Trusting God Over Job Security Led This Media Innovator to Launch KSL.com (with Russell Banz)

Picture this: a man just finished his MBA. His classmates are interviewing for finance jobs. He tells his wife he's not supposed to get a job. Not that he can't find one. He's not even supposed to look. The in-laws weren't thrilled. But that prompting set him on a path that would change how millions of people in Utah buy, sell, and find local news.

Meet Russell Banz, the man who built KSL.com from a blank domain name into one of the most visited local news sites in America. He launched KSL Classifieds, which became the only major market in the entire country where the local platform beat Craigslist. He's caddied for his son on professional golf tours, served in a stake presidency, and baptized a Hell's Angels biker on his mission. But ask him who deserves credit for any of it and he'll tell you straight: the Lord.

In a recent episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Russell shares how following the Spirit, even when it made no sense, led him to exactly where God needed him. What makes his story so significant is not just the professional success, but the pattern of divine preparation that started when he was a child and continues today.

Samoa Set the Foundation

Russell's testimony didn't start in a chapel in Utah. It started in the South Pacific. As a young child, his family lived in Western Samoa for about two and a half years while his father worked for the Church College of Western Samoa. That culture of giving, sharing, and welcoming others shaped him at his core.

He still remembers gathering with his Polynesian friends at elementary school and singing "Teach Me to Walk in the Light." He can hear those voices today. That experience set a foundation so strong that he says he has never doubted his testimony of Christ since those early years. When his family moved to rural Utah afterward, he carried that foundation with him.

The Newspaper Prompting

Growing up in Coalville, Utah, Russell did something unusual for a teenager. Every Sunday after church, he would read the entire Deseret News cover to cover. Not because his parents made him. Because he felt prompted to.

His parents subscribed to the paper, but it often sat in stacks unread. Something kept calling him to pick it up. From Dear Abby on the front to the wedding dress stores and welders at the very end of the classifieds. He read every category, every listing, every inch of it. He had no money to buy anything. He just felt like he had to read it.

Years later, when he launched KSL Classifieds, he knew exactly what categories to include and how to organize them. He didn't need to open a newspaper for reference. God had been preparing him since he was a teenager sitting in his parents' living room.

MBA Graduate Who Refused to Get a Job

After finishing his MBA, Russell's classmates were interviewing for finance positions. He told his wife he felt prompted not to look for a job. She trusted him. The in-laws were less convinced.

Instead, he started a company called Get Lost Adventure Wear, an outdoor lifestyle brand selling t-shirts and hoodies for mountain bikers, skiers, and rock climbers. At a trade show, he wandered to a tiny booth in the back with no posters or banners. They were explaining something called the internet. He knew immediately that this was what he needed to pursue.

He built a digital ecosystem around his brand on platforms like CompuServe, AOL, and Prodigy. The problem was there was no e-commerce yet. Customers had to download forms and mail checks. But he became an evangelist for the internet while others dismissed it as a fad like CB radios.

The Walk That Changed Everything

When his wife became pregnant with their first child, Russell felt discouraged. He and his wife fasted and prayed about what to do next. On a Monday morning after that fast, he felt prompted to walk to the Deseret News building in Provo and buy a printed newspaper.

He walked five or six blocks, bought the paper, and started reading through the classified job listings on his way home. Accounting, business, nothing fits. He got all the way to W. Wedding dress stores. Welders. Then he saw it: a posting for a web director at KSL.

KSL Television and Radio had registered the domain name KSL.com but had no idea what to do with it. They were looking for someone with business experience, an MBA, who had started an internet company. Russell was the exact fit. He was hired to figure out what to do with a blank website and eventually launched both KSL.com and KSL Classifieds.

The Only Market That Beat Craigslist

KSL Classifieds became the only major market in the entire United States where the local platform beat Craigslist. Today, KSL.com receives millions of monthly visitors and ranks number 42 among all news and media publishers in the country. The Society of Professional Journalists named it the best local news site in America.

Russell refuses to take credit. He says if anyone involved were to claim it as their idea, they would be stealing from the Lord. They were simply instruments. The team around him was there by divine design, whether they realized it or not. And the fact that it stayed within the church's media family rather than going to Craigslist was part of God's plan to protect and bless the work.

Hell's Angels and Relief Society Brownies

On his mission in Ventura, California, Russell taught a man from the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. This man had lived a rough life, admitting he had done everything but commit murder. His language was horrible. But Russell didn't flinch. He grew up in rural Utah where rough language didn't shock him. He simply let the man know he was loved.

The man converted and married the woman he was living with before they could be baptized. The backyard wedding was unforgettable. Motorcycles lined up on one side. Minivans and Suburbans on the other. Relief Society sisters passed plates of brownies to bikers who politely thanked them. Watching that transformation taught Russell what the Atonement really looks like.

Golf as a Gospel Platform

All four of Russell's children played college golf. One son, Hayden, now plays professionally. Russell has caddied for his kids in tournaments across the country, spending five hours at a time with other golfers, caddies, and families. He calls it a captured audience. He has given more first discussions on a golf course than he can count.

His daughter Whitney turned in her mission papers during her freshman year of college golf and was called to Thailand. In her next tournament, she was paired with a girl from Thailand who told her to say hi to her parents. Whitney's second mission area was the exact neighborhood where that girl's parents lived. She taught them the gospel and had dinner with them. Coincidence? Russell doesn't think so.

Cancer and the Sleep Doctor

A few years ago, Russell experienced unexplained health problems. He went to a doctor after doctor with no answers. A neurologist suggested he see a sleep doctor. Russell and his wife knew he didn't have a sleep problem. But they prayed about it and felt they should go anyway.

The sleep doctor looked at him and asked if anyone had mentioned the growth in his neck. No one had. Not even his wife had noticed the baseball-sized tumor. It was thyroid cancer. Multiple surgeries followed. The cancer affected his vocal cords, and he lost his voice for months. He didn't know if it would ever come back.

During treatment, he had to be isolated. His sons were playing in a US Open qualifier that day, and he couldn't be there. He poured out his soul to God. He felt the Spirit wash over him and heard the voices of old coaches telling him to get up. Eventually, he healed. By the time his son Austin made it to US Open sectionals, Russell was well enough to caddy for him.

Choose Your Own Path

Russell Banz's journey reveals that following the Spirit doesn't always look logical. An MBA graduate refusing to job hunt. A teenager reading classified ads for no reason. Walking to buy a newspaper on a random Monday morning. Each prompting seemed small. Together, they built something that blessed millions.

Consider whether you've dismissed promptings because they didn't make sense. Russell's entire career was built on trusting God over conventional wisdom. Your own path might look just as unconventional if you follow where the Spirit leads.

Take time to look back at your life and ask where God has been preparing you. The promptings you received years ago might be connected to something you haven't seen yet. When we follow the whisperings of the Spirit, the Lord puts us where we need to be.

Thank you for reading this week's blog post inspired by the Why We Believe show. If you are interested in more stories like this, you can check out our other blog posts and episodes at WhyWeBelieve.com.

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Follow Russell Banz: LinkedIn: @Russell-Banz | Instagram: @Russell.Banz | Twitter/X: @RussellBanz | Facebook: Banz.Russell | Linktr.ee: RussellBanz | Website: CoachBanz.com