John & Rosemary Redshaw
Like most Westerners I was immersed in a materialistic worldview from childhood and had passively assimilated that thinking. When I was born again at age 19, the Lord began to renew my mind in the area of finance. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” was a verse I frequently meditated upon and my core beliefs began to align with the Truth. In my 20’s, rather than put savings into term deposits in a bank, I invested them with a Christian charity so that the funds would be used for proclaiming God’s Word.
In my early 30’s, with a young family, a house, and a mortgage, I heard about Liberty Trust. I could see their values aligned with Bible teachings, so my wife and I began to give to Liberty Trust in 1997.
As years passed, my career developed, the children became older and my wife Rosemaree could work part-time. Through steady work and simple living (with generous giving), we became mortgage-free in our own home. Applying many of the same principles espoused by Liberty Trust, we then began lending interest-free to family and Christian friends, so they would become mortgage free too. We had the joy of seeing two more families become mortgage-free and “broke the back” of a third families mortgage.
In 2011 at the age of 46, I was able to resign from secular work and enter full-time vocational ministry – unpaid for the first six months. Rosemaree was still working part-time, but in early 2014 she also resigned from secular employment and joined me in full-time ministry. We now work with Crossing Cultures International doing church-based transferable training, currently operating in seven South Pacific countries.
One of the courses we teach is God’s Financial Principles, in partnership with Crown Financial Ministries, and one of the foundational texts is Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lords’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”. As one who recognizes God’s ownership of all, my greatest delight is to faithfully manage that which is His. And as followers of Christ, our primary, all-encompassing stewardship is that of the gospel!
John (& Rosemaree) Redshaw
March 2, 2018