- So coming up next, I'm going to talk to a couple
who's been giving back for years.
They have been coordinating our
Financial Peace University classes for a while now.
Financial Peace University is our proven program
that will teach you how to never worry about money again.
And the reason why they started coordinating classes
is because of how it effected their lives.
So they want to actually give back to others.
So let's hear more about their story.
- We had to shut the business down in 2011.
We suddenly, in one week, just went to a situation
where we didn't know where our next income
was gonna come from.
- There were a sequence of events that happened.
One of them was a financial crisis at the bank.
We didn't have the money.
We just, we didn't have it.
We had finally got the point, we just didn't have it.
- We had bought a business in 2002 after moving to Chicago,
actually done quite well in the first four and half years.
But then shortly after that, we got into a partnership,
and that partnership just fell apart within a year.
- We were spending all of our time,
all of our resources, all of our energy in the business.
We were giving it everything we had to keep it going.
- It was to a point where,
we had no idea that we were gonna shut the business down,
really, going up until that week we shut the business down.
- And then Sunday night we had to call all the employees
and it was a very tearful night.
And it was . . .
There was a lot of . . .
We were unemploying people as well as ourselves.
At that point, you can't even see what's on the other side.
You can only see the hole that you're in.
- Two gentlemen came into our lives during that summer
and the second one of the two actually was the one
that invited us to the church.
A few weeks later the church actually . . .
- They were advertising that the class was gonna start.
So we're, "Oh, we need that 'cause now
the business is closed, we're unemployed,
and we're in crisis mode."
And then we took the class and had two amazing leaders
who walked with us through some
pretty major decisions that we had to make.
When we let that go for the first time
and said, "The business has to go,"
the peace that defies all understanding,
which is only describable once you feel it,
descended on us.
- And I remember very distinctly,
Cindy and I, we were sitting in the car of a parking lot,
we were in the parking lot for dinner
and she said, "This is gonna get used somehow."
And it was just a passing statement, it wasn't a plan,
it wasn't something or other that we foresaw,
it was just a statement that she had made.
But immediately, as soon as that class was over,
it was like, you know, we wanna be a coordinator,
we're going to be a facilitator.
And so we just got into the next class
the very next semester.
Been doing it ever since.
- Give it a hoot
'cause you're all gonna be debt free.
- I'm so thankful that you guys are here on the show
because of this whole episode talking about giving.
You guys are giving in such a unique way
by being Financial Peace University Coordinators.
So, I love just getting to sit down
and talk to you guys about that because it's been . . . seven years?
Is that right?
- Yeah, time flies.
- Yes, I know, I know.
And how many classes total?
- I think we kind of lost track—
16, 17, something like that. - 17 classes.
So, you have story after story of families and situations,
people going through their journeys,
and you get front row seat,
is what we like to say, into that.
So, I wanna know, first and foremost,
what even caused you to start coordinating classes?
- It was kind of one of those things
where it just felt very natural.
There was an invitation from leadership
and that invitation, we just kind of jumped on it.
Some of the reason we do it is, it does
keep us accountable to the process.
And it's ever-changing,
we've gone through some life changes
moving here to Nashville.
- What's your favorite part about
being a Financial Peace University coordinator.
- The hope.
So many people come and,
whether they're in crisis or not,
there's a point, it's different for everyone,
at which they go through the process,
the light bulb of hope comes on,
and for me, it's always like seeing
the sun after a really bad storm.
It just lights up the room, and it lights up them,
and we get to share in that.
It's not anything that we did,
we just walked through it with them.
We didn't have to guide them anywhere,
we just walk with them
and then they share that hope with us.
- So, for you guys, as you're sitting back
and you're looking back after years of classes,
is there that one couple or that one person
in your mind that you always thing about
when you say, "Okay, we're gonna recommit
and teach another Financial Peace University class."
'Cause there's that one person,
that one couple, in your mind?
- There was a particular group that we had
and it seemed like it was all single mothers
or people that were going,
there was a lady that was going through divorce,
and there was just some difficulty.
About week three, four, all of a sudden
this gal was gonna have to move out of a house,
and everybody in the group collectively,
at some point over about a two or three day period,
just showed up and helped her move.
It's stuff like that, it blows you away.
- It's amazing.
So when you're coordinating something like
Financial Peace University,
there are some intimidating topics, right?
I mean, you're talking about everything
from paying off debt to insurance
to buying a home and mortgages, all of it.
And having coordinators like you all
to walk people through those . . .
'Cause to be a coordinator,
you don't have to have a PhD and have a master's degree
and all of these things by any means.
But you're able to help people walk through,
okay, this is what this means and you're given the tools,
I know, equipped to help that as a coordinator.
- A lot of it is just listening.
Sometimes people have an emotional issue,
they don't feel that they can do something,
something is too big.
So they just need to talk it out
and once they talk it out then . . .
Now it's small.
- Yes, totally.
The big scary thing ends up being,
"Oh, it's just this," once it's verbalized
and there's a plan in place, all of that.
- And one of our favorite things to do is,
kind of around week two or three,
Mike'll ask, "If you are out of debt,
what could you do today that you're not doing?
In what way could you serve?"
- I love that because it totally hones in
on the point that debt's a thief, right?
It steals your money so you're not
financially able to do things,
but it steals your time, it steals your emotional capacity,
and when you're out of that, there's so many factors
other than just money that come into play,
and I love that you paint that picture.
That's such a great question to ask.
You live like no one else, later you get to
live and give like no one else.
And you guys are the perfect example of that, seriously.
You're incredible coordinators,
you've walked with so many families.
So, from my heart to yours, again,
just thank you, thank you so much.
- We thank you for the class,
it's been wonderful for our own life but, yeah.
We get to meet a whole lot of really cool people.