Zacchaeus Finanacial Counseling Inc

My name is R. Joseph Ritter, Jr. CFP®, and I am the founder and president of Zacchaeus Financial Counseling, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving low-income households, households in crisis, and full-time ministers and missionaries with financial planning, coaching and counseling services. Our primary service area is the state of Florida and the Appalachian regions of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. Services are provided on demonstration of need without regard for the ability to pay.

 

As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) professional, my career is dedicated to working with the underserved and overlooked. My education includes a Masters degree in world mission and evangelism from Asbury Theological Seminary. My family and I stepped out in faith to operate the organization.

 

In February 2014, I attended a church conference representing Zacchaeus Financial Counseling, Inc. A young man approached the booth and engaged me in conversation on the topic of trusting God to provide financial support. He relayed to me stories of family members and friends who were called to the ministry, enrolled in Bible college, accrued student loan and credit card debt to pay for tuition and living expenses, and ended up working in secular jobs to pay off their debt.

 

At that moment, God laid on my heart the burden of ministering to young adults and help them avoid this trap. A ministry leader told me when young adults become trapped in debt, they wind up never fulfilling their call. Once debt is paid off, they remain in the more comfortable secular job.

 

"Debt is killing our missionary candidates." "Debt is a trap."

 

The video is a clip of Eric Kuhns passionately delivering a message at the Missions Convention on October 10, 2014 at Hobe Sound Bible Church in Hobe Sound, Florida. Eric and his family are active missionaries to Honduras under Hope International Missions. Eric succinctly highlights the problem.

 

Zacchaeus Financial Counseling, Inc. brings the solution.

 

You are supporting the cost of printing and distributing a pocket-size book. The title of the book is You're Called to the Ministry. Now What? This book will be placed into the hands of pastors, church leaders, mission boards, ministry leaders, educators and other influencers who are commonly the first to listen to a young adult's call to ministry. The book will be distributed at no cost. The purpose of the book is to guide and inform candidates for the ministry and missions and help them avoid the trap of debt and avoid being prevented from fulfilling their call.

 

Our goal is to raise $1,500 for the initial printing and first round of distribution of the book.

 

How many people have to continue suffering because ministers and missionaries never made it to the pulpit or field due to heavy debt loads? How many people have to feel badly because they cannot fulfill their call? How many people have to sit on the sidelines only being able to watch and not being able to participate in bringing people into God's kingdom?

 

"If God is holy and we are to be a holy people, can we use the world's ways to finance God's work?" "Should we apply holiness to the way we handle money?"

 

“What difference would it make in our churches and on our mission fields if young adults and individuals called to go trusted God by faith to provide what they needed to complete their education and preparation?"

 

The book provides examples of missionaries who faced their own challenges in support, carefully calculated their gaps, and relied on prayer, faith and trust in God to provide for the gaps. The reader is challenged to do the same – calculate the need and available resources, calculate any gaps, and develop his or her own life of prayer, faith and trust in God for the gaps. We cannot see God working unless we give Him space to work, and this book outlines how to give God space. When we see God working, we can praise Him and give Him glory, which adds to our witness and testimony.

 

As of October 31, 2014, the manuscript is out for editing, and the cover is complete. We expect this book to be fully available in print by the end of 2014. We are eager to begin distributing the book just as soon as it is printed, and we are asking your help to cover the cost of printing and distribution.