The Finish Line Podcast

Leigh Ann Horton grew up in a Christian home where open conversations about money and stewardship shaped her perspective on finances and faith. Her natural talent for numbers guided her career as a CPA and entrepreneur, while also influencing her early approach to generosity. Initially meticulous in tracking her giving, Leigh Ann’s journey has since evolved into one of holding resources with open...

Barry and Linda Rowan, a corporate executive and a CPA, were both raised in environments that emphasized faith, family, and the pursuit of financial success. By their late 20s, they had each established successful careers; however, they found themselves in a crisis as they sought meaning in their work. In their quest for purpose, they were brought to a position of total spiritual surrender. Throug...

Dawn Hynes Esposito—entrepreneur, business owner, and author—always aspired to become a corporate executive, and her journey seemed to be right on track as she climbed the ranks within a Fortune 500 company. Yet, despite reaching the heights of her career dreams, Dawn realized she was missing a deeper sense of fulfillment. That’s when God captured her attention. In a profound moment of transformat...

Micheline Ouedraogo, founder of Bridges to Burkina, grew up in a missionary family in West Africa with few resources. She learned from a young age what it looks like to completely depend on God for provision and guidance. While attending college in the US, she felt a call from the Holy Spirit to sponsor education for a handful of orphans in her home country, and despite her minimum-wage income, sh...

Actress Whitney Goin was raised in Orlando, Florida, immersed in a community, church, and family that modeled generosity as a way of life. Her father, a powerful influence, shaped her understanding of giving as a deeply relational commitment, leaving a profound legacy in his community through his wholehearted generosity. After his passing, Whitney felt compelled to pursue her own distinct path, di...

Bruce Hildenbrand, raised as a pastor’s kid in rural Michigan, learned early on to rely on God for everything. So, when he faced uncertainty about his college major, he encountered the Holy Spirit in a powerful way, guiding him into the business world with one condition: that Bruce would dedicate all of it back to God. Since then, Bruce has become a serial entrepreneur with a 35-year passion for o...

Zenet Maramara is the founder and president of Christian Stewards in the Philippines. After Zenet became a born-again Christian in her thirties, she enrolled at a seminary where she stepped into a fundraising role. Wanting to master the art of fundraising, Zenet attended Regent University and there experienced a “second conversion” into biblical stewardship, understanding the principles of managin...

Helen Schmid was very young when her family immigrated from China to the US with their eyes set on the American dream. She strove to be the best that she could be in all that she did to earn her place in life. Coming to faith as a student at New York University, Helen began to understand that her salvation was based on faith, not works.    For over a decade, Helen led high-growth marketing teams a...

An affluent family with multiple homes and a successful business, Bruce and Sue Osterink were living the American dream. But God used one trip to Russia in the early nineties to begin a cascade of events that would bring a dramatic shift in their lives. The Osterinks began to hear a calling to simplify their lives and belongings so that they could be available to love others and be generous with t...

Christopher Beth, founder of The Bucket Ministry, spent most of his life as a business consultant and thought he would retire from that line of work. But a radical encounter with God deep in the Amazon turned his life upside down and from that experience, The Bucket Ministry was born. The Bucket Ministry widely disperses water filters and the gospel all around the world using an advanced digital m...

Aimee Minnich is co-founder of the Impact Foundation , a donor-advised fund platform that enables givers to invest in world-changing companies with social, environmental, and spiritual impact. Aimee began her career in law followed by years of experience in the donor-advised fund space with the National Christian Foundation before eventually launching the Impact Foundation to enable streamlined im...

JD Bauman is the Director of Effective Altruism for Christians (EACH) and founder of Christians for Impact. Born to missionary parents, JD was rooted in a Christian upbringing that emphasized the importance of generosity to see real change throughout the world for the Kingdom of God.  JD provides insightful perspectives on the principles of effective giving and the practical implications for belie...

Dana and Bill Wichterman have a long history of generosity. From the onset of their marriage, Dana and Bill have practiced financial stewardship, always living below their means. Even in a one bedroom apartment with no vehicle to drive, they budgeted a specific amount they could use for spontaneous generosity, and trained their children in Spirit-led giving.   Their collective backgrounds in missi...

Bill High was brought up in a low-income family in rural Missouri and came to know Jesus at a young age. His generosity journey began as a teenager, faithfully tithing on everything he earned. Bill started the first half of his career in law before leaving to launch what would later become The Signatry, a donor-advised fund platform that connects “donors with doers” tackling some of the world’s bi...

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC, and a New York Times best-selling author. Mark grew up in the Midwest in a home that fostered faith and faithfulness in giving. His generosity journey started at a young age with some significant acts of faith, and some of those decisions have rippled through the rest of his life in ministry. National Community Churc...

WHAT WE’LL COVER Jim Rasmussen was raised as a pastor’s kid in a Lutheran church in Georgia, and his faith solidified in college as he involved himself in ministries that affected transformational change in many lives. After graduating with an accounting degree, Jim was led to a job with Chick-fil-A, first in accounting and later advising franchise owners on how to run their businesses more effici...

In this special 100th episode, the shoe is on the other foot as Kealan and Cody are interviewed by Todd Harper, co-founder of Generous Giving, and David Wills, President Emeritus of the National Christian Foundation (NCF). Together, Kealan and Cody share about their family and faith backgrounds, how they got started on their journeys of generosity, and some of the amazing things they’ve learned al...

Jimmy Seibert is the founder and pastor of Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas. Jimmy didn’t grow up in a Christian home, but his decision to follow Jesus in a radical way over a summer during his college years started him on a path of extreme generosity as an outflow of his relationship with God. Jimmy’s passion for generosity has poured over into the church that he leads, which now has a thr...

Paul Bolte was brought up with a firm foundation in faith and generosity. A seventh-generation Christian born to a farming family in Australia, he learned the value of a good work ethic and the principles of giving as a small child. As an adult, Paul served in various leadership positions in Australia, New Zealand, and the US, and is a lifelong student of servant leadership.  Today, Paul is the Ex...

Dr. Shane Enete is a professor at Biola University in Los Angeles and the author of the book “Whole Heart Finances.” In his early teens, Shane was driven to learn all that he could about investing, but leaning into the tension he felt between his faith and his passion for finances, he discovered a deep desire to be a bridge to help people learn about money in a way that draws them closer to Jesus...

Pat and Janel Hord are the owners of Hord Family Farms in Ohio. Pat and Janel each had generosity modeled for them in their early years and they developed a passion for it, but God has led them through increasing levels of thoughtfulness and complexity with regards to what exactly that looks like for them. They have navigated the challenges of running a large, generational farming enterprise acros...

Ron Bare is a financial advisor and the founder of Bare Wealth Advisors in Lancaster, PA. Raised on a fifth-generation dairy farm with a faith-filled family, Ron learned early in life the value of hard work, the biblical principles of stewardship, and the eternal impact of generosity. Those elements became the foundation of who he is and what he does as a financial advisor, or in his words, a “pas...

Ryan Skoog is the CEO of Venture, a non-profit that serves war refugees, trafficked people, oppressed children, and the unreached in the most difficult places in the world. Being raised as a “spiritual mutt” in a mission-minded and entrepreneurial household, Ryan began a company alongside Venture, funding the administration of the ministry with the profits, and freeing up the investments of givers...

Dr. Rich Rudowske and Dr. Tilahun Mendedo are the CEO and Associate Executive Director of  Lutheran Bible Translators . Rich’s passion for the written Word of God took root when, as a small child, his parents gifted him an NIV Bible. Tilahun’s life was changed at the age of 15 when a German missionary gave him the greatest treasure of all – a Bible in his own Ethiopian language.  They each have an...

Stephen Kump is the CEO and founder of  Charityvest , a pioneering donor-advised fund platform merging technology and collaborative giving to make charitable giving accessible to all. Charityvest simplifies the donor-advised fund process and cuts down barriers to entry, inviting individuals from all walks of life to partake in the joy of giving with ease and impact.  Stephen shares numerous creati...