Here is a subject I have always been curious about….

Here is a subject I have always been curious about. From the 60-80s was an interesting era for the Church of God. This was an era of Stewardship formations in COG.

The stock market for this era: “In January of 1966 the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a level of 990. It would continue trading in a range of roughly 600 to 1,000 over the following 17 years. It once again reached 990 in December of 1982 before finally breaking out and heading higher.”

“The Dow never dropped below 1,000 again.
This long, drawn out sideways market is one of the ultimate devil’s advocate positions for those that like to argue against stocks being a solid long-term investment. Although this was technically a sideways market we need to put some context around this time frame.” -http://awealthofcommonsense

Laura and I were in Atlanta working with her uncle’s residential construction as a laborer one summer between semesters at Lee. The housing market collapsed at that time and took years to recover.

The eighties were a bad time for stocks. ““Investment success accrues not so much to the brilliant as to the disciplined.” – William Bernstein. The COG had some brilliant stewards who launched an investment program for the denomination. Al Taylor was one of these men.

I was not in the know as to what was going on however we did get visitors from the church, influential leaders. There was small talk among the men about their investments, personal investments. Occasionally there was jesting as they compared investments. Often “Fannie and Ginnie Mae” were tossed about. I got the notion these men were making money and lots of money.

How extensive was this? There is nothing wrong with earning money however this seemed unhealthy to me, a unholy distraction. There was a lure for money as I observed it.

There is family wealth and business ownership that contributes to amassing wealth but this seemed to tie into the church and it’s ministry.

What are your thoughts?