Building Second Chances: Sean Stegeman's and Lee Loveall's CMC Journey

When a man finds his life at rock bottom in a prison cell, crying out to God with nothing left to lose, sometimes that’s exactly where a miracle begins.

I just wrapped up an interview that left me shaking my head in amazement. Not because of what Sean Stegeman and Lee Loveall have overcome – though Sean’s journey from spiritual darkness to prison chaplain is remarkable – but because of what they’re building together in Springfield, Missouri. These guys aren’t just talking about second chances. They’re manufacturing them, literally.

From Meth to Ministry: Sean’s Prison Transformation

Sean hit me with brutal honesty about his rock bottom moment. At 33, facing a potential 25-year sentence, four kids he barely knew, and consumed by what he calls “spiritual darkness,” he made God an ultimatum in his jail cell.

“I said, all right, listen Lord, I’m gonna give you one. I’m gonna read this Bible one time, I’ll read the whole thing and you got to do something, if you don’t show me something, I’m taking my life,” Sean told me.

What happened next changed everything. That blue Gideon’s Bible – the one he’d been covering up for six months – became his lifeline. He devoured the entire book in under 30 days, starting with Proverbs because he figured if he was going to take anything from scripture, it better be wisdom.

The transformation was immediate and undeniable. Sean went from a man whose face was “stuck in a frowned” to someone who couldn’t stop smiling. He became the prison chaplain, stopped talking altogether for months to break his habit of lies and fabrications, and started journaling to rebuild himself from the ground up.

ADC to CMC: Building More Than Buildings

When Sean got out, he landed at Architectural Design Concepts through Freeway Ministry – and that’s where he met Lee Loveall. Lee had moved his family into Springfield’s inner city, right across from a halfway house, and started doing street evangelism. His wife Liana made a simple phone call to recovery ministries asking if they had guys who wanted to work.

Lee saw something different in Sean immediately. “I walked past Sean in the shop and he just have this smile on his face and I would just kind of thinking what’s up with this guy?” But it was Sean’s prophetic conversations that hooked him – this ex-con talking about God having bigger plans than Lee realized.

Fast forward a few years, and they’ve built Creative Modular Construction into the primary fabricator for Seven Brews Coffee locations nationwide. But here’s the kicker: 80% of their 187 employees are formerly incarcerated. They’re not just building coffee shops – they’re building lives.

The Springfield Model: A Template for Hope

What’s happening in Springfield isn’t an accident. Through the APPLY program – a federal grant that covers half the wages for formerly incarcerated workers for 180 days – Lee and Sean have created something special. They hold monthly milestone luncheons celebrating small victories that are actually huge wins: first visitation rights, first car, six months sober.

“We build buildings and we build people,” Sean explained, breaking down their company motto. Their core values spell out CHRIST: Creative, Honorable, Respectful, Innovative, Synergistic, and Total ownership.

Lee’s become an evangelist for the model, speaking to business leaders and inviting investors to see what’s possible. A drug court judge recently spoke to their team – the same judge who had sentenced several of the men sitting in that room. The circle of redemption was complete.

This isn’t charity work or some feel-good experiment. This is a thriving business that’s found gold in the people everyone else throws away. When you’re desperate for a second chance, you’ll outwork anyone. Lee and Sean figured that out, and now they’re showing other business owners across Missouri how to do the same.

The recidivism rate hits 75% in some places, but not in Springfield. Not when you’ve got people like Lee willing to take a risk and guys like Sean proving that your worst nightmare can become your greatest testimony.