Christ”. We are currently looking for the best ways to upgrade what we offer and how we offer services through godbuilt.com.
Over the course of time, I sure have made a lot of mistakes and I have gotten it right. What I have discovered is that when you are truly willing to be “willing and obedient” then that is when you get it right and His best comes forth. And I am still working on that!! I am so thankful to God almighty for how He has had His Divine Hand on God-Built this whole time. I am so thankful and humbled that He trusted me with this vision, and so thankful for His awesome Grace and Patience with me over the years. I am also very thankful for my Proverbs 31 woman, my beautiful wife. Without her support I guarantee you this would not have been possible. Anyone who has ever started a business understands the challenges that come with it. And the challenges don’t stop coming, you just learn how to correctly deal with them. So again, to her I am infinitely grateful. Also I am thankful to all the friends and clients who have stood behind God-Built and believed in what we are doing here. Man I am so blessed and so is God-Built. We have been so extremely blessed this whole journey.
Going forward I see us continuing to offer the same services we do now, just on a bigger scale. From the very beginning, 1996, I thought for sure we were going to have several God-Built locations. At the time, that is the only way I could imagine us being able to literally fulfill the vision “going into All the world….”. Now, with the internet, “going into all the world” is easier than ever, and yes I believe now that is going to be our biggest vehicle to reach into the world, fulfilling His Vision, but it may not be the only way. So as far as multiple locations, I am not throwing it out, so we will just have to wait and see. What I do know is God-Built the company is going forward. We are expecting His Best and in that expecting to see many more lives changed as we literally teach people who they are In Christ, through fitness. Fitness is simply our vehicle to minister His Truth, His Way, for His kids!! kj