On recent trips to Lowes Home Improvement or Home Depot, Wilmington resident Jack Hudson, “could walk in there on a whim and spend a
couple hundred bucks like nothing.” Later he would look at his purchases and realize that many of them were wants instead of needs. “Every month, I was coming up with a $200-$300 deficit for our bills, and I didn’t know why,” he said. “We weren’t planning for the bi-monthly or tri-monthly bills.” So four weeks ago, he and his wife, Marilyn Hudson, decided to enter weekly Financial Peace University classes at First Baptist Church downtown. Financial Peace University is a Christian-based video financial planning course from Dave Ramsey, host of The Dave Ramsey Show on XM radio and the Fox Business Channel. The faith element of the course was comforting to the Hudsons because “in times of financial hardships or not, we have to have faith in God to get through it,” Marilyn Hudson said. After several weeks in the course, she avoids going to more expensive grocery stores and sticks to her grocery list when shopping. More and more local couples and businesses are taking a faith-based approach to managing their finances in these lean times. Local churches are increasingly hosting programs like Financial Peace University, Crown Ministries’ Business by the Book and lectures on praying for your financial decisions. Many of these programs focus on the practical aspects of budgeting and saving while weaving in what the Bible says about money.
Though the Hudsons had gotten their debt under control, they haven’t been able to save beyond their employer retirement plans.