Confessions of a Pastor

By Perry Noble

The six dumbest financial mistakes I’ve made

Everyone makes mistakes. But when a pastor makes one and is humble enough to admit it, it usually winds up in a sermon. I'll spare you the full sermon on my biggest financial mistakes and instead offer the cliff notes version. They are ...

1. Not placing Jesus first in my finances. For years I used the excuse that I couldn't afford to tithe. Through some painful financial lessons, however, God showed me that I couldn't afford not to tithe. He pointed me to Matthew 6:21: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." At that point I completely surrendered the 10 percent—and I've never missed it since.

2. Treating tithing as the finish line. When I began tithing, I expected God to strike up the heavenly marching band in my honor. I was so proud of my newly formed spiritual discipline. But about a year later one of our pastors made this profound statement during a service: "We all know Scripture says to tithe, but what are you doing with the other 90 percent to advance God's kingdom?" His words hit me like a ton of bricks. Tithing isn't the finish line; it's the starting point. God has called us to be generous givers—He is! (See 2 Cor. 9:15.)

3. Thinking I'd never get out of debt. When my wife and I married in April 2000, we had more than $100,000 worth of debt and didn't even own a home. It was all credit cards, student loans and stupid purchases (all made by me!). I felt trapped and had almost given up hope until I went to a Dave Ramsey seminar. There I began to understand that getting out of debt would take sacrifice and a major lifestyle adjustment, but it could be done. In November 2007 we became debt-free. We owe on nothing except for the house. Trust me, if we can do it, you can too.

4. Living the "minimum payment" lifestyle. Upon getting my first credit card, I immediately went out and bought a gun. (Like all pastors should!) It was $300, and my first payment was "only" $15. Within four years I was carrying maxed-out balances on seven credit cards and "successfully" making the minimum payments every month. I reasoned that if I continued to make the minimum payments I'd one day be out of debt—which was true, if by "one day" I meant sometime in the year 2900!

5. Transferring credit card balances. A credit card offer "conveniently" arrives in the mail promising no interest for the first six months, so you put all you owe on it. What it doesn't tell you is that the interest rate is always an arm and a leg after that period. I always told myself I could pay off this balance within six months, but that never happened. Proverbs 22:7 became true: "The borrower is servant to the lender." After years of having a credit card (which was supposedly only for an "emergency") I DISCOVERED that my VISA to financial freedom wasn't in obtaining more AMERICAN OBSESS but in turning over my MASTER CARD to Jesus instead of the banks.

6. Making stupid car decisions. I used to think car payments were a part of adulthood. Every year or so I'd trade my car in for a new one ... until I eventually discovered what the term upside-down meant. Today I own my cars; they do not own me. Most people I talk to who are strapped financially could significantly free themselves if they would just sell their cars. Sadly, their desire for status rather than financial freedom often prevents them from doing so.

There is no reason to be in debt. When Jesus sets us free, we are free—and yet so many believers enslave themselves. It's time to break free!

Perry Noble is the senior pastor of NewSpring Church (newspring.cc) in Anderson, S.C.