When a successful healthcare technology executive walks away from a lucrative career to spend a year serving the homeless and hiking across continents, you know there’s more to the story. For Zach Jiwa, that sabbatical year led to a complete life change and a new project that combines faith, culture, and cuisine in ways no one else is doing.

In a recent episode of Biblical Money, hosted by Rabbi Rami Goldberg from Israel365, Jiwa shared the remarkable evolution from a 25-year healthcare career to his current passion project: a groundbreaking travel show called “Food, Wine, and God.”

The Unraveling That Led to Renewal

Jiwa’s journey to this point wasn’t conventional. After building an impressive resume that included roles as Chief Information Officer at a major hospital system, positions at Microsoft’s healthcare R&D division, and serving as an Innovation Fellow during the Obama administration’s healthcare.gov launch, he found himself questioning everything.

“I’d spent 22 years in healthcare trying to fix the system,” Jiwa reflected during the interview. “I probably had a little bit too much pride and arrogance as a young person that I could change the world, and I really started asking the question: what is my purpose and what am I called to do?”

The catalyst came in 2021 when his marriage dissolved during the COVID pandemic, joining countless others who became casualties of that difficult period. Combined with a growing disillusionment with his ability to create meaningful change in healthcare, Jiwa faced what he described as two major idols in his life crumbling: his marriage and his pursuit of financial security.

A Year of Radical Rest and Service

Rather than immediately jumping into his next venture, Jiwa made an unconventional choice that would reshape his entire worldview. In April 2022, he embarked on a full-year sabbatical that divided his time between adventure and service.

The first half involved fulfilling long-held dreams: hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago across Spain, and taking his four children on an ambitious 31-day journey across the Canadian Rockies in a 21-foot camper. “It was absolutely magical,” he shared, though he admitted it was “ill-advised” to attempt such an extended trip with four kids in such close quarters.

The second half proved even more transformative. Jiwa parked his camper at Community First Village in East Austin, an innovative community that provides tiny homes for the chronically homeless. Under the leadership of Alan Graham and the organization Mobile Lives and Fishes, Jiwa spent months serving others while living among them.

“I called Allan and said, ‘Can I just park the camper out there and serve?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know what you’re going to do.’ And I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do either,'” Jiwa recalled. He ended up doing everything from fixing gates and wireless networking to teaching phone usage and simply being present in community with people who needed it most.

Where Pakistani Spices Meet Oklahoma Faith

The genesis of Jiwa’s current project traces back to his unique upbringing and a profound travel experience. As the son of a Pakistani Muslim immigrant father and a white preacher’s daughter from Oklahoma, Jiwa grew up experiencing “pretty rich flavors early on in life.” This multicultural foundation sparked a lifelong passion for food and cooking.

The turning point came during a 40th birthday trip to Israel, where he took what he calls “the Jesus tour” but felt something was missing. “When you go on a church Jesus tour, I didn’t get to go into the markets, I didn’t get to experience the local cuisine, the wineries,” he explained. “I’d sneak off every once in a while and go to the shuk and see the market.”

That experience led him to register the domain “Food, Wine and God” in 2017, but it wasn’t until after his sabbatical that the vision crystallized.

Anthony Bourdain Meets C.S. Lewis

Now Jiwa is working on creating a travel show unlike anything else out there. “Food, Wine, and God” would take viewers on a journey through biblical history, but instead of dusty lectures, it’s all about food, culture, and the stories that connect us.

“I describe it as Anthony Bourdain meets C.S. Lewis,” he explained, referencing the beloved travel host’s curiosity and the Christian author’s theological depth.

The seven-season arc would follow biblical history geographically and chronologically, starting in modern-day Basra, Iraq (believed to be near the location of the Garden of Eden) and journeying through the Abrahamic period, the Exodus, the time of Jesus, Paul’s missionary journeys, and eventually through the Roman Catholic period and Protestant Reformation.

Each episode would culminate with Jiwa sharing a meal with local people, recognizing food as the universal connector. “That’s where we get the most connection in our lives, right? How do we get to know people? How do we understand?” he asked. “I’m almost guaranteed in Basra, Iraq, I’m going to be sitting down with a Muslim chef. I’m not afraid of that at all. I want to be curious about that.”

Faith as a Unifying Force

What sets Jiwa’s approach apart is his commitment to curiosity over confrontation. Drawing from his interfaith background, he sees food and shared meals as bridges between different faith traditions. “Maybe it’ll draw curiosity to whatever faith you are, and maybe it’ll draw some curiosity of what’s this Christian doing eating at a Muslim restaurant with a Muslim chef,” he mused.

This perspective reflects a broader transformation in how Jiwa views the integration of faith and work. He described spending years living as “two Zachs” – the secular business professional and the spiritual believer – until a Christian-led company showed him how these aspects could be unified.

“It was really the first time for me that it all clicked,” he shared. “These two Zachs, this secular working business Zach and this believing spiritual believing Zach, kind of created the possibility that those two people I struggled with on Sunday morning versus Tuesday night were one unified self.”

Building Something Bigger Than Business

Now in the fundraising phase for his ambitious project, Jiwa represents a new generation of faith-based entrepreneurs who see their work as ministry. His goal isn’t just entertainment but education, particularly addressing what he sees as a gap in understanding the 2,000 years of faith history between biblical times and today.

“When we read the Bible, we read from 5,000 years ago to 2,000 years ago. Nobody really studies what happened in the last 2,000 years,” he observed. “It’s all colored based on histories around war and politics. We don’t really study faith history for the last 2,000 years unless you’re going into ministry.”

As Jiwa seeks funding for “Food, Wine, and God,” he’s looking for partners who share his vision of using food and travel as vehicles for deeper understanding across faith traditions. In an era of division, his project offers something increasingly rare: an invitation to curious conversation around the dinner table.

Jiwa’s story represents the kind of faith-driven entrepreneurship that can build bridges while building businesses. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful ventures come not from climbing the ladder, but from having the courage to step off it entirely and discover what you’re truly called to create.