The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle - EP008 - Craig Armstrong
What happens when a seasoned CPA with over 25 years of experience intertwines his professional life with his deeply personal journey of faith? Craig Armstrong, the Miami office managing partner of Hancock Askew, joins us for an eye-opening conversation about his path from founding CAPA CPA to leading a major merger. Craig's story doesn't just stop at numbers and audits; it extends to his profound involvement in charitable work, specifically with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, and how he balances this with a fulfilling family life. Craig and his high school sweetheart, Karla, navigate the challenges of raising children in today's fast-paced world, offering a unique perspective on maintaining family values amidst technological distractions.
Curious about how spirituality can redefine your professional and personal life? Craig opens up about his transformative journey from skepticism to embracing faith, significantly influenced by Karla’s unwavering spirituality. We explore how attending Mass and witnessing the Eucharist were pivotal moments in his life, leading him to integrate his faith into his business practices. This enriching episode highlights the importance of mental health, self-forgiveness, and creating a supportive community both at work and home. Learn how Craig manages to keep his integrity and authenticity intact while fostering an environment of unconditional love and understanding, even in the demanding corporate world.
Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith. Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now. Let's dive into it right now.
Kendall:Hello and welcome to Episode 8 of the Everyday Apostle podcast. It's a thrill to be here once again. We're back, live in the studio and excited to bring a really, really great show to you today. Thank you for all of the prayers, thank you for all of the messages and all of the support that you guys have given in this endeavor. I'm kind of excited. We're at Episode 8 and just working our way through it all.
Announcer:And especially a thank you to our partner in today's episode. This episode of the Everyday Apostle is brought to you by our partners, the WOW Center. For over 50 years the WOW Center has been transforming lives in South Florida by empowering adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They offer life skills, training, employment opportunities and social activities that help foster independence and build community. And there's an exciting event coming up you won't want to miss. Join us on October, the 25th 2024, at the beautiful Coral Gables Country Club for Wow.
Kendall:Royale Starting at 8 pm.
Announcer:it's going to be an unforgettable evening with fantastic entertainment, gourmet dining and the chance to support a truly wonderful cause. To learn more about the WOW Center and get all the details on the WOW Royale event, visit wowcentermiamiorg. That's wowcentermiamiorg. Get involved, make a difference and be a part of something amazing. And be a part of something amazing the WOW Center, empowering lives and building brighter futures. See you at the WOW Royale.
Kendall:Welcome to the. If you do not know the WOW Center, I strongly encourage you to check them out. It's a phenomenal organization that does great work for adults with developmental disabilities. Shameless plug for my wife, who is the executive director, and her entire team. They do an incredible job there with those individuals and please check them out. Either go by for a visit, check them out on the website or, if you can, and even better, go to Wild Royale in October. It'll be an incredible event that you really won't want to miss.
Kendall:If you feel a tug on your heart to support this program, we are self-funded and sponsored by guests and visitors Not guests, I'm sorry, no pressure guests. We are supported by visitors and those that just believe in the mission that we're doing. So if you feel a tug on your heart, check us out at everydayapostlecom and there are all kinds of ways that you can support our show. Today I have an incredible privilege. This is a gentleman that was on my list from the very, very beginning of when I started the concept of this podcast, and he's on my list because of the person he has been to me. He is a friend, a mentor, an incredible brother in Christ. Please welcome into the studio today, craig Armstrong.
Craig:It's a pleasure to be here. Like I said, it's very humbling, but any chance that we have to talk man, I will gladly take it up, and so I love what you're doing. It's so hard to get the message out in today's world and hopefully I can provide a little insight into what's going on in my walk and see where it goes Looking forward to that.
Kendall:So for those who do not know Craig Armstrong, let me tell you a little bit about him. He is the Miami office managing partner of Hancock Askew. It's a CPA firm. He has over 25 years experience in accounting, serving clients from Fortune 500 companies to mid-market companies and high net worth individuals as well. He founded his own company, and what was the name of that company? It was Kappa CPA, kappa, cpa, kappa. He founded that back in 2004, ran that for several years and then merged with Hancock Askew in 2020. He was also senior manager at Rider System and served for five years at PwC.
Kendall:That was something I learned that I didn't know before, including two years there as South Florida site leader for employee benefit plan audits. Over and above his professional career and his professional work, he has a tremendous amount of experience in community involvement. He serves on the Audit and Finance Committee of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami. He advises a number of other charitable organizations in the South Florida area and I know personally has served on a number of men's retreats. He has a wonderful family, a beautiful wife, carla, and two beautiful daughters, sarah and Amy, and I guess the rest of that we're going to get to, as we get to, some questions, craig, but again, thank you for joining me in this journey.
Craig:It's a pleasure, it's been an incredible journey to be honest with you, and so very fortunate to have just a loving, beautiful wife, carla, who I met in high school, which you know, but I was just a pimply-faced 16-year-old when I met her, and we've just built this incredible life together with, you know, truly on the foundation of Christ, and so in many ways, she's the one that really brought me to God, to know him as I know him today, and two amazing daughters, as you mentioned, amy and Sarah. And as an adult, you just want to have well-adjusted children and this is a difficult world that they're, you know, journeying through, and I know we'll probably all need our children. The way that technology and everything moves forward, it's a challenge, but it's awesome.
Kendall:Yeah, I think back to the days where we had to set the clocks for our parents on the VCR right and just imagine what we're going to need from our children.
Craig:Yeah, and back, when you know you had Sony Walkman, that you needed batteries, you know, just to get it to go through one full CD. It just it's. Everything has evolved, but you know what? There's a foundation. That's the same, and that's why I wanted to really be here and talk about it today.
Kendall:Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about that foundation, right, let's go back to where you grew up and how you grew up.
Craig:So I'm a native Miamian. There's a few of us out there, but it's you know. I grew up, but it's you know I grew up. My parents were Jewish, raised me Jewish, but I was. I would say we were not the most observant family, but we did have some foundational truths. You know that we lived by as a family, which was you'd, be nice to people, you treat people with respect, with dignity, and um and I was very fortunate to grow up in a. It could be a challenging household at times, but um, a very loving household though, and that's something that you know. I'm very blessed and fortunate to have and um and I might not have recognized where that love came from, but I never felt unloved as a child, which is an amazing thing.
Kendall:What a blessing that is Our last guest. Last week has almost the exact opposite story and you kind of see the outflow from that. Are your parents still together?
Craig:My parents are still together. They've been married over 60 years, wow, and Carla's parents are still together and the same, and you know it's. And I have two, two amazing brothers. I'm the youngest of these three boys. There's something about the youngest child also that is is kind of nice and refreshing. You know they got it right the third time, but we're a close family, but I would say that you know we're all different. It's amazing how you could see children that have been shaped or formed right by the same parents but yet they lead very different lives and very individual. You know lives and so it's awesome to see.
Craig:So where did you go to high school? So ironically so, for back in the day when we had junior high, you know, which was 7th, 8th and 9th, and then high school 10th, 11th and 12th. So those six years I actually went to five different schools and so there wasn't a lot of consistency in where I was at right and I actually graduated from Miami Southridge, which is where I met my wife, carla, and I think what took me there was was absolutely divine providence. And prior to that I was at Palmetto High School and I graduated in 1989 and had an accident playing baseball and and my opportunity looked like at Palmetto was, you know, had moved past that, and so I ended up transferring to Southridge, and little did I know that it wouldn't have been about the baseball, and that's where I met Carla, and we've just had an amazing life together.
Kendall:Did you play baseball at Southridge? Did you have that?
Craig:opportunity I did, and not to throw salt in the wounds for Palmetto, but we did beat Palmetto in our district championship game and so I would be. I wouldn't be human if I said that that doesn't give me a little bit of pride. No, I have a lot of great friends that went to Palmetto High School, that I stay in touch with, great relationships, and Palmetto was an excellent school. But that's where I know this wasn't about the school or about the baseball. This was about, I think, what my future life was going to be.
Kendall:Right. So your wife Carla in high school meets a nice Jewish boy, craig. So your wife Carla in high school meets a nice Jewish boy Craig. Was Carla faithful in high school? I don't mean from a relationship perspective.
Craig:I mean— yeah, she was a person of faith. Her family, you know, they immigrated from El Salvador, which in the 80s had just a really horrible civil war, and they came to the US and you know, I think some of those elements of their lives are what kind of galvanized, you know, their faith and spirituality that they were able to really instill in their children. And you know, and for me it became kind of I don't want to say easy, but I received a grace that day that I first met Carla and true story. So we met in trigonometry class and the first day of school I was new to Southridge, obviously, and I was.
Craig:The classroom was in a little portable to Southridge, obviously, and I was, the classroom was in a little portable and I remember going and sitting in the very back of the portable right and kind of leaning back against in my chair against the wall and just kind of, you know, chilling, if you want to say, and the teacher walks in and he says, okay, everybody who is in the last seat moved to the closest available seat, to the front, and I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. This is horrible. You know, it's the second seat from the front is what was available. Well, that seat was right in front of Carla and that's how we met, and from that truly point of singularity, everything changed.
Kendall:So that was on your first day of school.
Craig:First day of school.
Kendall:No kidding.
Craig:Yep, yep. And there was this instant connection and we dated, you know, throughout the entire senior year and then dated through college and then got married and we've been married 31 years and, man, we've just built a life together.
Kendall:That's amazing. You know, I hear stories like that, right, and you know, coming from where we come from, we can see how God moves right and God uses all of it. But sometimes I think back to the book of Exodus and I think of that one line, you know, as Moses is trying to convince Pharaoh to let the people go, let his people go, and there's a simple line in there that said and God hardened Pharaoh's heart and you know he may have enabled your injury right just to get you guys together to create this ripple effect in the world, truly in the world, right, well beyond your family. You've had an impact, both of you guys, and that's just beautiful to see.
Craig:Well, it's funny you say that because you know the baseball coach. At the time I think his heart did harden, which is what really prompted me to transfer and, looking back, I am so grateful. I am so grateful and you know, I would just you know, if I saw him today. I would just say you know, I want you to know how appreciative I am and grateful for that change.
Kendall:So that's incredible and I find it hard to believe that I've known you as long as I have.
Craig:I didn't know that story.
Kendall:But so you're moving forward. You're in high school and there's got to be some swirliness to that right. You are a bit bitter and jaded and all of that, but you move through your high school years and you've met Carla and things are going well. Talk to me a little bit about your life progression on up through college.
Craig:Yeah, I'll tell you. The interesting thing for me is I had always felt that there was more, something more than what just we were experiencing, let's say, on a day-to-day basis. I had always been fascinated, for example, with astronomy and looking outward, and you know even the subtleties of things that we don't, maybe you know that we're not sensitive to, but that exists, like we're really on this earth, traveling at a very, you know, fast speed around the sun, but yet we're here and we don't feel it, we don't sense it, we just kind of exist with it, right? And so throughout my kind of formative years, I never really understood, I believed in something more. I just never really had the formation to identify, maybe, what that was. And even after Carl and I were dating and building a life together, I remember I was, you know, like growing up I thought the Pope was somebody who wore a funny hat and we made fun of it. I'm embarrassed to say it, but it's true, that's what was instilled in me.
Craig:Or if somebody professed to be a Christian, my first reaction was you know, this must be a hypocrite, and like, I'm going to put my guard up because I'm not going to.
Craig:You know, I'm not going to be open to that.
Craig:And you know, all these fronts that I put right really were so misplaced and guided that, over time, as I start to talk with Carla, talk to her parents, kind of really invest in going to Mass with them, kind of really invest in going to mass with them, and you know, just sometime, half the time, we went to the Spanish mass and I didn't know what they were saying.
Craig:But you know what I started to see things within that, particularly centered around the Eucharist, that I just could not deny and, and I think that was kind of the moment that my heart started opening right and allowing, you know, other graces, even without understanding right. I always come back to, you know, to Thomas right, my hands in, because as I encountered people who were truly consuming the Eucharist and I could see this transformation in them, that was palpable and I just it was undeniable. It was like seeing a magic trick over and over again and being blown away every single time. And and that's what kind of started to to lead me into this pondering of you know what I really want to to learn and to understand, you know, because I think that was really for me what the really the pathway to just being happy and content, or and a joyful happy, not just you. You know like the hurricanes won national championship.
Kendall:Happy but like happy with no matter what is going around me so a relatively slow progression of consuming all that you could intellectually and spiritually right in in the presence of Christ. Yes.
Craig:I didn't dive in, I tapped my toe in and I was, in some cases I would say I was defiant in my you know, which was an internal conflict, right, like I felt defiant to what I was, how I was raised and who I thought I was, but but yet, knowing that that wasn't the fullness of who I am, and um, and I think that type of internal conflict, um actually fueled me to, to, to work through it, and um, and I did, so was there an aha moment Um.
Craig:I don't know if I would call it. Yes, there is, but not in when I would say. Actually during the Emmaus retreat there was an aha moment, but prior to that I really felt God calling me in answer to one of my prayers to him, which was I in earnest wanted to know him and know who he was. And he spoke to me and I only say spoke because I don't know other words to convey how he imprinted this into my heart. But it was a pretty clear the only way to know me more fully is to know my son Jesus. And I felt intellectually I could accept that, but it hadn't really kind of connected my spiritual self, if you will right, my emotional self, with that intellect. But that occurred at the Emmaus.
Kendall:Okay, so moving forward, kind of you're going through this time period of exploration and acceptance and all of that where are you in your timeline? Are you in college, are you after college, or yes to all of it?
Craig:Kind of yes to all of it. But I would say actually, you know, after Carla and I were married, we got married young. We were 21 when we got married and I would say most of this was between the time of 21 and 25. And um, and so already you know kind of working in my professional life to an extent and you know, we were mindful of one day having a family and, and you know, there was never an expectation.
Craig:This is one of the things that I loved about Carl and her family is, you know, it was important for me that they didn't have an expectation, let's say, of conversion. As an example in my life, live, you know, a disciple's life, if you will, preaching in their actions that they didn't have concern over my salvation and that allowed me the space to really learn at the pace that you know God was preparing for me and calling me to.
Kendall:Wow, what an example. As parents, right, and I know that we all want what we believe to be the best for our children, right A strong relationship with Christ and a path to heaven. And often I personally forget that that journey is different for everybody, that that journey is different for everybody. Kudos to them for allowing the boyfriend of their daughter to go at that journey at his pace and God's pace, yeah.
Craig:I'm hoping that they saw something in me that was beyond just the human Craig and my desire and struggles right to search for more. And so hopefully, you know, hopefully I've made them proud with it. I respect them so much that I owe them everything, no doubt in my mind.
Kendall:I respect them so much that I owe them everything, no doubt in my mind. So you move into a professional environment which changes the rules of the game in terms of faith right, it always seems to where we can be free in church on Sunday to be disciples of Christ, and then Monday morning you've got work to do and you've got a different set of people.
Craig:So tell me a little bit about how you navigated that through your career and through your journey Not very easily. Um, best analogy I could give is man. There are times where I feel like I'm a you know, an off-road traveler and you're getting stuck in the mud. You get out and think you're going to make it and you realize, you know, you're right back to where you started. I think the business world is really no different than any other industry you know, or any other field.
Craig:I think that's one of the misnomers I think that people have with respect to. Well, it's hard maybe in a professional kind of business environment to live a life that you feel we're being called to live right as as a for my case, a Christian man. But the reality is it's everywhere in life. And I think that actually empowered me more to be who I am when I kind of came to grips with it's just being human right. And I think what really drove that for me and kind of gave me the let's call it the authority right to live my life that way, was at the Emmaus retreat, which was in June of 2001. And you know, I converted to Catholicism in April of 2000.
Craig:And but when I did the Emmaus retreat, that for me that's where that aha moment of what it meant to be a Christian man, and by Christian man I mean, I think, loving somebody who intellectually you could say probably doesn't deserve to be loved by some of their actions and behavior, but you love them anyways because we're called to be. You know to administer that love and you can do it with sincerity. That's a transformational moment. You want to talk about like tough right to me, a person who can love somebody who has hurt them, right, I don't think there's anything tougher in a human being than doing that and it's a supernatural toughness. It's not by our own account, right, but that's where I received in my journey, I believe I received the grace of that empathy, of really what it meant to. You know, despise the sin, not the sinner. It's very convenient to say, but unless I think someone's open to that deeper connection with the Lord, I don't think you can, I don't think it'll ever resonate.
Kendall:That's a fact. Think you can. I don't think it'll ever resonate. That's a fact and you know I've been loved by you in that circumstance right, despite what I was doing in my life. You know you and my wife and many others chose to love me and nothing I've ever experienced says me and and nothing, nothing I've ever experienced says nothing, represents god in the love of christ and that grace, more than that.
Kendall:That's such a profound message um, sorry for the tangent on that, but you were no, but it's really speaking to my heart here.
Craig:Yeah, and it's. You know, and this is where, in the business world, right again, it's no different. People are people, but you know, there's a persona that some feel you have to have, let's say, in the business world, and what I'm finding is is that it's really being your authentic self, right, is what really resonates with people wanting to do business with you, and being dependable and and also, you know, being able to get ahead of the challenges, right, that might toe the line you know of navigating the gray, and because without it, I think it's very easy to cross a line and not know it. You know, it's not that there was maybe an intent to do it, but it can be done, and you look back and you're so far over the line it's too late or there's been real damage done, and so it's so important to have that sense of grounding. I can say it's not for my own account, it really. I think it really is a grace that I've received and I'm so thankful to have it, because it really has given me the ability to say no at times, right, or to surround myself with people who are going to help lift me up and you know, and not tear it down and uh, and so it's, it's. It's really transformational when you kind of let go and allow you know him to kind of increase in you and you start to learn how people's behaviors maybe come from really a place of being wounded.
Craig:You know, pope Francis had an interview that was in a book the Name of God is Mercy. I would encourage everybody to read it because it talks about the deep wounds that humanity has, and that's where it gets to. Am I going to be an instrument of God's mercy? You know, not my own mercy, because that's nothing but am I going to be an instrument of God's mercy or am I going to be preventing somebody from getting God's mercy? And that's how I try to measure my actions, and I fail a lot of the time, but I know where I'm going and who I want to be with respect to that.
Kendall:So you know, since we have time considerations, unfortunately this could go on. But what can you share with the listeners out there? What can you share that would be helpful for them as they're struggling through, like how do I live my authentic self, how do I live the love of Christ in the workplace, when there is that let's call it artificial fear, that you can't? Yeah.
Craig:Well, it's so hard for so many because, again, I think society can tell us we're not worthy, right? So I think it's very hard for people to forgive themselves. And then I also think what the other big variable is just general mental health issues that we have right. And so what I would encourage people is really try to find the you know the soil. If you will right, that's going to be fruitful for you. And you know you need the nutrients of faith. You need the nutrients of community right of family and, in some cases, of maybe a little help from family, us to, you know, from what I would characterize as a disordered heart, right because of our sinfulness, but back to an ordered heart of what God made in us and where we're going with that, where he, you know he already developed the end for us in our beginning and I think an ordered heart will get us there.
Kendall:That was beautiful, gosh, we are out of time.
Craig:Beyond, out of time actually.
Kendall:Craig, thrilled that you were able to be here and thank you for sharing your story and your message. Thank you so much for that. I'm eternally grateful for your friendship, your fellowship, your love and for accepting me for all of my flaws your love and for accepting me for all of my flaws and for being here in studio with me today. That's all we have today, unfortunately. Um, please, um, like and subscribe and watch this episode a million times, because there, there's so much here that is is truly beautiful and and good. There's so much here that is truly beautiful and good and helpful, really. And also, please, check out our partner for today's episode, the WOW Center.
Kendall:Wowcentermiamiorg is their website and they do have the WOW Royale, which is going to be great, coming up in October, so check that out Again. Check us out on EverydayAostlecom is our website. You can also see all of our episodes on YouTube, on our YouTube channel. You can see us or listen to us on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts. And with that, I encourage you guys to continue your journey of faith, to continue in prayer and to love one another. Thank you.
Announcer:Thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom. Until next time, stay blessed.
