Bill Cooper: Fired Three Times, Faithful Throughout — Building a Business to the Glory of God

When Love Leads Podcast | Hosted by Bill Marsh & Rick Hasty

What does it look like to lead a company when you genuinely believe Scripture is true — not just inspirational, but operationally true? In this episode, Bill Marsh and Rick Hasty sit down with Christian businessman Bill Cooper for an honest conversation about faith at work, biblical leadership, and what it means to build a business to the glory of God.

Bill walks us through being fired three times, buying back the company that fired him, and navigating a startup he describes as having “six Scud missiles aimed at us and only two Patriots in the storehouse.” It’s a story of providence, pruning, and the slow, sure work of being conformed to Christ in the marketplace.

About Bill Cooper

Bill Cooper is a longtime entrepreneur, executive coach, and businessman whose career has spanned multiple turnarounds, technology companies, and a startup that defied 150 combined years of his lawyers’ business experience. A husband, father, and grandfather, Bill is passionate about coming alongside CEOs and executives to help them lead well — for the glory of God and the good of others.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

• How Bill went from suppressing the truth of God to coming to faith at the summit of Mount Katahdin
• Why getting fired turned out to be one of God’s greatest mercies
• The story of a startup most lawyers said couldn’t survive — and the providence that carried it
• Why Bill wrote $400,000 in promissory notes he wasn’t legally obligated to pay
• The day he refunded $40,000 to a client who never asked for it (and what the client said in response)
• How the Golden Rule shaped his approach to a potential lawsuit against fellow Christians
• Eric Liddell’s “I feel His pleasure” question — and how Bill turned it into a hiring practice
• Why pruning hurts, and why we’d never bear fruit without it
• What he’d tell his younger self about humility, judgment, and curiosity

Memorable Quotes

“I quit using people as objects to further my own success and saw them as people I could come alongside and love and serve.””Maybe the Lord was going to use me to show the world what a Christian looks like when his business goes out of business and burns down all around him.””You can humble yourself, or God will do it for you.””The way up is the way down.””He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Timestamps

• 00:00 — Welcome & introduction
• 01:30 — Bill’s testimony: from Episcopal pews to the Appalachian Trail
• 05:00 — Getting fired the first time, and learning humility in the desert
• 07:00 — Buying back the company that let him go
• 09:00 — “Six Scud missiles, two Patriots”: surviving an impossible startup
• 12:00 — Why Bill chose the Golden Rule over a lawsuit
• 14:00 — Building a business to the glory of God: lessons for the next generation
• 16:00 — A $400,000 decision and how God provided
• 18:00 — Refunding $40,000 a client never asked for
• 20:00 — What faith at work really means (and what it isn’t)
• 23:00 — Biblical peacemaking and hiring with dignity
• 26:00 — Eric Liddell, “I feel His pleasure,” and finding gifted people
• 27:30 — Learning more from failure than success
• 30:00 — One regret, and the hardest lesson learned
• 33:00 — Closing reflections: “He must increase, I must decrease”

(Adjust these to match the actual audio timestamps after you upload — these are approximate from the transcript.)

Scripture & Resources Referenced

Scripture:

• Romans 1:18 — Suppressing the truth in unrighteousness
• Matthew 7:12 — The Golden Rule
• 1 Corinthians 10:31 — “Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God”
• 2 Corinthians 5:7 — “We walk by faith and not by sight”
• Proverbs 21:31 — “The horse is prepared for battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord”
• Matthew 5:9 — “Blessed are the peacemakers”
• John 15 — The Father pruning the vine
• Hebrews 12 — God disciplines those He loves
• John 3:30 — “He must increase, but I must decrease”
• Genesis (Jacob’s story) — God’s presence in distress

Books, People & References:

• The Peacemaker by Ken Sande
• John Piper
• Charles Spurgeon (“I will not curse the wave that throws me upon the Rock of Ages”)
• A.W. Tozer (the Red Sea reflection)
• John Calvin (“God sends a rough rider to a rough horse”)
• Martin Luther (“Make a good shoe and sell it for a fair price”)
• Chariots of Fire — Eric Liddell’s “I feel His pleasure”
• When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey

Connect With Us

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Until next time, remember the difference it makes when love leads.