When people first heard that Paul Boecker was returning to Betenbough Companies to launch Olive Branch Home Loans, a few wondered aloud if this had been the plan all along. Paul just laughs at that. “It wasn’t,” he says, “but seeing how everything fell into place, I can understand why people might think so.”
Paul’s story is one of humility, redemption, and God’s unmistakable hand in every ebb and flow of the voyage.
Paul began his Betenbough journey in 2016, working his way up from staff accountant to finance director. When leadership began exploring the idea of starting a mortgage company in early 2023, Jeanna Roach asked Paul to take the helm of that venture.
“When I was demoted in 2020,” explains Jeanna, “I joined the BBS director group and officed with Paul. I saw his leadership grow right next to me. He had the desire and acumen it would take to launch Olive Branch Home Loans.”
So in June 2023, Paul and Jeanna went to Dallas with Rick Betenbough to meet with Renee, a mortgage consultant from Cardinal Financial.
On that trip, Paul was walking down the street with his coffee when he had an unspoken thought: It would really help if I had some actual mortgage experience. Fifteen minutes later, Renee said, “I have a crazy idea. What if Paul works for Cardinal and Betenbough for a while to get his feet wet while Olive Branch works on its licensing?”
Paul felt instantly that it was the best idea he’d heard all day. Within weeks, he was officially on staff at Cardinal — completely out of his depth but eager to learn.
Just as Olive Branch was beginning to take shape, serious problems came to light in accounting. Those issues fell under Paul’s previous leadership of that team, and there were some choppy seas to navigate.
“I once read a quote that said, ‘Own 100% of your piece.’ By the grace of God, I could look in the mirror and do that,” he recalls. “The Spirit of Jesus gave me the humility to see my misses as a leader and take responsibility for them.”
That moment of ownership would become a defining pivot in his story.
“Jeanna and Walter asked me to walk them through what happened,” Paul recalls. “They put Olive Branch on hold and asked me to come back to accounting to help make things right, a full demotion from leadership.”
But Paul had already fallen in love with mortgage lending. It was more than a job; it felt like a calling. The Friday before Labor Day 2023, he told Jeanna, Rick, and Walter he needed to resign. It was one of the hardest days of his life.
“Financially, it never makes sense to leave Betenbough,” he says. “I’ve taught that staying is usually the right thing because of the ESOP and other benefits. But my next right thing was mortgage.”
Paul remembers lying in bed beside his wife, Emily, staring at the wall and feeling the weight of uncertainty. “I didn’t enjoy that moment,” he shares with emotion. “But I knew God was going to do something in it.” He remembered a Charles Spurgeon quote that became an anchor for him: “I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me against the Rock of Ages.”
At the time, Paul could see that he had caused those waves himself, and all he could do was cling to the Rock as they crashed against him. Looking back, he can now see they were carrying him on a course only God could have charted.
“Paul was always an excellent leader,” praises Jeanna. “He was wholly submitted and always honoring. Instead of taking up an offense or pointing fingers at the weaknesses of others, he took responsibility. The way he handled the situation was supernatural.”
After officially resigning from Betenbough on a Tuesday, Paul planned to take a sabbatical. It lasted all of 36 hours. On Wednesday, as he played with his daughters at McDonald’s, Renee from Cardinal Financial called. They were launching a 5.99% interest rate deal with Betenbough Homes and needed a loan officer in Lubbock — fast.
He jumped in the deep end, and in just three months, Paul experienced what would normally take a year to learn. It was trial by fire, full of mistakes, lessons, and unexpected grace. “It was exactly what I needed,” he says. “God provided that season to teach me the mortgage world.”
Paul transitioned to loanDepot in early 2024. He thrived there, serving families, closing loans, and continuing to learn the heart of the industry. “God put a big passion in my heart for mortgage,” he says. “I finally understood what He was calling me to do.”
As Paul grew in his new career, God was doing deeper work inside him. “Looking back, I can see that I had been cavalier as a leader — hard-charging, prideful, running fast, and leaving wreckage behind,” Paul admits. “I didn’t see it then, but the Lord started to show me.”
That revelation led to healing conversations and apologies to Jeanna, Brad, and others who had been impacted by his past leadership style. “God gave me a humility that didn’t exist before,” he says. “I had to make things right.”
In late 2024, while driving to church one Sunday, an idea stirred in Paul’s heart: Olive Branch Home Loans could work. Soon after, his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he knew before even looking that it was Brad, asking him to lunch.
“They’d started talking again about a mortgage company,” Paul says. “It was Providence, not coincidence.”
As 2025 rolled in, Betenbough’s leadership explored options, and Paul stayed prayerful and patient. Then came his interview process, including a redemptive conversation with Cal, Kalee, Brad, and himself. “It was honest and healing,” he shares. “We talked about what had happened before, what I had learned through it, and what God had done since. I left that room feeling like we were all on the same page.”
“Paul has been given a heart that breaks for customers who can’t qualify for a mortgage loan,” shares Jeanna. “Who better to lead our mortgage ministry?”
In August 2025, Brad offered Paul the opportunity to come back and lead Olive Branch Home Loans. “I’d recently turned down another incredible offer because I had no peace,” Paul said. “When Brad and I met, I had nothing but peace. God made it clear. It felt like coming home.”
In the two years he was away from Betenbough, Paul gained not only the mortgage experience he needed but also the humility and spiritual maturity required to launch Olive Branch Home Loans with excellence, prioritizing people as he charts new waters. He’s learned to trust Jesus in the day-to-day, not just for his eternal salvation. “I’ve prayed more about work in the last two months than I did in my entire seven years before,” Paul states. “It’s a different kind of dependence.”
“When Paul left our company, I didn’t know he’d be back with us,” Jeanna reflects. “But my heart is so full that he is. Only the Lord could orchestrate this.”
Much like Noah in the book of Genesis, Paul has come through an unprecedented storm and now finds himself in steady waters. Noah sent out a dove to look for dry land after the flood; Paul prayerfully asked God to direct his next steps. The Lord answered both men with a symbol of love and peace — the Olive Branch. May it be a reminder that every wave, no matter how rough, can lead us back to the Rock of Ages.
