The Kingdom Investor

13 - Is Charity A Spectator Sport? | Bill Moritz

September 27, 2022 Daniel White Episode 13
The Kingdom Investor
13 - Is Charity A Spectator Sport? | Bill Moritz
Show Notes Transcript

If you think donating money to charity gives you joy, think again. Wouldn’t you want to experience greater joy and deeper fulfillment? Rather than sharing the delight of the game as a spectator sitting in the stands, why not become the player who runs the field so you can live and feel the absolute joy of doing and achieving?

Our guest today, Bill Moritz, of From Success 2 Significance Foundation, helps individuals and families experience greater joy and meaning that emanate from a life of giving and active service. He made it his mission to break down the barrier between professional players and observers, between givers and doers, by providing avenues for people to actively participate and make a bigger impact in the world. Catch our conversation and find out how you can live happier, more meaningful lives be getting involved.


Key Points From This Episode: 

  • Bill’s educational background and career in law and education
  • How did Bill get into managing charitable foundations?
  • How are donor-advised funds utilized for charitable activities under Bill’s foundation?
  • Why Bill’s foundation teaches donors not only to give but, more importantly, to serve.
  • Why Bill established the organization “From Success 2 Significance” and how it helps donors actively participate and not just donate.
  • A pivotal story that shifted Bill’s focus to pursuing God’s kingdom
  • In what areas of his career and personal life did Bill find the most success?
  • Do people experience more joy when serving and giving their time than when just giving money? 
  • Why it’s important to have a Christian worldview that involves serving and experiencing what other people in need go through.
  • How Bill is passing on the true legacy of the value and excitement to serve others to his grandchildren.
  • What is a good way to start getting involved and engaged in charitable activities?
  • Bill’s advice to people who want to make a bigger impact in the world.
  • Why is there a plateau in the giving stream and how can this be resolved?
  • Bill answers the lightning-round questions.


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

From Success 2 Significance website

The New Horizons Foundation

Joy to the World Foundation


About Bill Moritz

V. William “Bill” Moritz, J.D. practices law in Colorado Springs, Colorado, specializing in estate planning, non-profit organizations and business law with the law firm of Moritz and Associates, PC. He is Lead Attorney for From Success 2 Significance which provides information to empower Generous Families to live a more significant life.

Bill also established the New Horizons Foundation, a community foundation in Colorado Springs, and serves as its Executive Director and he established Joy To The World Foundation and serves as its President. He also serves on the Daily Hope and Purpose Driven Publishers Board of Directors.   

He has worked with many different non-profit organizations over the past 20 years,  including The Navigators, Baptist Bible College and Seminary, Harvest Workers, Christian Broadcasting Network, International Bible Society, Compassion International, Oral Roberts University, Seattle Pacific University, Young Life, The Christian and Missionary Alliance Denomination, Summit Ministries, Christian Blind Mission International, HCJB World Radio, Mission Aviation Fellowship, Mission of Mercy, Thailand Ambassadors of Christ and the YMCA. He has also written the book, Unlocking The Full Potential of Your Assets; Creative Uses of the Charitable Remainder Unitrust.

EPISODE 13

[INTRODUCTION]

ANNOUNCER: Imagine taking your generosity to the next level, impacting more lives, and leaving a godly legacy for generations to come. Get ideas and strategies to do just that when you listen to these personal stories from high-level Kingdom champions.

The Kingdom Investor Podcast showcases business leaders who have moved from success to significance, sharing how they use worldly wealth for Kingdom impact. Discover how they grew in generosity, impacted more lives, and built godly legacies. You'll find motivation, inspiration, and practical steps to grow as a Kingdom Investor.

Daniel White (DW): Welcome to The Kingdom Investor Podcast. This is your host, Daniel White. Today our guest is Bill Moritz. Bill has worked extensively with non-profits and ministries to help people change the world by transforming their vision into reality. Bill is the president of Joy to the World Foundation and Executive Director of New Horizons. In this episode, we talk to him about how time, talent, and treasure all come together to impact the world. And now, let’s jump right into the show.


[INTERVIEW]

DW: Welcome to The Kingdom Investor Podcast. I'm your host, Daniel white. And today I have my co-host, David Clinton. 

DC: Hello, everybody. 

DW: And together, we are excited to interview Bill Moritz. So Bill, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you're at?

BM:  Sure. I'm a practicing attorney in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And in addition to practicing law, I also operate two foundations that are public charities, the New Horizons Foundation and the Joy of the World Foundation.

DW: Excellent. So we will go ahead and pray and then we'll jump right into the questions and hear all about your journey, and really what God's doing in your life. So I'll pray for us real quick. 

God, I pray that you would be glorified in this conversation that you would help us to learn how we can better use and steward your resources for your kingdom, that we would make a significant difference in your kingdom and that we would invest as Kingdom investors. Lord, You have blessed us with so many things. And we thank you for that. We ask that you would give us wisdom and discernment. Lord, guide the conversation. Help us to be edifying to You. And Lord, I pray that your hand would be on Bill. In Christ and I pray, amen. 

So Bill, would you tell your backstory and bring us into what and where you're at today?

BM: Sure. I actually started in the field of education and worked at the university up in Seattle, Washington for seven years, and then went on to law school after that. So I was a little late in getting into law school. But I had that educational background, which I think has proved to be very beneficial in the rest of my work. Mostly for a lawyer, you do deductive thinking and for an educator, you do inductive thinking, and so there was a conflict at first for me but I was able to work it out. And I think it's been beneficial to my law practice going forward. When I started my law practice then I was also working with another largest charity here in Colorado Springs. And what I found was that there were people coming to me who wanted to do things that weren't being done by other charitable organizations. They either wouldn't do them or because of their purpose statement, or they couldn't do them because of their overall structure. And so at that particular point in time I set up the New Horizons Foundation that will be able to help people accomplish their their charitable goals and objectives. 

DC: Is it an example of stuff others wouldn't do that you were able to?

BM:  Yeah, it could be that the organization was a religious organization, and they wanted to do some more social responsibility types of things, like that. Or it could be that the organization just from a governance standpoint, didn't feel comfortable overseeing a project in a geographical area that they weren't located in.

DC: Neat. Okay, thanks.

BM:  And so then I got a lot of people coming to me saying, well, can you set up a 501(c)(3) tax- exempt organization for me? And I could, but as time went on, it got more expensive, and it got more time-consuming before the approval process came. And so really, for a lot of these people, they just wanted to start something and see if they could make it go. And so in that process, we probably had, as many as 900 projects come through our foundation in the last 34 years. We're currently at about 800 projects. Some of them have rolled out to become their own larger 501(c)(3)s. Others of them have stayed underneath us and other people decided that they really didn't want to do it after all. And so it was just a great way to do it in the under the umbrella of what we call a fiscal sponsorship.

DC:  Is that through a DAF or something similar? 

BM:  Yeah. We started with DAFs, with donor-advised funds. And then what we had was we had donor-advised fund people who wanted to do charitable projects. And so we started doing the charitable projects for them under the foundation. And that was allowed back in that time when we started this. Then what happened was we had more and more people coming to us and saying, well, I'd like to do this charitable activity, or I'd like to do this charitable activity and I don't have a donor-advised fund. Can you set it up and operate it for me? So, we adopted that structure and where we started the beginning, we were probably 90% donor-advised funds, 10% operating projects. Now we're probably 70% operating projects, 30% donor-advised funds. And so, what we tell people as there are a lot of foundations that deal with donor-advised funds that will help you and teach you how to give but we're a foundation that will teach you how to give and teach you how to serve. And we feel like service is the most important thing. I've known a lot of people who have been involved in the giving aspect and everybody who serves gives but not everybody who gives serves. And so it's very important for us ep that that combination there so that we can actually plug people in to meaningful charitable activity.

DC: Right. And so this is like giving of your talents, your time and your treasure. Not just the treasure, this is a worldly resources we have, right?

BM: Exactly. Yeah. There's a lot more to being generous than just giving your money. 

DW:  So, is there a particular theme or type of organization that you work with a lot? You said, eight or nine hundred different projects? Is there a theme?

BM: Well, we actually have nine different project areas. It's like meeting basic needs, helping the disadvantaged, spiritual development, economic empowerment, education, health care. And so we actually, underneath our purpose statement, we have the broadest possible purpose that you can have under the IRS.

DW:  Right, gotcha. Okay. Yeah, that's really helpful. Because I was trying to think, wow, it's probably a pretty broad, broad group. Okay. So, now, you started the organization called Success 2 Significance, right? 

BM: Yes. 

DW: Okay. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? 

BM:  Yeah, it's From Success 2 Significance, and that has a website FromSuccess2Significance.org. It started, probably, I'm gonna say, 12 or 14 years ago as a concept that I was just putting out to some of the people through emails. I formed it into a website two years ago where people could go. The whole orientation around From Success 2 Significance is we want people to plan appropriately, to live generously and to serve passionately. And so there's a lot of tools on there that are good for people in their estate planning and in their beginning planning process. There are also some tools that help them live generously. And particularly with business owners or people who have property to sell, things like that. There are ways to be able to siphon money into charity, and that is very much more beneficial than just a straight deduction. 

And then serving passionately, it's really giving people the opportunity to get involved with activities and not just give their money. What I've often said is that charity in America is a spectator sport. People pay so that others can play. And it's very rare that the people who pay get to come out of the stands and walk down on the field and actually get to participate. But that's one of the things that we think is most important. Because if people are going to grow in their biblical understanding of service, serving and giving, they need to be involved. And people who are very busy, like businessmen, men and women who live very active lives, need to have a guide to help walk them into that process. Otherwise, they won't be able to do it. And there are a lot of organizations that will take people on a video tour. In other words, you go and watch and you see, but there aren't many organizations that will allow you to go and participate and actually get your hands dirty, and be a part of something.

DW:  Yeah, that's really impactful. It reminds me of a conversation I had earlier this week with a gentleman who's the director, Executive Director of their family foundation. And one of the main areas that they give to is discipleship and evangelism among unreached people group, and he and his family are moving to an unreached country to be among the unreached. And he's gonna, you know, run the foundation from there. And it just goes to show how powerful that can be. And when you're willing to actually go and be involved in the lives of people who you're trying to reach and trying to take the gospel to those nations.

BM:  We feel like that's a critical piece. You know, if, as I talk about larger organizations over the last 10 years have actually increased in donations by about 25% to 30%. But small organizations, less than a million dollars have actually decreased by about 45%. And so the problem is that the smaller organizations fill in all the cracks, they get to places that the larger organizations can't go. And they do things that the larger organizations just from structure-wise can't do. And so it's very important that we have both pieces. And that's what we're trying to encourage with our projects.

DW:  So you said 40% of the organizations that are under a million dollars have –

BM:  Have decreased in income over the last 10 years. 

DW: Interesting. Okay. And the other ones have increased? 

BM: Yes.

DW: Wow. Okay.

BM:  And a lot of that is due to marketing. You know, marketing is so sophisticated now that the larger organizations can afford to be very prolific in terms of their marketing pieces, and their reach in the social media and everything else. Whereas the small projects have much more difficult time. Works with family and friends, and then acquaintances moving out. 

DW:  Yeah, so I think there's gonna be a lot of value that you can offer, because you have such a perspective on all of these different clients that you've worked with, and different organizations and everything. But before we jump into that, can you speak to just your personal journey, and how God has really taken you from kind of maybe pursuing your own kingdom to pursuing His kingdom and maybe what that looks like?

BM:  Yeah, I think one of the, and this kind of dovetails into to how the foundation was useful for me in the very beginning. In 1989, my oldest daughter was on a mission trip over in Nepal. And she sent back pictures of all the street children that were there and all the things that were going on. And my youngest daughter, who was 12 at the time, crawled up in my lap, and she said, "You know, Dad, I think God's telling us telling me that we should adopt some of these children. What's he telling you?" And I said, "Well, Brianna, I have four kids and two in college. I think I kind of have a full-time job. I think I have my hands full." And two months later, she was killed in an automobile accident. 

And so, a year later, my wife and two of my kids were on a plane to India and Nepal and Thailand just to see what what was going on. What impacted her so greatly from the pictures and the situation? And when we got to those places, in Thailand in particular, we saw that a lot of the girls were being, from the village area, were being trafficked. And or were being abused or put into the slavery situation. So, we started Brianna's House of Joy, which is named after my daughter. That operates in Chiang Mai, Thailand and since then, we've had over a hundred girls come through the program. We have a college program as well, where we put 25 kids through college education there. We've built over 30 playgrounds and villages. We've done a lot of outreach things, everything stemming off of that one trip where we saw a need, and we stepped in as a family to try to meet it.

DW:  Wow, that's incredible. 

DC: Beautiful. That's amazing. In your career and your personal spiritual life, what would you say you found the most success in? And then what do you think led to that?

BM:  Well, I think what gives me success is when I'm able to see somebody come in with something that they wanted to do; they just don't know how to get from point A to point B. And they come in thinking of a form, I want a 501(c)(3). But realistically, all the planning in the organization and structure that goes into that is so time-consuming that they never get to the program. And so, when we can step in and help somebody become active in their program area right away and become productive and see, will this work? We like to tell people, we work with people that are full-time, spare time, or in their part-time. And that's really the way I've operated Brianna's House ministry for 20 years. It's been in my spare time, I've worked a full-time job, I don't take any money out of the ministry. I just do it on the side. And now we have it run by nationals. And now, my daughter has actually come in to run the program.

DW:  That's awesome. So, that was a really good and hard story of really how you kind of moved from that worldly success to significance and really looking at okay, how do we make an impact and make a difference. Since then, can you talk more about how you've really helped other people do that? 

BM:  Yeah, a lot. We have a lot of people coming to us now who want to start projects. And so that's an easy first step for we have a system that they go through in order to set it up so that we have accountability and due diligence over what that project is going to be and what it's going to do. I think one of the things that's been most rewarding for me is to see business owners, successful people or professionals come in who want to do something else on the side. They want some more meaning in their lives. They can't give up their job but they want to be involved in doing some things that would be worthwhile in the kingdom. And that way they can reach other people, either through some discipleship ministry or some ministry of caring, or they can do what I've done, where they find something in the world that needs to be done. 

And they step in and to partner with the people that are doing it. So, it's the people who are still working a full-time job but then are able to be creative and pulling resources out of that job in that profession. So that they can implement and in progress, their own ministry objectives to see things done. It's a great thing for families too, you know; we have people who are, what we say was we're generous, multigenerational, in the sense that a lot of times, grandparents set up a foundation project, a donor-advised fund, then the children actually administrate the donor-advised fund and give to the charities of their choice, but the grandchildren choose a particular area that they want to serve in. And so they're the ones that actually get involved in creating service projects that can be funded out of the donor-advised fund structure.

DW:  Yeah, that's beautiful. Yeah. Connecting all those generations. That's really neat.

DC:  Do you find that people experience more joy when giving their time there and serving than when they're giving money? 

BM:  Oh, yeah, I do think so. I mean, you can look at things on a spectrum of one to 10 for the three major giving areas, the treasure, the time, the talent, and which is most effective in that area. And generally, what I find is that the easy one is giving money, giving the treasure because it doesn't take any buying power to be able to be engaged in that. But giving your talent, and a lot of people have some very great talents that could be significantly used in ministry areas by partnering with people who have the time to be able to implement them. And so it's kind of a combination, you know, really, occasionally you'll find the people who have the money, the time and the talent, but usually it's a combination of somebody has talent, somebody else has the time to implement, and somebody else has some treasure, some funds that can be put toward the project or can do the fundraising. So it's really a combination.

DW: Which one do you think comes first? Or is there a pattern? Or, you know, because you're bringing all these pieces together it seems like that? And do you see one following the other or what's maybe easier? What piece comes faster?

BM:  Yeah, it really depends on the age and the life level of where the people are, you know. For a business person or professional, time is difficult, treasures easier. And, talent is, you know, in between, could be used from time to time. And whether that's a doctor who says, you know, I'm going to take two months off every year and go on a medical mission trip. Or it's a it's a businessman who said, I can only give three weeks a year, but I want to go and be involved in a particular project. And then when you deal with younger people, very often they have more time and burgeoning talent. And maybe they have people who have resources around them. 

So at that point, then it's really the passion, and coupled with the time that drives the younger projects in and I said when you can put that together in a family structure, where grandparents and parents can be engaged in helping support grandchildren who are in that process of figuring out what to do with the world, then what makes the world a better place, then you get kind of a synergy that really works well. And you get for so many people, once they get started in the process of creating a family, creating a business, creating a career, it's very difficult to step off and get into ministry. And so, we like to talk to younger people about a gap year or something or a year right out of college where they might be able to bite at the time and the ability to utilize some talents to develop some skills.

DW:  Oh, yeah, that's really cool. And I looked into what David Platt is doing with the gap year. You know that and that's really fascinating, interesting, and, getting people that are in that pivotal moment in their lives involved in serving and in ministry to see and really to gain perspective on what is God doing in the world? And how do I play a part in that it's really neat.

BM:  When I would say is that's, you know, being a grandparent with grandchildren, you know, I not only wanted my children to have a worldview, but I also want my grandchildren to have a worldview. And I want that to be a Christian worldview. And I want it to involve serving and experiencing and seeing what other people go through. Because when you're actually out there, and you're participating with people in a third world or in a poverty situation or meet a great need situation, you develop empathy, as well as the passion that can help drive you through the rest of your life.

DC:  Right. Yeah, that's very important. When thinking about the legacy that you want to create, as a grandparent, have you helped your your clients and stuff create legacies in that way? For their progeny? 

BM:  Yeah, that's one of the things we really stress and try to encourage is when I talk about, you know, I often speak with groups of younger people that are interested in, you know, they're there. Maybe they're involved in a Bible school program or training programs affect that and I say, you know, you're here, because you want to be a self-changer. You know, you want to change yourself into a better person for Jesus Christ. But I want to talk to the people who want to be world change, ensures the people who want to take that self that they've created in with the help of Jesus Christ and be able to affect their world. And so that's the process of encouragement that getting those people going. And I will tell you that, you know, my grandchildren have spent time over in Thailand, at our mission organization. They've been involved with the kids. We have kind of an interesting experience the last time I was there where my wife and I were handing off the baton to my daughter to actually direct the ministry in Thailand on an operational standpoint. And my granddaughter who was 12 years old came up to my daughter and said, you know, someday, I want to be an intern here, and I want you to hand the baton to me. That's what it's all about, getting kids exposed on an early level to what's going on, and how they can be an important part of changing the world. 

DC:  That's seems like what true legacy is about. It is not passing on capital and funds as much as it is values and excitement to serve others and things like that.

DW:  Of experiences. Yeah.

BM:  Yeah, I was gonna say one of the things that I point out is that it is very important to teach your kids how to give, and a lot of the generosity movement around organizations and donor-advised funds is, okay, give your kids some money to give away to charity so that they can get the joy and the experience of doing that. And, you know, my basic experience is that, I think it's good, but it's kind of like, you're training them to be government employees. You train them to give other people's money away. It's not their money. And until they invest their own time, pressure and talent. It's not the same experience.

DC:  Right. How do you think as Christians, we can have a bigger impact on the world?

BM:  Well,I think part of it is, you know, Banos said at one time, it's not that we don't have the money to do everything. And it's not that that things are too far removed. Or it's not that that we don't have the opportunities, we have the opportunities. You know, I can pick up my cell phone and talk to my director in Thailand halfway around the world. And I may wake him up, but I can still talk to him that way and communicate. I can put money in a bank today and it'll be in the bank account tomorrow. I can get on a plane and be anywhere in the world in 24 hours, my luggage may not be there but I'll be there. So we have really unprecedented opportunity to get to explore and define the things that are important to us. 

The place where I would suggest to start is really to ask the Lord, what is it that you want me to do? What passion have you put on my heart for people that are hurting, people who have needs, and then find people who are doing something similar to that, and walk alongside them and help them. You know, people often ask me, well, how did you start this big ministry out in Thailand? That operates so many different things. Let's say well, it didn't happen overnight. You know, one thing led to another thing led to another thing. And it came because we first came alongside a couple in Thailand, an evangelist and his wife, who were doing a basic part of the ministry. And that's where you start, find somebody who's doing what you're passionate about, and help them. And then you'll find yourself getting more and more engaged involved. I'll tell you, all those people out in the field would love to have somebody come alongside now. 

DW:  Yeah. That's really neat. So talking about somebody who is a, let's say, a business owner who has been successful, and is wanting to make a bigger impact in the world? What are some of the things that they should be thinking about? Or maybe the framework that they should be evaluating where they are investing in where they are really giving that will help them to really succeed in making an impact? Do you have anything in that regard?

BM: Yeah, I think it's pretty similar to what I was talking about before, in the sense that there's some work to be done on that level. The first thing is, you need to identify and find out what it is that really drives you, what affects you in such a meaningful way that you have a hard time letting go of it. Is it women being trafficked? Is it starving children? Is it children being abused? Is that dirty water? You know, all kinds of different things. And then once you feel passionate about something, then do some research and look and find out what is being done in that area, who is doing it, and what the important things are. And then when you find out who's doing those things, then look them up and find out what what their answer to the problem is.

When people come into our foundation, we ask them really four questions. What's the problem? What is the solution to the problem? Why am I equipped to meet the need of the problem? And what's the urgency of the problem? And so when we work from that structure, that helps us propel people into ministry. And a lot of times what we do is we will put together business owners or professionals or other people who have busy lives with people who are in ministry, who need their talent, and maybe some of their resources, and maybe just a little bit of their time to help get them advanced along the way. But that's where you start being engaged. It's more than just getting a newsletter and making a contribution. It's really getting to know the people that are on the field doing the work. 

DC:  Right.

DW:  Do you have a powerful story that can kind of encapsulate some of this stuff that we've been talking about, that really shows all of the pieces coming together?

BM:  I have a number of them, started to actually pick out something. I gave you my own story, which is one. But the second story would be a couple that had a great interest in hospitality and working with missions, Michigan leaders as they come back from the field and, being on the mission field is, let's face it, it's a difficult experience. And a lot of times when they come home, they need some rebuilding, and they need some loving care and that process. And so this couple decided that that was going to be one of the things that they did. And they had an extra home that they dedicated to that process. And so they've been able to have people who are directly involved in missions be there and stay there and home base when they're either on furlough for a short period of time or even longer period of time. And in that process, then they're automatically involved in the ministry. Because those people are, they're able to share with those people, they connect to those people, they find out more about what's going on, they get kind of a firsthand view. 

My wife is a pastor's kid. And she used to tell me when people would missionaries would come to town, they'd always come over to dinner at their house, and then explain the missions. And she said, I learned early on that that's what I wanted to do, be involved in some foreign missions. So I think, that's the key; if you can get involved on a personal level rather than just a paper level or even a video level by way of video production, then it brings everything home, it makes everything a lot more personal. 

DW:  That's really good.

DC:  Listening as we as we begin to wrap up, is there anything that you think our audience needs to hear anything in particular that you want to share? You know, I hear that's very important to be serving and not just throwing money at problems, and you're gonna get more joy and a lasting legacy out of that. Is there any anything else that we should have asked maybe?

BM:  Yeah, I think that's those are pretty much the key positions here. You know, one of the things that the Lord showed me several years ago, and it’s from the passage in Acts and in Joel when he talks about your old men will see visions hear, young men will dream dreams and your other servants will not cease, your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions and your other men's will prophesy. And the idea is when you're younger, and you’re college-aged younger, that's really the place at which you form your passions. That's where prophecy comes into place. In other words, we see into the future, which is what prophecy is, and see what could be, you know, in a world and what needs to be done and what are the things that I could be involved in. Then when you deal with young men, seeing visions that young men and women, that's the area of creativity that's between 23 and 45. It's when we're creating in our lifestyle, we're creating jobs, we're creating families, we're creating careers, and we're creating ministries, that's the creative side visions is seeing what's out there that other people can't see, seeing beyond the horizon. 

And that's where young creative people can see beyond the horizon, create things that need to be done. And finally, old men like me, dreaming dreams, is a process really, of reflecting back dreams, your process of reflecting back over past experiences, what have I done, what have I had been involved with, that might be helpful to somebody younger, when you get to an older stage, you're not interested so much in creating anymore, but you're interested in helping younger people create. And that's where dreaming dreams and coming along in that process. So in that perspective, it really gave me a view on what God was talking about in the three generational views of ministry and preparation. 

DW:  Awesome. So, one question I have for you which I think would be really cool to hear is there's this plateauing in the giving stream to global missions. And Paul Chitwood talks about this, the president of the IMB. And, you know, he says that, we need to look for look for solutions to the challenges of a plateau giving stream? So, have you any ideas on how we can create a better way to give to fund the great commission?

BM:  Well, I think it does take a commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission. And, and what happens with so many times is we give to something and we plateau, because we never really get involved. We never really see ourselves as engaged in that operation. Yes, we value what they do. We think what, what the organization does is a very important thing. It's doing great things. But it's, it's we've lost our initial excitement, because we haven't been engaged. And I think that's where, you know, if we're going to get people involved, then it's going to take all of us engaging together. And I said, we kind of need to break down this barrier between professionals and observers, or, you know, in other words, people who actually sit in the stands and watch people play, versus the people who actually run the field professionally doing what they do. I think, so we need more avenues for people to be engaged on part time and spare time basis with important mission if we want them to continue their giving. 

DW:  Yeah, that's good. All right, let's go into the lightning round. So what book are you currently reading or would recommend? 

BM:  Oh, gosh. Yeah, I am reading actually a book on health called Hope for Cancer. And it's kind of a different view of how you treat cancer. And that's what I'm always looking for. I think of myself as being creative and being visionary. And part of that is looking ahead to see where people are heading with things, and what things are becoming important that are rising up on the stage in terms of importance in the world and what could be done. Then, what are new ways of looking at things. You know, what I've seen a lot in the Christian world is that missions, for the most part, haven't changed much. In a hundred years, the job description is basically the same. But if you look in the real world, 50% of the jobs that we have out there didn't exist ten years ago. We need to be more creative in thinking about what can be done, and how we can reorganize the blocks on the table to do something new and something more effective. And that's the way you're gonna get the younger generation. They're not always going to want to do things the way it's always been done before.

And so those are the books that I tend to read, the ones that are cutting edge, that are looking at things from a different perspective. There's another book I think it's called “Meeting of the Waters” which is talking about the confluence between the old mission style and the new mission style, and how those are different than what new missionary people who are going out today want to have versus what the older missionaries wanted when they left for the field. And that really hits home when you're out on the mission field. Because getting the older missionaries to accept a younger missionary who doesn't say I'm signing up for life, and I packed everything in my coffin, and I brought it with me. And no, we're going to learn the language and we're going to do all these things, you know, the new people who are involved saying, I want to give two years, one to two years. I don't want to have to learn a language, I want to use the skills that I have right now. And I want to be engaged and oh, by the way, I'm gonna stay plugged in with my social media back in the United States, and with my friends there and gotta keep them engaged. And, and then we see also that, that there's some universal factors, I mean, Coca Cola is big outside the United States as it is inside, same with McDonald's, things like that. So the world is really getting, in a sense smaller. And so we just need to be able to work with that and be able to encourage all kinds of people to step into the mission field and not be very exclusive and have such a strict track that only a few can follow.

DW: What is the most unique place that you've ever visited?

BM:  Oh, gosh, I'm gonna say that Kathmandu is very interesting in Nepal. And when we went there, it was the third poorest country in the world. And so there were things that kind of blew me away in terms of my impressions. But I think the most difficult visit place to visit was Calcutta. And if you're going there all, you know, several times, then you kind of get used to it. But if you go for the first time, or if you come back after five or six years, which we did, it's an assault to the senses. And until and if you just take in the environment, you will not like, it'll be tough to live. But once you start meeting the people and talking to the people, and that's really true for everything, it's like the child who was bothering his father and the father took a picture of the world. And our took a picture of people tore it up and said, put this picture back together. And so the child put it together in the end. And he said, we got all the people put together. And he said, wwell, on the back of it was a picture of the world. And when you put the world together, the people come together. So anyway, it's that kind of a situation where we came to really love India, and the ministry there and the people there and it was because we actually spent time with the people. And because if all you see is the pain and the misery and the suffering, it's very difficult to stay involved.

DW: Yeah, that's good. What's one goal or skill that you're working towards right now?

BM:  Well, organization is not one of my primary skill sets. And so I'm trying to get things to organize so that I can pass everything I know on to future generations. And you know, I've often people have often asked me well, how to who is your replacement? Who are you going to train to replace you in the two foundations that you operate in a lot of practice tonight. And I say I don't, I don't want to train a replacement. I want to equip somebody else to do their thing to live their dreams to be to be their vision, whoever takes over for me goes forward is going to have to do it because of their passions, their skills, their talents and their drives. There's no recreating another person who's similar to you.

DW:  That's good. And then how can we be praying for you? Or is there anything that we can do to help you accomplish your vision?

BM:  Well, one of the things that we do and I didn't mention much about Joy to the World Foundation. But Joy to the World Foundation works with businessmen and professionals and investment managers, and we do a lot with charitable trusts; is one business or investment advisor told me so well, the way you talk about it, investing in a charitable trust seem to be the Swiss Army knife of financial planning. And I said, well, to a certain degree it is. I look at it in a sense, is when you do that because it's a split-interest between income interest for people and a future charitable interest, you're really partnering with God in that business structure. And when you do that, and when you pull money out of a business, so that charitable trust, then you can do a lot of things. Not only helpful in your tax benefits, but also to be able to be a currently engaged in a lot of our people release money from their charitable trusts directly to their ministry project or their donor advised funds. So they're actually getting the opportunity to do things while they go. So anything that, you know, is pray for me to get get the word out. What I'm trying to do is to find Christian believers who have been successful financially, but now want to move on to significance in their life, for them and their families. 

DW:  Looks good. Thank you for that. What is one thing that God is teaching you this week?

BM: I think probably something he's been hitting me over the head with is, the idea that I'm to be busy but not rushed. There's a lot of things I have to do. And if I get wrapped up in all the things that I have going on at one time, it gets kind of overwhelming. And so the idea is that I really want to create some margin in my life, to where I can think through things and deal with them. And so in that sense, I like to be busy, I want to be busy, I think it's important to be busy, but you don't want to be rushed. And so you want to be able to have time for your family. Spend time with God, spend time taking yours, taking care of yourself personally. And so I used to try to do that for the first two to three hours of the day, so that I can get oriented and get things in perspective as I move forward.

DW:  Absolutely, that's, that seems to be a common theme that that people really spend time successful. People really spend time in God's word and just getting kind of their, their footing right before starting the day. 

BM:  As one parting note, I would say, if you're having trouble with that, in the morning, get a dog. Because if you have to walk that dog every morning for a half an hour to 45 minutes, which I do, it gives you a lot of time to pray. And you can listen to worship music and go through that process or even listen to a podcast that might be important to you. But it's a great way to start your day because it helps you focus in a way that I would not do if I was sitting in my house and at my desk. So I owe it all to my dog.

DW:  There's the answer. All right, Bill, it's been great having you on the show. And would you mind praying for us before we jump off?

BM:  Certainly. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for broadcasts like this, for the opportunity to speak to the world and have businessmen encourage busy men and women encourage them what they're doing that they can make a difference, that they can step into the spiritual world and the charitable world as well as operating in the physical world in the business world. And so Lord, we just pray that, that if there are people who are seeing this, that when they're thinking about making that step that you would make it clear to them, that you'd help them map out a plan for how they can move forward in terms of getting more engaged personally in a ministry or form. Because we know that that's where the connection really comes. You know, our God was not just a God of talking, but he was a God of serving. And so when Jesus came. He served others and that's what our job description is, to serve others. Thank you. In Jesus name, amen. 

 [END OF INTERVIEW]

[OUTRO]

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