NCS New Canaan

Founding Chapter

A Tale of Tragedy, Triumph and Changed Lives (Tom Mallon – 1/20/23 – NCS New Canaan)

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Tom Mallon humbly shares the incredible journey that took him from growing up in southern Ohio (a la “Hillbilly Elegy”) as one of seven children with nine people living in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home to building and selling his company in an innovative way that changed the lives of his employees.

Tom describes a turning point in his faith when he asked God what it meant to be “saved”, and God vividly revealed situations in which He had provided for Tom supernaturally. From that revelation, he knew God loved him and that he was “saved”.

Tom recounts his career path from working in the local glass factory, to selling books door-to-door for seven summers (including as a Harvard Business School graduate without a job), to 11 years in commercial real estate, to watching his first business venture fail due to a bad partnership, to starting the business that he would eventually build, sell to an ESOP and then sell to a Catholic health system, resulting in the lives of his employees being profoundly changed (13 employees becoming millionaires, 3 more receiving $900,000 and even the lowest-paid employees walking away with $400-500,000).

Tom vulnerably shares how God used a triple-tragedy (death of his first business dream, death of his father, and a health challenge) to “roto-rooter” his soul in preparation for his second business venture.

He describes the growth of his second venture and the drawn-out sale process that took the business through two letters of intent before the Holy Spirit convicted him to pursue an ESOP sale by asking “what is the best business decision you can make for your company’s future that will increase the ministry and mission of the business?” Tom also shares how the faithful culture of the business grew after the ESOP sale.

Finally, Tom explains the lessons he learned about the importance of “aligned capital” and how those lessons led to the formation of his current venture, Perpetuate Capital.

Running the Good Race (Reginald Jones III – 12/16/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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With incredible humility and authenticity, Reginald “Regg” Jones III shares a unique and fascinating faith, family and life journey that had its faith roots at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Darien, site of an incredible spiritual revival documented in the book The Miracle in Darien by Bob Slosser.

Regg describes growing up with a father who decided to change the trajectory of his family by making time with his children a priority and how Regg came to face the same challenge with his own family. He explains the four “family values” that shaped much of his educational and professional journey and how he came to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord at the tender age of 11.

Jones talks about how his faith grew through the mentorship of others, the struggle he experienced after college in deciding between pursuing a path in “ministry” or “business”, how those mentors helped him choose business, and how he later came to understand that his choice was based on a false dichotomy, learning that both paths constituted “ministry”.

Regg describes his professional path through top firms such as Pepsico, Apple, Bain and Goldman Sachs, and the lessons they taught him about organizational culture. He explains how he learned to carry and share his faith in those environments and how all those lessons about culture and faith eventually helped shape the vision and culture of Greenbriar, the private equity firm he founded in his 30’s.

Regg explains the four pillars of Greenbriar’s unique culture that was born from a vision to take the best of the corporate cultures he had experienced and shape them by his faith, and he describes why he believes “love wins” even in the marketplace.

With remarkable vulnerability, Jones talks about how he navigated the challenges along the way and how God showed up with “kisses from Heaven” to encourage and guide him at just the right times. He describes challenges such as balancing a demanding career with family life, starting a new business in the midst of 9/11, and walking the “thin green line” between success and failure, always trusting in God’s providence.

Finally, Regg explains the vision that inspired his involvement in the founding of Trinity Church Greenwich.

Listen, Leap and Let God Be God (Kevin O’Bryan – 4/1/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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With NCS humor, humility and honesty, Kevin O’Bryan shares the incredible journey that led him to walk away from a successful career in architecture and project management in order to partner with his wife, Maria, in a new film and TV venture they call First Fruits Entertainment. He reveals how he has learned (through trial and error) to listen to God, take leaps of faith and then let God be God.

O’Bryan humbly shares a circuitous journey that revealed to him the truth and power of Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Kevin describes how the idea for their first film, Blue Jacket, came to him before he went to college when he was acting on the TV show “Buffy and the Vampire Slayer”. O’Bryan then shares how his life took many twists and turns before that idea resurfaced years later.

He explains how his life began to change in dramatic ways when he heard the voice of God and decided to follow it. Most dramatically, in college God gave him the plan and promise that would follow him to this day: If he took a leap of faith and moved to NYC and started a career in the arts (abandoning his planned career as an architect), God would take him on an incredible journey, he would meet his wife, and his family would join him in his new-found faith.

With tremendous transparency, Kevin shares how every element of that plan and promise from God has unfolded. He talks about how he took a leap of faith and moved to NYC to pursue the arts, and he met Maria. He vulnerably recounts how worldly financial concerns and the feeling that he had to be the “provider” for his family led him to put that plan and promise aside for 18 years pursuing financial security through a successful architecture and project management career. He also reveals how, when the stress from that path became too much and he hit a wall, God lovingly showed him his disobedience, reminded him of the plan and promise, and then showed him what was possible if he listened for God’s voice, took a leap of faith and let God be God.

Kevin admits that when he shared with Maria that he wanted to quit his secure job and pursue First Fruits Entertainment with her, she replied “Finally.”

During Kevin’s talk, he showed a “sizzle” teaser for Blue Jacket. Although the audio of that teaser has been edited out of his talk, you can watch it below.

For more information on Blue Jacket (including how you can participate), visit the Blue Jacket website HERE

Seeking God’s Will in the Big and Small (Dean Harrington – 2/21/20 – NCS New Canaan)

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While many people seek God to discern His “purpose” for their lives, Dean Harrington believes God is real and alive and wants to be even more involved in our day-to-day journey. Dean humbly and transparently shares two amazing stories–one involving his business and one involving his personal life–to illustrate that God wants to talk to us about all our decisions–big and small.

First, Dean shares a business story in which God intervened to save his business by blocking an expensive transaction. Although at the time Dean did not understand the impediment, God made clear to him in prayer that he was not to proceed. Within months the business experienced an unexpected and substantial contraction that would have killed it had the transaction gone through. After surrendering his business to God, Dean watched it go through a complete transformation as he humbly sought guidance for each decision.

Second, Dean shares a very personal story that he had never told publicly before speaking to the New Canaan Society. God pursued Dean relentlessly for many months to remove an idol from his life. Dean very humbly describes how he tried to evade God’s will, and how God kept speaking to him more clearly and loudly until he finally surrendered.

Finally, Dean shares the “abiding” process he uses daily to humble himself before God, ask specific questions and listen for the guidance of his loving Father.

Click this PDF link to download a copy of the “Abiding in the Word” document Dean made available. Abiding in the Word

My Journey to the “Why” of Work: Understanding the Intersection of Faith and Work (Paul Michalski – 1/24/20 – NCS New Canaan)

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Paul Michalski shares the seven stages of his 50-year journey in understanding the intersection of faith and work–understanding the “Why” of work. From Stage 1 of “Shallow Faith Plus Dreams” (knowing at 8 years old that he wanted to be a lawyer and being unable at 13 to reconcile the prophetic utterance by a Catholic bishop that he would “be a priest one day”) to Stage 7 of “Living My Why” through a new venture called Integrous that provides integrity advice and legal counsel to leaders serious about faith/work integration. In between, he describes stages called “Living My Dream”, “Hit by a Sledge Hammer”, “Clueless”, “Into the Wilderness” and “Bringing Faith and Work Together”.

Paul explains how it took a crisis in his marriage 2003 to awaken his faith and an Abrahamic moment in 2009 to begin a 10-year wilderness journey that including exploring identity and the intersection of faith and work.

Paul describes how he came to his personal mission (“to redeem work through the impartation of wisdom, spotlighting God’s truth and connecting its meaning to organizational cultures and practices”) and how that led to the mission of Integrous and development of the concept of “Integriosity”®. He also explains what he believes to be the three divine purposes of work and business (Humanize People, Beautify the World and Glorify God), the four steps in the process of Integriosity (Renew, Re-Imagine, Re-Align and Restore) and the four key “mind shifts” necessary for true faith/work integration.

Paul ends by sharing 18 lessons he has learned along the journey.

Click THIS LINK to subscribe to the Integriosity Blog and learn more about Integriosity®

Click the link below for a PDF of Paul’s slide presentation

http://newcanaansociety.org/new-canaan/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2020/01/My-Journey-to-the-Why-of-Work-NCS-New-Canaan-1-24-20pdf.pdf

Click the link below for a PDF of the chapter “God and Marriage” from the book Miracles by Eric Metaxas.

http://newcanaansociety.org/new-canaan/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/04/GOD-AND-MARRIAGE.pdf

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