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Whitestone Church Meeting: Gary Sheng, Doug Jones, and Dr. Kevin Hull

Date: July 20, 2025 Location: Whitestone Church, Georgetown, TX Participants: Gary Sheng, Doug Jones (CEO of Whitestone Church), Dr. Kevin Hull Duration: Approximately 48 minutes

Meeting Overview​

This was Gary's first formal meeting with Doug Jones, CEO of Whitestone Church, facilitated by Dr. Kevin Hull. The conversation covered federal grant opportunities for churches, Whitestone's vision and growth challenges, Gary's background and current projects, and potential collaboration areas.

Key Topics Discussed​

Gary's Background and Faith Journey​

Gary opened by sharing his unconventional path to faith: "I'm a pretty baby in the faith, honestly. I really like musical congregations, because Jesus is King and Sunday service is what opened my spirit up to the Lord." He referenced Kanye West's "Jesus is King" album and Sunday Service performances as his spiritual entry point.

Professional Background:

  • Former Google Cloud software engineer (4 years, rapid promotion)
  • Advised Pope Francis on digital transformation and AI
  • Currently advising Alpha Schools (private school system)
  • Working on re-industrialization projects in Tulsa

Recent Church Advisory Work: Gary mentioned his work with the Vatican: "They built a Catholic AI that's being used by tens of millions of people around the world." He also discussed Pope Francis's interest in creating "pilgrimage centers around the world, which is like mixing between education center and museum, learn about God, and just like strongholds for Christ."

Federal Grant Opportunities​

Gary introduced new federal funding opportunities for churches under the Trump administration, specifically through Paula White's faith office. "Paula White, who's Trump's pastor for 24 years, but she has a lot of influence in Washington now and has been working really hard to allocate a lot of money from certain initiatives."

Grant Details:

  • Focus on marriage and family strengthening programs
  • Minimum grant size: $400K over 5 years ($2 million total)
  • Current deadline: 10 days from meeting date
  • Programs aimed at reducing divorce rates and improving parenting

Doug expressed interest but noted caution: "Any time someone is giving you money and the federal government is like, what strings do we attach, right? So I think it'll be a matter of making sure that it fits with the culture."

Whitestone Church Vision and Growth​

Doug described Whitestone's rapid growth and unique challenges: "We launched on January 1st, January 28th, 2024. And I described like this sumo baby was born on that day and we're trying to build the skeleton inside of the baby, right? We're trying to establish structures and things."

Church Vision (Three Pillars):

  1. Arts: Creating an environment where creative arts can flourish within a faith-based context
  2. Sports: High-level athletic programs that don't compete with church attendance - "We believe that you shouldn't have to make that choice, right? Why shouldn't the next Tim Tebow come out of a church culture?"
  3. Special Needs: Champions Club program already launched, meeting during services

Current Challenges:

  • Approaching 2000 weekly attendees
  • Building organizational structure while maintaining excellence
  • Limited time and financial resources despite growth
  • People expect established infrastructure typical of older, established churches

Facility Aspirations​

Doug shared Whitestone's desire to purchase their current leased building: "We would love to own it, for it to be Church of, for this building to be Church of Whitestone."

Building Advantages:

  • Two hockey rinks (could be converted to basketball courts)
  • Multiple dance studios upstairs
  • Multi-sport facility perfect for sports vision
  • Event space suitable for arts programs

Funding Challenge: Doug acknowledged the significant gap between current capacity and purchase requirements, noting they would need either "wealthy congregants" making "$10 million checks, just giving to God, basically" or external funding sources.

Pastor Tauren has been praying over and claiming the building since the church's launch: "Pastor Torn would have to answer that question, but I know that he has claimed, prayed over, marched around this building from the very beginning, like from the very launch."

Educational Opportunities Discussion​

Gary suggested alternative approaches to traditional K-12 education, focusing on trades: "My renewed thought related to education in this complex would be probably more along the trades actually, which I think people really underrate and they can be very high paid."

Doug supported this perspective from an investment standpoint: "When you think about trade school as an investment, the investment to reward ratio versus traditional [education is better]."

Gary also mentioned a Christian community that funds itself through children's toy manufacturing: "They make children's toys. And they're like some of the best children's toys in the world. And that helps fund the community."

Gary's Current Projects and Philosophy​

Tulsa Re-industrialization: Gary detailed his work with a "extremely brilliant scientist and technologist based in Tulsa, who helped China actually, a black guy from Louisiana, helped China industrialize Shenzhen." Their focus is on manufacturing sovereignty and reducing dependence on China.

Projects Include:

  • Prefab housing manufacturing
  • Energy-efficient appliances (refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines)
  • "American industrial sovereignty, so that we're not as reliant on my heritage country, China"

Faith and Business Integration: Gary expressed his mission to "help like Christian communities be able to develop industries that support centers of gravity, like strongholds of Christ." He contrasted this with his previous work in the longevity industry: "It's like a bunch of people afraid of dying. And I think that like, long conversation, but getting over a fear of death is like the beginning of courage."

Personal Faith Development​

Gary shared challenges in communicating his faith journey to non-believing family: "I struggle with this with my parents, for example, like it's my mom's birthday today, I'm about to call her in a few hours, and she's not, I'd say she's pretty much atheist or agnostic, and it's hard for me to really talk about a lot of my logic around my life decisions."

Doug provided pastoral counsel, referencing 1 Peter: "Be ready always to give an answer to anyone that asks you about the hope that lies within you." He encouraged Gary to be prepared but patient: "All we have to do is present him. All we have to do is let the light shine. He's the drawer. He's the one who draws. It can take pressure off of us too."

Doug's Background and Journey to Whitestone​

Doug shared his personal story of relocating for the church: "We moved here from Illinois to be part of the church... We knew Pastor T from, we were in ministry together like 17 years ago."

Connection History:

  • Met Pastor Tauren in Granite City, Illinois (St. Louis metro area)
  • Tauren was briefly there for about 1.5 years
  • Connected through Royal Taylor Band, which was based out of their church
  • Moved from Edwardsville, Illinois to Georgetown, Texas specifically for Whitestone

Practical Next Steps​

Contact Exchange:

Recommended Programs: Doug invited Gary to participate in "Discover U" sessions (August 3rd or August 22nd) to learn more about the church and build community.

Grant Information: Gary committed to sending detailed information about federal grant opportunities and providing feedback to the faith office about short deadlines.

Key Themes and Insights​

God's Timing: Gary emphasized learning patience: "The biggest thing that I'm trying to get better at, and more obedient about, is God's timing. God's timing, because, yeah, you can't force something that basically God doesn't think is the right time."

Doug reinforced this: "His timing is not ours. It's better than ours, but it's sometimes hard for us to understand."

Faith and Practical Action: The conversation balanced spiritual discernment with practical business and ministry considerations. Doug noted: "God's math is different than our math, and so he already knows how, if this is to be our building, and we're not closed in on that."

Community and Industrial Development: Gary's vision for Christian community development resonated with Whitestone's community-building approach, though specific collaboration details remained for future discussion.

Follow-up Actions​

  1. Gary to send federal grant information and one-pager
  2. Doug to review grant opportunities for alignment with church culture
  3. Gary to consider attending Discover U sessions
  4. Continued relationship building and exploration of collaboration opportunities
  5. Gary to recommend Whitestone to friend seeking church community

Conclusion​

The meeting established a foundation for ongoing relationship and potential collaboration between Gary and Whitestone Church leadership. Both parties expressed genuine interest in exploring opportunities while maintaining careful discernment about timing and alignment with core values and mission.