Charlotte Past Events
2024 Q3 Event Speaker –
Thom Klingman
Our September event was a moving testimony from Thom Klingman, of CBI Workplace Solutions. He shared his story of how alcohol slowly began to overtake him soon after 2020, and ultimately led to a severe addition over the next few years. In 2022, Thom suffered a seizure due to withdrawals in an effort to quit. This ultimately led him to realize the reality of his addition and seek help. Months after leaving rehab, his close friend and pastor shared he was dying of renal failure. Thom felt God's call to step up and donate his kidney and turned out to be a perfect match. Through this journey, Thom committed to a healthy lifestyle and found healing, purpose, and a new connection to God's love and redemption. It was a powerful and inspiring story.
2024 Q1 Event Speaker –
Mike Harrell & Joel Palmer
In our first ever panel based discussion, our guests were Mike Harrell of Beacon Partners and Joel Palmer of Storey Program Management. Both frequent attendees of Faith Builders, each of the men shared their incredible testimonies regarding their life-altering experiences and tests of their faith. Mike shared his story on how his college-age daughter's battle with an inoperable brain tumor left them with little options and less than five months until their daughter's passing. Joel shared about the challenges of having his young son being diagnosed with leukemia, their difficult journey of bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy, remission, relapse, and repeating the difficult process all over again. Praise God, his son is in full remission.
2023 Q3 Event Speaker –
Roger Braswell
Roger Braswell is a successful entrepreneur and recently published author: Stepping into the Moment. A native of Mint Hill, he has started and led numerous companies over his successful career, Braswell’s Landscape Co, Southern Tree and Landscape Co., LandCare USA, SiteWork Systems, Compact Power Equipment, and many others. He co-founded Give Hope Global, which provides education for over 1,000 students and operates community health programs in Haiti and Ghana. He shared some of his story and encouraged the men to "wake up, step up, and provide a hand up". His humble disposition and story of success was very inspiring. To learn more or donate to his ministry, Give Hope Global, click here. To purchase a copy of his book, you can find it here on Amazon.
2023 Q2 Event Speaker –
Frank Turek
Our second event of the year welcomed our speaker, Frank Turek. Frank is a well-known Christian apologist and the founder and president of CrossExamined.org. He co-authored two books (Legislating Morality and I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist) with Christian philosopher Norman Geisler. In addition, Turek has authored two of his own books - Correct, Not Politically Correct and Stealing from God. Frank shared some incredible insight to the group regarding how we can begin to build a Biblical worldview and some simple thought-provoking strategies on how to engage people with differing or secular view points. Be sure to follow him through various media outlets. Click here for where you can hear more from Frank buy one of his books, or to donate to his important ministry.
2023 Q1 Event Speaker –
Dan Forest
Starting off our new year in 2023, former Lt. Governor Dan Forest spoke to our group about his testimony, sharing about his childhood wounds from divorce, relationship challenges with his father, finding success in business as an architect, and eventually becoming a partner at Little Architects. He shared about his faith journey and the impact his wife, Alice, had on his real encounter with Jesus during the early years of their marriage. Dan provided insights on how the Lord called him to serve in public office and the lessons he learned throughout that journey.
2022 Q4 Event Speaker –
Ted Boggs
Our final event of 2022 hosted a special guest speaker, Ted Boggs. Ted is a semi-retired family counselor in south Charlotte and has led a weekly men’s bible study called Men of Proverbs for over 15 years. Ted is a personal friend and mentor of Collin Brock, founder of our organization. Ted provided an engaging and thoughtful message on the application of wisdom and self-awareness related to topics that many men face. He spoke about the challenges that men encounter in both their personal and professional relationships, how to navigate situations in wisdom, and the power of God’s word to provide discernment when facing difficult areas of life.
2022 Q3 Event Speaker –
David Hoffman
Our second event was an incredible build-up from our first event with nearly 80 men in attendance to hear our guest speaker, David Hoffman. David has spent the last two decades building a successful concierge real estate brokerage and family of real estate services–David Hoffman Realty, Covenant First Mortgage, Beyond Title, and David Hoffman Realty New Homes, all built on a foundation of valuing relationships over transactions. David has been recognized both locally and nationally as a Realtor, CEO, and economist. David shared his powerful testimony of overcoming childhood neglect and abuse, living a life without faith to ground him during successful years in business, and his faith journey to coming to Christ later in his life. David has a new book, “Relationship Over Rules” to be released in the summer of 2023.
2022 Q2 "Be Made New" Kickoff Event Speaker –
Hutch Eckerson
Our organization kicked off our first event with guest speaker, Hutch Eckerson, a former NFL offensive lineman who played for the Chargers, Bills, Chiefs, and Saints. He was a standout during his college football career at South Carolina from 2006-2010. Hutch is now a business owner and founder of Made New Ministries, as well as involved in real estate investing. Hutch shared his story about his career-ending early, drug addiction, and being made new because of Jesus. Follow him and listen to his podcasts: bemadenew.com
2024 Q2 Event Speaker –
Carlos Esau
We were honored to have our second speaker of the year, Carlos Esau with Haggai International. Traveling from Brazil, he was able to make time in his schedule to share with our group a message of encouragement and challenge in being more engaged in our workplace and relationships. Carlos is a Maxwell Certified coach and mentor for leaders and entrepreneurs and has been working with training and developing people for over 20 years. Most recently, became an Associate Chair of C12 in south Brazil and is working with Christian CEO´s and Entrepreneurs to expand the gospel in the working place. His relentless pursuit to share the gospel was absolutely inspiring.