How Entrepreneurs are Re-Engineering the Child Welfare System | Chad Spencer | FDE Podcast Ep. 377

Description

What does it look like when God owns not just your business, but your suffering, your family, and your calling? Chad Spencer—entrepreneur, Ashley Furniture dealer, and co-founder of For Others—found out the hard way. From a Memphis apartment where three girls slept on one sleeping bag, to a hospital room at rock bottom with a book he didn't plan to open, his story is what happens when an entrepreneur stops trying to manage God and starts listening to Him. Chad traces a journey that runs from founding Beds for Kids in 2005 (now nearly 200,000 beds given nationwide through Ashley's Hope to Dream program) through a decade of infertility, two failed adoptions, a business in freefall, and a premature baby born with life-threatening complications—all hitting in the same 90-day stretch. He shares how God used that breaking point to recalibrate everything: his leadership, his marriage, his purpose, and ultimately his calling to tackle the foster care crisis in America alongside worship artist Chris Tomlin through For Others. The business mind Chad brings to this conversation is striking. He doesn't just talk about caring—he talks about vision, path, leadership, team, and execution. When he realized there are over 400,000 kids in foster care and over 400,000 churches in America, the math hit him the same way a good business problem does: this is solvable. Tune in for one of the most honest, practical, and spiritually grounded conversations on what it means to be a faith-driven entrepreneur in the fullest sense of that phrase. [CHAPTERS] 00:00 Cold open: Single moms and kids without beds 00:33 Welcome and Chad's introduction 01:34 The ABC Home Makeover contest that started it all 03:20 God's call: Business as a mission field 04:49 The moment Beds for Kids was born 06:12 How Beds for Kids became Ashley's Hope to Dream 07:02 For Others video: The foster care crisis in America 10:14 Connecting the businesses to the bigger mission 10:23 A decade of infertility and failed adoptions 12:03 The weight of watching your wife suff