The Finish Line Podcast

Dan Scribner is Director of the  Joshua Project , which he has helped lead since 1995. Dan began college with the typical American dream to have a good job, 2.3 kids, and a white picket fence. However, God got his attention through a campus ministry that began constantly praying for different unreached people groups. As his heart for unreached peoples grew, God began to redirect the rest of his li...

David Campaigne is Partner and Senior Private Wealth Advisor at  Ronald Blue Trust and lives in Baltimore with his wife and two children. David’s parents had a massive impact in his life not only in teaching him what it means to be a follower of Christ but what it means to live a generous life. David thought he might end up in vocational ministry until God drew him into the business world. A few y...

Jeff Rutt is the CEO and founder of Keystone Custom Homes, a Pennsylvania-based home building company that has built over 8000 homes. Jeff spent his early years growing up on the family farm, which became the focus of the early part of his career. However, after a series of No’s from God, Jeff eventually sold the farm and set out on a new path, that would eventually become Keystone Custom Homes. G...

Jared Nelms is the CEO of The Timothy Initiative (TTI), a missions organization dedicated to discipleship, church planting, and reaching the unreached. Jared’s father was a pastor, so he grew up around the church. But he wasn’t so sure what he believed until God got his attention on a mission trip in Zambia as a young adult. His experience eventually led him to a career as a missionary abroad. The...

Nate and Bailey Eller both grew up in the church, but didn’t come into a deep relationship with Christ until college. God filled their hearts with a passion for generosity well before they had much to give. They began their marriage asking God to enable them to give freely, and He has faithfully answered that, allowing them to give more every year that they’ve been married for the last 10 years. A...

Jim Wise lives in Florida and is a senior partner and financial advisor for  Ronald Blue Trust . He has also authored multiple books and resources regarding biblical stewardship. Jim did not grow up in a Christian home and from a very young age had the desire to accumulate wealth. He studied finance and went from working in retail to working as a financial advisor where he found his niche. As he p...

April Chapman is the CEO of  Generous Giving , which seeks to create a safe pressure-free atmosphere for Christians to discuss deep-rooted biblical generosity through short overnight retreats and annual conferences. Few organizations have impacted the generosity movement in the U.S. more significantly over the past 20 years, and Generous Giving continues to be a powerful force of generosity today....

Andy Geleris is a neurologist from California and author of  Money & Salvation: An Invitation to the Good Way . Though he didn’t grow up in a Christian family, there were several strong experiences of generosity that had a lasting impact on him at a young age. After becoming a Christian at age 17, Andy was fortunate to find a strong, faithful church where the gospel was preached. It was in tha...

Colby Gilmore is a financial advisor for Ronald Blue Trust with a particular passion for helping clients explore generosity. Colby’s passion for generosity began during a class he took at Biola University called God and Money. His experience in that course led him and his wife to make the largest gift they had ever made up to that point, one with significant consequences not only for the recipient...

Patrick Johnson is the founder of Generous Church, which catalizes biblical generosity through global church and ministry networks. Patrick started his career in the finance industry for 10 years before God got his attention through Randy Alcorn’s book, the Treasure Principle. From there, he spent time on staff with Generous Giving during it’s formational early years as well as the National Christ...

Mark and Sharon Taylor own a successful real estate company in Florida. However, halfway through their career, God gave them a wake up call that completely changed their priorities. Since that time, Mark and Sharon have become passionate about the advancement of the gospel around the world and using the wealth and success God has given them to fuel that mission.  Not only has God dramatically chan...

Jeff Thomas is the founder of Arkos Global Avisors, author of  Trading Up: Moving From Success to Significance on Wall Street , and cohost of the  Generous Business Owner Podcast  along with Alan Barnhart and Jeff Rutt. Jeff comes from a ministry family, but never quite felt called to vocational ministry. Rather, even at a young age, Jeff knew he was called into the business world.  Over the years...

Andy DeWitt is an oral surgeon and author of the book Radical Giving: How Remarkable Generosity Can Set You Free. As Andy struggled with whether to go into private practice or full time missions work, he finally found is answer in a financial finish line.  From the beginning of his career, Andy and his wife knew how much they planned on spending on their family. And everything else, they left to G...

Curt and Chris Chaffin set a financial finish line early in their marriage and have experienced many of the joys and challenges that come with it. Their story begins soon after Curts medical training during an extended missions trip abroad. After struggling significantly over whether to pursue full time missions, Curt and Chris ultimately found themselves led to remain in the states, using much of...

John Rinehart is the author of Gospel Patrons: People Whose Generosity Changed the World and founder of GospelPatrons.org. John started his career in the business world before returning to seminary. However, it was on a 132-day trip around the world that God introduced John to the concept of a gospel patron. In his book, John vividly describes the lives of three individuals whose generosity change...

Bekele Shanko leads the Global Church Movements division of Cru and is the President of GACX , the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication. Bekele’s life started out in a small Ethiopian village without a school, clinic, or running water in a family dedicated to animism. By age 5, he was already an apprentice to a witchdoctor. When Bekele’s family miraculously came to Christ, they became a power...

Brian Helstrom is the Executive Director of Jesus Film Harvest Partners and has been with the ministry since it began in 1997. JFHP was formed when the Jesus Film Project, a ministry of Cru, approached the Church of the Nazarenes, a protestant denomination, about partnering to bring the Jesus Film to new areas around the world. Beginning with 200 sixteen millimeter projectors from Jesus Film in 19...

John Chesnut is the President and CEO of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA. Wycliffe began over 80 years ago in an effort to see the bible translated into the heart language of every people group, and now consists of over 100 partner organizations working around the globe.  However, in the last few years, the bible translation landscape has changed dramatically with unprecedented levels of collaborat...

Jay Dykstra is a practicing radiologist and founder of the website BlessBig.org. Jay’s financial journey started in med school and residency where he and his wife learned to live with a modest lifestyle. As they looked ahead to the large income jump Jay would experience as a practicing physician, they realized they didn’t need any more to be happy. And thus began their financial finish line.  As J...

Matt Farmer is the President of the Heartland Office of the National Christian Foundation . Matt has a broad background which including time in the NFL, airforce service, seminary, and work in both the business and nonprofit sectors before taking over leadership of NCF Heartland. Early in his career, Matt and his wife Jenna were the recipients of an incredible act of generosity that set the tone f...

Todd Peterson started his career with 13 years in the NFL, but has since become a powerhouse in fueling the bible translation movement and encouraging others towards radical generosity. When Todd was drafted by the NY Giants in 1993, he was initially distracted by the excitement of a substantial income. However, God got Todd’s attention with a dramatic wake-up call after his rookie year.  From tha...

Josh Newell is the Executive Director of the Jesus Film Project. The Jesus Film started in 1979 as a ministry of Cru and is a film based on the gospel of Luke. Within 10 years of its creation the Jesus Film was the most translated and most watched film in the world, now reported to have been translated into over 2000 languages and seen by over 3 billion people in almost every country in the world....

Jonathan Reynolds is the CEO of Titus Talent Strategies, an innovative company in the recruiting and hiring space. Jonathan was raised in a strong culture of generosity and that theme has continued on through his life. And Jonathan has infused that same generosity culture into his company’s very foundation. One way Jonathan has done that is by creating a company giving fund. Any employee can recom...

Calvin Edwards is the founder of the philanthropic advisory firm Calvin Edwards and Company, a consulting firm that helps philanthropic donors perform due diligence for ministries they might seek to support and to help determine the quantitative impact these organizations are having. Calvin started his career with 20 years in the nonprofit world working for a number of ministries including Walk Th...

Brian Fikkert is the Founder and President of the  Chalmers Center for Economic Development  as well as the co-author of the well known book  When Helping Hurts . From an early age, Brian felt called to work in the area of poverty. Despite his formal training in economics, he felt early on that the prevailing understanding of poverty left much lacking. On one hand, economists tended to define peop...