Faith & Finance

When Christians think about faithful stewardship, generosity often comes to mind first. We ask how much we should give, where our gifts should go, and how we can use our resources to bless others. But what about the money we don't give away?

Faithful stewardship extends beyond charitable donations. It includes our savings, investments, businesses, and everything else God has entrusted to our care. And that raises an important question: How can we use all of our resources, not just what we give, to advance God's purposes?

Aimee Minnich, Co-Founder, Chief Impact Officer, and General...

Owning rental property is a little like ordering pizza with anchovies. It might be just what you're looking for, but it's certainly not for everyone.

Rental real estate can be a valuable investment, providing additional income and the potential for long-term appreciation. But unlike owning stocks or mutual funds, rental property requires ongoing attention, financial resources, and a willingness to handle unexpected challenges.

Before becoming a landlord, it's important to understand both the opportunities and responsibilities that come with owning rental property.

The Benefits of Owning Rental Property

There are several...

Jesus never promised us a life without trouble. In John 16:33, He tells His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Those words remind us that difficulty is an unavoidable part of life, but we never have to face it alone. Whether we're navigating financial uncertainty, a family crisis, or an unexpected loss, God's presence and faithfulness remain constant.

Howard Dayton, author, teacher, and founder of Compass Financial Ministry, has spent decades helping Christians apply biblical wisdom to their finances. In his book Your Money Counts, he expl...

Your investments can do more than grow your portfolio. They can also create meaningful opportunities to bless others and support the work of God's Kingdom.

As the end of the year approaches, many Christians begin thinking about charitable giving. But generosity doesn't have to come exclusively from a checking or savings account. Your investment portfolio may offer additional ways to give, sometimes with valuable tax advantages.

Brian Mumbert, President and CEO of Timothy Plan, a pioneer in the world of faith-based investing, joined the show today to discuss how Christians can incorporate generosity into their...

Someday, someone else will steward the resources God has entrusted to you. But will they be prepared for that responsibility?

Many families devote considerable time and attention to estate planning. They establish wills, create trusts, and develop strategies to transfer assets efficiently. Those are important steps, but they address only part of the challenge.

Preparing the next steward involves more than preparing an inheritance. It involves preparing the person who will receive it.

David Wills, President Emeritus of the National Christian Foundation (NCF) and a contributor to FaithFi's newest Field Guide, How Do...

You may know how your retirement investments are performing, but do you know what they're actually supporting?

For many Christians, stewardship shapes how we earn, spend, save, and give. Yet when it comes to investing, we may not think much about the companies and industries represented in our portfolios.

Faith-based investing offers an opportunity to align those decisions more closely with our Christian convictions. But what does that look like in practice? Does investing according to your values mean sacrificing financial returns? And can individual investors really make a difference?

Mark Regier, Vice...

When you think about leaving an inheritance, you probably picture children or grandchildren. But what if your next steward isn't a person at all?

For many Christians, leaving a gift to a church, ministry, or nonprofit organization can be a meaningful way to extend their generosity beyond their lifetime. But deciding where, when, and how to give deserves the same thoughtful preparation we would give to an individual heir.

Sharon Epps, President of Kingdom Advisors and a contributor to FaithFi's new field guide, How Do I Prepare the Next Steward?, joined us today to discuss...

Losing a spouse changes almost everything. Beyond the emotional weight of grief, there are practical responsibilities that can suddenly feel overwhelming. Bills still need to be paid, accounts need attention, and financial decisions that once seemed routine may now feel impossible.

For widows, navigating those responsibilities can be especially difficult when grief affects their ability to think clearly, make decisions, and plan for the future.

Rachel Faulkner Brown understands this firsthand. Widowed twice by the age of 31, she has experienced profound loss, financial mistakes, and unexpected challenges. Today, as the Founder and Executive Director of...

Money can be a wonderful servant or a terrible master. It touches nearly every part of our lives, influencing our decisions, shaping our priorities, and often revealing what matters most to us.

But have you ever wondered why the Bible has so much to say about it?

According to bestselling author Randy Alcorn, Founder and Director of Eternal Perspective Ministries, the answer has less to do with money itself and more to do with what money reveals about our hearts.

On today’s show, Randy joined us to share insights from his forthcoming 31-d...

Every day, we make decisions about money, but not every decision is made with intention. When it comes to generosity, many of us wrestle with the same questions: Where should we give? How much should we give? And does our giving really make a difference?

With so many worthy causes competing for our attention, generosity can easily become reactive rather than intentional. Yet Scripture invites us to see giving as something much greater than another financial habit. Intentional generosity is an act of discipleship that connects our resources to God's work in the world.

Generosity...

Most Christians want to be generous. But wanting to give and actually following through are two different things.

With so many worthy causes, competing needs, and financial decisions to consider, even the best intentions can become overwhelming. Without a plan, our giving can become reactive rather than purposeful, driven more by the requests we receive than by a thoughtful understanding of how God has entrusted us to steward His resources.

So, how can we move from good intentions to meaningful action?

Kendra VanderMeulen, CEO of the National Christian Foundation (NCF), joined the show...

“The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale.” — Proverbs 18:11 (NIV)

Money can provide real protection, but it can also create a dangerous illusion of security. We may begin to believe that enough savings, investments, or possessions can shield us from whatever life brings.

In 1 Samuel 25, we encounter a wealthy man named Nabal whose story illustrates the danger of placing too much confidence in earthly riches. His experience reminds us that while financial resources are valuable tools, they can never provide the ultimate security our hearts desire...

It's almost time for health insurance open enrollment again. For many families, that means sorting through premiums, deductibles, coverage options, and rising healthcare costs. But what if you didn't have to wait for open enrollment to explore a different approach?

Traditional health insurance isn't the only option available to Christians. Health cost-sharing ministries offer an alternative rooted in biblical community, mutual support, and financial stewardship.

Lauren Gajdek, Senior Director of External Affairs at Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM), joined us today to explain how this approach works and why more Christians are exploring it.

...

If there's one word that defines our culture, it's more. More upgrades. More comfort. More square footage. More of whatever promises to make life a little better.

Yet, despite having more than previous generations could have imagined, many of us feel less satisfied than ever.

Why? Because contentment doesn't come from acquiring what's next. It's cultivated in the heart, right where we are. And Scripture reminds us that contentment isn't something we stumble upon. It's something we can learn.

Why More Is Never Enough

We're all tempted to believe that the...

Money can tell you how much you have, but it makes a terrible answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Wealth is a gift to steward, but it was never meant to become our identity. Yet in a culture that often measures success by income, possessions, and financial security, it’s easy to begin defining ourselves by what we have—or what we lack.

Scripture offers a different perspective. In fact, some of Jesus’ most memorable teachings about wealth reveal what happens when possessions become central to a person's identity.

When Wealth Becomes Your Ident...

We like to think we make rational decisions with our money, but what if our emotions influence our financial choices far more than we realize?

That’s one of behavioral economics' central findings: human psychology shapes financial decisions. While these discoveries have challenged traditional economic thinking, they reinforce what Scripture has taught for thousands of years: human wisdom is limited, our hearts can deceive us, and our emotions don't always lead us in the right direction.

Mark Biller, Executive Editor and Senior Portfolio Manager at Sound Mind Investing (SMI), believes understanding these tendencies can help Ch...

What if debt isn't just a financial issue, but a discipleship one?

We often view borrowing through a financial lens, focusing on interest rates, monthly payments, and repayment timelines. But Scripture invites us to consider something deeper. Debt can shape our freedom, influence our generosity, and affect our ability to respond to opportunities God places before us.

Borrowing is common in modern life, but understanding its spiritual implications can help us make wiser financial decisions.

The Biblical Perspective on Debt

Credit cards, student loans, mortgages, and business financing are familiar financial...

A job can be more than a paycheck. It can provide dignity, create opportunities, and open doors for meaningful change in someone's life.

For April Tam Smith, that belief inspired an unconventional approach to generosity: creating a restaurant that serves great food while giving people who need it most a second chance.

April and her husband, Graham, are co-founders of P.S. Kitchen, a nonprofit restaurant in New York City's Times Square. Alongside a group of like-minded partners, they've built a business that combines hospitality, employment opportunities, and charitable giving.

April joined the...

One of the simplest ways to avoid credit card debt is to save up for major purchases before you make them.

When you plan ahead for expenses you know are coming, you can pay with money you already have instead of borrowing from tomorrow’s income. This simple approach can reduce financial stress, provide greater flexibility, and help you practice faithful stewardship.

The key is preparing for tomorrow's expenses with today's resources.

Saving for the Expected, Not Just the Unexpected

You may be thinking, Isn't that what my emergency fund is fo...

Having an emergency fund is an important part of wise financial stewardship. But building one is only half the battle. You also need to know when to use it.

It can be tempting to dip into emergency savings whenever an unexpected expense—or even an especially appealing purchase—comes along. But if we use those funds too freely, the money may not be there when a genuine emergency arrives.

Proverbs 21:20 offers a helpful reminder: “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.”

The principle is simple...

Jonathan Edwards once said, “True legacy consists not of what we leave behind, but of what we instill in others.”

That’s an important reminder, especially when we think about money and inheritance. All of us have a natural desire to provide for the people we love. Whether it’s our children, grandchildren, or others God has entrusted to our care, we want to leave them in a better position than we were.

That’s a good desire. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.”

But Scripture encourages us to...

What book of the Bible reminds us that life is short and wisdom means making the most of the time God has given us? Ecclesiastes.

This remarkable book refuses to let us avoid one of life’s most uncomfortable realities: our time here is brief. Life “under the sun” is fleeting, our accomplishments will not last forever, and eventually every one of us will leave behind everything we have accumulated.

But Ecclesiastes does not confront us with mortality simply to make us somber. It reminds us that life is short so we will learn to receiv...

Theologian Dorothy Sayers once wrote, “Work is not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do.”

That challenges the way many of us think about our jobs. We often see work primarily as a way to earn a paycheck, provide for our families, or make it to retirement. But Scripture gives us a much bigger vision.

From the first pages of the Bible to the last, Scripture does not present work as a necessary evil. It is woven into what it means to bear God's image. And whether our work...

Artificial intelligence can help you build a budget, explain an investment, or compare financial options in seconds. But how much should you trust it with your money?

AI is quickly becoming part of everyday life, including the way we manage our finances. And like any tool, it can be used wisely or unwisely.

For Christians, the better question isn’t simply, “Should I use AI?” but, “How can I use this tool wisely and faithfully?”

A Helpful Tool—But Not a Source of Wisdom

When new technology arrives, we can be tempted towa...

What if one of the clearest signs of generosity isn’t simply how much we give, but how deeply we desire to participate?

In 2 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul describes a group of believers whose generosity was remarkable—not because they had abundant resources, but because they were eager to give even amid significant hardship.

Their example shows us what happens when grace transforms the heart.

Generosity in the Midst of Hardship

Paul is writing to encourage the church in Corinth to participate in a collection for believers in Jerusalem who were expe...

What will you leave to the next generation—and will they be prepared to steward it well?

A faithful wealth transfer involves more than deciding who gets what. It means thinking carefully about the people who will receive those resources and whether they have the wisdom, maturity, and spiritual foundation to handle them faithfully.

Dr. Kelly Rush, Professor of Finance, Financial Planning Program Coordinator, and Chair of Business and Technology at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, points to David and Solomon as a compelling biblical example. Rush, who also serves on the board of Kingdom Advisors, sa...

Christians often think about stewardship in terms of giving, saving, and spending. But if God owns everything He has entrusted to us, stewardship also raises another question: What about the companies we own through our investments?

Harry Pearson, Founder and CEO of OneAscent, says that question became increasingly important in his own journey of faith and finance. OneAscent is a family of companies that equips advisors and investors with faith-aligned solutions for planning, investing, and giving.

For Pearson, connecting biblical convictions with investing began with a broader realization: Faith should shape every part of our...

Christians often say that God owns everything and that what we possess has simply been entrusted to our care. We apply that principle to our income, savings, investments, and giving. But we may treat another significant asset differently: the equity in our homes.

Harlan Accola, who leads the reverse mortgage team at Movement Mortgage, joined the show today to discuss why homeowners—particularly those approaching or already in retirement—should consider home equity as part of their overall stewardship plan.

Home Equity Is Still Part of Your Wealth

For generations, many families have foll...

Women are gaining more financial influence than ever before. But for Christian women, the bigger question isn’t simply how much wealth they will control. It’s what they will do with what God has placed in their hands.

Pam Pugh, Co-Founder of Women Doing Well and President of VirtuAssets Foundation, has spent years helping individuals and families think about how to use their assets virtuously. She believes women are entering a significant season of financial stewardship—one shaped by greater earning power, longer life expectancies, entrepreneurship, and an enormous transfer of wealth.

Those changes create...

God’s Word says that a husband and wife become “one flesh.” But it doesn’t say anything directly about prenuptial agreements.

So does that mean Christians should never have one?

A prenuptial agreement, or prenup, is a legal contract a couple enters into before marriage. It typically establishes how assets, property, and other financial matters would be handled if the marriage ended in divorce.

For some couples, that may seem like practical planning. But Christians should consider more than whether a prenup makes financial sense. We should also ask what it communicates about ma...

Some of the earliest financial supporters of Jesus’ ministry were women.

Luke 8:1–3 introduces us to Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and “many others” who traveled with Jesus and the Twelve. Luke adds a remarkable detail: these women were supporting Jesus’ ministry “out of their means.”

Sharon Epps, President of Kingdom Advisors and one of the founders of Women Doing Well, points to their story as a powerful picture of generosity. These women didn’t simply contribute resources to a cause. They had encountered Jesus personally, received His grace, and responded by using what they had to serve Him and ot...

Sometimes the simplest gifts can carry the deepest meaning.

For one mother in Mexico named Alma, watching her children receive new shoes brought tears to her eyes. She had grown up without something so basic, but now her children were having a different experience.

Her story is one of many that Shawn Spurrier, Director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, a ministry of Buckner International serving vulnerable children and families in the United States and around the world, has witnessed. Shawn joined the show today to explain why something as ordinary as a new pair...

Some of the most remarkable advances in medicine are happening inside companies most of us have never heard of.

For Christian investors, that raises an intriguing question: Could investing in healthcare innovation offer financial opportunity while also supporting businesses working to serve their neighbors and address some of the world’s most difficult problems?

Dr. Finny Kuruvilla believes it can.

Kuruvilla is Co-Founder, Co-Chief Investment Officer, and Senior Portfolio Manager at Eventide Investments. With an M.D. and a Ph.D. in chemistry, he brings an unusual combination of medical, scientific, and investment ex...

Women currently control the majority of wealth in the United States, and their financial influence is growing. But perhaps the more important question isn’t simply how much wealth women will steward. It’s what they want that wealth to accomplish.

Julie Wilson, President of Women Doing Well, joins the show today to share some new research, conducted in partnership with the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, that offers an encouraging look at how Christian women are approaching generosity. 

The findings reveal women who are engaged, discerning, and increasingly intentional about aligning their financial decisions with...

What if financial success isn’t the destination, but simply the foundation for something greater?

We spend a great deal of time thinking about how to earn, save, invest, and manage money wisely. Those things matter. Faithful stewardship requires care and wisdom with what God has entrusted to us.

But what happens when you’ve done many of those things well and still find yourself wondering, Is there something more?

Scott Highmark, President and Co-Founder of Mosaic Wealth, a Certified Kingdom Advisor®, and author of The Significance Pyramid: Climb Beyond Success to Find Lasti...

Investing can feel overwhelming. With countless funds, strategies, market forecasts, and opinions competing for attention, it’s easy to assume that successful investing requires constant analysis and a complicated portfolio.

But it doesn’t have to.

For decades, Sound Mind Investing has offered an indexing strategy called Just-the-Basics, designed around simplicity, diversification, and minimal maintenance. According to Mark Biller, Executive Editor and Senior Portfolio Manager at Sound Mind Investing, a straightforward indexing approach can also work alongside more active investment strategies.

The key may not be choosing between active investing and indexing, but unde...

“There was not a needy person among them.”

That remarkable statement in Acts 4:34 describes the early church's generosity. The first Christians freely shared what God had entrusted to them so their community's needs were met.

Their example can sound almost foreign in a culture that prizes independence and personal ownership. But according to Dr. Darrell Bock, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), the generosity we see in Acts reflects something much deeper than a particular financial system. It reveals what happens when people begin to see themselves, their possessions, and...

Financial loss can happen slowly or all at once. A business closes. A home is lost. An investment collapses. A scam wipes out savings built over decades.

And when money disappears, the loss can reach far beyond the balance sheet. It can affect our sense of security, our plans for the future, and even the way we understand God’s provision.

Scripture does not minimize those losses. It gives us permission to grieve them. But it also reminds us that while we can lose wealth, we cannot lose our true treasure.

Three stories—from...

Money stress rarely stays confined to a spreadsheet. It can shape a home's atmosphere, affect a marriage, and influence how children think about money long after they’ve grown up.

That’s one reason Crystal Paine, creator of MoneySavingMom.com and author of The Seven Habits of Financially Healthy Women, believes financial health is about far more than simply earning more or getting all the numbers right.

In fact, when Crystal surveyed 4,000 women about their relationship with money, one theme surfaced again and again: fear. Financial stress often left women feeling isolated, ashamed, or worried abou...

Women have played a vital role in advancing the gospel from the very beginning.

In Romans 16, the Apostle Paul introduces us to Phoebe—a trusted partner whose generosity, influence, and service helped further his ministry. Her story offers a compelling picture of what it means to use the resources God has entrusted to us to advance the gospel.

John Rinehart, founder and CEO of Gospel Patrons, has spent years studying and telling the stories of men and women who have supported gospel ministry throughout history. He says Phoebe is one of the clearest biblical examples of...