After nearly two years of pursuing this crusade to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances I still can not believe I get to do this for a living!

In less than two years, this thing has went from a mere passion and a book manuscript to a full-service, full-tilt crusade.

If you are preparing to teach about personal finances at your church or business organization, I would love to be able to partner with you!  It is my passion and call to help people win with their money.  Why?  Because when people are financially free they are much more likely to go do EXACTLY what they have been put on this earth to do!

This stuff FIRES ME UP! 

Here are options that are available to help you implement a finance curriculum at your church or business.

• Speaking  I love to speak and teach on personal finances.  But be ready for a FIRED-UP, high-energy speech as I am more than a little PUMPED to teach people about money management.  You can watch me speak HERE.
• Experiences  Some call them classes.  Others call them seminars.  I call them experiences.  Why?  Because I teach PRACTICAL tools that can be immediately applied.  I do not teach theoretical and hypothetical material.  The tools that I teach are what Jenn and I personally did to win with our money.  The two-hour experience is the most popular – Financial Learning Experience, but the six-hour Financial Freedom Experience has been very successful too.
• Group Study Course  This six session study is based on my book, I Was Broke. Now I'm Not.  I have found that my home group is where I am challenged AND held accountable.  Accountability is so huge when it comes to making the tough decisions that might be necessary to win with money.  Find out more about the Group Study HERE.
• Financial Counseling Training  In the Financial Counseling Experience, I train people to use the process that we have used here at NewSpring Church to provide one-on-one financial counseling to over 400 people each year!  If you are interested in providing financial counseling, this is a great place to start!  Since I am an engineer, you can bet that this training will involve a checklist or two.
• Personal Finance Book  In I Was Broke. Now I'm Not., I share my family's story of walking out of financial mismanagement and into financial freedom.  THEN I share exactly HOW we did it.  I share exactly HOW to use the tools and all of the tools are available FREE through the web site.  Find out more about the book HERE.

You can contact me HERE.  

I LOVE THIS STUFF!

Many of you know that Perry Noble is a fantastic leader, speaker, teacher, and writer.  But did you know that he has already published a book?

Perry wrote a book back in 2002 called "Blue Prints – How to build Godly Relationships", and it is AWESOME!

Here is what is great about this book.

• NewSpring Church was born out of the material taught in this book!  Back in 1998, Perry began leading a student Bible study at Anderson University to teach students how to build Godly relationships.  This Bible study led to the launch of NewSpring Church.  Blue Prints was written based on those Bible studies.
• Perry is passionate about this subject.  If you have ever listened to Perry teach, you KNOW how passionate he is about developing Godly relationships.
• Easy, fast read.  If you are like me, you want a book to be challenging, entertaining, and a fast read.  Check. Check. Check.
• My family has been directly impacted by this book.  I had a family member who was involved in a challenging relationship.  For some reason, he picked up this book and read it in one sitting.  It rocked his world.

So, here is the deal.  I found a couple of boxes of these books lying around here at NewSpring.  They are very limited in number (I have located a couple hundred).

If you want to pick up a copy, it is available via Amazon.com for $11.99 or via the Blue Prints website for $10.99 (free shippping).

You can see Perry talking about the book back in 2002 (and a lot of other current NewSpring happenings) HERE.

Today must be a day set aside to encourage the crusade!

Cornerstone Church in Auburn, Alabama is teaching a finance series called Cha-Ching.  As they prepared for the series, they decided to offer I Was Broke. Now I'm Not. as a resource for people.  Jack Fisher contacted me and purchased a CASE of books.  That is 81 books.  Well, they are two weeks into the series and they are nearly out of books and are ordering more!

The feedback they have been receiving from people who have read the book has been incredible.   In fact, Jack sent me this comment this morning when ordering more books.

"Another great Sunday with your book. The feedback is consistently excellent with everyone saying that it is something they can start on right away."

When I wrote this book, my top priority was to make it PRACTICAL and ABLE TO BE APPLIED IMMEDIATELY.  It is always good to get feedback that shows it happening!

THEN, Jack sent me another e-mail today.  It blew me away.

Right after I emailed you our local DARE Officer walked in talking about how he and his wife are fired up about how the book has changed them in just a few weeks. I attached his picture. That's what gets me going.

John Bartlett had some really kind words about I Was Broke. Now I'm Not.

I am so humbled by this type of feedback.  I am a teacher through and through and any teacher will tell you that seeing others carry the message on to others is the ultimate compliment.

Thanks, John, for the kind words.

You can read his post HERE.

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I am proud to announce that L.R. was the winner of the Personal Finance Art Contest!  You can click on the artwork below to see a full-size version. 

Sangl's Interpretation of L.R.'s Artwork

L.R. identified Credit Cards, Overspending, and High Interest Debt as the cause of a first bankruptcy.  Then the credit cards came back (financial behavior was not changed) and another bankruptcy happened.

L.R. then identified the causes of both bankruptcies and made lasting changes that will  result in a bankruptcy-proof life.

Thanks for the great artwork L.R.!  Your prize pack consisting of a signed copy of I Was Broke. Now I'm Not, a Financial Freedom Experience T-Shirt, and of course this blog post is on its way!

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As I travel and teach at a variety of churches, it is always important for me to understand if the pastor and the church staff are managing their money following biblical principles.  I mean, if the pastor is blowing all of their money without a plan, 100% financing everything, and unable to say "NO!" to a purchase, then it is impossible for them to stand up with any credibility and teach biblical principles such as:

Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children. (Long-term saving!)

Proverbs 13:11 … He who gathers money little by little makes it grow. (Invest!)

Proverbs 22:7  The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Avoid debt.)

Romans 13:8  Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another … (Always pay off debts that you owe!)

Not too mention the Parable of Talents (Matthew 25:14-30 – sound money management) and Giving (Malachi 3).

I have said it many times in the Financial Counseling Experience training that the number one reason NewSpring Church has a successful financial counseling ministry is the fact that Perry (senior pastor) lives this stuff!

So the question today is:  If you are a pastor or a church leader, are you managing money the way that God commands you to?

The question for everyone else (and today's poll question) is:

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I had the opportunity to meet with Chris Kakaras this week.  He is a young man who is passionate about helping people manage their money God's way.  One of the key groups that he speaks to are college students, and I had the opportunity to review some of his materials when we met.

There was a section of questions in his training that really caught my eye.  It was good.  Very good.

Here is one of the questions (participants in the class are required to answer these questions).

Did you eat today?  YES    NO

If YES is the answer, then you are blessed and have enough.

So basic, but SO TRUE!

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I wonder how many people are currently at risk of having an article like THIS ONE written about them?

This is why I am in favor of "cash envelopes" and not "cash socks".

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Financial Learning Experience

I am PUMPED to be teaching the Financial Learning Experience again here at NewSpring Church Anderson Campus on Saturday morning, August 2nd, from 9:00AM – 11:00AM.  There is limited seating this time around, so invite your friends and family but register NOW.

The class is free, but you need to register in advance.  To register, fill out the contact form HERE and say that you "want to attend the Financial Learning Experience on August 2".  If you are registering more than one person, be sure to include each person's name in the contact form.  You will receive a confirmation e-mail back from Katie saying that you have been assigned to the class.

I Was Broke. Now I'm Not. Group Study Guide

AWESOME! 

I am on a crusade to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances.  I am on a mission to teach 100,000 people by October 2011 (first five years of doing this full-time).  This home group study helps allow me achieve the mission.

I am a huge believer in learning within the bounds of a home group.  It is where I can engage in vigorous debate, be challenged in my own personal thoughts, and be held accountable to personal goals.

I can't wait to hear the stories of life-change that take place all because small groups of people decided together to take their finances to the next level.