Financial Stewardship Pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO
Former investigative journalist writing for Pensacola News Journal, Forth Worth Star Telegraph, etc.
Named a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, public service
Married with three children
BA in Journalism, University of Houston
GUEST
Amie Streater: Your Money God's Way
By
The 700 Club
Appearance Date: October 25, 2010
CBN.com
– “I was in one of my designer suits, Ferragamos on my pedicured feet, my manicured hands on the steering wheel of my fabulous $50,000 leased SUV, while my hair – fresh with a $75 haircut – shimmered in the Texas sunlight as it streamed in from the rooftop,” says Amie. Although she and her husband, Scott, made good money, they were broke. Her clothes, the kids’ clothes, the haircuts, the makeup, all of it were going on credit cards. Amie recalls how after making all the minimum credit card payments, sometimes she didn’t have enough money left over to pay for groceries. She often stayed awake at night wondering whether to pay the credit cards or the mortgage.
“We started out smart, but somewhere along the way, we got stupid,” remembers Amie. She paid cash for her first car. The first home she and Scott purchased as newlyweds had a 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage, and they put 10 percent down. After a year, they upgraded to a house with no money down and a 30- year loan. Amie’s car, which was paid for, was totaled in a traffic accident and she went into debt to buy another. The cycle of bad choices kept going until it finally consumed them.
Fortunately, their nanny, Melissa brought Amie a CD of sermons from her church and left them on the kitchen counter after learning of their family finances. In 2005, Amie listened to the CDs where a man told his story of losing everything and learning how to manage what God gives us. Amie had been in church for years and never knew God cared how we manage our money. Amie says the Holy Spirit spoke directly to her, “Honey, you missed this.” She began to cry so hard she had to pull off the highway. She asked God to forgive her and help to change her.
Amie added up what they owed. It came to over $100,000 just on credit cards, and it did not include their house or car payments. She fell to her knees on the floor of her home office and cried. Her husband comforted her and said they would get out of debt again for the last time.
She and her family found help through Christian financial coaches and Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. They did not dig their way out of debt overnight – it took time. They never filed for bankruptcy and never lost a house to foreclosure. “When I finally got the help I needed, I could begin to uncover the lies I believed about how I thought I deserved to be living.” With a ton of hard work and personal sacrifice, Amie says the debt slowly began to be crushed.
Scott and Amie began attending church at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX, which had produced the CD that changed Amie’s life. She was eventually put on staff as a pastor who specialized in biblical financial education. After 15 years as an investigative reporter, Amie says she felt called to work in ministry by the words of Isaiah 61:1: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” Today, Amie is the Associate Pastor for Financial Stewardship at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Families under her leadership have paid off more than six million dollars of debt in the past three years.
The Bible talks about money and possessions more than any other topic except love. Amie says she believes there are two reasons for this. First, God knew most of us would struggle with having the right attitude about money and possessions. Second, the way we handle money reveals the condition of our hearts. She shares seven keys to spiritual conditions that most often cause Christians to fail in meeting personal financial goals which are:
- Having unrealistic, unbiblical beliefs about what power money has to improve our lives;
- A habit of trying to be a savior by continually bailing reckless people out of their messes and wasting our own resources in the process;
- Polluted theology, which we use to mask laziness and justify not working or failing to work up to our full potential;
- Naive about the intentions of others;
- Failure to give, or a tendency to give, with the wrong intentions;
- Denial about our current circumstances or the consequences of our actions;
- A tendency to blame God for our own impulsive behaviors.
“It is not God’s will for any of His children to live in chaos, frustration, lack, and debt,” she shares. "When we take responsibility for our thoughts, feelings, actions, and attitudes, we allow God into our lives and our finances, and we give Him room to bless us in the ways we have been praying for."
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