I grew up inside a religious organization that looking back was designed to control its members with manipulative precision. It wasn’t just about theology or spiritual guidance. It was about ownership: ownership over time, money, behavior, and business.
Through passive-aggressive coercion, dishonest teachings, and bold manipulation, this organization operated with a sense of entitlement over the fruits of its members ’labor. It was never about spiritual growth. It was about submission. Obedience. Control.
And for a long time, I believed that all religion was like this.
When I left that organization as a teenager, I was disillusioned. Confused. Angry. And deeply skeptical of anything connected to God, church, or scripture. I wouldn’t have called myself an atheist, but I was certainly agnostic. I wanted to do better. I wanted to build something that mattered. But I was determined to do it without religion.
What’s interesting is that in the process of building my business All Nation Restoration, based in Austin I leaned heavily on principles that looked a lot like the best parts of religious teachings:
I chased my dreams with drive and laser focus. I stayed away from destructive distractions. I worked day and night, pushing my company forward with a kind of moral compass I didn’t even fully understand at the time.
Here’s what I now realize:
I had confused religion with faith.
I had confused the love of Jesus with the coercive control of man.
The theology I grew up with was so twisted, so fear-based, and so predatory that it felt impossible to separate Jesus Christ from the nightmare that religion had become for me.
It wasn’t until years into running my business that I began to feel the absence of something.
Something deeper.
Something spiritual.
Something relational.
That “something” turned out to be a relationship with Jesus—not religion. Not organized doctrine. Not membership in a manipulative group.
Throughout the past 16 years of building All Nation, I’ve hit walls I never expected. Emotional exhaustion. Burnout. Betrayal. Self-doubt. Loneliness. And each time I’ve found the strength to stand back up, it’s been because of my faith my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
Not the religion I rejected.
Not the organization I escaped.
Not the system that tried to control me.
But a quiet, powerful, healing faith that helped me rebuild what was broken inside me.
I still reject religion.
I can’t stand the manipulation, the control, the legalism, the spiritual abuse.
And I don’t believe God stands for it either.
Jesus didn’t tolerate it.
He condemned the Pharisees and Sadducees the religious elite of his time for turning faith into a system of power and profit. His message was radically different.
It was personal.
It was relational.
It was love.
For those of you who’ve left toxic religious structures behind but still feel a spiritual longing… I want you to know it’s possible to separate the two.
You can reject religion and still embrace Jesus.
You can be a believer without becoming a follower of manmade systems.
You can run a company with strength, clarity, and compassion fueled by faith—not fear.
I’m living proof.
If your past involved religious trauma…
If you’re trying to build a business while healing…
If you’re walking the lonely path of first-generation entrepreneurship while questioning what you believe…
You are not alone.
And you do not have to choose between success and faith.
Just choose the right faith.
Not in men. Not in titles. Not in robes and rituals.
But in Jesus Christ, who came to set us free—not enslave us.
Stay strong. Stay focused. Stay in business.
