20 under 40: Scott Monday

Favorite quote or saying, why?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

This verse, for me, is a lifelong pursuit, and I fall short of attaining it every day. Like the perfect round of golf or a flawless performance of a classical piece, it’s an unattainable goal that can only be pursued but never quite achieved.

As an often-overbearing, selfish, over-the-top-driven type “A” personality, these traits go completely against my nature. Every day I have to remind myself that my life is not my own to use as I wish, but a gift from the divine God to be used in the best way he sees fit. This quote from Galatians is a great first step in living that type of life. In fact, if I spend the rest of my life working toward these characteristics I think, in the end, I’ll be wholly satisfied no matter the results.

As I look around, especially in this current troubling political and social climate, I see a lot of finger-pointing. Everyone is too busy focusing on where they perceive their opposition is wrong to focus on what they can do, as individuals, to make the situation better. I realize that I’m wholly unable to “change the world.” Most of us are in the same boat. But what I can do is focus on changing me, aligning my life with what He wants, and letting that percolate into those I impact on a daily basis: my family, my friends, my co-workers and my community.

Community or professional highlights:

I’m honored to work with an incredible team of people at kitchenCRATE & bathCRATE. It almost feels too good to be true; going to work each day with a group of folks who are truly friends. I love our company and the culture we’ve created together, and that’s probably what I’m most proud of, professionally.

I launched the company back in 2010 as the economy was just starting to pull out of the recession. There were a lot of people, including the one I’m married to, who thought starting a construction company in that economy was a bit, well, crazy.

It took a few years but I ended up stumbling upon our niche during a shopping trip to Costco. What started as a crazy idea of a “kitchen remodel in a box” eventually became kitchenCRATE & bathCRATE, and four years later we’re having a ton of fun remodeling hundreds of homes a year. In fact, it’s gone so well that we launched the franchise version of the concept, CRATE Franchise Systems, in late 2015. We’re currently looking for just the right franchisees in an assortment of Northern California cities.

I’ve also enjoyed serving the community over the last 14 years via an assortment of clubs and organizations, including my past membership in Rotary and Commonwealth Modesto. I’m currently devoting my time to the great work being done at Youth for Christ, where I’m chairman of the board, and CrossPoint Community Church, where I help lead one of the peer communities. I’ve also recently joined the campaign committee for Yes on Measure L, a much-needed transportation tax that will improve our local roads and allow our community to get our fair share of federal transportation dollars.

Add these responsibilities to coaching Little League and flag football and life is quite full (and rewarding)!

Your life changed when:

My life changed dramatically when I (re)met my wife.

Despite being acquainted since junior high we only truly connected when each of us, on summer break from college, visited a youth group meeting at a local church with separate friends on the same night. I can still remember seeing her from across the room and I can still remember deciding to go over and say hello. I can only wonder how life would have been different if I had not taken those steps across the room.

That walk across the room led to a date, which led to a courtship, which led to a long-distance engagement (longest months of my life), which led to a marriage, which led to three amazing kids and also, and let’s not forget this for all the stay-at-home mothers out there, a life-partner who allows me to put in 60+ hours a week while she runs the household with deft skill and ability.

We’re very different in a lot of ways, but we share a common core of beliefs that allow us to weather life’s inevitable storms. We’ve been through family drama, miscarriages, moves, challenges in raising kids, medical maladies, struggles in starting new businesses and an assortment of other things that have made life more flavorful. At the end of the day we know we love each other and have each other’s best interest in mind, and for that I’m so very thankful.

What do you want people to know most about you?

Quite simply, I want people to know I love Christ by the way I live my life. This is a bit difficult to say, because as I mentioned earlier I so often fall short of his standard. It brings to my mind the great quote by Brennan Manning: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

It pains me to think that sometimes I’m guilty of this: a life that dishonors him and perhaps even gives others the wrong impression of the faith. But all I can do is try my best and others will decide how they feel about their own convictions.

I also want my life, my family, my business and the organizations that I’m part of to be an immense source of love and positive impact for the community. I want to build a legacy of love and service that my kids can be proud of, that they can use to build upon to write their own story of love and service.

Lastly, I want people to know that I want to build a massively successful company. Not for my own benefit (although I do enjoy the journey) but for the benefit of the families that depend upon it, for the customers who enjoy the finished projects, and for the community organizations that we can support. I have a passion for business, for marketing and for creating processes and structure. These passions mesh well with entrepreneurship, so that’s my current focus.

What do you like most about living here?

I’ve always had an infatuation with the underdog, the weaker contestant, the one with the cards stacked against him or her.

And I think that’s why I like Modesto.

Modesto is certainly the underdog when it comes to a positive brand, but deep down we have strength of character. We have strong ethics, we work hard, we give, we’re intelligent and thoughtful and kind and generous. These are all traits I see in so many of my fellow Modestans, and it inspires me.

Sure, we’ve had our fair share of tragedies combined with some criminal undercurrents that really work against us, like auto theft and drug distribution. And the housing crisis did us no favors.

But these are things that we will overcome, and that’s why I like Modesto. I love the people who step up to lead the many organizations that do so much good. I love the community events we can attend as a family. I love the proximity to so many of California’s wonders. I love the small-town feel combined with strong economic opportunity for those that really want to work, to create, to contribute. I love the many churches that create smaller sub-communities in which people can build relationships. And I love the Yogurt Mill. And Dewz. Yeah, really love Dewz.

Why is community involvement important?

It’s pretty simple: If we all just take without giving soon there’ll be nothing left to take.

Despite the thousands in this city that give so much there are tens of thousands who don’t. If we all just did a little bit, volunteered a few days a year, reached out to someone that needed a little help every so often, even extended a kind gesture to one another a few times a month Modesto would be an even better place to live and work.

I hope our local culture of getting involved, of volunteering and of supporting local events continues to grow. So much wonderful work has been done thus far by Love Modesto, and dozens of other organizations, that we need to keep the snowball heading down hill.

And that’s what I want, you, yes you, to think about. What can you, the reader of this little bio on some 36-year-old guy that remodels kitchens, do TODAY to make your family, your neighborhood and your city just a little bit better? Perhaps you can spread a little love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. Or perhaps you already do.

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 5:56 AM with the headline "20 under 40: Scott Monday."