Faith Ventures Podcast

Faith Ventures welcomes Kenneth Kollasch, third-generation business owner, former competitive ballroom dancer, associate pastor, and founder of Kenneth Coaches (kennethcoaches.com). Kenneth has spent his career moving between worlds most people treat as separate: he turned down a professional soccer contract after getting saved at twenty to stay in the family business, competed alongside his wife to become international ballroom champions, served on church staff in pastoral roles from youth ministry to associate pastor, and now runs a consulting practice that works with small business owners and pastors simultaneously — because he believes the two worlds have far more to offer each other than either group typically recognizes.

Chapters:
0:24 Welcome & the Start of Kenneth's Journey
2:12 From Soccer to Ministry
4:08 Pivoting After COVID
5:51 Church Shaped His Consulting
10:21 Translating Between Two Worlds
14:51 Gifts Over Job Descriptions
20:01 The Power of Asking Why
22:58 Generosity Drives Business
28:07 Earning Mental Real Estate
31:23 Customer Input Creates Loyalty
36:17 Designing Special Experiences
41:26 Reputation Is Good Business
43:03 Bridging Church and Marketplace
46:57 Free Resources Online

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

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Amanda Johnson's son was nineteen when he told her they should build their own publishing experience. She had spent years helping other people navigate hybrid publishers — watching their content get stolen, their books get covers that illustrated the subtitle rather than the story, their life's work get treated as a transaction by people who hadn't read a word of it. She had walked out of her office and screamed in the kitchen. She had saved enough projects to know what the process should feel like and had watched too many clients come out of it feeling worse about their manuscript than when they started. So when her son said they should just create something better, she agreed. That's how Saved By Story was born — and that's the shape of the business it became: a writing coaching and hybrid publishing practice built on a conviction Amanda has held since she discovered it watching her first clients write their way back to health. The writing is not the product. The writing is the healing.

Chapters:
0:24 Intro to Amanda & Saved by Story
1:52 From Writing to Calling
7:32 Amanda’s Career Journey
13:23 Messaging Shapes Identity
17:12 The Retreat Breakthrough
20:08 Starting Saved by Story
21:58 Faith and Story Intertwined
33:44 Word Made Flesh
39:03 Books That Transform
42:34 Find Her Online

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

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In this episode, we speak with Matt Morizio about his path from childhood baseball ambitions to five seasons in professional baseball, including being drafted twice and playing in the minor leagues. He also shares how his faith developed during his baseball years, especially through conversations in the clubhouse and weekly chapel services.

We then discuss his transition out of baseball after being released in spring training in 2011, and how he had to rethink identity, marriage, parenthood, and work while finishing his degree. Matt also talks about money, fear, and stewardship, explaining how he moved from scarcity-driven thinking to viewing money as a tool and building habits around prayer, financial education, and giving.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:24 Welcome and Baseball Dreams
3:26 Finding Identity Beyond Sports
12:54 Marriage, Release, and Rebuilding
21:20 Reconstructing Money Mindsets
31:21 Practical Steps to Freedom
40:50 Client Transformations
45:35 Radical Generosity in Action
50:15 Where to Find Matt

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

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In this episode, Norman Horn speaks with Justin Bennett, owner of Strong Tower Consulting and author of "Level Up Your Finances", about helping people improve their finances through coaching, training, and a faith-based framework. They discuss Justin's experience of getting into significant debt, which led him to study money more closely and begin financial coaching in 2010.

They also cover his biblical approach to money, including saving, budgeting, living below our means, avoiding debt, and practicing generosity. He explains his 3P framework of principles, process, then plan, and emphasizes that couples should agree on shared financial principles before making decisions.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:24 Welcome
1:58 From Banking to Coaching
4:12 Biblical Money Principles
6:52 Coaching Through Scripture
9:55 Principles Before Plans
14:21 Rethinking Debt Wisely
18:57 Reading Money Scripture
22:22 Debt Kills Enjoyment
29:15 Rest, Work, and Joy
34:07 Generosity Brings Joy
36:58 Hope for Financial Peace

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

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Use code LCI50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings and also support LCI! 

Faith Ventures introduces something new: a roundtable format. Dr. Norman Horn is joined by Jacqueline Isaacs — long-time LCI collaborator, communications and content strategist, and DMin student at Fuller Theological Seminary in their faith, work, and marketplace ministry program. Jacqueline spent years doing content work for the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (IFWE), founded by the late Hugh Welchel, and has been embedded in the faith and work movement long enough to know where its best ideas are and where the gaps remain.

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth App!
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Use code LCI50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings and also support LCI!

Faith Ventures welcomes Tony Bradshaw, host of The Millionaire Choice Podcast and Get Business Smart Podcast, former executive at the Dave Ramsey organization for over a decade, and author of The Millionaire Choice and 31 Days to Get Money Smart. Tony shares the wealth-building process he has taught for years: the financial awakening that breaks the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, the mindset shift that makes wealth feel possible, and the specific steps — getting money smart, finding a mentor, building a millionaire tribe, and investing aggressively — that turn belief into results. He also makes a pointed theological argument: the church has put satanic blinders on believers when it comes to money, equipping them to give faithfully while failing to equip them to generate wealth in the first place. Whether you've been told that wanting wealth is unspiritual, you've finished Dave Ramsey's program and want to know what's next, or you've simply never been given permission to think seriously about building wealth, this episode will challenge and equip you.

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

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Faith Ventures welcomes Dr. Benjamin Long, sleep physician, pediatrician, and author of The Sleep Habits Journal: Practices, Prayers, and Devotions to Ease Your Sleepless Nights. Dr. Long grew up watching his grandfather practice pediatrics and his father live a fully bivocational life — Air Force pilot by day, minister by calling — and he has spent his career building a similarly integrated vocation: physician in the clinic, seminary student at the desk, and theologian-in-formation across both.

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth App!
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Use code LCI50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings and also support LCI!

In this episode, Dr. Norman Horn speaks with Frank Clement of America’s Christian Credit Union about his path into financial services, from work in education and communications to graduate study and roles at Azusa Pacific University. The two also discuss how Frank's experience with Christian schools and classical education led to his work with ACCU.

They talk about ACCU’s role serving churches and Christian organizations that may be turned away by mainstream banks, including examples of account closures and loan issues. Frank explains how the credit union evaluates risk for churches and schools, and we discuss the growth of Christian K–12 education and related financing needs.

They also cover Frank's view that people should consider where their money is held and what it supports, since deposits are typically lent out by banks. Frank points listeners to more information about ACCU and his own profile.

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth App!
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Faith Ventures welcomes Scott Maderer, founder of Inspired Stewardship, business coach, lay church leader, and host of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast — now over 1,800 episodes strong. Scott works with Christians in every walk of life to help them think more intentionally about how they steward their time, talent, and treasure, and how those three areas shape everything else: their relationships, their work, their finances, and their walk with God.

Scott shares his journey from science degrees at Texas A&M to sixteen years in the classroom to a senior executive role in the corporate world — and the financial crisis in the middle of it all that brought him to the edge of suicide and back. He opens up about the $78,000 in debt that nearly destroyed his marriage, the Dave Ramsey broadcast that broke through at exactly the right moment, and the radical lifestyle change that paid off nearly $79,000 to the penny. He reflects on how that season reshaped everything he understands about stewardship — not as a financial concept, but as a whole-life framework for living in alignment with how God built you.

The conversation then moves into Scott's coaching philosophy: the difference between what you can choose and what you can control, why so many Christians build the wrong life because they never asked the right questions first, and how to get quiet enough to actually hear God when you're facing a real decision — and then do something about what you hear.

Whether you're buried in debt, burned out in a career that doesn't fit, or just trying to figure out how to align your work with the life God designed you to live, Scott's story and framework will give you both the permission and the tools to start.

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

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Faith Ventures welcomes David Forster, serial entrepreneur, founder of Bike It Out, and certified brain fitness coach helping entrepreneurs sharpen their mental edge through movement, recovery, and systems thinking. David has built and sold multiple businesses — from landscape companies to a retail bicycle shop — and now combines his background in kinesiology, operations consulting, and faith to help high-capacity leaders perform at their best without burning out.

David shares his journey from accidental hamster breeder to landscape entrepreneur to bike shop owner, including the moment he felt God tell him to put down a dream he had worked hard to build and what obedience to that call did for his marriage and his walk with God. He opens up about the ride that changed everything: one hour on a bike that cleared years of accumulated stress and showed him what it felt like to think clearly again. That experience became the foundation for Bike It Out and his cycling-based protocols for mental clarity, cortisol recovery, and brain fitness.

The conversation then turns to the theological distinction David draws between stewardship and ownership in business: why most Christian entrepreneurs confuse the two, what it means to put God in the owner's seat of your org chart, and how the parable of the talents becomes an accountability framework when you actually believe it applies to your P&L.

Whether you're an entrepreneur wrestling with stress and burnout, a Christian business owner who wants to think more clearly about what stewardship really demands, or someone who just needs a good reason to get back on the bike hanging on your wall, this episode will challenge and encourage you.

The Faith Ventures Podcast is part of the Christians For Liberty Network, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute.

Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth App!
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Use code LCI50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings and also support LCI!