There’s a certain kind of leader who doesn’t wait for the perfect conditions before making a move. Marc Duchene is one of them. After years in engineering, logistics, and marketing, Marc left the safety of corporate life and opened a gym on the east side of El Paso. That was sixteen years ago. Today, Elev8 Gym is one of the most respected training spots in the region, and Marc’s second company, Elev8 Equipment, is designing and outfitting weight rooms for high schools and colleges across West Texas and beyond.
Marc recently walked us through the winding road that brought him to where he is today, and what stood out most wasn’t the business success. It was how clearly he could see God’s hand in every season of his life, even when he wasn’t looking for it at the time.
A Career That Didn’t Follow the Script
Marc graduated with an engineering degree. He spent time in corporate roles, worked in marketing, and eventually came back to El Paso to start a marketing company with some friends. By most measures, he was doing fine. But Marc kept feeling a pull toward something bigger, something that aligned with a passion he’d carried since his days as an athlete.
When the opportunity to open a gym presented itself in late 2008, Marc didn’t agonize over it. He didn’t build a pros and cons list. He stepped forward with bold faith.
“It felt like an opportunity God opened, so I leaped,” Marc shared. And that instinct turned out to be exactly right.
Looking back now, Marc sees how each career stop was building something. Engineering taught him to solve problems and think in systems. Marketing taught him how to own and run a business. Each experience added another tool to his belt before he even knew what he was preparing for. That’s the kind of thread Proverbs 16:9 is talking about when it says, “The heart of man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Marc wasn’t passively waiting for direction. He was moving, growing, and trusting that God would make the pieces fit. And they did.
What Faith-Based Leadership Looks Like on a Tuesday
One of the things that made this conversation so grounding was how Marc talks about faith in business. It’s not a separate category for him. It’s woven into the fabric of how he operates every single day.
When asked what Colossians 3:23 looks like in practice, Marc’s answer was refreshingly simple. Work as if someone’s watching, because someone is. Be reliable. Be vocal about what you believe. And lead people toward God not through long speeches, but through how you show up. Marc echoes St. Francis of Assisi sentiments to: “Preach the gospel always; use words when necessary.”
That’s not a new idea, but it hits differently coming from someone who runs forty employees across two companies while also trying to be a present dad. The point isn’t perfection. It’s intention. It’s choosing, again and again, to let your work be an act of worship rather than just a means to an end. That’s what it looks like to work heartily, as Colossians 3:23 invites us to do.
Leading People, Not Just Managing Them
Marc manages a team of around forty people spread across Elev8 Gym and Elev8 Equipment, and his approach to leadership is worth paying attention to. He hires people he trusts, gives them real responsibility, and lets them learn from their own decisions, good and bad.
He described his philosophy simply: leadership is asking “What do you think we should do?” instead of just handing out answers. He’s not trying to be the one who does everything. He’s trying to develop people who can think, decide, and grow on their own.
This is servant leadership in action, and it’s the kind of approach that Scripture has been pointing us toward all along. In John 13, Jesus didn’t just talk about serving others. He got on his knees and washed his disciples’ feet. That kind of leadership flips the script on what most of us think the boss’s job is supposed to look like. Marc gets that. He understands that when you invest in your people and trust them with real authority, you’re not just building a business. You’re building people.
And the results speak for themselves. Marc mentioned that many of his younger employees leave Elev8 not because they’re unhappy, but because they’ve been equipped for bigger roles elsewhere. That’s not a failure. That’s exactly what good leadership produces.
The Connection Between Faith, Fitness, and Consistency
Marc is a lifelong athlete, and he sees a deep thread connecting physical discipline with spiritual life. The fruits of the Spirit, he points out, aren’t just abstract virtues. Self-control, patience, perseverance: these are the same qualities that make someone show up to train when motivation fades. They’re the same qualities that keep a business running when the early excitement wears off.
When busy leaders tell Marc they don’t have time to work out, his response is pretty direct. It’s a priority question, not a time question. The leaders he respects most aren’t the ones with the most hours in the day. They’re the ones who protect their health because they know it affects everything else, their energy, their clarity, their ability to lead well.
That tracks with what we see across business and Scripture alike. Discipline isn’t a luxury. It’s a foundation. The kind of steady, daily faithfulness that shows up in how we take care of our bodies, how we lead our teams, and how we pursue the work God has placed in front of us.
A Word for Local Business Owners
Marc closed with some advice that every entrepreneur in the El Paso and Las Cruces area needs to hear. When you’re a local owner competing against national brands, your advantage isn’t size or budget. It’s speed. You can pivot faster, read your market better, and stay closer to your customers than any corporate chain ever could.
His counsel was to keep that startup courage alive, even as the business matures. Don’t let success make you cautious. The same willingness to take a risk that got you started is the same quality that will keep you growing. Stay curious, travel, network, and pay attention to what’s working in other markets before it lands in yours.
It’s solid advice, and it comes from someone who has been doing exactly that for sixteen years in one of the more competitive fitness markets in the Borderplex region.
Additional Resources
Faith Driven Entrepreneur by Henry Kaestner, J.D. Greear, and Chip Ingram — If Marc’s story resonated with you, this book explores what it really means to step into your purpose and pursue a God-given call to create. It’s practical, honest, and worth reading alongside your business plan.
C12 Resource Library — C12 offers a wealth of tools and resources for Christian business owners looking to integrate faith into their daily leadership. Explore what’s available at C12Borderplex.com.
About My Father’s Business by Regi Campbell — A straightforward look at what it means to take your faith to work, written for leaders who want substance over theory.
Learn More About Marc Duchene and Elev8
Marc Duchene is the founder of Elev8 Gym and Elev8 Equipment, based on the east side of El Paso. For sixteen years, Elev8 Gym has been a place where members strengthen not just their bodies but their mindset, and Elev8 Equipment is helping shape the next generation of athletes by designing state-of-the-art weight rooms for schools across the region. Connect with Marc and the Elev8 team below.
- Website: elev8gym.com
- Equipment: Elev8equipment.com
- Instagram: @elev8gym
- TikTok: @elev8gym
- YouTube: Elev8 Gym
- Phone: (915) 591-6000
Listen to the Full Episode
There’s so much more in this conversation than what we could cover here. Marc shares more about his approach to problem-solving, what he’s praying for in the next decade, and why he thinks the best business advice is also some of the best life advice. Head over to 323podcast.com to listen to the full episode and hear it all for yourself.