Evangelpreneur. Josh Tolley

1. Economics—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Entrepreneurship—Religious aspects— Christianity. 3. Free enterprise—Religious aspects—Christianity.

      I. Title.

      BR115.E3T595 2015

      261.8'5—dc23

      2014041350

      Copyediting by James Fraleigh

      Proofreading by Cape Cod Compositors, Inc. and Jordynn Prado

      Front cover design by Jason Gabbert

      Jacket design by Jason Gabbert

      Cover photography by Spencer Avinger

      Text design and composition by John Reinhardt Book Design

      Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

      Distributed by Perseus Distribution

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       This book is dedicated to you, the reader, for it is you for whom I wrote this book.

       May you continue to be brave enough to seek Truth and the solutions that come with it!

      Contents

       Foreword

       Introduction: This Is Not Your Daddy’s “Best Life Now” Book

       Part 1: Why Be an Evangelpreneur?

       1: A Church of Believers in Bondage

       2: The Root of All Evil?

       3: Getting Out of Debt Is Never Enough

       4: Who Really Controls You and Your Church?

       5: Unanswered Prayers

       6: Does YHVH (God) Love Murder?

       Part 2: You’ve Got This: Don’t Believe the Lies

       7: Lie of the Devil #1: Get Rich Slowly

       8: Lie of the Devil #2: It Takes a Lot of Money to Make Money

       9: Lie of the Devil #3: The Risk Is Too Big

       10: Lie of the Devil #4: You Have to Be Special

       11: Lie of the Devil #5: Don’t Mix Beliefs with Business

       Part 3: Doing Business

       12: Step 1: Your Vertical Alignment

       13: Step 2: Identify Your Why

       14: Step 3: The Opportunity Basket

       15: Step 4: Finding the Exit

       16: Step 5: Putting the Recipe Together

       Part 4: Doing Life

       17: The Second Generation

       18: Retiring Evangelpreneur Style

       19: Money Is a Tool for Salvation

       20: Called to Spread the Gospel

       Part 5: Doing Chruch

       21: The New You in Your Old Church

       22: Mugging the Woman With Two Coins

       Conclusion

       FAQ

       Notes

       About the Author

      Foreword

      

AM DELIGHTED AT HOW GOD has used, and is using, Josh Tolley as a champion for the free-enterprise system and the American dream of owning your own business. His book, Evangelpreneur, boldly exhorts people to return to the idea of personal responsibility and financial freedom.

      I first connected with Josh Tolley about fifteen years ago at a coffee-shop business meeting. At that time he was twenty years old and embarking on his entrepreneurial education in the school of hard knocks.

      I had already gotten my degree in that school, having owned over a dozen businesses by the time I was twenty-eight. My wife, Linda, reminds me how in the early years of our marriage I would wake up regularly at three in the morning with a new idea for a business. She called it “the idea of the month.” Yet at twenty-eight, we were still broke. But I never gave up on that dream. By age thirty-two we were millionaires, and it’s been uphill since then.

      I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, my father being a self-employed millionaire. At a very early age I had a paper route and lawn-mowing business. At age twelve I got interested in the stock market, and began tracking and charting the price cycles of stocks. My father told our stockbroker to allow me to trade without his permission, and I began to invest my paper route money,