EDITOR’S NOTE: Neil Franks serves as president of the Missouri Baptist Foundation.
Are you a confident person? Should you be confident? How confident should you be?
As someone who occasionally suffers from imposter syndrome (one who never feels quite good enough), I often sway between not having enough confidence or having too much. While a lack of confidence can overwhelm the totality of a person, I find that people have varying levels of confidence based on a particular area of expertise.
For instance, I am fairly confident I can park a car (though the family often disagrees.) However, I would have no confidence in landing and parking an airplane. I feel quite confident on the basketball floor but not so much on the golf course (at least not on the fairway; I have more experience in the rough.) The list could go on and on.
None of us are perfect. We are probably ahead of some people in some areas of life and behind others. I would guess that the average reader of The Pathway is probably ahead of most people regarding theology. But we may have less confidence in technology or finance.
Over the next several articles, I want to change that and help you become more confident in one of those two areas. (And it probably won’t be technology). As I travel across our great state, I continue to discover many people who are not confident in their present or future financial situation. They worry (like all of us) about inflation, saving enough for retirement, or even how they will make ends meet. (Have you seen the price of a Happy Meal lately?)
I want to outline the five areas of finances where you can grow in your confidence, which I am calling “The Confident Life.” (It is also available as a series of seminars I can share with your congregation at no cost. I am still working on the last area, “Viable: getting the business of ministry right.” Look for it at the annual meeting.)
The first area is KNOWING: Do you understand God’s purpose of money. The second area is OWING: Are you managing Risk and Debt appropriately? The third is GROWING: Investing and saving; why do you need to do both? The fourth is SHOWING: Does your checkbook love God as much as you do? The Fifth is GOING: Is your family prepared for your Homegoing?
Confidence is like trust. You build both the same way, through consistency plus time. I look forward to helping you along your journey toward a confident life.