Article originally posted here by The Wall Street Journal

by Robert Nicholson

Could a plague of biblical proportions be America’s best hope for religious revival? As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, there is reason to think so.

Three-quarters of a century has dimmed the memory of that gruesome conflict and its terrible consequences: tens of millions killed, great cities bombed to rubble, Europe and Asia stricken by hunger and poverty. Those who survived the war had to grapple with the kinds of profound questions that only arise in the aftermath of calamity. Gazing at the ruins…

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by Stephen Kump with Charityvest

Both the most generous and the most covetous people I’ve ever met have been people on the low end of the economic ladder. The generosity I received a few years ago in Uganda among the poorest of the global poor, at times, brought me to tears. In contrast, just this past weekend a man in evident need attempted to scam me when I responded to his plea for grocery help. Perhaps you can relate to these extremes.

Conversely, the wealthy often have a greater capacity to operate with some independence on others, and as a result, they can proceed through much of life with indifference toward being generous or being covetous. Most of the extremely generous wealthy people I know have gone through life seasons of loss or deeply constrained living, or they have walked in close proximity to many people who have.

There’s a heart-clarifying edge that comes with the challenges of resources being more scarce.

When times get lean, people of all economic stations either grow in their capacity to find security outside of themselves (i.e., their resources and efforts), or they become increasingly captured by fear and dread. Something about scarcity clarifies the trajectory of our hearts.

We’re seeing people have heart-clarifying moments here in the era of COVID-19.

Heart clarification was Jesus’ exercise for the man we know as the “rich young ruler” in Matthew 19. He was to give up his wealth and place his trust and security fully in Jesus. Instead of giving away his wealth, we’re told he walked away from Jesus distraught. Jesus’ invitation was clarifying at the heart level. The ruler was not ready to trust Jesus more than the security he found in his own stuff. We’re also likewise warned by Jesus right after the story that it is hard for rich men to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In Jesus’ mind there is a direct link between our heart-health and our relationship with our money.

The second part of Jesus’ invitation to the rich young ruler was to give. He did not advocate for the man to burn his money. Burning his money would have been impersonal. Instead, Jesus invites him into an activity of connection—generosity. To give, he would have had to look for problems and opportunities outside of himself. He would have had to come in close contact with the poor or those who served them directly. His life would have become less about activities of comfort and more about activities of compassion and connection.

In our lives, as was true for the rich young ruler, the most clarifying heart moments around our resources tend to come in the moments when we consider or experience significant changes in our wealth. This can also happen inside of us when we observe a wealth change in someone proximal to us, too. Consider the disciples, who observed the exchange with the young ruler. Jesus’ conversation with him was just as much for the disciples as it was the young ruler himself. There was a clarifying heart moment for all of them.

With all of the present uncertainty in regards to resources around us—perhaps reductions already felt or observed—I suspect there’s an invitation to a clarifying heart moment for you and those who are watching you.

Even with all the calamity caused by this virus and its economic effect, the far more subtle, yet more widespread and material threat to you and your employees is a response of fear and self-centeredness to all that’s going on. How many of us, myself included, have had calculating thoughts like, “If only I can get back to …” or “If I can just save this much then…?” But such thoughts lead us back to the place where the agenda of worldly prosperity has its greatest spiritual detriment. Uncle Screwtape in CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters makes plain the spiritual reality we want to prevent, “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he can find his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”

Perhaps, in a moment such as this, the greatest thing we can do as leaders is to reassess our own relationship to our resources and resist the temptation to neglect generosity even when it might not fit with our financial goals. The temptation is to believe shrewdness with money will lead us to become a more whole person on the other side of this economic downturn. Shrewdness only matters if we are employing shrewdness to enable a good heart’s agenda.

I’ve learned that it is in these very moments when the discipline of giving—intentionally setting aside resources and looking for opportunities to bless someone else — is most critical to spiritual progress. With each day of financial uncertainty, Jesus extends an invitation to trust him more than our money.

And I’d argue that having means to act in response to Jesus’ call is incredibly helpful here. Such means can influence our spiritual habits and the trajectory of our hearts.

This is one of my personal motivations behind my venture, Charityvest. We are creating means for intentional giving to be accessible to everyone, Christian and not, and for leaders to inspire others to give. We are one tool, and there are certainly others good for various donor or gift circumstances, but everyone needs something.

A commitment to generosity in a time like this is not without its obstacles. I’ve heard it said already, for any business leaders affiliated with an organization that is facing layoffs, giving to charity now is “out of touch”—implying leaders should use any personal or corporate capital to save employees, not encourage giving.

I can certainly see ways that promoting charitable giving in this time could be poorly handled, but leaders face a moment now where people are—to a greater degree—looking to them for leadership on a deeper level. I recently heard GEN (ret) Stanley McChrystal mention in regard to leadership in the COVID-19 era, “The leader’s got a role to, first, give people a sense of direction.”

Laying a foundation of generosity in your own life—whether of large dollars or small dollars or any other resource—is an opportunity for you as a leader in your family, your company, and your friends to “set direction” as to what’s most important in life. You can also influence the spiritual climate in your environments by encouraging the same in others.

While reading Hebrews 13 this past weekend, I took note of the author’s final exhortation as the Church races toward a historical period of intense persecution. “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers,” he writes. And then he swiftly follows with, “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,’I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’” This is the invitation of Jesus, that we hold His presence and faithfulness as our Treasure, especially when all else falls away.

In leaner moments like today, we can respond to this invitation of Jesus and make generosity a way of life—perhaps more than ever. Or we can turn away from Jesus, consumed with fear for our future, and aimed only at pursuing and preserving our worldly prosperity. All the while Jesus extends his own generosity to us: he freely gives himself.

If I can help activate you or your employees in generosity, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. I’d be delighted to recommend a resource best for you.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COVID-19, PLEASE SEE OUR PAGE HIGHLIGHTING SOME OF THE BEST RESOURCES OUT THERE FOR FAITH DRIVEN INVESTORS & ENTREPRENEURS IN THIS SEASON.

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Today we are talking to Robert Netzly, President & CEO of Inspire Investing. If you’ve been following the Faith Driven Investor website, that name should sound familiar to you as we’ve featured a lot of their content on our blog. But today, we’re talking about the man behind the company—the man who many consider an advocate for Biblically Responsible Investing in places where the conversation hasn’t even begun.

The way that Inspire has an impact as an active shareholder is encouraging and has led to some incredible stories. Well, today, we’re going to hear from that voice, and in addition to hearing his story, he’s going to share just what it looks like to invest with Biblical principles in mind.

As always, thanks for listening.

Useful Links:

Inspire Investing

The Biblically Responsible Investing Movement is Exploding

Inspire Ranked Among Top Ten Fastest Growing RIAs

Would You Write a Check to Planned Parenthood?

This article was originally published here by Christianity Today.

by Matt Smethurst

It’s now clear that COVID-19 is a deadly serious global pandemic, and all necessary precautions should be taken. Still, C. S. Lewis’s words—written 72 years ago—ring with some relevance for us. Just replace “atomic bomb” with “coronavirus.”

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COVID-19, PLEASE SEE OUR PAGE HIGHLIGHTING SOME OF THE BEST RESOURCES OUT THERE FOR FAITH DRIVEN INVESTORS & ENTREPRENEURS IN THIS SEASON.

by Eric Chetwood

Ephesians 4:11-12 – and he gave…shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

I have worked in wealth management since 2004 and over the course of my career, I’ve experienced two big paradigm shifts that have dramatically changed how I see myself at work.

The first of which was coming to understand God’s design for us to live integrated lives, combining the sacred and the secular, which has been discussed thoroughly on this website as well as the podcast and I am so grateful for Henry and William driving that conversation, because living compartmentalized lives does not lead to our flourishing.

The second paradigm shift, and what I’d like to focus on today, is the notion that God intends for you and me, ordinary people, to be the primary agents of ministry and reconciliation in this world. There have been so many times in my life where I would meet someone and think, “if only they could meet my pastor, then they would love Jesus.” Or, “if only they would come to church and hear my pastor, then they would understand how much God loves them.” However, I have come to learn that this is a very unbiblical paradigm. When Paul is laying out the key performance indicators of the early church in Ephesians 4, he says that a pastor’s job is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. This statement has massive implications. It means that the pastor should not be the only one doing ministry. It means the pastor should not even be the primary one doing ministry. In fact, it means that you and I and everyone reading this are both empowered and expected to be the primary agents of gospel ministry! Until we understand this democratization; until we see ourselves as ministers of the gospel in real estate, or a kingdom of priests in wealth management, or as ambassadors of Christ in private equity, as if God were making his plea of reconciliation through us, we miss out on part of the great adventure. We miss out on the joy of knowing we are fulfilling our integrated purpose in life.

In light of that, I thought it might be helpful to start a discussion around what does it mean to be a faith driven financial advisor? What are some practical things that each of us can do, as advisors, to be the primary agents of ministry in the lives of our clients? Below are ten things that our team does, some consistently well, some not as well but all are things we are leaning in to and striving for by God’s grace.

One. Recognize that your relationship with clients is by nature one of the most intimate professional relationships that they have. No one, maybe other than their doctor, is allowed into their hopes and dreams and vulnerabilities the way that we are. Therefore, God could potentially use you to make a bigger impact in their life than any pastor or priest.

Two. You will never be able to be the financial advisor that God has called you to be if you are pouring out of an empty cup. We must shepherd and lead out of the overflow of what God is doing in our own hearts. Therefore, our highest professional priority must be to first abide in him daily. Apart from him, we can do nothing.

Three. We are not here to make rich people richer. We have a holy calling to care for them in every way that money impacts them: financially, emotionally, relationally, and even spiritually. We have an opportunity to show our clients a vision of what a shalom relationship with money looks like.

Four. Hire a client chaplain through Marketplace Chaplains or Corporate Chaplains of America. Many companies have chaplains for their staff.  We have a chaplain for our clients. When a client loses a spouse or gets a cancer diagnosis, there are certainly financial implications. But in that moment, they don’t want to hear about the internal rate of return or standard deviation. When clients share the unimaginable with us, we hurt with them, pray with them if they’ll allow us and then tell them that we have a chaplain on staff that would love to come and sit with them, hold their hand, and help them process in a kind and nonthreatening way.

Five. Give them books that will shatter their wealth paradigm. I’ll give you a personal example. A few years ago, I read the book God and Money by Gregory Baumer and John Cortines, and it absolutely wrecked me; in a good way; in a great way. So, I would explain in client reviews how it changed me and how it changed our planning practices and then I’d give them a copy of the book to read. The feedback has been more than I could ask or imagine. We now track the number of gospel finance books given away as one of our KPI’s.

Six. Help clients understand that giving away their time, talent and treasure is not a guilt-driven obligation, but a life-giving emancipation! Empirical research shows that sacrificial giving leads to higher levels of happiness. Of course, wealth can be a powerful force for good, but we also recognize that money has a seductive, almost corrosive effect on our hearts. The primary antidote to its seduction is to give away our first fruits. As I’ve heard it said, generosity is not something God wants from us. It is something he wants for us. As advisors, we can facilitate this discovery in the financial planning process by elevating charitable goals as being just as important to a client’s financial well-being as goals around retirement age, retirement spending, etc.

Seven. Pray through your client list in team meetings or on your own. If you serve 100 clients and have 50 weekly staff meetings in a year, open your meetings by praying for two clients by name. Pray that God would bless them and that they would comprehend the magnitude of the height and depth and breadth and width of his love for them. Pray that they would taste and see that He is good and that His love is better than life.  Not every one of our clients loves Jesus, but that doesn’t change the fact that Jesus loves every one of our clients.

Eight. Use portfolios that are God-honoring. In God’s economy, how we make a profit is just as important as how much we make in profit. As investment managers, we can and should proactively show our clients ways that we can run screens to make sure their values align with the companies that they own, even if those companies are hidden under the hood of a mutual fund or ETF. Our clients are relying on us to help guard their integrity by making sure that they are not put in a position where they are hypothetically fighting for the lives of the unborn and then subsequently subsidizing the abortion industry through the holdings in their IRA. One such screening tool can be found at inspireinsight.com.

***In the event that you work in wealth management but your role within the firm does not actively participate in portfolio construction, you can still be an advocate within your firm for fund companies that align with client values. Some faith-based fund companies that are worth researching are Eventide, Thrivent, Praxis funds, Timothy funds, Inspire funds, Ave Maria funds and others.

Nine. Sharpen the saw with other like-minded advisors through a Kingdom Advisors study group. We were not designed to go it alone. All of us need encouragement, accountability, and an opportunity to exchange best practices with other like-minded advisors who care about us and desire our best future. Sometimes, the only person that is going to understand what you’re going through is another financial advisor. But Eric, do we really want to share our best practices with the competition? In all the years I’ve been doing this, I have learned that we gain so much more through collaboration than we ever lose to competition. I do not consider you my competition. This business is not mine; it’s God’s. Your business is not yours; it’s God’s. And, God is not a God of scarcity but a God of abundance. I am confident there are plenty of clients who are longing for someone to show them what a shalom relationship with money looks like.

***If you do not have access to a Kingdom Advisors study group, another great option for Christian business owners is a group called C-12.  It is a faith-based peer advisory group that has been incredibly helpful to me personally and to our wealth management practice.

Ten. Attend the annual Kingdom Advisors conference for continuing education, retreat and renewal. I have attended many continuing education conferences over the course of my career but this one struck a different nerve. I am not on their payroll or anything, so I can unashamedly say that the KA Conference in Orlando provided sharpening for my brain, a recharge for my body, and nourishment for my soul. If you are thinking about going in the future, I promise you it is worth the investment of time and money; even more so if you bring your spouse.

So those are ten practical ways to be a faith driven financial advisor.  My prayer is that this list is just the beginning, or even a continuation, of a nationwide conversation.  Sharing ideas begets more ideas. What practical things do you do to be an ambassador of Christ in the world of wealth management?