Toni Reece: Hi there. I’m Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Ben Ross with me. Welcome.
Ben Ross: Thank you.
Toni: So, take a moment, Ben, and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Ben: I am originally from just south of Cleveland, Ohio. Went to college in Grove City, which is out in Western PA. I came to Berks County, to Shillington, in 2003, me and my wife. My wife is from here. Our plan had been just to stay for the summer. Here we are all these years later, and it really does feel like home. I remember when we had felt called to stay long term; there was initially this sense of, “This is never going to feel like home. Cleveland’s home.” In large part because of the people, it has become home. I know early on being here there was that sense of to be an outsider is tough, and I disagree. I feel like we have been well received.
I was a pastor full-time for about a decade, and then over the last two-and-a-half years, still an elder in my church, but my full-time occupation is with Burkey Construction. I’m a project manager there now, and I love it. I genuinely love it, because Burkey’s desire really is to make Berks County better. We do projects all over the area — New Jersey, all over the place — but for so many of us, our heart is here. Construction is this really cool opportunity to engage and interact with a lot of different people and help whether it be universities or private institutions, to help their dreams become a reality. I really have loved doing that and loved being a part of this community.
Toni: That’s fantastic. Let’s go into the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Ben: I think I come at that with a couple presuppositions or assumptions about people and about how we are called to be connected. I think three of those, kind of quickly, are that every person is wonderfully made and has unique gifts and abilities. Two, the vast majority of us — and I would put myself in this category — are tempted to play it safe. Stick with what feels normal; to not always be willing to step out of our comfort zones. Three, I think we all thrive when we’re in community. We were made to be connected together.
With that undergirding, just the way I look at life, I think for me, inspiration is anything that pushes you out of your comfort zone; to be stretched, to be challenged, to take risks that you might grow in not just your abilities that you’ve been given by God, but grow in your impact. I think at times, all of us get to certain places on the road of life, and instead of seeking to take new ground in our own personal development or grow in the impact we can have in our community, we’re tempted to hole up and say, “Okay, good enough. I’ve grown enough. My impact is satisfactory.”
I think inspiration is that push that says, “You’re not done yet. You can grow in those gifts and abilities. You can grow in the impact you can make,” which, as I tease that out in my own mind, I think that working definition means that inspiration can come from positive experiences and negative experiences, which at first I don’t think sounds right. When I think about inspiration, I think about that joyful feeling of being pushed, but I think all of us can certainly grow from watching people who are amazing at their craft, or people that really kind of put the wind in our sails.
I also think we can be inspired in really redemptive ways by walking through trials and hard experiences. I’m about to be 40. As I look back on my life, I think I’ve grown as much, if not more, and been inspired through some of the hard trials and experiences that I’ve been through as much as the really successful seasons.
I think the point I’m trying to make is that inspiration comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes, and we can be motivated to grow through a lot of different experiences. At least for me, I want to constantly be intentional not to just put inspiration in this one box, but to say it can come in a lot of different ways.
Toni: So, this sense of connection, community, that we all have our gifts and being inspired to do better, be better, move out of our comfort zone — when you take all of that, which you describe as inspiration for you, how do you take all of that then and put that into practice here in Berks County?
Ben: I think there’s some formal ways we can do that, but I think a lot of it is informal daily opportunities. I would put that in a couple different places for me. One, it’s just to be intentional, to engage people each day, right? I appreciate technology that allows this interview to be broadcast. I appreciate having a phone and having email opportunities to be able to talk to people at work. Technology is good, but I want to engage with humans. I want to talk to you. I want to get to know you.
Again, being in construction is great, because you can interact with presidents and ADs of universities. You can interact with big wigs at Penske. You get to interact with small business owners, architects, construction workers in the field. You get this opportunity just to meet people. Part of that for me is that Berks County is made up of wonderful people that have unique passions, unique abilities, unique gifting, and so it’s just to engage people with questions. I’ve always loved that, even as a teenager.
I remember in high school there would be the cliques — here’s the band kids, and here’s the artists, and here’s the musicians. I did not want to be confined to one table, because even the skaters, that passion for skateboard and hacky sack when I was a kid, “Why? Why do you love skateboarding? Why do you love music?” I think it’s just the way I’m wired is I want to engage people and get to know them.
I remember when my wife and I were dating, she would see me get into these really amazing conversation places, and she’d say, “How do you do that?” I said, “It’s not special. I’m not impressive. It’s just getting to know people and asking questions.” So, I think one is just every day I have an opportunity to be around certain people, and I want to engage them and learn from them. Then there is — and this is like that mentor/mentee relationship — again, not always in formal ways.
When I was again a teenager, I remember thinking, “Man, somebody who’s in their early 30s, late 30s, early 40s, they must be on cruise control. They must just have it all together.” Now that I’m almost 40, I realize that that’s just not the case. I want to grow as a husband. I want to grow as a father. I want to grow as a project manager. I want to grow as a Christian. There’s just so many areas I want to grow, so I need to be poured into. I need people helping me see my blind spots, helping me see where I need to be stretched, where I need to take steps of faith. I want men and women in my life pouring into me. Again, not always in this, “You are the mentor.” Sometimes it’s just people that don’t see themselves as impressive, but I see that they’re further along than me. At the same time, I want to pour into others, right?
I have been married 17 years. We do have four kids. I have walked this road a little bit, and so even guys at work who are in their early 20s, how can I, without, “I’m going to be your mentor. I’m going to pour into you.” Just be available and talk to them and ask them how they’re doing.
Toni: What I’m hearing from you is that how you put it into practice is that you really are inspired by humanity.
Ben: Yeah.
Toni: That’s what I’m hearing. You are inspired by humanity, by the human transaction, by your neighbors, and you create spaces to step in that and learn from them as well as create spaces so that they can learn from you. That’s awesome. So, who in Berks County inspires you?
Ben: There’s a lot. I think this interview could go long in sharing just different people along my journey that have impacted me. Three in this season that I have just benefited from. One most importantly would be my wife. She’s not this extrovert person. She would not want to do an interview like this, but she models what it means to really love people well.
When I first met her, we were just friends. We worked at a camp together. We were both camp counselors. Just watching her care for what was her little tribe; they were 9- to 10-year-old girls, and this sense of her being willing to do anything and be silly and funny to give them a great experience. Then, as I got to know her, her heart for adoption and getting us to be able — we have both biological and adoptive kids. Watching her heart for that, and even now. She has her certification as a teacher. I think she certainly can be a full-time teacher if she wanted to, but she subs at Mifflin, and her heart is really for those who are in most need of care. I think sometimes the kids who are hardest to love is just where her heart goes, and that inspires me just to get outside of myself and not be this selfish person that I can be tempted to be. So, I think my wife.
Eric Burkey, who I work with. Like I said in the intro, construction wasn’t my background. I don’t have a degree in it. It was really sitting down with Eric and hearing his heart for people. Eric has this amazing ability to both model and push you at the same time, where he shows what it looks like to engage and care for people. He genuinely does want to help owners. It’s not just about making money. I don’t think I could be in a company where it was just about making money. I need, as you’re hearing from me, that sense of connection, and he has that. Again, that ability — because I’ve seen leaders who can instruct and instruct and instruct and never say, “Okay, now it’s time for you.” I’ve seen leaders who just push you out the door and it’s like, “Good luck!” He has an amazing ability to both model and that sense of, “Ben, I think there’s more that you can do. I think you haven't got to your capacity yet.”
Then, a dear friend of mine who’s a senior pastor at Trinity Bible Fellowship church, Dan Williams. Him and Eric are very different in some ways, but very similar in that sense of casting vision for people. Specifically, not just kind of this generic cheesy kind of cliché type of leadership, but a sense of looking you in the eye and saying, “Here’s where you have some areas to grow. Here’s where I see wonderful abilities, and I want to help you just take those next steps.”
Toni: Wow. What amazing testimonials for these three people. So, what would you like your legacy to be?
Ben: I think legacy is a really tough question, isn't it, because I think the moment you start trying to make your legacy, you probably fail. I know you know that, so as I think about that question, and being a pastor even last Saturday I did a funeral for a man. You are kind of face-to-face with, “I’m going to be there one day. How are people going to talk about me?” I think in a very just hopefully genuine, natural way without trying to make it my cause, I think what it comes down to is I want to be known as a genuine and passionate follower of Jesus, where you can interact with me, and even if you disagree with what I believe is true, you still feel loved by me.
I think we see that with Jesus where there was a sense of, he clearly was very definitive in what he believed, and yet a whole spectrum of people felt comfortable around him. I want that. I want people, not for my own glory, but that of just to serve, for people to feel cared for by me. I think that, that sense of what we’re talking about — that people would say, “Yes, Ben inspired me, encouraged me, helped me to take those steps of risk-taking and change.”
Finally, my legacy would be beyond me. I think it’s very tempting in our culture to build a little kingdom to ourselves, because it’s measurable. The size of my house, the amount of my cars, my titles, my money — all of that can be very measurable, but it’s short-sighted if we’re living ultimately for those things. To have a big house, to have multiple cars is not inherently bad, but if all I’m living for is me, it’s only going to last as long as I’m here. I want to have a legacy or I want to live my life in a way where my impact goes beyond me; that after I’m dead and gone, people were encouraged or inspired to take steps that help Berks County to be better beyond the time that I’m here.
Toni: Ben, do you think you’re living your legacy now?
Ben: I am doing my very best.
Toni: It’s not that tough of a question, is it?
Ben: I think for me, it’s the when you’re in your 20s, you just have all the answers, and as I get into my 40s, that sense of realizing just how unimpressive I am; the amount of weaknesses and blind spots I have. I think there’s that sense of just trying daily to be faithful and not try to make some huge impact, but just to play my little part and trust that in the end analysis it’ll be fruitful.
Toni: And that’s where you are walking the talk and living your legacy in each moment and interaction, and we thank you for that, and we thank you for showing up to the Project.
Ben: Thank you, Toni.
