Invested with Purpose (Part 3): Passion Behind BRI
Early Years / Preparation
Being "invested with purpose" requires us to take risks and move out of our comfort zone. We may have to make sacrifices in order to embrace what God has in store for us in the future. Today, we're going to be briefly looking at Art Ally's story and some of the risks and sacrifices he took in the founding of Timothy Plan. If you'd like to read about Art's full history, you can find it in chapter 6 of the book. I will not be going into all the details like the book does about his life. However, it is important to note that Art had a humble beginning – he didn't come from money, but he worked hard and made sacrifices long the way to get to where he felt God was leading him.
While we might not know what God's plan is for our life, we can be confident in the fact that He does have a plan for each of us! Sometimes we might feel lost and unsure what the future holds, but just like Art, we need to have faith and trust that God will be there helping us along the way.
Being "invested with purpose" also requires preparation. We can't expect to get to where we want to be (or more importantly, where God wants us to be) on day one. We have to be persistent and trust that God will guide us.
Just like other company founders, Art didn't just start from the top and immediately create a Christian mutual fund and make Biblically Responsible Investing a thing. He started working for a finance company and didn't even become an assistant manager until 3 years after starting there. He didn't stay at this financial company long, as he left to gain experience from several other companies and eventually got a degree in accounting with a minor in economics. Art was constantly trying to grow and educate himself to continue moving up.
Along the way, Art constantly trusted in God to be there and guide him as he worked for different companies and moved from different states including Texas, Florida, and Kentucky. He faced many obstacles and challenges to get to where he did with creating a Christian mutual fund and Timothy Plan.
How has God equipped you for the purpose He has in store for you? How is He preparing you now?
Passion Behind BRI
If you're "invested with purpose" you must also have passion, and pursuing passion requires faith. Art Ally had a lot of passion, and through his faith he persevered until he was successful. He was passionate towards his family and those around him. A key event that led Art to be so passionate about the screens we see Timothy Plan use today was his son being in a bad accident involving alcohol. After the accident, Art got rid of all the alcohol in his home and alcohol is one of the things screened out in his mutual funds.
I've already mentioned how Art took a lot of risks and had a lot of faith to get to where he did with starting Timothy Plan. His daughter, Cheryl saw the risks that he took. Here's an excerpt from the book on page 61:
"In 1992, at the age of 52, he risked everything. When he and Bonnie decided to move in faith, sell their house, sell his financial practice, and start the first biblically responsible mutual fund, it was an uncertain time. But that is the definition of faith. And without faith, it is impossible to please God."
The risks and struggles didn't stop there. In 2004, when Timothy Plan was going through financial struggles (we briefly discussed this in our first blog of this series), Art actually took a risk and took a leave from Timothy Plan to create a guide for people to understand what God says about money. He created a Biblical Stewardship series. He wasn't doing this to make money and offset the financial struggles Timothy Plan was going through (he actually sold the content at cost), but he felt called to help educate the community in this area. Today, the series is offered for free at biblicalstewardship.org
It wasn't easy for Art to start a Christian mutual fund; however, he took the risk because he knew that it would help other Christians.
What are you passionate about? How can you, by faith, transform that passion into making a difference for your community?
Next month, we'll continue to learn more about Art, but this time it will be from his perspective. We'll also look at his wife, Bonnie's perspective on Art and starting Timothy Plan.