ChristianAlts

Kate Gardner inherited millions at 21. She calls the first years that followed a trauma response, and she has spent the 11 years since learning what the real burden of generational wealth looks like for a Christian. In this conversation, Matt Johns sits down with Kate, founder of Magnify, a Christian next-gen community, and co-host of the Ascendance podcast. She shares what she calls the burden of...

Krystal Parker was the youngest officer in the history of a multi-billion-dollar oil and gas company, and she still felt empty. Today she helps every Christian business owner put faith first through the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. In this conversation with Matt Johns, Krystal shares how money, power and a title became a small-g god, why she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ on the floor...

Tim Macready has watched impact investing since the mid-2000s, and he has seen how a movement can lose its meaning. In this conversation, Matt Johns talks with the Bright Light leader about how ESG investing drifted from its original purpose, and why Christian investing faces the same risk without clear standards. It is a conversation about faith and money at the point where growth can outrun inte...

Dominik, founder of Dominus Lab, spent four years helping build 1,000 tech startups in Switzerland before turning his focus to a bigger mission: proving that Christian business and Christian entrepreneurship can outperform, not just coexist, in the age of AI. In this conversation with Matt Johns, Dominik makes the case that faith-driven founders are undervalued in the current AI boom — and backs i...

Wes Lyons and Vip Vipperman run a venture fund built entirely around one bet: that a company can get paid to do the exact thing you want to see change in the world — not bolt charity onto an unrelated business, but make the good outcome the business model itself. In this conversation with Matt Johns, they tell the story of Ashley, an entrepreneur who retrained hospital staff to spot trafficking vi...

What does it actually take for a Christian angel network to say "yes" to funding you? On this Kingdom Builders Live panel recorded live at a Gatherly virtual event alongside Catalyst 501, host Matt Johns sits down with John Cannon (founder of Send Angels) and Will Thomas (founder of Ambassadors Impact Network) to compare two very different answers. Will's network runs applicants thr...

When it comes to christian real estate investing, most people stop at the numbers, the returns, the debt, the market. Nick Stromwall (Oak and Vine Capital, Rise48) argues Christians are missing the biggest risk in any deal: the character of the people actually running it. Nick's path started while working in campus ministry, wrestling with a real question: how do you build wealth without losi...

After 35-plus years on Wall Street, Roger Aguinaldo had a realization that reshaped his career: the Church is sitting on trillions of dollars, and almost none of it is actually managed by Catholic or Christian hands. In this conversation, Roger shares his own journey, from checking his faith at the door as a young Wall Street analyst, to converting to Catholicism through RCIA, to now leading the C...

What can a banking system built on Islamic law teach a Christian investor about money? Dr. Angela Thomas, a German-born entrepreneur who relocated her life and business to Dubai, sits down with Matt to unpack the mechanics of Sharia-compliant finance, including how entire categories of business get excluded from the banking system on principle, not just preference. The conversation moves from bank...

Every major Hollywood studio said no to this film. So the director spent $30 million of his own money, took a $0 salary, and structured a distribution deal that gave away almost none of the profits. It made $612 million worldwide. In this episode of Kingdom Builders, we break down how Mel Gibson self-funded The Passion of the Christ after every studio in Hollywood passed, the risk, the deal struct...

Jennifer Edwards is a Certified Financial Therapist and founder of Breakthrough Financial Wellness, one of a small number of professionals in the country working at the intersection of psychology and personal finance. She joins Matt Johns for a conversation about why intelligence and discipline alone rarely fix someone's relationship with money. Jennifer explains the research behind why ninet...

Who is actually voting your shares? In this episode of ChristianAlts, Matt sits down with Jerry Bowyer to unpack the hidden world of proxy voting, Christian shareholder activism, and the quiet corporate battles happening inside some of the largest companies in America. Jerry explains why many Christian investors, advisors, churches, ministries, and institutions may not realize how their shares are...

What if the financial system isn't broken, what if it's working exactly as designed, just not for you? Paul Musson spent over 30 years in the finance and investment industry, managing billions of dollars before leaving to write Capital Offense — a book and blog dedicated to explaining what's really happening inside the money system, and why most people are falling further behind des...

Itamar Novick has spent his career spotting opportunities before they became obvious. As an early executive at Life360, he helped scale the company from seed stage to IPO. Today, as founder of Recursive Ventures, he backs AI startups at the pre-seed and seed stage, often when the product, market, and business model are still taking shape. In this conversation, Matt Johns and Itamar explore why inv...

Most investors spend serious time on financial due diligence. Almost none add the layer that can hit hardest, especially for Christian investors. In this solo episode, Matt Johns introduces a practical framework called moral due diligence: a repeatable three-step process for evaluating whether an investment aligns with your values before your capital is already committed. Matt walks through a real...

What if one of the most powerful ways to build a startup community was not another pitch event, investor panel, or networking happy hour but a dinner table? In this episode, Matt Johns sits down with Jon and Cherie Werner during the Texas Venture Gala and Forum to talk about how they helped build FIESTA, a monthly gathering in Austin that has connected thousands of founders, funders, entrepreneurs...

What does wealth reveal about a person’s character, family, and faith? In this episode of ChristianAlts, Matt Johns sits down with David Sebastian, a family office advisor to wealthy families and author of Infinite Returns , to discuss wealth, Scripture, stewardship, family governance, and what money reveals about the heart. David brings a unique perspective from working closely with high-net-wort...

In this episode of ChristianAlts, Matt Johns sits down with Bob Fraser, Founder & CEO of Aspen Funds and author of Invest Like a Billionaire , to explore why wealthy investors often think differently about risk, private markets, and alternative investments. Bob shares how losing everything through major market cycles shaped the way he thinks about capital preservation, private credit, real est...

Are smartphones and social media simply tools or are they intentionally designed to keep us addicted? Matt Johns speaks with Dr. Johann D’Souza about technology addiction, dopamine, social media, pornography, and the business models driving the modern attention economy. The conversation explores how companies use behavioral psychology, notifications, infinite scroll, and reward systems to capture...

Why do so many families build wealth, only to lose it a generation later? Matt Johns sits down with John Knowlton to explore the real reason generational wealth so often disappears, and why the problem usually goes far deeper than investing. John brings a rare mix of experience to the conversation. He has served as a pastor, built three registered investment advisory firms, and spent years thinkin...

What happens when a successful hedge fund investor begins to question whether returns alone are enough? In this episode, Matt sits down with Peter Lupoff , former hedge fund founder, family office investor, impact investing educator, and Partner at Beatrice Advisors to explore how his view of capital changed over time. Peter shares the personal and professional turning points that led him from tra...

Why do so many families struggle to preserve wealth across generations? In this episode of Purpose Driven Capital , Matt sits down with Josh Kanter , founder of Leaf Planner and longtime advisor to multi-generational families navigating the complexity of wealth, governance, and legacy. After building his career as a lawyer and helping manage a complex tax litigation battle that reached the U.S. Su...

Is capitalism broken or misunderstood? In this episode of Purpose Driven Capital , Matt sits down with Alexander McCobin , founder of Liberty Ventures and former CEO of Conscious Capitalism, to explore one of the biggest economic debates of our time: capitalism vs socialism . Alexander argues that capitalism, when practiced through the lens of value creation, voluntary cooperation, and individual...

Join Matt's conversation with finance and real estate guru, Kevin Staman, to dive into the effects of COVID and subsequent market shifts that reshaped commercial real estate. They discuss why retail, coworking, and mixed-use have rebounded while many outdated 1980s office buildings may be uneconomic to retrofit and instead be redeveloped. The conversation turns to housing, arguing a growing d...

What does it really mean to invest with the Federal Reserve instead of against it? In this episode of Purpose Driven Capital, Matt sits down with John Pennington Jr., co-founder of a $28 billion investment fund, to explore the deeper forces shaping global capital markets. After more than three decades operating inside institutional investing, scaling private funds, and taking a platform public on...