Redefining Success Through Stewardship

Growing up, my thoughts about money was that money was evil. I grew up in an immigrant family to Canada, so growing up was tough. We didn't know who to believe or who to trust at first, and so we got scammed a couple times. We didn't have the right insurance. No one taught us about savings or emergency funds or investments. And at the time, we were also renting, so we were getting evicted. That really was a traumatic experience for me. I knew what it was like without money, and so I thought to myself, I would make as much money as I can to support my family and to help my friends and those around me. Got my finance degree, worked in corporate finance, worked in non-profit management, worked in tech consulting, basically just trying to chase money. I quickly came to be very disillusioned. They were looking at people as numbers, and I just didn't like this feeling that there was this lack of purpose and meaning in the financial world. One of my financial mentors introduced me to Crown. And at first, I didn't trust him. I thought, you know what? If it's a Christian person talking about finance, it's probably a scam. Probably trying to sell me insurance or some faulty financial product. But then I gave him a chance. We walked together for about a year doing Bible studies, going through different material. And after about a year, I realized, wow, I've been missing out on so much. So Crown Financial has something called the Money Life Indicator. When I first took it, I scored really highly in all the areas I thought I would, except generosity. So my generosity was the lowest category. So I think going through that was very eye-opening. Generosity was important to me. I wanted to be known as a generous person. I would freely give my time, my talents, my skills, but I would never give my money. Because that was the one thing I held so strongly onto, because I never had much of it. Through the years of learning about stewardship, I realized I needed to battle this. I needed to let this go. And some of the Crown resources were quite important to me.

Because it showed me that our money is just a resource from God. And I think when you have to answer the question, who owns it? That's one of the hardest questions to answer. Do I own my money, my talents, my time? Or does God own it? And how you answer the question changes everything. And so I remember an example of when I first started to give. I was being approached by some campus ministry students who were fundraising for their support. One of them came into my office, and I heard their pitch. And I usually don't want to accept them because I'm too busy and I don't want to give money. But this time I said, okay, I'm going to accept you in. I heard their spiel, and I just felt called to give. I said, yeah, I'm going to give to you. And I said, I'll give you $30. And the student says, wow, that's awesome, $30 a month? I said, nope. I reached into my wallet, grabbed $30 and said, here you go. I'll see you later. And I thought I did a good job, you know. Of course, that night my dinner was more than $30. But I thought I did good. Then I started to receive letters in the mail. And I looked at the postage because they were going on a mission trip abroad. And I counted up all the postage from all the letters they sent me. And it was more than $30. So I actually lost money from that interaction. And I just remember just coming before the Lord just so shameful, so just at wit's end thinking, God, help me with my unbelief. Help me with my lack of generosity. I want to be all in.

And so the next time that student came back after a mission trip, I sat down with him and said, I'm going to give you $50 a month. And then I challenged myself to up it every time from $50 to $100 to $200. I started to give to more students. I started to give to different charities. I started to up my tithe. And each time I did it, I stretched myself just a little bit more. But it's kind of like the concept of working out. When you first pick up those weights, it's heavy. It hurts. And after a workout, you feel sore and it's not fun. But after you get to it, it starts getting easier. You start seeing improvements. You feel better. You look better. You're stronger. And over those years, I started to build my giving muscle. I was able to give freely. I started to be able to be cheerful when I gave. And each time those missionaries from above came back and shared their stories, I was just full of joy seeing how God worked and how God entrusted me with that money. And I was able to use it for his kingdom. There's over 2,000 verses about money and stewardship in the Bible. Jesus talks about money more than anything as an illustration to point to the things of the spiritual and the kingdom. And I realized, man, if I'm a finance expert and I don't even know all this, how is a regular person going to know? And I think that was what really supercharged me to wanting to start my own business, to wanting to really stand for stewardship and to grow into the kingdom. I am the CEO and co-founder of Rise Above Finance, a Christian-based financial planning and consulting firm that works across Canada.

Our vision is to see a culture of stewardship in every household. And our mission is to empower faithful stewards to put Jesus at the center of every financial decision. So practically, what does that look like? I think it's first recognizing that. Money is important, but money is a magnifying glass. It reveals who you are. It magnifies who you are as a person. It can reveal your idols, and it's a powerful tool that can bring you closer to God or away from God. One of the things that we've adopted as Mantra is we're not just an advisor, we're disciple-making advisors. We're not just a financial planner, we're a life planner. And I think for me, my heart about it, it's how do I help the everyday person, whether it's a family, whether it's a business owner, to really look at their money as a resource from God. Being able to see them unpack and to detach their sense of self-worth from the net worth has been one of the most valuable exercises. Our job is really to free them from the grips of money so that they can pursue their God-given calling. Now that I know what I know, one of the things I really wished someone had sat me down was just to walk me through the basics of what is finance. What is financial literacy? What is savings investments? What actually is an investment in an insurance tool? What is estate planning, retirement planning? And more importantly, what does the Bible have to say on it? If someone had just walked me through it,

it would have saved our family so much heartache and headache. I would have been better able to handle debt and pay off my student loans. I would have been able to handle my investments better and not mess up my investments or lose money through scams. I used to pride myself and put all my faith into myself, into my positions, into my wealth and my achievements and my titles. And giving all of that up to chase after God was scary and honestly daunting. But after finally accepting Jesus in my life, having that peace that surpasses understanding, that's priceless. And I think back to those moments where I didn't really have mentors or people to look up to. And now people are looking at me to be that mentor or that advisor figure. And so I think about it as, wow, you know, who knew that one day you went from that screw up to where you are now by the grace of God. And I think for me, I carry that forward, that God has given me my mission, my calling to be able to serve people in their finances. And I want to serve well and to hear the words, well done, good and peaceful servant.