Dwayne Jeffries of Austin Found
National Religious Broadcasters Convention 2024
Transcription completed by AI software, please excuse any misspellings or typos present.
Leray Heyne 0:24
Hello, I'm Leray Heyne, the founder of Windows of Heaven and our Jesus Christ's CEOs ministries. Today I'm here at the Museum of the Bible, an amazing tribute to the Holy Bible. Teresa and I are honored to be founding members of the Museum of the Bible. And I'm here to encourage Christian business owners to enroll in our Jesus Christ's CEOs Bible Institute. When you visit the Museum of the Bible, you will get to view biblical artifacts you will not get to see anywhere else. It is the same when you enroll in our Jesus Christ's CEOs Bible Institute. As a Christian business owner, you will learn things you have not and will not learn anywhere else, as it relates to your holy calling as a Christian business owner. The Museum of the Bible is all about the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ's CEOs habitually abide in the Holy Bible with their body, heart, mind, soul and spirit, business owners that are ready to do the same. Enroll today in our Jesus Christ's CEOs Bible Institute. And together as Authentic Disciples of Jesus Christ, let's transform the nation's public squares of business with the Holy Bible as our manual for life, and our companies.
Leray Heyne 1:30
Welcome back to Jesus Christ's CEOs TV. We are here on the convention floor of the National Religious broadcasting convention and exhibit in Nashville, Tennessee. And we are Jesus Christ's CEOs TV, I am Leray Heyne. And we're here trying to discover stories of what Jesus is doing in business. And we have Dwayne Jeffries with us a business owner. And I think you're gonna love hearing is heart and an a new project. So thank you for sitting down with me. Welcome. Yeah.
Dwayne Jeffries 2:11
Appreciate it.
Leray Heyne 2:12
So you're speaking to fellow business owners. Tell us a little bit about you how you got into business and you have multiple projects. You're working on it.
Dwayne Jeffries 2:20
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity to just kind of tell a little bit of a story. I got into product development about 20 years ago. And we built basically a product development company that produces products for Walmart, Target, Bass Pro Shops, Tractor Supply, and we've been working on a passion project. And it's really kind of driving where we're at right now. Really loving the Lord and leading others to the Lord.
Leray Heyne 2:48
Yeah, yeah. So. So what is this passion project that you're working on right now?
Dwayne Jeffries 2:54
So this passion project really was born from an unfortunate tragedy, to be honest, it was a tragedy to triumph story. And, you know, I was seven years old, and my mom, unfortunately got killed in a car accident. And that incident really changed our family. And it changed kind of the trajectory of what can happen in our life. My father, who was 32, at the time, I was 7, my brother was 2, you know, he's really faced with do I press into my faith? Or do I find another way to try to cope with some of this tragedy that I've experienced? And fortunately for me, you know, my father, as a mentor, for me personally, really pressed into his faith. And I was helping him move years ago, and stumbled upon a box and notes. And I asked my Dad, I said, Dad, what's what's with these notes? And he said, well, I am rewriting all these notes. I want to leave them as a legacy for my family. And I said, well, Dad, what's the background on how this came to be? And he said, Well, I wrote these devotions for people who are suffering with grief or a terminal diagnosis or really struggling in life as a way for me to personally heal from my grief. And they were completely anonymous notes that he would send out. And I said, Dad, this has to be something bigger than just you leaving a legacy book for us to, you know, share with each other. I said, this is something we need to publish.
Leray Heyne 4:29
Right.
Dwayne Jeffries 4:30
And so I curated the know the notes.
Leray Heyne 4:32
Yes.
Dwayne Jeffries 4:32
And we published this book, this is handcrafted encouragement. And the idea is that in your daily devotion and your walk with the Lord, you can be ministered to as the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart. And you can step out in obedience and plant a seed. Because what's unique about this book is it's an active devotion, meaning you're called to obey by tearing out, these are perforated, you tear out a sheet.
Leray Heyne 5:01
Oh, wow.
Dwayne Jeffries 5:02
And anonymously send it to a friend in need or someone that the Holy Spirit has laid on your heart.
Leray Heyne 5:08
Oh, how cool.
Dwayne Jeffries 5:09
And so this is, you know, like I said, purpose driven products, passion products are something that we're really focused on. Right now moving forward, because as I mentioned, you know, there has to be something more than just selling a ceramic rooster to Hobby Lobby, right? So, but yes, this is near and dear to my heart.
Leray Heyne 5:30
Wow.
Dwayne Jeffries 5:31
Thank you for asking.
Leray Heyne 5:31
So now I'm gonna get a little personal.
Dwayne Jeffries 5:35
Sure.
Leray Heyne 5:38
I'm sure as you were reading this and putting it together. How did it affect you? And did you come to know your father even more?
Dwayne Jeffries 5:51
So as this project developed, in meeting with the editors and kind of rehearsing the story, or going through the story, and kind of pulling out and refining what really happened during that time, and what needed to be disclosed, and then what needed to be left out. It was a little bit of a soul searching experience, because really, as a child that seven years old. I think as a coping mechanism, I kind of blocked out a lot of those memories that I had of my family and my mom. And it really became kind of a healing opportunity for me to kind of uncover those memories, and go backwards to really put myself because at the time, when I discovered this, I was about my Dad's age for a while. And, you know, when the tragedy happened, and it really energized empathy in my heart, you know, it really, it may be looking at life that you know, it is a vapor, it can be gone just so quickly, and everything can change in an instant.
Leray Heyne 7:00
Yeah.
Dwayne Jeffries 7:00
And, you know, fortunately, I've had a lot of time to spend with my dad, and work through this kind of collectively together. And in some ways, my dad told me the other day said, You know what, I was talking to your mom, and this is my, my stepmom, my dad remarried. But he said, you know, I, I told her, you're my best friend. So a father was calling me, you know, his best friend. And I know not everybody has that luxury. But for me personally, it's been a wonderful journey of tragedy to triumph and transformation for me personally. From my father.
Leray Heyne 7:36
Yeah. So, but it also sounds like it's kind of had an effect on you for purpose for the remainder of your days, as a business owner, talk a little bit about, you know, personally, just where are you at? And when you say do things with purpose, that just doesn't happen without some transformation in your own heart?
Dwayne Jeffries 7:56
Yeah. So, you know, the industry changed quite a bit, especially product retail, in the last few years, it's really transformed in a different way. And right now, you know, for me, I'm looking for a way that I can continue to lead my family, but also lead others. And that comes from really a position of servitude. And, you know, this experience, not just the book in general, but the experience of what we've all, you know, had to introspectively turn into to discover about ourselves and the last few years is that there has to be something more than just making money or pushing forward on something that just lacks real validity, real bedrock, right, no real foundation and that's why I felt like, you know, a purpose driven product, a passion product, those are things that really can be transformative.
Leray Heyne 9:02
Right.
Dwayne Jeffries 9:02
And really, the, they aligned with my faith.
Leray Heyne 9:05
Right.
Dwayne Jeffries 9:05
You know, and so, yes, it has been a massive transformation. And I've traveled all over the world, and I've had amazing opportunities to be inspired. And to see how God can change people. At the end of the day, you know, I could be sitting at a lunch or a dinner with some of my Chinese friends in Southeast Asia, and the conversations are going on in a different language.
Leray Heyne 9:29
Right.
Dwayne Jeffries 9:30
But the intent is still the same. They care for each other. They value friendship, they honor their parents. And these are some of the values that you know, I feel like we need to get back to right these are the things that are going to pull us forward galvanize us and strengthen us as we really as we really, you know, disciple others in having a true walk with Christ.
Leray Heyne 9:56
Right, right. Wow. Love your heart. Love your heart. Love what you're pursuing. So on the book side of things, how did they get a hold of it? How do they find it?
Dwayne Jeffries 10:06
Well, it's really simple. You could just Google handcrafted encouragement, we're at handcraftedencouragement.com You can if you're looking for an inspirational content that you know, little quick reels on God's mercy and His provision and all the wonderful ways that he's looking out for us, you can take you can follow us on Facebook and handcrafted encouragement.
Leray Heyne 10:29
Awesome. And then so some entrepreneurs or some inventors that they're saying, you know what these are, you know, this is a passion product, this does serve the kingdom. Or this serves a purpose like you honoring your father and how did they get a hold of you to talk to you about something like that?
Dwayne Jeffries 10:47
So they could reach out to us at info@austinfoundit.com. Austin Found is the name of the our import company. And we'd be more than happy to book a strategy call to see if we can help you move your vision and your passion and your purpose forward.
Leray Heyne 11:07
Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing your story and just being so real with us. I hope it and know it will have encouraged a lot of others.
Dwayne Jeffries 11:15
Absolutely.
Leray Heyne 11:15
God bless you. Yes.
Dwayne Jeffries 11:16
Bless you, brother.
