David Hampton has a good problem. He has plenty of talents, and he knows it.
The issue for Hampton, a former pastor and deputy mayor, was finding somewhere he could roll them all into one.
The solution: Hampton Innovations.
Hampton started his consulting company in January. He’s the president and CEO. Hampton helps people, corporations and nonprofits overcome obstacles to growth or revenue. His clients are individuals, churches, nonprofits, schools and government agencies — five areas where Hampton has experience.
It’s not that Hampton didn’t enjoy the work he was doing before or that he didn’t find it meaningful. He was a pastor from 1996 to 2019, including eight years on his last stop at Light of the World Christian Church. He was also deputy mayor of community engagement for Mayor Joe Hogsett from 2016 to January.
Hampton likes to think of the “Parable of the Talents” in Matthew 25, where a master entrusts large sums of money to three servants while he’s away and returns to find only two have used their allotments wisely while the third didn’t. The lesson: People should use their God-given abilities.
“I finally realized that I had been operating as the one- or two-talent servant when God had actually given me five talents,” Hampton said.
The nature of entrepreneurship, Hampton said, is to build your own table when you can’t find a seat at other tables. And with a doctorate degree in ministry from Christian Theological Seminary and business certificate from Harvard Business School, it’s not like he was out looking for scrap pieces of pallet boards to build this table.
His table, Hampton Innovations is a one-man show for now, though Hampton said he’d like to be able to hire staff in the future.
Hampton said he’s particularly interested in helping the Black community thrive, work he was already doing as a pastor and deputy mayor.
“I’ve dedicated my life to that,” he said.
One of the best perks of Hampton Innovations, though, is he’s the boss.
“It is liberating to be able to work for myself, on my terms, at my own pace, at the full capacity of who God has called me to be,” he said.
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
