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The Inspiration Behind Managing God’s Money

A couple months ago, I read a review written by David Wills about my book Managing God’s Money. David is a great brother, and the president of the National Christian Foundation, the largest Christian grant-making foundation in the world. I really appreciate their emphasis on kingdom-centered giving and their desire to help believers excel in the grace of giving.

I feature David in the dedication of Managing God’s Money, telling a small part of the story he shares about him asking me to write the book, so it was fun to see what he wrote:

In 1992, my friend and colleague Greg Sperry handed me the book Money, Possessions and Eternity, by Randy Alcorn. I read it, and it changed my life. In fact, the truths in that book were so profound that I have dedicated myself to its message for the last 20 years.

There was just one problem. It was an exhaustive treatment of the subject, and I wanted everyone to read my favorite 250 of the 500 pages in the book! I wanted the greatest hits version. I actually would buy them by the case, take them to a mill, have the binder cut off, pick out my favorite sections, clip them together, and give them out to anyone who would take them!

So, almost 20 years ago, I showed Randy my sliced and clipped together version of Money, Possessions and Eternity and asked him to please write a more condensed version. He said he’d think about it. Well, after thinking about it for 20 years, here it is: Managing God’s Money. 

Read the rest of the review.

Ever since I wrote the first edition of Money, Possessions, and Eternity in 1989, I’ve wanted to write a smaller book that dealt with the whole realm of Christian stewardship. (My book The Treasure Principle is a smaller book, but is specifically on giving.) Managing God’s Money puts the cookies on the lower shelf, so to speak, yet it challenges readers and deals with a great many issues, from insurance and inheritance, to gambling, saving, and debt. It also lays a biblical foundation for us being the managers of God’s assets, hence the title Managing God’s Money. That theme of stewardship is woven throughout the book.

(When my assistant Kathy was overseeing our book table at a conference where I was speaking, a man ran by in a hurry but happened to notice the Managing God’s Money book. “Manage God’s money?” he said. “I have a hard enough time managing my own!”)

But the title of the book is not just some cute, figurative expression. It’s a precise depiction of what the Bible says I am—God’s money manager. One day, I will stand before God and give an account of how I’ve managed what belongs to him. Have I taken good care of it, using it wisely for purposes he approves of? Or have I misused or wasted it? It’s a revolutionary concept that changed my life and my family’s. If you embrace it, I guarantee it will change your life as well.

For those of you who are pastors, our ministry will send you a free copy of Managing God’s Money. (Or, please let your pastor know that EPM offers the book to them for free.) Click here for more information about the pastors’ kit and for related resources to share with your church.

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Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries (www.epm.org), a nonprofit ministry dedicated to teaching principles of God’s Word and assisting the church in ministering to the unreached, unfed, unborn, uneducated, unreconciled, and unsupported people around the world. Before starting EPM in 1990, Randy served as a pastor for fourteen years. He is a New York Times best-selling author of over fifty books, including Heaven (over one million sold), The Treasure Principle (over two million sold), If God Is Good, Happiness, and the award-winning novel Safely Home. His books sold exceed ten million copies and have been translated into over seventy languages.