Biblical principles to follow, and the concept of free enterprise. You hold in your hands such a book.
Now, I would like to make it clear that I am not a professional theologian, nor am I a pastor. I do, however, have a Bible and a relationship with the Father. The financial insights I’m presenting here are from what I see in Scripture. In Evangelpreneur I will answer the questions people of faith have, yet have been taught not to ask— but we need to start asking them. It is time to be honest with ourselves and admit that there has been a lack of teaching and, in some cases, perverted teaching regarding money. This has left the faithful in a position that in many cases is worse than that of our secular friends when it comes to finances. How can we expect a world in pain to listen to the faithful if we are suffering just as much or more pain than those outside of the Church?
Before we start, I want to thank the brave congregations, leaders, and members who allowed me into their churches, temples, and synagogues to address this ignored topic. It encourages me to see so many people from so many denominations starting to recognize the problem and having the courage to help millions by helping me. You are not alone; you are not the only one facing this problem.
Getting out of debt is not nearly enough to bring us financial peace.
A caveat: What we are going to be covering may be controversial and may challenge preconceived beliefs. We are going to examine together how getting out of debt is not nearly enough to bring us financial peace. We will also discover that our approach to employment, entrepreneurship, and money as a whole has actually made living out our faith harder to do. There may even be times when this book is painful to read. But I urge you to finish the book. I ask that you use your God-given mind and prayer to evaluate what is being taught. If, after reading the book, you still think the way you have been addressing faith and finances to this point is the way you need to continue, then by all means do so. For the rest of you, what you will take away from this book can very well change the world.
“Come now, and let us reason together” —Isaiah 1:18
P A R T 1
Why Be an Evangelpreneur?
A Church of Believers
in Bondage
How the Shackles of Debt
Render Us Captive
You are the hero because you are trained in Special Forces tactics, well versed in dynamic nuclear systems operation, or have advanced degrees in physics and astronomy. When emergencies like this arise, you are the one everyone looks to for rescue. Bottom line, you are fully aware of the situation and you are fully trained and capable of doing what is needed to stop the impending doom.
With that being the case, the world will be saved, right?
Not so fast. Let’s add one more relevant piece of information to this story. Last night you decided to go out drinking and got a bit too pushy with a bouncer named Tiny. As dawn breaks the darkness of night, you wake up, only to find yourself shackled to a bed inside a steel cage at the county jail.
As you sit there fighting back the headache, you also fight back a sinking feeling, as through your cell you see on television this impending disaster you are fully equipped to prevent. Nobody else is coming to save the day, as it was you who fate had determined would answer the call. Yet here you find yourself stuck—and the worst part is, by your own doing.
Would you yell to the guards that you knew you could prevent the disaster if they would just let you out? Would you really expect them to believe you? Worse yet, could that kind of talk land you in a Department of Homeland Security detention center under the Patriot Act since your talk seems a bit too “alarmist”?
Would you fight the chains that bind you? Would you inform the others held in captivity with you in an effort to rally an escape attempt? Would you feel guilty about having done the wrong thing by getting locked up, which now places you in a position where you are unable to do the right thing? More importantly, would you actually be guilty of the world’s destruction?
We cannot do the work God has called us to do because we are not operating financially in line with Biblical principles.
As thankful as many of us would be for not being placed in such a predicament, we still find ourselves in a dire situation. Unfortunately, the bad news is that our current situation is eerily close to the one I just described. Because debt is so prevalent in our lives, our financial situation, along with that of our nation and the Church as a whole, is in bondage. We cannot do the work God has called us to do because we are not operating financially in line with Biblical principles. We are over our heads in debt and not making enough to thrive, not to mention we are losing the battle against inflation—all of which is affecting our mission and effectiveness as believers.
Would you like to be the hero in this story who’s not stuck in jail, but who is out doing the work God has called you to? Being an Evangelpreneur is the way to do this. What is an Evangelpreneur? An Evangelpreneur is someone who lives his or her life with the focus of spreading God’s kingdom and will through the empowerment He created in free enterprise. He or she uses the natural and supernatural to control the use of time and money to effectively live out the calling placed on his or her life.
This book will look at why I believe being an Evangelpreneur is God’s purpose for believers and how we start down that path. However, before we can become an Evangelpreneur, we need to get a handle on debt. And to get a handle on debt, we need to see just how much it’s crippling us, how it truly is keeping us in jail and from our rescue mission, just like the hero in the story.
Churches in Foreclosure
In 2010, Crystal Cathedral Ministries, which built one of the nation’s largest and most famous churches, filed for bankruptcy. I have never thought of money as the most important thing in life, but the news of the church’s financial collapse kind of shook me. Here, a church with thousands of members on location, and tens of thousands more watching on television around the world, had just gone bankrupt. My initial response was, “There must be more to this story.” Perhaps a board member was embezzling funds, a pastor abusing the tithes and offerings, or even a robbery. As I waited for further information to come out, I kept telling myself that this must be a mistake. Certainly a ministry that brought in tens of millions of dollars a year would have no reason to declare bankruptcy unless there was some case of abuse or misuse. As a man born into sin myself, I know that an individual will have moments in life where they fall short. So I was sure that a scandalous revelation was going to be appearing on the nightly news any day now.
I waited and waited, but no story appeared. The truth was not only harder to believe than a scandal, but in a way, worse: The Crystal Cathedral couldn’t pay its bills.
How could this be?
I remember thinking this would be easier to accept as true if there had been
