ORLANDO, Fla. – What likely comes to mind when contemplating the word “wealth” is literal, plain old money, right?
This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Pastor Anthony Murray — a Georgia-based ministry founder and leader, public speaker, mentor and author — to get the low-down on a more metaphorical view of what “wealth” can be and what seeing it that way can do for you.
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“Wealth is a mindset first, wealth is not dollars and cents. That’s what most people are fooled with. Wealth is a mindset. It’s a thinking, and so most people don’t have wealth because they don’t have the information,” he said. “As a pastor, the Bible says that people perish by the lack of knowledge in the street. It says, ‘Look, don’t hate the player, hate the game. If you don’t know the rules, you don’t eat.’ So we have to change how we think about money first.”
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Murray said he started his church when he was 29 years old — Oasis Family Life Church, founded in Paulding County, Georgia — with just $1,500 to spend, a 430 Beacon Score and after having been in bankruptcy two years earlier.
“How in the world did I do what I did? I had to think my way there, I had to think about it in that way. Does that make sense? Because we could talk geometric progression, we could talk geo-economics, that’s all nice, but the truth is — especially Black people — we have to think at a higher level of consciousness when it comes to wealth building and generational wealth building and money. We got to stop being afraid of it. We got to know it. Half the stuff in this country we invented, but we ain’t getting paid for it. So, time is money, how much money you think this is worth to me? How much time? I’m 46, I don’t get it back,” he said.
As a pastor, the quick answer for Murray’s success over the years was also likely the most perfect.
In his words, he practiced what he preached.
“It was hard. I had to live the damn mindset. I had to literally say, ‘I don’t have no money, man,’ but most people think I don’t have nothing, that’s what I teach. God spoke to me and said ‘You got you. You the money: Anthony Murray,’” he said. “...So I went and got me some flyers, I bought supplies with $350 of the $1,500 and I put 5,000 flyers — me and my brother — on mailboxes and in people’s hands and before I know it, because I’m the money, the money started attracting to me. People started coming from everywhere. Then I started believing like, ‘Oh, shoot, man. I went from bankruptcy to... should we buy the Porsche cash, or should I finance?”
Hear the full interview and more in Season 2, Episode 20 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.