PRODUCER PROFILE
Four years ago, Nicholas Pickrel, Jared Lapp and Darren Schrock started Kingsway Services to meet the need for asphalt paving services in and around Millersburg, Ohio.
Kingsway Services Paves, Grows, Serves Kingsway Services paves with a bigger mission in Millersburg, Ohio. BY SARAH REDOHL
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hen Nicholas Pickrel, Jared Lapp and Darren Schrock sat down to name their asphalt paving business in Millersburg, Ohio, they looked to their mission for inspiration. Friends since childhood, all three had been involved in mission trips through their church. “We share a philosophy of not leaving our faith at church, but bringing our faith into everything we do,” Pickrel said. They wanted to build a service-minded business upon the concept of redemptive entrepreneurship, as outlined in the book The Redemptive Business, which aims to teach Christian entrepreneurs how to put their faith into practice in their businesses. 12 | MAY 2023
“When we landed on the name Kingsway Services, we all thought it encompasses who we are and what we’re trying to do,” Pickrel said, adding that the company aims to operate the King’s way (God’s way). “The redemptive business is one that aims to serve rather than to take,” Pickrel said. “Growing up in the construction industry, I saw the way companies often treated their people as assets they’re trying to wring all they can out of. There are so many people working in construction who don’t seem to want their kids to be in this industry for that reason. If we want to solve the labor shortage, we need to change that.” “We asked ourselves, ‘How can we run Kingsway in such a way that the people who work here recommend working here to other people, would want their kids working here?’” Pickrel said. The answer was simple: Put people first.