Prompted Thoughts

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What would you do if you had a million dollars to give away?

In this thought-provoking episode, we dive into the complexities of such a generous hypothetical, as I grapple with the challenge of choosing recipients beyond family and obvious personal connections. With a focus on the potential impacts of sudden wealth, including the risks of negatively affecting lives, the conversation turns to the idea of donating to organizations instead of individuals. 

Two organizations rise to the forefront: Springhouse Worship and Art Center, a community-focused church, and Mega Voice, an initiative providing audio bibles in numerous languages. Join us as we explore the motivations behind these choices and the belief that investments in community and faith can lead to truly meaningful change.


Takeaways:

• Giving to a person in close relationship could be self-serving.
• A large sum of money might negatively impact the recipient's life.
• An organization might be better equipped to receive a large donation and do good with it.

Organizations mentioned in this episode:

• Springhouse Worship and Art Center
• Mega Voice

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Speaker A
00:00:00

Today's prompt is, if you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

Speaker A
00:00:07

Before I start in this, I just want to say I had no idea when I started writing and recording, based on daily prompts, how deep some of the questions were going to get and how hard it would be to answer them.

Speaker A
00:00:19

I realize at this point that I've said that more than once, and I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but this is a tough one.

Speaker A
00:00:27

Maybe in terms of ground rules, I'm going to make some assumptions and say that for the purpose of this, I'm not going to allow myself to give it away to family and to avoid any self serving or obvious answers like my parents or my wife or my kids, because those answers hardly seem fair.

Speaker A
00:00:44

I mean, in some ways, wouldn't I just be effectively giving it back to myself?

Speaker A
00:00:48

That seems kind of lame.

Speaker A
00:00:50

And also, I'm going to assume that that $1 million is completely tax free because I don't want to mess with having to calculate after tax percentages and stuff like that.

Speaker A
00:01:00

So, back to the question, who would I give it to?

Speaker A
00:01:20

Well, I don't know that I would want to give a million dollars directly to a person.

Speaker A
00:01:26

Why is that?

Speaker A
00:01:27

Is it because I'm afraid that they would waste the money?

Speaker A
00:01:30

Well, maybe a little bit.

Speaker A
00:01:32

But I think also one of the things that concerns me, and I realize this is a bit.

Speaker A
00:01:38

A bit contested in the research, but the research does suggest that receiving a large sum of money can negatively impact the lives and relationships of the people who receive it.

Speaker A
00:01:51

Like I said, I know that this research is a bit contested, but I would never want to make someone's life worse.

Speaker A
00:01:57

And honestly, I think that maybe that money could do more good if I gave it to an organization.

Speaker A
00:02:03

So whether I'm being a control freak, which is possible, or I'm truly caring for people, I probably wouldn't go down that road.

Speaker A
00:02:09

Instead, I would choose an organization.

Speaker A
00:02:11

And there are two specific organizations that come to mind.

Speaker A
00:02:15

The first one is, if you know me, kind of a gimme, and that's my church, not that I own it.

Speaker A
00:02:20

It's the one that I'm a part of, and that's Springhouse worship and art center.

Speaker A
00:02:24

I truly believe that an infusion of a million dollars would be used in ways that I would be proud of and that would benefit the community and advance God's kingdom.

Speaker A
00:02:34

That might be too easy of an answer, but that's my first and really easy answer.

Speaker A
00:03:08

The next preference would be mega voice audio bibles they are an organization that actually, at one point sponsored my very first podcast.

Speaker A
00:03:17

The engaging missions show they provide audio bibles, translations, and recordings in hundreds of languages.

Speaker A
00:03:26

I don't even know how many they have anymore, but I really believe that they're doing an incredible thing, that they are responsible in what they're doing, and that what they're doing matters in either of these.

Speaker A
00:03:38

Or if I was to split it 50 50 between the two of them, I don't think I could go wrong in giving a million dollar gift that I believe could truly be an investment in God's kingdom, and that would make people's lives better rather than worse.