Blind faith: When the business plan is answering a call from God
Posted On April 9, 2019
Marquis Forge is the CEO of Eleven86 Water, but he says that’s just a title. It’s God, he says, who runs the company, and God who started it in the first place.
Forge, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working With Cam Marston,” is a former walk-on football player at the University Alabama who had worked in the automotive industry for two decades. But he’d made a promise to always remember where he came from, the small town of Autaugaville just northwest of Montgomery.
And God, he says, showed him the way to keep that promise. He didn’t know anything about bottled water, but was led to people who showed him Autaugaville’s secret – a trapped aquifer that could produce some of the purest artesian water you’ll find.
From there, Forge says, he came in contact with one person after another who helped him turn this knowledge into a profitable business – from acquiring the property to tapping and bottling the water to learning the industry and landing a distributor who has the water stocked in stores around the state. And it was all God’s doing, he says.
“Being obedient to what God is telling me to do, I jumped off the mountain without a parachute, and kept all the faith in His hands,” said Forge, whose company has been in business for just a year. “The Lord has this already planned out. All I had to do is follow instructions.”
Forge, who wasn’t the first to try to tap and sell Autaugaville’s artesian water, shares with us how he and his company are making it work where others have failed. He tells us what it is that makes Eleven86 water special, and the difference between artesian water, spring water, purified water and alkaline water. And he shares why, for a small community in central Alabama where economic opportunities are limited, the company’s success is about more than the bottom line.
“It’s not about money, it’s about revitalization,” he said. “This is about making a community proud.”
Join us for a refreshing discussion about water and the difference it’s making in Autaugaville.
Categories: church, Entrepreneurship, What's Working with Cam Marston
God is good all the time.I saw a guy with this water on the job and I vowed to find a store selling it.On Saturday 10/3 21 located it at a meat store of all the places to find it😊
Thank God for my search and it is wonderfully good.
After tasting the water I loved it. I wanted to buy cases of water but HEB here in Missouri City, Texas sold out. Now I’ m on the website ordering 4 cases of water due to low product, but $18 dollar to ship is steep, but sacrificing what you want is pricey but just knowing you did it, is joyful. When I found out the Eleven86 water was owned by multicolored Americans, I just had to support my people. Reading your story inspired me to continue my journey of becoming a nurse anesthetist at the age of 50, is struggle but I know will make it. I will continue to support your business-Thanks, Vee
This water is so good, never had any thing like it. God is good! I deal with dehydration your water makes my insides feel good. Love it
What needed inspiration as my wife and I embark upon a non-profit that God has led us to establish. Thank you!!
I saw this water each time I bought groceries at Johnsons Groceries here in Gadsden, Al. I was compelled to buy it for a reason unknown. I bought a case and loved it. It’s higher in price than most water but better in taste. I didn’t know why I was drawn to buying this water until I read upon it. Yes, God is so good. My husband is a Baptist pastor and we are so glad to be a part of buying products that God has a part in. We pray the very best for your company.