Archives For Corey

The Root of Riches: Interview with Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries

Corey —  July 4, 2011

       On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chuck Bentley, the CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, about his upcoming book The Root of Riches: What If Everything You Think about Money Is Wrong?. The book will be released in the next week or so, but if you’d like to get a 20% discount you can go to http://www.crown.org/rootofriches and sign up to pre-order the book and get a free sample chapter.

       I had the chance to read the book before the interview and I highly recommend it to all of you. Chuck does a good job of getting to the heart of our issues with money by highlighting how being rooted in Christ is the only way to receive true riches. The interview below will give you a good overview of the central ideas in the book and help you determine if it’s something you’d want to read.

       I’ve included the audio here which you can listen to on the website or download for later. I’ve also transcribed the interview for those of you who prefer to read. I’d be interested in your feedback on how well you liked this because it’s the first time I’ve tried doing an interview/podcast. (I was quite pleased with how my intro and outro music turned out!) Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of the page, and if you have any questions I’ll do my best to answer them.

[audio:http://www.providentplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Root-of-Riches-Interview-with-Chuck-Bentley.mp3]
Download the audio by right-clicking here and choosing “Save as…”.
Credits: intro and outro music for the audio is from “Bucolique Utopique” by David on Jamendo

Note: I was not paid anything to post this interview. I only agreed to it after reading the book because I believed Chuck’s message in The Root of Riches is excellent and needs to become more prominent in Christian personal finance.

Continue Reading…

In Contentment, Giving, Personal Finance Bible Study, Personal Finance Bible Verses, Prosperity, Retirement, Reviews, Saving, Stewardship , ,
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If Christian Personal Finance Can Work Without Jesus, It Isn’t Christian!

Corey —  June 27, 2011

       About a month ago, Trent at The Simple Dollar posted an article titled Theming in Personal Finance: Do Dave Ramsey and Larry Burkett Work Without Jesus?. Trent says he thinks it’s a good thing when people tie Christian beliefs with good personal finance advice in a way that reinforces both. He goes on to say that the personal finance information in many books that do this would work without the other material (the Christian parts).

       I agree with Trent. Good personal finance advice is good personal finance advice. It doesn’t matter if you dress it up with Bible verses or political views. Spending less than you earn is always going to be good advice. Saving for future needs is wise. Avoiding ridiculous consumer debt just makes good sense.

       But I find his initial question interesting. Do Dave Ramsey and Larry Burkett (‘s advice) work without Jesus? In other words, can Christian personal finance advice work without Jesus? And my answer is that if it can, it isn’t Christian!

What Makes Christian Personal Finance Christian?

       Here’s what I mean. If all the advice that any “Christian” finance guru gives can work without Jesus, then the advice itself is not Christian. If Christian personal finance blogs are just giving the same advice that all other personal finance blogs give, then there’s nothing uniquely Christian about them.

       Now I’m not saying that Christian personal finance advice should not include any of the same material as “regular” personal finance advice. As I said before, good personal finance advice is good personal finance advice. It doesn’t really matter where it comes from.

       But for it to be Christian personal finance advice, it needs to be consistent with the message of Christ.

Twisting Scripture

       On Trent’s post, I left a comment saying, “Perhaps the reason ‘Christian’ personal finance can work without Jesus is because we’ve twisted the message He brought to fit our society’s desires.” You see, if Christian personal finance advice just takes regular personal finance advice and dresses it up with a few carefully chosen Bible verses, then it’s just twisting Scripture to fit in with the ideals that our society already accepts.

       But if you start with the message that Jesus brought and that Scripture as a whole teaches, then you’re not going to come up with advice that fits in with society’s standard way of doing things. Too often, Christian personal finance does it the other way around. We start with the world’s ways and fit Jesus into it. There’s nothing Christian about that. In fact, that’s just telling people what they want to hear.

       If “Christian” personal finance advice revolves around budgeting, getting out of debt, saving and investing, and growing your income just so you can reach your goals and your dreams, then it’s no different from the regular personal finance advice. The focus is all about you – which is what we want to hear.

       But Jesus didn’t come with a message all about you. He brought us a message that was all about God and others. He didn’t come to tell us how to get rich and retire early. In fact, He had some strong warnings for the rich and a parable about a man who was all too happy with his ability to retire early. Rather, He taught about how we should serve others and how we should give God our primary focus. He told us that if we want to serve money we won’t be able to serve God.

       So if you’re reading a “Christian” personal finance book or website and there’s not something in it that’s really challenging how you think about money, it might be good to step back and ask yourself if it’s really giving you Christian advice or just plain advice.

The Emphasis Here at Provident Planning

       I’m trying to avoid that here on Provident Planning. When I did my initial study of personal finance in the Bible, I was very challenged by what I read. Rather than emphasizing material comfort and luxury, God emphasizes contentment. Rather than glorifying early retirement and amassing wealth for yourself, He holds up generosity as a greater goal.

       It’s not always easy to keep the Christian aspect of personal finance in the forefront. But I hope you’ve realized from what I’ve written that the kind of approach to finances that I’m encouraging can’t work without Jesus.

       When I talk about contentment, I’m talking about contentment in Christ. I’m talking about contentment that is steadfast through all trials and all circumstances. I’m talking about a kind of contentment that realizes nothing in this world compares to the glorious riches we have in Christ. I’m talking about a contentment that you can’t explain or experience without Jesus.

       And when I talk about generosity, I’m not talking giving just to meet your obligation to God so you can do what you want with the rest. I’m talking about generosity as the ultimate goal of your personal finances. I’m talking about generosity that sacrifices to meet the desperate needs of others. I’m talking about a generosity that you can’t explain or experience without Jesus.

One Voice Among Many

       I’m not the only one trying to emphasize Christian personal finance that’s true to Christ’s message.

       I’ve had great conversations with my friend Kevin Tupper at Christian Simplicity (currently under construction) about “living a life that’s inwardly rich toward God and outwardly rich toward our neighbors” and the implications that has for our finances.

       My friend Craig Ford at Money Help for Christians just announced that he’s going to spend more time focusing on spiritual issues of money and the problem of materialism in American churches.

       And I’ve just finished reading Chuck Bentley’s The Root of Riches and will be posting an interview with him next week. Chuck’s book is focused on how we will never be truly rich unless we’re rooted in Christ. All the right behaviors in the world aren’t going to help us if we still hold on to the wrong beliefs.

       These are just some of the people who are passionately pursuing a kind of Christian personal finance that absolutely cannot work without Jesus. And I’m glad to be working alongside them as I learn and experience a transformation of my heart that only comes from God. I pray you’ll join us as we seek God’s will for our personal finances rather than trying to find ways to justify our own will for our money.

In Contentment, Giving, Personal Finance Bible Study, Stewardship ,
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How to Kill Stinkbugs

Corey —  June 22, 2011

Stinkbug by daveynin on Flickr       Alright, so this doesn’t have anything to do with personal finance or a Christian perspective on money. But I found it useful and thought some of you might, too. We’ve had a big problem with stinkbugs in our area lately. And after spending way too much time flushing them or sucking them up with the vacuum, Michelle and I were looking for an easy way to kill them and we found it. Here’s our secret weapon:

Kill Stinkbugs with Soapy Water!

       It’s just a spray bottle filled with some soapy water. I just put about 2 tablespoons of dish soap in the bottle and shook it up a bit. Some recipes online say to use a whole lot more than that, but I found this to be effective. No need to waste a whole bottle of dish soap on this. Then I went on a rampage killing every stinkbug in sight. It works surprisingly well for something so simple. You usually only need about three or four good, direct hits to kill the stinkbug.

       Obviously, this has no residual effect and will not prevent future stinkbugs from entering your house. But it’s a convenient way to kill the varmints without touching them and getting the stink all over your fingers. (Even using a tissue or some toilet paper to grab them doesn’t keep the smell off.) After they’re dead, you can just vacuum them up or gather by hand. As a plus, you don’t have to worry about kids being around when you’re spraying it. Well, as long as you don’t spray them in the eyes…

       Don’t believe it’s that easy? Here’s a short video of me killing a couple stinkbugs with the solution. I went a little overboard on spraying them because I was trying to get quick results for the video, but you can confidently spray them a few times and move on. They’ll die within a couple minutes.

       Happy stinkbug hunting!

In Frugality, Miscellaneous ,
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Back from a Break

Corey —  June 20, 2011

Sleeping Cat by kaibara87 on Flickr       Are you all still there?! It’s been a while since my last post.

       After not writing for almost six months, I’m ready to get back to it. I stopped writing for a while as I was taking on new responsibilities at church. Now that I’ve had time to settle in a bit, I’ll be writing here on Provident Planning again.

       I also needed a break because I was struggling with what I wanted to do with the content on here. I was getting distracted with things that don’t really matter and began to emulate many of the other personal finance blogs out there. I don’t want to do that. I want to keep the focus here on following Jesus in our finances – whatever that may cost. But I also want to help people with the practical side of things.

       So I won’t be writing as much as I used to. I want to create higher quality articles – not more articles. Right now the plan is to have two posts a week published on Mondays and Wednesdays. I may occasionally post a short article or some links on Fridays, but I’m not making any guarantees there.

       I’ll be balancing the articles between the strictly spiritual side of things and the practical (how to, information, general PF type of articles). However, I will try to incorporate a Christian perspective in everything when it fits. It’s sort of difficult to do that in a post that’s simply explaining what a Roth IRA is, but it’s certainly possible when talking about retirement planning. My hope is that this will meet both sides of my goal – looking at how to follow Jesus in our finances but also providing helpful resources to apply it to our financial decisions.

       Thanks for hanging in there during this break and for all your support. Many of you have encouraged me to get back into writing and that has helped motivate me to start again. I’m looking forward to learning and growing with you. God’s blessings to all of you as you seek Him!

In Miscellaneous
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Personal Finance Bible Study: Work (Summary)

Corey —  February 28, 2011

       This post is a short summary of the Personal Finance Bible Study on work. It contains links to all of the articles in this study. You can also read Bible verses about work here.

Called to Work

       Made to Work
       Called to Work

       In the first part of this Bible study, we looked at how God has created and called Christians to work hard. We also looked at how our work can glorify God.

The Value of Hard Work

       Providing for Our Needs
       Bringing Honor to God
       Gaining Wealth to Honor God

       Next, we looked at some of the benefits of pursuing God’s call to work hard. There are tangible benefits to hard work, and God desires to bless us with these benefits when we follow His teaching on work.

The Dangers of Too Much Rest and Laziness

       Laziness Brings Poverty
       Laziness Brings Dishonor
       Laziness Brings Difficulty

       Then we looked at the dangers of not following God’s call to work hard and instead pursuing rest, leisure, and laziness. God wants to protect us from these dangers, and that’s part of the reason He calls us to work hard.

Our Need for Rest

       God Wants Us to Rest
       We Need to Rest

       In following God’s call to work hard, we must not forget our need for rest. God wants us to rest because He knows we need it. We will do our best work for Him when we balance diligence and a strong work ethic with the prudence to know when to take our rest.

God’s Business Values and Ethics

       Be Fair & Just to All
       Keep Your Integrity
       Be Mindful of the Poor
       Be a Good Steward
       Don’t Use the Church for Business

       Finally, we looked at God’s business values and ethics as He teaches in the Bible. How should we conduct our business and work so we can best glorify Him? As the Spirit works through us, we will naturally follow God’s will in our work. But identifying these values can help us better serve God as we grow in our walk with Him.

       Thank you for reading this Bible study on work. Feel free to use it in your church or Bible study group. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave me a comment!

In Personal Finance Bible Study, Work , , , , , , , , , , ,
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I’m in Free Money Finance’s March Money Madness – Round 2, Game 2!

Corey —  February 23, 2011

       For the last few years, Free Money Finance has held a contest called March Money Madness (works like the college basketball competition). It gives bloggers a chance to highlight their best posts and see how they stack up to others. Additionally, FMF donates money to a charity of the blogger’s choice for the top 4 winners – $500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd, and $100 each for 3rd and 4th.

       I’m playing for 50% to HOPE International and 50% to Mennonite Central Committee (or 100% to MCC if FMF doesn’t want to split the donations).

       Thanks to your help in Round 1, I’ve made it to Round 2! This week I’m in Game 2 with “The Save 10% for Retirement Rule Is Stupid“, and I’m up against Craig at Money Help for Christians. He’s a good friend of mine and a great writer, so I’ll be happy either way. But if you’d like to support me, leave a comment on today’s March Money Madness post saying “Game 2: Stupid”. Thanks for your support!

In Miscellaneous
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Personal Finance Bible Study: Work (Part 15 of 15) – Don’t Use the Church for Business

Corey —  February 14, 2011

       The final business value we’ll look at in the Bible is God’s desire that we don’t use the Church for business. The Bible relates at least two instances where Jesus spoke out against people who were turning religion into a business and greedily taking profits on the sacrifices and offerings used at the Temple.

       The first instance we see is in the Gospel of John, not long after Jesus was baptized and turned the water into wine:

       14 He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. 15 He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables. 16 To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”

John 2:14-16 (WEB)

       The rest of the Gospels also relate what seems to be a second incidence where Jesus spoke out against using the Temple for business:

       15 They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves. 16 He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. 17 He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”

Mark 11:15-17 (WEB)

This passage is also found in Matthew 21:12-13 and Luke 19:45-46.

       The religious leaders and merchants had made a business out of selling space in the Temple courtyard, animals for sacrifices, and exchanging foreign money for Jewish money. They desecrated the Temple by using it for business instead of prayer and teaching God’s Word. It’s also thought they were using the Court of the Gentiles for this business, which was the only place the Gentiles were allowed to be in the Temple. A busy marketplace would make it much more difficult to pray to God and learn from a teacher.

       Jesus understood that God’s Temple should be used only for glorifying Him. In their greed, the religious leaders and merchants forgot the purpose of the Temple. The love of money blinded them to the unrighteousness they were committing and replaced the love for God they should have had instead.

       We see this same exploitation of religion in the early church throughout the New Testament, and we still see it today. Many people use faith and godliness as a means to worldly gain, and in their greed they mislead and steal from many. The body of Christ should have His same zeal for God and not allow the Gospel to be used in such a way. If you see this happening in your church, speak out against it and do not fear man. If you are involved in such greedy gain through religion, repent and seek Jesus. Ask Him to pour His Holy Spirit over you and give you a burning love for God instead of love for money.

       Jesus wants us to carefully revere the Lord and be on guard against the dangers that greed presents for our witness to the world. Any exploitation of the Word for profit and dishonest gain has devastating effects on those who do not believe, and it can have even more destructive effects on those who do believe. Greed and love of money destroy the Church and rip the body of Christ into pieces.

       Maintain Jesus’ zeal for God, and do not use the church for business. Don’t turn religion into a business so you can profit off the faith of others. While there is Biblical teaching for supporting those who minister in the Word, there is even stronger teaching against those who use the Word for greedy gain. There’s a distinct difference between a pastor or any church worker who is content in Christ on a salary of $30,000 or $40,000 (or even less!) and one who lives on $100,000 or $200,000 or more. The apostle Paul even went so far as to take no support for his ministry in some cases so he could be a better example to the churches.

       Pray for the Spirit’s discernment and guidance that you do not get involved in such greedy use of the Church. And if you see such greed that needs to be confronted, pray for how you should approach the situation. It may require the zeal that Jesus showed, or it may require a different course of action. Either way, we should be outraged when we see such things happening and we should follow Jesus’ example in purging it from our churches.

In Personal Finance Bible Study, Work , , , , , , , , ,
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