Dan Peck

Hi, I’m Dan Peck. I live in the Seattle area and work as a CPA. One thing people might be surprised to know is that I grew up in Italy. My parents were missionaries and being raised overseas gave me a heart for missions and a heart for foreigners. In business this has helped me be more in tune with clients who are foreigners and how I can help bring them along.

God is very generous. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son..." It wouldn't mean the same thing if it had said God sent his only son, or provided, or shared. I think the key to the whole verse is the giving. God gave us his only son. He loved us enough to give.

I discovered that giving was fun when I was young. At times my parents tried to reign me in because I would give the shirt off my back. But my mom and dad really set the tone. I remember one Christmas when I was around 8 or 9 years old my parents came up with a sum of money that they wanted to give over and above their tithe. They brought us kids together and we got to participate in choosing where it was given. It was fun.

As a CPA I deal so much with people and their finances every day. It's very rare that I find a client who gives more than $5,000 a year to charitable causes. A lot of people live for the accumulation of wealth, the accumulation of toys and comforts, but it doesn't satisfy them. They're always spending more to try to find more comfort, but it's fleeting. It’s hard for people to grasp that they're looking in the wrong place. When one of my client's father passed away, he told me his dad made tons of money throughout his life, but blew through hundreds of thousands of dollars with nothing to show for it and no charitable giving. Even worse, he left his family in debt, owing a lot to the IRS for back taxes. Having wealth can ruin and corrupt people. That's why Jesus warned us, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26)

As God has blessed and grown our business, it's a constant battle to keep our eyes on the Lord. We have to remember the wealth we have is not ours; it's his. My wife has had to smack me around at times to help me keep Jesus and his kingdom the main thing. And still I sometimes do foolish things with money, but I come back to the truth that it's not mine, it's his. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10) When we understand it's all God’s money, we then can learn to become good stewards.

When we were young my wife and I did what everyone does - buy a house and cars - because we didn't have a vision for what was really important. It had never been presented. My goal was to be a millionaire by 30 and today I see a lot of young people who pursue riches. But now I think, “Really? Riches don't satisfy." When riches are our goal we'll always want more. Serving God is a much better pursuit. I would encourage younger people: Don't wait to be generous. Begin sharing out of what you do have. You don't have to have a lot of money to be generous. Hospitality is a form of generosity. They go hand in glove. When hospitality and generosity come together I think it shows the true heart of giving.

Reading the Bible is important to me. Sometimes I'll be reading a verse and I'll switch between a few versions on the YouVersion App to understand how different versions translate things. That way I can see if a certain translation brings any more clarity or meaning to the verse I'm reading.

I grew up on the mission field and my wife was a missionary for a season so we tend to give with a missions focus. We want the Great Commission to be finished. A lot of people and churches nowadays don’t have the vision for missions and don’t have the will to support missionaries. So we give to our church, but we also take up the flag of missions and let others take care of other things. When we come across something that we feel like we want to support, we'll each come up with a number and then compare notes. Most of the time it's pretty much the same number.

God has given me an ability to make money because of my knowledge and ability, but my mission is to serve my clients, serve the Lord and give as much as I can. I like to use my work to help people. I want my clients to see that God cares about them, that God is generous to them through my generosity.