In this episode, Gary and Christy bring back Jonathan Medley as a guest to talk about Stewardship. Jonathan is a blogger for Perspectives of a Bondservant, a father of three children, a banker, and a Bible school teacher (among other things). He recently taught a Bible class on the topic of Stewardship and discussed that with us, including:

• What is stewardship?
• What does stewardship entail?
• Why is stewardship important?
• Is money the only area in which we ought to be stewards?
• How can we be good stewards of the money God gives us?

About how stewardship is mentioned in the Bible, Jonathan states, “The concept of it is everywhere and surrounds everything that we’re doing.”

Definitions of stewardship from various preachers:

• Don Blackwell – “Stewardship relates to my management of God’s resources.  I may handle them well or irresponsibly, and I will answer accordingly.”
• Jack Honeycutt – “God owns everything, we are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf.  Stewardship is the commitment of one’s self and possessions to God’s service.”
• Chris Reecer – “Stewardship is the responsibility and overseeing the work or things of a person or persons.”
• Ben Giselbach – “Stewardship is how I use the blessings over which I’m responsible.”
• Neal Pollard – “Stewardship is the responsibility or process of proper management of particularly something that has been entrusted to us.”
• Glenn Colley – “As Christians, we are fiduciaries of what God has loaned to us.  Everything we have is really His.”
• Adam Faughn – “I define stewardship as managing what belongs to another, usually someone who is of greater importance.  Good stewardship is managing those things in such a way that it benefits the rightful owner, and bad stewardship is squandering them in a way that harms the rightful owner.”
• Jim Faughn – “An awareness that all that we have comes from God and that we need to seek His will in His word and wisdom via prayer in order to make the best use of what He has blessed me with.”
• Wes McAdams – “The steward was tasked with overseeing and managing his master’s interests and property according to his master’s will.”
• Brant Stubblefield – “The faithful handling and distribution of all resources entrusted to us by God.”
• Michael Whitworth – “I see it as simple taking care of what God has given us.  Sometimes it means being protective.  Other times being aggressive and risky.”

Links

• Link to Jonathan’s blog:  https://ofabondservant.com
• Related episodes:
  • Signs of a Lukeward Steward – https://thelightnetwork.tv/bountifuls2e10/
  • The last time Jonathan Medley was a guest on Bountiful – https://thelightnetwork.tv/bs2e6/
  • Preachers in Training episode with Alan Judd – https://thelightnetwork.tv/pits7e7/
  • Arrows in Our Hand episode about family Bible time – https://thelightnetwork.tv/aiohs8e1/
• YouTube videos of Rob Whitacre’s personal evangelism seminar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXI3fOOSHIw&list=PLzDl5nfEbJbKGGkdm8D1Ka5JTAkBpeJud&index=2&t=0s
• Chris Brown’s stewardship podcast we mentioned can be found at https://www.stewardship.com/show?ictid=HC9892161
• More about the Ivy Lee Method (actually from 1918, not the 1960’s):  https://www.fastcompany.com/3062946/this-100-year-old-to-do-list-hack-still-works-like-a-charm
• WonderWorks – https://www.wonderworksonline.com