Barnard Madoff vs Saint Francis
My Millionaire Christian group is working on business planning.
I still struggle with the name. Millionaire conjures up Bernard Madoff like visions of abuse and excess. And Christian… well one of the first things that comes to my mind is naked Saint Francis forsaking his family’s wealth to pursue a life of poverty and serving God. Madoff and Francis are two iconic images that don’t fit together in my mind.
That is just the point; challenging the way we think about spirituality and money.
America 2009 is still one of the most prosperous places on the planet. Rather than walking away from it we should use these wonderful resources to help people in the name of God. It is a merely another mind set, another way to think about money.
Mind set, the way we think about life and money, is a critical issue.
For instance, a majority of people have a poverty mentality. They conduct their financial life holding on to what little they have. They think they have little and they need to protect what little they have. But it is all a matter of perspective. The man in Africa who makes $3 a day rejoices that he makes more than the man who only makes $1 a day. How much do you make a day?
The financial mindset of Americans and Africans are about as far apart as Madoff and Francis.
Is it any wonder why many immigrants who come to America start a success business and make a lot of money? They can do it in America, but they can’t in Africa.
But it is just a mind set, a way of thinking about money.
My Millionaire Christian group is excited about the possibility of changing the way we think about money. They have a new budget tool they found on line at Mint.com. Instead of merely thinking about their monthly income and expenses they are thinking about their net worth, how to build capital, leveraging that capital for investments, starting new businesses, and planning their giving and helping.
We are even kicking around the idea of doing some micro-financing in our church! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfinance
If you had a choice of staying where you are financially or becoming a millionaire Christian without any risk, other than opening your mind to the possibilities, what would you choose?
I love you-Bryan Martin
