Clayton Edwards: Property management with a purpose
In the heart of Atlanta, Clayton Edwards is redefining apartment living. Guided by values instilled in him by his father and grandfather, Clayton’s journey is one of faith, mentorship, and loving like Jesus. What began as a third-generation, property management company has transformed into vibrant spaces where residents find not just a home, but also community, connection, and God’s love.
Adjacent to Clayton’s first apartment complex stands a little white house, distinct from the leasing office. On one side of the complex, business for this apartment community is conducted. On the other side sits this little house, staffed with a licensed therapist, social worker, and childcare specialists.
When our team from NCF visited, it was the night of their monthly community dinner. Clayton and his team welcomed neighbors by name as they sat down to enjoy a homemade meal together. But the little white house goes beyond providing monthly meals. It serves as a space for daily emotional, spiritual, and financial guidance to the apartment community. It is Clayton Edwards’ vision and heart come to life.
Christ-centered real estate
The story of Kenco Residential goes back to the 1960s when Clayton’s grandfather, Ken Edwards, founded the company. Ken began his career building picture frames with his father, but he imagined himself doing more. “If I can build a picture frame, I bet I can frame a house,” he thought.
And so, Ken embarked on constructing houses, duplexes, quadplexes, and eventually entire apartment communities. By the time Clayton was born, Kenco Residential had become a thriving, family-run business with multiple apartment complexes in the Atlanta area.
Clayton’s father instilled in him the values of earning money through hard work and being a good steward of the capital God provided. From his preschool household chores to his preteen lawn-care business, Clayton grew up prioritizing hard work and generosity.
His father taught him, “God created the world, God created us, and God created money. It’s all God’s. You use your gifts and skills. You work hard. You make money, and then you give the first part of it back to God.” Still, despite lifelong lessons in faith and generosity, Clayton remembers being baffled by the business mission displayed prominently on his father and grandfather’s office walls: “Glorify God, and treat others the way we would want to be treated.”
Clayton remembers asking his dad, “You’re in the property management business. What does this mission have to do with apartments?’”
“Dude,” his dad responded. “You’re missing it. This is all God’s.”
Intergenerational mentorship
After Ken Edwards passed away, Clayton found mentorship in Barry Teague, a fellow real estate owner who had been mentored by Grandpa Ken. Other Christ-centered mentors continue to play a significant role in Clayton’s growth as a Christian and as a businessman. He seeks wisdom from those who are a generation older and have his best interest in mind.
From the beginning of his venture into property management, Clayton focused on preserving workforce housing, ensuring that those making between $40,000 and $70,000 would have a clean, safe, affordable place to live. He started acquiring older apartment communities in prime locations, and the company grew exponentially.
As Clayton’s “first fruits” went from $10,000 to $100,000 to $1 million, he found himself unsure how to best steward the resources God had entrusted to him. Should he give it all to his church? Should he invest it?
That’s when he met Boyd Bailey, president of NCF Georgia. Together, they developed a comprehensive giving plan based on three principles:
- Priority – giving the first portion of income to God, before saving, even before bills
- Percentage – giving a predetermined percentage of gross income
- Progression – gradually increasing the percentage of giving over time
“Wealth was growing, income was growing. I had a passion for giving,” Clayton says. “I was giving to things like my church and missionaries, but God kept saying, ‘There’s something else here you’re missing.’”
That’s when Clayton opened a Giving Fund with NCF. Following the three P’s and the strategy he’d laid out with Boyd, Clayton began putting a percentage of his profits into his Giving Fund, increasing that percentage by 1 percent each year.
A spiritual nudge
In 2019, Clayton picked up Andy Stanley’s book, Visioneering. As he read, he could feel God urging him to pay attention. Despite being active in his church and pursuing his faith with his family, Clayton realized he wasn’t bringing his faith to work.
He could hear God saying to him: “You’ve got 20 employees. Do they know you’re a believer? Are they believers? What about these apartment communities? You own the property, and you don’t even know your people. You don’t know who lives there, what they are like, and what their needs are.”
In March 2020 when the world shut down, Clayton could no longer ignore the greater needs of his employees and residents. He knew he had to get to know them and their daily struggles on a deeper level. He knew he had to bring his faith to work and run his apartment communities like Jesus would.
It was from this prodding from the Spirit that the idea for starting a charity to support his residents was born. Atlanta Connected Communities is a separate, non-profit organization located within Clayton’s workforce-housing apartment complexes. Besides the therapist and social worker, it has community-engagement specialists who spread God’s love and provide on-site support for every resident.
Finally, Clayton understood what God was calling him to do with the money he had set aside. At the end of each year, he deposits a portion of his profits into his Giving Fund. Then, he is able to steward those funds to support and share God’s love with his residents throughout the year. “It’s so much more than a donor-advised fund,” Clayton says about his Giving Fund and working with NCF. While he loves the simplicity of using his phone to recommend grants from his Giving Fund, it’s the people, like Boyd Bailey, and the relationships he’s built through NCF, that have really made a difference.
A dream realized
To bring his vision to life, Clayton recruited Stephanie Johnston, a counselor and former missionary. Going door to door through the complex and talking with residents, Stephanie helped Clayton pinpoint the three most common needs of the apartments’ residents:
- Mental health: Apartment life was lonely, especially during the pandemic. The residents of Kenco apartments were desperate for social connection and camaraderie.
- Financial: Almost all of Clayton’s residents were living paycheck-to-paycheck, just one flat tire away from being late on rent.
- Physical/logistical: Whether it was a homebound elder or a single mom juggling multiple jobs with no childcare, each resident of Kenco apartments was in need of practical, day-to-day advice or assistance.
Atlanta Connected Communities took action, fixing up a little white house next to Clayton’s first apartment complex, setting up a childcare room and an office with free Wi-Fi and a printing station. They began a small group for single moms to find community support in one another. They stocked the central laundry room.
Then, they hired JerNiyah Parris, the community coordinator, to live onsite and help residents with anything from finding community to filling out financial-assistance applications.
Clayton has found that, once those three immediate needs are met, a fourth need arises – a deeper need. It’s a need at the center of Clayton’s heart and vision.
“Why are you helping me?” residents often ask him. “We’re helping you because we believe that what unites us is greater than what divides us,” Clayton responds. “I’m sharing with you what’s in my heart, which is Jesus. It’s God’s love.”
This response sparks curiosity about God and Clayton’s faith. And that, Clayton says, is the heart behind his ministry.
Clayton believes apartment living should be more than just a roof overhead. It should be a place of purpose, connection, and a tangible expression of God’s love. The way he sees it, he’s planting little churches.
As Atlanta Connected Communities expands to become part of every Kenco property, Clayton and Boyd are exploring new funding opportunities. Clayton plans to give a portion from appreciated properties he may sell in the future and dreams of purchasing properties with the intent of giving them away.
And he hopes to spread his mission to other Christian real estate owners too. “I may be limited to my apartment communities here in Atlanta,” Clayton says. “But what about Charlotte? What about Nashville? What about Dallas? I know apartment owners in all those cities.” He hopes they might be able to do something similar.
The gathering place
On the evening we visited, residents poured into the little white house next to the apartment complex. The aroma of a homemade meal prepared by JerNiyah’s mom, a trained chef, filled the air.
Stephanie and JerNiyah greeted each resident by name, asking about their parents’ health or their child’s recent peanut-allergy scare or bragging about a child’s drawing skills.
Clayton was energized and joyful about the ministry that is developing in that space. To him, his work is more than just owning and managing communities. It’s about creating spaces where people find love, belonging, and purpose. It’s redemptive real estate – transforming lives, one interaction at a time.