by Dr. Nicholas Carrington '10
Kary Oberbrunner, now Cedarville’s inaugural Berry Chair of Entrepreneurship, still keeps his initial rejection letter from the University.
It was 2005, and Oberbrunner, a pastor at the time, was just at the start of a prolific writing career, one that has seen him publish 14 books to date. He loved his congregation, but he wasn’t sure he was in the right place. “As I was writing, I began to wonder whether God would want me to reach more people outside the four walls of the church.”
That itch to pursue a new calling led him to apply to Cedarville University as a Bible professor, envisioning himself teaching the Scripture to students and mentoring them as they made life-changing decisions about who to marry, what jobs to take, and where to live. He even had the backing of a Cedarville trustee. It seemed perfect.
There was one problem: Cedarville said “no.”
Oberbrunner, now in year two as the Berry Chair, framed the rejection letter in his office. “Sometimes it's the right dream, but the wrong time. God wanted me to be an entrepreneur first.”
That almost didn’t happen either. He dreamed of leveraging his books into something more, but the business world intimidated him, and with young kids, leaving a stable job with benefits paralyzed him. “It immediately caused panic and fear. Why would people want to hire me? How could I replace my income? I had all these self-limiting beliefs.”
Oberbrunner even put out a fleece to someone in the business world, looking for mentorship, just to see if this dream was possible. That person denied his request. No doors were opening.
Then, one flew open, almost by chance.
A friend of Oberbrunner invited him to a talk by John Maxwell, a former pastor who became a leadership guru. Oberbrunner almost didn’t go, only able to secure a babysitter at the last minute while his wife was at work, but as he listened to Maxwell speak, God illuminated his path forward. “I was almost bawling. Something in me came alive as he was talking about impacting others and doing your life’s purpose.”
Maxwell was starting a new venture called the John Maxwell Team and mentioned it toward the end of the night. Getting in would cost $5,000, but it included mentorship from Maxwell himself and the ability to coach others on leadership. The opportunity felt like a chance to bridge the gap between where Oberbrunner was and where he now knew he wanted to go.
That same night, he told his wife. Initially, she did not share his enthusiasm. “My wife thought it was a scam. That's bad words for a husband to hear, but she also said if I felt God wanted me to do it, then to go ahead.”
After some prayer, Oberbrunner jumped in with both feet.
And he thrived.
Making Business a Ministry
Within a year, he had left the pastorate to become an entrepreneur. To some, this move gave the impression that his faith had weakened. For Oberbrunner, it allowed him to explore his true ministry calling. It gave him a way to share his faith with a broader audience. However, sharing his faith in the business world would require a different approach from his days as a pastor.
“I had to learn about value creation. When you create value for people, it gives you the permission to share your faith.” He used Bono from the iconic band U2 as an example. “Bono’s currency is his music. It allows him to stand on a bigger stage and share his faith.”
He also saw how Maxwell could speak at Dell and Microsoft and Delta and, without turning people off, do it in a way where everyone knew he was talking about God. Oberbrunner viewed these examples as applications of Matthew 5:16, where Jesus exhorts Christians to “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
So, in 2012, Oberbrunner set off to create so much value for people in the business world that it gave him the right to share his faith with his clients and stakeholders. That began by creating his own personal brand around his books, not just publishing them but creating value for people through speaking on the topic, providing seminars, coaching, and more. Those efforts would eventually become foundational to his success: turning his and others’ ideas into 18 streams of income. It was a huge success, and in the spring of 2014, so many people asked him how to publish their own books that he set up a phone call with dozens of interested parties to answer their questions. It was on that phone call that his own personal brand exploded into a fully functioning business.
He floated the idea of creating a publishing company and explained what that would look like. He told the people on the call that if 25 people would commit to it in the next six months, he’d pause his own work and launch the company. “In 72 hours, all 25 spots were filled.” Oberbrunner smiles like he still can’t believe it. “I said ‘Okay, God. That’s the answer I needed.’”
His company, Igniting Souls, has published over 1,100 authors, getting multiple books on major bestseller lists and providing ghostwriting, editing, and marketing services. In 2021, he started his second company, Blockchain Life, and secured a patent for his invention: a proprietary technology meant to protect intellectual property that he named Instant IP™. But God’s plan for Oberbrunner wasn’t finished yet.
Another Open Door
Running two thriving businesses is enough work for anyone, let alone someone with a wife and three kids, but God had more in store for Oberbrunner. After his son decided to attend Cedarville, he went to a Christmas dinner in 2022 for the International Center for Creativity (ICC), a partner for Cedarville’s Industrial and Innovative Design program. There, he was approached by Travis Smith, a member of the business advisory council at Cedarville, to apply for the Berry Chair of Entrepreneurship, a position that had been open for two years. In this role, Oberbrunner would teach digital marketing and entrepreneurship courses, recruit entrepreneurs-in residence to mentor students, and run the Entrepreneur Accelerator program to help students launch their business ideas.
Initially, Oberbrunner cast the idea aside. “I actually forgot about it until the next morning, when an email came in from Dr. Haymond.” Haymond, the Dean of the Robert W. Plaster School of Business and Professor of Economics, wanted to chat about the position right away.
The opportunity came at the perfect time. “I had been wondering how I could invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs. God had been preparing me.”
Before applying, he taught a class during spring semester of 2023 to gauge whether a partnership between Oberbrunner and Cedarville made sense. That course met five times from 7 to 10 p.m.
He remembers getting home past 11 after the first session. “I was so wired. I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do.” That semester, the students affirmed him every step of the way.
After working out the details with both Cedarville and his team at both companies, Oberbrunner accepted the job. “It's been a beautiful integration,” he says as he discusses the balance of teaching and running two businesses. “The students are amazing.”
Oberbrunner has brought the same ambition to Cedarville that he has for his businesses. He immediately rebranded the entrepreneurial organization on campus, and under his direction, The Pitch, Cedarville’s Shark-Tank-style event, added a red-carpet preshow and livestreamed to over 10,000 people.
He held over 100 “E-Sessions” with students who wanted advice on how to start a business, market their products, or learn more about business culture. Those sessions were so popular that Oberbrunner started CUE (Cedarville University Entrepreneurs) School, a four-week class to “equip and mobilize all students to become entrepreneurs who have a Kingdom impact through business.”
Kingdom impact remains at the center of what Oberbrunner wants, his very heart for both his own businesses and his work at Cedarville. “My role is to give students the tools to be in the world but not of the world, to create so much value in the company that they earn the right to share Jesus with others.”
It was a long journey to his current role, and even though he has kept his rejection letter, Oberbrunner sees God’s providence as he found his way, finally, to Cedarville University. “It was almost like Moses. I went out into the wilderness, and God brought me back.”