Business in the Kingdom

In a recent article in National Review Online, Nebraska Treasurer John Murante (https://ballotpedia.org/John_Murante) demonstrates that the ESG investing approached (Environmental, Social, Governance) being promoted by giant asset managers hurts not only the fossil fuel industry, but agriculture as well. Since the poor spend a much larger proportion of their income on food and energy, an investment approach that attacks those industries attacks the poor. Treasurer Murante also discusses with Business in the Kingdom how ESG empowers tyrannies such as China.

Rick Graber, President of the Bradley Foundation, talks with Business in the Kingdom about the genius of our founder's system of federalism. Bradley focuses on helping to create local solutions which then become models for other parts of the country, something made possible only by our decentralized political system. He discusses the new video series Expressions of Educational Freedom | K12 | The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation (bradleyfdn.org), which point to models of excellence in private, often Christian, education.

Former Governor, Senator, and Ambassador Sam Brownback tells Business in the Kingdom how the religious freedom organization he founded had its bank account cancelled, suddenly, without warning and without explanation. Instead of slinking away, the group has launched Chased Away (https://thencrf.org/chasedaway), a campaign to stop banks from discriminating based on religious and political views.

Allison Ball, Treasurer of Kentucky, is an attorney and a person of faith. As such, she takes her legal and ethical obligation to oversee state finances, including pension funds, as an inviolable duty. That is why she has resisted industry pressure to embrace the financial fad of ESG investing, which replaces the goal of the best financial outcome for retirees with goals of political and social outcomes. Whether it's pushing to eliminate profitable fossil fuel investments from portfolios or to use shareholder money to vote for pro-abortion resolutions, Treasurer Ball and other state officials are resisting attempts to replace prudent financial management with an imprudent social agenda. She joins Jerry on this episode of Business in the Kingdom to tell her story.

Sponsor: Learn more and buy Leadership Not by the Book by clicking here.Tom Strobhar first got involved in fighting against corporate funding for Planned Parenthood in 1989. Since then he has been the most consistent and long-lasting voice for Christian witness on behalf of the unborn and against the degradation of pornography in corporate life. He convinced scores of companies to stop funding Planned Parenthood, including Chevron, AT&T and Berkshire Hathaway. He tells Business in the Kingdom how ordinary Christians can actually do this and prevail.

Sponsor: Learn more and buy Leadership Not by the Book by clicking here.The Treasurer of Utah recently wrote a letter to the ratings service S&P to object to agencies beginning to downgrade states' creditworthiness based on political, not financial, factors under the guise of ESG Investing (04-21-22-Utah-Letter_SP-Global_ESG-Indicators.pdf). Treasurer Oaks (www.marlooaks.com) found himself having to defend his state's pristine credit rating, not because of any financial problems, but because of pressure from political activists. He spoke with Business in the Kingdom about why people with different doctrinal views and different political views should be united in opposing the imposition of a single political ideology using the lever of concentrated financial power.Visit Marlo Oaks Website

On this episode of Business in the Kingdom, Tom Carter of investconservative.org talks about his company's on-going survey of conservatives' unfavourability ratings towards large well-known publicly traded corporations. He talks about the shifting views conservatives have had towards Facebook, Disney and Tesla, as well as problems with the politicization of corporate board rooms and investing through the ESG movement. In addition, he talks about conservative alternatives to companies such as Blackrock.

Rob West is the host of MoneyWise, which is on both Moody and American Family Radio networks, airing on over 1,900 stations. He is also the CEO of the largest professional association of Christians in the financial industry, Kingdom Advisors. Rob joins this week's Business in the Kingdom Podcast to talk about the single most important thing both ordinary Christians and top financial professionals need to know about money.Links to Rob West MoneyWise Show Kingdom Advisors MoneyWise on Instagram MoneyWise on Facebook

“It's your money, and it's being used against your values.” On the latest Business in the Kingdom, Andrew Olivastro, Vice President of Outreach for the Heritage Foundation, talks to Jerry about DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), ESG (Environmental, Social Governance), and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), and how they are killing corporate America and why Christians should be concerned about how activist groups on the left have hijacked corporate America.

Christian business entrepreneurs face enormous challenges. In addition to the problems all business leaders confront, such as stagflation and labor shortages, Christians in business bear the pressure of living in a culture that is increasingly anti-Christian in its moral orientation and coercive in its tactics. Mandates regarding the funding of abortion and sexual-reassignment surgery are no longer future threats, but have become present realities. How can Christians in positions of top leadership in companies fulfill their obligations to serve their employees and also survive and thrive in a hostile environment? Shannon Royce of The Christian Employers Alliance (Christian Employers Alliance) joins Business in the Kingdom to talk about these and other important issues.

Derek Kreifels from the State Financial Officers Foundation explains why Christians should be concerned about how ESG and other current financial trends are being used by activists to push companies to join the culture war instead of focusing on their day jobs. Kreifels shares stories about unsung public officials in flyover country who are refusing to give in to gigantic financial institutions' political bullying.Link to State Financial Officers Foundation

Jeff Meyers, author of Wisdom for Dissidents, an extensive new commentary of the Epistle of James, discusses James's denunciations of the rich in their historical and political context. Instead of being universal condemnations of wealth for all times and places, James wrote his letter at a time when a particular power faction in Jerusalem was using its wealth and power in an attempt to destroy the Jesus movement.Get Wisdom for Dissidents: The Epistle of James Through New Eyes on Amazon

The Alliance Defending Freedom (Alliance Defending Freedom - Protecting Religious Freedom (adflegal.org)), the leading First Amendment legal protection organization in America, has released a new index that grades corporations on how well they protect religious and viewpoint diversity for their customers, their suppliers, their employees, and the nation (Viewpoint Diversity Score). The average grade is a 12 out of a possible 100. Corporations are failing, miserably. The ADF point-man on corporate engagement, Jeremy Tedesco, joins Jerry to talk about why scores are so bad, and what Christians can do to move corporate America back towards freedom and respect for differences.

In the past when companies have taken anti-Christian positions, Christians invested in them have either ignored the problem or tried to screen the sin out of their portfolios. Strive Asset Management's Justin Danhof argues for a third approach: one in which Christians use their voices and their votes as shareholders to steer companies in the right direction.

Dr. Peter Jacobsen teaches economics at the Gwartney Institute (Gwartney Institute | Angell Snyder School of Business | Ottawa University) at Ottawa University in Kansas, where he also heads up the MBA program. He is one of the hosts of the Faith and Economics podcast. On this episode of Business in the Kingdom he talks about the different conversations that he, as an economist, has with friends at church and other Christian settings: the different kinds of questions different Christians ask about economics and where those conversations lead, and how one-on-one works better than point-scoring on social media. He discusses the rise of “Christian” Socialism and ways that people on the right are also moving away from freedom.

David Bahnsen is one of the most successful financial advisors in America and a seasoned portfolio manager as well. But that doesn't stop him from being able to speak in plain, easy to understand English for people who are new to economics and markets, which is exactly what he does in his new book, There's No Free Lunch (There's No Free Lunch (nofreeluncheconomics.com)) and in this edition of Business in the Kingdom. This is economics for people who think they're afraid of economics.

Dr. Robert Plummer is the New Testament Chair at Southern Seminary and founder of the hugely popular Daily Dose of Greek (www.dailydoseofgreek.com) which is devoted to teaching ordinary people Biblical Greek. He is also the author of a number of books about linguistics, the Bible, and theology, and in his (no doubt sparse) free time he studies economics and finance and in that capacity directs The Faith and Work Project, also at Southern. Dr. Plummer joins us this week to talk about the three truths which are most under-appreciated by pastors when it comes to personal finance, workplace realities, and economic policy.

Aaron Groen is a financial advisor with Ronald Blue Trust, and an organizer of the Business on Purpose conference. Aaron talks about Christian entrepreneurs as a key part of the solution to our culture's ills; the unintended messages that Christians send and receive about business as a true and valid calling under God; and the personal as well as long-term business advantages of Christian character.

Pastor Mark Horne returns to discuss his commentary on Proverbs ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086YV99NR/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1), and to apply the wisdom of Solomon to social media, binge-watching  and other temptations that come from abundance. He also discusses the controversy over a recent article of his for The Christian Post What Scripture Says About Desiring Wealth | Analysis News (christianpost.com) where he argues that it is not improper for Christians to desire wealth, only to prioritize it over God.

Pastor Mark Horne is the author of numerous books, most recently, Solomon Says: Directives for Young Men (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086YV99NR/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1). Pastor Horne also writes regularly for The Christian Post Business section (https://www.christianpost.com/by/mark-horne). In this episode, Pastor Horne talks about how the rise of Jordan Peterson as an influence on young men shows a need, but how Solomon wrote a book of the Bible which is specifically aimed at teaching young men how to grow up with wisdom and self-control: the Book of Proverbs. He also talks about how a society in which people never grow up invites tyrannical government.

As we finish our on-going series about the tremendous explosion of new archeological insight into the world of the New Testament with Professor David Fiensy, we talk about how the life of Galilee was characterized both by contact with gentiles through trade and a concern about ritual impurity as indicated by the proliferation of stone water jars (as described in the Wedding at Cana), and also the avoidance of pagan coinage. We also look at the question of education, how rare it was and how special Jesus seems to have been compared to other laborers in the ancient world in being highly educated and sophisticated. Professor Fiensy is the author of The Archaeology of Daily Life: Ordinary Persons in Late Second Temple Israel.

Up until recently we knew almost nothing about the economy of Galilee during Jesus' time living there. Many academics believed and taught that Jesus and his followers were quite poor, as was the region, and that Jesus was leading a partly class-based revolt. Since then we've learned a lot about the region, as a more growing, entrepreneurial. and even industrial economy. Here we continue our conversation with archeologist David Fiensy about the economy and culture in which Jesus walked. Professor Fiensy is the author of The Archaeology of Daily Life: Ordinary Persons in Late Second Temple Israel.

This interview is part of an on-going series with Professor David Fiensy, one of the world's leading experts on the archeology of Galilee with a focus on the New Testament era. Today we will discuss the pandemic which Jesus dealt with, the recurring epidemic of Malaria which sheds new light on the account of the fever of Peter's Mother-in-Law as well as other accounts. The relevance of this newly uncovered knowledge to our own time should be obvious. Professor Fiensy is the author of The Archaeology of Daily Life: Ordinary Persons in Late Second Temple Israel.

If Christians truly believe in the doctrine of the incarnation, that God the Son became fully human, then we must take seriously the human context of that human life. God didn't just take on a human body, he took on a human mind and a human culture including politics, economics, rituals and medical matters. Learning more about these details helps us to understand the details in the Gospel accounts that we're used to skimming over. This interview is part of an ongoing series with Professor David Fiensy, one of the world's leading experts on the archeology of Galilee with a focus on the New Testament era. He is author of The Archaeology of Daily Life: Ordinary Persons in Late Second Temple Israel.

A healthcare CEO who didn't sue a company over a contract violation, and got to talk about Jesus and forgiveness; a motorcycle company that decided not to use pin-up type pictures for ads; a company which didn't lay-off during Covid; and other stories of ways in which companies gave up profit to witness to God. Also examples where doing the right thing over time created more profit. Mike Sharrow, CEO of C12, is Jerry's guest.

Mike Sharrow is the president and CEO of C12 which serves a network of about 3,000 Christian CEOs, executives and entrepreneurs. On this episode of Business in the Kingdom, Mike talks to Jerry about the importance of working in the marketplace as a tool for advancing the Kingdom of God, and how too often the Church has unconsciously sent the message that business is a lower form of service to God than church or non-profit ministry work.

Is the marketplace the current front in the war between good and evil in our culture? Billy Graham said the next great revival would come in the marketplace. Was he right? Are Christians really as "canceled" as we think. How to promote love and truth in ways that no one would want to ban? Greg Leith, CEO of Convene, continues his conversation with Jerry.

Greg Leith is the CEO of Convene, which is a group of 500 men and women who are business CEOs or entrepreneurs. He talks about his own early misunderstanding about business as being a way, in and of itself, to glorify God, instead of just being an ATM for churches and ministries. He gives some powerful examples of how Christians who lead businesses are right now transforming communities through love and service.

Christian investors have a great deal of authority that we don't know we have. Scott Shepherd of The Free Enterprise Project, who is very actively engaging with corporate America gives step-by-step instructions on how you can do the same.

Christians are increasingly alarmed about big companies taking stances which conflict with a Biblical world-view. In this episode, Scott Shepherd of The Free Enterprise Project, an expert who engages frequently with companies, gives advice on how to move from alarm, complaint and boycott to engagement, persuasion and influence. Subscribe to "Business in the Kingdom" on Edifi and your favorite podcast platform.

Dr. Rick Goosen is one of the world's leading experts on public speaking, both as a speaker himself and also as the host of the world's leading conferences for Christian entrepreneurs. His new book, "Public Speaking Laws of Success," shows how to go from mediocrity to excellence in public communication, including in the new COVID world of webinars and streaming.

Dr. Rick Goosen is one of the world's leading experts on public speaking, both as a speaker himself and also as the host of the world's leading conferences for Christian entrepreneurs. His new book, Public Speaking Laws of Success, shows leaders how they can put themselves in the 90th percentile of public speaking ability by paying attention to a few simple principles. Welcome to Business in the Kingdom! Episode one.