Navigating Stewardship in Business and Faith

generosity kingdom business obedience stewardship May 20, 2026

Stewardship is one of those words that most business leaders associate with money.

Budgets. Giving. Savings. Debt reduction.

But what if stewardship is actually much deeper than financial management?

What if stewardship is really about learning to hear God, believe what He says, and obey Him in every area of life?

Listen to the Podcast: Heaven in Business Podcast

In this episode of the Heaven in Business podcast, Andy Mason sits down with longtime business leader and mentor Steve Dulin for a conversation that is both deeply practical and deeply spiritual. Steve shares stories of business growth, radical generosity, integrity in leadership, and what it looks like to build a company in partnership with God.

And honestly, it starts in a very unexpected place.

Stewardship Starts with Hearing God

Steve wasn’t raised in church. By his own description, his early life was marked by chaos, fighting, reckless living, and little understanding of God. But through a Bible study hosted by his future wife’s father, Steve began reading Scripture for himself. Something shifted:

He didn’t approach Christianity as religion. He approached it like relationship.

As Steve read the Bible, he simply assumed God still speaks. And if God speaks, then business should not be separated from faith. That perspective shaped everything.

Generosity Was Never About Money

One morning while praying, Steve felt the Lord speak three simple instructions:

“Save more. Give more. Get out of debt.”

At the time, none of it made sense financially.

Steve and his wife Melody had young kids, limited income, and very little margin. Yet they chose obedience anyway. They increased their giving from 10% to 15% and trusted God with the outcome.

What followed was remarkable.

Within a year, Steve’s income increased by exactly 50%. The following year, they increased their giving again, and their income doubled.

Then it doubled again. And again.

But one of the things I appreciate most about Steve’s story is this:

The focus never became money. The focus remained obedience. That distinction matters.

Kingdom stewardship is never about manipulating God for blessing. It’s about learning to trust Him enough to follow His voice even when it feels uncomfortable.

Over time, Steve built a construction company that completed more than 2,500 projects without ever losing money on a single job. They never finished a project behind schedule. Their reputation for integrity and excellence became one of the company’s greatest assets.

Integrity becomes a competitive advantage, and yet, some of Steve’s greatest lessons came during seasons of pressure.

Success Can Quietly Produce Self-Reliance

At one point after years of success, Steve quietly began believing he had finally figured out how to run a company.

Almost immediately, business stopped. Projects dried up. Months passed with little activity.

In hindsight, Steve realized God was confronting something deeper than business performance.

Pride.

The lesson was simple but powerful:

The breakthrough had never come from self-reliance.

It came from partnership with God.

That theme runs throughout the entire conversation.

One of the strongest lines from the episode is when Steve says: “Hear, believe, and obey.”

Not just hear and obey. Because it’s possible to hear God and still not trust Him enough to act.

That middle step, belief, is often where transformation happens.

Stewardship Shapes How You Lead

Steve also shares how integrity became a practical expression of stewardship. Their company consistently paid subcontractors on time, protected relationships, honored commitments, and valued reputation over short-term gain.

One of the foundational Scriptures for the business became:

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.” - Proverbs 22:1 NKJV

That verse shaped how they led during both prosperous seasons and economic downturns.

In fact, during recession periods, clients trusted Steve’s company precisely because they had already built a reputation for consistency and integrity.

Favor followed stewardship.

Not hype. Not striving. Stewardship.

Ownership vs Stewardship

Andy and Steve also unpack the deeper mindset shift between ownership and stewardship.

Owners protect. Stewards partner.

When we recognize that everything ultimately belongs to God, it changes how we approach business decisions, finances, opportunities, leadership, and risk.

It also changes how we navigate success.

God Wants to Partner With You at Work

This conversation is a refreshing reminder that God is not absent from the marketplace.

He cares about contracts.

He cares about payroll.

He cares about leadership pressure, difficult decisions, economic uncertainty, and the condition of our hearts while we build.

Most importantly, He wants relationship before results.

Steve’s story is ultimately not about financial success. It’s about dependence. It’s about learning to live and lead with God instead of independently from Him. And perhaps that’s the real invitation for every business leader listening today:

Not simply to build bigger, but to steward better.

What would shift in your business if you approached every opportunity, challenge, and resource as a steward partnering with God?

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