GOD'S ECONOMY

From Ditch Digger to Corporate Boss

Eight years ago, Rhonda Coiner flipped across the dial to The 700 Club - to mock it! Instead she and husband Jeff soon received Jesus as Savior.

In the months that followed, they learned about something else that would also change their lives

"Things were really bad," Rhonda recalls. "About 8 years ago we moved here from Los Angeles, we didn't have any money, and I found myself pregnant, with no insurance, no money in the bank, and Jeff's job was shaky."

Jeff agrees, laughing, "Well, it was shaky - I didn't have a job. That's how shaky it was."

So Jeff began to work doing the only job he could find.

"That's when I got the job as a ditch digger. You were pregnant. I was living on powdered soup, and you were eating regular food because you were pregnant."

After moving from California to Oregon, it had come to this.

"The house we lived in, we rented," Rhonda remembers, "and it had holes in the floor. It was dirty. Everything was falling apart in it."

"There was no insulation in the walls," Jeff adds. "You could seed the carpet and grow a lawn. I swear, it was that bad."

At this time they started watching, and supporting The 700 Club - a program that had introduced them to faith in Jesus Christ.

"We started supporting The 700 Club with $20 a month. You don't end up with $20 a month, you start with $20 a month. So we knew that by tithing properly, that's what we started with, and anything left over was for us."

Within a couple of months, something wonderful happened -- not because they were expecting it, but because they had been obedient.

"It wasn't two months after I started digging ditches that I got a far better job," Jeff recalls. "It had a salary, it had benefits, and everything else. And that happened two months after we started tithing. That's not guaranteed for everyone, but that's what happened for us."

And the Coiners became more disciplined in how they spent their money.

"Oh, we had to give up quite a bit for those first twenty dollar gifts," Rhonda recalls. "I just cut back on everything I could; food, haircuts, clothing."

Meanwhile, the principles they were learning about the law of reciprocity were reaping some surprising dividends. Jeff, who had left a financing business in California, was able to start a new company in Oregon.

"I now own a finance company that finances construction equipment for contractors throughout the United States."

And for their obedience in giving, God is blessing.

"The company has grown," Jeff explains. "In the first couple of years, you don't look, you don't even really watch growth. You just hope you're going to be there the next year. But it grew 20% a year until last year. And then it grew at 40% a year. Some may ask about reciprocity or tithing, does that work? I think those numbers pretty much explain it."

Today, Jeff no longer has to dig ditches, unless he wants to. And he and his family own this beautiful 80-acre horse ranch. The Coiners are convinced they are discovering the secrets to success.

"Giving is the reason for the success" Jeff declares. "It's the core of the success. When you start doing that you don't really see it, but after a year or so you look back, and you say, 'you know what? We just grew 40%, and we've given 20% away."

Jeff and Rhonda responded to God's word, and God blessed them, just as His Word promised. God wants to do that for you too! Discover God's secret of reciprocity by becoming a CBN partner today. Through your partnership with CBN, you will help feed hunger children here in America and around the world, give practical teaching and biblical answers through The 700 Club broadcast, and bring relief to those with physical and spiritual needs. Please join today.

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