How a Puppy, a Prayer, and the Dirt World Sparked a Jesus Movement
What happens when a road builder and a pastor bump into each other at a Young Life retreat neither one planned to attend? A Jesus movement in one of the most overlooked industries in America. In this episode, Daron sits down with Jason Richmond, President of Dirt World and fourth-generation road builder, to tell the story of how God connected their paths and opened the door to something neither of them could have dreamed up on their own. From a chance meeting at a fundraiser to a 5:30 AM fellowship gathering at the Dirt World Summit, this conversation is packed with Christ-centered purpose and Christ-driven courage.
The Dirt World is Hungry for More Than Development
Jason’s journey from a 25-year career at a large Midwestern construction company to becoming President of Dirt World is a story of obedience over comfort. Over 6,000 people in construction commit suicide every year. Workers grind 60-70 hour weeks, feel unseen, and turn to unhealthy coping when life gets heavy. Jason saw the need and made the bold call to bring faith into the conversation. What started as 50 people at a 5:30 AM coffee gathering has grown to hundreds across multiple sessions. Companies are now reaching out asking Daron to come develop their people spiritually. The dirt world isn’t against the gospel. It’s just been insulated from it.
Keep Chasing Tennis Balls
Daron shares a moment from a silent retreat in Michigan where the Holy Spirit gave him a simple word: “Just keep chasing tennis balls.” The dogs don’t know how to throw them. They just chase what’s thrown. God would bring the right people to create opportunities. Jason has been one of those people. Now, Blackbird Mission is developing a 40-day discipleship journey called “Follow Jesus” designed to work hand-in-glove with BuildWit Improve’s micro-learning model. The goal is to have copies ready for distribution at the 2026 Dirt World Summit. The vision is exponential. Finish the journey, then walk two or three others through it. This isn’t a program. It’s a movement. Want to be part of it? Email daron@daronearlewine.com.
Episode Summary:
What happens when a fourth-generation road builder gets dragged to church camp and meets the dirt world pastor? A Jesus movement that’s reaching millions across the construction industry. Jason Richmond shares the wild story of how God orchestrated every detail, from a reluctant Labor Day weekend to BuildWit’s courageous decision to bring faith into an industry losing 6,000 people to suicide every year. This conversation will challenge how you think about marketplace ministry and show you what’s possible when you respond to God’s invitation instead of trying to manufacture your own plan.
This episode captures the raw, authentic beginning of something massive happening in the dirt world, an industry of 10 million workers who feel unseen, work 70-hour weeks, and desperately need hope. If you’ve ever wondered how faith intersects with the marketplace, this conversation is for you.
Key Takeaways:
- The dirt world has been insulated from the gospel, not against it
- Over 6,000 construction workers commit suicide every year
- BuildWit reaches 500 million people annually with their message
- Everything in the kingdom is response, not initiative
- God brings the tennis ball throwers and the tennis ball chasers together
- The dirt world has 10 million workers times families times communities
- Microlearning development mirrors discipleship multiplication
Episode Resources:
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Links to the Daron Earlewine Podcast
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Daron: If you’ve listened to the podcast recently, you’ve heard me talk a lot about the dirt world and what we’re doing with Rogue Collective and we’re trying to train and develop and disciple people all over the world. Well, this episode is going to introduce you to the moment, the conversation that started it all. We’re sitting down with my friend, Jason Richmond. We’ve done hundreds of episodes of the Daron Earlewine Podcast. This one, when we finished recording it, instantaneously went to top three of any episode we’ve done. You’re going to laugh. You’re going to cry. You’re going to be inspired by what you’re going to listen to on this episode. I can’t wait for you to enjoy it.
Created on purpose and for purpose. Hey, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine Podcast. Thanks so much for downloading this episode. We really, really appreciate it. And if you haven’t taken the time to go over and subscribe to the YouTube channel or the Spotify channel or the Apple Podcast, wherever you listen to the podcast, thank you. And if you subscribe, it makes a huge difference to us and being able to grow the podcast community.
I’m excited about this episode sitting down with a good friend of mine who every day is becoming a great friend of mine. And we’re involved in what I think could end up being a great Jesus movement in America. And it started in a pretty interesting way. But Jason Richmond, welcome to the podcast.
Jason: Hey, man. Thanks for having me. I’m super excited to be here today.
Daron: So we wanted to get you locked in. We were at the Dirt World Summit back in November, but you were too big time and we couldn’t.
Jason: I don’t know about big time. I might have been busy, but yeah.
Daron: You were running the conference. And so we said, hey, listen, let’s get through the conference, let’s get back home. You live here in the Indianapolis area. So it was easy to build it, have a sit down. Dude, we’ve kind of stumbled into what I would say is an amazing invitation, I feel like from God and what we’re doing and partnering together with BuildWit, the company you work with. We’ll talk about that here in a minute. And this whole dirt world, dirt theology thing that we’re trying to figure out how to respond to what God’s doing in it. And it was so amazing the timing in which we kind of reconnected three years ago.
So I think one of the first times we met, maybe you can remember before, is I think we were at a Young Life fundraiser. Correct. And you and your wife bought a puppy. That is true. Tell that story.
Jason: We got invited by a good friend, have no idea what we’re really getting into. We had just went through, we had lost the dog and had been waiting for the right time and everything for getting another puppy. And we walked through the doors and there was this lady holding a mini Labradoodle puppy dog. And my wife instantly looks at the dog and says, oh, there’s a dog here. And I look at the dog and I’m thinking to myself, oh no. She’s like, I’m just going to go see it. And then she held it and I knew instantly we’re going home with that dog.
And we were at the Devoe barn and we ended up naming the dog Devoe. And so it’s been an incredible experience, one getting to meet you and be around that entire young life community. But the dog reminds me every day of you and that experience for sure.
Daron: When it’s taking a crap in the backyard, you’re like, there’s Daron.
Jason: Well, that’s my job is to turn that stuff up. So all the dirty jobs.
Daron: You know, interesting divine connection. We have a common friend. He invites us both to the Young Life deal. We’re there. And in my memory, I think over the next couple of years, maybe we grabbed coffee here or there, talked. At that point, you were not working with BuildWit. Correct. What were you doing at that time?
Jason: Yeah, so just my story. I’m a fourth generation road builder. Started on a shovel, working for my dad, worked three years on a grade crew, four years on a paving crew, estimator, project manager, business development manager, then director of marketing and business development for a large material supply and construction company. They had 28 aggregate facilities, 175 ready mix plants, 21 asphalt plants, about 4,000 team members. A large Midwestern organization. And I worked there 25 years and it was an incredible journey. I learned a ton. I owe a lot of my success to the many mentors and leaders that I had there in the different roles and responsibilities.
But I was there and we really didn’t need marketing to drive demand. We needed marketing to position ourselves as the employer of choice. One of the biggest problems in the construction industry right now is finding and keeping people. By the year 2031, four million people are going to retire from the construction industry. So we need to attract, train and develop the next generation, people, millions of people literally. And so as I was going through that process looking for a creative agency to come in and help us tell our story, I stumbled upon Aaron Witt and BuildWit.
And it was pretty wild. I was on my knees praying to God even in that moment for a seat at the table at IMI. I was really hoping that we could convince the leadership team to do some things new and different. And next thing you know, I can remember telling BuildWit through a long sales cycle, hey, it’s not no, but it’s not right now. Dan Briscoe said, how many times are you going to be disappointed before it’s time to make a change?
Wow. It was just like instantly. It was one of those Kairos moments where I knew my life was about to change.
Daron: So that could be on a t-shirt, a poster. That’s like a massive lens to look for Kairos moments. Like how many more times are you going to be disappointed before you think about making a change? Yeah. Wow.
Jason: Yeah, I’ll never forget my wife, Carrie, came home that day and I told her what was happening and she had tears kind of coming down her eyes and I was like, why are you so upset? She’s like, no, I’m happy. She was like, I just see the excitement that you have for the mission at BuildWit and I can just tell the days that you talk with that team, it brings you life and energy and purpose. And she was like, I’m 100% behind you and really encourage you to go.
Daron: So you tried to hire BuildWit and they hired you.
Jason: Yeah, exactly. I mean, that’s just how it worked. And so I give all credit to the good Lord. Here I am on my knees praying for a seat at the table. You got to be careful what you pray for sometimes because he gave me a seat at the table to solve the same problem. It’s just a much bigger table. I’m now looking at not just the United States, but worldwide. Aaron is making an impact on six continents plus. It’s incredible to see the reach that we have in this mission that we have of making the dirt world a better place.
And so I’ve been with BuildWit for four years, joined them to run the creative agency. I did that for about six months, turned them into a profitable group, and then ultimately became chief operating officer, did a small stint as CRO and then back in July became president of Dirt World. And happy to kind of talk a little bit about Aaron, Dirt World and BuildWit.
But Aaron is reaching over 500 million people a year. He’s a 30 year old kid, amazing, smart human. One of his superpowers is curiosity and discipline, but he posts every single day. He’s just an incredible storyteller shining a light on people and leaders and great businesses in construction across the board.
And then Dirt World is really something that Aaron made up, a term that we define it as those who build and support critical infrastructure. And so whether it’s people in renewable energy, oil and gas, sanitary, stormwater, electrical with all these data centers, building roads and bridges, mining materials across the board. If you’re building or supporting critical infrastructure, you’re a part of the Dirt World.
And we’ve developed that into the Dirt World Summit, which is our event that unites people once a year. It’s a three-day event. About 1,250-plus people come together, all really focused on building better leaders, workforce development, and building best-in-class businesses. And then we have workshops, we’ve got experiences, and then we have our online community, Dirt World Connect, which is where we host Dirt Theology.
And then lastly, but not least, we have BuildWit Improve, which is our micro learning training software platform. This day and age, people just don’t have time, or I should say attention spans are super short. And so we had to rethink, like, how are we going to develop the next generation in a meaningful way? Most of the next generation loves to learn from video. And so you want to learn how to do something, you go YouTube it, you watch a little video, give it a try, your learning curve just exponentially gets faster, better, easier.
And so what we’re trying to do is kind of use that James Clear atomic habits, 1% better compounding learning by watching a three to five minute video every single day and then coming together in that morning toolbox talk where the people come together, checking in with everybody, hey, how’s it going? What are you doing? What’s going on? Making sure everybody’s good to go for the day. But then asking the question, what did you watch today? What did you learn from it? How could you apply it in the past? What’s the scope of work that we’re working on today? How can we apply that today?
And if you do that every single day, you’re just training and developing in that on the job training, professional development, personal development, or safety. If you’re leaning into those core categories, you’re going to get better every day. And that’s really what it’s all about. So if you can’t tell, I’m wildly passionate about this industry, obviously, it’s fourth gen, but really excited about this next generation and where we’re going to go with it.
Daron: That’s why I wore my Indianapolis 500 shirt, because your great grandfather helped when it went from bricks to asphalt. My great grandfather helped pave the track for the Grady brothers back in the day.
Jason: I love it, dude. Definitely.
Daron: I love that, man. Thanks for that. You’re so intentional. That’s so awesome. Your great grandfather. Yeah. And you love racing.
Jason: I do love the track. It wasn’t a hard decision.
Daron: Right on. Right on. In the marketplace, it’s called development. In the church, it’s called discipleship. Got it. And that’s where our worlds collided again. And what I love, and we’ll talk more about this, but everything you guys are trying to do to develop the dirt world, we’re taking those same principles right now with Blackbird and developing a discipleship resource that will go, I mean, hand in glove along with what’s happening with BuildWit Improve. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited about something that we’re putting together and it’s such an honor to be partnered with you guys in that process.
So I’m doing my life. I get asked to go speak at a family weekend, Labor Day family retreat for Young Life, say yes, up in Michigan. And at this point, God’s really beginning to stir in my life. Like, listen, I think the next frontier is the marketplace, right? You’ve reached people in bars, you’ve done radio, you’ve done the, you know, you’ve done the local church. Marketplace is where I’m taking you. I don’t know how to get there. I don’t know what I, I just, I just have the stirring, right? And I’ve done stuff with companies throughout all the years, but I just, I can see it. I don’t know how to get there.
So I go up and I think it’s pre first rally. I think I’m doing a mic check and you walk in with your family, whatever. And like from the back of the room, you’re like, Daron? And I’m like, looking through the lights, I’m like, Jason? Like, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? Right?
And so I think it’s after that first session where like, dude, let’s get some time this weekend and talk. And I know you’re supposed to be there spending time with your family. But by the end of the week, I think we spent like eight to 10 hours just like sitting and talking. And I’m starting to kind of explain to you where I’m at, what I’m doing. And like the expression I’m getting from you is like this unbelievably excited, like, oh my gosh, you don’t know what’s about to happen. Right?
And you’re like, bro, like, I think you’re supposed to be the dirt world pastor. I don’t even know what the dirt world freaking is. Right. And I’ve never heard the word. I’m like, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jason. I don’t know what the dirt world is. You’re like, what are you doing in November? You got to come to Houston. Yeah. And I’m like, check the schedule. I don’t have anything. You’re like, dude, just trust me. Get to the summit. We’ll do this little prayer breakfast thing.
And you said, we’ve been, I love this. You said at BuildWit we’ve been praying for the past six months for God to send us a super Jesusy, non Jesusy guy that could be accepted into the Dirt World. And you’re like, I think you’re him. And I’ve never been described more appropriately than a super Jesusy, non Jesusy guy. Take us into that story. Kind of like what was happening prior, six months coming up before we, you know, God divinely reconnected us in Michigan.
Jason: Okay. So full transparency. In February, it’s an idea. In March, we decided that we’re going to host an event and we’re going to try and gather 800 people paying an expensive ticket price to come to Houston for a first year event. It was a big lofty goal in a very short amount of time to find speakers, find a place, start creating collateral, selling. We built a business, events business, in a very short amount of time. It only came together by the grace of God. Literally. So many blessings along the way that took place.
But also, just as it was developed, the programming and whatnot, you can just tell the dirt world was thirsty and hungry for this gathering of like-minded people who see things differently and want more and want to do things differently. And so it was really cool to kind of see that coming together.
But what I would say is this, something that you may or may not know is I was really mad at my wife for booking the Labor Day weekend event at Young Life. And I did not want to go. That’s my weekend to go golfing and to go, you know, grill hot dogs and lounge around the house, like selfishly, like thinking about myself. Like I’ve been working hard. It’s Labor Day weekend. I want to relax. And you’re going to tell me I’m going to go spend three or four days in Michigan with a bunch of kids running around church camp. No way. No, thank you.
I don’t even think we spoke for four hours driving all the way there. Literally. I was quiet. It wasn’t good. And then you literally walk through the door and I’m literally going, I know that guy. And like, I could start to have this feeling of like, I’m supposed to be here. And then I’m curious, like, can we go anywhere without somebody giving me a hard time. And then we listen to you talk. And then I’m like, yep, this is it. This is the guy, this is who’s supposed to be a part of Dirt World.
I’m like, I’m just going to talk to him about it and see if there’s anything there. And the more we talked, the more you started to realize, oh, this is a big industry. There’s 10 million people that work in construction. They’ve all got families. Times four, that’s 40 million. Times their extended communities. That’s a pretty big impact that we could potentially have.
Oh, by the way, there’s a lot of people that are working six, seven days a week, 40, 50, 60 hours a week, plus plus. There’s a lot of people that are broken. There’s a lot of people that are hurting. They feel unseen. They don’t feel supported. There’s just a lot of challenges out there. And what people don’t realize is like society doesn’t work without dirt world people. The water doesn’t work. The electricity doesn’t turn on. The roads and bridges aren’t there. Your devices don’t work. The technology. I mean, the data, the internet. Infrastructure runs our society. And these people, without them, our society would be in trouble.
So I’m sitting here thinking to myself, I’ve heard Daron talk about faith, hope, and love. That’s what the dirt world needs. And so how can we find a way to bring Daron to the summit and get him involved? And so after we spoke, I get back to BuildWit and long story short, I’m like, I’m a little nervous. I’m like, I just gave away a free ticket. We’re a startup trying to figure out how we’re going to figure all this stuff out. I’m giving away a free ticket to a pastor. Is this going to work or not? But it just felt right.
So two weeks prior, I tell BuildWit, hey, by the way, I was at camp, met this rekindled relationship with a guy. He’s coming to the summit. We’re going to do this fellowship and coffee thing. To my surprise, they’re like, man, that’s awesome. That’s incredible. Let’s support that.
And so literally, from stage the day before, I think Wally was up there and said, tomorrow morning, I think it’s like 5:30 in the morning. I was like, I don’t think I’m in this dirt world in the right place. They start too early. Yeah. I think you and I met that next morning at like 5 a.m. and I can remember walking down and I can remember looking at you and you’re kind of down there pacing. There was some white furniture. It was really weird. White furniture. Why dirt world had white furniture? I don’t know.
But at any rate, I can remember that. And I can remember telling you like, Hey, I don’t know if anybody’s going to show up. But all I know is this, whoever shows up, if it’s one person, we’re going to give them everything we got. And you’re like, bro, we got this. And next thing you know, 50 people walk into the room.
Daron: At 5:30 in the morning.
Jason: At 5:30 in the morning. And it was CEOs of companies, like large companies, and just people that were just there for fellowship and coffee and to have conversation. And you got on that stage and you absolutely crushed it. People just felt drawn into the message. They felt seen, they felt heard, they felt blessed, they felt loved, they felt cared for. And they’re thinking, man, how can we bring this to our organizations? And it was just such an impactful moment.
So much so that I can still remember getting the call. We partnered at this workshop out west in Oregon with Knife River. And I can remember Dan Abbott calling saying, hey, can you bring the pastor? And it’s like, this is going to work. Like, this is amazing. And I can remember calling you and being like, you’re never going to believe this. There’s an opportunity here.
And so I think the thing that’s been cool is we’ve just been taking the next step. It’s like, I know that there’s something big, like God’s got big plans for this and for what we’re doing. But I feel like what we’ve tried to do is just like wake up every day. All right, God, what do you have for us today? Let us steward it well to the best of our ability. And we just know that He’s going to make things exponentially better.
Daron: 100%. Dude, I freaking love it. Listening to the story, it’s such a freaking cool story. And then I’m like, wait, I’m in this story, right? Like it’s not just a story somebody’s telling me. That’s sick. I’m like, yeah, I’m doing that. Yeah.
Hey, sorry for the interruption here in the podcast, but I wanted to take this moment to invite you into something. If you’ve ever been in a place in your life where you’ve just felt stuck, you felt like maybe you’re just spinning your wheels. You’ve been thinking there’s got to be more for me. I listen to the podcast all the time and I hear Daron talk about on purpose and for purpose. I have to discover my purpose. Well, that feeling is right. You do need to. And I want to help you. I want to help be a guide for you to step into who God’s created you to be. And that’s the purpose in the design of what we do with Rogue Collective Coaching.
So if you’re curious or you know, listen, I’m not curious. I know it’s time for me to take action. Here’s your call to action. I want you to go to RogueCollectiveCoaching.com. I want you to click the button that says Book a Discovery Call. I want you to jump on a 30 minute conversation with me. Jump on the phone. We’ll talk about where you are and if Rogue Collective Coaching is your next step to help you to become who you were born to be. RogueCollectiveCoaching.com. Book a Discovery Call. Can’t wait to chat with you. Let’s get back to the episode.
Daron: Here’s what I want to come back to. BuildWit, not a Christian company. No. Right? I mean, it’s BuildWit. Yeah, it’s BuildWit. But you guys had this sense, you did, and it was accepted by the leadership. Like you were like, we’re actually seeking a non-Jesusy Jesus guy because something in you was like, the dirt world needs more Jesus. But it’s not an expressed, written down, you know, core value of BuildWit, still isn’t. No. You know? Correct. Doesn’t need to be. Right.
That takes some courage. And now three years into being able to be a part of the summit, and now you’ve got other industries even calling and saying, where are you guys getting this courage? How are you doing this? I guess two questions is what do you credit BuildWit and what allowed you guys to be courageous enough to lead like that? And the second question would be, what are some of the realities of why you knew that the dirt world needed Jesus?
Jason: That’s good. Well, here’s what I want to tell you. Building a business is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I got an undergrad and an MBA. I read a ton of books. I’ve studied entrepreneurship. I’ve watched other companies grow. Joining a startup, trying to figure out cash flow, trying to make sure that we have an offering that’s going to add value to people in a meaningful way, so much so that they’re willing to get their checkbook out and write a check for your products and services. It’s difficult.
And there’s probably some famous saying, when you’re going through really hard things and doing hard stuff, I find that’s when I’m the closest to God. I had really hard days and I just found myself praying, God, if this is meant to be, please help make it happen. Jesus, please help us make great decisions. You know, like I got no clue what’s supposed to happen. Take the wheel and help me, help us.
And I leaned on it more and more. And then as I started meeting people that were there, were leaders, I started meeting other faith-based leaders. And just in the tone and the vernacular and the things that I’m saying and doing and actions, people started getting curious. And the conversation started to bubble to a little bit bigger and a little bit braver and a little bit more curious and a little bit more transparent to where people could tell like, there’s no reason BuildWit should be surviving and now you’re on the verge of thriving and all credit goes to the good Lord.
He surrounded us with some really amazing people that work at BuildWit and then some amazing customers and partners that want to be a part of the ecosystem. And so I just feel like that circle has just like, there’s probably more faith-based people out there than normally are willing to talk about it. And I think that right now, more than ever, more people are leaning into being okay with who they are and being willing to speak about a better world and a better place and they have hope and they do that through their faith.
And so I don’t think it’s an in your face, but I do think that it is definitely the foundation of me personally that then has had that ripple effect into, oh, well, Jason’s leading in that way. It’s okay. I’m going to lead in that way. And it’s just had this ripple effect somewhat into the industry. But yeah, there’s so many great leaders out there that I look at. And I’m just like, they’re doing it and doing it extremely well. I’m going to do it too.
And it’s been received extremely well. I mean, so much so that year one, 50 people showed up at fellowship and coffee. Year two, we set out 140 chairs, standing room only. This year we had to have two sessions, couple hundred people in each session. And at the summit this year, people are sending messages to our leadership team saying, hey, you might want to think about Daron doing some devotionals on BuildWit Improve.
It’s like, okay, the train has left the station. It’s never going back. Like this is a one way ticket to building the kingdom. And that to me is super exciting because not only can we build the dirt world, but we can build the kingdom at the same time.
Daron: Second question. Why does the dirt world need the kingdom right now?
Jason: I kind of talked about it a little bit before, but in those four core categories that we focus on, over 6,000 people in construction commit suicide every year. It’s hard. Daylight to dark, six, seven days a week. It’s a tough industry. High demand, high stress, high pressure, right? Unfortunately, we’re human. And a lot of times when we get, we have bad things going on in our lives or struggles or challenges or whatnot, you know, maybe we turn to drugs and alcohol, which then causes relational issues. Or then you decide, I’m going to go get myself a new truck because that’s going to solve all my problems. Then you have financial problems. Like it’s just a spiral impact on humans.
And so right now, if we can help build the whole person and show them that there’s a better way and show them that Jesus was the best leader to ever walk this earth. And if we could be more like him, life will get better. And so I just feel like as the world gets more challenging and difficult, whether it’s building in construction or building a life, there’s a lot of broken people that need Jesus.
Daron: Yeah. You know, I would get a question a lot over the past, I don’t know, a lot of years. People would say, you know, what’s your target audience, Daron? What’s your space? And I don’t like ever being, you know, hemmed in, so I’d say people that are breathing, people, people are my target audience, you know? Well, but do you like to, I mean, what about the college students? Like we love working with college students, right? Well, what about, you know, what about, you know, people? Yeah, them too, like everybody.
And never in any of that did I have a thought of like, the dirt world. Like, I didn’t know what it was, right? And dude, over the past three years, you know, honestly, from that first conversation, you know, in Michigan, as you started unpacking some of these same stats and some of these same realities, you know, for me, I was like, I think my target audience is I’m always looking to figure out where is God moving? Right. Where am I needed?
And I mean, when I look at the dirt world, it is, I mean, no pun intended, it is unbelievably fertile soil for a great Jesus movement. You know what I mean? You have people that feel unseen, unknown, rejected, overlooked. You have pain, struggle, brokenness, and you have millions and millions of people. And it’s an environment. One thing I would always tell people about, like, why did you start pub theology? And I was like, well, I saw it as what I would call like an insulated environment from the gospel.
And as I got in, I didn’t know, I grew up in a denomination that was totally, no alcohol, no smoking, no anything. Bars were the den of the devil and it was terrible. I never went to bars growing up. I didn’t have a drink till I was like 28. I don’t have my crazy college years when we went to bars. So I remember starting to go to bars for the first time just to be like, what’s it like in here? And all of a sudden I’m like, I love that Toby Keith’s, is it Toby Keith’s song? I love this bar. All of a sudden I’m like, I love this bar. Like, these are really amazing people.
And it’s not that they’re against Jesus. They’re just, life has put them in a place where it’s insulated from the gospel. A lot of that is, and we’re not here to bang on the local church, but a lot of local churches designed to be like, we put on our show and do our thing and you come to us. And we’re not exactly sure how to come to you. Like, we’ll send missionaries to Africa. I’m not sure what we do across the street, and I don’t know what we do in the bar.
And getting in there and realizing this place is not against the gospel, it’s just void of it. And as we saw life change, you know, through the bars, the notice hall said it was like, could you go on the number one secular station in Indianapolis and talk about Jesus? Yeah, you can. And there are thousands of people that go, I didn’t know I needed to hear this, right?
And seeing that within the dirt world now and realizing like, it’s not an environment that is against the gospel at all. It’s just insulated. That’s right. You work 70 hours a week in a hole, right? You’re probably, I mean, the likelihood of you finding a church that you could fit into, getting up on a Sunday, getting your whole family together, your one day that you could actually see your family and be together. The likelihood’s not there.
But in the same way you guys are doing with BuildWit Improve of like, could we give you a micro dose of development through a three minute video on your way to the work site? Or you’re driving the dozer? Could you listen to something? That’s what we’re starting to, I think God’s starting to help us dream about of like, well, what did Jesus do? Well, He left the glory of heaven to incarnate himself into humanity and he went to the people.
And the fact that we’re getting to dream alongside one another and dream alongside Jesus about like, okay, target rich environment here. We got millions of people. And what I’m seeing and experiencing. And we only launched Rogue Collective in January. And like, I’m getting worried that I don’t have time to say yes to as many opportunities that are coming this year. And what I’m finding is none of these companies are Christian companies, right? You can’t, asphalt can’t accept Jesus, right? It already has. There’s some theology there. Anyway, like, but these companies, they exactly what you’re saying.
I just got off a call dude, last two weeks ago, the company in Oklahoma, whole leadership team, lifetime Christians and going, we know we’ve been delinquent in impacting the lives of our people. We love them to death, you know, but we’re working them to death. And what you guys are doing with BuildWit and this whole dirt theology thing, like, it’s time for us to step up. It’s time for us to lead. It’s time for us to take care of the total human health of our people, you know? And I’m waiting for an email right now, but it looks like, you know, I’ll be heading into Oklahoma every other month, you know, and spend time with their people.
And dude, it’s, I’ve never been more excited and like humbled than we say it all the time on the podcast about this idea like that God has created, you’re the workmanship of God creating in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he’s prepared in advance for you to do. And everything in the kingdom is a response. It’s not initiative. And whether it’s the creation of BuildWit and what you guys have done, or our friendship in this partnership, we could have initiated that, dreamed it up, we’re going to do this and then we’re going to this and then this would be the next thing. And then we’ve got this thing calculated.
It was like, no, you go to a retreat you don’t want to go to, right? You bump into somebody and God invites you into something. You want to do this? And you respond. And the past three years for me in this friendship with you and partnership has been, you know, it comes back to it’s one of the talks I’ve been given in the dirt world about keep chasing tennis balls. Yeah.
And I’ve talked to him here on the podcast is like, dude, we’re getting ready. It was, you know, the summer before we launched Rogue, it was last summer, I guess, or two summers ago. And I’m in Michigan. It’s always Michigan. I’m sitting out on a deck looking at the end of the water and these guys throwing tennis balls to his English setters, you know? And I’m trying to pray and here during my sabbatical, you know, and I’m on this three day silent retreat by myself and praying and like dude so overwhelmed by everything I don’t know how to do.
I don’t know how to build a business and I don’t know how to do this and I don’t know if I could be accepted in the dirt world and just overwhelmed by my I don’ts. I don’t know how it’s fear, right? And I’m watching this dude throw these tennis balls and the Holy Spirit says, it’s okay, Daron, just keep chasing tennis balls. And I’m like, what? Like I came all the way to Michigan for a three day retreat and that’s what you’re going to give me. Just keep chasing tennis balls. What do you want me to know about that?
And it was like so clear of the Holy Spirit being like, those dogs don’t know how to throw tennis balls. They’re doing exactly what I created them to do. And I got this. I’m going to bring people around you that know how to throw tennis balls. And when they throw them, you chase them and I’ll do the rest. And dude, your face and name was forefront in my brain in that moment of God saying, Richmond, Richmond’s going to keep throwing tennis balls for you. All you got to do is chase them.
And dude, I will be eternally grateful for the ways that you have continued to create opportunity and, and, you know, you can’t do what I do. I can’t do what you do, but that partnership of coming together and you stepping into God’s call and his purpose on your life and you’re creating massive opportunity for me to step into it. So, I mean, till the day I die, man, you throw a tennis ball, I’m going to chase it. And it’s an amazing, amazing journey, man.
Let’s talk a little bit about what we’ve started with dirt theology on Friday mornings. Cause you came to me and said, Hey, we got to do more. Yeah. I got a tennis ball. I’m about to throw it, right? We got to create some kind of environment where people could get a little bit more. So talk about what we started with Dirt Theology.
Jason: Yeah. So we have an online community. It’s called Dirt World Connect. And it’s a free community. Anybody in the dirt world can join. It was just, we needed an online place to gather. Why? Well, we do this big event once a year. And then we wait 365 days to come back and see everybody. And we thought, man, what if we could stay connected? What if we could share education and training and resources? What if we could unite in a safe place that’s online in a private community 365 days a year and really help people, right? Like they got a question, they can ask. It’s a safe space. They need a resource. We’re here to help support them.
And so as we started thinking about programming, you know, it’s easy to think about, you know, all the different departments in a dirt world and trying to add value that way. And, you know, just really started thinking about, you know, some of these guys and gals work so many hours that they don’t want to go to church or they can’t, they don’t have the time or it’s just not what they want to do. Or we’re leaders that are just curious and want to learn more about this Jesusy non Jesusy thing.
And I said, what if we did something with faith on Dirt World Connect? And it’d be a great way for you to build a brand, connect with people, bring Jesus into the life, help grow the kingdom, et cetera. And I’m like, but I have no clue what I’m doing. I have no clue what we’re going to call it. I am the least qualified from a theology standpoint, like not me. Thank God that you’re with me type thing.
And you know, it just, I think it really hit home with you. And you know, the more you prayed about it and thought about it, and I can just remember you saying, well, this pub theology thing worked out pretty good. And radio theology worked out pretty good. I’m not sure why dirt theology wouldn’t work out. I was just like, that’s pretty simple. One of our values is kiss, keep it simple, stupid. That’s genius. Like that’s it.
And so instead of like some big strategy that we like build out for months and months and months, no, we just go. We pick the day, we pick the time, we jump on. It’s 45 minutes to an hour. It’s people from all over the country coming together to really just be together and to hear the word and to learn and grow.
And what it’s turned into is people are starting to share. They’re starting to share their stories. They’re starting to get vulnerable. They’re starting to get transparent. They’re starting to ask questions. They’re starting to get curious. And so bi-monthly this past year, we’ve been jumping on with people and building relationships. I really look forward to it. It’s something that gives me just a little bit of excitement in my week.
We’ve been hosting them on Fridays at 8:30. Kind of kicks off the weekend for me. Kind of gets excited about crossing off a few things, getting ready for the weekend. And next year, excited for us to continue in that bi-monthly fashion. But also what’s exciting is we now have Dirt World leaders saying, hey, I’d like to lead a session. And I’m like, yes, we would like for you to lead a session too.
So we’ll still jump on. We’ll still be there in support. But again, palms up. All right, God, what do you got for us? And if we can build leaders or disciples across the dirt world, I think we can have a pretty profound impact on the dirt world and the kingdom.
Daron: Yeah. I love it, dude. Every Friday that we host it, I love it. When you called and said, Hey, we’ve got leaders that want to step in. I was like, yes, 100%. And dude, it’s been so cool because I don’t know where this is going, what it’s going to be. I know that when God gave me the vision to start Rogue Collective, like if I’m talking to a company that is very much not in the faith persuasion, like Rogue Collective is a coaching and development company that helps you discover your purpose in life and develop you personally, right? I do tell people this is not religious, right? But it is spiritual. We’re going to try to develop the whole human, right?
When I’m talking to somebody who has faith, I say, hey, I don’t care if your people are Christian, Muslim, agnostic, Jewish, it didn’t matter, right? They’re going to enjoy what we take people through and it’s going to be spiritual, not religious. But I tell them, but here’s where the vision’s going is we’re going to get into the marketplace with Rogue Collective. We’re going to find believers. We’re going to lead people to faith. And then we’re going to invite them to join Blackbird Mission. And we’re going to try to start a Jesus movement of a discipleship Jesus movement in the marketplace, in the everyday spaces and places of life.
And the crazy part this year, Jason, is nearly every client that you guys have sent me or that God sent me is the main C-suite people, all believers going, we felt like we should have been doing more and we didn’t know how. So just come and be you. And so, dude, some of the life change that we’ve already seen has been amazing. And so I knew we needed more resources for people, right?
So we came up with this idea. I’ve been talking actually for three years with a friend of mine named Matt Leroy, who I’ve known for 25 years. We started ministry stuff together, you know, in 1999. And he’s an amazing author, speaker, professor, brilliant guy. And he came to me like two years ago and was like, I got this vision. I want to start these 40 day discipleship resources. They’re super simple, three to five minutes in the morning, right? There’ll be a book, there’ll be micro video sessions with a podcast. He’s like, the first one I want to do is called Walk with Jesus or Follow Jesus, a 40 day journey. And the subscript is the call, the cost and the commission.
And he was like, I’ve got this vision. I want to start this, but I’m going to start this publishing side of it. I need this amount of money to get it off the ground. And I’m like, as he’s telling me how he wants to see it go, I’m like, that’s exactly basically what BuildWit Improve is.
So six months ago, I’m like, OK, dude, I’m going to start asking God to fund it. And we’ll see if we can do this, because I think this is going to be the perfect resource for the dirt world. So I think I’ve told you some of the story, but I’m in Oklahoma with one of my new clients. We’re staying up till like one in the morning every night talking about, you know, discipleship movements. And they hadn’t really thought about this stuff, you know, in between trying to shoot groundhogs and coyotes on their ranch, which I’ve yet to make contact with a bullet, but I’ve tried. Some point I’ll get a coyote.
Anyway, and we’re staying up till like one in the morning talking and I’m explaining this vision. And they’re stoked. And the second night we’re hanging out and the CEO says, Hey, we want to be a part of this. And like, we know, put some flesh on it. We want to buy in. And dude reaches in his pocket, Jason, and hands me a check that was the largest donation by a landslide that Blackbird Mission, our nonprofit, had ever received. And he hands me the check and he says, now you got to do it.
Jason: Praise Jesus.
Daron: So dude, last week we had our first call with Matt, project screen lighted. And the goal will be, I haven’t told you this yet, the goal will be that by Dirt World Summit 2026, we will have copies of the Follow Jesus 40 Day Journey available that we can begin to distribute across the dirt world. And the cool thing is Matt has a game plan where eventually we will have 10, 15, 40 day journeys and every one of them, the call to action at the end of it is now you finish this 40 day journey, invite two or three people that you can walk through it.
So there’s this exponential multiplication of discipleship and dude, I don’t know where this thing goes, but there’s something in my soul man that says that we may be, you know, recording a podcast in 10 years. And we’re saying, man, what started as a conversation in Michigan, like has seen millions of people step into the kingdom, man. And what I would love, man, and I know you would too, is in 10, 15 years, the world, not the country, the world is saying, if you’re looking for an industry that cares for the total human, if you want to find the best place to work, you need to get your kid involved in the dirt world.
Jason: Yeah, amen.
Daron: That’s incredible. I’m just along for the ride. I can’t believe where this thing’s going. But the thing I love about me and the dirt world, like they love, you know, country, God, hard work. They’re humble. And everybody I’ve met really loves racing, which I’m really hoping that I can parlay this into a lot of NASCAR races.
Jason: Well, every track’s paved. Unless it’s a dirt track, I guess. But then it still includes dirt. I love dirt track racing.
Daron: I’m great with it. That was a funny thing. My first trip out to Beaver, Oklahoma with the Blue Sage guys, they’re like, how do you feel about racing? I’m like, I freaking love it. They’re like, well, it just so happens, weekend you’re here, they revive the dirt track in the town. And this town has like 1,000 people. It’s a little small town. We go to the dirt races as a company. And we’ve actually hooked it up. And Dylan, our CEO, is going to get to get behind a wheel and do a hot laps. And they were kind of like, I could tell they were kind of like, is this guy going to be cool about it? And dude, I was distracted the whole time. I loved the training and development we were doing. But I’m like, when do we get to the track? When do we get to the races? Dude, it’s so much fun.
I can’t believe the journey we get to be on. And man, I just want to affirm you, Jason, and let you know, you have so inspired me over these past three years. I mean, your work ethic, your innovation, but dude, your courage. You walked away from a pretty freaking good gig. And you risked it all. Like, you got kids, you got a mortgage, like you had a reputation. Like, you risked it all. And in the midst of really not knowing if this was at all a good decision, you made the courageous decision to say, I’m going to make sure that Jesus is a part of this. I don’t think this is about me. Like this is about the kingdom, man.
And dude, that’s not normative, you know? And man, I’m really proud of you. Thanks. And I want you to know the Lord’s really, really proud of you. Really proud of you.
Jason: That’s awesome. Thank you. Yeah, dude. It means a lot to me.
Daron: Yeah. Bro, this is not going to be our last podcast. We’re going to have a lot of stuff to talk about over the next decade.
Jason: That’s right.
Daron: So we’re just getting started.
Jason: Yeah. It looks real good.
Daron: Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does, man. Love you to death.
Jason: Love you, brother.
Daron: Oh, man. We don’t always end the episode with tears, but when we do, it’s good. Listen, thank you so much for downloading this episode. If you have any questions about Rogue Collective, about the dirt world, about BuildWit, about anything in your life, you can always email me, Daron at DaronEarlewine.com. I would love to have you be a part of the conversation. And until our next one, remember these three things, God is for you, he’s not against you, he’s near you, not far away, and he’s created you on purpose and for purpose.
Thanks for downloading this episode of the Daron Earlewine Podcast.