David Wisen: Investment Manager

I alway struggle answering the simple question: "What do you do"? I have worn several different hats and been involved in several businesses, and over the past 20 years the answer to that question has included analyst, stock/commodity trader, real estate developer, baker, and president of the Van Kampen Group. Add to that husband, father, coach, elder...and now Pastor. For the past five years, my business card has simply listed my title as "Bondslave of Jesus Christ". This created a platform for my testimony in the business community. Now that I am a pastor, I think I am going to use reverse logic and refer to myself as an "Investment Manager". I am beginning to realize that the roles of managing money and pastoring are similar in many ways.  For instance;

1. I am entrusted with something of Great Value.  For years I was responsible for dollars. I would make investments with the objective of creating additional wealth. For years, I would check Asian markets before breakfast, read whatever research I could find, and go to bed checking market futures. As a pastor, the dollar has been replaced with people. Acts 20:28 says "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." I have been entrusted with something of highest value - the thing Jesus died for. I am held accountable for how I manage this investment. That is why I wake up praying for our church. I bear the weight of delivering the Gospel. I share the pain of those I counsel. I used to be responsible for hundreds of millions - the stakes are much higher now. 
2. The Opportunity for Profits are Greatest when Markets are Volatile. My first day trading in the commodity pits in Chicago occurred in October, 1987. It was the monday following what became known as Black Friday, one of the worst days in market history. I have invested through the S&L crisis of the '80's; the "go-go" '90's; the tech crash of 2000; 9/11, and the real estate crash of 2007. Markets, like life, have their ups and downs, and the successful investor is most active when markets are most volatile. Because prices are moving rapidly, the opportunity to make money is accelerated. The same principle is proving true in my role as pastor. I have to be available to people when they are in the crisis. These are the moments where my investment into people can pay the largest dividend. Sometimes, life's storms create a season where people's receptiveness to the truths of God's Word is amplified. Crisis creates opportunity and to be an effective pastor I need to be aware of these moments and seize the opportunity. 
3. The Harvest is Unpredictable. The first real estate deal I made was my most profitable. Often, the years where I earned the lowest return were the years I worked the hardest, and vice-versa. I would battle through difficult markets, with little to show for my efforts. Then, the markets would unexpectedly turn, and I would be positioned to reap the fruit that was sown in the difficult season. As a pastor, I have little ability to see which lives I am impacting and when the Holy Spirit will grip someone's heart. I am called to enduring faithfulness - God controls the harvest. There is great comfort in that.
4. The Act of Investing Creates Investment Opportunities. Often, being active in investments leads to new opportunities. Someone would see a real estate development we were involved in and contact us with another potential deal. I would invest in a stock and while I was reviewing the position I would look at other companies in the same business segment. This would sometimes help me identify even better investments. As a pastor, I sometimes invest into one life and realize that the investment in discipling that person leads to a greater opportunity with a family member, friend, or co-worker. The fruit of our efforts might make a slight impact in our "target", but be used by God in ways we could have never anticipated. 
5. My Performance is Measurable. When I was responsible for investing dollars, it was easy to measure my performance. Each year, the return I earned was reduced to a percentage, with the profits earned divided by the funds invested. My return could easily be compared to the S&P 500, Bond yields, and other indices to evaluate my performance. To my knowledge, there is no indices that measure the performance of a pastor. My "performance" cannot be evaluated by attendance, baptisms, or percentage of people involved in small groups. That said, my performance is quite measurable. It is not defined by comparing it to some standard, it is measured by the Standard-Giver. 1 Peter 5:1-4 says: "So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight...being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." My performance will be accurately measured because the one measuring is All-Knowing, Almighty God. Having my performance determined by comparing my return to an index creates accountability. Giving account to God for those He has entrusted to my care creates fear and soberness.

I was always thankful for the trust that was shown when I was entrusted with funds to invest. How much more should this be true when Jesus has entrusted to me His Church. That is a perspective worth remembering.