It is so simple today to spend money. Not only has the process of spending become almost instantaneous through Apple Pay, Venmo, Zelle, and many others, but the opportunities to do so are endless. Spending isn’t a problem unless it’s done without full knowledge and based on emotions and to seek instant gratification. In today’s episode, we’re talking with James Lenhoff, the National Sales Director at Good Sense Movement and the co-founder of Wealthquest, about the power of intentionality in financial decisions. After 22 years of working with people and helping them navigate their finances, James has seen the impact intentionality has on spending decisions.

In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we’re featuring another leader in the stewardship spotlight. We’re talking with Amber George, the Director of Kingdom Living Ministry and the Operations Pastor at Crossroads Church in Fredericksburg, VA, about her journey from a well-paying government job to full-time ministry. Her stewardship and generosity story will encourage you, and her perspective and wisdom will inspire you!

The Christian Stewardship Network has always been about supporting church leaders and stewardship champions whose calling is to teach and equip God’s people with his financial principles. For the past 20+ years, we’ve been coming together at the CSN Annual Forum. This has always been a special time together, but not nearly enough to grow and help one another build healthy stewardship ministries in our churches. With the launch of our CSN membership site, we’re aiming to change all that.

In this episode of Stewardship Leader we are interviewing Ken Schafer, a stewardship pastor at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN. Ken’s personal testimony and his journey of stewardship and generosity have been refined through a business interest, working for Ramsey Solutions, and as a stewardship pastor. We hope you will be inspired and helped through his shared experience.

In Acts 10:35, Paul quotes Jesus as having said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That’s a short but extremely profound and revealing statement, and if you’ve ever made a gift for the right reason and from your heart you’ve experienced this truth. In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we’re talking with Todd Harper, the co-founder of Generous Giving, and April Chapman, Generous Giving’s Chief Executive Officer, about the incredible privilege we have to be generous. Their 22-Hour Journey of Generosity (JOG) event has been transforming generous givers into extravagant givers for many years, and they’d love to help you and your church community experience it for yourself.

The transition to retirement begs the question, “how can I live my best years now that I’m retired?” It’s exciting to think through the possibilities and how retirement can be reframed as a repurpose-ment of our lives, living and giving like never before. Retirement doesn’t have to be the end of our best years but rather the beginning!

No one likes to fail, especially at something as important as personal finances. The pain of financial stress and the shame and fear that accompany it are difficult to bear. Yet, it’s unreasonable to think you can achieve financial success without experiencing some failures along the way. Some degree of failure or setbacks, as much as we wish they weren’t, are inevitable. What determines your future success is what you do after you fail.

Stewardship Education, teaching people God's word on money and wealth, is an essential aspect of discipleship that every church should engage in. In this podcast, we talk with Chris Goulard and Dave Briggs about the Stewardship Impact Workshop and why they believe every church leader needs to attend this training. This workshop was explicitly created for church leaders to help them learn the theology of stewardship and generosity and learn how to incorporate a stewardship ministry in their church.

We cannot get through one day without seeing, hearing, or reading something about money and wealth. The world is consumed by this topic while pastors rarely talk about it. In this episode, we’re talking with John Rinehart, the founder of Gospel Patrons, about his recent poem to pastors. John believes pastors play a crucial role in teaching God’s people about money and wealth, and we couldn’t agree more.

The Scriptures provide wisdom for every area of life, including investing. Yet, it is rare to hear a sermon or teaching on the topic in The Church, and it seems pastors perceive the subject of money and wealth as too unspiritual to include in their weekend messages. Meanwhile, the world continues to guide and influence God’s people daily on how they should make, spend, and invest their money, mostly void of the Biblical principles found in God’s word. In this episode, we talk about investing with Matt Bell from Sound Mind Investing to understand the Church’s responsibility, as well as an excellent opportunity to teach God’s people how to invest according to God’s design.

We rarely use the term covet in our modern vernacular today. Is the reason because we’ve overcome the temptation to covet or is it something else? In this episode, we discuss the real danger of coveting, why God opposes it, and why it’s so important for us to resist and overcome the temptation to covet.

The biggest challenge to managing our money is not the task itself but the emotions we experience as we manage the decisions around money. In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we talk with Chris Goulard about emotions and our money.

Being generous is more than giving money to worthy causes. Although it sometimes includes giving money, generosity is much more. In this episode, we are joined by Todd McMichen to discuss the personal benefits of being a generous person, and why we need to make it a priority in our lives.

Our culture isn’t prone to encourage us to be content or satisfied with our lives. The messaging is designed to do just the opposite, make us discontent so that we will buy the next thing that promises to fulfill us. In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we talk with Blair Graham, Stewardship Pastor at The Summit Church, about the reasons for our discontented lives and what we can do to learn and live with contentment.

Stewardship Ministry is continuing to evolve and change to the needs of The Church. Today, perhaps more than any other time in history, churches have or can obtain the information necessary to understand how effective their ministries are—knowing what works and what doesn’t is crucial. In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we discuss the biggest and most important thing in Stewardship Ministry that will directly impact the financial and spiritual well-being of the Church.

As a church leader, being aware of the needs of your congregation is crucial to providing them ministry support and discipleship. Analytics, especially those concerning giving, can be a vital resource in knowing how to minister to your people. In this episode of Stewardship leader, we talk with Vinny Hu, the Director of FinHealth & Stewardship at Hoboken Grace Church, in Hoboken, NJ, and learn how they use analytics software developed by Mortarstone to gain the insight that helps them to celebrate, support, and minister more effectively.

It’s great when you can offer a financial stewardship program that everyone in your church will find relevant and engaging. Freed up, the new 6-week program developed by Good Sense Movement and Crossroads Church is designed to do just that! In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we talk with Kirsten Swartz, the stewardship director at Crossroads, about this new program and the innovative, fun, and engaging way it is impacting congregations.

What does the Bible say about owning a business or entrepreneurship, and how can a business owner ensure their role aligns with Biblical theology? In this episode, we speak with Bill English, the author of A Christian Theology of Business Ownership: An Introduction for Christian Entrepreneurs on What the Bible Says About Owning a Business, to gain a better understanding of God’s perspective on business ownership.

Deciding which content to use for discipling your people in Biblical stewardship and generosity can be daunting. There is no curriculum or study that can serve every member of your church. In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we discuss Charting Your Legacy Small Group Study, a study developed by Compass: finances God’s way, to help you determine how this study can be used in your specific ministry.

How can the church come alongside the next generation to help them steward their finances and help them grow spiritually, and realize the importance of biblical stewardship in God’s Kingdom? In this episode, we discuss the perspective, strengths, and challenges of millennials related to finance and stewardship so that we can develop strategies that will draw them in and create a powerful generation of passionate givers.