Podcast Summary: Living Influence with Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd
Episode: How Has Grace Influenced You?
Date: November 13, 2025
Hosts: Bill Thrall & Scott Boyd

Overview

In this poignant and personal episode, Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd explore the deeply transformative power of grace—how discovering and embracing grace has influenced their personal lives, leadership styles, and communities. They share stories highlighting how believing in the God-given intrinsic value of oneself and others can impact business, faith communities, and relationships. Listeners are encouraged to recognize and extend this same grace—rooted in Jesus—toward themselves and those around them.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Grace as a Personal Transformation (00:03–02:18)

• Scott’s Journey:
  • Scott shares how his upbringing made him a “doing guy,” finding value in achievement and always feeling like an underachiever.
  • Discovering grace in Galatians, he begins to risk believing “the Creator of the universe is in me.”
    • “Wait a second. That's like having a super calculator with you... it can just tell you, you should do X, you should do A.” (Scott, 00:46)
  • This realization leads him to feel special, loved, and to start believing in himself—not because of accomplishment, but because “God had made me special.”
  • As he started to believe in his own value, he started to believe in others as well.

2. Implementing Grace in the Workplace (02:19–05:00)

• Trusting Employees from Day One:

  • At Scott’s company, QuesTec, every new hire is greeted with trust, not suspicion.
    • “We were going to believe in them and we were going to trust them from the get go.” (Scott, 02:24)
  • This trust changed employees’ attitudes, fostering ownership and commitment.
  • Some potential hires found this level of trust uncomfortable, but it built a unique culture.
  • QuesTec outperformed competitors, and employees grew into “amazing leaders... amazing people of influence.”

• Success Rooted in Grace:

  • The company maintained profitability even in downturns, chalked up to lowered costs and empowered people.
    • “I couldn’t quantify the difference, but I just know there was a difference." (Scott, 04:26)

3. Grace in Ministry & Community (05:36–14:17)

• Bill’s Early Ministry and Hippies:

  • Bill recounts their outreach to young adults during the hippie movement.
  • Initial judgments rooted in “sin management” theology gave way to grace as God showed him the potential in unconventional people.
    • “By God’s grace, I saw value and potential... It’s one of my core convictions—the significance of each one.” (Bill, 07:38)
  • This led to founding Open Door Fellowship after traditional churches literally shut the door on their group.

• Radical Commitment & Church Community:

  • The group made a five-year, mutual commitment of love and support.
    • “We made a commitment to each other that we would be available to each other and none of us would leave this union for five years.” (Bill, 09:41)
  • All 15 honored the commitment, many stayed even longer, forming the foundation of Open Door Fellowship.
  • The ethos: focus on what the church is “for,” not what it’s “against.”

4. Principles & Practices of Grace (14:17–19:27)

• Non-Judgmental Culture:

  • Scott’s company skips annual employee reviews; instead, annual meetings are for employees to share their dreams.
    • “Would you trust me enough to tell me what the dreams are that you have for your career?” (Scott, 15:31)
  • 401k plans are immediately vested—no “golden handcuffs.” Departures for better opportunities are celebrated. Returning is always welcome.
    • “If you leave because you’ve got a better opportunity, we are going to celebrate that with you.” (Scott, 17:18)

• Supporting Individual Visions:

  • Bill’s church supports the visions/dreams of its members rather than enforcing a single institutional vision.
  • Many ministries were launched from this supportive environment, including Randy Thompson Ministries.

• Empowerment Through Grace:

  • Both agree that grace means believing in the possibilities of God in people.
    • “Grace does something. It doesn’t just believe in people. It believes in the possibilities of people. It believes in the possibilities of God in people.” (Bill, 18:08)

5. Grace Expands, Sin Management Shrinks (19:27–20:22)

• Broader Implications:
  • Sin management “lessens, it minimizes,” whereas grace “expands.”
    • “The early church changed the world...because they had a simple message. Jesus is alive. We know Him. We met Him. We'd like you to know him...and it changed the world.” (Bill, 19:42)
  • Bill bemoans how religion complicates things, when grace is simple and rooted in relationship with Jesus.
    • “What is grace? Grace is a person. His name is Jesus.” (Bill, 20:12)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “As I began to believe that God had made me special, I began to believe in myself because I had God in me. Not because of my effort, not because of my doing.” (Scott, 01:39)
• “Grace is something you never have to sell. Grace is something you always give away.” (Bill, 11:33)
• “We made a commitment to each other that we would be available to each other and none of us would leave this union for five years.” (Bill, 09:44)
• “Sin management does something. It lessens, it minimizes. Grace expands.” (Bill, 19:39)
• “What is grace? Grace is a person. His name is Jesus.” (Bill, 20:12)
• "If you leave because you’ve got a better opportunity, we are going to celebrate that with you." (Scott, 17:18)

Important Timestamps

• 00:03: Introduction & setting up the theme: “How has grace influenced you?”
• 00:46–02:18: Scott’s transformation from seeking value in doing to resting in grace.
• 02:19–05:00: Trusting employees and the effect on QuesTec’s culture and performance.
• 06:10–10:11: Bill discusses grace in early ministry and the commitment foundational to Open Door Fellowship.
• 11:33: “Grace is something you always give away.”
• 15:20–17:26: Annual meetings focused on employee dreams, immediate 401k vesting, and celebration of staff transitions.
• 17:57–19:12: Supporting the dreams/visions of church members.
• 19:39–20:22: Grace versus sin management; grace as a person—Jesus.
• 20:23–20:34: Concluding affirmation: “Jesus makes all the difference.”

Tone & Takeaways

The tone is warm, reflective, and candid, marked by genuine gratitude for the role of grace in their lives. The conversation balances vulnerability and anecdote with practical wisdom—demonstrating how radical grace transforms leadership, community, and individual lives by fostering trust, empowerment, and unconditional value.

Summary:
Scott and Bill illustrate, through personal stories and leadership examples, that real change happens when we embrace grace—seeing and championing the God-given potential within ourselves and others, rather than viewing life through the limiting lens of achievement or sin management. Grace is portrayed not as a theological concept, but a lived, relational reality—ultimately rooted in Jesus.