If money can solve a problem, it shouldn’t be a problem. That’s because, despite the immensity of the problems in the world today, God has abundantly equipped the American church with money and manpower that is more than sufficient to address them — and he’s already working through tens of thousands of ministries to do it!
Who Are the Joyful Rich?
It takes an annual income of $119,000 to be in the top 1% of earners worldwide.1 One in every six Americans makes that much.2
Just $15,000 — the U.S. minimum wage — puts you in the top 27%.3 Eighty-six percent of Americans make that much.4
86% of Americans make more than three-fourths of the world.
One in six makes more than 99% of the world.
Most of us don’t feel like it, but we are some of the very richest people in the world. That comes with responsibility. Jesus says that much is required from everyone who has been given much, and that there are consequences if we fall short (Luke 12:42-48).
But it also comes with joy. What an amazing blessing we’ve been given to share from our abundance and find the fullness of life that God desires for us to have!
The joyful rich are those who have realized that the question is not “Why does God allow suffering?” but “Why do we?” and have begun to discover the unimaginable joy in the plans he has for those who have been entrusted with much. Join us!
Our Approach
When you give through TJR, your gift is combined with thousands of others, and you become a sender — an integral partner in ministry with the people and organizations that God is using next door and around the world.
The set of ministries you support through TJR are chosen and maintained by a godly team of men and women from a variety of denominations who are dedicated to seeking the wisdom and guidance of the Lord. The ministries must be U.S.-based (for financial oversight and security reasons), and communication of the Gospel must be a core component of their work. In addition, the ministries must be nonprofit and not affiliated with any specific denomination.
100% of what you give through TJR goes to these ministries. Our overhead and administrative costs are covered by other funds, so all your giving goes directly to the field.
Who’s Behind This?
Hi! My name is Shane. That’s a photo of my family and me from a few years ago.
I entered the business world right out of college in 1995. In 2000, God added ministry responsibilities leading a new Sunday School class. Since then, I’ve built two different businesses and sold them to public companies, become a licensed minister, been a house church pastor, and taught the Bible all along the way. I’ve served as an elder, chairman of my association's Sunday School committee, and on the boards of several nonprofit ministries — most recently as the board chair for a major ministry to unreached people groups.
In 2012, my best friend from high school gave me Toxic Charity for my birthday. That initiated a series of events that led to us doing a lot of work in Central America over the next few years where we saw firsthand the incredible need just a short plane ride away.
In 2016, we started working monthly at the third largest food bank in Georgia. There we saw firsthand the incredible need in our own county.
Those things sparked years learning about the world’s great needs, both in person and through the works of people like David Platt and Rich Stearns. All of it — and really my entire life — was God preparing me for the moment in October 2019 when a friend of mine would stand and say, "If money can fix a problem, it shouldn’t be a problem."
That phrase was seared into my brain because I knew he was right. The problem wasn’t that we didn’t know how to fix the world’s great problems or that we didn’t have enough people willing to do it. The problem was that the work lacked the funding that it needed.
But how could that be when Christians in America had vastly than money than it would take to fund it all?
I couldn’t get past that question. It consumed me. There had to be a way to close that gap.
I worked for years, tried some things, but ultimately nothing worked. I thought that was it. I took a corporate job and the dream faded.
Then in 2026, completely out of the blue, God brought the dream back to life with an all new concept. That’s what you see today. I truly do believe, with everything in me, that we can change the world.
In 2009, Rich Stearns wrote about what would happen if we raised our giving from 2% to just 10%. Those words are still a powerful inspiration for me:
Can you begin to catch a vision of not only what this would mean to the world’s poor but what it would do for the image of the world’s Christians? Imagine how stunning it would be to the watching world for American Christians to give so generously that it:
- brought an end to world hunger;
- solved the clean water crisis;
- provided universal access to drugs and medical care for the millions suffering from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis;
- virtually eliminated fifteen thousand daily child deaths;
- guaranteed education for all the world’s children;
- provided a safety net for the world’s tens of millions of orphans.
Think about the statement it would make if American Christian citizens stepped up and gave more than all of the governments of the world combined because they took Jesus seriously when he said to love our neighbors as ourselves. Terrorists might have a harder time recruiting young men to attack a nation so compassionate. Other wealthy nations might be shamed—or inspired to follow our example. Adherents of other religions would surely wonder what motivates the Christians to be so loving and generous. The global social revolution brought forth by the body of Christ would be on the lips of every citizen in the world and in the pages of every newspaper—in a good way. The world would see the whole gospel—the good news of the kingdom of God—not just spoken but demonstrated, by people whose faith is not devoid of deeds but defined by love and backed up with action.