When Business Meets Calling: The Dillon Hilton Story
Five generations in Beaver, Oklahoma taught one man what really matters
Dillon Hilton represents the fifth generation of his family to call Beaver, Oklahoma home. His great-great-grandfather left Kansas City at 14-years-old in the 1890s and never looked back. What he found in the Oklahoma panhandle became the foundation for a legacy built on hard work, faith, and serving others. That legacy continues through Blue Sage Services, the heavy civil contracting company Dillon founded 15 years ago.
From Dust Bowl to Discipleship
The Hilton family story reads like the heartbeat of rural America. They survived the Dust Bowl. They worked the land through droughts that forced impossible decisions. When devastating wildfires burned 1.3 million acres in March 2017, the family ranch became a volunteer hub coordinating relief efforts from all 48 states. Dillon grew up watching his father embody what it means to serve others. That same DNA now drives how he leads Blue Sage Services and how he approaches integrating faith into business. When the economic downturn hit in 2019-2020, Dillon made a decision: bring God into the business, not just talk about it.
The Structure Is Already There
Blue Sage crews work in some of the most remote locations across Oklahoma and Texas. Jobs often sit 200 miles from home, then another 30 miles from the nearest town. But Dillon sees something most people miss: the structure for discipleship already exists on job sites. His teams spend more time together than they do with their families. The question became how to transform that time into something that develops people spiritually, not just professionally. Partnering with Blackbird Mission through Rogue Collective, Dillon is working to answer that question. With 10 million workers in the dirt world and 40% of the current workforce aging out in the next 15 years, the opportunity to reach the next generation is massive. The harvest is plentiful. You just have to train the disciples.
Episode Summary:
Discover how a devastating drought, five generations of legacy, and an “addiction to helping people” led Dillon Hilton to build Blue Sage Services and pioneer faith-based leadership in the dirt world. Dillon Hilton is a fifth-generation Oklahoman whose family settled in Beaver in the 1890s. When extreme drought destroyed the family ranching operation in 2010, Dillon launched Blue Sage Services with a welding torch and a willingness to never say no. Fifteen years later, he’s leading a heavy civil contractor that moves earth across Texas and Oklahoma while pioneering what it looks like to integrate faith, purpose, and discipleship into construction culture.
This episode was recorded live at the Dirt World Summit, where construction professionals, heavy equipment operators, and industry leaders gather to build more than roads.
Key Takeaways:
- The 2010 drought that destroyed the ranch became the catalyst for Blue Sage Services
- Bringing God into business means opening doors to faith conversations, not just talking about values
- Job sites are perfect discipleship structures because crews spend more time together than with families
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Daron: Created on purpose and for purpose. Hey, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine podcast. Daron Earlewine, your host. Hey, we’re still live at the Dirt World Summit third annual. And it’s not live. What’s live for me? It’s not live while you’re watching it. But hey, just say it’s live. It’ll feel you’ll feel like you’re here with us. We’re in Dallas, Texas, and we’re sitting now with some of our newest friends that are part of the Dirt World. So Dillon Hilton, welcome to the Daron Earlewine podcast.
Dillon: Thank you for having me.
Daron: Absolutely. So Dillon, we’ve become close associates and friends over the past, we’ll say 12 months.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: And you live in the wonderful state of Oklahoma.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: And we’ve been working together with your company, Blue Sage Services, since July with Rogue Collective. So tell the podcast audience a little bit. What is Blue Sage? What do you guys do? Kind of fill in the blanks with that.
Dillon: So we are, this is actually our 15 year anniversary. We’re a heavy civil contractor, install utilities and move earth.
Daron: Move earth.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: Dirt World.
Dillon: Dirt work.
Daron: So we got connected last year at the Dirt World Summit. So I did a pre-conference session. They ended up, then we did the fellowship breakfasts and ended up winning the competition from the pre-conference, got to speak main stage. And so you and Wyatt, and so what is Wyatt’s official title?
Dillon: Wyatt is the Director of Business Development.
Daron: Director of Business Development. He does a lot more than that.
Dillon: Yeah. But that is his title.
Daron: So he was at one of the sessions, you were at one of the other ones. So what was kind of your guys’s, you know, you were here, you were like, all right, we’re going to learn about how to be a better dirt world company, but you come across me in these different settings. What was kind of the first impression there?
Dillon: So Wyatt went to your first one. That was that first day. And he caught me between sessions and said, man, I just heard the best talk ever.
Daron: Went on didn’t ask that question just for you to give me a compliment, but I’m just, we’re getting context here. It’s true. It’s true.
Dillon: And I didn’t think much of it. Then the next morning, Wyatt went to the workout and I went to the prayer breakfast and I…
Daron: He told me about that workout that he tried to like push himself a little bit harder than maybe it was necessary.
Dillon: He was regretting that.
Daron: Yeah. I don’t think he worked out this year.
Dillon: Wisdom. There you go.
Daron: And soon as I sat down, I’m like, Oh, this is who Wyatt was talking about. And man, just, you know, you’re relatable to the audience and had my attention. Still remember it, you know, never quit fetching the balls.
Daron: Never quit chasing tennis balls. That’s it. So yeah, that’s when we met.
Dillon: So Wyatt reached out to me months after that. He saw something I post on LinkedIn. He was like, dude, you’re doing coaching development with teams. I want you to come out to here. I saw that at the same time we called each other that night. I don’t know which called which and both of us had it on our mind. I’m like, Hey, we got to get ahold of Daron. We need him to come be a part of our business.
Daron: So, dude, I was so grateful when Wyatt reached out and it’s funny cause we’re just, you know, kind of, he was filming on that. Tell me what you want to do. And I’m like, what would this look like? So I’m kind of laying out the engagement. I’d love to be in person, some get to know the folks, maybe do some virtual, whatever. And Wyatt’s like, you’ll come here. And I’m like, yeah, I want to be with your people, man. It’s like, no, no, no, no, you’ll come here. And I’m like, yeah, dude, like, I’ll get on a plane. I’ll come to you guys. Like, I’m not understanding why this is a deal. And I’m like, well, where are you guys even at? He’s like, we’re in Oklahoma. I’m like, sweet, Oklahoma sounds great. He’s like, we’re in Beaver, Oklahoma. I’m like, yeah, a town. They hadn’t pulled it up on Google yet. And then he’s like, well, there’s a couple of ways to get here. You can fly to Kansas or Texas or whatever. Then you’re going to drive for a little bit. So I mean, I remember when I flew in the first time and I was still stoked. I’m like, this is going be a great adventure, you know?
Daron: So I remember I fly the first time and both times I’ve gone to be with you guys, I flew into Amarillo and I’ve been to Texas, grew up in Arizona. We’ve driven from Indiana there, you know, so I’ve seen the country, but it’s been a minute probably since I was in Amarillo, Texas. And I get out of the airport, start driving. And I thought I was in an episode of Landman. I mean, I was like, this is okay. But I have loved every minute that we’ve got to spend, you know, with you guys at Blue Sage, amazing team. And I told Wyatt this, and we’re gonna have Wyatt on the podcast too, so this story will be told twice to the audience.
Daron: I remember this last time, hung out at your house till like 12:45, we’re driving back to the house on the piece of the land of the ranch that you live on. We’ll talk about the ranch, which it’s a massive, massive ranch. When I went to the first time I was like, so where, where would you say the end of your property is? As far as you can see. So if you’ve never been to the panhandle of Oklahoma and seen this kind of land, like your mind will explode to think about how much land is there, but we’re driving out through the ranch, down some dirt road through it. It’s like one in the morning, it’s foggy, we can’t see anything. And Dillon’s just like, or Wyatt’s like, man, Daron, just meant thanks for coming back. You know, thanks for being here, you know? And I’m like, like, why do you keep thinking? Or, you know, I was like, why do you keep thinking that? I love spending time with you guys, you know? Then it gets quiet. And then like my brain did this kind of like zoom out, out of body experience. And I was thinking, I’m like, I’m in a dude’s truck, we’re sliding around in a dirt road at one in the morning. We can’t see a thing because it’s foggy. We’re going to a house that they bought from some grandma. No one’s ever been there. Wyatt’s never been there. I’ve never been there. I don’t know what house we’re going to. Like, we don’t even know really where, you know, what’s in the house, all these things. And like, and I’m in Beaver, Oklahoma, and I’m stacking up all this thing. Left my family, like I was like, this is crazy. Like, why am I, why am I even doing this?
Daron: And then I thought, and I said, you know what I said? You’re right. I was like, this is a little bit like a lot. But I said, but you and Dillon, like who you are, the kind of people you are, the relationships you build. I’m like, I’m so happy that I’m here and you guys are building something special. I think with Blue Sage and you’ve got a unique challenge because you’re not in Charlotte, you’re not in Atlanta, you don’t have this metropolis beaver population.
Dillon: Thousand.
Daron: Yeah. Thousand people. You’ve served your whole life there.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: So to build the size and the scope of the company you have in that kind of small town, very, very unique thing. And I love to see what happens. But to give some context, I want to get the time machine right and go back because you’ve been there your whole life, not just you, but we’re talking about three, four, five generations. What are we talking about?
Dillon: I’m the fifth generation.
Daron: My generation.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: Where did they come from to get there? Do you even know?
Dillon: Kansas City. Okay. It’s kind of where my great, great granddad left from to come to our area.
Daron: So what took him out there?
Dillon: And I think opportunity, he was 14 years old when he left his home.
Daron: Shut up. Left his parents.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: And it was in, you know, like, I’m going to say 1890, early 1890s.
Daron: So they’re like getting on a horse and wagoning, you go into Oklahoma.
Dillon: Yes, sir. And they stopped in Beaver. They did. They did.
Daron: So what has the family been doing? What have they been a part of for five generations? Man, so, you know, family, like every family had their challenges been through, you know, the dust bowl was a huge thing. That was, we’re right in the epicenter of where the Dust Bowl took place.
Dillon: So gained land, lost land, you know how family is, you split things off. There’s been lots of family dynamics that have gone through back and forth over the years. Yeah, it’s been a pretty cool legacy.
Daron: Yeah. What’s been the family occupation through all those years?
Dillon: Mainly farming and ranch and agriculture. That’s about all there is out there. Okay. You know, in the fifties to seventies, there was a little bit of an oil boom in our area. And that since then has died off really in our area. There’s a little bit of oil field.
Daron: Okay.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: So I remember when I was there first, Wyatt was telling me some stories because your father had a major impact on Wyatt’s like a major mentor of his and changed his life in pretty powerful ways. He was telling some stories about your dad, about there was, I don’t remember what year it was, but there was massive wildfires in Oklahoma. When was that?
Dillon: 2017.
Daron: March 6th, 2017. And he’s telling stories about like with your guys’ ranch, what your dad did that like you guys basically almost became like bringing in resources.
Dillon: Like the hubs or volunteers.
Daron: Helped orchestrate with Oklahoma Baptist General Convention. It was a big part of that. Kind of set up a hub right there, Nolz, little bitty town. Six or seven people live there and just set up a hub for volunteers to show up, donated supplies. I mean, we had hay coming in from like Michigan, all over the country, stuff from all 48 states. It was wild. And that was basically just a resource, farmers and ranchers and people that were all over there that everything had been burned. It was devastating, man. It burned like, I’m going to say 1.3 million acres in a matter of eight hours, probably.
Daron: Shut up.
Dillon: Most of that was done in probably four or five hours. Just the winds picked it up and it reduced. Like 70, 80 mile an hour winds and zero or not zero, but like two or 3% humidity. One of those horrible spring days.
Daron: Devastating.
Dillon: Wow.
Daron: That spoke to me, Dillon, because it was like, I love stories. You know what I mean? And I love seeing, man, how has God been at work in an individual’s life, but even like in a family’s life. And it’s like, it’s not every day you’re like, I’m standing in a ranch in Beaver, Oklahoma, where there’s been a Hilton there for five generations, right? Developing the land, developing, you know, the community, the economy, you know, working to save and restore people’s lives. It’s a phenomenal story. And in the context of that, you you’ve done a lot of different things, but you know, in the context of that, you, you, you launched BlueSage services and now it’s kind of like this next generation, you know, bringing this up. Talk to me about like, is that something, cause I love talking about people’s dreams and kind of finding God’s purpose for their life. So we’re at the time machine, we’re talking to, you know, 17 year old Dillon Hilton, right? Like, was this the dream? Where did you think your life was going? What did you think the trajectory was?
Dillon: I always loved equipment. What little kid doesn’t like to see a dozer or all the big equipment? But really I was farm and ranch man. I was either on a tractor or on a horse growing up. So graduated high school in 2007. Went to work for my dad and granddad on the family farm and ranching operation. I have a brother that’s four years older than me, and he graduated college, same year I graduated high school, and he kind of took the managing the ranch side of things with all the cattle, and I took care of all the farming. And fast forward to 2010, extreme drought in our area. So very bad. We had to get rid of most of the cattle. It was like very bad. Had to lay off quite a few of our hands. Wasn’t a good situation. I decided, hey, I need to kind of do something a little more stable. You know, it was kind of like you talk about the death of a dream.
Daron: There was a point that I’m like, man, I got to give this up and move away.
Dillon: Really? I really did. I didn’t wash my hands of it, but like, I got to get away and figure something out for Dillon. And that’s when Blue Sage Services was established.
Daron: But you didn’t move away, did you?
Dillon: About an hour away. I moved away to Woodward, Oklahoma, which is about an hour away, mainly for a workforce. And it was kind of the central hub of an oil boom going on that direction. So, yes, sir.
Daron: So you launched BlueSage. What was the first iteration of it? What was the main focus?
Dillon: Man, started out just welding as myself, just chasing drilling rigs mainly and welding. And then we also built a lot of oil field facilities, different things like that. It was probably, I’m gonna say, two weeks into it, I started hiring some help. Had the first employee two or three weeks into it and just kept going and going. Get a customer and they’d say, hey, can you do this? I don’t say no very well. Which I’ve learned is a good thing and can be a bad thing. So, yeah. That’s kind of the first iteration.
Daron: So how has it grown to where you guys are more in the heavy civil side of things? And I mean, where did that kind of develop and change?
Dillon: That wasn’t very far down the road. I’m going to say two or three years, we were more like in the oil field. You call them a roustabout. We had roustabout crews that are building all the oil field production facilities and just general labor, different things that need to be done. And then probably I’m going to say 2012, when we bought our first piece of equipment. And it was actually a blade, a road grader. And I’d never been on one. And whenever I was talking to our cat dealer, getting one delivered, I’m like, man, I might ought to learn how to run one of these before I tell someone else. And had him drop it off at the ranch. I messed up some roads.
Daron: You just jumped on those and did great stuff.
Dillon: Yep. Yep. Finally got it figured out.
Daron: See, if anybody grew up in like suburban life, they can’t even conceive of this idea. They’re going to, the truck’s going to come and drop off this massive road grader. And they’re going to be like, well, I guess I better test drive it here on my property. Just start blading stuff.
Dillon: I figured it out. It looked like a bomb went off. It was bad.
Daron: But you figured it out.
Dillon: Got it figured out. Yes, sir.
Daron: So you guys have continued to say yes. You’ve got, you’ve got jobs now, which I thought was fascinating to me is, you guys are Beaver, but you have jobs. I mean, Texas, Oklahoma, and you’re spread out. You got some jobs. You said some of your, it takes, some of them are your closest jobs, or even like 200 miles away or something. That’s got to provide a unique challenge of running a company when you’ve got stuff so mobile.
Dillon: It does. It’s, yes sir. Very. And then on top of that, we might be 200 miles away from home, but that job might be, we work in very rural areas. I don’t know why it just kind of happens. It might be 30 miles from a town. So there’s a commute on top of a commute.
Daron: You know what I mean? So very unique. I remember when I was talking to Dillon last dirt road, he was like, yeah, we drove here. We were in San Antonio last year.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: Yeah. And I was like, you drove here? And I was like, how long did you take you?
Dillon: I was about 14 hours or something like that. He’s like, it’s not a big deal for us. He’s like, anything, anything, you know, six, eight hours, just drop on the bucket.
Daron: I’m like, I’m planning. A lot of people don’t understand that.
Dillon: No, just another day.
Daron: So that’s, that’s what’s going on occupationally. And man, I’ve loved working with the team at BlueSage. Look forward to doing that for a long time. Let’s talk a little bit about that idea of vocation. Cause we talked about that with you, with the team, right? Occupation, you know, the uniform you wear is the thing you do, but man, that vocation, it’s about a calling, right? And so where was the faith, you know, kind of journey for you, you know, in youth, you know, even up to now, was this, was it something where it’s like, man, God’s been, you know, guiding the way the whole time? Was it like, man, I’ve just been kind of figuring out what’s that, what’s that faith journey look like?
Dillon: Man, so I was very fortunate, grew up in a great household, had great parents, my mom and dad, you know, were happily married for 30 years, I believe. So my mom, she was very active in the church. My dad was too, taught Sunday school. But well, as I told everybody, my mom, if the doors were open on the church, mom had us in there. And probably wasn’t very happy about that whenever I was a young kid, but very much appreciate it now. So grew up in it. It was a big part of our life growing up. Gave my life to the Lord in 1996, eight years old. Fast forward through school. Man, had a real close tragedy. My best friend got killed leaving my house on a motorcycle on my 16th birthday.
Daron: Wow.
Dillon: And that probably caused some problems with my relationship with God. I was mad for a few years. Then it had a couple of things happen in our church. Like, you you hear that story all the time. Some things happen in church. You know, so I had a rocky relationship with God for four or five years there. Fast forward back to Jordan and I get married in 2015. And, you know, that was, it was still important to me. It wasn’t like I just turned my back.
Daron: Had a little distance.
Dillon: Yes, sir. And both of us, you know, while we were dating, talking about it, it was important to us to raise our kids in church, you know, to help develop their relationship with the Lord. So that’s 2015. We have our first kid, 2016, and, you know, start getting active back in church. Rock along a couple of years through there and there was kind of an economic downturn in all of our industry from 2019 to 2020. And that’s when really we were like, man, we gotta bring God into our business. That’s when we started, you know, it’s one thing to say it, that’s another thing to do it. So ever since then, you know, workplace and religion is kind of a touchy thing anymore with a lot of people. And that’s something we, you know, open the doors to. So, and what a difference that has made for us. And same with bringing you in. Funny story about that, if we have time.
Daron: Yeah, we do. So, it’s my podcast.
Dillon: Whenever I was telling the team about you coming, you know, we’d been planning it. We got a hold of you, Wyatt got a hold of you and maybe what, May, something like that.
Daron: Maybe before.
Dillon: There was a gap there, yeah, just trying to get it all planned out. And you showed up in July, that was your first in-person. And I want to say that a couple days before, I had a particular person in our office meet me in the hallway like, so tell me about this televangelist that you have coming in. And I’m like, oh boy. Because I didn’t know how this was going to go. You know, this is really the first time we’ve brought someone else in as, you know, like this faith-based leadership training, business coaching, self-improvement, whatever you want to call it. And kind of like, how’s this going to go? And that comment right there, I’m like, man, this may not go well. I knew there wasn’t going to be a problem, but I want to see, you know, we want to see some.
Daron: Yeah.
Dillon: Some movement from it. And I had a talk with him because we have, we went over this the other day, we have three part-time pastors that work in the business. So, you know, a pastor or whatever coming in is nothing new, but this was this televangelist, I guess, because you have a podcast.
Daron: Anyway. You’re on it now. So I think that makes you like an assistant, a televangelist.
Dillon: Oh man. So I was a little nervous about, I mean, I knew you, I’m like, I know what he’s going to be like. I’m not concerned about that, but like how, how are people going to accept this? And man, I could tell the first two or three minutes I was sitting there, you know, we did it in the fairgrounds in that little room and I have first two or three minutes, boy, this is going to go good. Just that first in person, you could see a change just in that room of them warming up just with your ability to relate to people. It’s made a huge, huge difference in our business. I know you’ve seen it firsthand and you’re just getting to know these people. So.
Daron: Well, I, you know, it’s funny because I mean, I had the same apprehensions, you know, because I’m like, yeah, I don’t know. Beaver, Oklahoma. Yeah. Like, like the spike you heard, you know, dude’s going to show up and like, you know, you know, from Indianapolis, what’s the deal? And you know what I mean? And I don’t, you know, I mean, you know, and over the past, you know, just vulnerable in the past couple of, you know, three years of, you know, stepping more into and God opening more doors to the dirt world. Like, I don’t know, Jack about it. You know, I’m not like, you know, a dirt guy, you know, now I thought it would work cause I’m like, okay, what I know about it seems like construction work. Like they work hard. I like that. Like they love America. I like that. Like they probably like steak and potatoes and like all of that. Like they’re probably huge NASCAR fans. Like check, check, check. I’m like, I think I can pass, right? But going to, you know, to Beaver, I’m like, I don’t know what’s going to happen. And like walking into the fairgrounds, I’m sure most people that were skeptical about me, like I’m just looking around and I mean like, I mean.
Dillon: Oh, you can see them making eye contact with each other. I mean, I’m pretty observant. I sit in the back and I’m watching all this go on. Oh boy. Here we go.
Daron: Well, and this thing that I love, man, is like some of the guys that, you know, when I just by appearance, you know, this is a big, you know, manly looking construction worker guy, you know, he’s probably going to hate my guts, you know, and some of the guys, you know, on the surface, they can be a little, a little rough, you know, the little bit of it, you know, it’s like a, it’s like a peanut M&M, you know what I mean? Like hard shell, right? But you know, some great stuff in the middle. And what I’ve loved over the past like five months, man, it’s like, I got to have a one-on-one when I was in person last time, you know, with one of your guys, and we didn’t get their permission to talk about them on the podcast. So they’ll remain, we’ll remove the names to protect the innocent. But when I first, first day, I was like, man, this guy’s going to hate me. And like, all of a sudden he’s opening up and we’re having this deep conversation about, you know, what he wants to do in his business, what he wants to do in his personal life, how he wants to grow and like, and at the end of the conversation, like I just had this sense, like, dude, like I genuinely care for him. And he, I think he genuinely cares for me. Like there’s a trust here that’s been built. And I love seeing that with your team. And I, I, I’m excited to see what begins to happen for the next six weeks, the next six months, like the next year of the way they begin to understand and trust each other. And then what I’ve loved to see with them is, we went through the four core questions with your team, ask them, people understand.
Daron: Who am I? Why do I do what I do? What do I do best? And where do I find my greatest passion? And man, just starting to see people see each other for who they are, know each other at a deeper level, start to care, I think, for each other. Discovering the five voices and how they all interact.
Dillon: Boy, that was eye-opening for me. You know, there’s always dynamics in a company. And you wonder, why do these two, why can’t they work together? Why can’t they get along? And you dive into that, it’s pretty obvious. And them hearing it opens their eyes too. Like that’s why we can’t really communicate effectively with each other. You know, not even just spiritually has it had any impact on our company, you know, mentally like that, relationally.
Daron: Well dude, I’ve loved it. I can’t wait to see, you know, where things go. And it’s, it’s an absolute blast. Like I can’t wait to come back to Beaver and just hang out. You tried to help me kill my first animal, tried to take out some prairie dogs. We’re not sure.
Dillon: 50-50 chance. I think you hit them.
Daron: No, you don’t. Don’t lie in the podcast. You’re confident I didn’t come anywhere close to hitting the prairie dog.
Dillon: It was fun though, right?
Daron: It was a blast.
Dillon: Now, the monsoon winds on this last trip.
Daron: It did get us a little bit.
Dillon: It ruined your chances of getting a coyote away.
Daron: I know, but we’re going to, it’s going happen. We’re gonna have to make a big difference. And like you said this morning, the dirt world, the harvest is plentiful. And this is a huge, you hit it on the head. These guys that the big rough, tough construction guy, they’re really not rough and tough. It’s just an image that has to be upheld in this industry.
Daron: So along those lines, I want to ask you this question, You were half joking, half not joking. Last night I was in Beaver this last time. We’re sitting around having a deep conversation about a discipleship movement. I mean, we’re in the weeds, it’s great. And all of a sudden, some truck lights pull up outside the house. And I’m like, is the FBI here? Like, what’s happening? Because it’s like 11 o’clock at night or something, right? And when I’m saying, you couldn’t accidentally find the house that we’re at. Okay, you’re gonna go out to this, you know, 100,000 acres of land, drive around and there’s a house in the middle of it. So this house pulls up and you’re like, oh no. And you say to me, you go, I have an addiction. It’s not the bad things. I just have an addiction to helping people. Just saying yes, that I can help people. And that’s how these kinds of situations happen. And it turns out there was somebody who needed a place to live for, you know, something was happening in the family, they needed a place to kind of crash, and they were showing up to move in, you know, for a portion time into this house. Talk to me about that, man, because where does that come from, you think, for you? Because you do, man, it’s like, as the more I’m in Beaver, the more I talk to people, for you, it’s not about like, we’re gonna build the best company, we’re gonna make the most money. You’re not against making money, not against having a great company. But where do you think that heart came from, like, like?
Dillon: I just, I want to help people. I want to make a difference with them. Man, I had a very good role model for that. It was my dad. We used to always make fun of him that he always has to have this project or we’d be like, oh boy, here comes dad’s project, but the guy he’s helping, you know, whether it was a guy that would just show up and want to eat with us on a Sunday afternoon or whatever. So we were always around that growing up. And then I mean, if you’ve been in the Bible at all, I mean, repeats itself multiple times, we’re here to help people, right? Helping for the good. Sometimes that’s harder than it should be. Sometimes we make it harder than it should be. And it can be difficult, absolutely. But it’s our calling.
Daron: No doubt.
Dillon: And it’s not just me, my wife too. Sometimes she looks at me like, are you sure we need to do that? And, you know, I mean, we obviously pray and end up agreeing that, yes, this is what we need to do. I don’t think it’s in our control.
Daron: Right.
Dillon: So, yes, sir.
Daron: I love it. I love it. I think this industry is full of that.
Dillon: Yeah.
Daron: And that’s what I feel like that’s what started to really become an impression on me of like, okay, there’s something special here. And I’m like so stoked to be a part of it. And, you know, people on the podcast that have walked this journey with me they know like we’ve done Blackbird Mission now for 13 years. You know, we’ve done crazy ideas of pub theology and radio theology. We had tailgate theology for a while now. We got dirt theology and all of it has been trying to find ways to awaken people to become who God, you know, created them to be but to do it outside the walls of the church, right? And the everyday spaces and places of life and you know, the vision going forward is we want to see Rogue Collective grow. We want to be able to impact and help transform companies.
Daron: But, you know, and we’re trying to figure out this, the on-ramp is how do we then get, you know, invite people if they want to come over to the Blackbird Mission side and be able to get in discipleship groups. Where, we’re going to help awaken you here, but then we want to equip you if you’re ready to become a disciple who makes disciples. And man, one the things that was so inspirational to me, Dillon, is that last time you and me and Wyatt, you know, and Jordan, your wife, and we stayed up till like one o’clock almost like two nights in a row and just starting to dream together of like, you know, in this, you know, I think the number is something like 10 million workers in the dirt world.
Dillon: Yes.
Daron: You’ve got a situation where in the next 15 years, about 40% of the current workforce is going to age out.
Dillon: Yes, sir.
Daron: So you have, you know, literally somewhere between 500,000 and a million people, you know what I mean? Or more, more than that.
Dillon: More.
Daron: That need to come into this industry and they’re going to come from the younger generation. And so just us talking about, and I love that you guys are dedicated, you’re invested in what we’re doing with Blackbird because like I told you guys in the, what’s it called, the butcher room?
Dillon: Butcher house.
Daron: Butcher house. If we could, we’re going to do a podcast live from the butcher house on his property. It’s phenomenal. But that like, I don’t know the dirt world culture enough. I don’t know what it means to work on, you know, on a crew. I don’t understand the hours and what that is, but you guys do. And so us talking about how do we dream together of like, how do you make the ability to really disciple people that can make disciples? How do we create a disciple making culture on the job? The structure’s there.
Dillon: You just gotta train the disciples. Just like everything here is talked about training. I mean, that’s the center of this, right? Training people. The structure’s there. These guys spend more time with their crew or on the job site than they do most of them with their family. What better place to set that up? I mean, it’s already set up. We just have to get it to them.
Daron: Yeah. Well, dude, you guys are going to help us figure that out. I couldn’t be more stoked and excited about it and humbled that you guys would want to partner with us, want to invest in what’s going on. And what I know is we’re going to make a lot of mistakes along the way. There’s going to be a lot of trial and error. We’re going to figure things out. God’s going to do what only he can do. But the other thing about it is what I’m guaranteeing myself is we’re going to have a lot of fun.
Dillon: We’re going to have fun.
Daron: A lot of fun.
Dillon: Absolutely.
Daron: Oh, Dillon, dude, thanks for spending the time, man.
Dillon: Thanks for having me.
Daron: To be on the podcast. We’ll do another episode live from Beaver.
Dillon: Sounds great.
Daron: That’d be…
Dillon: Look forward to it.
Daron: Maybe like some action shots where I’m missing killing the prairie dogs.
Dillon: What if we do like a hunting documentary?
Daron: I like it. PJ, I think we could do like live camera shots with me trying to be awesome. You should have seen me podcast audience. The camo situation I was in this last time, I almost thought I was a hunter there for a minute.
Dillon: He looked like it. No, we got to get him longer socks. I could see his ankles in those stickers.
Daron: Longer socks.
Dillon: Yeah.
Daron: All right, I shouldn’t have brought it up. I should have ended the podcast five minutes ago. Dang it. Anyway, Dillon, thanks for being on the podcast. Can’t wait to see what God allows us to do together.
Dillon: Yes, sir. Looking forward to it.
Daron: Until we talk again, remember these three things. Each and every time God’s for you, He’s not against you, He’s near you, not far, and He’s created you on purpose and for a purpose. We’ll talk to you next time on the Daron Earlewine podcast.