Shoes Make Hope Shine With Shawn Spurrier

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. Did you know that just one pair of shoes given to a child opens the door to share health, education, opportunity, and the love of Christ to a child in need in the world? Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls has been meeting this need for 25 years, providing more than 5 million pairs of shoes to children in some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. That's over 5 million opportunities to put a smile on a child's face and show the love of Christ to boys and girls living in desperate situations. Many times, these shoes introduce families to Christ-centered programs, helping them rise above poverty and achieve their God-given potential.

You can make that difference now. Join Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls in changing the lives of children across the world through the gift of shoes. Go to GiveShoesToday.org and give to the special organization.

That's GiveShoesToday.org. When you leave the house, one of the last things you do is something you take entirely for granted, putting on a pair of shoes. Hi, I'm Rob West.

That simple act isn't possible for millions of children in dozens of countries around the world because they have no shoes. Shawn Spurrier joins us today to talk about how you can help. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, we're delighted to have Shawn Spurrier on the program for the first time. Shawn is director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, an underwriter of this program, and I'm so excited to share this ministry with you. Shawn, great to have you on the program. It's great to be here.

Thank you so much. Shawn, you have a wonderful ministry, but it's possible that some of our listeners haven't heard of it. So why don't you begin with a brief overview of the ministry and its mission? Absolutely. So Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls is the largest humanitarian aid project of Buckner International, where our mission is to follow the example of Jesus by serving vulnerable children, families, and seniors. And one of the ways that we get to do that is through Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, where we come alongside believers in churches and businesses and families throughout the U.S. to provide new shoes for children throughout the world.

I love that. Let's talk about how that works. I know shoes are critical for not only health, but education and even opportunity, especially in underdeveloped countries.

So explain how that works. Absolutely. So in many of the countries we work in, children can't go to school without having a pair of shoes. So we're promoting education through providing that gift. Additionally, there are many foot-borne illnesses in some of the communities we work in that are entirely preventable from having a pair of shoes.

So we get to promote health in that way. And finally, many of the shoes we distribute provide an opportunity for Buckner Ministries to meet and come alongside children and families in their community, providing redemptive ministry for them right there. I know that paves the way for sharing the gospel. What does that look like as you're providing these shoes? Well, again, every pair of shoes is an opportunity to directly connect the child and let them know that they're loved, they're cared for, and they're not forgotten by us or by God.

Additionally, every pair of shoes will have an encouraging note to them, often expressing the love of Christ for them. And then again, like I said, every pair of shoes is often a start of a relationship between the recipient and Buckner Ministries where Christ-centered redemptive ministry is being done. I'd love for you to share a story that might help our listeners connect how donations to Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls can actually change the lives of these kids around the globe. Yeah, you know, I think of Cynthia in Kenya, a little 12-year-old that I just recently learned about. She lost both of her parents and was not only struggling with the emotional and relational trauma that comes with that, but also extreme poverty. She recently received a pair of shoes at her school, which is operated by Buckner, and that opened the door for our staff to learn more about her story and her needs. She's now in Buckner programming. She's thriving, growing in her confidence and in her faith. And one fun component to this is that she's kind of emerged in her confidence, and she just recently became the deputy president of her school, all because someone carried a burden for their neighbor by providing a pair of shoes.

Wow, that's incredible. Give us a picture of what the shoe distribution looks like. Take us on the ground and just kind of paint the picture for our listeners on how this happens. Yeah, so quite often on these distributions, sometimes they're happening on mission trips, and volunteers will very regularly end up with a child. They will literally wash their feet. They'll follow the example of Jesus in that way, give them a new pair of shoes, a new pair of socks, and just spend time with them to let them know that they're loved and they're cared for. And again, often this is a moment to introduce them to programming that will continue to reinforce that message for them.

Sean, this is incredible. If our listeners want to get involved, what does it look like for them to put a pair of shoes on a vulnerable child's feet somewhere around the globe? You know, there are a variety of ways that you can get involved with Buckner Shoes, but I would encourage your listeners today to visit GiveShoesToday.org, where they can provide health, education, hope, and opportunity through the gift of shoes right now. Every $15 will provide a pair of shoes for a child somewhere throughout the world. That's incredible. Folks, it's so simple to do. GiveShoesToday.org, and you can be a part of this life-changing ministry where not only is hope and health and opportunity being provided, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is being provided alongside this new pair of shoes for a vulnerable child.

GiveShoesToday.org. Sean, thanks for stopping by. Thank you so much for having me.

That's Sean Spurrier, Director of Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls. All right, folks, your calls are next, 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

So glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. All right, we've got lines open. We're ready for you to take your calls and questions today on anything financial. The number to call right now is 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000.

Our team is standing by. We'd love to take your call, get your question on the air, help you think about it in light of biblical principles and a biblical worldview and make a decision with confidence. Again, that number to call right now with your financial questions on any topic, 800-525-7000. We're going to begin in Twin Lakes today.

That's Wisconsin. Mike, go right ahead. Hi, thanks for taking my call. My wife and I are looking to purchase our first home in about a year, and we are a single income family.

I work. She stays in home schools, our four children. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea when it's time to get our mortgage to have her listed on the mortgage as well, or if it would be better to keep her off.

What I don't want is for something to happen to me and then her be responsible for it. So I just want to get your opinion on that. Yeah. Well, so you basically are looking to buy a new home. Is that right? You're not talking about the current home that you have?

Correct. We currently rent. We've been saving up, and we're looking to buy a home next spring.

Okay, very good. Yeah, when you do that, your wife, what I imagine, would want to stay in the home. But in either case, the estate would be responsible, whether she's on the mortgage or not, to take care of the outstanding balance. So whether she's looking to sell it and move to downsize to something, or she wants to continue to live there, if you were to pass away, that mortgage is going to need to be continued on. And typically, it would just automatically, they wouldn't require her to refinance because she's married to you. She would just be able to keep the marital home and continue paying on it. She would naturally be on the deed, I would expect, with the two of you. That would be a good idea so that it would speed up her taking ownership.

You wouldn't have to wait for that process to occur. But it really, I don't think there's a huge advantage one way or the other to her being on the mortgage. Typically, if her income is unnecessary, and in this case, with her being non-working, it wouldn't factor in. Often, she would not be on the mortgage because they're not looking to be able to count any income from her for your qualification. But that wouldn't really cause any problems. Again, the home would be hers.

She'd be responsible for that lien, and likely she would just continue those mortgage payments. Okay, perfect. That answers that. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Yeah, no problem. Just one clarification on that. Federal law actually requires this. The lender is required under federal law to allow her to assume that mortgage. If you're both on that mortgage, no brainer. If she's not, she would then assume it.

It would become her mortgage to the property that she's already on the deed for, and then she would just continue on from there. So, you can go either way, Mike, and if it's simpler just to have you on it, that would be no problem if you were to pass away first. Hey, thanks for being on the program today. We appreciate your call. All right, let's head to Northern Illinois. Hi, Helen. Thanks for your call. Go ahead. Oh, hello gentlemen.

Good afternoon. I had a couple garage sales on our block this weekend, and both neighbors are selling their homes. My daughter and her husband loves, loves, loves my neighbor's home.

It's a very modest home. So, they got married in June last year, and they got their condo, and they're all in their sign seal delivered. Now, they want to buy this cute little home and jump from the condo and maybe get this first home, but both are fortunate to be college educated and they're doing okay. One of the couple was late on a couple car payments, so the credit score wouldn't be too good, and they need a co-signer. So, my daughter just let me know that they could probably go forward if they had a co-signer, and she's asking me.

And I'm calling you to see. It just is like red flags, but on the flip side of the coin, I would love to be able to help my daughter get into a home, but I need to pray about it, and I'm just kind of wondering what you think about a parent co-signing for a married couple's home. Yeah, I'm going to discourage you from doing it, Helen, and here's why. I mean, God's word is very clear on this one. Proverbs 22, it says, Be not one of those who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts, and then it goes on to talk about how it can be really detrimental. And we see that other places in Scripture.

And let me just say, I completely understand why you would want to do this. I mean, obviously, we want what's best for our kids. We know they probably have a sincere desire to be able to get into this. They can demonstrate potentially to you, despite some of the challenges they've had in the past, how they have a reasonable plan to be able to continue to make those payments every month. And yet, I think the reason the Bible is so clear on this one is the data will tell us 50% of the time when you co-sign for someone, you will have to step in and make the payments and the collateral damage is more than just the financial, it ends up being relational. And that's why, you know, when we put ourselves in this position, we're obligating ourselves. And what will often happen is, because, you know, there's a reason that they don't qualify on their own, they either just don't have the financial stability to take on a loan of this size.

They don't, you know, have the longevity, you know, maybe they don't have the income history, or maybe the ratios aren't right. All of those are telling with regard to, you know, that denial or that high interest rate, which is more consistent with the level of risk that's being taken. And, you know, it just puts you in a position where if a situation outside of your daughter and son in law's control, she or they're unable to make these payments. And again, this may be something that is completely unforeseen, not of their doing, but let's say there was a loss of a job that was unexpected. Now you're being put in a position where either you're going to step in and pay it, or it's going to result in damage to both of your credit reports.

And in the case of a house, it's pretty significant because, you know, the worst case scenario is that it results in foreclosure that ends up leaving a huge deficiency balance because the home is sold, you know, for less potentially than it was purchased or, you know, a lot less. And now there's a balance that you and she are both obligated to step in for. So, you know, I think that's the reason why we need to look for another option here rather than you co-signing. And I realize that may mean she has to pass on a house that is perfect, you know, in every other criteria. And I realize that's difficult.

Yeah. Well, I'll be honest, my layers beneath all of this, as I was dialing you, I concur everything you're saying. You have answered my question, sir. And I feel very good about your answer. And I felt that way before I talked to you. I just feel very solid about the situation I'm in and what I need to do.

Well, I'm glad to hear that. And I think the key is to go into that conversation really prayed up. And I think you clearly want to communicate your desire.

Listen, I love you and I want to help you and I want to be there for you. But I also need to do it in a way that's God honoring and, you know, is setting us up for success in the future in terms of our relationship. And so I'm going to be there to walk alongside you every step of the way. This is just not the way to do it. And, you know, maybe there's an opportunity for you, you know, at some point in the future to make a gift to her.

Or maybe there's another way that you can help support her. But I think this particular one, it's clear that you already had a check in your spirit. And I'm delighted to hear that we could help you just confirm that.

And this is one of those where there is a pretty good amount of clarity in God's Word. So thanks for your call today, Helen. I appreciate you being on the program. If we can help with anything else, let us know. Folks, we're going to take a quick break. By the way, if you want to support our work here at Faith and Finance, just go to faithfi.com and click Give.

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Soundmindinvesting.org. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today. Let's head right back to the phones to Chicago.

Hi, Michael. How can I help? Yes. I have a question regarding my retirement plan and my beneficiary. I have a 457 retirement plan and I have my beneficiary as my wife. If something should happen to me, obviously she would get the money. But I was wondering, since she doesn't have any retirement income set up, would she be able to roll it over to her as she would be able to make it as her retirement savings so that she wouldn't get hit so hard on the taxes? That's exactly right.

So as a beneficiary, your wife could roll over the 457 retirement plan, which is just like a 401k, but a different section of the tax code because you're a government worker, probably. Is that right? Correct.

Yeah. So she'd be able to roll that over into most other retirement account types, her own 401k, or in the case of her not having a company sponsored plan or access to a plan, she would roll that over into a traditional IRA, an individual retirement account. That would preserve that tax deferred environment. That would not be a taxable event. And then she could just continue to allow that to grow.

She would only pay taxes on it as it comes out whenever she chose to do that. Excellent. And there's nothing I can do to prepare that other than give her instructions. That's exactly right.

And make sure that she is the named beneficiary on that 457 account. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. All right, Michael. Yes, sir. Thank you for your call today.

To Fort Lauderdale, Tavia, how can I help? Hi, I'm calling because I got in touch with a Christian credit counselor. I have about $9,000 to $10,000 in credit card debt, and they were able to break it down how the whole program works. But I'm just wondering how that will look in the eyes of a lender for future financing, because I am looking to purchase a home within the next year.

So I'm just kind of worried, you know, how that will look. Sure. What is your credit score today? My credit score is about 620.

Okay. And what is your credit utilization? Do you know what this nine or 10,000, what percent it is of the total credit available to you today? Yes, it's all very high.

All of my credit cards are maxed out. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

So here's the thing. The fact that you're in a credit counseling program does not factor into your credit score. It's not a part of the credit scoring algorithm. So if you can use credit counseling to get on a plan through lower interest rates and a level monthly payment to get those balances coming down, the lowering of your credit utilization, meaning the outstanding balances as you pay them down, become, you know, a smaller percentage of the total available to you is actually going to drive your score up.

Now, what's the downside, if any? The only potential downside is that it will be noted on your credit report that you're in a debt management program. Again, it doesn't factor into the credit score. Could a lender choose to use that against you?

Sure, they can do whatever they want. But in my view, you already have a low score. And so anything that's going to help you drive those balances down as quickly as possible, which is going to come through the lower interest rates. And by the way, even on credit counseling, if you can dial back your lifestyle and cut your spending and send extra beyond the scheduled level monthly payment, that's just going to pull those balances down even quicker.

That's going to do more to get your score up and become more attractive to a lender than any harm that would be done by that notation, in my view. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes perfect sense. Thank you so much. And I really enjoy your program. Thank you. Well, thank you, Tavia. I appreciate that.

Let's go to Tampa. Hi, Lily. How can I help? Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Yes, ma'am. I needed some advice. My husband passed away over 10 years ago and I was left with, maybe I have left from the inheritance, about $150,000. And that five years ago, I put maybe like 40 in a CD and the five years are almost up. And then I have like $100,000 sitting in a savings account, making zero interest because it's in a savings account. And I just wanted to know what you can advise me on if I'm 65 years old. So I don't want to do a high risk, but I feel like it's just sitting there and it's not making anything.

And I just wanted to know if you can advise me on what can I do to make at least something in interest rather than just sit there. And I use it and I can't have it whole because I also, if I have emergency, I sometimes go in to use that money because I'm living on Social Security and on my retirement. Yeah, very good. So with the $150,000, are you drawing any out currently just for regular routine monthly expenses or only when you have something unexpected? Only when I have something unexpected. I have two retirements in the Social Security and that seems to keep me afloat. Good.

Okay, great. What do you think you spend on a monthly basis, roughly? Probably about $3,000. Okay, let's say it's $3,500, okay? And let's say we wanted to keep six months worth of expenses liquid. That'd be about $20,000, $21,000.

Let's say we bump that up to $25,000 just to be safe. What I'd love to see you do is take $25,000 as your emergency fund, leave it in savings, but move it to a high yield savings account. You can get 4.5% on high yield savings right now with FDIC insurance backed by the US government. You'd probably have to use an online bank and I'd go to bankrate.com.

If you click on high yield savings, you'll see a list of the five star rated FDIC insured banks that are offering the best interest rates right now. You could move that $25,000, which would be your emergency savings to that account. And then what I'd do is take the $125,000 and connect with an investment advisor who could invest that for you.

It'd be very conservative. The goal would be to probably have the majority of it in bonds or fixed income type investments that are very conservative and then a smaller portion in stocks that could grow over time. If you wanted to, I would be comfortable with you pulling out of that about $5,000 a year, but if you didn't need it, you could just let it continue to grow. Now, if we got into a recession, it could pull back because you're invested in stocks and bonds, but you do it in such a way that it'd be conservative and you got to take a long view.

Even though you're in retirement, if the Lord tarries and you're in good health, you need this money to last for decades and the way you overcome inflation is by investing it with a properly diversified portfolio. So I'd head to our website, faithfind.com, click find a professional to find a CKA. Hey, let me also mention that Faith and Finance is listener supported.

We can only bring you this broadcast based on your generous support. If you'd like to become a monthly partner of ours here at Faith and Finance Live, just go to faithfind.com and click give. That's faithfi.com and click give. And that would go a long way to helping us continue to equip you, encourage you as a steward of God's resources.

Again, faithfi.com and click give. Well, folks, that's going to do it for us today. Man, we've covered a lot of ground, always grateful for your calls and the incredible questions and for your desire to be found faithful as a steward. That's our goal here. We want to help you see God as your ultimate treasure.

Money is a tool to accomplish his purposes and then help you make practical decisions and choices through the lens of a biblical worldview. I hope we did that and encouraged you along the way. On behalf of my team today, Robert Sutherland, Devin Patrick and Robert Youngblood.

Couldn't do it without them. I'm Rob West. This has been Faith and Finance. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.