Cereal 4 Dinner

About Cereal 4 Dinner

Skip the pitch. Cereal for Dinner is a kitchen-counter conversation with leaders of churches, nonprofits, and faith-driven businesses about the relationships, hard seasons, and partnerships that shaped them. Hosted by RJ Caswell.

Publisher

RJ Caswell

Category

business · religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Sept 2026

Latest episode

3 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

7 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Nov 2026

   Phil Fontaine on Building a People-Centered Career

   Phil Fontaine of Faith Driven Jobs joins us to talk about building a career around people and relationships. He traces his path from early jobs through sales and recruiting into coaching, and talks about team identity, self-worth, and the people who shaped him along the way. Phil shares his advice on trusting God with what's next, his hope of becoming a community connector, and why pausing leads to more purposeful connections. He closes with practical networking tips and, of course, his cereal-for-dinner pick. Phil Fontaine has spent his career at the intersection of people and opportunity. His background spans executive recruiting, leadership and career coaching, ministry work, and resume services. After years in that work, he kept noticing two gaps. The first was on the organizational side. Faith-driven businesses, nonprofits, churches, and schools struggle to find people who are not just qualified but genuinely aligned with their mission. And believers who want to target faith-driven organizations had no clear place to go. The general job boards were not built for that. Faith Driven Jobs is. The second was on the candidate side. Hardly anyone knows how to search for a job effectively, and the landscape is changing quickly, causing confusion. The way candidates find opportunities, present themselves, and navigate hiring processes looks different than it did even a few years ago. Faith Driven Jobs is the natural extension of everything Phil has spent his career doing: helping people find a higher calling in their vocation and helping organizations find the kingdom-driven people they have been looking for. This episode is brought to you by QuestionFuel: https://questionfuel.ai/scorecard?rep=RJ Phil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-fontaine-vi/ Faith Driven Jobs: https://www.faithdrivenjob.com RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

2. 

   30 Oct 2026

   Zach Barnett on Redefining Generosity

   In this episode, Zach Barnett talks about the hospitality lessons he took from Chick-fil-A, his move from football into athletics, and how that path shaped his relationship-first approach to fundraising. At the heart of the conversation is Zach's Generosity Wheel, a way of thinking about generosity as more than money, built around your skills, your values, and the causes you care about. Plus, Zach's cereal-for-dinner pick. Generosity was part of Zach Barnett's life before it became his work. People shared what they knew, showed up for him, and said things he still carries. Zach believes people have skills, connections, and experience they want to share, too. Often, they just need help finding where to begin. That's what he writes, speaks, and teaches about: putting what we have to work for someone else. This episode is brought to you by QuestionFuel: https://questionfuel.ai/scorecard?rep=RJ Zach's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-b-a619ab5a/ Zach's website: https://zachdbarnett.com Generous Humans: https://generoushumans.com RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

3. 

   15 Oct 2026

   Nick Kalenichenko on Building Community Through Business and Ministry

   In this episode, Nick Kalenichenko traces his path from data science to people-centered work. He talks about the first person who believed in him before he believed in himself, and how his story led him to start Kingdom Kickbacks and grow it into a nonprofit. Nick talks about the tension between building systems in an organization and keeping real Christian community for the person who shows up alone. He also explains why he left consulting to found Alyra Technology and compares starting a nonprofit with starting a for-profit business. Throughout, he comes back to why relationships matter in both business and ministry. To close, Nick shares his hopes for the next five years, gives advice to recent graduates trying to build community in a new city, and answers the rapid-fire question: which cereal would he pick for dinner? This episode is brought to you by QuestionFuel: https://questionfuel.ai/scorecard?rep=RJ Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickkalenichenko/ Alyra Technology: https://www.alyratechnology.com WorkProduct.ai: https://www.workproduct.ai Kingdom Kickbacks: https://www.kingdomkickbacks.com RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

4. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Jon Lane on Integrating Purpose and Work

   In this episode, Jon Lane shares how he helps donors and investors steward capital for meaningful, lasting impact at Impact Foundation — and how a path through financial planning, microfinance, and nonprofit leadership shaped a conviction that resources, values, and purpose belong together. Jon Lane is a Senior Advisor at Impact Foundation, partnering with Donor/Investors to thoughtfully steward capital for meaningful, lasting impact. With a background that bridges financial planning and global impact investing, Jon is passionate about helping individuals align their resources with their values and purpose. Jon graduated from Liberty University with a bachelor's in Business Administration (Financial Planning) and maintains both CFP® and CKA® designations. Prior to joining Impact Foundation, Jon served as an Associate Advisor at Blue Trust, where he supported clients in their stewardship journeys. He also spent time with HOPE International as Performance Analysis Manager for Microfinance, leading a team dedicated to strengthening financial institutions supporting underserved communities around the world. Jon also currently serves as board chair for UrbanPromise Latin America, supporting youth development initiatives across the region. Jon lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife, Marlen. Outside of work, he enjoys running, hiking, and writing about soccer across the FIFA Concacaf region. This episode is brought to you by QuestionFuel: https://questionfuel.ai/scorecard?rep=RJ Impact Foundation: https://www.impactfoundation.org Jon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-lane-cfp/ RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

5. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Bill Cummings on Relationships, Partnerships and Purpose-Driven Work

   In this episode, Bill Cummings shares his journey from leadership in faith communities and nonprofits to leading Liminal, a branding agency serving justice-focused nonprofits. We talk about the relationships and partnerships that shape meaningful work, and what it looks like to build a career around making people's lives better. Bill loves building meaningful relationships and partnerships with the hope that people's lives are made better in the process. After serving in leadership roles for many years in faith communities and nonprofit organizations, he's now the CEO of Liminal, a branding agency that works with justice-focused nonprofits. Bill and his wife Cherie have twin adult sons and a daughter in college, and they live in Raleigh, NC. This episode is brought to you by QuestionFuel: https://questionfuel.ai/scorecard?rep=RJ Liminal: https://meetliminal.com Bill's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billkcummings/ RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

6. 

   25 Sept 2026

   Gabe Smith on Congruent Leadership — Aligning Who You Are with How You Lead

   In this episode, Gabe Smith shares his perspective on what he calls congruent leadership — aligning who you are, what you value, and how you lead — and how his journey from West Point and Army Infantry to executive advisory shaped it. Gabe Smith is an executive advisor and leadership coach who helps CEOs, founders, executives, and leadership teams lead with greater clarity, alignment, and confidence, whether they're navigating growth, working through a leadership challenge, or stepping back to ask whether the way they're leading is aligned with who they actually want to be. He calls that alignment congruence, also the idea at the heart of his book, Congruent: Align Who You Are, What You Value, and How You Lead Into a Life That Flows. Gabe's perspective on leadership was shaped in part by his military background. A West Point graduate and Ranger-qualified former Army Infantry Officer, he was at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and later led soldiers in combat operations in Mosul, Iraq. Since leaving the Army, he's spent more than two decades building organizations, leading teams, developing leaders, and advising executives at the intersection of leadership, growth, purpose, and responsibility. Today his work includes executive advisory, leadership coaching, team alignment, speaking and keynotes, and writing and teaching on congruent leadership. This episode is brought to you by QuestionFuel: https://questionfuel.ai/scorecard?rep=RJ Gabe's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabesmithwork/ Gabe's website: https://www.gabesmith.work RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

7. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Bryan Berry on Finding Purpose, Partnership, and My Purpose Plan

   In this episode, Bryan Berry shares the story behind his move to Charlotte, the transplant and career shift that led him to My Purpose Plan, and how a chance meeting turned into a full-on partnership. We dig into what My Purpose Plan actually does for teams and operators, why the business ultimately narrowed its focus, and what makes a partnership genuinely work. Bryan also opens up about the people who believed in him before he believed in himself, and closes with a rapid-fire cereal-for-dinner pick. Bryan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankberry/ My Purpose Plan: https://www.mypurposeplan.com RJ Caswell: https://www.rjcaswell.com

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