Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - September 29, 2022


Ep 687 | When God Tells You to Sell Meat, You Listen | Guests: Ben & Corley Spell (Good Ranchers)


Episode Stats

Length

33 minutes

Words per Minute

182.89848

Word Count

6,136

Sentence Count

384

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

In this episode, Allie talks about the story of Joseph and how God saved him from being thrown into the pit and sold into slavery. She also talks about how God uses what seems like a hopeless and destitute situation for His glory and the good of others.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 meet the faces behind the meat that you have been eating from Good Ranchers for the past couple of
00:00:07.720 years. Since hearing about them on my show, Relatable, you guys know we talk about Good
00:00:13.880 Ranchers all the time. And I just wanted to, I want you guys to know these people, to meet these
00:00:18.920 people, and to hear the story of how God called them to start a meat company and the amazing
00:00:26.520 difference that it's making, not just in the lives of families, to make our life better and easier by
00:00:32.640 having high-quality American meat on our tables, but how it's also revitalizing an industry that
00:00:39.160 has been damaged and decimated thanks to policies in the United States over the past 10 years. And
00:00:45.060 that's the American farming and ranching industry. So you're going to be encouraged by this conversation.
00:00:50.760 You're going to be informed by this conversation. And guess what? This conversation is brought to
00:00:55.920 you by Good Ranchers. So before you even listen to the conversation, go to GoodRanchers.com
00:01:03.560 slash Allie. Check them out for a discount. That's GoodRanchers.com slash Allie.
00:01:16.180 You know, before we even start this conversation, I just wanted to, I wanted to say something that I
00:01:21.460 was thinking about that I hope encourages you because we talk about a lot of crazy things,
00:01:26.060 a lot of chaotic things that are going on in the world. I feel like especially this week with all
00:01:31.460 the violence that we had to talk about against pro-lifers, against people that the Biden administration
00:01:37.300 and Democrats see as their political opponents, as we talked yesterday about the vaccines and its
00:01:44.920 effect on breast milk and then the Nord Stream pipeline and how all of this affects everything.
00:01:50.060 And if you've listened to my conversations with Justin Haskins about the Great Reset, sometimes it
00:01:54.920 just feels overwhelming, like everything is out of our control and there's nothing that we can do
00:02:01.520 about the bad and the chaos that's going on in the world. And part of that is true. We are not in
00:02:07.420 control. We can't fix everything that we want to fix. We can't change all the things that we
00:02:14.620 want to change, but something that I'm continually encouraged by. When I listen, I have the privilege
00:02:19.860 on this podcast of listening to people's testimonies, of hearing their stories, of learning how God saved
00:02:25.080 them and all of the little ways that God planted seeds in their heart before fully and finally
00:02:31.320 bringing them to himself. And this is something that I mentioned earlier in the week too, and I wanted
00:02:37.100 to add on to that about how when I traveled the country and meet all of these people, all these
00:02:41.380 Christians doing amazing work for the most vulnerable, I realized that the headlines that we see on
00:02:46.700 Twitter and in the news just don't tell the full story ever of what God is doing. When it looks like
00:02:51.900 God is doing one thing, he's actually doing a million things. And while the things and the work that he is
00:02:56.940 doing doesn't make it to the list of things that are trending on Twitter, he is still working in
00:03:05.720 mighty and in powerful and in God-glorifying ways. And he uses, and this is something that I love about
00:03:15.700 him so much, he uses what seems like evil and what seems irredeemable, what seems like a hopeless and
00:03:24.380 destitute situation for his glory and the good of other people. Like I think back to Joseph, who was
00:03:31.980 thrown into the pit, thrown into slavery, sold into slavery by his own brothers because his brothers
00:03:39.000 were jealous. When you think about that moment, I mean, how low can you get? How despairing of a
00:03:48.260 circumstance can you be in? Thrown into a bottom of a pit only to be sold into slavery? How can anything
00:03:55.860 good possibly come from that? And yet, of course, if you know the story of Joseph, you know that it
00:04:02.300 did, that ultimately God used Joseph to then save God's people from famine. And that would not have
00:04:09.240 happened had Joseph not been thrown into the pit and sold into slavery. So when I look at all the
00:04:14.980 craziness that goes on in the world today, when I look at all the chaos and just all of the abject evil,
00:04:20.500 and I think, God, how can anything good come from this? How could you allow these things to happen?
00:04:26.900 I have to remember that God, while we may not see it, while it may not be what pops up on our
00:04:33.280 Instagram Explorer page, God is doing glorifying and good and redemptive and beautiful and healing
00:04:41.200 and saving things through that which looks hopeless. He's doing it every second of every day. He is
00:04:49.160 changing hearts. He is softening them. He is changing minds. He is winning souls. And he is
00:04:55.780 using the often unseen and unsung private, seemingly small obedience and courage of Christians to do
00:05:04.160 that. And so don't ever think that the things that you are doing in the way of obedience don't
00:05:10.920 matter. Don't ever think that when you're listening to this podcast and you hear all the big things going
00:05:16.120 on in the world, that you simply being a godly wife, a joyful mother, a friendly and generous neighbor,
00:05:25.740 a kind and compassionate friend, an involved and enthusiastic church member, a helper of the poor
00:05:35.920 and the most vulnerable. Do not think that that's not enough. You do not think that God isn't using that
00:05:42.360 to sow things that may not be reaped in the next year or in the next 50 years. You do not know how
00:05:52.340 God is using your seemingly simple acts of obedience to accomplish great and beautiful and grand and
00:05:58.860 redemptive things, not only in this life, but also in the next. And this story that you're about to hear
00:06:05.160 also reminded me of that, reminded me of how God works, reminded me of how God uses people to
00:06:11.680 accomplish the things that we cannot see and may not ever know on this side of eternity. And it might
00:06:20.120 not seem like that's connected to a story of a meat company. And yet I think that you'll see in this
00:06:27.720 conversation that it very much is. Okay, y'all, thank you so much for joining me. Can you first
00:06:45.800 introduce yourselves, who you are, what you do? Sure. My name is Ben Spell. I'm the founder and CEO
00:06:52.600 of Good Ranchers. Hi, I'm Coralie Spell. I am the other half of Ben here. Thank you so much for
00:06:59.680 having us today. Yeah, I'm so excited. People have heard me talk about Good Ranchers if they've
00:07:04.260 listened to my podcast for any amount of time at all. Once or twice. Yeah, once or twice. For the
00:07:08.980 past, I think I started in spring of last year. So it's been a little over a year. And it's just been,
00:07:16.520 I mean, it's been great personally for our family because it makes our life so much easier. But I
00:07:21.800 wanted people to get the opportunity to see the faces behind the product that I talk about the
00:07:27.820 most, the company that I talk about the most. One thing I say is one great thing about supporting
00:07:32.820 Good Ranchers is that the people behind it have the same values that we do, which a lot of people
00:07:38.260 don't. So if you could just give us a little color. I know we can't go through the whole story of how
00:07:42.820 this started. But tell us, why did you start a meat company? Yeah, that's the million dollar
00:07:50.600 question because I had no plans on even really being an entrepreneur, having a business. I come
00:07:56.520 from a ministry background from my parents, my grandparents, my uncles, my cousins. It's almost
00:08:04.220 like the family trade. But yeah, I heard God's voice say, start a meat company. Not in that tone.
00:08:14.500 And I was getting ready for work. And I came out and I told Coralie, I think God just told me to
00:08:20.960 start a meat company. And she said, okay, let's do it. And that-
00:08:24.120 And when was that?
00:08:25.640 2017, into 2017.
00:08:27.240 And was it, I mean, was it truly random? Like you suddenly felt the conviction, okay,
00:08:31.680 this is what I want to do? Or now that you're looking back, do you see some things that kind
00:08:36.140 of led up to that moment?
00:08:38.600 Yeah. Well, so I had worked for a meat company very, very briefly, you know, because I told you
00:08:46.820 I was in ministry before. I took a sabbatical, took some time and I, and just to kind of figure
00:08:53.260 out like life, what's next, that kind of thing. And worked for this meat company. And in the very
00:09:00.140 short time that I worked for them, I was doing outside sales. I realized, man, there's not a lot
00:09:06.900 of truth. Like there's so much, there's so many misleading claims. And even in like the way they,
00:09:12.300 they would teach us and tell us what to say and all that stuff. And I just, the little bit I learned
00:09:17.520 there was just a lot of misleading claims. You really can't trust anybody. And I thought, man,
00:09:23.260 if, if this company is, is doing this, how many other companies are doing it? Um, and so I just
00:09:30.060 thought, um, I feel like this could be done with morals and ethics and, and actually sell, sell what
00:09:37.260 you're saying you're selling and that kind of thing. And so, um, I stopped doing that and I got
00:09:43.520 back into, um, to, to doing ministry. I was a worship pastor. So I was, um, leading worship from
00:09:49.620 at different churches around the Houston area. Um, and, uh, but yeah, it was just kind of stirring
00:09:55.320 inside of me. I just, I was thinking someone should do it. It was one of those things. And
00:09:58.860 then one day God just said, you do it. Yeah. And you were in event planning and wedding planning,
00:10:04.460 right? Coralie. Yes. And I still have that going on. I'm not so much involved with it,
00:10:08.820 having all the babies, but yeah, that's still running. Um, so we were doing that at the moment.
00:10:13.780 And so I was already used to starting my own business. My parents have started their own
00:10:18.640 business. So I feel like God really set me up to be able to respond in that way to him. Just
00:10:24.680 laying that on me like, Hey, let's start a meat company. Sure. Let's do it.
00:10:28.760 Right. Entrepreneurship and like taking those risks is not something that's foreign to you.
00:10:33.200 It's kind of exciting, which not everyone does have that kind of background and preparation.
00:10:37.440 For sure. Yeah. So I felt comfortable with it. Um, you know, and all along the way, I mean,
00:10:42.960 God has just gone before us and in every step of it. So it's been really easy. I mean,
00:10:47.600 there's lots of hard work that goes into it, but it feels right. You know, it doesn't feel like we're
00:10:51.580 doing the wrong thing. Um, and also at the, that same time we were having our first baby. So,
00:10:56.820 and you know, with having kids, like you start thinking about what you're eating,
00:11:00.960 what they're eating, you're the gatekeeper for your home, like what you're bringing in.
00:11:05.140 And so I feel like that started, that was the beginning of my toxic free almost journey or as
00:11:13.780 much as you can. Um, so yeah, just questioning like what we're eating and going into all the
00:11:18.560 claims for the meat, making sure all that's clean, like that kind of all happened at the same time.
00:11:22.420 So I don't know anything about how you start this kind of business. So you decided to start a
00:11:41.600 meat company. Did you know right away that it was going to be a meat delivery service or did that
00:11:47.160 kind of develop over time? Yeah. Um, it all developed over time. And, um, you know, it's
00:11:51.980 one of the, the, the things about, you know, when God speaks to you, um, um, you know, like when God,
00:11:59.580 there's a difference between God's promise and then God's like command, um, you know, cause God's
00:12:03.960 promise never changes. If he gives you a promise in your life, like you can hold onto that forever. But,
00:12:08.620 um, um, I personally believe that when God speaks commands, um, you have to go and you just, you
00:12:15.960 know, he never gives the full picture. Um, but when you, you know, when you take the step and you
00:12:21.940 start, you know, you start following, I love that Corley said, God goes before us. Um, it's, it really
00:12:27.060 just has been, you know, people ask me, um, pretty regularly, like, because every business is supposed
00:12:32.380 to have like a North star, like what's your, your North star. And ours really is, um, I mean,
00:12:37.040 not to like over spiritualize it, but it really is just, um, following the Holy spirit and listening
00:12:42.680 to God's voice. And, um, and so, yeah, we, we, we, what, who we are right now is nothing like
00:12:50.620 where we started. I mean, um, cause we didn't know anything. We didn't, we had no connections. We had
00:12:55.940 nothing. We didn't realize there was such a war on American agriculture. We didn't realize that
00:13:01.920 American farmers, American ranchers, um, were hurting. Um, um, um, we had no idea of that when
00:13:08.380 we, when we started. Um, yet we named our company good ranchers from the beginning. Um, so God knew,
00:13:14.120 um, you know, the, the, the plan. Yeah. Um, but yeah, we, we sure didn't. So we started selling,
00:13:21.160 um, uh, in parking lots out of a truck. It was me selling meat out of the back of a truck in a parking
00:13:26.640 lot and a tent, uh, in a mall in Waco, Texas. And, um, just, and you advertised it as like,
00:13:32.100 this is meat from local ranchers. Not at first. Um, not, not at first. Um, because, uh, uh, at,
00:13:40.240 when we very first started, um, we, we weren't able to buy direct, like we had to go through
00:13:46.760 suppliers, middlemen, you know, all that things. Um, and, um, and as we learned and as we began to get
00:13:56.360 buying power, we could start chipping away the middlemen and finally were able to get, um, and
00:14:02.460 then like, we didn't realize that, um, when we started, we had no idea that in 2015, the country
00:14:08.760 of origin labeling law was just completely removed on beef and pork in the U S prior to 2015, you had
00:14:15.720 to report, um, you had to put the country of origin on every piece of meat that's sold in the grocery
00:14:20.740 store. It's still on vegetables, fruits, all your food in the grocery store tell you where the country
00:14:25.940 of origin is not beef in 2015, uh, the U S government was lobbied, um, by the, the big powers that there
00:14:33.460 are, um, which happened to be, um, uh, a Brazilian owned company. Um, and, uh, so, uh, South America,
00:14:42.420 you know, has a lot of land for cattle and they thought, well, they realized we can import that into
00:14:49.820 the U S and sell it for way more money than we can sell it here. Um, so paid a lot of money, had the
00:14:56.440 country of origin labeling law, uh, just completely taken away. Just on beef or is it chicken? Beef
00:15:02.080 and pork on beef and pork. Okay. Yeah. Um, and so now beef can be imported into the U S and they can
00:15:09.280 put an American flag sticker on it and call it product of USA. Um, as long as it was, um, packaged
00:15:14.820 here. So they import the whole primals. I didn't know. I don't think I knew that. Yep. Yep. Yep.
00:15:20.660 And, uh, and since 2015, over a hundred thousand, um, independent farms, uh, ranches in the U S have
00:15:27.480 went out of business. And these are ranches that over, yeah, it's about 20,000 a year since 2015.
00:15:33.320 Wow. Yep. And nobody's talking about this, like, uh, in, in, in the agriculture community,
00:15:38.420 they're all talking about it. They, um, but as far as like a nation, like the where, you know,
00:15:44.360 we just go to the grocery store, we just buy what's sitting there. Right. And especially if
00:15:48.820 it says product of the USA, I'm thinking that this is from an American farmer ranch. And I have read
00:15:55.080 in my, in my script before that about 80% of the beef is actually imported from overseas. And yet
00:16:02.140 whenever I go to the grocery store, all I'm seeing are stickers that say product of the USA. I'm like,
00:16:06.340 huh, where is this like 80%? But now I know it's just, if it's packaged, they can say product of the
00:16:11.980 USA, but it's really from Nicaragua. That's right. That's right. If it, if it, um, like when you buy
00:16:17.540 beef from us, it says born, raised and harvested in the USA. Um, if it says that, then, then it is.
00:16:23.540 Um, if it doesn't say born, raised and harvested in, in USA, most likely it's not because if they
00:16:29.740 could make that claim, they would. Um, but again, um, yeah, I mean, billions, billions and billions
00:16:36.500 of pounds of beef are imported into the U S every year. So tell me why is it important then for y'all
00:16:43.020 because there are other meat subscription companies out there who get their beef from overseas. Um, so
00:16:49.660 why is it important for y'all to support specifically American farms and ranches?
00:16:55.100 I mean, why not? This is where, I mean, this is our country. This is where we live and this is where
00:17:01.040 we, you know, we want to raise our family, where we are raising our family. And, and, um, we, you
00:17:06.900 know, we, we believe this is the, this is the greatest country in the world. And, um, and it's,
00:17:15.540 the backbone is agriculture. Um, that's the, the, the farmers and ranchers, they work really hard,
00:17:21.080 um, to put food on our table, to put food on, um, if you're listening to this, a farmer,
00:17:28.360 a rancher somewhere, uh, worked, um, to put the food that's, that's in your refrigerator,
00:17:33.540 um, there. And, um, yeah, the, they, they deserve, um, better than what they're getting right now.
00:17:41.920 And so, you know, we've, we drew a line in the sand, um, uh, about three years ago, um, because
00:17:48.780 early on, we didn't know that that was even a thing. Cause it's just, it's, um, you just buy,
00:17:54.580 you just source it where you can get the best price, right? Cause that's what the grocery store
00:17:58.480 does. That's what everybody does. Um, but when we started really diving into this and,
00:18:03.020 and exploring and looking into it, we went, Oh man, this is actually much bigger.
00:18:07.240 Um, this is a much bigger issue. And so, yeah, we, we, um, we had the, have had lots of opportunities
00:18:14.480 to source from overseas to source. I mean, we were contacted. It's probably cheaper to do that.
00:18:19.920 It's much cheaper. You can get the, the stuff that sells for way more money at Whole Foods and,
00:18:25.900 and, and stuff, um, um, is the, it's, I mean, it's so cheap. Like you could buy,
00:18:33.020 we could buy that for less than we could buy like USDA select, which we don't, we don't sell that,
00:18:38.920 but that's like the lowest grade in the grocery store. Um, so the stuff that you're paying a premium
00:18:44.120 for at Whole Foods that says product of the USA and has all these claims, um, is actually cheaper to
00:18:49.140 buy than the cheapest, um, meat you could, you know, get in the grocery store. So.
00:19:05.800 Isn't it strange how agriculture has become so political? Like we're looking at places like
00:19:12.120 Sweden, how they're being shut down. Some of their farms are being shut down and the government is
00:19:16.700 saying, well, it's because of methane emissions. And in order to save the climate, we apparently
00:19:22.000 have to shut down these farms, but especially when it comes to meat, I mean, meat is becoming
00:19:26.800 increasingly demonized. And we're told the, not just the thing to do for the climate, but the thing
00:19:32.960 to do for your health is to eat this fake meat that is filled with soy and all kinds of things.
00:19:40.560 It does seem to me though, that a lot of very natural people are waking up to the unhealthy
00:19:48.480 ingredients in the fake meat kind of stuff and realizing that like meat is good for you. And
00:19:54.860 it's something that carries the nutrients that we really need. So what has y'all been, what has
00:20:00.240 been y'all's experience when it comes to the politics surrounding meat in agriculture and also
00:20:05.680 the politics surrounding like militant veganism?
00:20:08.980 Yeah. I would say there's a war on tradition really. It's, it's, it's, it's with meat and
00:20:14.940 everything, but there's a, I mean, you know, this, there's a war on just tradition, family,
00:20:19.980 truth. Yeah. Eating real food, just like it's, it's self-reliance.
00:20:24.860 All the things, all the things that somehow got us here as a people are all the, are now the things
00:20:30.880 that are killing us, which is just, they say is killing us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What do you,
00:20:36.340 what do you think? Well, I just, yeah, you look at the fake meat and you look at the packaging and
00:20:41.040 I mean, how many ingredients do you see? Like 30 at least? A million. Yeah. And you compare it to
00:20:45.380 like a nice piece of real beef. It's kind of a no brainer. And I feel like not, not even with just
00:20:52.500 like the meat industry, but every other industry, I feel like there's so much greenwashing that's
00:20:57.980 happening, you know, all these claims, organic, non-GMO, like all the things. And they're putting
00:21:03.860 all of these claims on their products. But when you kind of like dig deeper, it doesn't mean that
00:21:09.240 it's necessarily healthier. Yeah. And I feel like they're tricking people. And it's the same thing
00:21:13.420 with the country of origin labeling that we see with the meat. They're doing it with, with everything
00:21:17.780 else. So I, and you're right, people are waking up to it and I'm so glad to see that, but it's,
00:21:24.080 it's definitely, it's happening. And yeah. Yeah. When y'all say that you have better than organic
00:21:29.680 chicken, what does that mean? Yeah. Let's talk about that. Um, yeah. Well, what Corley was just
00:21:34.440 saying, like the, the organic label, it used to mean something. Um, but, uh, it's when, when money
00:21:41.480 gets involved, people have a way of manipulating things to, to, to be the most profitable. And, um,
00:21:47.880 when the industry realized, Oh, um, people will pay more for organic. Um, then they, they, they,
00:21:55.340 they like, what is the cheapest way we can get the organic label on there? Um, and just because
00:22:00.880 it's organic, all that means is they were fed organic feed and they had access to outside.
00:22:05.780 It doesn't mean that they're pasture raised. It doesn't mean that they were actually roaming.
00:22:09.480 Um, and so there's these massive commodity, um, chicken farms that are just the huge warehouses
00:22:16.860 full of chickens that never go outside. Yeah. They have access to outside, which is a,
00:22:22.620 is a 18 inch little hole over on the side. So they have access if they want it to, but I mean,
00:22:29.000 yeah. Chicken's not really thinking, Hey, yeah. And most of them have been stuffed in those cages
00:22:34.060 for so long. They don't even know. That's right. That's right. But, um, so that gets an organic
00:22:38.660 label because they were fed organic feed and they had access to outside. So, um, so that's why we,
00:22:45.580 we, we say better than organic because, um, our chickens actually do go outside. They actually do,
00:22:51.140 um, roam. Um, and you can taste the difference if, if, um, it's, you know, people have started
00:22:57.840 saying I came for the steak, but I stayed for the chicken. Um, yeah. So, so that's, that's the
00:23:03.240 difference there. And, uh, something that people have been concerned about lately is seed
00:23:08.580 oils and that includes things like canola oil. And you guys have recently made a big change when
00:23:16.160 it comes to seed oils and the canola oil that was in the marinade for the chicken. So what was that?
00:23:22.140 Yeah. So the reason we were using canola oil is, is because it has a higher heat, um,
00:23:28.700 tolerance, a hollow smoke point, um, than olive oil. Um, and so the, and we, and we were using an
00:23:37.440 organic canola oil, non-GMO, um, for that, but, um, yeah, seed oils is definitely, but it, I mean,
00:23:45.040 it is a thing. Um, and, um, so yeah, we just completely removed it, um, from, from the marinade and,
00:23:52.720 um, and there still might be some in circulation right now that have it. So if someone got a box
00:23:58.180 right now, it might say it on there, but you have to get through the inventory that you currently have,
00:24:02.740 which is awesome. So if you're looking to get rid of seed oils in your life, which I am, but it's
00:24:07.420 really difficult. It's really difficult. Then you can at least know for sure that the marinade that
00:24:12.500 you're getting from good ranchers doesn't have that in there, which is just a comfort for a lot of
00:24:16.940 people. And that's just, I mean, that's not guaranteed when you're going to the grocery store and
00:24:21.740 you're getting the pre-marinated chicken there. For sure. What I like about it is that it just,
00:24:26.540 it just makes my life easier when I'm like, Oh gosh, it's five o'clock. And I haven't even thought
00:24:31.620 about dinner. I don't have to worry about it because I've got a freezer full of meat that I
00:24:36.640 know is good and that I can rely on. And it's super easy right there. Just cook it. And I always,
00:24:42.480 I don't have to wonder, Oh, is this good? Cause I got it from Kroger instead of Whole Foods or
00:24:46.560 whatever. It's the same. And so that's what I like about it. I think that's what
00:24:50.480 my audience likes about it too. I mean, you know, you're a mom of four and you're busy and it's
00:24:55.520 like the afternoon goes by like that and you just want it to be easy. Yeah. So, and it's nice to only
00:25:00.900 have to worry about like what sides you're going to be cooking that night. Yes. Cause you already
00:25:04.840 have your meat. You're like, is it steak, chicken, seafood, and then you, you know, choose whatever
00:25:09.420 side you have in the fridge. Yeah. Corley has been the R and D of good ranchers all along. So
00:25:16.060 yeah. And our, and our kids, if they don't need it, if, if, if, if she wouldn't, if she won't eat
00:25:21.640 it, then we don't bring it into our house. Like we only sell everything we sell online. We bring into
00:25:26.380 our home and we feed our own family. Yeah. And if our kids don't like it, well, you know. Yeah.
00:25:32.580 Well, that's it or miss depending on their age. Yeah.
00:25:46.240 Okay. What would you tell, give me, give me some advice, some wisdom for other Christians who are
00:25:52.420 business owners who are thinking about starting a business? What are some things that you've learned
00:25:57.400 some like challenges and triumphs that if you could just tell someone who was right in front
00:26:02.580 of you, who is kind of doing the same sort of entrepreneurial endeavor, like that you wish
00:26:08.280 someone would have told you at the beginning? I know that's a big question. Yeah. I'll let you lead
00:26:14.280 that one. Yeah. So kind of what I said earlier is, is, you know, take the steps and go. There's no
00:26:25.480 playbook. Like we, um, early, early on was, was, was, I've read lots of books and I do encourage
00:26:31.540 reading and studying and learning. Um, but I, I, for a long time I was looking for, um, someone that
00:26:40.480 could tell me what to do. I was like, and, or a book that would just give me the, the, the, the
00:26:46.640 information or the, the idea or the, the strategy. Um, and it doesn't exist because if it did, then,
00:26:53.720 you know, if, then everyone would read that book and everyone would just, just do it. And, um, uh,
00:26:59.380 you know, for us, it really has, it really has just been, um, one, we know we heard God's voice
00:27:05.180 to do it. Um, and then, um, you know, like after she said, yeah, let's do it. Let's go. Um, um,
00:27:14.160 one morning very shortly after that, I was praying and I, and I asked God like, how are we going to get
00:27:18.780 favor with suppliers and, and cities and, and, and all these things. And, um, and he said,
00:27:25.540 give, he put that, he just spoke it very clearly. And I'm like, well, of course you would say that
00:27:30.740 God. Um, but, um, and so we kind of thought, well, what does that mean? And then we, we said,
00:27:36.320 you know what, since we're going to be selling food and we're going to be going into these cities,
00:27:39.000 um, let's make each of our location, let's make our, you know, we started with one, but let's make
00:27:43.520 that location a food drive. And, um, and so we set up, we made it a food drive. We told people
00:27:49.800 to bring non-perishable food items. We partnered with the food bank there, um, in Waco, um, Texas
00:27:55.060 at the time. And then, um, and we really felt like that was like something that we need to make a part
00:28:00.700 of our business of partnering with food banks everywhere we go. Um, well, sure. When right from
00:28:06.680 Waco, um, I, I, I felt like we were supposed to come and open up in Houston, uh, where we live,
00:28:12.720 which is a much bigger market, much more expensive, um, a lot more overhead. And, um,
00:28:19.260 by the way, we, we had no money when we started, like, uh, we had no money to like actually start
00:28:23.900 a business. Um, uh, I don't recommend this, but borrowed my money from my mother-in-law. Um,
00:28:30.200 and, uh, thanks mom. And, uh, if she's listening, we, we actually paid her back, but she still thinks
00:28:37.320 that we, we owe her a little bit, but, um, interest. I digress. Yes. Yeah.
00:28:42.720 Um, and, uh, but we, we did, we borrowed a little bit from her. We had a little bit in savings,
00:28:46.800 but I mean, not a lot. And, um, we, um, we, again, we heard God's voice say to, to open up
00:28:54.400 Houston, which was a lot more expensive. And, um, um, so we did, we followed, you know, we, we started
00:29:00.040 trying to do those things. And so, um, we had everything, we had meat ordered, we had trucks,
00:29:05.100 we had, um, uh, we had to do multiple locations. I have six brothers. Um, so, um, I was on the,
00:29:11.840 like, I called all of them like, Hey, come to Houston and we're going to, we're going to do,
00:29:15.380 um, these, these sales. And, and, um, uh, not all of them came, but a handful of them did. And,
00:29:21.380 um, so we had everything set up, ready to go. We had our permits and everything. And the health
00:29:27.640 department called about two days before we were supposed to open all the money's invested,
00:29:31.460 all the meats already bought radio advertising, everything's done and paid for non-refundable.
00:29:37.480 Um, and the health department called and said, Hey, we're not going to allow you to do any of this
00:29:42.820 because we don't allow this in the city of Houston. You can't sell food unless you're,
00:29:47.340 unless you're tied to an event. And I'm just quite crushed. I'm like, Oh gosh,
00:29:51.200 what are we going to do? And I'm like, we just had our first child, um, um, bear. And I'm thinking,
00:29:58.100 oh man, I took, I took my mother-in-law's money. I've maxed out all of our credit cards.
00:30:03.220 Like, you know, like, um, and, uh, I, I hang up the, you know, I try to go around and around with
00:30:08.620 this, with the health department official, um, asking, is there any ways, what can we do? What
00:30:13.200 can we, and she's like, absolutely not. We just don't allow it. Um, uh, I hang up the phone. I'm
00:30:18.120 like scared, devastated, all these things. Um, and I go and I talk to Coralie and she said,
00:30:24.480 um, what did you, did you tell her about the food drive? And I was like, no, I didn't,
00:30:30.240 I didn't really think about it, but yeah, let me call her back. And I called, I called her back and
00:30:33.520 I said, Hey, um, we're partnering with the Houston food bank and each of our locations is a, is a food
00:30:38.920 drive. Would that be considered an event? And she said, Oh yeah, absolutely. Oh, okay. And yeah,
00:30:44.460 the only way they would give the permit is if it was an event. Yeah. But I said, but I said that to say,
00:30:50.200 you know, from the very beginning, God said to give and to partner with food, food banks
00:30:55.200 and, um, and we could have opened up in Waco with or without it. But when we, when it came
00:31:01.240 time to open up Houston, we wouldn't have been able to been in, you know, in business
00:31:06.000 and, and opening up in Houston is really what launched us and is really what launched good
00:31:11.540 ranchers. Cause it was, it was, um, it was extremely successful, um, thankfully, because I
00:31:17.980 mean, um, the, the day before we opened up, we went to the gas station, uh, we were running
00:31:23.460 around getting permits and getting signs and getting all the things. And, um, Crow was
00:31:27.100 in the car with me and, um, I ran in to get like water and a protein drink and every credit
00:31:31.980 card was getting declined. Like we, I mean, all of our money, I mean, when I tell you we
00:31:36.200 went all in, we went all in and, um, and yeah, there was no funding, no, nothing like
00:31:43.100 that. So, yeah. Well, that's amazing. Well, I'm so thankful for how much it's grown and
00:31:47.600 for what you're doing also for American farms and families or American farms and ranches,
00:31:52.500 but also for American families and bringing American meat to their house and making their
00:31:59.300 life easier and doing it in a way that is obedient to God. And the thing that I would
00:32:04.100 say that I kept hearing in your story is simply doing the next right thing in faith. Um, and
00:32:09.380 trusting that the Lord is going to take care of the unknowns when we walk with him in obedience.
00:32:13.580 And so I'm thankful for that and everything that you guys are doing and for your family
00:32:18.940 and that you're such a strong supporter of this show too. We will be here supporting
00:32:24.100 good ranchers till the end, till the end, till Jesus comes back.
00:32:27.620 That's right. Um, all right. Thank you guys so much for joining us. I really appreciate
00:32:31.140 it. Oh, and you have it. Did you have a, uh, for us?
00:32:34.020 Yeah. We were going to do for your, um, for your listeners because, um, you, we have been
00:32:39.060 with you for over a year now. And, um, yeah. So I was an alley fan before good ranchers
00:32:44.420 came to alley. So yeah, she, she's like, you, you should really look into this alley stuck.
00:32:51.680 I didn't know who you were. Um, sorry, but I do now, um, uh, yeah, we want to, um, for,
00:32:58.100 for your listeners. Um, we right now we're doing free ground beef, free Wagyu ground beef
00:33:02.260 with every purchase. Um, but, uh, we're going to do for your listeners. Um, we'll just for
00:33:07.920 the, uh, for the month of October, um, we're going to do the free ground beef plus the $30
00:33:12.800 off that you normally give. Awesome. Same link, same promo code. Yep. Just, yep. For
00:33:17.120 Allie. Go to rangers.com slash Allie, promo code Allie. Y'all should have it memorized by
00:33:20.880 now. Um, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much. Month of October. That's great. And we'll
00:33:25.060 do the link and all of that in the description of this episode. Well, thank you guys so much for
00:33:30.120 coming on. I really appreciate it. No, we really appreciate you having us.