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Conversations from the Hype Network; Business innovation, technology, and current events from a faith-filled perspective.
Arun: What's up, Hype Network?
Welcome to episode 39.
I'm excited to kick this one off.
It's been a while.
Um, it has been a while.
It has been a while.
Um, but we have a special guest today.
Actually, I'm going to do
an intro for the first time.
Pastor Adam as well.
Yes.
Because Pastor Adam, we don't do intros
here, but people need to know who you are.
They know.
Global lead pastor.
GPFS fun.
You're a pastor for newer.
There you go.
I like that term.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't mind if we hated that term
or not, but yeah, I don't remember.
No, I think,
Ps Adam: I
Arun: think I'm
Ps Adam: down with
Arun: it.
My name is Arun Koshi.
I'm I'm the host of this podcast.
And then we have special guests,
Johannes, Johannes, also a
pastorpreneur, the founder and CEO
of Coalition for Renewable Gas.
Um, but before we get in, you're
also part of the Hype Mob.
Absolutely.
Can you tell us a little
bit more about it?
How you, how you feel about it?
How's it been part of
being the Hype membership?
Johannes: Love Hype.
What an incredible invent and idea and
credit to Pastor Adam and those involved
for curating a network of Hype members.
people, especially in the Silicon
Valley to really come around whatever
they're involved in, whether it's faith,
energy, VC, tech, or otherwise, but
to integrate and assimilate that with
faith and to really build something, um,
as we build a kingdom tangibly also in
the business place and the marketplace.
So love being a part of that, have
not been able to contribute as much
as we'd like to, but, uh, working.
What does that mean?
What else would you like to contribute?
Ps Adam: Are you talking
about the monthly mentorship?
Are you, I think I've made
Johannes: one.
Yeah.
It's been a, it's been quite the year.
I'll just leave it that in case
this gets broadcast quite the year.
I would love to make the prayer calls.
I'd love to be able to pray with, yeah.
They're great startup entrepreneurs,
established business folks,
just cross pollinate faith in
different spheres of influence.
Ps Adam: I love that that's your desire
because it is, it is definitely one
of the aspects of going just from the
hype network to the hype membership
is that unlock of people that are, you
know, in many ways and knowing kind
of what you've navigated this year,
people have navigated something similar.
And whether they're encouragement
to you or you're an encouragement
to them, what you find when you're
founding a company or you're, you
know, an intrapreneur entrepreneur,
you find that you are exposed to unique
situations that you're never prepared
for, but a network like hype mob.
Man, there's someone who's
navigated this before.
Uh, and then it becomes someone who can
give you keys or steps to get through it.
And it's not just coming from, you know,
necessarily myself or Vance, but just
across pollinating within the network.
And, uh,
Johannes: it's a hack, it's a
cheat code, it's an incubator.
It's kind of all these,
it's a combinator of sorts.
Um, and I think it's unique cause
I, I'm not aware of anything like
it in a faith space, for sure.
Um, so I look forward to rolling
our sleeves up as this time allows.
Not just being a consumer,
but being a contributor.
Arun: Do you have anything that you'd like
to share from like the hype membership?
Anything, any highlights
that, um, recently
Ps Adam: from the hype membership?
Yeah, we, I don't think we've
even spoken since we did the, uh,
Frankfurt hype session and the
London hype session just recently.
And, uh, Very excited because
we've got, uh, coming up in the, at
the end of this year, we're going
to run it back in, uh, London.
We're going to run it
back in, um, in Frankfurt.
And when are we, just quickly, when
are we broadcasting this session?
Arun: Uh, this will be, we can
do, it depends what we talk about,
but if we discuss certain things,
maybe we'll do it before Friday.
If we discuss other things, maybe Monday.
Ps Adam: Do you want me to say anything
in case we have to edit it out?
Or do you want me to?
No, go for it.
Go for it.
And we're going to do a
hype session in Dubai.
Wow.
Let's go.
So it's, it's on baby.
Exciting.
It's on like Donkey Kong.
So that's going to be happening
in December, uh, 11th in Dubai.
It's going to be, uh, the 13th.
Johannes: Wait, this December?
Ps Adam: Yep.
This December.
Oh, but it's just the start.
Just the start.
This December 13th.
Uh, 11th, 12th in London,
and 13th in Frankfurt.
Arun: Yeah, hypenetwork.
org if you want to join in.
Yep.
You don't want to miss it.
There's a lot of good stuff.
A lot of good content.
So much.
A lot of good people that
you can connect with.
And I can't emphasize that anymore.
And like you said, it's a tide
that rises all ships, right?
Ooh, yeah.
So, you got a lot of
smart people in there.
So get in there.
So.
Johannes, I don't want to
beat around the bush anymore.
Let's hear a bit more about what you do.
Yeah, this is going to
be a great conversation.
We don't get to talk about energy
a lot on this podcast, so you're
going to be educating us a lot today.
So yeah, tell us a little bit more
about what you do in your business.
Johannes: Yeah.
So God has blessed us.
And I think maybe to appreciate.
Kind of what we've done to date,
maybe some context on how we got
where we are, um, and some of the DNA,
spiritual, physical, and otherwise I
think that's contributed to, um, what
we'll talk about here momentarily.
So I ha I would be remiss if I did
not honor my mother who passed, um,
in God's time, uh, at 62 years old,
far too young as far as I'm concerned.
But my mother took a leap of faith and
left her home country of Argentina,
sold everything that she owned.
Left everything that was familiar.
Her, her faith.
Family, friends, and bought a plane ticket
and came to America because she wanted
her kids to be born here and have chances
she knew we would never have there.
And when you look at the
political mess that is Argentina,
and maybe it's finally over.
Getting, its, its, there's
hope, that's for sure.
Now.
Yeah.
So God, God only knows, right?
But you can't plan those things out.
And um, so I was sort of born with
an industrious entrepreneurial gene.
I mean, my mom would make three
square meals from scratch a day.
Made a lot of our clothes growing up,
cut my hair until I went to college.
Um, reupholstered our own
furniture in the house.
Just very industrious.
My parents were church planters.
Some of that was out of necessity.
My dad was an architect, an
entrepreneur in his own right.
So came by that gene naturally.
Um, Had a heart for ministry was filled
with the spirit at a young age of
four years old and had a heart Towards
ministry and felt called to leadership
and and pastoring never thought I
would church plant And that's because
during my parents church planting
journey, they sacrificed everything
Yeah, and at one point we literally
give up our home and we moved into an
abandoned grocery store Well, that's
Ps Adam: enough to put you off
Johannes: Right, right.
Uh, and, and I can remember getting
the knock on the door, the back door
of the grocery store and the county
supervisor found out that people
were living there and they said,
yeah, it's not zoned for housing.
You can't live here yet.
And so it was actually a blessing.
It was an answer to prayer as kids.
And my mom, we, we needed to be out.
There was no privacy.
I mean, it was just, it was a
rough, we were pretty isolated.
Trying to catch the school bus or get to
school without your friends noticing you
coming out of an abandoned grocery store.
So I think from those humble beginnings,
but those humble beginnings being
tethered to ministry and church
planting, the one thing I kind of said
was, I'll never be a church planter.
Never say never, right?
Um, So in, in ministry, I was always
bivocational for that reason was
like, I have a heart of ministry,
I feel called to pastor, not
to church plant, but to pastor.
Um, but I'm not going to put my
family through what I live through.
God always, we make plans and God
sometimes I think through his sense
of humor, he gets the final say.
So long story short, um, Found ourselves
employed in the California State Capitol.
We were legislative directors,
served a number of ranking members
on utilities, commerce, environmental
safety, toxic material, natural
resources, transportation budget
committees, and came across a biogas
bill one day, a piece of legislation
that was making its way through, had
been introduced by a prominent member
of the state assembly at the time.
And there was a political oddity that
caught my attention, which was the chair
of a prominent committee of Introduced
a bill and then never gave his own
bill a hearing in his own committee
And
Johannes: so I found there were
politics involved and i'll leave
the the names of all the actors out.
Sure, um to protect the guilty, but
Ps Adam: Sorry newsome This was 2010
Johannes: A little bit
before his time 2010.
Okay,
Johannes: but I called a friend
of mine from the church Dear
friend of mine still friends.
Uh, I said chad.
Do you know anything about biogas?
And he said well, that's funny you ask
He was an energy trader for the local
municipal utility, SMUD, where at the
time I lived and was a rate payer for.
Right.
Johannes: And he said,
I said, why is that?
He said, we just purchased
300 million worth of biogas
like in the last two weeks.
I said, you have to tell me what's
coming
Johannes: over.
We're having coffee in my living room.
He educates me in all things, biogas.
When I come to find out what biogas is,
when any organic material decomposes,
naturally it emits a cocktail of what
we refer to as biogas is including
and primarily methane and CO2.
So I start looking into this.
One of my legislative purviews was energy.
And as a subset of that.
Fallen particularly passionate
about renewable energy.
And at the time everything was nuclear.
Um,
Johannes: there was some hydro and then
solar was really just peaking Nobody
knew what biogas was Um, so it you know
My education began back in 2010 And
reaching out to industry stakeholders
the few that I could find one They
were surprised that anybody noticed
right that we were interested enough to
follow up and that we were curious to
have another conversation um And what I
discovered was that there was no trade
association You There was literally
no representation for the industry.
And for me, it was unconscionable to think
that in the 21st century, any industry
could hope to exist, much less succeed
or thrive without, because if you don't
have, if you're not at the table, you're
on the menu and we can chase rabbits
in politics, left, right, straight,
uh, wherever you want to go with that.
But, um, in my entrepreneurial
mind, boom, this was the moment,
this was the opportunity.
And I can remember
deliberating over timing.
Do we.
We host an inaugural membership luncheon.
Introduce the mission, cast the vision.
Do we file articles in corporation
with the secretary of state?
Do we do that now?
Or do we wait two weeks?
Take our summer vacation,
come back after summer break.
And then do this?
And there was some tension around timing.
Ultimately we went with our gut.
And I think it's really spirit guidance.
And Holy Spirit, Get it done now.
And so we did file
articles of incorporation.
July 7th, we hosted our inaugural
membership lunch, and I expected
four or five companies to show up
that we'd been in conversation with.
We had 44 companies show up.
Ps Adam: It was that many
companies in the space.
Johannes: There was that many.
Well, you have supply chain, right?
So you have, there's six core
developers that represent kind of
the space, but then, Uh, waste is
collected, managed, recycled by waste
management or other waste collection.
So the engineers, the organized labor,
the manufacturers, the law firms
that do the contracts for the deals.
So they all show up.
The end use customers.
They all show up.
They're excited.
Packed up the restaurant.
We had to buy the restaurant out that day.
Oh yeah.
Out of my personal pocket.
Yeah.
Right?
My wife and I.
And um, so, you know, that was,
we were an all in at that point.
We knew we were on to something.
And, uh, again, we, we forecast
a, a three to five year strategy.
We said, if, if you'll support our
vision, we think in three to five years
we can get a law passed in California.
Um, at the time, this is at the
time, 30 year old statute, but in, in
1988, there was a vital law passed.
It was a perfect opportunity for a
celebrity politician power couple
to step up and save the day.
And they did by passing legislation
in California in 1988 that prohibited
the injection of any biogas from any
landfill in California's pipeline system.
Right.
Johannes: So what that did effectively
is it forced the biogas industry that
existed at the time in California to
develop their projects out of California.
But then California simultaneously has the
most aggressive renewable energy policies
and climate change objectives created
market demand that California stakeholders
were producing biogas out of state and
then selling it back into California,
which is where SMUD came to buy.
300 million of biogas from
a landfill in Dallas, Texas.
And 80 percent of that trans of
that cost was transporting the
gas from the landfill in Dallas.
to Sacramento, California,
Ps Adam: 80%.
Johannes: And I'm a rate payer saying,
well, why aren't we using biogas from
the landfill two miles from here?
He's like, I don't know.
I don't think we're allowed to.
So that's where I dug up found the
1980 statute that prohibited this.
So the first bill that as a new
organization, we sought out to fix was
that Hayden Amendment, they referred
to it as, uh, and we projected it
would take us three to five years
to do that with membership support.
With God's favor, we rolled our sleeves
up and, uh, we, uh, Assemblymember Mike
Goddard introduced the Assembly Bill
1900 for us and Governor Jerry Brown
signed it into law in our first year of
existence and that put us on the map.
In the first year.
In our first year of existence.
You were projecting three to four years.
Three to five years, yeah.
And it happened in your first year.
First year.
That's amazing.
The other thing about timing, which
speaks to, He orders our steps,
things that you can't plan, right?
I talked about that two week deliberation.
Do we do it now or go to summer break?
This was in July of 2011
in
Johannes: that two week timeframe.
Had we waited a prominent
law firm in Sacramento that's
involved with the industry today.
Sent out an email to their client
list and said, Hey, we're going
to form this biogas Alliance.
Oh, wow.
Johannes: And everyone there reached
out to responded, said, we just
joined this new group two weeks ago.
So from the very beginning, and
then, so you literally snake
them by two weeks, two weeks.
And then when governor rounds
signed our bill into law, it's
the day my mother passed away.
No
Johannes: way.
So it's this poignant reminder.
Of the bittersweet.
Wow.
That is a, none of this would be
possible had she not sacrificed.
Wow.
And then she didn't even get to really
fully appreciate what we did and what was
happening because she passed prematurely.
Um, so, but God has been so
in it from the beginning.
Um, I could, I could just recount
stories of how God has blessed,
provided, expanded, give us
influence, access, relationships
that, um, you know, it's incredible.
So,
Ps Adam: so talk to us then about that,
that journey was powering along and you
decided, let me just add a church in here.
Johannes: Yeah, we were
literally, um, right, right.
Let me start,
Ps Adam: you know, an association around
renewable gas and, uh, full time, you're,
you're lobbying in, uh, Sacramento, and
hey, I got, I got a spare few minutes.
Well, they say if you want, you
Johannes: want to get something
done, ask someone who's busy, right?
Um, No, I think that goes back to
the heart of ministry and I knew
what God's call in my life was.
And I've always viewed business and
any, um, economic or revenue generation
as a source for kingdom funding.
And so it was very clear to me, God
has given me now the opportunity
to step out, to effectively own
and operate our own business, uh, a
nonprofit 501c6 trade association.
And, and that was enough for
me to say, okay, God, let's go.
And, um, so that was a
separate journey, pastor.
I mean, I've talked
about this a little bit.
Um, there was, there was a phase
there where, uh, had several
opportunities to take several churches.
One was in Florida.
Uh, several that we looked at,
uh, up and down, uh, the state of
California and just didn't feel
that's where God was calling us.
There were places people wanted us to go,
but didn't feel this is where we're going.
And then, uh, we were, we were
asked to take a church in West Palm,
Florida, and we were literally packed
up in the moving trucks and that
deal fell apart and God was in it.
Um, people got involved and made it
messy, but God worked it for good.
And so, you know, we were in,
we were all in, we were vested.
And um, so our prayer became, okay,
Lord, if this isn't it, right,
I, I believed it was God's will.
I think men get in the way,
people get in the way, and God's
plans are bigger than ours.
So he's like, that's not a problem.
I can work around that.
We'll just do this.
And so I said, okay, God, if,
if there isn't, I mentioned I
would never be a church planter.
I finally got to the place during that,
about a two month season, okay, God, if
there isn't a church that needs a pastor,
I know there's cities that need churches
and I'll never forget I was kneeling at
our bedside on a Sunday afternoon and
Ps Adam: you were in
Sacramento at this time.
Still in Sacramento.
Johannes: Yeah.
Yeah.
I was youth pastor there.
I was a board member of the church.
There had been a member for 14 years.
Um, and, and I'll never
forget clearest day.
It was as if in my mind's eye in
prayer, God wrote on a whiteboard.
So long story short, I don't know
that I have the skill sets to
be a successful church planter.
I really believe pastor Adam, God called
our family to Palo Alto the same year he
called you to Palo Alto because ultimately
he wanted us to connect with you.
It just took us 13 years.
Maybe to get here.
So what an honor it is to be
integrated, as I say, grafted into
Vive and to be a kingdom builder
and to buy into your vision.
Something I heard someone say one time,
I think it was John Maxwell, a mentor of
ours who said, when, when your vision runs
out tether your dreams to someone else's.
Wow.
And I thought, Um, from a ministry
and pastoral standpoint, and then, and
then if I may, like, uh, you might have
to edit some of this out or ruin it.
He won't.
I won't.
Let me know.
I used to refer to myself as
a failed church planner or
recovering church planner.
I think I'm successful on the premise
that I was obedient to the call.
We went and we did.
Uh, I think we're seeing
through a glass darkly.
I think I heard the call is plant
a church here and what if it,
what if God was trying to say, I
have C three or five there in Palo
Alto, that's where I want you.
But because of the, the lens
that church organizations and
denominations and politics put in
place, I couldn't hear the voice.
I couldn't see clearly.
Right.
I hear that.
But the spirit was getting me here.
Exactly.
Ps Adam: That could be
one way to look at it.
Sometimes too, I think God has
you on a journey of learning.
And I, when I look at the time that you
came into Vive, I didn't know the story.
I didn't know the backstory.
I just see this incredible family.
We got to know each other.
Then I heard this story.
And, and the step that you guys stepped
in at the right time was, I feel like
perfect for you guys as a family, perfect
for your kids, but also perfect for Vive.
To give us, uh, you know, you stepped
into the KB lead team, uh, your
experience and it was like a great
acceleration moment for the church.
Had you not learned what you learned
on the coalface of church planting,
I don't know if that would have
been such an asset, you know,
with having a deep understanding.
I mean, you're literally on the team
now talking about the church plants
we're doing and the future and the
expansion and all those kinds of things
that really brings an insight from
someone who's been there themselves.
Johannes: Well, to me, it's
a redeeming value, right?
And I think there's a narrative that
there, there's a thread that runs
through the narrative, whether it's our
business or ministry, it's redemption,
even, even our secular business, right?
What are we doing?
We're redeeming society's waste.
We're converting
environmental
Johannes: liability into
renewable energy asset.
I think.
You're right.
We were successful because we obeyed.
We learned.
Certainly I can tell you a
lot of what not to do, right?
I can do that too.
But it's also incredibly humbling to
have been asked to be part of the KB
lead team to look at a business plan
with you, Chi Wah and others about,
okay, as we look towards the vision and
X number of churches over the next 10
years, um, To be able to have one small
part and that is incredibly honoring
and humbling to me and my family And so
Ps Adam: you guys launched out with the
church in 2012 you move from Sacramento.
Yeah, that was the same time We landed
here Wow, and we started in August
of 2012 And you guys launched here in
August 2012 to is that right September?
Can I ask how you guys
Arun: met like what's the story?
What's the backstory?
How'd you guys meet?
How'd you guys end up?
Ps Adam: The first time, the
first time we met was when, uh,
you guys started coming to five.
Johannes: I want to say we'd
been coming probably four or
five weeks until we shook hands.
Not because you came on a
Ps Adam: vision Sunday.
I got to tell you that story.
Okay.
Here's how God works.
Here's
Johannes: how God works.
So God had been dealing with
us about transitioning from
church plant, lead pastor.
We had a church plant in Palo
Alto and in East Palo Alto.
We're meeting at the Lucy Stern
community center here in Palo Alto
at the YMCA in East Palo Alto.
Um, and God had been dealing with us
about transitioning for, for some time.
And part of that was,
We didn't have a youth
community for our children.
My kids were, Rory was 15 two years ago.
Uh, Lincoln was 11.
And as I was a youth pastor for
14 years, I understand the value
of having that community faith.
And part of me was wrestling with,
And being obedient to the call, I'm
willing to sacrifice, but not at the
expense of my children and their faith.
And I could see some deterioration
there, uh, or, or signs of deterioration.
And I wanted to address that.
So I knew we had to plug them in
to a strong community faith where
there was other young people that,
um, they, they could be around
and God's hands on their life.
And, and so I'll never forget.
Um, we had communicated to our
church that by the end of 2022,
we would be transitioning.
Um, we didn't know where yet.
We asked
Johannes: him to pray with us and
we told them we would let them
know where it ended up being.
If they wanted to come with
us, they could, or they could
find somewhere else home.
But this was, it, it was, it
was, it was time Sunday morning.
I sit up out of bed.
It was probably, I don't know, 6 45
Sunday morning and Holy Spirit said,
you're going to vibe church today.
I had never been to Vive.
Mm-Hmm.
.
Johannes: I didn't even
know it was called Vive.
I remembered C3.
Right.
Johannes: And it's possible
I'd seen a billboard and it was
somewhere in my recessed memory.
But Holy Spirit prompt me and said,
today you're going to Vive Church.
So I told Tanya, I said, you're
running the service today.
Mm-Hmm?
. Oh, going to you was still running church?
Yeah.
Oh wow.
I was like, you're gonna hold it down.
I'm gonna get, she was like, okay.
She was fine with that.
Right.
That's amazing.
Um, and so.
So you came on your own.
Grabbed Lincoln.
Lincoln, he's 13 now.
He came with me.
He's 11.
And we show up and it was Vision Sunday.
Ps Adam: 2022.
Yeah.
Johannes: And.
You, you can't make that stuff up.
And the first thing I see when I walk in
the front doors of the church, just to
the right by the staircase, the 50 year
vision letter that's painted as a mural.
And I have screenshots from that day
that I took to make sure I captured every
word I've shared that I can't tell you
how many times with pastors and friends.
And it's so inspiring, but it
spoke to me because what was
evident in that letter pastor is
the DNA of the church, the vision.
I don't want to be part of just
something that's traditional.
A traditional church is not going
to thrive and be sustainable.
No.
Silicon Valley.
And the DNA that was infused in that
letter of influencing different spheres,
including politics, which is where
I'm in, including energy and music,
which is, you know, a family passion.
So all those things, I knew it was home.
The final sign for me was, okay,
will my family buy into this too?
Yeah, so came for a couple weeks and then
family came with me and then they came
on your own for a couple of weeks Yeah
They had to know I was serious
Arun: Little stealthy
Johannes: no, and I think some of that
comes look my I'm third generation
planter church planter on my mom's side
Yeah,
Johannes: and as well as on my
dad's side, so, you know Growing
up in and around ministry You're
familiar with the underbelly.
You are, we, uh,
Ps Adam: you're like,
let me see the cracks.
And I
Johannes: remember when
everyone can have a
Ps Adam: good Sunday, but
let me see the next Sunday.
Well, that's why
Johannes: we came for a year and
just kind of sat in the back.
Well, I, I really wanted to pass her out.
Um, I knew what, How big of a commitment
this was for our family, for our future.
And you're right.
Anyone could look good on Easter Sunday
and anyone can look good for a series.
But I wanted to see a life
cycle, a year's life cycle.
I want to see the low periods in the
summer months when no one's here.
I want to see when, you know,
and the high points as well.
And then.
Experiencing AMEN conference
the last two years.
Amazing, right?
That's what I wanted to see the
DNA and then the spirit filled.
Yeah, the Pentecostal traces
that are still there You know
This is a good part
So this is home yes, and no matter how God
blesses us in the future Um, this is home.
We, we, I think like most people thought
about moving during the pandemic.
Mm.
We, um, the week did.
Yeah.
What's that?
The week did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then we were always like,
no, God's called us here.
This is home.
Yeah.
This is where we are.
It means you're strong.
And it wouldn't, you know, mine having
homes elsewhere too, but this is home.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tahoe, this is always been, yeah.
I would like
Arun: to stick on that
topic of vision actually.
Something that we've talked about
a lot is we're speaking to Kingdom
Builders, like Kingdom Builders.
What does that look like
in the non church space?
Like, how do you bring that
to your kind of daily job?
And so, curious how you brought
some of that to, you know, the
business that you're running now.
And, and what kind of faith
steps do you take to make
sure that's run the right way?
Johannes: Yeah, it's a great question.
Uh, blessed to be a blessing,
I think, is the principle.
And, uh, something that was ingrained
by my parents, I From a young age
was a love for the word of God.
I
mean,
Johannes: my grandmother, she passed
away two years ago at 98, my mom's
mom, but she literally would not eat
or drink anything in the morning until
she'd had her time alone in the word.
And that's convicting.
Um, I've compromised, right?
I, I, I read the word the morning before
I eat, but it's with a cup of coffee.
So coffee's not breakfast, right?
It's, it's fuel.
All right.
So blessed to be a blessing.
And then, Love for the word of God.
There was, I think, instill
this, just sacrifice is a given.
That's who we are.
It's what we do.
Uh, and so tithing isn't a sacrifice.
It's simply returning.
And so when you see, when you live
that out and you've seen it lived
out for generations and then you
start living in the overflow of that
revelation, um, there is no other way.
Uh, prayer is another, another key guide.
I can tell you a story there.
I was four years old.
Mm hmm.
Um,
Johannes: in Alameda, there's lagoons
that, um, that you can walk along.
And I was in between Sunday services
with my parents, was walking, um,
younger siblings who either weren't born
or with, with, was sent with family.
And there were two swans
swimming parallel in the lagoon.
And just as a four year old curious,
I said, mom, I want to pet the swans.
I didn't know this,
subsequently researched and
realized you don't pet swans.
Yeah, I was going to say, I didn't
dream of anybody petting a swan.
Johannes: But this is how my mom was,
and she said, Well, if you want to pet
the swans, why don't you Pray and ask
Jesus if he'll bring the swans over
here like without hesitation, right?
And so it fostered an environment
of like just whatever you
need you bring that to God,
right?
Johannes: And you ask him
without any inhibition.
So I did I closed my eyes and
I said Jesus Can you bring the
swans here so I can pet them?
I opened my eyes They turned around
the lagoon Swam 50 yards back towards
us walk up out of the lagoon put their
beaks in my hands No, and so I've told
this story countless times because
if God never answers another prayer
Yeah,
Johannes: he answered that critical
prayer At such a formative age that really
framed for me That he hears me as a child.
You can't tell me god doesn't hear he
doesn't always answer And he certainly
doesn't always answer the way we want
but he hears And that's all I need.
There's an assurance when you know,
he hears and when you know, he knows.
Yeah, you can walk with a security
and a strength and a confidence that
you just You can't derive from them.
So I think that's informed, um, uh, who
we are, what we do, how we do things.
Um, so we, you know, um, certainly
don't screen our interviews today for,
we've got three new positions open.
I don't ask them what their position
of faith is, but I mind some of
that out by asking questions about
ethics and work ethic and character.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I really, so we kind of a
three step interview process.
First step is just me with
the founder and CEO, and I'm
really trying to ferret, issues.
Second interview, I bring in
other technical staff and we
drill deep on competencies.
And then the third and
final is always in person.
We're breaking bread together.
I got to make sure we have good chemistry,
right?
Johannes: You, you may be amazing
on paper, have a killer resume
and a work product performance
that speaks volumes, but it's not.
If nobody wants to work with
you and you don't get along
with others, it doesn't work.
So, um, we, we try to infuse that.
We try to lead servant
leadership is big, uh, for us.
We try to model lead by example.
And, um, it's been quite a
year, quite a transition for
our industry, for organization.
God's been with us.
He sustained us.
Um, and part of our prayer through
that, again, going back to early
childhood principles of prayer and
trust in God is God protect our personal
professional credibility or reputation
or resources in our relationships.
And He has.
Ps Adam: And it's been successful.
Yeah.
Doing well.
And we're just getting started.
So what does that look like?
Then?
I mean, okay, here, here we go.
We're about, we're a vision weekend here
in five and, uh, you know, we've been
working really hard on setting a vision.
We're catalyzing people to the calling.
Uh, we're going to try and really
push people and, uh, on the other
side of the presentation, this
is what it's going to look like.
It's going to be hard.
It's going to be a stretch.
It's going to be faith.
That's what I know in the church space.
Talk to us from a business sense.
Good.
You've got this new industry
idea and you're trying to bring
the best and brightest talent in
what's the selling point outside of
compensation, you know, which is always
competitive or that kind of stuff.
What is the selling point that you pitch
as a vision talk to founders out there?
They've got a vision They've got an
industry And there's not really let's
talk about there's not really that
much wiggle room in compensation.
Everything's fairly competitive
today Right, but it was interesting.
I was listening to vivek.
He was talking about back when he
was uh talking, uh And running his
companies he would he would talk to
people who were trying to apply one
of the questions He would ask is
Why'd you leave your last company?
And never did they say, well,
I needed more money or I
wasn't getting paid enough.
It was, I couldn't do what I
was, felt like was in me there.
Okay.
So it was interesting.
Compensation is fairly competitive.
What is your appeal or your
pitch as a visionary entrepreneur
founder in your industry that you
see strikes a chord with people?
Johannes: For us, it's our mission.
Ps Adam: Okay.
Our mission
Johannes: and our vision.
In fact, you know, in the early
days when, We didn't have any corn
in the crib, so to speak, right?
When we started, my vision was I would
have six months just to build membership.
So we're in a 501c6 trade association.
Our budget's derived by member dues.
So I wanted to build that up to create
a foundation of base to build off of.
Well, we had policy
thrown in our face that.
It just took that luxury away.
So we were literally forced
to just jump into the fire.
Um, but as we've grown and as our
memberships grown, as our staffs
increased, I'm able to almost
exclusively pitch membership,
for example, around our mission.
And I use language like.
Companies join and sustain
membership with the organization
to provide support for our mission.
Now, our mission hasn't
changed in 13 years.
I think that's a key
component too, is consistency.
Uh, we've been blessed not, not
to have to pivot in that respect.
Um, it's been a fight from the beginning.
When we first started, it was
wind and solar, everything.
Right?
And they thought biogas or RNG,
which was a new commodity and a
phrase that we coined, was going to
inundate renewable energy markets and
eliminate the need for wind and solar.
And we said, look, that's not the case.
In a circular economy, you
need baseload power, right?
To compensate for the
intermittent production.
It's not always sunny.
The wind isn't always blowing.
You've got to have baseload power
and biogas and RNG provides that.
And so it complements wind and solar.
And then there's hard to
electrify sectors, right?
Right?
Like.
Yeah.
So if we're going to use gas, why don't
we decarbonize our gas supply and utilize
gas from renewable sources, right?
Um, so the mission, it comes back to the
mission, supporting sustainability, right?
And our mission specifically is
to advocate for the sustainable
development, deployment and
utilization of renewable natural gas.
But it's critical.
Connected with our why and our
why is it's you know, you've got
to have tangible metrics, right?
So the number of production facilities
total volumes of production is
important Those are tangible
metrics that allow us to identify.
Are we actually advancing our mission?
But above and beyond that, it's tethered
to our why, which is so that not just
present, but future generations will
have access to domestic renewable
fuel, heat, power and products.
And you know, the World Bank estimates
that with all of our federal state
government initiatives and programs,
uh, to reduce reuse, recycle and be
more energy efficient, organic waste is
going to increase 70 percent by 2050.
Population is growing.
Right?
Sure.
We're eating as much as we ever have.
Of course.
We haven't perfected recipes
for the banana peel, the
orange rind, and the albacore.
We still throw that away.
Right.
Right?
And all that organic waste, whether
you put it in a landfill, whether you
put it in a compost bin, it decomposes.
Of course.
Of course.
It creates a cocktail of biogases.
Our industry captures that, converts
that to renewable energy products.
So, Our, our industry narrative
is, is a sustainable one.
I think it epitomizes sustainability.
I don't think any other
renewable energy sector competes.
Ps Adam: Wow.
Johannes: Right.
And I think that's, that's
our competitive advantage.
So I'm able to point to the mission and
now with 13 years history, I can point
to what we've done successfully, federal,
state, provincial, legislative, regulatory
change from California to Connecticut,
British Columbia to Quebec, and, and say,
Hey, you In times on our side, right.
You know, it was an interesting thing.
So on the electrification word,
Silicon Valley, everyone drives a
used to be Prius, now it's Tesla,
right now, Rivian, maybe, um,
we just did a video with them where,
uh, yeah, it's strange bedfellows
sometimes, but it used to be that.
Electric vehicles were, were the
favorite sort of the, the political
preference of the left, right?
And, and we were working on an
electricity program for vehicles
where you could take electricity
generated from biogas and charge EVs.
Um, and it looked like all systems were
go with the Biden Harris administration
and Elon Musk until he hosted Ron
DeSantis on X to announce his presidential
candidacy the same week EPA goes.
Ah.
And I think it's interesting now that
over the last two and a half months,
Elon Musk has been contributing 47
million a month to Trump's campaign.
So he's buying something.
If not access, I think
he already has that.
He's buying, I don't know if it's,
hey, don't, don't hammer down on
EVs if you're elected in November.
I don't know what it is.
We have our hunches.
Uh, we'll see how that plays out.
That's a separate conversation.
Mm-Hmm.
. But, um, you know, so
Ps Adam: no, it just goes to prove
the Biden Harris flip flop campaign.
That's all.
It's really interesting.
Just if I could double tap on, on
something, is your journey into
being a founder felt accidental?
It wasn't like, I mean, you
saw a policy Well, I was, look,
Johannes: I was definitely looking
for Oh, so you were looking.
So I would say, 'cause I speaking
to the . So you were in his zone.
I
Ps Adam: wanna build something.
I just dunno what know.
Okay.
And I didn't know where,
so that's important.
I didn't know because
I'm, how did you go from.
Oh, look at this.
Here's a bit of legislation to being
that driven to be that successful.
Because I know founders, the drive it
takes to build a company isn't accidental.
No, it has to require an energy
and intentionality that you're
going to bust through walls.
You've had to bust through so many walls.
So it makes sense that you
were looking for something.
It just kind of landed in
your lap at the right time.
Johannes: And then I'd been
working at nationwide insurance
and I was having it, how I even
got in the capital as a God story.
I was working in the insurance space
and I was having a conversation.
Okay.
And the conversation
chased a political rabbit.
And out of the blue she goes, have you
ever thought about getting into politics?
I said, well, that's funny you ask.
I was exploring a city council race at
the time and I've decided not to do that
because I care about my family to put them
too much to put them through a campaign.
She's like, but I really think
you should get into politics.
She's like, you need to meet my husband.
I was like, okay.
Her name is Julie.
I said, okay, well, I look
forward to meeting Mr.
Green.
She goes, oh no, his name is Kevin Sloat.
Well, that still didn't
mean anything to me.
Right.
Johannes: Subsequently met him and
found out, yeah, he was the principal
of the top three lobbying firm in
Sacramento represents 49ers, Pacific
gas, electric Verizon, on and on and on.
Right.
So long story short, I meet him.
He's like, yeah, Julie's right.
She had to get hunched about you.
You need to get a job in the Capitol.
And so This was all in the same time
that I'm exploring a city council run.
I decide not to, but then this door opens.
These are the parts of the story you
can't plan, but when your steps are
ordered and you're walking them out by
faith, you know, he's got your future.
And so I was one of 36 applicants for a,
an entry level position in the capital.
I elevated pretty quickly, uh, over
six, six years in the building.
And, uh, but I knew got it open
that door for something else.
Right.
And I knew pretty early
on, I was not interested in
running for elected politics.
People often say in our
industry and outside, Oh,
join us as a great politician.
And it's kind of an offense
to be honest with you.
Uh, it's like, and I'm very quick
to say, no, I'm not a politician.
I work with politicians.
I know how to be diplomatic and have
political access and leverage that.
But no, um, so, and part of that is
really back to the ministry heart.
Right.
Because I think in an elected position,
in a best case scenario, you're, you're
going to make half the people happy.
Hmm.
Johannes: And then you're
going to lose credibility and
influence of the other half.
And when, when the gospel is your,
is your mission, first and foremost,
it's not worth the politics.
Let
Ps Adam: me ask this question.
Okay.
Uh, sorry, Arun.
No, it's okay.
I know you've got a question.
I can feel it, but I
could ask this question.
Yeah.
For sure.
You've gone from politics, working
with bureaucrats, working with the
bureaucracy of like, you know, wasted
time, wasted money, taking so long,
and then a startup where everything
is efficiency, everything is quick.
How, how would you, if you're looking
now, knowing what you've done,
building a company, everything's
efficiency, everything's streamlined,
quick, all that kind of stuff.
How would you apply that mentality
to the bureaucracy of government?
Hmm.
Johannes: Government
has figured out how to.
Thrive on its own Dysfunction.
Yeah, it only functions functions
because of its dysfunction Right.
It's it's a built in checks.
I think it started out as built
in checks and balances That now is
just so out of whack and in touch
with reality that There's almost
no real expectation for change,
right?
Johannes: Right and you look at the things
even in the current campaign, right?
The things that one side saying is what
the other side was just saying six months
ago, we're questioning Biden's senility
three months ago, and now they're flipping
and questioning whether Trump's lucid.
But that's like the word.
It was like, okay, you tip.
That was a tell.
You tipped your hand when
you use that one, right?
So there's, you know, it's it's
an echo chamber to some time.
So You know, what we tell our
members, our industry is, look, we
cannot guarantee outcomes, but we
can guarantee access and process.
And we can promise that
we'll do our due diligence.
We're going to advance our
mission and times on our side.
Fortunately, back, back
on the business side.
So I think being able to, to have
a mission that is rock solid, that
can stand the test of time, um,
standby, standing by that, delivering
on that even incrementally, right?
How were
Arun: you able to do it in the first year?
I mean, you, in a year you were
able to make such big change.
What do you think was the key for you to
be able to do that with the government
Ps Adam: had to be the
Jane Fonda moment, right?
Yeah.
Johannes: No, that was, that
was years before that was 1988.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So we came on the scene.
So to give you industry context,
the very first biogas facility in
North America was built in 1982.
I was one, guess I had
nothing to do with that.
The industry existed.
And when we came along and founded
the organization in 2011, 30 years
later, only 30 additional plants.
Facilities have been constructed.
So that's like one project per year over
three decades, which explains why no one
knew what biogas was in North America.
Now you go to Europe,
they're 30 years ahead of us.
They have nearly perfected the circular
economy, nuclear wind, solar, biogas,
hydrogen, you know, and then you
look at Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
There's a cautionary tale there
and how he was had to pivot away
from natural gas, which now their
supplies are cut off to biogas, right?
You think that would be instructive
for our governments to say, Hey,
maybe we should do something about
our dependence on foreign oil.
Right.
And maybe we should really utilize the
natural gas and renewable resource.
Right.
And that's another interesting
rabbit to chase though.
It's really not about energy.
Right.
Ps Adam: Oh,
Johannes: it's about
geopolitical position.
I don't know
Ps Adam: for the listeners out there.
Right.
Johannes: Well, think about like the,
I remember the energy, the solutions.
Well, and if it was about energy, then
we would have divested under Biden.
Yes.
Right.
Right.
But dependence on natural gas has gone up.
2 percent every year under the Biden
administration compared to Trump
because it's not about actually
and think about it this way from a
practical, political and economic.
If we forfeit the one economic lever we
have in the Middle East and we stop buying
oil, I mean, they don't listen to us
anyway under the current administration.
They're definitely not gonna listen if
we're not putting money in their pocket.
So you know, I think that's
just our practical reality.
So I remind, give our team, our
industry context like, Hey, this is
what's happening on a macro level.
This isn't going to change much.
Time's on our side.
We're doing the right thing.
We're.
Solving a waste management problem.
We're turning one man's trash
into another man's treasure.
Yeah,
Johannes: right We're converting a
societal liability into environmental and
energy asset times on our side and and
you know Sure enough the general public
picks up and we have 16 universities
that are members of our organization
So we have a chance to speak to the
next generation of leaders that are
in school now and they get it They
see past all the propaganda and they
recognize like yeah, this is we have to
do something with the energy that Where
Ps Adam: does that translate
into cost per kilowatt?
Johannes: Oh, that's just too technical.
I'm on the political and policy sides.
I don't have it for kilowatt.
We think in MBTUs or
ethanol gallon equivalents.
Um, so I know you're an electrician,
so you might be thinking, yeah,
I could do the conversion.
I can get the conversion for you.
I don't have it top of mind.
I'm just, I'm just trying to think
Ps Adam: like, okay, is there
a, is there an argument against.
This form of renewable energy.
So the expense is what I'm trying to find.
Like, it is expensive.
Okay.
Johannes: There, there is a premium
with every renewable energy, right?
Solar was expensive too.
Until what you're
Ps Adam: preparing for us is
like, well, this makes sense.
Hey, we're taking waste.
We're turning into renewable energy.
All right.
So is it the process that costs
makes the expense so much?
Okay.
It's the process
Johannes: is connecting the gas product
with the existing energy infrastructure.
For example, in California, we
have prevailing wages, right?
Okay.
Uh, to interconnect a production facility
with a pipeline, let's say it's a mile
away from the production site, it could
be five or 7 million just to interconnect.
The
Johannes: same.
Mile of pipe in Missouri
might be 250, 000.
Oh, wow.
Okay, so, you know, it's and for that
reason we're working with utilities It's
like a high speed rail in California.
Yeah 100 percent it can be done.
It's being done elsewhere.
Why aren't
Arun: we doing?
Yeah Yeah, can we take a step back and
just I want to talk about the problem that
you're trying to solve because if you see
It's very obvious maybe to me that we need
this but it's obviously policy and a lot
of other things that are slowing it down
so what are the problems that or other
forms of energy you're trying to solve.
And like, what's the core?
Johannes: The only opposition we really
have now is from people who are anti
combustion of fuels, whether they're
biofuels or otherwise, there's a special
interest that want to get rid of all gas.
They want to strand our existing
natural gas pipeline and oil pipeline
infrastructure, and they want to
electrify everything, but it's
short sighted, it's misinformed.
You have to consider, okay,
in that scenario, where does
the electricity come from?
I've never
Ps Adam: been to a coal plant.
Johannes: Well, tailpipe emissions.
Yeah.
But yeah, but the coal plant does.
The coal plant does.
And who might, what child labor mine,
the rare lithium and cobalt to create the
battery and then what's the battery life.
And then what do you do with
the battery when it dies and
where's the deposit in it?
Right.
Exactly.
There's emissions at that power plant
and that's impacting disproportionately
disadvantaged communities.
So, uh, it's an NIMBYism, right?
People look in their backyard
and that's all they care about.
Yeah.
Unfortunately.
Uh, we're a little more
thoughtful and intentional.
We, we dig a little deeper than that.
Yeah.
And realize that, look, um, you know,
you can be anti petroleum, but how about
those rubber soled shoes you're wearing?
Right?
You're gonna, you're Give up
shoes and just go barefoot.
Right.
I mean, so, uh, you know, it's, it's,
it's, um, it's a deeper conversation
and we love having those conversations.
And I bet you do.
Yeah.
I
Ps Adam: bet you do.
Educational.
The time's on our side.
Ps Adam: Right.
Time's on our side.
Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think like that's the, uh,
that's the, the, I don't know
what we're going to call it.
Is it, is it a narcissism?
Is it a, a, uh, the same people that
I see boycotting, you know, on the
left, uh, about certain things, um,
when you actually ask them to live
like they are boycotting, right.
You know, whether it's pro
Palestine, whatever, whatever the
scenario is that they're pushing,
it seems to be a left agenda.
Um, it's always based in misinformed or
uninformed people who just take a headline
or a think tank or a echo chamber.
And they are so quick to, it's
crazy to me how people can be
so quick to spout something.
They have no background knowledge
or even haven't looked into.
And I like to follow a lot of
different, um, Instagram pages where
you get someone just going, Hey,
what do we, what, what do we believe?
And they're like, I don't know.
My friend told me we're gonna,
we're rallying together, you know?
So it tells me that people
want to be activists.
They just don't know what to activate,
like what they're activists for.
It's like this passion to do something.
And
Johannes: everyone has a
voice because of social media.
It has created this cacophony of
noise that really says nothing.
Ps Adam: Exactly.
Exactly.
And it
Arun: gives you a way to kind of grab
on, like you said, to the headline.
So there's a lot of group think
without a lot of substance.
So there's a lot of people that
will say, you know, like, Oh, we
don't want like nuclear energy.
It's very dangerous.
But like, there's a lot of facts and a lot
of advancements in this space that have
kind of led to, it's actually safer now.
It can actually, you know.
Produce more energy.
Yes, maybe something, but there's a
lot of headlines that are out there
that's obviously, we don't want this.
You know, nuclear waste is very
dangerous, but like if you have to dug
into it, maybe you could look into this.
And one thing I wanna ask you is
that with how like much of our policy
and our government is so slow to
act, we're actually falling behind.
In like the global scale.
Can you talk about a little bit
where you see, where you see that?
Johannes: Yeah, it's,
it's, it's a problem.
Um, you know, it's, there's,
there's nothing like legislators or
regulators in search of a solution
for a problem that doesn't exist.
And, you know, even climate change, right?
Look how the narrative has changed from
global warming Before that, back in
the 70s, it was global cooling, right?
Right,
exactly.
Then
Johannes: global warming, well now
it's called global climate change.
It gives us maximum flexibility.
Right, and I don't, I don't mean to
speak disparaging, because I do think
that probably No, leave that to me.
Arun: We have a segment today.
I think that
Johannes: human beings probably
are impacting the environment.
I think there's evidence of
that, we could argue the merits.
I always point to, from a faith
standpoint, book of revelation,
which says that the earth is
going to melt with a fervent heat.
It just doesn't say why or how.
Um, so maybe that's climate change.
Um, you know,
Ps Adam: it could be, look, I mean, at
the end of the day, there is definitely
an impact humans make on the earth.
Okay.
So I think there is a balance
between being a diligently stewarding
the earth, not being wasteful.
Um, you know, the first mandate
for man was to tend the garden.
Um,
Right.
Ps Adam: Okay.
So there's a, there is a mandate order
there for us to care for what we do.
Uh, at the same time, my, my frustration
with the climate narrative and the global
warming narrative or the climate change
narrative, is the climate changing?
Yes.
Are we predicting because we've
got such small readings that,
you know, the end is near.
Or is it a cycle?
A hundred year cycle?
I know weather comes in patterns.
So we haven't been recording weather
long enough to know how long the cycle.
Are we in a thousand year cycle?
Um, all these different things.
All that aside, okay, we
could argue that all day long.
Yes, we agree the climate is changing.
Yes, we agree humans have an impact on it.
But it's the Monetization by politicians
that I have the issue is where we can
just pull on people's heartstrings
Get carbon payments all these things
manipulate Whole industries at that
cost and everyone just goes along with
it with no one asking the question.
Hey, what does that change?
Right.
What does me paying a carbon fee change?
Because at the end of the day You haven't
actually pushed them to reduce their
Johannes: emissions.
Well, now there's, there's extreme
environmentalists that are pushing
against the whole offset scheme, right?
Ps Adam: Because it just
goes, Oh, I can pay money.
Okay, great.
Johannes: Right.
Ps Adam: But I don't
have to change anything.
Correct.
So there's politicians and politics,
uh, governments that got wealthy.
By pushing this so of course they're gonna
push this like a religious thing And it
just gave people an opportunity to spend
money to not have to change anything.
That's my that's my point.
Arun: Yeah No, that's a good point.
I think on that.
I mean, it's kind of what you guys
have been talking about But it feels
like government is not about change.
It's just about Topics and ideas some
Ps Adam: governments can be about change
Arun: Talk about which
Ps Adam: government like our government.
No, uh, well depends who gets in.
Right, right, right.
Yes.
Yeah, we got well We 14 days away.
Yeah, big time big time.
It's pretty exciting.
Yeah, I was uh, you know, I think for me
I'm really excited about the potential
of What it would look like with a new
regime in Specifically with the team
of Elon Uh, you've got Vivek, uh,
something that Elon said I thought was
really fascinating because, you know,
he's getting a lot of heat about saying
that, you know, they're going to, uh,
I think take at least 75 percent of
government and, and, you know, cut it.
Um, what did Trump say he was going to be
Johannes: the, uh, um, Zara scissor
cuts or something like that.
But,
Ps Adam: but, you know, one of the things
they said is, you know, for instance,
they'll get heat over the, uh, You know,
department of education, we're going to
cut that and people like, Whoa, how's
public school is going to, you know,
get funding and all that kind of stuff.
Well, what their solution is, I
thought was brilliant is instead of
having departments have task forces,
because task forces have an end date.
Once they achieve their task
departments, once they fulfill their
mission, they just keep existing.
So that just becomes this big quagmire,
the swamp of people who are just at,
you never fire anyone in politics.
You only add.
Yeah.
And so for years.
It's like 4 million, uh, bureaucrats
that are now on the payroll
that are unelected officials.
Johannes: Well, you look at all
the jobs that were supposedly
created over the last.
Yeah.
Period.
And most of those are government jobs.
Mm-Hmm.
government jobs.
Ps Adam: Yeah.
Johannes: We're creating
overdependence on the government.
Right.
And
Ps Adam: just running
Johannes: debt.
And the swamp loves that.
Right?
Ps Adam: Yeah.
The swamp loves it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
The swamps
Johannes: on both sides a
hundred percent, isn't it?
For sure.
, of course.
It's of course it's, yeah,
Arun: yeah, yeah.
But it just adds to dysfunction.
Right.
And like you said, this
is kind of what they want.
Right.
Just they operate in
this area of dysfunction.
You have all these people
just layers on layers.
Everything just continues to move slower.
Yes.
But how, how practical do you think it is?
The idea is great.
Ps Adam: I think it, I think it
requires, um, what I think it
requires is when, okay, let's just
forecast, uh, Trump takes presidency.
I would say the pressure is
just to keep the same system,
but just make it Republican.
Because there is so much pressure
on day one to get things done.
If you're going to go in and
change the whole infrastructure,
that means it's going to put a
delay on what you can get done.
Maybe even half of your term will
be spent on restructuring government
before you actually get anything done.
And so the question is, Are
you prepared to do that?
Are you prepared to spend half of your
presidency, your, your elected cycle
on just restructuring, reordering,
fixing, removing all those kinds of
things before you can get productive?
Because everyone can see
I've got a limited term.
I need to make this term maxed out.
My only thought is, Trump
only has one more term
right
Ps Adam: and so you might as
well use it because you're not
going for re election, right?
Might as well use it to restructure.
It's like the one I think it's
like the perfect scenario for a
restructure of government Yeah, I
Johannes: think JD Vance's
our president four years.
Yeah I mean, I was really impressed
on the vice presidential debate.
Just his approachability.
The conversation with
Ps Adam: Martha Raddatz was amazing.
Oh, you got to watch that one.
That's, that's the classic one that's
gone viral where she's like, but
there's only, you know, talking about
the Springfield, Ohio, like the, uh,
the, um, the gangs that were coming
in, um, and, uh, you know, taking over
Johannes: jobs and we'll
take you to the, uh,
Ps Adam: apartment complexes.
Oh, right.
And she said, it's on, it's
proven it's only a handful.
And he's like, what?
Martha, can you understand
what you're saying right now?
You're justifying only a handful.
Anything more than zero
is too many, you know?
And it was just like,
it went viral, you know?
Arun: Um, what else are we talking
about on the politics side?
You want to inform us on any of
the politics or the policies that
we should be looking out for as
we get close to, The time to vote
Johannes: in your space.
Um, there's the low carbon fuel
standard program in California, which
requires, um, incense, basically
decarbonization of our fuel supply.
Ps Adam: Oh, this is affecting everything.
Like this is even, I think, is this
the policy that's even affecting?
Cause I went to buy a, um, a new, uh,
leaf blower and the guy was like, Hey,
I'm just telling you right now, you
want to buy the gas one because you're
not going to be able to buy them in
California in a couple of weeks time.
Your weed whackers, everything is no gas.
So you have to go out
of state to buy them.
Well, and the, and the energy
output, the horsepower is not much.
Johannes: Well, and we're supposed
to be like a hundred percent electric
vehicles, like 20, 35, I think.
Right.
So people are just going to go
to Nevada, buy cars and drive
them over and pay the penalty.
Ps Adam: Exactly.
Probably.
Yeah.
So, so what's this?
Johannes: Low carbon fuel standard,
which provides economic incentive
for developers to invest, build these
biofuel facilities, not just renewable
natural gas, but ethanol, biodiesel,
um, to decarbonize the fuel that we use.
So like if you go to the gas station,
you can see depending on the type
of fuel, it'll tell you, you know,
the, the split between, you know,
the gas composition, um, and, and the
oil companies don't like it, right?
Right.
They want.
straight gasoline.
Um, and there's this war over
how much it's actually gonna
impact gas prices at the pump.
Regulators say between eight to 10%.
Wow.
Johannes: Or I'm sorry,
it's eight to 10 cents.
Sorry.
Versus 47 cents, which is what the oil.
Lobby is suggesting so, you know,
it's it's probably closer to
eight to ten cents But the reality
is the oil companies are still
subsidized by our federal government.
Of course, they're making billions
of dollars They're still subsidized.
So that's crazy.
You know The irony there is they
actually don't have to pass any
of those costs on to the consumer
Ps Adam: Oh, so they're just
gonna make more money Right.
Johannes: But, right, poor us, right?
Of course, of
Ps Adam: course.
Johannes: But I will say California
is known for its regulations.
Some have suggested its greatest
exports are regulations.
Regulations on regulations.
Ps Adam: Yeah, that's interesting.
And what does the carbon do?
How do you take carbon out?
And if you can take carbon
out, why haven't they?
Been taking carbon out.
Johannes: So there's been for
a long time a political push
to sequester carbon, right?
Right Carbon, and that's another
deep scientific debate, right?
There's carbon that exists in
the atmosphere Someone suggests
the answer is this argument
Ps Adam: where you decarbonize fuel
in ships going across the Pacific
or the ocean But then they realized
it didn't create cloud cover.
So now it's heating the The, the
water and that's what's causing
the, the hurricane, the hurricanes.
You didn't hear about this?
Alright, so there was this, this rule that
went out and it was to decarbonize the
fuel in ships because they were putting
out, they're pumping like, you know,
you, you see the ship tugging across
the ocean, you know, with all these, uh,
cases on there and all that kind of stuff.
And just this smoke coming out.
And it was like polluting the air
so they had to decarbonize it.
So then it stopped actually creating
a fog layer, which now heated up the
ocean, which created this energy.
That's why we're seeing so many
natural hurricanes and, and
disasters and all that kind of stuff.
And so they're like, put the
carbon back in, you know, that
kind of, I don't, I don't know.
I don't know.
Please fact check it.
It's on one of my Reddit feeds probably.
All right.
Well, this is a great
Arun: conversation about.
Politics about energy.
But one thing before we let you
go was talking about leadership.
You have a big passion for leadership,
for educating people on leadership.
Um, you have this thing called the
seven S I wonder if you can tell the
audience a little bit about that.
Um, and I want to talk about, yeah,
your faith, family, and all that.
Johannes: Yeah.
I think the, the seven F's, um, Uh, is
kind of an alliteration and illustration.
I call it the seven F flower.
And I, at some point, I like that.
Yeah.
At some point did this kind of Venn
diagram kind of thing where you overlap
things you're passionate about, things
that can be profitable and things there's
market demand for it was in a season
where I was trying to identify, okay,
what are the, what are the different
threads that make up the fabric of
what I'm really passionate about?
And I kind of came up with seven things.
Um, seven's a favorite number, seven's a
number of, of completion or perfection.
And so, um, you know, and then of
course, as a, as a preacher, right.
Always fond of alliteration.
Make it sticky.
Yeah.
So it's, it's faith, family, friends,
finance, food, fitness, and fashion.
Oh, uh, not, not always
necessarily in that order.
Um, so yeah, those are
kind of areas that are fun.
So it's kind of funny, you know,
it was, if you have faith, family,
friends, and finance, you can have fun.
I like
Arun: that.
That's good.
Yeah.
So how do you, how do you balance the two?
Because I've asked you this, um,
family is a big thing for Pastor Adam.
We talked about on one of our podcasts,
the last thing legacy for you was.
Came to your family, how do you balance
it too with your business, even when
you were church planning, the one
thing I hear about church planning,
the pastor's kids are always the
ones that take it the hardest, you
know, . Um, how do you balance that?
How do you balance family church?
And
Johannes: I think drawing from my
experience growing up as, as hard
as some of it was, nothing we went
through, ever caused me to question God.
Mm.
Um, I look at maybe choices my
parents made that weren't maybe
in the best interest of their
marriage or as parents of us as
children, but never questioned faith.
So faith has always been a bedrock.
And then there was a lot of
good examples of what not to do.
I heard someone say, you know, the best
thing a husband can, a father can do
for his children is love their mother.
Yeah.
Johannes: So that stuck with me.
Um, I had a professor in Bible
school tell me one time, this is
on the fitness side, they say.
Take care of the old man.
You're becoming, um, he said, if I
knew I was gonna live this long, I
would've taken better care of myself.
And I look back now and he
was like 45 at the time.
I'm thinking that's me now.
Um, so, you know, um, but back to
your question, a room, like I think
integrating family into the call, it's
the work when it's the work of the Lord.
It's, it's, it's, it's,
I love what you said.
I think on the August 2nd podcast, like,
After Frankfurt's launch, you're going
to be exhausted, but we're winning.
Both boxers, you said we're exhausted,
but the one who wins, right?
And so I think there's, there's a,
there's a sense of fulfillment that
comes when you've spent, you've
expended energy and a victorious cause.
So I think integrating our family,
my could not have started the
business without my wife's support,
without my sister's support.
She's a creative and director of all
of our events and member experiences.
Um, is
Ps Adam: she still working with you today?
Yeah.
Yeah.
13 years later.
Yeah.
Johannes: And our kids always put
the swag bags together, our VIP
bags that are at the conference.
So they have memories when they're
two, three years old, putting the,
you know, wine bottles in the thing.
So I think that's one way is, um, when
I, when I was young, unfortunately
my father didn't make time to
spend with me on a personal level.
I can tell you many times I
said, Hey, we come throw the
ball with me and he was too busy.
When I was preparing for a sermon or
something for work, it didn't matter.
So I would, You know, throw the
ball against the trunk of the tree.
And that's how I became a
decent infielder at one point.
Um, so I've made it a
point whenever my kids.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And, and I heard someone say, you
know, if you'll get involved and
you're interested in what your
kids are interested in, they'll be
interested in what you're interested in.
Yeah, totally.
And so like, I've also tried to flip that
and get them involved in what I'm doing.
Yeah.
And then they want to play golf with me.
And dad, oh, why can't we go on this trip?
Well, because it's an adult,
it's a guy's trip, right?
Or it's a brotherhood
thing, or it's whatever.
But they want to be there.
But it's also because I've spent
time, and I coached their little
league, and I'm at their games.
Tani and I, we've got Divide and Conquer.
It's zone defense when you've got
three kids and two parrots, right?
But one of us is at everything.
And I think that makes a difference.
Lincoln was asked to serve.
Friday vision.
Let's go.
I love that.
It gets to be in the room.
Yeah.
He's, he's on the box gen team now.
So like love seeing that Rory was
just getting the music and then we had
to move her off to college a couple
of weeks ago, but she'll be back.
And, uh, so I think just, just as
you, you've modeled past ramp to just
integrating your family into the kingdom,
seek first the kingdom and his righteous.
All of the things are added.
And then.
They want to be part of the additive too.
Arun: Yeah.
Can you talk about that a
little bit more past time?
Cause you obviously you set the example
for doing that, but it's not easy.
I mean, I've seen obviously
the other side of it where.
The kids don't want to
be any part of that.
Right.
And so how did, how did you do it?
How did you guys both balance
that and like getting.
The kid's interested in, in that side.
Yeah.
Ps Adam: I think, I think what
Joanne has just said was really key.
You know, the, the idea that if
you're interested in what your
kids are interested in, and then
there'll be interested in what
you're interested in, it's, it's
this, you have to be the initiator.
I think if you see kids as a time, a
distraction from what you're doing,
or like they're getting in the way or,
Oh man, I have to spend time with them
so I can get back to what I'm doing.
You're, you're going to miss it.
They're the main thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Your work is the distraction
from being around them.
Now it's a necessity.
But they have to be your first ministry.
And if that's not paramount and at the
forefront of your vision, there is no
way to add kids on or add family in.
Family comes first.
It has to come first.
Everything else is subsidiary to that.
Right.
Okay.
And so even when we're moving here,
we planted a church as a family.
My girls are very excited because
they're 18 now Zali and Zara.
So this is their first vision gala, right?
And so we had to it cost me a lot of
money because I'd have to pay for five
people to go to vision But they're so
excited, but they're not just going there.
They're they're on mission
And so they they got them.
They got a role.
You're gonna welcome everybody.
You're gonna greet them You're
gonna give him a glass of champagne.
You're gonna make sure that you have an
adult interaction with them and They're
excited because they're like We do that
anyway, but it's just their heart for
the house comes from, because we're
doing this as a family, the earliest
memories, uh, sacrificing and stepping
and seeing it every step of the way.
It's not because we tucked them off
into a babysitting room and we, you
know, just kept all the church stuff.
away from them.
We, every year we've shown them
the check we're writing to vision.
And for years it was like, Oh
my gosh, dad, you know what
we could do with that money?
Exactly.
We could build the kingdom.
And so for them, it was a, it's
like ingrained in their DNA.
So they come in with expectation
last year, they all gave
significantly for them comparatively.
And it was a great party this year
when they fulfilled their vision
pledge, where we see, see what God did.
And so for me, it is.
And, and even like, you
know, I was invested.
I hadn't, I hadn't knew nothing about
water polo, by the way, before my, my
daughter started playing water polo.
I had no idea.
But boy did I get invested.
You're a water polo bat.
I should figure out, man.
I'm on the, I'm, I'm a WPO dad.
Oh, water polo.
And so, uh, we, I was run
up and down the sidelines.
I only got kicked out
of a water polo thing,
I definitely got told off
by the referee parents.
Please be quiet.
Like that was me.
Um.
But now they're into F1, the girls.
And so it's, it's interesting
you said that because they just,
they're dialed into F1 and, uh,
we just do stuff together, but I
think it comes from not putting them
secondary, putting them primary.
And in fact, the best model
for it isn't even prioritizing.
We've just, we've kind of put Jesus
at the center of everything and
we've built our life around the
church and around serving Jesus.
And it's like we integrate
that into everything.
Yeah.
And so it feels like definitely
in our household when I see his
stories of like, you know, dad's not
having time or preparing a sermon,
uh, instead of throwing the ball, I
don't see how you can be that busy
with a sermon to not spend time.
Like they're your sermon, right?
Arun: Yeah, I think this
is really important.
And the way I've always thought
about it, I don't have like kids yet.
Just my wife now, future.
I can see them doing digital coins.
Yeah, yeah.
Maybe one day I'm going to
get them interested in that.
But I think this is such an important
thing to hear you guys talk about
this because for a lot of people out
there that are building businesses,
that becomes the singular focus.
And everything else, like you
said, becomes a distraction.
But it shouldn't be that way.
And I think of it as like
a boat that you're rowing.
Yes.
And if your whole family is rowing
together, you can go somewhere.
Oh.
And you can go somewhere together.
Totally.
Totally.
And it's so cool because that's what
I always felt like vision was like and
this idea of being able to participate
in the vision Yes, if you're not rolling
with the church, you know, you kind of
can get left behind But you can also
kind of also hinder the church a little
bit God will always do what God's gonna
do God's gonna do what he's gonna do
But you if you're gonna be a part of
the church if you're gonna be a part
of this That's why the vision and being
A part of it and participating is so
important because you're rolling together
and the church is a family, right?
The whole church is rolling.
And that's what vision is.
Let's
Ps Adam: all pull the oar.
Let's
Johannes: all
Ps Adam: move
Johannes: together.
Yeah.
You know, and would we be here
had Noah not successfully right.
Gathered his family on the boat.
Right,
Ps Adam: right, exactly.
Right.
And I think that, you know, say,
okay, just real quick growing up.
And the reason I say your kids are
your sermon, because we've all heard
a sermon that has no substance.
It's like someone recited
something that they didn't really.
Have a conviction in, for me,
I've seen generations where it was
like, hey, they preach a sermon,
but their family was jacked up.
Yeah.
Incongruent
Ps Adam: with what they preach.
Yeah.
And it felt like, oh, you, there's
no substance to your sermon.
Right.
I can't preach something.
I'm not living.
Mm-Hmm.
. Yeah.
And so for me, I'm not gonna preach
on family and priority that if,
if that's not my first ministry.
So before I get up there and preach a
sermon, I better be living the sermon.
And I think that that's where.
Uh, that's whether you're in business,
you've got to have substance to your life.
And the substance comes from what
you're building around your life.
Um, grow, growing together
and growing together.
What is the use of getting somewhere
and people not being there with you?
What's the use of building church
or business and then your kids
aren't into it and you go, man,
I'd go forfeit it all for them.
And so for us, it's not just.
Getting there.
It's
Arun: how we get there, right?
I think the biggest lie that I've
always heard is that I'm doing
this for my family and you're like,
oh I'm sacrificing everything.
That's why I have to like tell myself.
It's the biggest lie.
You tell yourself an illusion
Click is one of my favorite movies.
I don't know if you guys have seen
that one click with Adam Sandler
I haven't seen that on such a
good movie No, no, very old movie.
Okay, very old movie Idea of I don't
ruin the movie, but he has this
remote that essentially allows him
to fast forward through You What he
considers the boring parts of his
life, essentially his family time.
And then he gets to the place
that he wants to get, you know,
successful in business and all that.
And he looks back and he missed
all that time with his family.
And so he tries to like, he wants to
go back, but you can never go back.
Right.
You can never reclaim.
You can only fast forward.
Right.
And so.
Um, it's a really good movie,
but I So it's a sad movie.
It's a very sad movie.
Oh, absolute tear jerker.
Johannes: I can't remember who
it was, but it seems like I
heard someone say true success is
getting to the end of your life.
Mm-Hmm.
and really being loved by those.
You want to love you.
Mm-Hmm.
.
Johannes: Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
I like that.
And I just think, doesn't matter.
It's important.
Success and church, business life.
At the end of the day, you're
sitting around a table and who
does it matter most to, right?
Mm-Hmm.
. Yeah.
Who, who's gonna be
there when you're sick?
Who's gonna be there at your funeral?
I
Ps Adam: just think, I think
we could, I think we could.
You know, uh, we, we believe the lie
that the accolades are the moments, you
know, the applause, but to be applauded
by people, you don't even know their
name means nothing as much as a hug from
your daughter who says, dad, I love you.
You know what I mean?
Like from one, Uh, one love you from
someone who you know, compared to
a thousand people you don't know.
It
Arun: doesn't
Ps Adam: even
Arun: match.
And a love you from somebody
that's seen the journey.
Yes.
That's important.
Exactly.
Not a love you from somebody
that's seen the accolade.
That's it.
They've
Johannes: seen you in your bad days.
They've seen you in your underwear.
They've seen you right when
you're broke and they've seen
you when you're at the bottom.
And they do love you.
They've
Arun: gone on the
Ps Adam: journey.
Johannes: Yeah.
Arun: Family is everything.
Family is everything.
Well.
How is Schultz?
Schultz is good.
Yeah.
She's waiting for her.
I don't know, she hates that I
keep telling everybody this because
Oh no, I'm waiting Now it's just
pressure on her but it's like Yeah
The pressure's on God What'd I miss?
What'd I miss?
This is God's job now She took the
test Now God's working Whoever's
correcting the test The pressure's on
God That's what we got to do, right?
The pressure's on God I love it But yeah,
we're, we're, we're really excited to
have you on the podcast, New Hampshire.
Thank you for coming on.
Thanks for joining us.
It's been a great conversation.
Johannes: I feel like we've been a
little bit everywhere and, uh, disjointed
in some of our That's a hype pod.
That's a hype pod.
That's a classic hype pod.
I think those are the
most successful podcasts.
Yeah, yeah.
Just open conversations, yeah.
That's what people want to hear.
We have no plan.
Arun: Yeah, there is a plan, but
yeah, there's also no plan at all.
There is a plan.
Ps Adam: There is somewhere on it.
Oh, on that fancy little flip pad here.
Arun: Well, thank you guys for
listening, um, if you haven't,
please like, comment, subscribe and
stay tuned for the next episode.
Cheers guys.
Thank you.