The Book
The Book
Read or listen to Ascension of the Warrior and explore the Eight Steps for your next season.
Author · Speaker · Leadership Coach · Founder of 318 Men
Maxwell Leadership Team Member
Your Next Season Will Require a Stronger Leader.
Rick Kauffman helps experienced Kingdom-minded business owners and leaders uncover what God has already placed in their hands and lead their next season with clarity, conviction, and purpose.
Rick Kauffman · Founder of 318 Men
- Author of Ascension of the Warrior
- Host of The 318 Brotherhood Podcast
- Nearly Four Decades of Business and Leadership in West-Central Ohio
- Creator of the Eight-Step Ascension Framework
- Maxwell Leadership Team Member
- Certified DISC Trainer and Certified DISC Consultant
Rick leading Kingdom-minded men: Purpose builds men. Brotherhood keeps them.
The Central Message
You Are Not Starting Over.
You are building from everything God has already placed in your hands.
Your experience, knowledge, relationships, reputation, lessons, and story are not remnants of your past. They are assets for your next season. Rick helps experienced leaders recognize those assets, refine what matters, and turn what they have lived into leadership, service, and Kingdom impact.
Choose Your Path
How Can Rick Serve You?
Speaking & Media
Speaking and Media
Invite Rick to bring a real, relevant leadership conversation to your church, podcast, business, or men's gathering.
Coaching
Coaching
Work directly with Rick to identify what God has placed in your hands, strengthen your personal leadership, understand how you communicate and influence others, and determine what your next season requires.
Brotherhood
Brotherhood
Join a committed community of Kingdom-minded men pursuing growth, truth, leadership, and accountability.
Ascension of the Warrior · All 3 Formats Available
The Framework Behind the Mission
Ascension of the Warrior
The Master Craftsman’s Design
An eight-step journey for experienced men ready to understand their story, strengthen their leadership, and build their next season according to God’s design.
Speaking & Training
Bring a Real Leadership Conversation to Your Audience.
Rick Kauffman combines more than four decades of business and leadership experience, personal adversity, biblical perspective, the Eight Steps of Ascension of the Warrior, and Maxwell Leadership training to help experienced men and leaders examine what they have built and determine what their next season requires.
Coaching
One-on-one and small-group leadership coaching for experienced Kingdom-minded business owners and leaders seeking greater clarity, stronger personal leadership, and a more intentional next season.
Speaking
Honest, relevant leadership conversations for churches, businesses, podcasts, men's gatherings, conferences, and leadership events.
Training
Interactive leadership and personal-growth training using Rick's Kingdom-centered frameworks, Maxwell Leadership principles, and DISC behavioral insights.
Your Next Season Will Require a Stronger Leader
Did You Build the Wrong Thing First?
The Kingdom Balance Sheet
Turning Pain Into Purpose and Purpose Into Power
What Is God Saying to You?
Grief, Resilience, and Rebuilding After Loss
CERTIFIED DISC TRAINER & CONSULTANTBehavioral Insight for Stronger Leadership
Understand How You Lead, Communicate, and Influence.
The Maxwell DISC Method provides a practical language for understanding behavioral tendencies, communication preferences, decision-making patterns, and the ways people respond to challenges, relationships, pace, and structure. Rick uses DISC assessments and debriefs to help individuals, teams, business leaders, churches, and men's organizations strengthen communication, improve self-awareness, navigate differences, and lead more intentionally.
D
Dominant
Outgoing • Task-Oriented
How you approach challenges, decisions, action, and results.
I
Influencing
Outgoing • People-Oriented
How you communicate, connect, persuade, and generate enthusiasm.
S
Steady
Reserved • People-Oriented
How you approach consistency, cooperation, support, and change.
C
Compliant
Reserved • Task-Oriented
How you approach standards, accuracy, quality, and structure.
DISC describes observable behavioral tendencies and communication preferences. It is not a clinical diagnosis, mental-health evaluation, spiritual assessment, measure of intelligence, or statement of a person's value or character.
Possible Services
- Individual Maxwell DISC Assessment
- Individual Assessment Debrief
- Leadership Communication Coaching
- Team DISC Training
- Sales Communication Training
- Conflict and Relationship Workshops
- Church Leadership Training
- Men's Ministry Leadership Training
- Business and Organizational Workshops
Rick Kauffman · Refined Through Adversity · Turning Pain Into Purpose & Power
Rick's Story
Built Through Experience. Refined Through Adversity. Called to Serve.
“The day I lost my daughter changed everything. For years I asked: Where was God? What was He trying to show me? The answer changed my life.”
For nearly four decades, Rick Kauffman has done business, served, and led across west-central Ohio. His experience spans entrepreneurship, retail, manufacturing relationships, promotional products, banking and financial services, nonprofit leadership, service organizations, coaching, ministry, and community involvement. Those years of building, serving, loss, rebuilding, and leading now shape how he helps others communicate better, lead better, and navigate change.
Rick is a Maxwell Leadership Team Member, Certified DISC Trainer, and Certified DISC Consultant. These credentials complement nearly four decades of practical business, leadership, service, and community experience, biblical perspective, and the Eight Steps of Ascension of the Warrior.
His search for clarity began with a journal, a Bible, and one question: “God, what are You saying to me?”
Through more than 1,500 days of consistent journaling, prayer, reflection, and action, Rick began recognizing the lessons, relationships, experiences, and assignments hidden within his own story. That process became the Eight Steps of Ascension of the Warrior and the foundation of the 318 Men mission.
Today, Rick serves as a coach and guide, helping experienced men ask better questions, recognize what God has already placed in their hands, and lead their next season with greater clarity and intention.
318 MEN
Genesis 14:14
The Man Is the Message. The Mission Is Bigger Than One Man.
318 Men exists to equip experienced Kingdom-minded men to strengthen their leadership, steward their story, and build lives of lasting impact. Rooted in Genesis 14:14, the mission is expressed through coaching, training, brotherhood, events, and the Eight Steps of Ascension of the Warrior.
The Three Fires
Refining the BuilderPain
Purpose
Power
Pain (Pushes) · Purpose (Pulls) · Power (Provides)
The Three Domains
Health
Relationships
Wealth
The Eight Steps · God’s Pathway to Build the Builder
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Rick's Original Framework Whiteboards
Click to enlarge
Podcast & Media
Conversations for the Man Building What Comes Next
Featured Episode
The 318 Brotherhood Podcast
Honest, relevant conversations that challenge experienced men to examine what they have built and what their next season requires.
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Testimonials
What Men Are Discovering
“I found my message again. What I was learning didn't stop with me. I'm now taking these frameworks into my prison ministry and using them to teach and equip pastors and ministry leaders.”
Larry H.
MINISTRY • MESSAGE • MULTIPLICATION
“I went through a difficult season with work and then an injury that knocked me down. The process and the men around me helped me work through it, get back on my feet, and begin moving forward again.”
Jeff B.
WORK • ADVERSITY • GETTING BACK UP
“I knew there was something I was supposed to do, but fear and uncertainty kept getting in the way. Working through the process helped me begin seeing that what I've lived through could become something I use to help other men.”
Gary N.
PURPOSE • FEAR • MINISTRY
Start the Conversation
Book Rick for Your Next Audience, Team, or Season
Tell Rick a little about what you are planning. Whether you are booking a speaker, exploring coaching, arranging DISC training, or inviting Rick to your podcast, the first step is a conversation.
What Does Your Next Season Require From You?
Whether you are looking for a speaker, a leadership conversation, a book for your men, or guidance for your own next season, the first step is a conversation.