Janine Maxwell Heart for Africa Project Canaan Financial Finish Line Podcast
Finish Line Podcast Episode 29

Janine Maxwell, Cofounder of Heart for Africa, from Marketing CEO to Saving a Nation One Child at a Time

You may believe your money, career, and success belong to God, yet still wonder what obedience looks like when following Him threatens the life you worked hard to build.

How do you hold your plans loosely enough to respond when God redirects your resources, skills, and identity toward needs you never expected to carry?


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Meet your guide

Janine Maxwell, co-founder and COO of Heart for Africa, built one of Canada’s largest marketing agencies before a series of experiences surrounding September 11 and subsequent trips to Africa forced her to reconsider what her success was for. Eventually, Janine and her husband Ian closed the business, left Canada, and followed an unexpected path that led them to Eswatini.

There they founded Project Canaan, a 2,500-acre development built around four interconnected priorities: hunger, orphans, poverty, and education. Heart for Africa combines farming, employment, children’s homes, schools, vocational training, and locally generated income in an effort to serve sustainably while avoiding dependency and mission drift. Janine also explains why seeing poverty firsthand can reshape your perspective, even when a short-term mission trip produces more change in you than through you.

Throughout her story, stewardship means more than giving a portion away. By the end, you may find yourself asking how freely you are holding everything God has placed in your hands.

  • Why obedience may require releasing success you worked hard to build
  • How firsthand exposure to poverty can reshape your priorities
  • Why sustainable ministry must move beyond simply giving things away
  • How focused missions avoid drifting toward every available opportunity
  • Why employment can restore dignity while addressing long-term poverty
  • What changes when you view all your wealth as God’s

Inspired? Take your next step

Try the Game of Life Simulator

Step into a four-minute interactive experience and see what unfolds as you decide how to manage your resources.

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Inspired? Learn how to partner with ministries well.

A compelling ministry story can inspire you to respond. But wise partnership often begins with better questions.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Focus

What is the ministry really seeking to restore?

Learn to look beyond visible needs toward people, context, relationships, and flourishing.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Fruitfulness

How do you recognize meaningful impact?

Consider how ministries learn, evaluate their work, and pursue lasting change.

Applied Generosity Intervention Partnership Faithfulness

What does genuine ministry partnership look like?

Explore how to foster trust, alignment, and shared mission in your giving.

In our Intervention Series on the Applied Generosity Podcast, we’ll help you become a more thoughtful, discerning, and faithful partner.

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Quotes to Remember

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Use Our
Free Guide

Have you considered the ways you are uniquely called into generosity? We’re not all called into the same adventure.
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Enter your information below and we’ll send you our free PDF guide to explore the specific adventure you were called into.
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