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Today, Jason helps fund various mission initiatives as a result of his business success.

He mentors leaders, sits on multiple non-profit organisational boards and has spoken to audiences of over 180,000 people internationally. He continues to speak in churches and be actively involved in his own local church.

But Jason never envisaged his journey would turn out this way.

He sat down with The Daily Declaration’s Warwick Marsh to tell more of his life story.

From Failed Doctor and Missionary to Physio on Mission

Jason T Smith has had a strong Christian identity from a young age. He was convinced that he was going to practice medicine in a missionary context – from the youthful age of ten.

So strong was this conviction that his “whole identity was built on the notion that I would be a medical missionary.”

“I wanted to work in the developing world amongst people who needed health care. And use the practical service of medicine to then usher in the message of the gospel.”

His dream came up against some roadblocks that were never overcome. At least, not in the way he envisaged.

The first problem was he “failed at getting into medical school. I did physio instead.”

“Then, I failed as a medical missionary.” Jason “couldn’t find the opportunities” to establish himself long-term.

It seemed his calling to see people physically and spiritually healthy wouldn’t eventuate.

Ready to put his training into practice, but unsure of where this was all headed, Jason began a physiotherapy clinic in his garage.

Jason recalls that at the time, “I then found myself with a mortgage, newly married, in suburbia in Melbourne, having to work a full-time job, and wondering how I was going to reconnect with the mission I thought God had me on.”

At just 24 years of age, Jason founded the Back in Motion Health Group. Unknown to him, it would ultimately become Australia’s largest physiotherapy network. But more than that, it would become the channel through which his ultimate goals would come to fruition.

“It wasn’t until a few years into business that I had the revelation from God that if I built a national business, an economic engine, on a noble ethical business model, I could help a lot more people than my wife and I going overseas.”

“So that was the defining moment where we really started to commit to the building of a brand, on purpose, for mission.”

Franchising his business brand – with its aim to empower patients in optimal, lifelong physical health – emerged as a way to achieve that goal.

The reason was simple. “If we couldn’t find a way to do this on mass, we couldn’t build a war chest to fund missions. There wouldn’t be enough left.”

But franchising a physiotherapy brand had never been done before. The idea was controversial. There was no guarantee it would work.

Unlikely as it was, the Back in Motion Health Group flourished. So much so, that it became Australia’s largest physiotherapy network, employing over 700 people in over 140 locations across the country and New Zealand.

Its remarkable growth was also witnessed at a most surprising time when most businesses struggled – the Covid period.

Incredible Growth During the Covid Period

The Covid period was incredibly challenging for most. It was no different for Jason.

When the lockdowns began, Jason had to put 250 out of 700 staff on leave.

“We just didn’t have the work to sustain them during the shutdowns, which especially impacted the southern states.”

“But within a month of those layoffs, we recruited them all back and then went to market and found another 50 people. And launched six new practices during Covid. God’s hand of blessing on us was incredible.”

“We grew 25% during Covid. Which meant we got an avalanche of unsolicited offers from big institutions to acquire us because they saw us as a very defensive business in the economic climate.”

This created a challenge. The whole point of the large health group was to enable funding mission opportunities. Without Back in Motion, there was no ongoing business.

Yet, it was an opportune time to sell and use that finance for kingdom purposes.

Jason explains, “Our board – who are all praying people – they weren’t sure whether God’s hand was in this. Or whether this was just a distraction.”

“But after contemplating our options, we went to market.”

In a tough economic climate where many businesses closed, the result was stunning. “We got 90 bids on our business!”

“It seemed that God was definitely providing a way of exit – an off-ramp for us.”

And doing so “at a premium price at the top of the cycle, protecting all our people, giving our franchisees a disproportionate reward for their effort over the 20 years, and filling our war chest to go and do more missions.

“All which I say – ‘He’s a genius!’ – because I would never have put this plan together.

“I look back, and I marvel that He can do the impossible.”

The Story Behind Unlikely

Central to Jason’s story is his Christian faith. It is a faith not to be kept hidden in a church building but lived out daily – including in the business world.

In Matthew 5:14–16 Jesus taught, “You are the light of the world… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

It is this principle that Jason has attempted to embody. His story includes many miraculous events that helped propel him despite “personal betrayal, corporate espionage, sabotage and disloyalty”.

In his latest book Unlikely: The surprising personal story behind the garage startup that became a $100m national health brand, Jason tells “the very personal story behind what was a very public life.”

“Running a national brand, a physiotherapy network right across Australia and New Zealand, it seemed to me that everyone else formed assumptions about my life and why I did what I did.”

“So this is the book that looks behind the curtain at the faith and family that I think really propelled the business.”

“I called it Unlikely because I’m really an unlikely candidate for the success that we realised.”

Jason desired to tell his story to his kids and grandkids so that they would understand God’s faithfulness to him amid life’s ups and downs. As a result, he wrote down notes and reflections in his notebook.

But when “it started taking form, I realised there’s probably a sanitised version of this that might make it suitable for the public.”

Now released, Unlikely has been described as a “must-read” by Tim Costello, former CEO of World Vision and brother of former MP and Australian treasurer Peter.

Costello writes, “It’s hard to put this book down. It lifts from the page as you read it and takes you on a journey with a man intent on making his life count. What strikes me is Jason Smith’s honesty, drive and integrity.

“I love the way his faith undergirds his business decision-making, even when the pressure is enormous.

“A must-read if you want to make your life, your work and your business thrive with an impact that matters.”

Living for Eternity

It is living a life that matters for eternity that drives Jason T Smith. “Our lives have to be about investing in others”, he says.

Through helping people live long-term healthy lives and promoting the gospel message here and abroad, investing in others is exactly what this unlikely failed missionary has done.

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Jason is available to speak at your church, event or organisation. You can book him at his website here.