How Faith Shaped Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Empire
By Movieguide® Contributor
As home decor and media hub Magnolia celebrates its 20th anniversary, co-founder Chip Gaines shared how he and Joanna Gaines relied on their faith to inform the couple’s growing business through the years.
“For better or worse, we’ve trusted our gut instincts and held on to faith with a white-knuckled grip, trusting that no matter how something may appear on the surface, there’s always beauty waiting to be revealed underneath,” he shared.
Magnolia began in 2003 when newly married Chip and Joanna opened a little shop in Waco, Texas.
“We didn’t have much figured out in the way of numbers and finances,” Gaines wrote. “But we believed in each other, and we believed in a dream to build something that would matter—something that would be meaningful, not only to us, but to our family and our community.”
“Our business grew by even more. We won. We lost. We learned,” the FIXER UPPER star added.
“We wrestled with the temptation to settle for the easy path, always keeping one another accountable to the truth we held on to like our lives depended on it,” he continued.
Their business model? “When the world zigged, we zagged,” he shared. “We doubled down on forgotten places and impossible projects.”
“We started a print magazine in the digital age and a television network when everyone went to streaming. We bought an old church, a dilapidated castle, and a newspaper building,” he reflected.
For Gaines, the secret to success is “To be resolute in the face of all the voices telling you to give up, give in, or forfeit, because you just know what’s on the inside is worth fighting for.”
“We had something to offer this world, something we hoped would matter,” he wrote.
“That we can bring people home, so to speak, and remind them that what matters most in life is one another. Of all we’ve done, I’m most proud when we do that,” Gaines concluded.
Movieguide® previously reported on Chip Gaines:
Chip Gaines may be on the forefront of home renovation television, but he has a list of priorities well ahead of fixing up the latest home on his list.
“When I look out across the whole landscape of my little corner of the world, there are plenty of places where I fall short,” Gaines writes in the summer issue of The Magnolia Journal. “I’m known to be easily distracted, for one thing. In general, me and time have this way of losing track of one another. And sometimes, I can let some of the commitments I’ve made slip through my hands.
“But there are other commitments—the big ones—that I hold on to with everything I’ve got. Honoring Jo, being a good dad, my faith, trying to do what’s right even when it’s not easy, building something that helps other people. Those are commitments I’ve made that I won’t compromise. My nonnegotiables. No matter how much the details and circumstances of my life may change, and no matter what storms come my way, you watch: I’m going to get those right.”
Gaines, who says he lost his way when some of his FIXER UPPER fame got to his head, reiterated his pledge to his faith and family.
