5 Things Christian Millionaires Do Differently Than Everyone Else
According to research, Christians hold the largest share of wealth. The nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth, states that of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world, 7.4 million, or 56.2%, identify themselves as Christian.
- 6.5% identified themselves as Muslim.
- 3.9% identified themselves as Hindu.
- 1.7 % identified themselves as Jewish.
But like most millionaires they weren’t born they were made. They were made by their habits. So what habits can you learn from these Christian millionaires that will change your life?
1. 🧠 They Understand the Importance of Wealth
Henry Crowell Parson was a serial entrepreneur, real estate investor, successful businessman, and was widely known as the founder of the Quaker Oats Company.
He was a highly regarded businessman who used his influence and wealth to achieve positive and lasting change. But he was also a strong believer who used his platform to champion the cause of Christ.
The impetus for this was when he went to a special meeting to hear a fiery businessman turned evangelist. Parson was 18 years old. The businessman-turned-evangelist?
One Dwight Lyman Moody.
Moody was self-educated, not very polished, but he was passionate. He was on fire for God! He spoke about doing big things FOR God and expecting big things FROM God :
“Now I want ya to know that I like to think big things for God! Do you? Fr’ instance, I wanna go to England and win ten thousand souls. Can ya imagine…The reason I like to think big things for God is that He deserves it. Now, whether it’s evangelism, or your work, or your money. Whatever it is, you ought to think of big ways you can be used for God. Now let me tell you about a man I met in Ireland.”
Parson was mesmerized. The passion and authority D.L. Moody spoke with had him transfixed. Moody continued:
“That feller I met in Ireland was Henry Varley. Lemme tell you what he told me. ‘The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.’” Now listen that was like the Word of God to my soul. Those words pierced my heart…Varley didn’t say he had to be brilliant, or rich, or anything else. A man. Just a man! Well, I told God, that with the Holy Spirit in me, I’ll be that man. And what about you? Will you be one of those men? Is your God worthy of such a commitment?”
Parson was broken. Tears streamed down his face. After service Parson quietly slipped out of the church. He was deep in thought: “How could he be that man?”
He couldn’t preach like Moody. but maybe he could make money to support men like Moody. He prayed his request: “Oh, God…if You will allow me to make money, to be used for your service, I’ll keep my name out of it. I’ll do it so you’ll get the glory.”
But Parson wasn’t the only one who saw wealth building as a Godly activity. A young John D. Rockefeller had the same “spiritual awakening.”
Early in his teens, Rockefeller was very involved in his church. One Sunday, however, the pastor announced from the pulpit the church was behind on interest payments from a $2,000 mortgage. If they didn’t raise the money the church would be forced to foreclose.
As the church was filing out the congregants found Rockefeller by the door asking, pleading, and almost threatening people to pledge specific amounts. He wrote down each promise and person in a notebook.
In a matter of months, he helped raise the money and saved the church.
But it was during this time his motivation for becoming rich began to develop: doing God’s Work.
Later Rockefeller would go onto to say:
“I remember clearly when the financial plan — if I may call it so — of my life was formed. It was out in Ohio, under the ministration of a dear old minister, who preached, ‘Get money; get it honestly and then give it wisely.’ I wrote that down in a little book.”
Most believers see wealth as a “necessary evil” these Christian millionaires however saw wealth as a “necessary good.” A tool used in the service of God and for the good of others.
How do you see it?
2. 📞 They Understand the Importance of Sales
J. Gunnar Olson had a problem.
He was a budding industrialist and was learning to trust God with his business. He was prospering but for some reason sales were slow. During this period he called himself a “yo-yo Christian.” When things were going well he was happy, when they weren’t he was depressed.
He decided to go on a 14 day fast, crying out to the Lord for direction. On the last day of the fast, he got a call from an intercessor–a woman he highly respected. She had a word from the Lord:
“‘Get out there and sell!’ she announced. ‘Gunnar you need to do your part too!”
According to him:
“It was practical and it was a word from God. I’d becomes so super spiritual I was no earthly good.”
According to recent research, many self-made millionaires and billionaires held sales jobs when they were younger. They considered that sales experience crucial to their success.
These Christian millionaires and billionaires are no different. David Steward is the co-founder and chairman of IT provider World Wide Technology. Currently, he has a net worth of $3 billion. Before founding his company he had a long career in sales culminating in being recognized as a salesman of the year at FedEx. He was later inducted into the company’s hall of fame. He believes his ability to sell aided him well in his business career:
“As CEO, most of my time is spent selling. About 50 percent of the time, I’m in the field meeting with customers and vendors. Most of the rest of my time involves meetings with our own people, and I have to sell them, too. Believe me, it’s essential that I have their support — if they can’t be sold, the project gets canned! I never take it for granted that they’re automatically aboard. Often, it’s necessary to field their questions, and if there’s resistance, we discuss their objections and schedule additional meetings for more discussion. No matter how much I believe in something and want it to move forward, a project that lacks support is doomed to fail.”
While most people downplay the profession and skill set of selling, these Christian millionaires and billionaires think the opposite.
3. 🎯 They Understand the Importance of Goal-Setting
Steve Scott’s life was a mess.
He flunked out of his first nine jobs within six years. Here’s his “resume”:
He was given some advice that changed his life: read a chapter of the book of Proverbs every day for two years, write down the insights gained, and apply them to work.
He had nothing to lose so he did it. On job number nine he created a television marketing campaign that doubled the sales of the company he worked for from $30 million to $60 million in only four months.
Even though he was only 27, his boss offered to double his salary, promote him to vice president of marketing, and give him a company car. Instead of accepting the promotion, Scott resigned so he could accept an on offer from Bob Marsh to start a business of their own.
And they started their own marketing company with $5,000 to create and test a television marketing campaign for a new product they had acquired. Within nine months their sales had grown to nearly one million dollars. Per week!
What did he learn?
He learned the power of “vision-mapping” or goal setting. According to him:
“In my failed jobs after college, I never had a clear and precise vision of what I wanted to achieve. It’s not surprising that they only lasted less than a year or produced only minimal income. On the other hand, in my tenth job I had a very clear vision for my first project. I created a detailed road map of my goals, and outlined the steps and tasks that I needed to complete to achieve those goals and fulfill that vision. The result? Within six months of starting the job, our sales skyrocketed from a thousand dollars a week to more than a million dollars a week.”
The Bible says,
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)”
Most people have no vision for what they want in life OR they have a vague, fuzzy, and abstract picture of what they hope to accomplish (to be more successful, wealthier, slimmer, and etc). That’s not having a true vision.
A true vision is a detailed roadmap–where you are, where you’re going, and when you expect to get there.
Christian millionaires are goal setters. As a result they accomplish more than the average person.
4. 💵 They Understand the Importance of Multiple Streams of Income
John D. Rockefeller knew from early on that money was important. But he also knew he wanted to be the master of money– not its servant.
By the time he was 12 he had saved $50, about $1400 in today’s money. He then loaned a farmer the $50 at 7% interest. At the end of the year he collected $3.50 with absolutely no work. He later said,
“The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my slave and not make myself a slave to money.”
When Jesus spoke about good stewardship it wasn’t just about handling money…it was about multiplying money:
“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.”(Matthew 25:14–18 KJV)
Another translation says verse 16 like this:
The servant who had received five talents went and put them to work, and gained five more.” (Matthew 25:16 Berean study Bible)
Jesus also said,
And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, ‘Occupy till I come.’” (Luke 19:13 KJV)
That Greek word “occupy” is the Greek word “diapragmateuomai”(pronounced dee-ap-rag-mat-yoo’-om-ahee).
It has different meanings:
- “Gain by business trading.”
- “Busily engaged in making trades.”
- “Increase by trading.”
It implies active, detailed trading that “buys right” and then knows just when to exchange. Wow! So in other words:
- “Gain by business trading” till I come.
- “Be busily engaged in making trades” till I come.
- “Increase by trading till I come.
Christian millionaires understand the importance of putting money to work. BUT, they also understand the importance of having different sources “working” for them.
Bishop T.D Jakes understands the power of different income streams. He spoke about his ability to maximize his streams:
Years ago, God dropped an idea for a women’s Bible class in my heart. That idea grew and became a book, a conference, a play, and a music CD. God gave me the ability to take that idea and package it to reach a much larger audience than it would have reached if it had remained just a Bible class…I am very blessed. I have my ministry, which is my passion, and I have business success which is the result of my creativity and the source of my financial success.
He further repeated the role of the businessman in an interview with CNN:
“…most people who are familiar with know that I own several companies on my own, and I have been very, very successful as a writer, and yet I’ve been true to ministry and calling…I own three companies. I’ve got a production company. And entrepreneurial pursuits are very, very important to me, to my culture, to my family, to my community, and yet, I’m still a preacher.”
Whether it be real estate, books, courses, dividends, or etc you CANNOT rely on one source of income. Begin today to build new “streams.”
5. 🙋🏻♂️ They Understand the Importance of Following Through on “God-Ideas”
One of the strengths of these Christian millionaires is their ability to hear from God. But its not just the hearing.
It’s the ability to persist in spite of contradictory circumstances.
Listen here:
When someone gets a promise from God IMMEDIATELY the enemy comes to steal that Word. (Mark 4:15 KJV) What truly seperates Christian millionaires from the rest is the ability to persist “in spite of.” Here are a few examples:
- Tyler Perry had a dream of a great play and had to endure rejection, disappointment, and homelessness
- Bishop T.D. Jakes had dreams of a worldwide ministry and had to endure poverty and anonymity.
- Folorunsho Alakija endured adversity to get an oil bloc. Once the bloc struck oil she endured the unthinkable: the government took a 50% stake. Then for 12 year-long years she fought the government in court. She and her family endured sleepless nights, up and down battles, and isolation from “friends.”
- Strive Masiyiwa saw an opportunity for wireless telephones in his country of Zimbabwe. He had to fight a corrupt government for the right to start this company. He endured 5 years of legal battles, decreased business, and abject poverty…still he endured.
You have a dream.
You have a vision.
You have goals.