Jon Collins
In three years, Jon Collins turned his theology education and passion for communication into a highly successful video advertising company, Epipheo Studios. Through Epipheo, Jon explores how to balance business and ministry.
Jon grew up in Federal Way, Washington, in a vibrant Christian home. After high school, he planned to attend Multnomah University for one year but fell in love with theology.
“Multnomah taught me how to be a thinker and gave me a passion for the church and for being a student of the Bible,” Jon said. “There were a lot of opportunities to be creative and explore. [Elsewhere], I wouldn’t have had those opportunities to think of ways to communicate and entertain, which is what Epipheo does.”
Jon graduated in 2003 and married fellow Multnomah alumnus, Tristen Collins. As he settled into life as a full-time pastor, Jon found he loved communication but struggled with other pastoring duties. He looked for a way to use his gifts effectively. He found the potential of video appealing and spent the next two years creating videos as a hobby.
In 2008, Jon made a promotional video for Imago Dei Community’s Advent Conspiracy; and within two months the video had more than one million views. Jon decided to try and turn his hobby into a business. He called up his old friend Jeremy Pryor, another Multnomah alumnus-turned-entrepreneur, and asked him to partner in a video marketing company.
“It seemed like a really great niche on the Internet. There weren’t many players who had figured out how to do that well,” Jeremy said. He said Advent Conspiracy’s success showed them video marketing could also be an influential ministry.
With friends Stephen Mowry and Ben Crawford, Jon and Jeremy started Ephipheo Studios—a combination of “epiphany” and “video.” All four founders had theological education, but no business degrees. They built their business around communicating the truth behind a product, service, or idea in a way that changed people’s lives.
“We thought if we can take epiphanies and turn them into videos, we’ll have a successful company,” Jon said. “We all share this desire to figure out the meaning behind stuff, which really has come from our faith.”
The team applied their method to explain Google Wave, and the video quickly went viral. The next week, Google called and asked to work with them. Since 2009, Epipheo has made more than four hundred videos for high-profile clients such as Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, and nonprofits such as the Luis Palau Association and The Justice Conference.
“Our biggest challenge has been growing fast enough to meet demand,” Jon said. “[I] was constantly stepping into a bigger pair of shoes.”
Jon said his partners have been vital to Epipheo’s success, and he feels fortunate to work with them. Running a fast-growing company also challenged him to build deeper trust with his business partners and craft a ministry-minded corporation.
Epipheo’s founders hope to create a paradigm shift in the marketing world by communicating truth and the reason why a product or idea should matter. Jeremy said their faith is fundamental to their corporate actions.
“We believe a business founded on believers should look different,” Jeremy said. “Relationships come first.”
Epipheo’s employees are encouraged to bring something new to the company and to focus on their families. Jon described Epipheo as a kingdom business: they need to make money, but act in a Christian manner.
“For me and my business partners, Abraham is a model of family life in the secular world,” Jon said. “In Genesis, there’s an entire chapter where you watch Abraham do a transaction. I think God put that in there as a model for us.”
As Epipheo continues expanding, Jon continues exploring his role as a businessman, father, and Christ-follower.
“We talk about having a kingdom business,” Jon said. “We want to use the business in a way that cooperates with the kingdom of God.”