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An extension of the ministry of Stone Oak Bible Church. Stone Oak Bible Church is located in North Central San Antonio, TX. We would love to have you join us.
Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Stonick Bible Church podcast, the SOBC Pod. It's an extension of the ministries of Stone Oak Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas. It's a fun episode. This is a first for us in the life of the podcast.
Craig:Every other podcast we've done up until this point has been staff or elders or deacon or even missionaries that we support. This is the first lay individual in our church. I'm joined today with Hunter.
Hunter:Thanks for having me on, Craig.
Craig:You're welcome, Hunter. It's great to have you. Glad to have you be a part of the podcast, part of just our our church family, and it's been great getting to know you. I wanted you on the podcast, though, just because you are an interesting individual. Thank you.
Craig:You guys have been You at are. You've been in our church for a while now, and you and your your family are just an integral part of of who we are now as Stone Oak, and you're doing some discipleship with Justin and some of the other guys in our church. I just want to kind of get your views on things. So introduce us to you, Hunter. Introduce us to your family.
Craig:Who are you? Who is your family? Yeah. And just start there.
Hunter:Okay. Well, obviously, you know my amazing wife Landis. Helps out the kids and whatnot.
Craig:Now, hold on. Landis originally in the database Laney. Was Laney. Yes. What's the story there?
Hunter:So her parents named her Landis and have never called her Landis. Perfect. Yeah. So it makes no sense. But it was a family name for her.
Hunter:Landis or Lainey? Landis.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:Yeah. So I guess when we got married, I just started calling her Landis because that's her name. Yeah. And nobody else does it.
Craig:Did she introduce herself to you as Landis or to Lainey? She's been Lainey,
Hunter:and I've known her since middle school. Wow.
Craig:Yeah. Where'd you guys grow up?
Hunter:Out in Smithson Valley.
Craig:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Did you date in middle school or high school at all?
Craig:No. Perfect.
Hunter:We were in the same groups, and we actually went to prom together, but just with different dates.
Craig:We need pictures. Do have a goofy? Oh, I'm sure. Do you have the awkward prom pictures?
Hunter:Oh, yeah. Well done. Around the waist.
Craig:Oh, yeah. So I guess you went to prom together, but you didn't date until after high school, college?
Hunter:Yeah. So it was a semester in college. I was up playing baseball.
Craig:Where'd you go to college at?
Hunter:I went out to Blinn
Craig:at But
Hunter:then we started talking a little bit, and I came back to see her a few times.
Craig:Well done.
Hunter:Yeah. And then I decided, Okay, no more baseball. Let's do finance and go to UTSA so I can date Landis.
Craig:Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's amazing how women can change trajectories of young men. So you went for baseball. Position?
Hunter:Center.
Craig:Center field. Center field. Nice, man. Do you still enjoy baseball? Yeah.
Craig:What's what's your go to team?
Hunter:Oh, always gotta be on our Rangers.
Craig:Okay. You see a Rangers guy. It's interesting in San Antonio. Mhmm. You have the Rangers crew and you have the Astros crew.
Hunter:Yep.
Craig:But you don't like the cheaters. You like the good guys of the Rangers. I'm a Cardinals fan. So anytime I can rip on the Astros, I'm taking that opportunity.
Hunter:Yeah. I mean, it's an easy one.
Craig:Yeah, it sure is. Okay. So you and Landis, how long have you been married for?
Hunter:This will be six years.
Craig:Well done. That didn't take too long of time. Sometimes you ask that question and the husband's like, Okay. So coming up on six years. Wow.
Craig:Kids? Yep. Yeah, that was right off the bat.
Hunter:Okay. So we had talked about it prior to getting married. We do our back and forth on if we want to get married or not, are we similar? But yeah, that was in the plan. But then her sister and her husband, they had gotten pregnant, I guess, right at our wedding.
Hunter:So then a few months later, they're like, Hey, we're pregnant. You guys want to try to have kids around the same time? So we just said, Okay. And God blessed us with Easton.
Craig:That's incredible. So like four months into marriage?
Hunter:Yeah, it was like two, I think. Wow.
Craig:Well done. Yeah. So like at one year, you're pretty much having a one month old?
Hunter:Well, okay. Yeah, it was a month back then because Easton was born September 1 and our first anniversary is the September 27. Wow.
Craig:Yeah. Well done. It was quick. I mean, if you know what you want, start the family early.
Hunter:Well, it's been a big blessing. I mean, obviously, love Easton with all of our hearts.
Craig:Absolutely, man. So how many kids do you have? Three. Got three
Hunter:amazing kids. Boys. All boys. Nolan and Shepard. Yeah, quick turnarounds again.
Hunter:Nolan was the April 1, two years later. So like eighteen months after Easton. And then just over two years after Nolan was shepherd.
Craig:Yeah. So dad of three. Yeah. How's that? Three boys even.
Craig:It is wild. Do you feel like you're a good boy dad?
Hunter:Yes. I would be nervous to be a girl dad.
Craig:Oh, it's different. It changes things.
Hunter:Yeah. I hear it softens you. It does. And I'd say, for people who don't necessarily know me, they may see me as reserved, I guess, but for people who know me, I'd say I'm more rough around the edges. So being a girl dad would scare me, but-
Craig:Yeah, it's different.
Hunter:Dad came naturally. I liked to wrestle and everything with the boys and all that. But it definitely, man, it kind of wears on you a little bit.
Craig:Oh, yeah.
Hunter:I feel the aging with the job and with the kids and everything.
Craig:What's the ages of the boys?
Hunter:Turned Shepard's just about turned one.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:And then Nolan just turned three, and Ethan's four and a half.
Craig:Wow. Yeah. You have three under five in Yes. The Your house is quiet and serene and clean at all times, I'm sure. Yeah.
Craig:Just that aspect of, man, just doing what you can to hold on and survive many days, I'm sure.
Hunter:Yes. So, for example, this morning, I'm getting ready to come over here, and Landis has the baby, and Easton and Nolan are out there playing. And then I just hear this crazy shriek from Easton. He's like, Oh, dad, Nolan took this, Nolan took that. So we're going out there to get it back from Nolan and probably send him to his room or something.
Hunter:And then Easton takes it into his own hands and just bam, knocks him. So now we've to punish Easton too because he's beaten on his brother. It's just a crazy life.
Craig:Well, as a dad of older kids now, mine are 13 and 11, just that piece of it, things shift and change. And each season has its ups and downs. And soon as you figured it out, as a parent, what I felt is, man, we're in a good season, things shift and change. It's like, okay, that season is gone and now I got to figure out what parenting is all about once again.
Hunter:Yeah. Step back in. Yeah, absolutely.
Craig:So you went to Smithson Valley, grew up around that area, I'm assuming kind of North, far North Central San Antonio.
Hunter:Yeah, just up to 81.
Craig:Okay. Nice, man. What was family like? What was upbringing like?
Hunter:Yeah, family was great. We're always very close knit family.
Craig:Any siblings?
Hunter:I've got a brother and a sister.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:Yes. In fact, I'm trying to get my sister to come to church.
Craig:Yeah. Where do you fall as far as age? And are you oldest, youngest?
Hunter:That's a crazy one. My sister's ten years older and my brother's fifteen years older.
Craig:Oh, so you're the baby baby. A surprise baby. Yeah. You are the baby baby. Yes.
Craig:Growing up, did you feel like you were the baby baby?
Hunter:It was almost like being an only child because my sister, when I was, what, seven or eight, she was going off to college. Yeah. And my brother, he was out when I was, I think, four. So, yeah. Was very much an only child upbringing.
Craig:Yeah. Do the siblings kind of resent you of, Man, look how rough we had things and look how much Hunter gets everything?
Hunter:All the time.
Craig:Oh yeah. Mean, that's what they need as siblings to do. Yeah. That is their role.
Hunter:Oh yeah. They lay into it, I'd say.
Craig:Good, man. So your parents still around the area?
Hunter:Yeah, same house. When I was going into second or third grade, they built a house out there, and they've been in it ever since.
Craig:Beautiful.
Hunter:My dad says he's gonna die there. So, yeah, they're not moving.
Craig:Yeah. So you went Smiths of Valley, and then you go decide after high school baseball's kind of career path what you're trying to do?
Hunter:Yeah, that was the idea.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:So I had played baseball for all my life and
Craig:then we
Hunter:got more serious around the middle school ages. And we started doing the select baseball and whatnot, traveling and everything, which was actually something, now that I'm an adult with children, I'm thinking, maybe that wasn't a great idea.
Craig:Thankful that your parents did it for you, but it's like, do we want to do that with
Hunter:your kids as well? Exactly. So I was never in church. Yeah. Almost hardly ever.
Hunter:Yeah. Which they tried to supplement and we'd watch church and whatnot, but it's a different feeling.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely. It
Hunter:is. But overall, yeah, we just did a lot of baseball,
Craig:a lot
Hunter:of travel. And then in high school, it got more intensified because I made varsity as a freshman. That was a cool thing.
Craig:Look at you baller.
Hunter:Yeah, it was so cool.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely. That's a big deal. It was cool. Were you known for your offense or your defense?
Hunter:Oh, a little bit of both.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:I was also known for being really fast.
Craig:Really? Yes. Okay. Stealing bases?
Hunter:Yes. Nice. Quite a bit. Now not so fast.
Craig:Yeah. Age creeps up on you. Always outfield?
Hunter:Yes. Okay. Yeah, never infield. I tried to pitch a little bit, but it was not for me. Yeah.
Hunter:Yeah. I like to dive and whatnot.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely. That's way too close. That's a danger field right there.
Hunter:It is dangerous. Yeah. Yeah. I never liked being that close.
Craig:No way.
Hunter:Yeah.
Craig:Okay. So going to college, was it on a baseball scholarship? Was that the plan or you walked on or what happened?
Hunter:Well, I kind of walked on, but the overall plan was, yeah, let's go to Blinn, let's go to A and M, and then hopefully I get drafted or something. But man, God just switched me around. I did not mean, it was one semester I went and I flipped.
Craig:Yeah. Was there a specific moment that you can point to of that flip or was it just kind of a general processing through of that semester?
Hunter:I'd say there were definitely a few things. Okay. One, up there at Blinn, it was kind of a crazy school. Some girl got kidnapped by her boyfriend or something. Wow.
Hunter:There was a shooting there while I was there, which was kind of freaky.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely. It's not that large of a college, right?
Hunter:No, it's very small.
Craig:I thought so.
Hunter:It's a lot of athletes and then farming students.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:Yeah. But that combined with I saw myself kind of going downhill because it was a lot of I drive up to A And M, meet all the buddies that were going to that blend and kind of partying. And that was not a good path. So I recognized that one fairly quickly. So that was a turning point for me.
Hunter:I said, let's pursue something else.
Craig:Yeah. And then you find an attractive young woman who Yes. Kind of pulls you back towards the San Antonio area.
Hunter:Yes. Thank the Lord for that.
Craig:Absolutely. It's it's God's grace in your life that you can look at your wife and thank you for coming to me in the season that you did.
Hunter:Exactly.
Craig:Man, that's awesome. So growing up, church life, Christianity, what did that kind of look like for you
Hunter:guys? Know, it was always there. Mhmm. But it was more of a community based Yeah. Absolutely.
Hunter:Faith, I'd say.
Craig:Which is one of the great things about Christianity. Is it is relational
Hunter:Yeah.
Craig:In nature. Mhmm. And there are people that come because of that relational nature of the church, which, man, the church should absolutely be relational. But it's much more than just the relational side of things of people.
Hunter:Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, it was there and I kind of had an idea, but I definitely was not on the right track.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely.
Hunter:Yeah. And now recognizing that, I think, man, what was I thinking? I was blind.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely.
Hunter:But yeah, clearly, I didn't have my head on straight. But it was good, though. We would pray before baseball games and before meals and whatnot, the typical thing. But it was never really an intimate relationship with Christ. So that was where I kind of stood.
Craig:Did you have a moment in your lifetime where that shifted and changed? Is it kind of similar? Is it a gradual change?
Hunter:I would say it was more gradual, but there was definitely a point where that became more extreme. I'd say that was after Landis and I got married, right after we had Easton. So right when we had Easton, something clicked in my head. God was like, boom, wake up.
Craig:I
Hunter:talked to her brother a lot about faith because he's an incredible Christian man, and he told me the story about his faith where he was in an elevator one day and it just shook a little bit. Nothing crazy. And he's like, Man, if I died
Craig:Enough to scare you.
Hunter:Am I going to heaven? Probably not. So that changed him. And then I started thinking about that question. Man, if I die today, do I have real faith?
Hunter:Do I have what real faith looks like? And I didn't like my answer.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely, man.
Hunter:So that's actually when I started to pursue you guys. We started off at Bo Verde something out there. But it was more lesson or we'd pick scriptures here and there and provide a lesson, which is okay. But it wasn't necessarily the direction we wanted. It was more straight from the word and just exactly how you guys do it.
Hunter:Yeah, So Nicole and Leland, they invited us, which background for the viewers is Nicole is Landis' aunt.
Craig:Coco. Yeah, Coco. My favorite piece of information whenever you guys show up. So I've known Nicole and Leland quite a while. They've been at our church for a long time.
Craig:Yeah. And I've always just known her as Nicole. Mhmm. Yet you guys show up and all of a sudden I have a new name for her. It's now Coco.
Craig:Yep. It is Coco as aunt Coco.
Hunter:Yep, Aunt Coco. That's who she is.
Craig:That's awesome, man. Yeah. And so they tell you about Stone Oak, you guys kind of try us out from that point forward.
Hunter:Yeah. Yeah. So that was just over three years ago, I think, now.
Craig:It feels much longer than even three years.
Hunter:It does. Yeah. We've made so much progress and gotten to know so many people. Yeah.
Craig:You guys have.
Hunter:It's incredible.
Craig:Yeah. It's also one of those things that, you know, as you kind of walk through just your journey and the aspect of kids kind of being we were talking before, hit record, just the aspect of kids, changing focus of, you know, it's it's one thing for me and for my faith, but there's the the burden of parenting. Mhmm. Of as I look at my kids, how do I want my kids to be raised? What are the the values that that I want them to understand and to have?
Craig:And how can I best shepherd and lead them towards faith in Christ? That burden as a parent is real. And often I think we feel lost of what do I do? How do I do this? Hopefully I'm doing this right.
Craig:All of those questions, I think are real questions that we need to wrestle with and think through.
Hunter:Oh, yeah. Almost every day I'm thinking about, know, what did I do right? What did I do wrong?
Craig:Absolutely.
Hunter:And how can I steer it back towards glorifying God is now the question I ask
Craig:myself all the time? What's faith look like in the household for you guys? What's it look like with three young boys that they don't really have kind of the you can't sit down and read with them just yet. It's not like we're gonna read through this Bible story together. Yeah.
Craig:Your oldest is four and a half.
Hunter:Mhmm.
Craig:Not quite in that school age range just yet. And so you're dealing with the chaos of young men right now. Have you found a solution? Have you found a way to point them to Christ even in this young age?
Hunter:Absolutely. Yeah. So, you know, we hit big on muscles.
Craig:Oh, yeah.
Hunter:They're always all about their muscles.
Craig:Hey,
Hunter:dad, let me show you my muscles. And I always make sure, like, Hey, you need to thank God for those muscles. In everything we do, we give thanks to God. I'm always making them circle back to that. That's a big one.
Craig:Absolutely.
Hunter:But I'd say the biggest thing for the household is I want the boys to see Landis and I praying and being in the faith. But then we also have family worship at night.
Craig:Okay. What's that look like?
Hunter:It's awesome. Yeah. Some nights it's a little frustrating because the boys
Craig:are jumping around,
Hunter:wanting to jump on me and body slam me.
Craig:Yes.
Hunter:Night we sit down, we've got a couple of the children's Bibles. Yes. One that we got from you guys.
Craig:Yes, which one? Is it the Jesus Storybook? Yes. That's my favorite. Listen, if you haven't ever gone through that Jesus Storybook Bible as an adult even, man, it is so good.
Hunter:Yeah, it really did bring out a lot of things that were kind of hidden to me the first time I read through the Bible. Yeah. It was good.
Craig:Yeah, the images are great. Man, I remember distinctly with my kids, walked through whenever they were probably about that same age, and we hit the death of Christ. That was, I think, so just impactful for both of my kids. We did a family worship style again, laying in a bed, trying as best I can to hold attention most nights. And it's like, okay, we're gonna read about three sentences tonight.
Craig:But I remember that lesson distinctly was they were both so ingrained with what was happening, and Christ dies. And my kids wept and were like, That can't be the end. I'm like, It's not. Yeah. Let's turn the page actually right now.
Hunter:Yeah. We're not going to wait the next We're not waiting
Craig:for the next night for that one. Let's go to the hope that we have from the resurrection. But man, it does it so, so well.
Hunter:It really lays it out incredibly well because I don't know if you've heard, but we had a crazy incident in the family with our cat.
Craig:Yes, I heard bits and pieces of this, yes.
Hunter:Well, yeah, essentially the neighbor's dog came over and my kids saw through the window our cat just getting torn to shreds and dying. And that coincided with leading up to Easter.
Craig:As we're about to talk about a lot of death.
Hunter:Yeah. And so my kids, we'd read through the whole thing and we're going back through it and they didn't really understand death at first. They're like, Okay, well, is he gonna wake up? That And kind of so with them seeing this, with the cat dying, it's horribly sad, but it really gave them a better understanding of what actually is death. And then going through the death and resurrection of Jesus, they totally understood it this time.
Hunter:And they were both in tears when I was reading it. And it was crazy to see the impact there, but they truly understood it. So yeah, that was a crazy experience.
Craig:Yeah, absolutely. Things that you're like, Oh, I hope we never have to go through that again. But the same time, I'm glad that my boys kind of have an understanding now of death, an understanding of the sanctity even of life because of a traumatic neighbor's dog experience that your boys witnessed out the window. That's hard, man.
Hunter:Oh, man. Oh, that was really crazy. But back to the point of family worship overall, yeah, sitting down at night, we make sure that's a constant. And it really reigns the kids in, and then we find that they're kind of talking about that in the morning, or they'll even wake up singing songs from church or whatever. But, yeah, I think it puts us in the right direction each night and then waking up into the day.
Craig:Yeah. Yeah. That's fantastic, man. It's one of those things where I'm sure the first time you do it, it's awkward and weird as the first time we do most things is awkward and weird. Yes.
Craig:Yet it grows and it becomes more and more natural.
Hunter:Well, so to that point, as a father, you're supposed to be big man of the house.
Craig:Oh, yeah.
Hunter:But man, I was so nervous
Craig:Yeah, to do the so first nervous for a three year old and a four year old who were sitting there.
Hunter:Well, and leading them in prayer and whatnot, I'm just thinking, Oh, man, Landis is going to make fun of me. She's going think I'm settled down. And I know that's not true, but in my head I'm like, Man, this could be so embarrassing Absolutely. For some
Craig:That's one of the difficulties of it. And yet, what are we called to do? We're called to step out in faith and do it.
Hunter:Yeah, exactly.
Craig:Okay. I'm to be obedient even though it feels awkward and weird, and I'm not sure what these results are going be. And I'm sure some nights it's, Man, this is not working and
Hunter:it's okay.
Craig:And other nights, this worked far better than I ever anticipated it going. Exactly. It's just the nature of, I think, kids and parenting and trying as best we can to lead them to an understanding of who Christ is.
Hunter:So
Craig:you guys have been kind of at Stone Oak now, you said three years. In that time period, I've just seen from just my side, just kind of this desire and growth in you. And now you're in kind of a discipleship group. Talk to me about that. What's going on?
Craig:How's it been? What are you learning?
Hunter:Yeah. So we're walking through that booklet. I think you and Justin put it together,
Craig:right? So we stole it. We're great thieves. Nice. It's called Lead Lab.
Craig:We stole it from Northeast Bible, which is actually the church that planted us. Okay. Their pastor wrote a curriculum. It's designed to be done in like six months. I went through it with three other guys and took us a year, which is normal.
Craig:But he gave us the curriculum, he wrote it, and he was like, Hey, take everything that is our identity as Northeast Bible, he said, and put it into your own. So rebrand it, and he gave us the permission to do that. So it looks like we did it, which is And we didn't have to put forth much effort, which is even better.
Hunter:Yeah, mean, that's incredible. I wouldn't say you guys stole it.
Craig:No, we did. Oh, we definitely did.
Hunter:No, but anyways, it really has been incredible. It walks through kind of the pillars of the faith. And then now this last week we just got into leadership. So the second half of it. And that was really eye opening.
Hunter:And actually, unfortunately, Justin, he missed it. So it was just the two other guys and I. And it ended up being really good. It exposes a lot about yourself. It does.
Hunter:Especially as a man. Yes. Absolutely. You're prideful in
Craig:nature. Yeah, absolutely. Not?
Hunter:Yeah. But yeah, really focus in on being humble. Yeah. It's such a vital piece to leadership.
Craig:Yeah, no doubt. What made you decide, you know, this is something that I want to do? And let me ask back up even. Did you seek out that relationship or did Justin reach out to you and say, Hey, I want to start this. I want you to get involved with this.
Craig:Like, what happened there? Well,
Hunter:it was kind of, I would say it was me that reached out. I just wanted to get into a group. Landis' grandpa, he said to me, he's like, Man, you should really get into a men's group. Men's groups are awesome. And so I said, Okay, well, let me see what I can do.
Hunter:And I started going to the Wednesday morning group.
Craig:Bill Miller? 06:30AM. I love it.
Hunter:Yeah. But man, that was tough.
Craig:Oh, 06:30AM with three boys in the household. I'm sure every time you leave, you feel like a loser and, Hey, good luck, mom. I hope you survive the morning.
Hunter:Exactly. It just sort of feels like I'm leaving her in a train wreck.
Craig:So I'm going go have fun and eat tacos this morning. Good luck. Exactly.
Hunter:So it was difficult to continue that. And then I was meeting with a couple other guys just when we could on Mondays, But I really wanted to go more in-depth and start learning more and being in a community with other men in similar positions to me, I guess. So yeah, I reached out. I said, Hey, what do you got? And Justin was like, Hey, yeah, we've got this booklet that we can walk through.
Hunter:I think it'd be great. And it's been incredible.
Craig:Yeah. So you invited two other guys kind of alongside you.
Hunter:Yes.
Craig:And the four of you are now kind of going through this of booklet together. And if I'm wrong, correct me, but I believe you guys also work out together often? That was prior. Okay. So you started this is a natural relationship that was already kind of there then.
Craig:You guys are kind of working out together.
Hunter:We're all buddies.
Craig:Yeah. And so now we just insert curriculum, which the curriculum isn't the end to itself. It's just a springboard to conversation and helps to guide and direct questions and conversation, which what we hope most curriculums would do, pointing to the cross. And think about that curriculum, it covers the first half of it is all doctrine. What are some
Hunter:of the
Craig:key doctrines of the faith? And then the second half is, what does it look like for me to be a leader? A leader in the household, a leader of myself, and then a leader of just other people, which is difficult and challenging, but it's what we're, I think, called to do. Oh, yeah. As we grow as disciples, it's to be the sponge that soaks up, yet the sponge that gets wrung out for others as well.
Craig:Can I ask about career? Sure. What do you do full time? What's the full time gig? What's life like job wise for you?
Hunter:Yeah. So I'm an investment advisor.
Craig:Investment advisor. Okay. What does that mean? I
Hunter:take people's retirements and I invest them for their goals.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:Yes. Which is kind of stressful in and of itself because I'm taking these people's life savings that
Craig:built up
Hunter:forever, forty years of working.
Craig:Yeah.
Hunter:And then moving it over and making sure it lasts for the rest of their life. That's very stressful.
Craig:It's how do we get a great return, but how do I It's a balance of risk at the same time. Absolutely. How do I get them a great return while not making sure that they lose all of the money that they've invested over the past forty years of work? What have you been doing that for?
Hunter:It is crazy. I've been doing it for, in this particular role, about three years now.
Craig:But I've
Hunter:been in the finance industry since I was 18.
Craig:Okay.
Hunter:Yeah. I've been in the world.
Craig:Yeah. Do you enjoy it?
Hunter:I do love it. Good. It's good because for me, I like to be able to know that I can take care of these people and really strive to meet their goals. But also it's fun because as a man, I like a challenge and it's sales. So sales is the upfront process.
Hunter:You got to onboard them as a client.
Craig:Yeah, you have to give somebody the security and safety of you. You're selling yourself is really what you're selling.
Hunter:Exactly.
Craig:Of, Hey, I know it might be risky, but I'm a good person who has your goals in mind, and I will try my best to reach those goals for you, which is your selling of yourself and your safety.
Hunter:Well, it's kind of crazy too because I do get this question fairly often of my age. They ask me how old I am. I tell them 27. And a lot of times, they're kind of taken back.
Craig:But
Hunter:we work through it.
Craig:You're the guy that needs to put gray in his hair. You're not the guy that needs to remove gray from it.
Hunter:I have told Landis that so many times. I want to dye my hair gray and dye the beard.
Craig:Absolutely. Man, gotta get It's to give you some more credibility.
Hunter:Seriously. Yeah. Know, put some lines up here on my phone.
Craig:Oh, yeah. I'll share some of mine with you. I just wish I had hair that I could make gray. That'd be the best thing ever. You?
Craig:Unfortunate. You rocked the
Hunter:hair.
Craig:Yeah. Thanks, buddy.
Hunter:You rocked the beard for sure.
Craig:Thank you. That's the only thing I have, but I appreciate it. So investment advising. So, you are looking forward just future wise for clientele. For clients, not clientele.
Craig:How does that interact with just your own faith? How does the work that you do and your beliefs in Christ and Lord and Savior, how do those kind of two things interact just in the job world?
Hunter:Well, it's definitely a balancing act because money is a big entryway to a lot of bad.
Craig:Oh, absolutely.
Hunter:And as an investment advisor, that's pretty much all I do is money. My whole world is money. So I'd say interacting with my faith, and I was just talking about this with the guys over the leadership thing, I've always had to put my faith at the very top, and I find that when I'm gonna go to work and I say, Okay, I'm gonna put my head down and work really hard, everything else falls apart. So I get more angry at home. Even work, I start to lose track of all the different things I have to do because I'm not centered on God.
Hunter:And it is crazy. So that's kind of how they interact. I've got to keep God first at all times. And then as soon as I kind of look away, it just falls apart. It's a train wreck.
Hunter:Yeah. As far as interacting with clients and keeping faith first, I had a struggle early on about who I take on as a client.
Craig:It
Hunter:was definitely a weird question I had to ask myself Because the whole thing is that I obviously get paid from the clients I bring on, and it's providing for my family.
Craig:Absolutely.
Hunter:Then I have to ask myself, Do I want to bring on this client? Because this client is not at all in the faith. In fact, they're actively opposing it. That kind of thing. But my dad gave me some really good advice there.
Hunter:He's like, Look, these people are going to invest their money really with someone, right? So why not make it you where you provide for your family? In addition to that, you get to meet with them however many times throughout the year and witness to them each time you meet with them.
Craig:Absolutely.
Hunter:So that's how I found another incredible balance. Let's make some money for the family and let's do what's right for the clients. And then also, boom, I get to throw Jesus in your face
Craig:It's every time I talk to that work as worship aspect of, you know, I have a job and that job for you is in a secular field. Yet you don't have to be secular in the secular field that you work in. Exactly. You walk into just your office and you can, before clients walk in, to have a quick prayer time of, God, just give me an opportunity as I'm meeting with this client, just to either vocally or just through my actions, show my love for who you are. Kind of those pieces.
Craig:And if those doors open, let me be willing to walk through them. Give me the boldness to say what I need to say in the midst of that, which is
Hunter:That is difficult, that last piece you mentioned. A lot of times you just want to shy away.
Craig:Absolutely.
Hunter:I know it's wrong, but I feel like Peter, Yeah, know,
Craig:And whenever we do, it's okay, well, how will I respond next time? Yeah, exactly. Those pieces, which is challenging. So I prompted you with a question I'd love to just discuss just regarding just wealth and the believer. Is there a point that it goes from the positive of savings, which I think everybody would say savings is good, To have that rainy day fund, to have the what happens when financial piece, cash piece, dollars piece, like the financial stability of security is good.
Craig:But I think there also can come a point where it goes from just saving to the hoarding aspect. Can you just give us some wisdom just on your thoughts regarding that?
Hunter:Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to that and a lot of it depends on the heart.
Craig:Yeah, 100%.
Hunter:Yeah. Because obviously savings is incredible. Investing is incredible. But it depends on what your real goals are. If I want to save just because I love money and I want a ton of money
Craig:Scrooge McDuck.
Hunter:Yeah, that's not going to be beneficial. I told you I'd written this down, but this is definitely a big one. Let me pull up my notes real quick.
Craig:Yeah, you're good.
Hunter:But yeah, essentially, Jesus was saying, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. You can definitely apply that here. This is all just worldly money, and you have to keep that in mind and make sure that you yourself are on track with what God has planned for you and don't really you know, you can't pursue the money aspect. You have to pursue God, and then whatever the money aspect is will follow.
Craig:I mean, the scripture says for the love of money is the root of all evils.
Hunter:Mhmm.
Craig:Money itself is neutral. It's not good. It's not bad.
Hunter:It's just an object.
Craig:It absolutely is. The love of money, that can create some conflict whenever it's I need all my safety and security is found in what my bank account looks like. Yes. Can create some serious issues. Yes.
Craig:But money itself can be used for so much good. Exactly. And it can also be used for so much evil. And I think you hit the nail on the head of where is my heart? Yep.
Craig:Where is my heart? Where enough is enough. And I think it comes with it's a stewardship aspect. Yes. Your role, your job is to steward others' money.
Craig:And so you probably understand this even better than most of us do. You feel that responsibility. Yes. You feel that return that you're trying to take what has been invested with you and return it for ultimately for good. Exactly.
Craig:And we as stewards should feel that same way.
Hunter:Well, and I will say, a funny part of my work is I do get to advise people's money, and I always play a little bit of a secret card in there in that a lot of folks, they say, I don't care to leave a legacy. I don't want to leave any of my kids, whatever. They're on Yeah. Their Which I do not like. Yeah.
Hunter:Because it's in, what, Proverbs? Someone's talking about generational wealth.
Craig:Yeah.
Hunter:And so in all my planning, I always plan that they're gonna leave a legacy. Absolutely. Sorry, you're leaving money. Absolutely. But yeah, it kind of goes back to that hoarding.
Hunter:Do you wanna just use it all for yourself or do you want to spend wisely and make it a good thing? But yeah, that's definitely how it plays into my job.
Craig:It's of the difficult things, I think, as parents of how do I want my kids to interact with money?
Hunter:Yes. Definitely.
Craig:You know, my kids are in a private Christian school.
Hunter:They
Craig:see individuals around them, like, that have some just amazing toys and houses, and that's not us. And so as best we can, we love to show our kids what the real world is. So we took our kids, I guess it was last year, we took our kids to Cabo San Lucas. And there's two different ways that you can go to So you fly into not Cabo San Lucas, you fly into a different airport, and then it's about thirty, forty five minute drive to get to the location that we were staying. And we had a driver and he asked us, Do you guys want to go the fast way or do you want to go the beautiful way?
Craig:And I said, What's the fast way and why is it not the beautiful way? He said, Well, we go through some of the poverty areas of Cabo. Yeah. And I said, That's what my kids need to see.
Hunter:Oh,
Craig:yeah. As we're on vacation, as we're going through about to stay at a beautiful resort, have a great time. I want my kids to see what is actually real in the world. And so as we drove through, shanties, there's individuals who are just living a very different lifestyle than what my kids get to live. And I want them to see that we are blessed.
Craig:That what we do have, we are stewarding as best we can. And what we have been gifted is not necessarily only for us, but it's for his good and for his glory.
Hunter:That's right.
Craig:And how can I,
Hunter:as
Craig:a parent, shepherd their young hearts to understand money right now? It's a burden. It's a challenge. But as best I can, I want them to have a good understanding of that stewardship principle of what I have been given is from God? He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
Craig:He has it all. He doesn't need my money, but I need to let him see that it is his money.
Hunter:Exactly.
Craig:I need that reminder of I am a steward of what he has invested.
Hunter:Well, and I will say that was an incredible part of my upbringing, is that my parents have done incredibly well. And so I grew up in a nice house, nice area, all that. But they taught me from a very early age, Hey, we only have this because of God. So if you think you're going to get big man syndrome
Craig:or Look something what I have done.
Hunter:Yeah. This is not our doing. This is God's doing. He has blessed us with all this. So, better make sure we give it back.
Craig:And that's fantastic. Hunter, anything else from your story that you'd like to share?
Hunter:I mean, not really. Go to Stonach Bible Church.
Craig:It's a great place to be. I love it there. It's my favorite church. It's what I love to do and get to be with. Hunter, it's been great.
Craig:Thanks for hopping on with me. Absolutely. Thanks for letting our our church get to know you and Landis Laney. Laney Landis. Thanks for And the boys as well.
Craig:Church has been wonderful. Looking forward to the next time we can gather together.