In a few weeks, we’ll be heading to Orlando for the National Religious Broadcasters Convention to do a few interviews and write some stories. Until then, here are a few flash-backs to our favorite interviews! This one is from February 2015 when NRB was at Opryland in Nashville. Here is our interview with David and Jason Benham, former HGTV hosts and authors of “Whatever the Cost.”
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! Can you tell us a bit about the book “Whatever the Cost” – was it just released? How has it been received?
David: It came out February the 10th. We were in New York City the day it was released, and it hit number 204 on Amazon, and it was a number one or two mover & shaker for a while. We’re very thankful for the numbers we’ve seen so far. Here’s what’s interesting – the FOX news piece we did got 1.8 million views on Facebook because the message is resonating. The message of living out your faith whatever the cost, and standing up for our freedoms whatever the cost. It’s a two-sided coin, and of course we lead with our faith in Christ, and this message is resonating in America. It’s vital right now.
How have you weathered the media storm that you found yourself in after your show was pulled by HGTV?
David: The Bible says that you always need to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have, and when we went through that situation, it was really interesting because, in that moment, we had already been through several issues where we’d had our Peter moment where we were cowardly. Yet we were tapped on the should and we were still going. When we were fired we had an opportunity to show the hope that we had inside of us. We felt no anger towards anybody, but said, “God, you are real, and you are King. You said we’d be persecuted and now we’re being persecuted so thank you for that.” And that is how we weathered it. It was love for individuals, love for people, and the Holy spirit filled us.
How would you say God’s used that experience to grow your personal faith?
David: Well, we’re consistently growing in our walk with Jesus. Our dad used to teach us that if your theology is not your biography then your theology is worthless. God gave us the opportunity to put persecution theology on the line and see if it truly would be our biography. What Jason and I found is that we thrive when we embrace being being ridiculed, mocked and persecuted for Christ, but we also at the same time realize that we’re really not facing persecution in America. We’re facing pressure. The persecution is taking place overseas, but that persecution wants to come here, so we have to stand up to the pressure today so that our children won’t face the persecution that’s over there.
Jason: One thing specifically for me is that we realize having gone through this, we lost something that could be a great platform. We’re friends with the Robertsons and the Duggers, and look at the platform they have, and so the desire to use a platform to do something great is always inside of us. That thirst for influence and the ability to inspire others to action and move them deeper deeper with Jesus. That’s what we’ve always wanted, and yet that thirst for influence had turned into a lust for influence. We wanted that platform so bad that it almost became an idol, and when it was taken away, we realized we need to be here just for God and God alone. We always knew that, and we still loved Jesus with all our hearts, but that was a really good lesson that I think we needed to learn, and a lot of others, especially spiritual leaders, need to learn that lesson. To be willing to die to that platform that you’ve got for the sake of the Gospel, and if you’re not willing to let go of that big book deal, or that big congregation that you have then you’re not living whatever the cost, and that’s a tentative faith.
You guys have 5 personal keys to success in your book. Where did you pull them from?
Jason: 1. Be faithful in a little – it’s the little things that add up – faithfulness in the little things make faithfulness in the big. 2. Be a fountain and not a drain, always producing. 3. Be a producer and not a consumer. 4. Breathe life. 5. Produce more in value than you take in pay.
David: Those are our five core business principles that we learned from Scripture. No one taught those to us, we just gleamed them from scripture and we started our business from scratch and within a few years we had 100 offices in 35 states. Only because of the Lord – not because of business training. Alan Cones asked us the other day, “You mean to tell me you guys have a dozen companies. You’ve got one that’s got over 500 employees over in the Philippines,” and we’re like “Yeah”. And he said, “You built all of that off of the Bible?” And we told him, “Yes sir!”. Jewels are not found on the ground for you to find. They are found deep in the earth and you have to go dig for it. So you’re asking how I found business principles in the Bible – I dug for it. I’d been digging for a long time and found some things that I might explain to you, but you might not get because you didn’t dig yourself. You’re going to have to dig yourself to find those things.
Now what’s next?
David: We’re fathers of nine kids combined. I’ve got five, Jason has four. We live on the same street. We still have several companies. We’re trying to create jobs and trying to expand the tax base. We love our country, so there’s no way they can try to accuse us of being hate-filled bigoted people, because we do love people. Jason and I have a ministry called Cities for Life that helps provide tangible choices to women who feel they have no choice but abortion. We’re very involved with our foundation. We’ve got lots of things that we’re doing! But one of the things that we’re doing right now that’s frontline is taking this message of living out your faith whatever the cost to everywhere in this country that will have us, and really trying to inspire Christians. Let’s be courageous right now. More than ever in American history, or at least in a long while, we’ve got to have courageous Christians that are willing to step up and take leadership in this country.
Jason: I would say – David and I are telling people three R’s: the one thing that we want more than anything is the revival of the heart, the renewal of the mind, and the reformation of our lives. When this happens, we’ll see revival in the church, we’ll see people experiencing renewal like never before, and we’ll see a reformation of our culture. Anything less than that and we’ve fallen short. So that’s what we’re shooting for.
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