Your Bible or Your Life? Jason Law, His Dad's Legacy, and Spreading the Gospel in Hostile Places | S5 E21

Steve Alessi: 0:53

Hello and welcome to another episode of the family business with the Alessi's. It's so good to be with you today, and today I want to get right into our podcast with a gentleman that has been a distant friend and just recently we have had the opportunity to connect our ministry with his ministry and throw some love and support their way. And because of that, and maybe even a bigger joy for me is that he is a multi-generational ministry guy and he understands the power of legacy. So, jason Law, so good to have you of world compassion, thanks for joining me today.

Jason Law: 1:41

Thanks for having me, Pastor Steve, awesome to be able to be on this with you and an honor to talk about this with you.

Steve Alessi: 1:46

Yeah, this is great. Now let me get right into it First, from your perspective. here's who I'm talking to. Jason Law is the president of World Compassion. It was founded in 1969, the year after my wife was born by his father, Dr. Terry Law, and that's what I remember. the first time I met you, Jason, was wait a minute, that name sounds familiar World Compassion, that name. what's the deal here? And I learned that you have stepped right into the role there of a ministry that your father started.

Jason Law: 2:19

Yeah, 54 years this year, So obviously I wasn't here at the beginning. I think I look younger than that. But, yeah, honored to be able to carry the legacy onward.

Steve Alessi: 2:27

Oh yeah, now we're going to hit that in a little bit, but I want people to get to know you first on the front end here. You're a graduate of Oral Roberts University and I think they did pretty good last year in their college basketball team, so that was a good thing for you. You and your wife Beth have children, Addison Logan. You're there in a great church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is another reason why we had to connect, and that's Guts Church, with Pastor Bill Shear. We love Bill And you enjoy time with your family. You have some good connections and friendships with Chris Hart, who we adore, and I mean that got a little man crush on Chris because he's so good to my son, Christopher, so appreciate that. And of course, you're an outdoor kind of guy which you have to be if you're going to hang out with Chris. So that's you personally, man. Tell me a little bit about your family.

Jason Law: 3:24

Yeah. So Beth and I, we've been married 18 years and a couple of weeks. June 4th will be our 18th anniversary And she is my no drama mama. I mean she has as steady as can be. Sometimes I have to fight to help her have an opinion. You know some couples talk about they get an argument where they're going to go eat. I can't get her to tell me where she wants to go eat most of the time. So she's amazing. She really is a godsend, and the further we've gotten in marriage I realize she's a blessing for my personality and makes life fantastic. So I love her. I want to bless her more and more. You know one of those things where I wish I could do more for her, just because how much she does for me And two amazing, two amazing kids Addison, my daughter's 14. She's wrapping up finals this week in her eighth grade year, so she's about to become a freshman And so a year and a half away from driving here. So, steve, you got any pointers on that, you know. But that's right on the horizon. And then my son, Logan, is 11, about to turn 12 this August and is going into the sixth grade, loves to play football. Just bought him a new set of golf clubs last weekend, so we went and played with those this weekend, and anytime I can get in the golf course and spend some hours with my kids, i enjoy that.

Steve Alessi: 4:36

Yeah, Hey. listen, you're in a good season of life, Jason. Those kids at that age, I know it's not easy. You got a lot going on between juggling the job, juggling the marriage, juggling their activities, their responsibilities, all of those things that they require of you. But that is a great season for you. You need to embrace that.

Jason Law: 4:58

Thank you. We're trying to and definitely learning. Man it goes, someone you know. They tell you it goes by fast. The days are long, the years are short, and that statement couldn't be more true.

Steve Alessi: 5:07

Yeah, you know what happens. It's interesting because now I have a grandchild, a one year old granddaughter, and we have my son. Chris is going to be a new parent soon, oh wow. And it's so interesting because the end of the day, when they get to drop our little grand girl over at the house, it the mindset is so different, whereas when I was in my thirties and my forties it was like gosh. I got to get everything done And it had zero time. Really It was an inconvenience to sit down and look at the kid, talk to him, watch things they wanted to watch on TV, be around there. It was so easy to be distracted and pulled away that now I'm sitting there on the couch and I know I got something to do, but it's like you know what I can do, that tomorrow I'm not going to miss out on these few moments. So you'll see these moments where you're enjoying your kids. They're just God bless you, man, and evidently that's the kind of environment you were raised in, because your dad was a pretty awesome guy uh, founding world, compassion and all that you were able to see growing up over the years And evidently love what you saw in your dad because you love the ministry that he started and love the God that he served.

Jason Law: 6:19

Yeah, one of the things that my dad did so well was created experience for us. Experiences for us kids, and both in private life and in ministry life, throughout our childhood, growing up. So we have six siblings and four sisters and then my brother and I, so there's six of us, and so every other summer, one summer would be the boys trip to go overseas to one of the countries we were working in, with that in the next summer would be the girls term to go over. But it was always it was ministry, but there was always fun. There was always room to go see a site or go experience something in another country. You know, after the trip was over And then at home, you know we would. The summers we were camping with our family, our extended family, and, you know, having golf bet and betting on the golf course. You know it's like who milkshakes after the first nine or whoever's getting something was on the round of golf. Every time It just made it fun. But we got to experience so many things. You know, i think by the time I left the home I'd lived, you know, a lifetime because of that And I desire that for my kids. You know I just it's so bad. I just want to get exposed them to everything that I was exposed to. So he did that very, very well.

Steve Alessi: 7:25

That is so cool. Now was he stationed right there in Tulsa as well.

Jason Law: 7:30

Yes, sir, yeah, so he was the first graduating class of all Roberts University, literally in 1969. So they, when oral first started the minute the university here, my dad came down from Canada and so he's originally from Canada, came here and lived most of his life right here in Tulsa. So we're based here. I was born and raised here and this is home.

Steve Alessi: 7:53

That is cool. Where'd you meet your wife?

Jason Law: 7:56

Guts Church, sub 30 college, the college church there that our kind of group started And we were youth leaders together. We went to ORU together but never knew each other. I was still I was a PKs kid. I knew all the right things to say, i had the right connections, but I was still an idiot through college. So it was good I didn't know her then going the way a lot of mutual friends. But we connected at Guts Church in sub 30, and now we're married.

Steve Alessi: 8:23

Wow, That is. And she married you.

Jason Law: 8:28

Yeah, well, pastor Bill and my dad comboed the wedding, yep, So we had both guys. Consider Pastor Bill my spiritual father. I mean, they are spiritual parents. They really raised me in our twenties and thirties and, you know, get to serve as elders there now and honor them and the legacy that they've had in our life as well.

Steve Alessi: 8:45

Yeah, i want to come back talk about him a little bit because I think the world of him, but that's great. So you met your wife at church, which I love. Now you mentioned PK and some of my listeners here in our podcast. that's kind of form. What does PK mean? Us growing up in the church, especially my assembly of God days understanding PK. But what does PK mean? Explain that.

Jason Law: 9:10

That means you're the business owner's son is what it means. You know and other terms like you're the air of what's coming up, you're the preacher's kid, you're the pastor's kid. My dad wasn't a pastor, but he was a preacher. He preached all over the world, and so you know we were the kids.

Steve Alessi: 9:28

That's it. You were drug everywhere. You had to be that perfect example And you always felt the pressure of it. And some people took it as a challenge and said you know what I can do better in my life? And I enjoyed his pressure.

Jason Law: 9:41

Yep. So that comes with some responsibility and some favor all at the same time.

Steve Alessi: 9:49

Yeah Well, you can't get the favor without the responsibility. And once they start demonstrating, and our family we try to. You know, my motto of leadership is we lead by example, not by parking space. So whatever we do, we always have to be that example. And you know that's a lesson to learn, because we just don't get that. Adults don't get it, let alone our kids trying to get it. So thankfully we have a church environment You evidently were raised in one where there's a lot of grace given to the minister's families until they actually get it and mature and grow up and understand it And then, once they do there given a platform that they can just continue to build their life on, which is what I embrace. And we'll hit that a little bit about legacy. But let's talk about your pastors for a minute, because Pastor Billsher Sandy great people saw him a couple of weeks ago at a wedding, one of the few guys that I think if I needed somebody, especially when he was younger, if I needed somebody to fight for me, i think I would have called him.

Jason Law: 10:53

What kind of fighter are you talking about? Cause I could go either way. Both Okay.

Steve Alessi: 10:58

Both Physical or spiritual.

Jason Law: 11:01

I love that. Yep, he is the guy. He is a fighter. You know, the name of the church is guts and people are like what does that stand for? And he doesn't stand for anything. It just means it takes guts to serve God And it's just fitting. It, just so fitting. You know, a lot of times I think with him he can be in your face. You know, especially early on when us guys weren't younger, we can kind of be a little bit more aggressive and in your face. And he still has that at 65, i think, is what he is right now. But inside of that man is a huge heart for people And if you can see that and that, his motive for the aggression maybe that sometimes he gets labeled under, it's because he is fighting for you, he's fighting for the people he's preaching to, he's fighting for the people that he loves, because he knows God's promise and his purpose is to help other people fulfill their purpose And he doesn't want to see the enemy rob that from anybody. So sometimes he gets in your face about it, but it's from a motive and a huge heart of love.

Steve Alessi: 12:02

Yeah, he's probably. I'm trying to quickly run through some others in my mind who reach out to me. I think he is the only pastor friend that I have that reaches out to me first. He's the one who always reaches out with a text or a call. Most I have to reach out to and ping and get their attention. He has me somewhere there. He's the guy that reaches out And it's always the right time And anytime I see it I'm like shoot, he beat me to the punch. I don't like that. I missed it. I want to make sure I'm reaching out to him. So he's a great guy, which I could see just even in your passion to serve. Let's talk about world compassion for a minute, because you took dad's leadership. You were handed the reins. You evidently earned it. Tell us about world compassion because we're partnering together and being able to provide Bibles to Iran. So tell us more about what you do.

Jason Law: 13:11

Yeah, so for 54 years, the the really the MO, the mission of the organization, has been to take the message of Jesus to nations that are hostile to the gospel message, and so that can be hostility from the government, it can be hostility from society, but that's been our focus. So over the years, like in the early 70s my dad was, you know, they were in Russia that really we started as a music group called living sound out of war, roberts University, and young people went and used music as missions. Before that was even like a thing. I mean, i think there was a movement there in the 70s, obviously, but it was a movement. So they traveled to Russia. They were doing concerts and communist nightclubs, interrogated by the KGB Joel, joel Visanin, who's actually sitting in the office over here. He's worked for my dad, worked for this organization for 54 years. He was in that room when that happened. You don't talk about, yeah, legacy. So our mission has been to empower the local church and nations hostile to the gospel. So you know, today we're targeting countries like Iran or rock China, myanmar. We're trying to help people work in Cuba. You know you guys were instrumental in helping us connect there to Cuba. Afghanistan has been a country of work that largely in the past and still have some footholds there. So, but our hardest to empower the local church there. We really believe that God places us in the body where it pleases him, and I think a lot of times in Western missions we can think, oh we're, you know, it's up to us to go into all the world and preach the gospel And we read that from like one place, one center, and that's our own place. But that truth is also applied to everybody else around the globe. Even the map behind me, any other Christian that reads it anywhere on the map, carries that same mission. And so we really want to help them reach their Jerusalem, judea, samaria and the ends of the earth. And so we've really come alongside local churches and those and those countries to empower them, equip them, train them, resource them, encourage them to go, do what God has shown them to go, do to reach their nation. They understand the language, they understand the culture, they understand the predominant religion in their country Better than, honestly, i ever will, and probably most missionaries, even if they spend a lifetime. It's just, you know, they've been, they've grown up in it, and so God's placed them there And we still got to go. Don't get me wrong, but it's just the model. I really believe in the local church model and empowering them And we saw that prove out during the pandemic. We didn't miss a beat. You know I couldn't travel and go over there, but we have staff in some of these countries. We've got long standing partnerships with local churches in these countries And so we were able to pivot some of our outreaches to help meet the needs of those people. During that time We were able to keep some of the programs going without missing a beat because it was local church based.

Steve Alessi: 15:47

Yeah, so how many outreaches or how many countries are you serving right now?

Jason Law: 15:52

Five countries right now Iran, Iraq, China, Myanmar and Cuba.

Steve Alessi: 15:56

Wow, powerful. And tell us about Iran, because our church was able to show some love your way financially to try to get in Bibles there. So explain how that whole outreach is working. Yeah, thank you guys.

Jason Law: 16:10

So much for your generosity. It's very, very timely. I just came back from the Middle East where we were hosting our annual leadership conference for Iranian pastor. So we bring them out. Bring them to another neighboring country, fly them out, put them up in a nice hotel. It's a time of getting out of that heavy environment. They're in, just refreshed to be poured into. They're under some of the tightest restrictions, especially mad With what's going on in that country over the last six, nine months. You know, if people are watching news, they've seen some protest in the streets. You know ladies waving their scarves out in the streets And a lot of those rights that the people feel like they don't have or have been taken away from them. Those are rooted in Islam and an Islamic ideology, And so some of the social unrest over there is also an unrest from Islam, And so we're we're seeing and what we're hearing from leaders on the ground, and even statistically what we're seeing is a lot of people are moving away from Islam in Iran right now. That doesn't mean they're running to Christianity, but what they have seen the regime, the ayatollahs and how they have led that nation. There's a generation of people that don't want to have anything to do with that. They saw ISIS, they saw radical Islam and they don't want to. They don't want to associate with that. And so we see in the media the narrative that comes from the Iranian regime, which is only the minority in the top echelon of Iran. It's not representative of the Iranian people, Most of Iranian people. This is from the mouths of Iranians who live there. They like America, They like the British, They like the Jews, But we hear a different narrative from the minority. So they are turning, which has created a huge opportunity for the church to reach people. Christianity and Islam are very too close religions in the sense that we believe in one God And so and they believe that Jesus is a prophet. So there's a bridge here and there's an opportunity in history for the body of Christ to reach. And so these Bibles that we provide, we're putting these in the hands of Christians just like anybody in your church or my church, because religion is such a hot topic right now in the country And people are asking questions about religion. They can hand on that Bible as a gift and say, Hey, read through this And then let's talk about it. And we have hundreds of stories over the years of people reading to the Gospels and coming to a conclusion themselves that the God of the Quran and the God of the Bible are two different gods. And the God of the Bible is the true God of peace, He's the true God of love, and people coming to that decision point and giving their life to the Lord because of it Oh, that's powerful.

Steve Alessi: 18:43

Jason, because you know, if we believe, when we, as a believer, we hold that Bible in our hand. We to this day, even though we've read it multiple times throughout our life, every time we open it something comes new to us. It's just spirit inspired. Now imagine the person that's sitting there, who God so loves, that is lost when they open up that Bible. What the spirit does to them. That this is foreign. Amazing. How that Bible speaks to them and breathes life into their spirit, which can radically change their lives.

Jason Law: 19:26

Absolutely. The Bible says his word is life to those who find it and health to all their flesh. It literally breeds life to the person And that's what draws them to it. I mean, i've had several Iranian people at our conference this last month or two months ago now. One of the worship leaders there. He got saved by reading through the Gospels And he just said when I started reading that we're supposed to love our enemies. He goes what kind of God is this? And he was. That was the one true God.

Steve Alessi: 19:53

Wow. Well, we're thankful for the opportunity to have a place as a church, to be able to sew into people. That and, jason, i try to do everything on my end. I try to do it through relationship. That's a big thing. It's what our church is all about. It's all about Sunday. What the three are is relationship, relationship, relationship, relationship with God, relationship with each other in our church, relationship with those outside of our church walls. We try to live that. It's not just a slogan that we throw around, which then causes me to make even decisions that we do with regards to, as a church, who we sew into And I immediately. The first time that I met you, we didn't have a long conversation, but your spirit was one that was immediately infectious in the sense that there was something genuine there, there was something real, and Chris Hart made that connection through the relationship not too long ago. So that relationship door right there was opened up to you, and that was the beginning of why we knew, okay, this could be something. And we all know you and I probably had. You know just a small greeting from time to time how you're doing good, great, but as we watch from afar what you at World Compassion were doing and your connection with family and legacy. It was a no brainer for us And thank you for keeping us informed. You were staying in touch, just keeping our church family informed of what's happening with World Compassion And we want to be a support system along the way to you even more. And so let's transition, because part of what we talk about here in the family business is the family business And our business happens to be ministry And you better know, understand there, better have an understanding of business if you're going to operate a ministry, which I so appreciate the the integrity behind ministries like your own, because somebody understands the business aspect of it. So let's talk for a minute about how this whole worked out. You mentioned that you have family members. Six of you are our other family members serving in World Compassion with you today.

Jason Law: 22:12

They are not today, and over the years, at times they have been, but today it's. it's just me, in terms of the, the children or the siblings that are involved.

Steve Alessi: 22:20

Yeah, so what made you pick up the torch here with with your dad's ministry?

Jason Law: 22:26

I didn't want to, so I've always thought I would go into business and I would be the guy that would make money and fund the kingdom. I had a great job offer with a large oil company in college. I had my own lawn and landscape business coming out of high school and in college, and so I always thought I would be the entrepreneur. And in 2003 I was graduating from Oral Roberts University. The war, if you remember, with Iraq had just kind of ensued that year. I remember, at spring break, my senior year, watching it unfold on TV, and my dad asked me he goes Hey, what would you like for a graduation gift? And, as I mentioned earlier, growing up, every other year we'd go overseas with them. Well, through college I never had time to really do that. I was working a lot in the summers and so I'd like to go to Iraq with you. And he was in. I could tell he was like that's interesting. I was thinking like a new set of golf clubs and new set of skis or you know something like that, which I probably, in hindsight, should have done that, but in some ways it worked out. But it really wasn't. Steve from a, i want to go on missions.

Steve Alessi: 23:26

Yeah.

Jason Law: 23:27

For, honestly, at that point in my life it felt dangerous and there was an adventure, and I mean I was 23. And I was like let's just go, i just want to go. Like it seems crazy And I hate to say it, but I think that was about as shallow as my motive was to go. But on that trip, where there was an afternoon that we had off and I remember we were staying at the Sheridan Hotel and Baghdad, right in front of the square where Stam statue was you know the images back then of the being pulled down and Fox News is in the hotel, cnn was in the hotel, the US military had barricades all around it, we had tanks, humvees, us military everywhere, and this was May 8, 2003,. George W Bush declared the war over May 5. And we drove 12 hours with about 13 suburban's all the way from a Mon Jordan across the deserts of Iraq, through the Fallujah triangle If you remember that was the hotbed for you. You know, several months following the initial war being over went right through Tikrit and into Baghdad. Buildings are still smoldering at night, there's still pockets of war taking place. And so one afternoon we had a break and I'm up in my hotel room and I'm out looking down and I'm looking at like these vendors, just they're selling items on the street, people are walking and and doing life as normal, and yet you know, we're here, we think we're in this war zone and we are, but yet there's majority of people are just doing life like normal. And it was just a. I struggled to make sense of it all because we see what the media paints And it's this little picture, this little corner of the room, and you think the whole nation's like that, you think everybody's like that, and it was just like so eye opening to me And I just felt impressed in that moment having those thoughts. I felt God speak to my heart, i want to use your giftings for this. And it was an oh shoot moment of what does that mean? And so, spent the rest of the summer, i decided not to go into the job offer I had They held it for me actually And it was August of that year. I really I just looked at my dad and I said I feel like I'm supposed to come to work for you And he was like great, i'll call Ben. Ben was our office manager at the time And you know he asked for a three year commitment. I committed three years and I wanted to quit every year And I definitely wanted to quit at three and you know a lot of details and stories there, but hung on and here we are today.

Steve Alessi: 25:44

My gosh, how long did you work alongside your father?

Jason Law: 25:48

So I came on in 2003 and then we officially transitioned the board, transitioned official in 2014. So 11 years of just really serving his vision, but he did so many things very well. I mean, there's a lot of lessons we learned in hindsight of what went well, what did go well, but there was a lot of years before we transitioned. He let me drive it like it was mine, even though it wasn't mine, and I give him kudos for that That was, that was wise.

Steve Alessi: 26:16

Yeah, wow, that in itself Excuse me, that in itself. just working alongside of your father. Some of your greatest blessings, i'm sure, in life came from that, but sometimes your greatest burdens came from that because you had a father who was a father to you. He was a spiritual leader as well in your life, but he was also your boss, how'd that happen. How'd that work out?

Jason Law: 26:44

Oh man, it's a bag full. Steve, yes, All of those dynamics And I mean family business is family business. It's not, it's not always easy. There are very challenging thanksgivings and Christmases and you know, you learn a lot in that And there's times where I missed it. I missed how I communicated with my dad And there's times I think he missed it. I think we just do, you know, as we grow up and you get through it And it's like, man, we could have done, done better at that. I list. There's a lot of conversations I wish I had back, even though I might have been right, i didn't have the right tone, i didn't have the right approach, that wasn't the right time, it wasn't the right place and it wasn't in front of the right people.

Steve Alessi: 27:28

So so you took some liberties as a son that you wish. You definitely did.

Jason Law: 27:35

Yep, that's one of the lessons I learned. I mean there's in transition and what I say to and I feel like I have a platform now to say this because I am one But what I would speak to business owners, kids You have favor, but you cannot walk in entitlement mentality. There's a difference between favor and entitlement, and entitlement is man. I'm next, i deserve this because I am this, i am the son or I am the daughter, and I'm not one that believes that. I don't believe that. I believe that you're favored. I believe you're gonna have opportunities others won't have. I believe you might get the first opportunity, but your attitude and your heart approach and how you step into that opportunity is critical. And if you begin to realize that you have favor, which means you have greater opportunity than others, but you take that servant leadership mindset within that framework and you say, okay, how can I use my favor to help others on the team, to help others in the business accomplish what they have been set there to accomplish? Now you're beginning to walk in true leadership And you earn the respect honors given. Respect is earned. You earn the respect of your peers, of your platoon, and ultimately the platoon will pick the platoon leader, and I think that in God's kingdom business that's how it works. I think pastors you're gonna speak this they're the most fired individual ever. People leave the church, churches all the time. They church hop and in essence they're firing the guy that is pouring into them, because people pick their pastor, people choose what church they're gonna go to. I mean, ultimately they should be obedient to the Lord. But my staff, they don't have to work here. They could walk in and say man, you're, we don't like you, we're out. And so what I say to kids is man, recognize you have favor, don't walk in an entitlement mentality, you gotta earn it.

Steve Alessi: 29:32

Very good, yep. Talking about people leaving the church, i always say this I say, listen, you can't leave this church except for a moral failure. If I have a moral failure, then you have permission to leave. I won't ask you to stay. I'm sorry. I won't ask you to stay If there's a moral failure. You got every reason to leave now. But you can't leave because of my management. My management is going to be something that the Lord's put in me to try to handle, to lead this group. Just like I don't step in and ask you to question you about managing your business, don't come in and question me about managing the ministry. And if we disagree on management, that's fine. That's just something that I've got to carry because God says this is the work that you gotta do. So you can't leave because of my management. You can't leave because of my morals if I happen to break any. So you're right. You can get fired very easy by people as pastors. But what I love is you mentioned honor, and I think honor in life gives us something, jason, that money can't give us, gifting can't give us, even anointing can't give us. When you have honor and you demonstrate that in the environment with your especially if you're working together as a family, if you can keep honor in front of all of those minute by minute, hour by hour decisions and actions and conversations, if you can always follow honor, then we're gonna be able to navigate through some tough terrain as a family, even working together, and I just try with my kids. Man, more than ever, i'm thankful I'm 62. Christopher is 32, right about 32. And I'm very grateful. He has a heart for this. He got some bad advice from some people one time And he'll tell you to this day it was the worst thing that he did And he had to separate himself from that kind of influence. But the advice was hey, have a plan B, christopher, have a plan B when it comes to working with your father. And Chris was like dad, i don't even wanna think like that. I'm in this for the long haul. Who goes into a career thinking I've got a plan B, in a sense, to lose. Who plays a game thinking I've got a plan B to lose? No, we got plan A and we're gonna kill it for the best of our ability, and if we happen to miss it here or there, that's fine, we're gonna get back up, but plan A is always gonna be the goal. Did you ever have a plan B?

Jason Law: 32:09

No, plan B is an exit ramp. It's for quitters. And you can't have success in legacy ministry and not have commitment, and commitment doesn't have a plan B. I love Pastor Bill's definition of commitment or covenant is you've entered a room with no exits. That means when it gets tough you gotta figure it out. So I didn't have a plan B. There's times I thought I'm gonna be honest. I was like man, do I need a plan B? What would a plan B be? But I never had one. It was I have other interests, don't get me wrong. Like, i've got my real estate license. I like real estate, but it's not a backup plan. My mission was this And it's to build on the legacy of my father. Do I have vision? Yes, i've got my own vision, and that's another topic. In living in the shadows of the man that you're following, or trying to follow this footsteps, versus carving your own path, there's something to that. But the Bible also says you need to serve another man's vision before you can go accomplish your own vision. So you've gotta be committed to it And you're not gonna be successful in transition if you're not committed. You've entered a room with no exits.

Steve Alessi: 33:19

Yeah, and on that whole vision aspect, there I recognize that a vision is for a generation. There's always a generational vision that is needed. One thing that I asked my kids to do not too long ago was give me not a vision of me and your mom as founders of this ministry, but what is our mentality? Because the mentality of the founder is what sets a culture by which the vision could then be planted and then nourished in growth. And that culture never changes. You don't want the culture to change from generation to generation to generation, or is it? is, though, everything that you've built? now we gotta go back in, bust up the old foundation, try to build something new. Well, you'll never get strong, constantly breaking up the foundation. So the founder's mentality, which is the culture that's created, what the next generation steps into, doesn't change from generation to generation. vision does.

Jason Law: 34:19

Man, you're helping me right now in my leadership because the mentality aspect my dad had and it's funny because him and Pastor Bill, i think, are cut from the same cloth I mean it was just like just tell me no, and that gives me the reason to go. Matter of fact, when the first time we went into Iraq, the US embassy told us you should not go, do not go, it's too risky. Well, that was the very motivation that we needed to take the risk to go. And Pastor Bill went to Bible school because he was told he wasn't a Christian long enough so he couldn't go. So he forced, he forces. What's on that mentality? And I believe for business owners, people who are in transition, for us in the kingdom business, and what we're doing in ministry right now, that is what's needed is man. We're gonna do things that people say can't be done. We're gonna do things that most men would believe impossible. That's what God's called us to do is to go, take dominion, to subdue, to take authority, to take ground, to move in. I mean, you have to have a mentality, and that is so true. I actually talked to my staff about that the other day. I said this is who we are Like when a local church or one of our partners overseas says well, we're not allowed to do that because of X, y and Z. That's the moment you need to start digging your hills in the sand and take a spiritual posture of wait a second, we're called to go storm the gates of hell, so they can't keep us out. So we've got to take that mentality and we've got to invest it into other people that we're partnered with in order to build and to continue growing on top of what's already been laid. I love that.

Steve Alessi: 35:56

Where did you get that?

Jason Law: 35:57

My dad. that is my dad's mentality. He was and that's what also made transition hard. I mean, the person who has got that mentality is can be stubborn, can be hard headed, but that you know strengths out of weakness, the strengths out of balance are your weaknesses And you know if we don't balance those. but the good of that was is we do things that most people like wait, how do you do that? Like we use drug smugglers to smuggle Bibles into Iran. They're smuggling OPM out of Afghanistan. These guys will smuggle anything And now they're asking for permission to take Bibles And a few of them have given their life to the Lord now because of it. I think a two Jesus would partner with. So people are like well, it's illegal to move Bibles into Iran. You're not allowed to do that. Well, yeah, we're going to move the gospel forward, whether the man thinks we're allowed to or not, by any means necessary without hurting somebody. you know.

Steve Alessi: 36:50

Well, sadly, i've seen some young guys, young as in 40s, okay, get in, step into their dad's ministry that the father has built and established for 30, 40 years. And the young guy gets in there in his late 30s and 40s and thinks, well, hey, i'm gonna change the name, i'm gonna change the focus, i'm gonna change. They immediately start to create change And what they forget is that, right there, all the changes is not the mentality of the founder who said listen, we can't change the course of what we're headed. The money may not be there, the people may not be there, the opposition is strong, but we're not gonna change course one bit. We're going forward in what God has called us and commissioned us to do. So they have a mindset, or the founder's mentality was one, of rock solid, stay in the fight, don't you dare quit. Send the ships back home. We're gonna stay here on this island. We're gonna establish a new era. And there's no change. But yet the next generation comes in and they immediately discard what the founder's generation had as one of staying in there. We're not changing, we're gonna do our deal. They immediately discard that by saying let's start making changes.

Jason Law: 38:08

And it leads to failure 100%. And so I am that person not that I've done that, i haven't done that but I am in that my 40s. I'm 43 now and I've been officially at the helm for nine years. And there are things my dad and I had these conversations Like I'll share some vision that's in my heart. And one of the things he told me is and I appreciate this he said if that's where you feel like God's leading us, you need to get us positioned to go there. I mean it was the most empowering statement back to me. But timing timing factors into that. You rock the boat too quick, too fast. It can mess up. You got a following, you got people who are supporting you for something, so you've gotta be careful in the timing of that. I believe the mission doesn't change, but methods and how we get there do change, and sometimes you've got to change slowly. I think there's that book who moved my cheese speaks to that a little bit. Just some little incremental changes over time. But there's also an honor principle there in and realizing hey, we were created for this purpose as an entity, as an organization. This is our mission. It's not gonna change How we do. It may change. But let's be thoughtful, careful and honoring when we do make those little changes in the methods.

Steve Alessi: 39:27

Yep, well, we just started a reconstruction of the church that I left my mom and dad's church. I left after working with my dad for 13 years. I came over to another part of the city here in Miami only to go back eight years ago and help my mom and dad retire out Now. I never thought I'd go back to that old campus, but I did after all those years And it wasn't for me. I didn't need another campus, not one of those Eagle driven. That wasn't going to cause me to make a decision for that. I told them this is gonna be for you and it's for legacy. So we stepped back into. That Took us eight years before we've done any changes whatsoever. Just this past week we went ahead and broke ground on what the remodel of that building would look like. I kept the old name. We're Metro Life Church. They were Grace Church. I kept Grace a Metro Life Church for all of these years because I didn't wanna make too many changes, even though a handful of people stayed with us during these last eight years. I didn't wanna make too many changes. I wanted to honor the old guard. I wanted to honor my dad and mom, honor the people that stayed with my dad and mom when I left for I don't know 15 years. So I wanted to honor them by not making too many changes, and now we're gonna go ahead and do so. We set it all up. It's very honoring from one generation to the next, and I'm the pastor my dad's out of the picture He passed in 2020, but I'm still gonna keep dad's name up there, keep his image up there, his likeness. We got the street named after him right in front of the place of the whole church. So it's all about honor. It's about making sure the next generation, the last generation, is being always recognized for their accomplishment, so that then the generation behind me, which is my son and my daughters and their husbands, that's going to be something that they understand right at the top of the founder's mentality was one of honor and one of legacy. And we got to fight for that every day.

Chris Alessi: 41:30

So, jason, this has been great man.

Steve Alessi: 41:33

This has been great. I so appreciate being able to connect with you like this. We'll have to do something a little bit more on the whole multi-generational deal at another time, and I'd love to have my son in here with me because I think right there, christmas 30, you're in your 40s, i'm in my 60s. There's great things that people need to know Key Nuggets, what's in your heart, what's been poured into you, to help the next generation step into something that has been ultimately built by a family member and the kingdom of heaven, so that the kingdom of heaven continues. I think you've got some great wisdom there.

Jason Law: 42:10

Oh, thank you, And I've learned a lot of you just listening from you, so thank you for allowing me to be a part of this and sharing what you did.

Steve Alessi: 42:17

You got it. That's it. Guys. Appreciate you watching another episode of the Family Business with the Alesses And I'm so glad that I had my chance today to be excuse me with Jason. Law of World Compassion. God bless.

Chris Alessi: 42:33

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