I'm Jeff Buckner. 63 years old. Former Fortune 500 IT project manager. Born-again Christian. And for 62 of those 63 years, I was the man I now coach.
I committed my life to Jesus Christ at age 15. I went to church. I prayed. I read the Word. I may have led a small group or served in ministry at various points. My faith was real. My effort was genuine.
And yet something was missing. The joy, peace, and purpose I expected — they were partially there. But not fully. Not consistently. Not in the deep, settled way I thought faith in Christ was supposed to produce.
What I didn't know
I thought I had surrendered. I hadn't. I had invited God into my life — but I was still the one running it. God was real, but God was still one of my tools, alongside willpower, discipline, therapy, and hard work. I was managing my life with God as one of the inputs.
That's not surrender. That's management. And management can produce some fruit — just not the full harvest.
The problem wasn't which tool I was using. The problem was that I was still the one using tools. And I couldn't see it. That's pride — and it's the thing no one had ever named for me.
January 2025
Everything changed. I finally understood what total surrender actually means — not God in my life, but God running all of it. 100%. The wheel, not a seat.
My family and my closest friends describe me as a completely different person. Not because I changed my behavior — but because I finally stopped being the one driving. The transformation they saw wasn't me trying harder. It was me finally stopping.
Why I coach
I spent 40 years in corporate America managing projects, leading teams, and navigating the gap between who I was at work, at home, and at church. I know what it costs to keep that up. I know what the secret coping looks like. I know the exhaustion.
And I know what it's like when the weight finally lifts — when you stop performing and start living. That experience is not transferable by reading a book. But it is transmittable, one man to another.
I know which step you're stuck on. Because I lived all three of them — and I lived them in the wrong order for most of my life.