Treasury Management - Another Church Dao Idea

Matthew 25:25 “I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.”

One thing I’ve noticed about churches is that they tend to be somewhat risk averse when it comes to money. The thinking is generally that the job of a church is not to make money, it’s to spend it. So we collect tithes and offerings, we allocate that to ministries and missions that help get people closer to God. If there’s some surplus then so be it, but the surplus should be kept very safe.

At our church, where we have lots of people from the finance and tech industries, there is a huge risk appetite and ability to generate exponential returns within our congregation. But when it comes to the church coffers, no one wants to take the risk to put the millions in our treasury to work in higher-yielding assets.

If things go great, no one will notice. But even if we invest in 10 assets that do well as a portfolio, at least one of them will lose money and someone could come demanding an explanation for that piece. It’s all downside and no upside.

It somewhat reminds me of the parable of the talents. When a master returns and sees two servants who multiplied his initial gift, he praised them. “Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.” But then the third replied that he had hid the talent in the ground, “because you are a hard man reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.” Jesus calls him wicked and slothful, then takes his talent away and gives it to the others.

I was thinking of a way to alleviate this internal tension. How can we be good stewards while at the same time protecting church leadership? Someone gave me this idea that if a congregant gave their offering to the church in a risky asset like crypto, with an accompanying letter that their preference was to keep it there until the church needed it for ministry, the problem would go away. A small gift might also turn into enough to buy a building over 5 or 10 years, but no one would have cause for concern because the gift was given with these wishes.

I then asked my friend Jason from the Algorand Foundation how he’d construct a portfolio like this. “I basically don’t want to touch it for 10 years, because I don’t want to put the burden of rebalancing on the church staff who are already so swamped. What do you think?” He replied

“This space is changing so fast. I don’t think anyone knows what a good portfolio will be in one year, let alone in ten years! But what I’d do is set up a trust where your church is the sole beneficiary and you know any money will end up in their hands. They can draw down on it at any point, but in the meantime you can have a few trustees who check in once every few months to rebalance and make sure the portfolio’s in line with current trends.”

Then he lit up and added, “actually, if you set that up I’d love to give to my church through a vehicle like that. In fact, there are lots of believers who have made a lot of money on crypto, but they can’t sell and give cash for one reason or another. Sometimes it would trigger cap gains tax, sometimes their overly conservative, anti-crypto banks might give them a hard time. But if they could donate crypto directly to ministries there are billions of dollars that would open up to support people getting closer to Jesus.”

I’ve written before about some ideas for a Christian DAO, and this conversation got me excited about another idea. Secular DAOs like the LAO have set up decentralized venture capital funds to leverage the power of the community in earning outsized returns. What if a DAO could do that for churches? There could be so much more resourcing for the kingdom.

Stay tuned… :)

Lord, thank you for opportunities to demonstrate faith. Thank you for talents and minas that you bestow upon us to multiply for the kingdom. We have no idea what is in store, but we know it’s good. Because you are good. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Glorify

Psalm 86:9 “All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord. And they shall glorify your name.”

Yesterday my colleague sent me an announcement that Glorify, an app that helps Christians strengthen their daily connection with God, recently announced a $40M Series B led by Softbank Latin America Fund. This comes just a few months after the announcement of a $40M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz in December. The company’s backers also include a long list of celebrities such as Kris Jenner, Jason Derulo and Michael Bublé.

The company was started in 2020, and check out how far they’ve come in a couple years.

“Glorify currently serves over 2.2M users, who spend over 204M minutes of meditation and prayer daily on the platform. With over 20M Daily Worships completed, the app has also amassed 300,000 reviews, with users stating that the app helps them take the time to reconnect with their spirituality and has changed their daily routines for the better.”

I’m really encouraged at their progress. 2.5 billion people around the world believe in Jesus. It’s a really big market, and it hasn’t always had the strongest products serving it. I’m praying for Glorify to bring more of God’s glory to the nations. I’m also praying for more great companies who leverage tech and media to bring billions into a more intimate love relationship with the big guy upstairs.

Lord, thank you for inspiration. I pray that you bless Ed, Henry and the Glorify team as they build for a better world, and a body of believers yearning for more of your presence. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Loss

Job 1:21 “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

So a friend of mine passed away last week. He was younger than me, and left behind a lovely wife and five beautiful boys. He had been in a coma for nine months, and every week during that time, some really faithful friends organized a prayer and worship session to contend for his supernatural healing.

After the wake and funeral last week, these friends organized the final online session last night, and I was really blown away. His wife shared about God’s goodness in the midst of an incredibly difficult journey, and expressed her thanks to Him and the community for standing by. Dozens of friends and family joined in to pray and worship, and the session ended with a pastor sharing some words of encouragement. [I paraphrase.]

“Many of you have been praying for miraculous healing, and we always face a tough choice in circumstances like these. If we have less faith, then we can protect ourselves from disappointment. If we have more faith and pray for the supernatural, we are definitely more likely to see miracles. But we also open ourselves up to getting demoralized if things don’t work out.”

The pastor prayed for everyone who was grieving, especially the family. But then he said a prayer for those who were feeling a sense of disappointment after contending for so long. I have no idea how the passing of such an amazing person, at such a premature age, leaving such a young family behind can be a good thing. We can’t understand his ways, because they’re greater than our ways.

No doubt there is a place for grieving. No doubt there is incredible loss. Yet I’m so encouraged to see everyone pursuing God with unshakeable faith in the midst of this trial. Someday we’ll get to heaven and see our friend. In that moment, God will show us why all this makes sense, even though we can’t reconcile it right now.

For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.

Dear God, thank you for the gift of life. Though we don’t understand it we worship you in the midst of loss. For you give and you take away. Blessed be your name. Amen.