It’s officially March, which means that winter is almost over, and the most anticipated season of the year is right around the corner. Many of us spend the better part of the winter planning for this time. Some people scramble like maniacs to get themselves into good shape. Some have been preparing for it since the year before. And some folks just cross their fingers and hope.
I’m not talking about swimsuit season, or baseball season, or even the official season of spring.
I’m talking about tax season.
With the approach of April 15, many of us are feeling a lot of stress. All that paperwork can be overwhelming. Will we do it right? You might handle your taxes alone, but many people find it helpful to have someone come alongside them and offer insight on how to handle the ins and outs.
And it’s not just during tax season that we could use the help. Sure, we want to get our finances in order for Uncle Sam, but the reality is many of us want to know how to get a better grip on finances, period! I find that many people simply don’t understand how finances work. Young people graduate from college and expect executive salaries for entry-level work. People who’ve been working for years begin to worry if they’ll be able to retire. And people who have retired often wonder what they’re supposed to do with all their newfound possibilities.
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It’s officially March, which means that winter is almost over, and the most anticipated season of the year is right around the corner. Many of us spend the better part of the winter planning for this time. Some people scramble like maniacs to get themselves into good shape. Some have been preparing for it since the year before. And some folks just cross their fingers and hope.
I’m not talking about swimsuit season, or baseball season, or even the official season of spring.
I’m talking about tax season.
With the approach of April 15, many of us are feeling a lot of stress. All that paperwork can be overwhelming. Will we do it right? You might handle your taxes alone, but many people find it helpful to have someone come alongside them and offer insight on how to handle the ins and outs.
And it’s not just during tax season that we could use the help. Sure, we want to get our finances in order for Uncle Sam, but the reality is many of us want to know how to get a better grip on finances, period! I find that many people simply don’t understand how finances work. Young people graduate from college and expect executive salaries for entry-level work. People who’ve been working for years begin to worry if they’ll be able to retire. And people who have retired often wonder what they’re supposed to do with all their newfound possibilities.
I believe, when it comes to finances, that there are seasons of productivity in everyone’s life. There are times when your focus should be on acquiring skills and knowledge to make yourself valuable. There are times when your focus should be on leveraging your skills and knowledge for growth and investment in the future. And there are times when your focus should be on giving back, to people who can benefit from your investment.
In my book, Today Matters, I wrote about finances using the concepts of learn, earn, and return – my theory that as we go through our lives, our financial seasons change.
These are the primary seasons, as I see them:
- The Season of Increased Learning (birth to 25)
- The Season of Increased Earning (25-55)
- The Season of Increased Returning (55-75…or more, God-willing!)
Before I go on, I want to clarify that we do all three things (learn, earn, return) in every season. But the ratios change.
When we’re children and young adults, we’re focused mostly on learning. Even in the first several years of our careers, we need to remember that learning is the most important thing, in order to prepare for the next seasons. From about age 25 to 55, we have the most earning potential. We don’t stop learning, and we definitely should be giving back throughout life. But this is the time when we grow in our careers and hopefully earn and save more. And that sets us up for a season when we can really focus on returning – giving and serving, everyone from the less fortunate around us to the next generation.
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John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.