Episode 377 - The Business Framework to Solve the Foster Care Crisis | Chad Spencer

Host Justin Forman sits down with Chad Spencer — entrepreneur, Ashley Furniture dealer, and co-founder of the For Others Collective — in Nashville for a deeply personal conversation about what it looks like when God doesn't just own your business, but every dimension of your life: your giving, your family, your calling, and your pain. Chad's story begins in a Memphis apartment where three little girls slept on one sleeping bag, and it leads through a decade of infertility, failed adoptions, a business in freefall, and a premature baby born with a life-threatening condition — all converging on a single night in a hospital closet with a Tim Keller book he didn't choose to pick up. What follows is one of the most honest entrepreneurial testimonies you'll hear: a man who ran hard toward success, hit rock bottom on every front simultaneously, and found that God had been engineering every moment of it — including the son who changed everything. Today, Chad channels that journey into For Others, a nationwide initiative to end the child welfare crisis in America — not through charity alone, but through the same business rigor he applies to growing a furniture company. Vision. Path. Leadership. Team. Execution. The math, he says, is actually solvable. ### Key Topics: - How a home makeover contest in Memphis sparked Beds for Kids — now 200,000 beds given nationwide through Ashley's Hope to Dream charity - The decade-long adoption journey: failed adoptions in Russia and domestically, and what it cost Chad and his wife Kelly spiritually - Hitting rock bottom simultaneously in business, marriage, and faith — and what God used to break through - How a randomly grabbed Tim Keller book and Romans 8 in a hospital room became the moment everything changed - The birth of For Others alongside worship artist Chris Tomlin — and the business framework Chad brought to the foster care crisis - Why 400,000+ churches and 400,000+ kids in foster care is math any entrepreneur can understand - The VPLTR framework: how Chad structures kingdom impact the same way he runs a business ### Notable Quotes: "God, I've got nothing. I am empty. I don't know what to do... but God, I need to hear from you." — Chad Spencer "Above all else, guard your heart, for it's the wellspring of life. I'd lost life there. I wasn't guarding it." — Chad Spencer "Purpose becomes a pillar. Not an addendum, not an attachment. Make it a part of the way we do things." — Chad Spencer