Colby Gilmore of Blue Trust
National Religious Broadcasters Convention 2024
Transcription completed by AI software, please excuse any misspellings or typos present.
Leray Heyne 0:23
Hello, I'm Leray Heyne. And I want to introduce you to the first Christian television network consecrated to tell the world what Jesus is doing the business. You may be thinking to yourself, what in the world are you talking about? Jesus is not involved in business. Business is one of the greatest problems this world has. And I get how that might be your Christian worldview. But for those of us who love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and who have been called and gifted and sent by Holy Spirit to oversee companies in the public squares of business, we have a different Christian worldview. On Jesus Christ CEOs TV, you will hear from Jesus' perspective what he is doing in business. You will hear from the perspective of Christian CEOs what Jesus is doing in business. You will learn how Holy Spirit is manifesting Christ in the mortal flesh of the Body of Christ, in business. And for you CEOs, you will be equipped on how to operate an Authentic Kingdom Company consecrated through Jesus Christ through you and your team's participation with God Holy Spirit's Governance. Welcome to Jesus Christ CEOs TV, the first Christian television network consecrated and raised up by God Holy Spirit to tell the world what Jesus is doing in business.
Leray Heyne 1:49
Welcome back to Jesus Christ CEOs TV filming live at the National Religious Broadcasters convention and exhibit. I am here with Colby Gilmore. Colby, thank you for sitting down and having a little conversation with me about how Jesus is living in you and through you in business. So welcome here.
Colby Gilmore 2:08
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Leray Heyne 2:09
Yeah. So tell us a little bit tell our audience a little bit about you and what you do for a living?
Colby Gilmore 2:14
Yeah, so I'm out here in Nashville, Tennessee, great place to be I thought it was unique moving here, coming from California. But it turns out, we're just statistics.
Leray Heyne 2:23
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 2:24
We're all coming out here. But I have the privilege. God called me years ago, through a class at Biola University called faith and money. And it was a quantum shift in my life, for understanding that the Bible had so much to say about handling our money, and it's a practical theology, we have to do it every single day. And that set me a chance to go where am I going to apply my money?
Leray Heyne 2:46
Right?
Colby Gilmore 2:46
Where am I going to do this as a career and God directed me to a place called lotto blue and company, now known as blue trust. So it's a place where literally, we get to help wealthy Christians apply biblical principles, so they can be more generous.
Colby Gilmore 2:46
Wow.
Colby Gilmore 2:59
So I've done that for about eight years. And God put on my heart years ago, me and my wife of what if we could influence the influencers?
Leray Heyne 3:07
Right?
Colby Gilmore 3:07
If we're speaking this biblical truth into entertainers, those in film, media, and music.
Leray Heyne 3:14
Wow.
Colby Gilmore 3:14
And through Nashville, we just fell in love with it, but happens to be one of those hubs that I now lead our entertainment division at Blue Trust.
Leray Heyne 3:25
Uh huh.
Colby Gilmore 3:26
That's right.
Leray Heyne 3:26
So good. Well, let's, let's dig into this a little bit. As you're helping others be biblically based in their giving and their businesses and well, how is the Lord's use that business to transform you?
Colby Gilmore 3:40
Yeah, good question. That's the beginning of my career in public accounting with the idea of, if I audit really well, I can protect the capital markets. That could be my, my, my event by evangelism or applying my actual faith, but coming to Blue Trust was a calling it was something that I actually felt a little ashamed being, am I? Am I worthy enough to actually help people handle their money from God's perspective.
Leray Heyne 4:09
Right.
Colby Gilmore 4:10
Am I doing that person? And it has it is, night and day in the last eight years of challenging me and my wife to live differently. And that's in the business and that's business, but the business is personal and practical.
Leray Heyne 4:10
Right.
Colby Gilmore 4:20
Because money is personal and practical. So that's been a credible journey of generosity. Understanding God owns at all and that's not just money. It's everything else around our talents, our networks, our platforms. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't come to a place like this. It's so new unique with people that pour into daily and client support into daily so I I'm grateful for a place like that. And that is actually a for profit. Yeah, nothing against nonprofits at all, but a place that is actively working in the financial markets.
Leray Heyne 4:59
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 5:00
But do I get through a ministry lens.
Leray Heyne 5:02
Well, I know what you meant by that because many people in they don't think that Jesus is in business. They don't think he's working in business. He doesn't. They don't know what you just shared how the Lord was using your business to challenge you, right? Paul says, follow my example. I'm a pattern for you to follow. And the Lord was calling you and your wife to be a pattern first, right before you started just telling everybody else what they needed to do. And it was, like you said, I could tell there's some sacrifices there. There were some things you weren't fully being fully prepared for. Right?
Colby Gilmore 5:37
Well, yeah, you can't go anywhere that you have about yourself. Yes.
Leray Heyne 5:41
Right. Or take somebody where you haven't been.
Colby Gilmore 5:43
Exactly right. I can't say yeah, you need to be giving more if I'm not doing that.
Leray Heyne 5:47
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 5:48
But also when you do experience that if it's generosity or doing something that's biblical, but it's just countercultural.
Leray Heyne 5:53
Right.
Colby Gilmore 5:54
You see the joys of it.
Leray Heyne 5:55
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 5:55
You can live that out.
Leray Heyne 5:56
So probably another thing that you've had a few experiences where the Lord says in Romans, we go from faith to faith. So you took one experience, and it must have grown your face to do it again and grow on your faith to do it again, am I thinking right?
Colby Gilmore 6:10
Oh, exactly. And it comes down to I think there's a couple of verses one, Ephesians 2:10. Right. And we actually understand every person this is employees, right for Jesus Christ CEOs. Yeah, your employees first but also to your your clients now is that they are God's workmanship. They are some translations call it you are his masterpiece or his poetry. What if we actually looked at everyone that way? Understanding. Let's go back to Genesis. Yeah, we're image bearers. We don't always bear the image. No, I'll every one of us is an image bearers.
Leray Heyne 6:41
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 6:41
So we treat people with that going, they are a masterpiece somewhere in there.
Leray Heyne 6:45
Right?
Colby Gilmore 6:45
It is. It's a it's a new way to do business. It's a new way to care for employees.
Leray Heyne 6:50
Right.
Colby Gilmore 6:50
And then if we go to another verse, that is in 1 Timothy 6:18, you're going to do good to be rich and good, work back, be generous and ready to share.
Leray Heyne 6:58
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 6:58
That's a whole other way of leading clients and leading your people.
Leray Heyne 7:01
Right.
Colby Gilmore 7:01
What if I remove and I'm looking to do good to be rich and good works? To be generous?
Leray Heyne 7:06
So I was just gonna ask you, you know, how do you were talking to business owners here, right? You know that they're a practical group of people. Right? So okay, you know what I liked that Colby, we all like what I'm hearing. I like his heart. I like what him and his wife had gone through there. They're authentic about what they're doing. Give the CEOs, a little bit of, you know, some Ron Blue Trust 101 steps that they could take in their business and their finances, you know, where they're having that first meeting with you? What's that look like with Colby?
Colby Gilmore 7:35
Yeah, well, especially for business owners. I spoke about this with fcci on a webinar. And there's five talents I think every business owner gets. One is your people, right, how am I stewarding my people? The other is your profits? What do I actually do with those?
Leray Heyne 7:54
Right?
Colby Gilmore 7:54
That might be more where you engage with someone like I a Blue Trust Advisor, but you've got clients and vendors, how do you interact with them differently? What do you do with your community, you have an influence. And.
Leray Heyne 8:05
So you're saying all of this has an impact on finances?
Colby Gilmore 8:07
I think it does, right? Because if you actually write I think we'd say this, right? If you lead like Jesus, you're going to create a culture, that's different, servant leadership, maybe a little more joy and love and care, harmony, and that's going to drive better results that's going to drive profits potentially. And then what do you do with the profits? Right? So at Blue Trust, we come alongside business owners or me a lot of entertainers and go, Hey, God's blessed you with these platforms? How do we steward all those five talents?
Leray Heyne 8:35
Right?
Colby Gilmore 8:36
That might mean you're using some kind of benefits for your employees that all just extra profit, and they are, could you pour that investing into your employees?
Leray Heyne 8:43
So you're, you know, being a former business owner and being around business owners my whole life? It's really easy for us to write checks.
Colby Gilmore 8:50
Yeah.
Leray Heyne 8:51
But you're asking us to do a lot more. What kind of pushback do you get with that? Because, you know, I'll give you a check. But don't ask me to do all that other stuff.
Colby Gilmore 9:00
Yeah. Well, I think we do that with God. Right. There used to be a common question we get from people all the time where you'd hear it and like a call in on a radio station. Should I tithe on the gross or net?
Leray Heyne 9:10
Yeah. Right.
Colby Gilmore 9:11
They were already looking for a loophole right? Where God or Jesus would just say, give me your life. Like, just follow me just participate in My Kingdom.
Leray Heyne 9:19
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 9:20
And so we got to business owners. Yeah, there's a there is a hard rap of rappel there with well, there's Mammon my which is money which a God like idol. Yeah. And then there's God now Yeah, it's so hard especially in America but I don't think it's just America that we go no, the pursuit is more.
Leray Heyne 9:38
Yeah
Colby Gilmore 9:38
Pursuit is I never have enough I just need a little bit more right and yeah, we're saying no, there's infinite joy at sea over here if you can give us so when we come alongside clients is helping draw out those waters.
Leray Heyne 9:49
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 9:50
Helping them realize that God owns at all and it's not easy, right? I grandpa, both my grandfather's were entrepreneurs, business owners and lead like Jesus, but there was a whole point for them the right grapple with like letting go. They were very generous, but I want to call a business owner we're helping give away a significant amount of money because he was going to sell his business, right? And he directly looked at us and said, I get God owns at all. But this is my money. If you're telling me to give 10s of millions of dollars away, it's easy for you to say.
Leray Heyne 10:19
Yeah.
Colby Gilmore 10:20
And that's something that we can't take lightly. Right now.
Leray Heyne 10:22
It's where the rubber meets the road. Does he really own it all? Does he really right? Doesn't really own it all. So people are here. They love what they're hearing, how do they get a hold of you? And then we're gonna go talk about media here in a minute as they say, You know what, I really like Colby. I want to know more from him. I like his spirit. I like his heart. How do they get a hold of you?
Colby Gilmore 10:40
Yeah, you should definitely check out our website at BlueTrust.com Blue Trust. We've got plenty of great resources. You can check out our YouTubes just as this is it's never sales products. It we don't sell any products. It's actually looking to how do I apply biblical principles? How do I leave a legacy that's lasting? And there's there's plenty of people that went along the road before us that we could learn from and then there's a new generation like mine, that's how do we live that practically how do we have winsome conviction in handling our money and all aspects.
