Episode 20: Passive Income, Active Faith: Building WEALTH God's Way with James Pelton (Entrepreneur & Investor)
What does it mean (and look like) to build and manage wealth God's way?
Today, we're sitting down with James Pelton – entrepreneur, investor, YouTuber with 52,000+ subscribers, passive income expert, husband, dad, and whole-hearted follower of Jesus.
In a world where we often have complicated and conflicting relationships with money, James walks us through his own journey of untangling those threads - with powerful testimonies that will encourage and inspire you.
Join us for an eye-opening conversation on how to view finances through the lens of faith, as James shares about following God’s Word in finances, entrepreneurship, business, and more.
Get ready to glean from the invaluable lessons James has learned (and continues to learn) on how to cultivate a healthy, God-centered approach to work, money, and wealth-building in ways that bring TRUE peace, joy, and freedom - regardless of our circumstances.
TOPICS:
0:00 - Intro
2:40 - James' relationship with money growing up
6:05 - Being financially wise while exercising radical faith (without being "reckless")
9:12 - The power of radical giving
11:23 - Living by faith when it comes to our finances
13:32 - How God has showed up in James' entrepreneurship, crypto, & wealth-building journey
22:13 - Seeking God vs. God and other things
25:33 - Mindset shift to guard your heart against FOMO over endless money-making opportunities
30:22 - Differences between worldly vs. Kingdom approach to money
33:56 - Practical examples of exercising faith regarding our finances (vs. overplanning)
42:09 - How James balances all his responsibilities without following hustle culture
45:27 - The supernatural productivity of prayer (vs. own efforts)
49:39 - What led James to share more boldly about Jesus
54:19 - What James learned from getting rich
56:39 - God's abundance & timing
1:00:14 - Practical step
1:05:21 - A prayer for you ❤️
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
James Pelton is an investor and YouTuber who loves Jesus and helping others achieve financial freedom. Check out James' free video resources on his YouTube channel. You can contact him at jpelton722[at]gmail.com.
GET MORE HELPFUL RESOURCES IN THE EPISODE REFLECT & APPLY GUIDE
Transcript
What does it look like to approach wealth-building God's way?
Today's guest earns close to a thousand dollars a day in passive income. Yes, a day, not a week, not a month, a thousand dollars a DAY.
And he's also a crypto enthusiast, a stock enthusiast, and he helps tens of thousands of people regularly learn how to manage their finances and make investments.
But he's also passionate about Jesus, as you will be able to tell in this episode. He's not just about knowing God's Word, but really living it out in his everyday life, finances, work, family, and all areas. So you are in for a treat today as we navigate this increasingly important yet difficult tension to walk, in terms of how do we create wealth, how do we manage our finances, while how do we make sure our hearts are aligned with God?
Everyone, welcome back to the podcast!
We're so excited you're here with us today because we have a very special guest. His name is James Pelton, and I will actually let Alex introduce him since you guys have been talking a lot more lately.
Yeah, I've been super excited about this topic. The topic of finances and faith. I just love this topic because I myself am so interested in economics and finances and how to maximize finances, but also not lose your soul in all that, right? And James is one of the best people to talk to about this.
How I met James was I was actually part of a crypto cohort, just learning how to make money in crypto, and James was one of the guest speakers. And then I started following his YouTube, and he started talking about his faith, and I just thought, wow, there are crypto people who can talk about their faith.
That's rare.
It's super, super rare. And so I reached out and had several conversations with James.
And Alex also sent me James's videos, and I became a fan, and I was like, oh my gosh, who is this guy? He's so open and unashamed about his faith and also very smart with finance. So both of us got in touch with James. And yeah, he's been sharing so much wisdom with both of us, including Alex.
Yeah, definitely, yes. So, we're so excited to have James on this and just would love to glean from all of his insights. So welcome to the podcast, James!
Thank you so much. That was such a wonderful intro. I'm tearing up here. Thank you guys so much thanks for having me. It's an honor, honor to be here. Really looking forward to it.
So, we would love to start off this podcast episode with just understanding more of your background. So when I'm talking with people, especially in the context of money, I’ve found that many people's current behaviors, mindsets, and belief systems stem from their childhood or their background, their parents.
And a lot of people have a complicated relationship with money. Some people think you shouldn't build wealth. It's associated with greed and sin.
But then, on the other side, there's the poverty gospel where you give everything away and be poor.
So I was wondering, for you, James, growing up, what was your family's relationship with money like?
Yeah, that's a great question, and it really did shape me as I got older. So I was... We had six kids. My dad had a good job, but when you have six kids, you're just not very wealthy, no matter how much money you make. You just end up, you know, having to budget. And we were very limited. We didn't go out to eat. When we went out to eat, it was like no drinks ever. You know, you're only drinking water. And I remember a really defining moment for me was when I was probably eight or nine years old.
We went to Chuck E. Cheese, and you guys know Chuck E. Cheese, right? You have that. Okay. Okay, totally. Yeah. Not just a Nebraska thing, but yeah. And then my dad would buy, like, 60 tokens, and then we'd have to ration them. It's like, you each get 10 tokens. So you can do 10 games total, and I remember I, you know, so carefully pick out my 10 games, but then I was like, man, that's all I have.
And I remember thinking, man, you know what true happiness would be? Unlimited tokens at Chuck E. Cheese. And I remember thinking as an eight or nine-year-old, I'm going to get that someday. I'm gonna have unlimited tokens at Chuck E. Cheese. And that was really a driving force for me as a child. And that's, I think, part of what sparked a lot of my entrepreneurship was, you know, eventually it went beyond just Chuck E. Cheese tokens. But it was, man, I don't want to be limited in what I have. That really shaped me early in my journey.
I never realized, like now looking back, I definitely had that moment, too. When you would see the other kids and their buckets, and they had so many coins and so many tickets, and then you're over here like, oh, I only have these little five.
Totally, yeah, or kids, you know, buying Happy Meals at McDonald's. My parents were like, no, we're not going to do that. We don't need a toy, you know, like... But I like toys. But yeah, no, that's just... That shaped me from an early age for sure.
Both me and Alex could definitely relate. We did an episode previously, talking about our parents, too, and how we also were rationing things. And we thought it was really good to save, and of course, you want to invest, but like, saving is a big part of it. But it almost creates this unhealthy oversaving mentality sometimes, and you're hoarding out of a poverty mindset.
And I think we actually still see that a lot in terms of the narratives in society, like, you have to save, you have to do this in order to get rich, to get a lot of money, you have to do XYZ, it's very formulaic. And I think we're just really curious to hear from you, James, like, from that child stage to now, and I mean, even now as an adult, how do you grapple with that tension of like, you want to be wise with saving and investing and all that, but you also don't want to have a poverty mentality about things, you want to be able to buy drinks when your family wants it, but you don't want to be reckless? How do you balance that tension?
Yeah. Well, you know, so I'm just going to preface this with what I say is not necessarily... This is not financial advice, so this is not necessarily for everyone, but this is where the Lord has brought me in my journey.
I went through this phase of just hustle and entrepreneurship. And there was a verse that really shaped even my entrepreneurship. I think it's Psalm 127, but it says, "In vain do you rise up early and go to bed late, for the Lord gives to his beloved even in their sleep."
And I read that and I was really convicted that, no, I rely... What entrepreneurism from the world tells me is that my hustle is going to be what accomplishes all the things that I want to accomplish in this world.
And then when I read that, I was really convicted because I was like, "Well, I don't really, as a Christian entrepreneur, I don't look any different than the world's entrepreneurs. I'm doing the same thing. I'm relying on my hustle and my cleverness and this and that."
And so just over time over the last few years, even, God is just really… I think He's called me to be very radical with my finances in a way that the world... I want what Paul says. He says, "If there's no resurrection from the dead, if we live in this life only, we're of all men most to be pitied."
I want my life to just be so radically different than the world around me that they say, 'Wow, you're crazy. What are you doing?'" And then I can tell them, you know, 1 Peter says, "Be ready to give a defense for anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that's in you." And so I want to be that. I want to be radical, where people are saying, "You're weird. Why are you weird?"
And I can say, "Because I believe that the God who created the heavens and the earth is taking care of me.” “It's His pleasure,” Luke says, “to give me, His child, the kingdom. And so I'm not going to go around being worried."
Jesus specifically says, "Don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, what you're going to drink." He says, "The Gentiles seek those things, but you, your Father will give you those things."
And so I just want to live this life of radical faith where I just... I know that God will take care of me, no matter what happens.
And I think we get worried by, like, prosperity gospel teaching and things like that. We're like, “okay, God's going to take care of me. So, God, I want a Ferrari. So, I know that You're going to give this Ferrari to me. I trust that You're going to give me this Ferrari.”
And, you know, I'm not against... I drive a Tesla Model S, I really enjoy it. Probably my most prized earthly possession, but I know it's going to burn up someday, so I don't... You know, I don't love it too much.
But what God, what I found God has called me to is really radical giving. So people have come into my life, bringing different needs at different times. And, you know, sometimes people look at my financial situation and they say, "Wow, you're probably super comfortable, never worried about money."
But God's brought some needs into my life that it's like, man, if I take care of this, I'm going to be really stretched financially. Like, this is going to be a challenge for me. And then, at first, it was kind of like, you dip your toe in, like, okay, God, I'll try to do this, but I'm not really comfortable with this.
And then you see, "Wow, He took care of me above and beyond," which, again, is what Ephesians says. It says, "My God will provide all your needs in abundance." Right? He'll go beyond even what you think you need.
And so then you dip your toe in a couple of times, but then you see, "Oh, wow. He radically took care of that for me." And then you're just like, "Oh, I want to trust You with more because it's cool to just see You faithful with this."
And so, even like that conference last week, I'm like, "I'm going to trust God that He's going to bring the words to say," and He just... Every time I've trusted Him with anything, He's always been faithful in it.
And so, yeah, that was a big monologue. There's a lot in there. I don't even remember what the original question was, but that's been my philosophy.
Well, first of all, yeah, for people's context, the conference you're talking about where you weren't even prepared, you just went up there. You quoted that passage from Luke. I think you said we're... Yeah, I mean, you could say it better. Do you want to give people context?
Well, in Luke, I've read this verse and I've never... I used to be like a preacher. I would preach, and I always read this verse and be like, what does that mean? Jesus tells the disciples, He says, you're going to stand before governors and rulers and He says, give no thought beforehand to what you're going to say because the Spirit will give you the words.
And when I was preaching, you know, I was preaching in front of a church of a thousand people and I was like, I cannot go into this unprepared. I'm going to make a complete fool. Like, I'm not going to say anything coherent. But I always wrestled with that verse.
And so when I got invited to this conference, I'm in this journey recently of just, you know, if God's Word says it, I'm just going to trust it. I'm going to trust God to deliver. I'm going to risk looking like a fool. I'm going to risk going broke. I'm going to risk, you know, whatever. I don't think it's a risk if God has made promises behind it.
And so, yeah, I went into this conference. On the plane even there, I was like, I was talking to my wife before we took off and I was like, I think I'm not going to prepare anything. She says, "Well, maybe, maybe like an outline or something of what you might say." And I just felt from the Lord, "No, I'm just going to trust."
And the same has been happening with finances and giving. But what I often see Christians do is they budget and then they're like, "Okay, I budgeted. I've made sure all my expenses are taken care of. Now, what's left over that I could probably give away?"
And I'd like Christians to flip that all around. I think that's the way the world does it. They do that exact same thing. They budget everything. “What's left over? I'll be generous with that.” But I'd like this to flip that over and say, "Hey, Lord. What needs are you going to bring to me?"
In Philippians, it says that they gave out of their poverty. And so I'd like to see Christians just- Actually, I'll show this here, but I actually have- I bought two first-century mites. I keep them on my desk. But that's when the widow went into the temple and all these other people were giving in tons of money. And then this widow came up with two pennies, she put them in and Jesus said she gave more than all of them. They gave out of their excess, she gave trusting God, she gave everything she had to live on.
And that's been something... That's been something I've tried to... Just see that, and, "Hey, I'm going to give first to the needs God's bringing into my life, and then what's left over, that's going to cover my expenses." And I trust it's going to... It's going to work out. And it has up to this point.
Wow. There are so many directions we can go with that. I should have asked you this in the beginning for our viewers, but could you share a little bit about your journey from entrepreneurship to crypto? You said you're pretty radical with finances. I think crypto is pretty radical, but yeah, that's true. Share about your journey with that. And also, how is your relationship with finances and the Lord during each of those seasons?
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
So, yeah, I grew up... kind of in poverty, not poverty. That's too strong. But I didn't have everything I wanted. We'll put it that way. And so then when I got into... college, you know, I started doing computer programming, and eventually I just... I really wanted to run my own business because I didn't want to rely on my boss giving me a raise as my only way that I could make more money. I was like, I want to be able to create my own stuff.
And I don't have entrepreneurship in my family. They all kind of told me, "No, that's not how money works. You... You go work for someone. They pay you." And I was like, I don't know. I'm looking around and I see other people online. I think like YouTube and that type of stuff, I think, is really helped entrepreneurs. Because, you know, in the '90s, you didn't get to hear all these cool stories from random people. And the internet wasn't what it was, so it was a lot harder to go start your own business and go do your own thing.
But I kind of made a plan. I'm like, I think I can start my own business. I don't think I need to rely on an employer. And my wife's out here, so I don't want to say it, but even my wife was like... Why can't you just... She... I remember saying, "Why can't you just be a normal person? Like, why are you- why are you this way?"
And, I was like, “I don't know. I was just... For the Lord, how He's built me, I just don't want to do that.”
I feel like that’s me and Alex, where he’s like, "Why can't you just be a normal person?”
“Just get a normal W-2 job."
Yeah, exactly. My wife's like, "Why do you want to do all this crazy stuff?” And to be fair, I put my wife through a lot of failed businesses, too. And, like, I've had a lot of business ideas, and most of them did not work out. And that's true of most entrepreneurs, I think.
So I started my own business. I wrote software that sends out mass text messages, and that started to catch on. I actually started with churches. They were kind of my main audience at first, and it just grew, grew, grew.
And I started making a lot of money. And so I would say, at first, for sure, there was, like, I built my dream house. I bought my dream car. I was excited to show it off to people.
I remember inviting people over to my house and, like, I remember feeling pride, like, oh, wow, they're going to be so impressed with how young I am and the house that I've been able to build.
I didn't really recognize that as sin at the time. Didn't recognize it as pride. But then I also was very worried. Like, I'd lay in bed at night, like, what if now I have this big house, what if the business collapses?
And I now... I have 12 employees. What if the business collapses? I'm not able to pay my employees.
I also hired all my brothers, which- It's like, I'm going to have to explain this to their mom if the business falls apart. Like, this is going to be terrible.
And then, just a lot of worry and anxiety that I never really... I never recognized it really as sin or lack of faith. And I just was like, I would pray, "God, take away my anxiety," and things like that, but never really recognize, "Hey, this is not trusting God. This is care of other people's approval. This is love of money."
Like, there's all sorts of different sins that I just didn't really deal with or didn't recognize. And no one was really calling them out in me because I didn't have other entrepreneurial friends or anything.
So it wasn't really till I sold the business, and I got started doing YouTube about crypto, passive income. Things like that. When I sold my business, I got into investing, and then investing led me to crypto, and then crypto led me to YouTube.
And I actually started the channel... I had no spiritual intention at all. It was like, I'm just going to talk about crypto, and, you know, if this turns into a business of some kind or something, then, you know... And my goal was, I wanted a thousand subscribers in six months because that's when you get monetized.
And I actually got 20 thousand subscribers in two months, and I was like, okay. It seems like maybe the Lord wants to do something with this. I still was really worried about finances at the time. And still, you know, still a little bit of love of money and care what other people thought of me.
And then, at one day, I would just say the Lord just grabbed onto my heart and just said, "I want you to just believe everything that the Word says. Like, I want you to believe all My words with all your heart." And I just started taking everything more seriously.