John Lupher (Part 1)

Technology Entrepreneur—Unconditional Happiness, A Commitment to Personal Growth

By Marjorie F. Eddington

Categories: Business, Engineering, Paul, Power of Prayer

John Lupher calls himself a technology entrepreneur. He is CEO/CTO of Evermore Systems (founded 1996), which provides turnkey engineering product design. In his words, his “customers can walk in with a picture of their product drawn on a napkin, and we will hand them back a design, first article prototypes.” They’ve helped customers create water quality sensors, golf clubs that analyze your swing, traffic counting systems, hot water systems, and more, which you can see on their website, evermoresystems.com. John has also started businesses with customers who wanted to take their product to market.

What attracted you to entrepreneurship?
The creative effort and the freedom that you can express. In many ways, it’s the kindergarten creativity in anyone who wants to design something good and useful. I also wanted to push beyond perceived limits, step outside my comfort zone, and try to discover everything on the arc of possibility, trusting that there will be a positive outcome. As an entrepreneur, you’re putting yourself in a position where you’re forced to grow.

What insights can you share about being a successful entrepreneur?
Walking down the entrepreneurial path is a commitment to personal growth that, for me, began as a student of the Bible. The personal stories of the prophets, Jesus, and Paul (who is my favorite), are so compelling because they still feel contemporary. From them, I learned that I’m bigger than my current perception of myself; that God is helping me discover who I am in a broader sense; and then the limitations that I see fade, so I can accomplish more.

By witnessing great mentors, I’ve learned that it all begins within and with your perception of yourself. It’s been shocking to me at times that whatever problems I come across, I can solve by staring at the mirror, by seeing that the problem is with my limited perception. As my perception becomes more Godlike, my environment changes, and I can find solutions.

And so that entrepreneurial journey is a commitment first to personal growth. Then, of course, there is a commitment to your partners, to understanding and supporting them, and to seeing those around you as capable and as part of the opportunity. Then your commitment moves on to the product and the things you classically think of as business.

And all of this is a commitment to becoming larger than you think you are. It’s about finding the Infinite within and expressing that infinite as you find it, having a ton of fun along the way. This creates a basis for happiness because you see that happiness is unconditional.

We hear about unconditional love. Tell me more about unconditional happiness.
Happiness is within. The habit of happiness, of dominion, makes the journey more palatable and more effective. When you’re happiness doesn’t depend upon certain conditions, you don’t get caught up in the crisis of the moment. The human condition can look like chaos, limitation, and failure. So you have to step away and perceive things from the Infinite, rather than the limited, perspective. I had an experience in college sailing in a storm that taught me that the spiritual awareness of the power of the Christ allows you to be unconditionally happy even in the midst of frightening situations.

You’ve obviously thought about this.
I think to live life well you have to be intentioned and passionate about what you do. If you aren’t, you have to go find that. Mission one is to find your passion and to commit to doing that. That’s really when you align yourself to the Infinite.

You mentioned that Paul is your favorite individual from the Bible? Why?
Paul is the quintessential example of pure inspiration. He was in a less structured time of Christianity than we are. Paul was right there, just past ground zero, but still truly disconnected because he came after Jesus. Yet he embodied the essence of the Christ through the Holy Ghost, through spiritual sense and pure inspiration, which was so transformative.

Even today, it’s hard to find someone who has morphed more than Paul, or has had a deeper hole to dig out of than Paul. Paul was the essence of redemption, becoming such a strong spiritual leader and healer. His spiritual sense ran so deep that it had a tremendous effect in our world as he taught the law of Christianity. So Paul, single handedly, did a tremendous amount of good for Christianity. It goes to show you what a strong individual relationship with God can do for you.

Obviously, Jesus had the strongest relationship with God and was the biggest transformer in history. But while thinking that I can be like Jesus is sometimes a stretch for me, I feel I can look to Paul, who proved Jesus’ teachings to be effective. For me, Paul laid down the art of what was possible, and we have it as a record from which to study. Through his letters, we see his sense of love and outright confidence and happiness to be living in the Christ, which is so inspiring.

And you’re living a life based on inspiration and confidence as you discover new possibilities.

• You can learn more from John in another upcoming interview that focuses on the importance of partners and how to break through limitations.