Pete Ochs Debbie Founder CEO Capital III Impact Investing Prison Enterprise Stewardship Trust Financial Finish Line Podcast

Finish Line Podcast Episode 184

Pete and Debbie Ochs, Business Owners, on the Shift in Perspective After Setting a Financial Finish Line

You may genuinely believe everything belongs to God and still make business, lifestyle, and giving decisions as though you are the final owner.

What changes when stewardship moves from a belief you affirm to a structure that shapes how much you consume, how you run a company, and what you are willing to release?

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Meet your guide

Pete and Debbie Ochs are longtime Kansas business owners whose journey has reshaped how they think about stewardship, generosity, family, and enterprise. Pete is the founder of Capital III, an investment and operating company creating economic, social, and spiritual capital, and Enterprise Stewardship, which helps Christian business leaders build companies around purpose and long-term flourishing.

Pete and Debbie trace a progression from financial success and generous giving toward a deeper understanding of surrender. They share how that shift changed their businesses, led them to create meaningful employment inside Kansas prisons, and helped them establish a lifestyle finish line that redirected their attention from accumulation toward serving others. They also describe building rhythms for planned and spontaneous generosity, discerning major gifts together, involving their family, and recently placing their first business into a Perpetual Purpose Trust designed to preserve its mission beyond the current generation.

By the end, you may see stewardship less as giving away what is yours and more as faithfully managing, enjoying, risking, and releasing what already belongs to God.

What you’ll gain

How to move from generous ownership to surrendered stewardship
Why a lifestyle finish line can redirect your attention outward
How business can create economic, social, and spiritual capital
Why margin makes spontaneous generosity easier to act on
How couples can discern significant giving decisions together
What a Purpose Trust can protect beyond financial value

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Quotes to Remember

Pete Ochs

“Stewardship is not waving the white flag. It’s not giving up. It’s coming to the understanding that the Creator of the universe wants to come alongside you and co-create with you to change the world.”
“My 30s were about success, my 40s were about significance, and my 50s were about surrender.”
“When we really live as stewards, it’s not 2 million is mine and the rest is God’s. It’s zero-one hundred. It’s all His.”
“The question is not a net worth number. The question is a lifestyle number. How much should you be paid to manage what God has entrusted to you?”
“You cannot violate God’s principles and expect Him to bless it. When you live according to His principles, He will take care of you.”
“Business, I believe, is the most powerful platform to change the world.”
“We try to create economic capital, love people relationally, and be ready to share the hope we have with gentleness and respect.”

Debbie Ochs

“Our mindset changed from what we can get to what we can do for others.”
“We want the Holy Spirit to lead us. When He prompts, we want to act.”
“Generosity begets generosity.”
“We didn’t want to just write checks. We wanted to be involved, to know people, and to walk alongside them.”
“Communication is key. You have to share what you’re learning and how God is working in your life.”
“Involve your family in giving. That’s how the next generation begins to see and live it.”
“We started looking at everything differently when our focus turned outward instead of inward.”
“When God gives you opportunities, you have to be ready to respond in that moment.”

Links from the Show

Enterprise Stewardship
Capital III
YoungLife
Crown Financial Ministries
Generous Giving (see our interviews with cofounders Todd Harper and David Wills and CEO, April Chapman)
National Christian Foundation (see our interview with President Emeritus, David Wills)

Bible References from the Show

1 Peter 3:15 | Reason for Your Hope

“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

Galatians 2:20 | Crucified with Christ

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Luke 10:25–37 | The Good Samaritan

Proverbs 3:5–6 | Trust in the Lord

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Matthew 6:3 | Give in Secret

“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”

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