Many have asked how we became Christian Finacial Principles. This article summarizes the journey.

Our Hisstory

We all have stories of what we consider to be the important events of our lives. When we string those stories together, we develop our history.

But for the Christian, our history is spelled differently. It is spelled Hisstory. It’s because our history is inseparable from His story (Hisstory).

It is a journey of discovery, aligning our life with His purpose. As we look back at our lives, many times it’s like putting together a puzzle but God is handing us the pieces one at a time. As we get more of the pieces put together, we can begin to see the total picture. Some of the pieces may not make sense at the time they’re given to us, and we may not understand the purpose, but God knows what’s needed to make the puzzle complete.

Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.” John 15:5

I’m reminded of a quote from, John Piper’s book, Don’t Waste Your Life.

“We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life. God created us for this; to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. It was not always plain to me that pursuing God’s glory would be virtually the same as pursuing my joy. Now I see that millions of people waste their lives because they think these paths are two and not one.”

When we share our Hisstory with others, we witness to the action of God in our lives and, in so doing, bring glory and honor to Him.

Because I believe we can all benefit from sharing our separate Hisstories, I wanted to share with you the Hisstory of Christian Financial Principles.

A Time of Trial

I want to begin with a very trying time in my life.

In 1992, after having served clients in the financial services industry for 20 years with a large multi-national broker-dealer, I began to see changes that concerned me.

You may not be familiar with the term, broker-dealer, so some clarification may be helpful. If someone has their securities license to offer investments, they must do so through an organization known as a broker-dealer. Familiar names may be Merrill-Lynch, A.G. Edwards, and Prudential, for example. There are also many lesser-known broker-dealers for independent representatives.

No investment or financial business can be conducted without the approval of the broker-dealer so they have tremendous power and control.

Continuing with our Hisstory, while attending a company function by my broker-dealer involving employees from throughout the country, a number of us who had gotten to know each other well over the years were sitting together at a table during a formal dinner. Normally the dinner would begin with a prayer from the podium. The waiters began serving and we at our table waited to eat. Finally, someone approached the podium. We bowed our heads anticipating the prayer only to hear an announcement telling everyone to raise their glasses in a company toast.

We later voiced our concern but it fell on deaf ears.

A year had passed and we had a new company president. At a similar function he approached the podium and stated, “Where I come from, we say grace before the meal”. He then asked that we join him in prayer.

We were elated and felt the company had turned the corner.

Within about 6 months, we were informed that this president had been fired. Of course, the cause of termination was never mentioned but we knew the reason.

Later that year, we were at a national training function. A few tables away there was a very obnoxious, loud person using a number of cuss words. Before one of us could approach him about his language, it was announced that he was the new head of sales for the company.

It was no surprise to us that shortly after, the company was defending itself against a class-action law suit claiming inappropriate sales activity.

Treatment of employees and customers deteriorated.

I was only two years away from retirement and would have my pension decreased by one third for the rest of my life if I was fired before my retirement date, but I couldn’t keep quiet. What they were doing was wrong, so I and a number of other employees banded together in an effort to change the direction of the company.

Some were fired; most were ostracized and treated unfairly in ways that would place lifetime questions about their integrity on file with regulatory agencies.

My faith was tested and at times I failed the test. At times I felt God had abandoned me, when in fact, as I look back at the pieces of the puzzle He handed me, he was toughening me and preparing me for more battles to come.

A Time Not Only To Survive, But To Thrive

I survived to retirement. I’m the kind of person who will continue to work until I physically cannot, so instead of fully retiring, I began searching for a broker dealer who shared my Christian values, not only for me, but even more importantly because my son Todd was coming into the business. I found such a firm and made the transition. That was in 1998.

The annual meetings that Todd and I attended with the new broker-dealer began with a voluntary daily prayer breakfast, and prayer was given before each dinner function. I especially remember a young lady, who was the company’s chief compliance trainer, giving her personal testimony from the podium. By the way, she had memorized the book of Proverbs. How refreshing.

Times were good and I was blessed to be able to work side by side with my son.

Adjusting To The Call Of God

Then, in early 2000, Todd walked into my office to tell me he felt God calling him in a different direction. His mom and I often thought he might go into the ministry, but he said that wasn’t it. He liked what he was doing but just felt led to do it differently.

I had been attending classes on how to improve my service to my clients and on how to determine God’s direction in doing so. Part of that was understanding and defining “the fire within” – what was the core passion driving us?

Todd and I discussed it further. We had recently joined the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants and while attending their annual meeting, we were guided to take that first step of faith trusting God to lead us one step at a time.

It’s then that we formed Christian Financial Principles and began our journey to help others align their faith with their finances.

We discovered that our own investments were involved in abortion, pornography, and immoral lifestyles so we began to develop methods to determine the extent of involvement and how to avoid doing so.

We soon had systems in place to teach Biblical finance in churches and other Christian settings and to screen clients’ investments to make sure they wouldn’t violate Biblical principles.

By 2005 our business had grown but more importantly, it was doing so while honoring the Lord.

That’s when things came to a screeching halt.

Another Door Closed

We had applied to get a new Christian investment manager approved with our broker-dealer. It was more difficult than it had been in the past. Our broker-dealer’s management had been taken over by Transamerica Investments in San Francisco and we were told by the new management that the Christian investment manager would not be approved because of his “exclusiveness”.

When we responded that we were using several Christian investment managers presently, we were asked who approved them. We were also told that our Church seminar material would be scrutinized and possibly revised to only refer to financial rather than spiritual matters.

We were not willing to sacrifice truth for peace, yet we realized that we needed to do so in a scriptural manner because other Christians involved with Transamerica would also be affected by our actions.

In fighting for truth, we needed to keep in mind I Peter 3:13-17, “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.”

With this in mind, we responded to the president of Transamerica Investments both on the phone and through emails.

She was unwilling to put what she called “Transamerica’s policy against faith-based investing and programs” in writing.

As I now look back at one of my last emails to her, I summarized my case by stating, “You stated that your policy to exclude faith-based investing and programs was because they were exclusive. Aren’t you then guilty of the very thing your policy is against – being exclusive? Aren’t you excluding those who hold a view or belief different from yours?”

Her response was, “I am acknowledging your e-mail. Respectfully, my decision stands,”

Our response was, “God says one thing - you say another. We have no alternative but to terminate our relationship with you.”

When One Door Closes, God Opens a Better One

We began the search for a new broker-dealer that didn’t just contain Christians, but was Christian by design.

I knew Glenn Repple from serving on the board of directors of the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants with him and had grown to admire him. We felt God placed Glenn and his firm, a Christian broker-dealer, in our path for a reason.

It took several months and reams of paperwork to transfer all our clients to our new broker-dealer, G.A. Repple, but it was a match made in heaven.

What a joy it is to work with a firm whose goal is to honor God in all that they do.

We have been with them since July, 2005, and God has continued to bless us as we have strived to honor Him.

Lessons Learned

That’s 35 years of Hisstory in about 10 minutes of reading time.

Through all this time, we have learned that God is much more concerned in improving our character than in improving our circumstances.

We have learned that times of trial are opportunities for growth.

We have learned that we must always be prepared to stand for truth at the sake of peace, but do so with gentleness and respect and love for those we confront.

We have learned that we serve an awesome God who empowers us with His Holy Spirit to accomplish His purpose.

We are weak, but He is strong. I pray that our Hisstory will in some way minister to you.