8/19/26 - 2160: KPI: It’s Time to Move the Needle

Jim: This is iWork4Him.

Martha: Where faith meets work and believers unleash their calling.

Jim: Two years ago at a 94X event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we had the opportunity to hear Nick Vujicic speak, and then we got to share a meal together, all courtesy of Sean Kouplen of Regent Bank, a highly recommended kingdom bank.

Jim: Frankly speaking, Nick's famous. Even though he's spoken in 78 countries on thousands of stages to millions of people, Nick is approachable and has a heart and passion for seeing others overcome adversity and become followers of Jesus. Mind you, Nick's approach is blunt, but his blunt approach is filled with love and passion for whoever's in the room with him.

Jim: For those of you who don't know Nick, Nick was born in Australia in 1982 without limbs, leaving his parents and doctors stunned. Did this create some life difficulties for Nick? Absolutely. Just imagine middle school. But Nick is an overcomer, and he loves to encourage and challenge others to see the reality of God all around them, despite the adversity they may be facing.

Jim: On September 26th in Plano, Texas, Nick is hosting a summit for 500 Christian business leaders, the KPI Summit, Kingdom Purpose Impact. Nick knows that business owners and leaders who follow Jesus are the brightest hope for flourishing around the world, and he will invest in them that night. Nick Vujicic is here today to share some of his story and talk about the upcoming summit and give us a window, maybe if we have time, into his F framework for life.

Jim: Nick Vujicic, welcome to iWork4Him.

Nick Vujicic: Hi, Jim. Hi, Martha. Love you guys so much. Thanks so much for having me.

Jim: Oh, we're so grateful to have you, Nick. We're so look- we've been looking forward to this time today. Nick, you were born into this world with no arms and no legs. Many humans would grow up bitter and angry at God because of this. You're a passionate follower of Jesus. How did that faith come about?

Nick Vujicic: It was definitely a journey of me wondering and grappling with the idea of a loving God who would allow me to be born this way, give everyone more than me, and not give me arms and legs when I prayed for them with a lot of faith.

Nick Vujicic: I felt like he was either unfair or he was not real. And I went to church every Sunday. My dad was the pastor. And they would always say, "Nick, you're beautiful. God loves you. He's got a plan for you. You're special." And I'm like, "I don't wanna be special. I just wanna be happy." And the whole question of where is God, it was a difficult thing.

Nick Vujicic: Age eight, I went through depression just because I started thinking ahead in my life, not gonna get a job, never gonna get married, not gonna have a family, and not gonna be happy. And I actually felt like I was a burden to my parents sometimes as well. And because of bullying and the taunting, those echoing voices really convinced me that I was never gonna be good enough for the world.

Nick Vujicic: And, I wanted to find my place in this world, and I couldn't find it. At age eight, I started planning out my suicide, attempted at age 10 to drown myself in my bathtub, believing I'd never be happy. And by the grace of God, I'm still here. And the one thing that I want every parent to know is the persistent love of my parents, that was the one thing that kept me here. I realized I loved them more than I hated my own pain, and they didn't deserve a boy without limbs, let alone a boy without limbs who ends his life.

Nick Vujicic: And so all I could see, Jim and Martha, were broken pieces, but little did I know that I would get married, would be fulfilled, be a father, traveling around the world, and now talking about something I felt like I did not have, which is hope.

Martha: Yeah, and that is so good. And, for, you are a father of four children, right?

Nick Vujicic: That's correct.

Martha: So not only did God allow you to become a husband and a father, but now being able to speak the gospel through amazing messages from your own testimony point, and you're also a business owner. So how have you kept all of that crazy lifestyle, the fame and fortune that comes with that exposure, how have you kept your marriage and your family from being messed up because of it?

Nick Vujicic: Yeah, look, the, the two, if you will guardrails that God gave me was getting out of depression, I realized to embrace the attitude of gratitude, to be thankful for what I had instead of being angry for what I do not have. And throughout the journey of starting as a speaker, then traveling, then getting married and becoming a father and entrepreneur, being thankful for what you have always goes- takes me back to the basics of, there's always gonna be something to do.

Nick Vujicic: There's always gonna be something more that, that could be achieved. But to truly be thankful for what matters most, which is faith, family, friends, and the core of that is the second guardrail, is my relationship with Jesus Christ.

Nick Vujicic: Between my family and my faith in God, and having a personal walk with him, knowing that everything I have is his, I'm just a steward of what he's given me, whether it's the 24 million social media fans and people that are looking at me as an example, if you will, of inspiration.

Nick Vujicic: But the, the whole beauty of all of this is when you have an attitude of gratitude and you have a daily walk with God, all you wanna do is help people know that he has a plan for them, and that with his wisdom, with his guidance, and people praying for you to keep humble, dream big. If this little boy with no arms and no legs could dream big, then so can everyone.

Nick Vujicic: And if God healed my heart and renewed my mind, he can do that for everyone. And I just want everyone to know that sometimes we limit what God can do in our life. Honestly. We had no idea what this little boy would be able to do without limbs, and little did we know that God definitely loves and delights in using his children and letting people know- with your yes, God can do anything. And if he can use a man without arms and legs to be his hands and feet, then God can use any willing heart and give you, the people around you whether it's my coach or mentors or my family, my prayer warriors my accountability partners, to make sure that greed, lust, and making sure that my righteousness of accountability as a faith leader, which is really important, making sure that I stand before the Lord upright by the grace of God.

Nick Vujicic: And I'm loving my life. I'm in my mid-40s and there's a film coming out about my life later on this year. But where I'm at is I don't wanna just travel and speak. I wanna now equip people for them to realize, yeah, that's, it's Nick's story, but we all have a story. Your history is His story. And for as long as you're breathing, you're not done yet. God's not done with you yet. And if He can use me, He can use you.

Jim: I love that, and that leads right into the next question. Our oldest daughter, Sarah, has been a fan of yours for years. She told us about you well over a decade ago, and we had no idea who you were.

Jim: Sorry. (chuckles)

Jim: So she gave us this question: Nick, given your parents' approach to raising you with equal standards and expectations, how can we convince the education system that empowering and challenging struggling students will help them to rise up and fight for a better life?

Nick Vujicic: I think it first and foremost starts with real compassion for each other. And it really starts within the school through those who know the love of God. We are currently under the Constitution that allows you as a student to start a prayer group, a Bible study. Any kind of faith-based club that you wanna start in your school, you can do that. And while that window's open, go out and be that light.

Nick Vujicic: Go out and be that salt, for sure. Go up and stand up against bullying and gossip and all these things. But definitely there are universal values and principles that we can all hold onto, no matter what religion we have, and that's where the bridge of love is bridged. And then people look at you a little bit deeper and they're like, "what's different about you? You've got a peace about you." And that's where you can share your testimony.

Nick Vujicic: But I think it's leading by example. That's a great question. But it's leading by example and not giving up. And also the educators to stand up and be a voice in your local school, as well as church leaders, okay? I live in Texas now, north of Dallas area. Church leaders to be aware of the influence we can have as community members in our school districts of becoming a school board member, actually understanding that there are grants that even states give to Christian curriculum for some of these extracurricular activities that we can influence the kids where they're at most of their hours during their teenage years.

Jim: I appreciate that perspective. I loved the story you shared online on YouTube about the fact that your parents, you said to your parents you wanted to make some money, and they said, "Here, vacuum."

Nick Vujicic: I asked them for a toy, and they're like, "Get your own money." I'm like, "How do I do that?" And they said, "Figure it out."

Nick Vujicic: And that was what my parents always said, "Be thankful for what you have. Don't expect things given to you. And get up on your own two feet." And so I actually vacuumed the floor for $2 a week to buy my own toy. And that's the kind of values we, we instill in our home. My 13-year-old son, he's an entrepreneur.

Nick Vujicic: He's now flipping cars. He's flipping furniture. He's selling jewelry. And he has his goals. And we're now fully homeschooling him because he's bored at school. He'll do school, but he wants to graduate earlier. The other son, he has a pastoral kind of heart, right? And no matter who we are, no matter what we're going through, no matter what we have, we all can do something and be thankful for what we have.

Nick Vujicic: Listen, can I just tell every parent, when you give your child everything they want, when they want, how they want it, they're not thankful for anything, and you're actually ill-preparing them for the world that we live in.

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Jim: Nick, you're hosting the KPI Summit coming up here on September 26th in Plano, Texas. What, why do you wanna get in front of these business leaders?

Nick Vujicic: It, it's really been on my heart to see the body of Christ come together. And in the years of me being able to speak to many church denominational leaders and pastors it's one thing to say that, we could do something together or someone saying, "Oh, that sounds interesting."

Nick Vujicic: But really, where the rubber hits the road, it's the marketplace. And Billy Graham, he said that the next move in America is gonna be in the marketplace, which are entrepreneurs, small business leaders, medium-sized business leaders, who are being the hands and feet, who realize that they are the church, to really move the needle and make a difference in a community, it really depends on the backbone of these business leaders.

Nick Vujicic: And to really come together and understand that not only is knowledge and understanding of different vehicles of investments coming up to a new level because of technological advancements and AI and information at our fingertips. And now, there's so many podcasts and different things that we can learn in, but also understanding that there are things called in the business world, you got the KPI, right?

Nick Vujicic: Key performance index. I'm just coming out of a five-year tiresome season where I've been trying to inspire people to do something together for the kingdom. And look at KPI as more of a kingdom purpose impact, and to realize that together we, we really can make a difference. When you look in our own communities homeless veterans, foster care kids, so many people in need.

Nick Vujicic: It's wonderful to go to church once a week, tithe the 10%. But where the needle really moves is when key business leaders see the kingdom purpose impact that we can all have together, given our gifts and talents, our calling, and the, if you will, the mantles that we've all been given to come together and collaborate and network.

Nick Vujicic: As an entrepreneur who started multiple startups I've been also tired of trying to convince someone to use God's money to invest in God's projects. And it's so annoying sometimes. And you're like they've got a million dollars, and they've got $10 million, and someone has $100 million.

Nick Vujicic: Guess what? It's so interesting that it's still pretty hard to convince a believer to do something they've never done before for the purpose of kingdom expansion. Now, I have a ministry, and this is not about ministry, and that's a nonprofit. What I'm talking about are investments, financial stewardship decisions, leadership in the marketplace, and in our own personal walk and our own family, leading well.

Nick Vujicic: There are so many high performers out there who are achieving a lot but actually sacrificing the most important things that God never asked them to sacrifice.

Martha: Yeah.

Nick Vujicic: And so we come from a holistic point of view of the church in the marketplace where believers come together And actually do something for the kingdom. And to understand that it, it's not a government that's gonna get the half a million foster kids off the list, or the 32 homeless veteran, 32,000 homeless veterans in Dallas off the streets. It's people like us who come together and say, "Hey, let's choose an initiative. Let's see what gifts and talents you have. What are you stewarding? The network of the businesses. This is this company. That's your gift, that's your talent."

Nick Vujicic: How can we come together and pioneer a never seen before, in my mind, unified body of Christ in the marketplace to change the world literally one person at a time? That's what it's all about. Let's move the needle for kingdom purpose impact. And think outside the box as well. Not just making money and then giving money away, but to actually find sustainable investment vehicles that are actually making direct mission-aligned impact at the same time. So that's what it's all about.

Martha: And we're gonna put the links in the show notes about how people can learn more about the summit.

Martha: And I love the... nick, you can motivate anybody, I believe. And so what a great audience you're gonna have there, and we can't wait to hear about the impact of that. But, there are so many things vying for our attention during any given day, but if this event resonates with you, we really wanna encourage you to make it a priority.

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Jim: Nick, when the event is over on September 26, the Kingdom Purpose Impact in Plano, Texas, on September 26, what are you hoping, as people are walking out the door, that they've walked away with?

Nick Vujicic: Jim, thank you so much. Listen we don't want just an event just to talk about stuff and get people moved in a way to do the hoorah and say, "Okay, good luck. Go out there- ... and be the hands and feet." No, what we want are these 500 key Christian business leaders here in the local area of Dallas region. We want not just friendship and camaraderie fused and galvanized, but to actually - this ain't a country club meeting. Get your Rolodex out of who you know to help someone there with that connection. Or what are your passions and your dreams?

Nick Vujicic: We're gonna do an exercise where we actually just look at each other and share what's your biggest fear in your life and what's your biggest dream that God's given you? And just to talk and communicate, what has God put on your heart to do? I think some of us are too timid to, to either share what God has put in our heart to dream big in, or we just come and we hear it from the people on stage, we get moved, and we don't know what to do with that.

Nick Vujicic: This is gonna be a beginning of a community that I'm gonna be in frequent touch with on a monthly basis moving forward. This is my own backyard. And I told my team, I said, "If we can't move the needle in DFW, we can't change the world."

Nick Vujicic: And so this is the whole idea. How do we come together as business leaders with our connections and the stewardship of what God's given us, and come together and see, okay, let's see this happen.

Nick Vujicic: Who has a passion for here? Go into a breakout with them. Who has a passion for this? Go and talk about that in that network of people. And so if there was ever a church that I would ever lead, every Saturday would be a business luncheon. It really would be, because we're gonna find out what's the need in the community and how could we meet the need? That's what it's all about. We want to initiate a movement here in our backyard.

Jim: But what if five business people from Minneapolis wanna come? It's only 900 miles south to Dallas. Can they come or is this only for Dallas people?

Nick Vujicic: Now look, it's for everyone for sure. I'm sure there's gonna be some people even flying from further parts. I actually was talking to someone who's thinking of coming from Hawaii. What we gotta understand is if God's like moving in your heart right now, and this seems exciting for you, I'm a speaker I don't wanna just put on an event for the sake of an event.

Nick Vujicic: And I'm not waiting for pastors and leaders to come together. They can't even, they can't even agree on what chicken to eat at lunch. You understand me? They're not doing anything to reach together the lost souls. And I'm an evangelist, I'm like, "I could preach the gospel," but how do we actually be the gospel?

Jim: Amen.

Nick Vujicic: What is it? That the world needs to see to start seeing goodwill back in the church like never before. And I want everyone to know you're invited. Come in person. It's gonna be electric, but you're gonna be coming in, into a, a fold of a community that thinks like you, that is aligned like you, and with the Lord's heart.

Nick Vujicic: And it's not just about performance. I wanna expand a little bit on the F Framework. We've got Sean Kouplen there, and he's gonna be talking about the importance of being humble and being coachable, even though he's an entrepreneur of more than 50 companies. So he talks about leading in the marketplace as the CEO, being teachable and coachable.

Nick Vujicic: Then we got Alvin Fenton, and he is a, a local guy here in DFW area, and he is this guy that's just got a calling to connect people, and people that want to see God move in the community. They just need someone who knows this or someone who has that. Alvin, he doesn't waste time. In 20 minutes, he's like, "Here, this is the guy. Here, this is the guy." He's got like- 6,000 people who could do something. You know what I mean? And all a text away.

Nick Vujicic: And I was so impressed because, oh, so many people, "I know someone. I'll connect you." Alvin's like, "There, it's done." You blink, it's done. And I just, I love that he sees it as a calling. And then you got Colin Myers from Blue Jasper Wealth Management, and we talk about the financial stewardship and the investment vehicles in doing the mission-aligned kingdom purpose impact investments. Really excited. I'm gonna be, also sharing the stage with Matt Granados, my coach, who helped me to balance my life out.

Nick Vujicic: So I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a stock trader, I'm a real estate investor, I'm an evangelist, a father of four, a husband, and the list goes on. Author, actor, producer, and so on. And when you are doing a lot of things there are some parts of our life that are put aside and buckets that are left empty.

Nick Vujicic: And so I'm gonna be talking about the F framework: faith, family, friends, fitness, finance, fun, and the fulfillment of it all. When you look at the word life, if you are living but there's no fulfillment, you take the F out of life and you've got lie. It's like, "I've got this. I've achieved this. I go to church. I'm still married." No, there, there's something missing.

Nick Vujicic: And so I'm gonna be breaking down the F framework for everyone, that you don't sacrifice or neglect the things that God has also asked you to be a good steward of, that really in life, the way that God has designed us with relationship with people, and how we steward our lives, it's all part of us living the fulfilled life on this side of heaven.

Jim: Oh, and if kingdom business owners and leaders across the world would understand that God gave them that business to bring flourishing around them, not only in their family, but with their employees and their customers and their vendors and the community that they work in, that's gonna change the world.

Jim: And so you're gonna start with that, that whole idea at the Kingdom Impact Summit on September 26th in Plano, Texas.

Martha: Kingdom Purpose Impact.

Jim: I said it wrong. What'd I say? Yes. Kingdom Purpose- That's okay. What'd I say? I'm sorry. It's okay. KPI.

Martha: Kingdom Purpose Impact.

Jim: I apologize, Nick.

Nick Vujicic: You're good.

Jim: You can find it, all the information online at nickvujicic.com. And if you want to know how to spell that-

Martha: Don't worry, we'll put it in the links.

Jim: Yeah, we'll put it in (laughter)

Jim: Vujicic. That's how you can say it. Vujicic.

Martha: I think we'll put a link in there to Nick's YouTube video where he tells you all the ways not to pronounce his last name.

Jim: Any final words, Nick, before we close today's show?

Nick Vujicic: Dream big, never give up, and keep on going onward and upward.

Jim: Nick Vujicic, thanks so much for being on iWork4Him today.

Nick Vujicic: Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Martha.

Jim: You bet. You've been listening to iWork4Him with your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers, and our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately, iWork4Him.