Shownotes
If something were to happen to you, and you could not show up in your business tomorrow, what would happen to your business?
Would it fall apart, or would it continue to grow?
This is a question every business owner needs to be asking.
Another question is, how do I work myself out of a job?
Today we are blessed with talking to Debbie Simmon, CEO and founder of Anchor Point Ministries that helps new families survive and thrive from a Christ centered approach.
Having experienced the tragedy of losing quadruples Debbie asked God, “How do I survive this?”
After God showed her how, the next question was “How do I thrive?”
Join us as we talk not just about Debbie’s journey but about how she is leading and challenging her people to think bigger, plan, and stop being the bottleneck for their business.
Redeem Your Business Today by the Following:
How can we honor God in our business?
You honor God by being faithful in the little things that no one else sees.
One challenge from today:
Be intentional about leaving a legacy. Live a focused, faithful, and fearless life for God.
More About Debbie Simmons
About - The Debbie Simmons – Find out more about Debbie
Why AP? -Anchor Point Family Network – Find out more about Anchor Point
B.E.S.T. Strategy Free download "Life doesn’t come with a pause button" But what if you had a tool to help you reset—right in the middle of the mess?
Whether you’re navigating leadership pressures, parenting stress, personal transition, or simply feeling stuck, the B.E.S.T. Strategy gives you a way forward. One small, clear, grace-filled step at a time.
The Heart of Legacy: living a focused, faithful, and fearless life – Get Debbie’s book
More About David Schmidt
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Mentioned in this episode:
Step Up Referrals
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Transcripts
David:
[0:00] Question for you. Have you hit the ceiling of achievement in your business or worse, are you so tied up with operating your business that you don't have time to breathe or see anything else in life? You may be what we call the founder's trap. The founder's trap is a trap where business owners walk into when they start a business and neglect to build systems in their business as a business grows. And the result is that they have their fingers in everything and can't let go for fear of it's all going to collapse. And so I brought Debbie Simmons on today, not just because of her great story of how God has worked in her life and her business and everything, but she has also figured out how to help others grow out, basically how to work themselves out of a job and escape this founder trap. Debbie Simmons is a community activist, businesswoman, wife, mother of nine adopted children, and most importantly, a devoted follower of Christ. And her boots on the ground experience, hearted wisdom, and faith-centered approach will help you build a business or nonprofit, family, or life legacy, depending on what you want to do there. Her inspiring testimony of living love without regard to risk imparts you to boldly walk through the doors God is opening for you with no worries. Debbie is not a coach. She is a builder, and she will inspire you to build a business, family, or life, and legacies that you have dreamed. And Debbie will teach you how to be an impact player in the kingdom, both now and for eternity. I know it's a long introduction, but Debbie, thank you for coming on the show. Welcome.
Debbie:
[1:27] Thank you for having me. It's going to be fun.
David:
[1:30] Yeah. And so before we start off, I always like to ask my listeners, what is one way that you have found in your business that you can honor God that other people may or may not know about?
Debbie:
[1:42] That they may not know about. I personally think the way we honor God the best is in the little things that we do when no one is looking. And, you know, am I a person of integrity? Am I a person of humility and surrender? That if I can get those things right as a leader, then things are going to be
Debbie:
[2:05] all right because I've got my eyes on Him. So for me, it's my relationship with him. How strong is that? So that that flows through me out into the organization that I lead and run and the staff and all that good stuff.
David:
[2:20] Very good. Little things. It's good because little things add up. Little things very much add up. We don't always think about that, but they surely do.
Debbie:
[2:27] Sure. Yeah.
David:
[2:29] So tell us a little bit about your story. You're at Anchor Point right now. What is that and how did God lead you to start that?
Debbie:
[2:38] Well, I'll give you a little bit of the back story because I am an engineer by training and now I'm running a nonprofit, right? And so I go, you don't just get there in a straight line. That's just how it goes. But in my personal story, there is a personal piece of infertility and ultimately getting pregnant with quads and having the boys die in my arms and losing those children. And it was at that point in my life where there was a real delineation. I've always been a Christ follower, but it was like the world went from gray to colored. And it was like I wanted everything to be about eternity. And I just couldn't just go back to my life as an engineer. I thought maybe I could, but I couldn't because it had just changed. It radically changed who I was. And so in the hospital room that night, I really had to just put a stake in the ground and say, God, I'm going to follow you. I don't know how to do this. I want to be a mom and a grandma and all this good stuff. I don't know my way out of this pain. And he gave me a couple of tips. The first one was, give me your why question, because that's what we find, whether we're in business or individuals, why, why, why? And then he said, ask me the question, how do I survive?
Debbie:
[4:01] Or how do I tackle this next thing that you have in front of me? And I just said, okay, how do I survive?
Debbie:
[4:09] I don't know how to do that. And he was like, I want you to breathe and take the next best step. So I just began a journey of taking the next best step. And he met me there and take the next best step. And he met me there. And somewhere that surviving became, okay, I figured that out.
Debbie:
[4:28] Then the question became, how do I ultimately thrive? And when I gave him that question, that gave him a lot of space to be able to begin to do a lot of things in my life. So, you know, ministering to people who have lost children, leading grief groups, this wonderful journey of adoption that we've taken and the children that we've added to our lives, starting of Anchor Point. That was something that he planted. And then, you know, writing the book that I've written and things like that. But all of that comes out of this tragedy of losing children and trusting God with my story, you know, and that took me out of my engineering career, got an additional education, all that good stuff. And God just planted the seed that this is what was next for me, was to build this. And you know what? What's really funny is those things I learned in the hospital. I'm sitting there going, OK, God, how do I build a ministry? I don't know what I'm doing. How do I do this? You know, and how do I, you know, so I don't want to be stuck.
Debbie:
[5:29] So help me, God. And he's like, take the next best step. So that's what I started doing as I began to build Anchor Point to be able to have a kingdom impact and impact literally thousands of families, you know, each and every year. So that's how I kind of got to where I am today.
David:
[5:46] Yeah, I like that point of just, and I've heard other people say it. It's just like, just give me one thing. You know, just God helps you step by step. I've seen many people say, God, I will follow you. I don't know what to do. And God's like, well, just do this one thing first. Okay, go do that one thing. Then do this one thing first. Yeah. I think we as humans make things complex sometimes. Or we want to know everything. And he's just like, just do one thing, one thing at a time.
Debbie:
[6:18] Well, he has a scripture verse that says he lights the path right in front of my feet. OK, and he's not going to tell us the whole journey, because you know what? If he told me the whole journey and the highs and the lows and everything, I would be like, don't sign me up for that. I'm not doing that. I'm not ready for that. Now, I don't regret anything he's taken me through. And, you know, as I look back, I am so grateful as how he's used me. But I'm going, I couldn't handle it. And so he's going, here's what you can handle because I want you to be successful. Here's what you can handle. Here's what you can handle. And I'm like, OK, I got that. So this is where our faith muscle kicks in.
Debbie:
[6:55] And how much do we trust him with our story and that he is writing a good story? And, you know, if my daddy God's got it, I don't have to worry about that. I'm just like, what step? That's all I need to know. Just which one. And let me take it. And then don't worry about, too. I think a lot of times as business owners and stuff, we worry about having the right step and we actually need the best step for us. The right step will paralyze us because we're worried we might miss it, you know, and it might not be perfect. I'm going, no, the best one. What was the best one for us at the moment? And it's really funny. Sometimes my staff will come in my office and they'll be like, oh my gosh, this huge thing's happening. And I'm like, I need you to breathe. Yeah. And we're going to take the next best step. And they're like, well, how are we going to do this? And I'm like, I don't know, but God's got it. He's not surprised by the fact that you're in my office losing it, that we're going to figure it out.
Debbie:
[7:53] And I'm going, he's been faithful. He was faithful in the Bible. And we've seen that. He's faithful today, and he'll be faithful tomorrow. So he's not going to leave us hanging. He's going to show us if we just seek him out. And so that's just been a great thing to incorporate into my life and to use over and over and over again to remind me where my eyes should be and how I should be going about things.
David:
[8:17] Yeah, no, I like that next best step versus what's the perfect step because, and it's just, what do you think? Just run with it. And I think we forget, I'm trying to remind people that God's not good at just getting us to heaven. God's not good at just creation. God's actually good at business too. Do you think he's not good at 21st century business and technology? I think he gave people the know-how, how to do all these things. Yeah. Yeah, he's good at that, too. He can answer your business questions, too, not just Bible questions. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Debbie:
[8:55] Very good. Yeah. Well, I mean, he's a creator, and he's the most creative of all of us. And so this whole world, we should just be amazed that everything is driven by him and nothing is new to him. And so I think when we forget that, we make him a really small God. And I want a really big God because I got news for you. I can't figure it all out.
David:
[9:17] Yeah. James 1.5 says, if you lack wisdom, ask and he'll give it to you. There were no bounds on that of what wisdom he'll give to you.
Debbie:
[9:27] So I always like to go there. Yeah, that's a good one.
David:
[9:31] So at Anchor Point, what actually do you do at Anchor Point?
Debbie:
[9:35] Sure. Anchor Point is focused on helping families thrive. And so we're kind of looking at all kinds of things. We have a medical clinic, our Obria Medical Clinic, that really helps people focus on the question of life for the child that they carry. So we do ultrasounds. We do all kinds of things that come alongside families medically. then we have our Hope Family Center, which is where we do all of our case management. So when a young lady has chosen life, you know, I don't know about you, but my children did not come with instruction manuals would have been very helpful.
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