A few weeks ago, I took a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet one of the men who has quietly influenced my thinking for years: Mark Batterson.
My son Titus and I made the trip alongside my best friend Myke and his son Tytus. We spent the day walking the National Mall, talking about dreams, leadership, faith, and what it means to build something that lasts.
There is something powerful about walking from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol steps with your son beside you. You can't help but think about the people who laid foundations they would never see completed. Buildings. Institutions. Ideas. Legacies.
Why am I sharing this with you?
Because many of us are in a season where we need the reminder.
As I write this, we're in year three of developing the Red Hotel in Morrison. What we thought would be a two-year journey has become a daily battle of utility redesigns, inspections, subcontractor delays, and countless challenges that never showed up in the original plan.
Maybe you've been there too.
The project takes longer than expected. The business grows slower than planned. The dream that once felt exciting starts to feel heavy.
My conversation with Mark reminded me that the things worth building almost always take longer than expected.
Three ideas have stayed with me.
1. Pray the circle before you build the building.
Before National Community Church owned properties across Washington, Mark spent years walking a daily prayer circle around Capitol Hill. He wasn't praying for buildings. He was praying for people.
What looks like sudden success is usually years of faithful action that nobody sees.
2. Build for people you'll never meet.
One of Mark's favorite definitions of legacy is this:
It's not what you accomplish. It's what others accomplish because of you.
The best builders think beyond themselves. They make decisions not just for today, but for the people who will inherit what they started.
3. Play the long game.
We live in a culture obsessed with speed, but almost everything meaningful compounds slowly.
Strong businesses. Strong families. Strong communities.
The people we admire most aren't necessarily the fastest. They're the ones who stayed faithful to the vision long after others gave up.
As I walked the Mall with Titus, I found myself thinking less about the monuments and more about the foundations.
The ones beneath the Capitol.
The ones being poured at the Red Hotel.
And the ones being poured in the lives of our children.
Most foundations are invisible. Nobody celebrates them. But everything that lasts is built on one.
So if you find yourself still waiting, still fighting, still building, don't mistake slow progress for failure.
Stay in the fight.
Keep circling the dream.
Keep pouring the foundation.
One day you'll realize that what felt like a delay was actually part of the foundation.
The long game isn't about building something that lasts for your lifetime.
It's about building something that outlasts you.
If you're in a season where the vision is taking longer than expected, I think you'll find encouragement in this conversation. Mark shares lessons from thirty years of building in Washington, D.C., the power of faithful persistence, and why the most meaningful work in life is often measured in decades, not months.
Listen to the full Radical Hospitality Podcast episode with Mark Batterson and let me know what takeaway resonates most with you.
— Zeke
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