Less than three years after they started attending Financial Peace University (FPU) at The Summit Church, Jonathan Lenker, The Summit Church’s Brier Creek Campus Pastor, and his wife and April, were already debt free after paying off more than $50,000 in debt. Their incredible progression to financial freedom was not without sacrifice, but it also bore great fruit in their marriage and their relationship with God as they experienced reliance on God in new ways.
Soon after they got married, Jonathan and April started listening to FPU podcasts and heard about a couple that paid for their new house entirely in cash after saving wisely for five years. Concerned about the amount of debt they had brought into their marriage, and knowing grad school and children were in their near future, Jonathan and April knew they needed to address their finances and decided to enroll in FPU themselves.
“Having any amount of debt limits opportunities to be generous and bless others, so we knew we needed to go through this process to reach a point where our debt didn’t impact our giving,” Jonathan explained.
The first steps of FPU included two and a half years of sacrifice: giving up their own living space by moving in with several generous Summit families and practicing the discipline of spending less and living without “extras” – eating out, buying clothes, vacationing – in order to work towards financial freedom. But the sacrificial lifestyle wasn’t as painful as they imagined it would be. “The process helped us realize that we didn’t need as much as we thought we did,” April said.
“When you live below your means and let go of material things, you learn to be more grateful for the things you do have and see God’s provision in a new light.” “Learning to live within the means God has given you is learning to rest in His sovereignty,” Jonathan added. “Whether you have a lot of debt or none at all, having control over your finances is a discipline that carries through to all areas of life. God taught us that loosening our grip on our things allowed us to receive more, not less, from him.”
While Jonathan and April are quick to admit they are still learning what it means to trust God completely with their finances, they are thankful for what God has taught them so far through FPU. Applying what they learned in the classes, both Jonathan and April were able to attend grad school and pay their tuition as they went, avoiding the pitfall of accumulating new debt. Their newfound financial freedom has also allowed them to be more generous towards others than they ever expected, and they are praying for God to continue to grow that desire to give generously.
“Having control over our finances has given us more freedom and joy and allows more generosity than we ever thought,” Jonathan said. “It’s hard to experience all that God has for you or be who God calls you to be without relating rightly to money, and FPU taught us what that should look like in our lives.”
Written by Abbey Temple, volunteer writer.
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