David Weigelt

Faith driven entrepreneur and investor who loves helping business leaders grow.

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the full conversation: https://t.co/rvbLRg1odD

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

"Christ has no body now but yours."

Will Cox is CEO of Avila Home Care, a company named after Saint Teresa of Avila, who said exactly that. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.

It isn't just a name. It's their foundation.

Will employs 700 caregivers serving hundreds of seniors across Maryland. He personally interviews new ones every week and tells each the same thing. Every person is made in the image of God. Regardless of diagnosis. Regardless of ability. You deserve love, care, and respect.

He hires people of all faith. He hires people of no faith. But that belief changes the work.

Show up for a paycheck and it's a job. Show up believing the person your caring for bears the image of God and it's a calling.

You can feel the difference. So can the families they serve.

That's what comes to life when the work is sacred.

See in the comments for a link to the full Leaders On Tap conversation.

@c12forums #FaithAndWork #Caregiving #LeadersOnTap

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the full conversation: https://t.co/U29FB8nIhc

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Dropping this week on Leaders On Tap: my conversation with Kevin Heffner, president of Lifespan Network.

We met virtually as Kevin spends two days a week with his father, the man he'll tell you taught him everything about servant leadership.

It's a warm, intimate conversation, and Kevin's heart for others comes through in how he leads the Mid-Atlantic's largest association for senior care providers. We get into how God led him to this work, his parents' impact on his leadership, and how Lifespan's culture shapes both their tenure and their mission.

As always, Leaders On Tap is brought to you by C12 Business Forums in Maryland, where smart Christian leaders know we weren't meant to lead alone.

You can find a link to the full episode in the comments below. Enjoy.

@c12forums #servantleadership #seniorcare

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the full conversation here: https://t.co/5TbK04nwhI

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

"I had to trust Him with everything: the work, the customers, the opportunities, the chance to lead."

That's how Gregory Baseman described the leap.

No track record. No proof he was ready. Just stepping into opportunities he hadn't earned yet, trusting God would hand him the work and walk him through.

The kicker?

The failures that felt like setbacks were the foundation being built. He just couldn't see it yet.

The leap often comes before the readiness. Just one part of a great conversation.

🎧 New episode of Leaders On Tap, live now on YouTube and Spotify. See link in comments below.

@c12forums

#FaithAndWork #ChristianLeadership #LeadersOnTap #KingdomBusiness

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

A COO I work with is getting questions about whether AI is going to take people's jobs.

Her response: "I don't know. Do you think when you work? If you don't, you probably won't have a job."

A little harsh but I like it. AI doesn't have to replace thinkers. It does expose those who've stopped.

@c12forums #AI #buffaloculture

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Leaders on Tap has a new home: https://t.co/nyO2stmC7U

→ See what's coming next (Will Cox of Avila Home Care, May 28 in Frederick)
→ Meet the leaders we've sat down with — A.J. Ballantine (RENDR), Charles Griffin (NextRev), Vineet Rajan (Forte), Scott Ryser (Yakabod), Stephen Tate (BCT), and Whitney Herrington (Ascend People)
→ Watch or listen to past conversations — Live and In Studio
→ Suggest a faith-driven leader with a story worth sharing

Honest conversations with Maryland's faith-driven business leaders. Recorded in local breweries. Leadership, undiluted.

Come take a look: https://t.co/nyO2stmC7U

In grace & grit, David

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

As someone whose led innovation for a company doing business in 14 countries, let me offer an observation and a challenge: if your growth strategy assumes a million dollars today means what it did 20 years ago, something needs to change.

But here's the trap most leaders fall into. We respond by innovating everywhere at once. More initiatives. More pivots. More tinkering and noise.

Innovation rarely fails from lack of ideas. It fails from lack of focus.

This month in @c12forums  we're focused on practical, effective ways to make innovation a productive part of your company's culture. And then 12 CEOs around the table will wrestle with what that looks like in their day-to-day and what they've actually lived through.

If you're a Christian business leader in Maryland and want to learn more or request an invitation, message me or call 301-471-0373. - David

#innovation

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the full conversation at: https://t.co/fdMOnzDwJM

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Who knew that Maryland has Christian sages like Stephen Tate leading in the marketplace?

Steve is the founder and CEO of BCT, a federal IT contractor doing classified work to protect this country. He's 75 and still showing up.

In our full convo, he opens up about:

• His late wife Jackie, and the 17 years she walked through stage four cancer with a faith that never wavered.
• Being saved in 1986 by an imperfect boss who handed him his first Bible.
• Leaving the NSA after running a program so controversial they installed panic buttons on his desk.
• His father, who helped put America in the space race.
• Starting Bible studies inside classified workplaces, tithing his company from day one, and building a benevolence foundation that quietly supports pastors most people will never hear about.
• Remarrying at 75, to a woman who'd already had a 48-year successful marriage.

And this:

"Pray as if it's all dependent on God. Work as if it's all dependent on you."

In one sentence, Steve named something that many Christian leaders have forgotten. There is a theology of good work that many have lost or don't understand. Work that demands excellence because the mission is worthy. Work that respects people enough to expect their best.

The alternative is sloppy agape and Steve doesn't have time for it. Neither does the work he's doing.

60-second clip below. Full episode is live and can be found on Youtube in the link in the comments.

In grace & grit, David
@c12forums

#FaithAndWork #ChristianBusiness #LeadersOnTap

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the full conversation here: https://t.co/9qUAZ6PKcS

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

I've been blessed to have a front-row seat to Scott Ryser's leadership for over two decades. And I can tell you this - he walks the talk.

Check out this short clip as we discuss the difference between a "Christian business" and a Kingdom business that will change how you lead and impact lives.

Watch this and find a link to the full conversation in the comments👇

@c12forums

#KingdomBusiness #FaithAtWork #ChristianLeadership #LeadersOnTap

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the entire conversation at: https://t.co/r1WhkBvWAY

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

"We're all finite, fragile, fallen, and fallible humans — me king amongst those people."

That's how Vineet Rajan opened our latest Leaders On Tap conversation at RAK Brewing Co.

Vineet is the Co-founder and CEO of Forte, a mental fitness platform built to care for the whole person, "for the healthy AND the hurting." He's also a former U.S. Marine Corps Major and intelligence officer, a Stanford MBA, and Cambridge-trained scholar.

A week after 9/11, he joined the Marines. Eleven years later, he traded the uniform for the founder's seat. He was about to buy a company when, on a walk through the woods during COVID, he felt called to build one instead.

A few of the threads we pulled on:
· Why "anything worthwhile pursuing, you're not qualified to do"
· The rebrand from Paraclete to Forte, and "soul care" to "mental fitness"
· The loneliness epidemic: 3 to 5 close confidants in the 80s, less than 1 today
· Why Forte's coaches are the magic, and why an EAP is not a people strategy
· AI in mental wellness, and where humans are non-negotiable
· Building a faith-driven cap table ("God's will, God's bill")
· "We're not building a cult, we're building a company"
· Imago Dei in the product without a single "Christian" word

Plus a live Q&A and a cameo from Vineet's 10-year-old daughter Neylah.

If you're a CEO, founder, or leader trying to care for hurting people on your team, this is one of the most candid, faith-forward conversations we've had on the show.

See the link to the full conversation below.

@c12forums

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

What does a former Marine, Cambridge grad, and Stanford MBA do when he feels God calling him to build a company in a category that doesn't yet exist?

That's the story @vineetrajan23 is bringing to Leaders On Tap this Thursday.

We'll talk about his journey from the Marines to Forte, the category he's building around mental fitness, and what it takes, personally and professionally, to lead as a person of faith.

If you're a leader who has ever felt the drift between what you're doing on paper and what you're being called to, this conversation is for you.

Thursday · 3:30–5:00 PM · RAK Brewing Co., Frederick
RSVP at https://t.co/zzMhvuey5L

@c12forums

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

Watch the full conversation at: https://t.co/Zr78VqWHqx

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

I think it was Charles's 47th birthday. Only a few of the hundred or so people his wife Kim had gathered in their backyard knew they had just sold their business — and that Charles would never need to work again if he didn't want to. One by one, friends and family stepped up to a mic to share their stories about Charles. And then his dad stepped up, and in that moment, I knew why Charles is the man he is. Just one of the extraordinary men and women I get to walk with as part of my work with @c12forums .

Watch the full conversation at the link in the comments.

#LeadersOnTap #fatherhood #legacy

[David Weigelt @DavidWeigelt]

When everything feels urgent, it's easy to default to reactive thinking. But reactivity applied to complex challenges leads to fragmentation and recurring issues.

Strategic thinking isn't about having better answers. It's about asking better questions.

Here are three that can change the way your team navigates complexity:

"What do we know?"
Clarify facts, assumptions, and gaps. Separate data from interpretation.

"So what does this mean?"
Discern the implications, risks, and second-order effects for your people, mission, and legacy.

"Now what should we do?"
Translate insight into action. Identify the next faithful step, not the final answer.

These questions restrain reactive thinking without stalling progress. They reduce bias, support discernment, and create momentum rooted in wisdom rather than urgency.

Which of these three do you tend to skip or rush?

This is just one part of what we're exploring this month in C12 Business Forums, where Christian CEOs and business owners sharpen each other through real conversations about leadership, strategy, and faith at work.

Curious what a C12 peer advisory forum looks like? I'd love to tell you more. Drop a comment or send me a message.