Family Wealth Words

The city was Los Angeles. It was Al Gore's party. Two people, neither named Gore, openly rather than subtly, made it their party, too. A pre-party Reuters News report informed us that one of those individuals expected to raise as much as four million dollars for her cause. The other expected to raise additional multiple millions for his library. The two individuals, of course, were William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Tell me: Do you think those two individuals have influenced culture? Do you think those multiple millions will be used to influence culture? You had better believe they will, sadly! The question of the moment is this, "How do they get such large amounts of money?" Answer: They ask for it.

The point is, the movers and shakers in God's kingdom must learn that they must ask for money. And the citizens of God's kingdom, each of us, must not only become accustomed to being asked, we must become accustomed to making significant investments in kingdom work.

The future work of Chalcedon and Christian Reconstruction mandates the development of Christian cultural leaders. The future will cost us dollars. Let's face it. It will cost us a lot of dollars because we have a lot of work to get done. Those are God's dollars, really, to do God's work.

Paraphrasing my mentor, "Money may not be everything in the cause, but at least if you take care of the money first, you can do the rest of the business effectively."

So think with me for a moment about money.

My readers who are from an environment of the Reformed faith, and many of you are, have often heard this expression, "God saves His people in the line of generations." That is true. This is also true, note it well: "God makes His people wealthy in the line of generations." That has to do with you, in your generation, with God's blessing, within the bounds of God's law-word, consciously creating wealth.

Further, not only does it have to do with your creation of wealth, it has to do with the preservation of wealth within covenant families and the transferring of that wealth to the next generation to be used in the creation of increased wealth and its preservation and the transferring of that wealth to the next generation to be used in the creation of wealth to the next generation to be used in the creation of increased wealth, and the such like in a continuum.

Note carefully three words concerning family wealth. Ponder them. Remember them. They are creation, preservation, and transfer. God makes His people wealthy in the line of generations. Why emphasize that?

This is reason number one: Christian Reconstruction is neither dead nor dying. Christian Reconstruction is not just a movement. It is a movement on the move gaining momentum at an accelerating rate. This is not the last generation of Chalcedon. This is not the last generation of Christian Reconstruction. Chalcedon's agenda will not be consummated in our generation, nor in the generation of our children, or our children's children. In other words, ours is a multi-generational agenda, a multi-generational task of exercising godly dominion.

Multi-generational exercise of godly dominion is funded as God makes His people wealthy in the line of generations and as in the line of generations that wealth is preserved and transferred within covenant families.

Certainly, our work can use more dollars right now, today, this month. But I assure you, we do not ask you to give out of some desperate need to rescue the sinking ship of Chalcedon. No, just the opposite. We ask you out of our success. We ask you to participate in the perpetuation of our success. God has so blessed us with effectiveness and success that opportunities to expand our ministry are multiplying beyond our financial capacity. It is out of God's blessing of success that Chalcedon's needs are increasing. Beyond the dollars of today, there are the dollars of tomorrow. That is why we present the three-word concept of family wealth creation, preservation, and transfer.

So few of us really understand the workings of money, the creation of wealth, the preservation of wealth, and the generational transfer of wealth. I remember the words of one of my trainers, "To create wealth you must either have people working for you or money working for you." I have learned since then that no one has too little money to start having some money working for him. Maybe not much, not at first, but at least some. I wish I had learned that when I was younger.

Further, no person is too young to begin a plan of family wealth creation, preservation, and transfer. Because ours is a multi-generation task, we ask our Chalcedon friends to begin now to participate in a plan of multi-generation family wealth creation, preservation, and transfer. Because such a plan "requires family wealth counseling," and as a service to you and to Chalcedon's present and future opportunities, Chalcedon is prepared to help you with your personalized family wealth plan. We solicit your participation with us.

Chalcedon is engaging the services of a splendid, Christian, father-son team, a team specializing in family wealth creation, preservation, and generational transfer. Their knowledge of money and its workings, their research, their knowledge of financial instruments, their circle of financial influence is impressive as is the history of their work with their clients.

Their expertise in applying their knowledge and experience to individual situations is equally impressive: applying it to your situation whether you are young or a senior citizen, single or married, have sizeable assets or not so sizeable. And yes, they are accustomed to working with sizeable assets like multi-million dollar holdings, high-income, high net-worth clients, as well as those still moving toward that level. They work with self-employed, with professionals, with industrialists, with CEOs, with wage earners, with people just like you.

I use the expression, "Their expertise in applying their knowledge and experience to individual situations is equally impressive." I assure you not all people in their profession do that. Too many would-be family wealth counselors offer a one-size-fits-all type of counsel. Beware of them.

For example, I went into the men's clothing store the other day to buy a belt. The sales person asked, "What size?" Suppose I had answered, "Oh, Vince, you know, like just give me the one-size-fits-all belt." Or suppose one of you ladies goes into a Nordstrom's to buy a blouse. To the sales clerk you say, "Oh, just give me any one-size-fits-all blouse." No, no. We don't do it that way, do we?

Beware you do not commit either your future financial well-being or that of your future generations to that kind of counselor. That is why Chalcedon chooses to connect you with family wealth counselors possessing expertise in applying extensive knowledge and years of experience to individual situations, why we choose to connect you with counselors who can show you legitimately creative ways to plan, to give more than you would ever expect to charities like Chalcedon, yet still transfer as much or more wealth to your heirs. For your benefit and for the benefit of the kingdom, you will be learning more about this as you read forthcoming issues of the Chalcedon Report. We do desire to engage in mutual helpfulness for the financial health of your future, your children, your Chalcedon.

God creates wealth in the line of generations that the multi-generation task of Christian Reconstruction and cultural leadership may continue in the prosperity of effectiveness with which God has already blessed us.

FAMILY WEALTH CREATION

FAMILY WEALTH PRESERVATION

FAMILY WEALTH TRANSFER

And, oh yes, include Chalcedon in your plans!!