Mike Little has led the inward and outward work of Faith and Money Network as executive director since 2007. Within the network, Mike fosters relationships with individuals and churches, leading reflections and discussions on the role of money in our lives as people of faith and in our work as the community of faith. He is building a range of resources that individuals and churches can use to explore spirituality and money.
Mike serves as the lead money mentor, listening to and accompanying individuals who want to deepen their understanding of how money shapes their lives and take actions consistent with that depth of understanding. His regular Facebook posts and e-mail newsletters keep members up- to-date on relevant news and what he and other people are writing and thinking about faith and money issues. Mike also broadens the discussion into new places. He preaches and teaches in churches throughout the U.S. and Canada, helping them figure out a new definition of stewardship— stewardship not as a fundraising campaign but as a way of life.
Mike has led trips of perspective in Haiti, India, Nicaragua, South Africa, and the U.S. He’s also a skilled and sought-after group facilitator, with decades of experience helping groups learn, grow, and work together. He was recently chosen as an online small group leader for a project initiated by OnBeing and the Fetzer Institute.
Mike has spent more than three decades working with Church of the Saviour ministries in Washington, D.C., in the areas of homelessness, addictions, affordable housing, and job services.
Mike has a life-long commitment to justice-seeking movements for social change. He lives in the D.C. area with his wife and two children.
History
Faith and Money Network began its work more than 40 years ago as the Ministry of Money. Founder Don McClanen recognized the relationship between money and fear and anger, and he realized that few people addressed these problems from the perspective of their faith. As a first step, Don recruited his mission group within the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., to spend a year working with money. The mission group members reported becoming freer from anxiety about their financial situations and freer to use their money creatively. Based on this experience, the first Ministry of Money workshop was held in 1976.
Hundreds of faith and money workshops have been held since then, providing time, community and resources for thousands of people of faith to explore their relationship with money from the roots of their spiritual beliefs and values.
Pilgrimages of reverse mission began in the late 1980s, taking small groups of people to places of economic poverty from India to Palestine to Haiti to experience how some communities live in great faith though in few financial resources.
At least two groups have spun off from Ministry of Money. Don McClanen formed Harvest Time, answering a call to work specifically with the very wealthy. The Women’s Perspective began within Ministry of Money in the late 1980s, and in early 2001 became an independent nonprofit to provide education for women seeking to understand their spiritual and economic power.
After more than 30 years of faithful work, Ministry of Money changed its name to Faith and Money Network. This new name inspires and guides our vision to equip people to transform their relationship with money, to live with integrity and intentionality, and to participate in creating a more equitable world.
Commitment to Racial Equity
From the Board’s Racial Equity Statement: “For hundreds of years, laws, policies, and practices have perpetuated white supremacy – delivering excessive privilege to whites while disadvantaging Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities and precipitating the inequities of today … ” Read the whole statement.
Faith and Money Network Board of Directors
Evan G. Collins Memphis, TN
Evan G. Collins has always had a healthy understanding of the intersection of faith and finance. Evan accepted his call to ministry while earning his bachelor’s degree in finance. He soon completed this degree and enrolled in seminary while working in the banking and credit union industry. This work is considered to be a ministry extension for Evan as he seeks to help others redefine their view of money with a stewardship model.
Evan serves as Senior Pastor of Eastern Star Baptist Church in Memphis, TN, and works in the financial services industry. He believes in the value of bringing high-quality products and services to everyone in need and specifically those in low, moderate, and underserved communities. He has been encouraged by the work and ministry of Faith and Money Network and is excited to be on the team.
Mark Ewert Washington, D.C.
Mark is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy®, an International Coaching Federation, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and has a Leadership Coaching certification from Georgetown University. This unique combination of philanthropy advising and coaching skills fuels his active practice in philanthropy coaching, nonprofit leadership coaching, and working with individuals, families, teams, and coaching groups. His writings have been featured on The Motley Fool website, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Council on Foundations website, and Sojourners Magazine. Mark is the author of the book The Generosity Path: Finding the Richness in Giving.
Since 2008, Mark has also been a consultant, facilitator, and teacher engaged in building cultures of skillful generosity within faith communities. He has worked with religious denominations, camps and retreat centers, and about 70 congregations. The intersection of faith, values, and money is a passion of Mark’s. The Faith and Money Network is a significant resource in this area, so Mark is honored to serve on the board.
Jim Edmonds Washington, D.C.
Faith and Money Network has been a part of my life for many years, by osmosis. I was privileged to have FMN (previously Ministry of Money) Board meetings in our home for many years. Even though I did not attend these meetings directly, I learned a great deal about FMN and its ministry helping to guide people in their wealth management decisions as a means to benefit the needs of others. Through this ad hoc affiliation, I have taken several FMN-affiliated trips to the coal fields of Virginia where we could see firsthand the mountaintop removal devastation inflicted on communities by the rich coal companies that crippled the local economies, created health hazards for the local inhabitants, and destroyed the ecology of vast areas of the coal-rich regions of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.
I am honored to join the FMN Board of Directors. Now that I am consulting within the framework of my retirement, I have the time to devote to the work of the FMN Board. I look forward to directing my energies to better understand the priorities for my own money/benefit/management objectives, as well as supporting the objectives of the Faith and Money Network.
Kaci B. Jensen, DDS, Treasurer Boise, ID
Becoming the first member of my immediate and extended family to be a doctor expanded my financial world. I believe that God gave me this work to do, and the income comes with it. He wants me to use the income for His purposes. I was pressured by others to buy nice things in the first couple years of my full time work. I was paying off my student debt and giving to the church. I wasn’t sure how much to give, and I had all of these questions about what God wanted me to do with this money blessing.
That is when I went to a retreat through Faith and Money Network. It is amazing to find other people in all walks of life dealing with similar questions and soul searching. Three or four years after the retreat, I was approached by board members to become part of the board. Being connected to people who deal with this relationship between faith and money is so helpful to me. I hope that this organization can continue to bring people together to discuss and network with each other as we walk through this life.
Andy Loving Louisville, KY
Andy is the founding partner of Just Money Advisors* and its lead advisor. A Certified Financial Planner® and an ordained minister, Andy creates investment strategies that help clients meet their financial goals in a way that proactively contributes to justice and environmental sustainability. He has won multiple awards for helping clients put capital into financial institutions that serve poor people, both domestically and around the world. It has been observed that “Andy looks at money and imagines ways to create justice.”
*The persons doing business as Just Money Advisors are Investment Advisor Representatives of Natural Investments, LLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor firm. Just Money Advisors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments.
Jim Marsh, Jr. Washington, D.C.
Rev. Jim Marsh, Jr., has been working with children, youth, and families for 30 years in a variety of settings. As pastor, spiritual director, educational advocate, and individual, family, and group psychotherapist, he has helped to provide the necessary guidance and accountability to help people realize their unique potential. He specializes in working with children and adolescent young men and their families. Jim believes strongly that the biggest question a person can be asked is whether they feel like they belong, or do they feel abandoned? Creating communities of belonging is a passion for Jim.
He has been on the Faith and Money Network board since 2009, and believes that one of the greatest marks of discipleship is how we deal with our possessions, money being chief among them. Helping people make the connection between what they believe and how they understand their relationship to money is crucial to being able to live a free and unattached life to things of this world. This desire to help others be transformed in this way is what drew Jim to board membership.
Elizabeth Michael Ross, Secretary Pittsburgh, PA
Elizabeth Michael Ross was captivated by the ministry of Faith and Money Network upon her first exposure to it. Her faith has been challenged and invigorated by a Trip of Perspective to Haiti, a season of money mentoring, and the companionship of others committed to living faithfully and with integrity with respect to money. Elizabeth is a Presbyterian pastor in Pittsburgh, PA. One of the great privileges of her life was living and working amongst the Church of the Saviour community in the Discipleship Year program.
Paul Taylor, President Fair Oaks, CA
As a small business owner I was aware of the growing wealth of our family. I was also committed to not letting affluence dominate my values and lifestyle. What I have found most helpful in this struggle to maintain spiritual balance has been my association with Faith and Money Network. Through Trips of Perspective, workshops, and wonderful personal relationships, I have been helped to keep a perspective weighted toward the common good instead of personal gain. I treasure my more than thirty-year involvement with the organization.
Susan Taylor, Vice-President Louisville, KY
Susan K. Taylor has invested much of her life exploring the intersections of faith and money. Susan wrote her first money autobiography at a Faith and Money Network workshop shortly after arriving at graduate school at the University of Maryland, where she earned a Ph.D. in economics. She weaves money and faith together in her own life, as a mother of two (now young adults); a partner in Just Money Advisors,* a financial planning and investment management company that specializes in socially responsible and community investment strategies; a member of the Investment Committee of the Mennonite Education Agency; a regular writer on money and spirituality; vice-president of FMN’s board of directors; and an active member in her Louisville, KY, church.
*The persons doing business as Just Money Advisors are Investment Advisor Representatives of Natural Investments, LLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor firm. Just Money Advisors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments.
