Zach and Zachary in Colorado

Zach and Zachary in Colorado at a Ransomed Heart Retreat

Prior to becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee, I worked with Andy Christiansen at Life Impact Ministries for about 6 months.  In this short time, Andy and I spent a lot of time talking about mentorship, discipleship and where the institutional church was failing with men.  I learned a lot from Andy during that time and since then through his coaching and mentorship in my life.  I can confidently say that I would not be the son to my parents, husband to my wife, father to my children, friend to my friends, or leader/mentor to my team at Chick-fil-A that I am today without his influence in my life.  When it comes to mentorship, Andy and I talked about being INTENTIONAL, CONSISTENT, CHALLENGING, and REPRODUCING. Those four words have shaped who I am to everyone in my life today.

One example of this is a young man named Zachary Ayers.  Zachary was the very first person I met at Macland Crossing Chick-fil-A when I found out I was going to have the privilege of being the franchisee of that location.  Zachary was in high school and was the shift manager for the restaurant that evening.  Fast forward 8 years later, Zachary is the first person in his family to graduate from college and we just found out last week that he was selected for the Chick-fil-A Leadership Development Program (LDP).  The LDP process is very selective, thousands apply, very few get selected.  In January, he will hit the road doing grand openings and interim manager work for 18-24 months.  After that, if everything goes well, he will get his on franchise!

I am so proud of Zachary, he has truly changed his family tree.  I am humbled, but I know that his future wife, children, friends, and employees will be forever grateful for the influence I had in his life.  There is no greater feeling than knowing you have truly made a difference in someone’s life by being INTENTIONAL, CONSISTENT, CHALLENGING and REPRODUCING.

You can learn more about Andy on his website Capacity7 or order his book here.

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