The Next Faithful Step: Billy Thomas on Business, Faith, and Recovery

Billy Thomas had built the kind of life many people work toward.

He had a successful career as a financial advisor, a family he loved, and the resources to provide for them. He had spent years helping others work toward their own financial goals.

But when addiction entered his family’s life, Billy’s understanding of success, faith, and purpose began to change.

In Episode 50, Billy shares how that difficult season led him and his wife, Lisa, to open their property to men in recovery. His story is a reminder that meaningful work often begins with one step, even when we can’t see where it will lead.

When life changes your perspective

Billy admits that before his family experienced addiction, he had certain ideas about the people affected by it. He wanted to keep drugs and the people associated with them far away from his home.

Then his daughter began struggling with addiction after experiencing the deaths of people close to her.

As Billy walked through that season with her, he encountered people whose lives were affected by addiction. Over time, he began to see beyond their circumstances and recognize the person underneath.

He describes seeing beauty in people he once would have avoided. That change in perspective became part of a new calling: walking alongside people as they sought recovery and rebuilt their lives.

A new way to think about success

Billy didn’t leave his work as a financial advisor. He still enjoyed working with numbers and helping clients plan for the future.

What changed was how he viewed that work.

He began to see his career as a platform to encourage others to think more deeply about what they wanted their lives to stand for. In his conversations with clients, he started introducing a different word for the next season of life: repurpose.

For Billy, repurposing means recognizing that the skills, relationships, and wisdom gained over a lifetime can be used to serve others.

After years of building a career and providing for a family, a person doesn’t simply lose the abilities that helped them do those things. Those same abilities can be directed toward a cause, a community, or people who need support.

Billy’s work also provided a way to help fund the nonprofit he and Lisa started. His professional life and his calling began to work together.

Opening the door

As Billy considered how he could help people in recovery, he found himself thinking about a large vision. He wondered what a meaningful response should look like and how it might grow.

A conversation with a man involved in helping women in Nepal challenged him to think differently. The work had begun with a simple act of helping someone in need. Over time, it grew into something much larger.

Billy returned home believing he knew what his next step needed to be. He and Lisa would open the cottage behind their home in Pinehurst to people who needed a place to go.

In June 2017, they welcomed men coming out of detox, along with a man who had spent many years in prison.

Billy admits he had concerns. Other people thought the idea was unwise, and he wondered himself whether it would last. But he and Lisa moved forward.

That decision became the beginning of Pilgrim’s Progress. As Billy explains, their work is one part of a larger community of organizations and people supporting recovery. The relationships formed along the way have helped create opportunities for others to find support, stability, and purpose.

Different gifts, shared purpose

Throughout the conversation, Billy speaks about the role Lisa has played in their work.

The two have different strengths and interests. Billy enjoys building relationships and sharing their story. Lisa has a gift for hospitality and finds joy in the work of welcoming and caring for people.

Their property has become a place for recovery, retreats, and conversations about faith and purpose. Billy also helps host silent retreats there, giving leaders space to step away from daily demands and spend time listening to God.

Their story offers a picture of what can happen when people bring different gifts to a shared mission. Each contribution may look different, but together they make room for others to be served.

Take the step in front of you

Looking back, Billy says he could not have planned everything that grew from their first decision to open the cottage.

His advice for others who feel called to make a difference is to start small. Spend time with God, pay attention to what is in front of you, and be willing to act.

As Billy puts it:

“Don’t focus on the staircase, but focus on the step that God puts in front of you.”

That can be a helpful reminder for business owners, leaders, and anyone wondering what comes next. You may not have a complete plan or know what the outcome will be. But you can begin by considering the people, opportunities, and resources already in front of you.

The first step may be a conversation. It may be offering your time, opening your home, using your professional skills to help someone, or creating space to listen.

You don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the next step.

Listen to Episode 50 to hear Billy Thomas share his full story of faith, family, business, and recovery.