Before the Domain, There Was a Lion

How God Spoke, Obedience Began, and Kingdom Bitcoin Was Born

Before there was a name.
Before there was a domain.
Before there was writing, structure, or strategy.

There were visions.

God speaks to me most clearly between three and four in the morning, when the world is quiet and the Holy Spirit has room to breathe. Throughout 2024 and again in 2025, the same vision came again and again. Not as a dream. As an instruction.

A lion.
Its nose breathing deeply.
Power held in restraint.
Authority without panic.

Then people. Community forming. Teaching. Gathering. I saw myself writing. Typing. Explaining. And woven through it all, unmistakably, a bitcoin logo and a cross. Not competing. Not arguing. Aligned.

I continually asked God questions to show me more.
He did. The idea began to crystallize. I knew what He was placing on me.
The question became, will I obey?

Those visions did not come out of nowhere. They were the fruit of a long, imperfect, and deeply personal walk with God.

I was raised Catholic. From fourth grade through my MBA, my education was shaped by Catholic institutions. My faith was formed through structure, discipline, and reverence. My dad attended Catholic seminary while my mom still prays the rosary daily despite having Alzheimer’s. I love the tradition and sacredness of Catholic communion. Catholicism shaped the younger me.

But if I am honest, somewhere along the way, I was hungry for more than structure. I wanted relationship. I wanted intimacy. I wanted to hear God, not just learn about Him.

That hunger followed me west.

When I moved to Menlo Park, I began attending Menlo Church, led by John Ortberg. His teaching did something quiet but profound in me. It drew me into a deeper relationship with God. Into curiosity. Into honesty. Into prayer that felt like conversation, not recitation.

The irony still makes me smile. Before Menlo, John pastored Willow Creek, which sat almost exactly one mile from where I lived in Barrington, IL after moving out of Chicago to the burbs with two young kids. God has a way of drawing circles long before we understand them.

As a grace-filled side note, my Notre Dame commencement speaker, Condoleezza Rice, was part of the Menlo Church congregation. Seeing her nearly every week felt like a reminder that God weaves leadership, humility, and calling together in ways that only make sense later.

My prayer life deepened even further. My conversations with God became real. My faith matured.

Gratefully Denise entered my life.

She came at precisely the right moment, as only God can arrange. Denise is unlike anyone I have ever met. God is not adjacent to her life. He is central. Her faith is lived, not performed. Her discernment is sharp. Her obedience is courageous. Through her, my joy expanded. My faith deepened. My world widened.

God did not grow me in isolation.

Through Denise, He brought me into a wider Body. Not through ambition or networking, but through relationships I did not chase and lessons I did not earn. Doors opened quietly. Wisdom arrived unannounced. Covering came before clarity.

Our life is rooted in community. We worship at The Father’s House and have been shaped by leaders who carry both conviction and humility. Time spent at Bethel in Redding stretched my faith and sharpened my discernment, reminding me that the Spirit still speaks clearly to those willing to listen.

We have been pastored, not positioned. Greg Hendricks, who married Denise and me, pours into our lives with depth and steadiness. We draw strength from National Community Church and Mark Batterson’s insistence to draw the circle and that obedience creates momentum. We have been blessed by voices like Mickey Stonier at The Rock Church, who spoke life over our marriage in Italy, and by Ed Rush and the God Talks community, who continue to remind us that truth and love belong together.

There are many more who have shaped us than I can name here. That, in itself, is the point. God builds through people. He forms us through relationship. He never calls in isolation.

God has been extraordinarily faithful.

I have not been perfect. I have stumbled. I have delayed. I have misunderstood seasons. But I know this with certainty: God has been present in every step. And when I repent, obey, and submit to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, clarity follows.

Only then does the rest of the story make sense.

I have always loved writing. Long before Kingdom Bitcoin existed, writing was how I processed life and marked seasons. Every year, I publish a detailed life update alongside my Kentucky Derby selection at Riders Up. Horse racing taught me patience, pattern recognition, and humility. Last year, I handicapped the top six horses nearly perfectly, with Sovereignty winning. God’s sense of humor is impeccable. Sovereignty, I mean can I get an Amen!

At Amazon, I created and lived by a principle that shaped every team I built: If you see a blank page, be the author, not the reader. Writing six-page narratives sharpened my thinking and forced clarity with an obsession for the customer. That season expanded my capacity.

But it was not anchored first in God. That had to change.

Everyone in bitcoin is an evangelist. They are telling stories about money, trust, power, and the future. Teaching is a gift God placed in me intentionally. Kingdom Bitcoin reveals how God is awakening truth and sovereignty through bitcoin, calling His people to righteous stewardship in the digital age. That gift finally has a home aligned with its source.

On March 26, 2025, in Washington, DC, at the DC Blockchain Summit hosted at Capital Turnaround, part of National Community Church, God made it plain. As U.S. Senator Tim Scott spoke, the visions returned with full force. Tim is close to Denise and wrote the foreword to her book Politics for People Who Hate Politics.

Sitting there, God said one word. Let’s Go.

Without hesitation, I bought the www.kingdom-bitcoin.com domain right then and there.

The lion became the logo. Strength. Authority. Courage. Rendered in Notre Dame hues, honoring where I come from.

After false starts and more delays, I finally repented and obeyed.

Kingdom Bitcoin began with writing.
It will grow into much more.

Thank you for walking this journey with me.
This is where obedience begins.

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🙏 Prayer

Dear God, Thank You for the gifts You place inside us long before we understand them.

Thank You for vision, for timing, and for the courage to obey when You say move. Help us to be faithful authors of the pages You set before us, not passive readers of fear or delay. Align our work with Your Kingdom, our resources with Your truth, and our legacy with Your purpose. Teach us to build with humility, wisdom, and love. May everything we do point back to You.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 🦁📖✨💛