Edward Reid, Stewardship Director, North American Division

I was living in Maryland, when I attended one of Ed Reid’s stewardship seminars. At the time, I was having trouble financially. Ed challenged us to live debt free and return a faithful tithe and offering. Sadly, when I was in financial trouble, I had stopped trusting God, stopped returning tithe, and only paid those companies who were threatening bad consequences for non-payment. After Ed’s seminar, I was determined to become debt free, return a faithful tithe, AND return to God the back tithe that I owed Him. (You can read the full story in Over and Over Again, Volume 2.)

I created a plan with my creditors, making regular payments and returning 11% in tithe. By the time I married Ron, I was debt free except for my 3-year-old Mazda, which was paid off one year after we were married.

Ed also gave us good advice as a married couple. Since 2006, (16 years after we were married) we’ve been living debt free. Yes, there were sacrifices along the way to achieve this goal, but we had Kingdom priorities. Being debt free allows us to be larger conduits of God’s blessings. The 11% has tripled.