Faith Driven Investor Podcast | Ep. 221 | Marks on the Market: The State of Faith-Based Investing in Public Markets — with Tim Macready of Brightlight

Key Topics:

• The mixed performance picture for faith-based funds in 2025 — the average faith-based fund underperformed by just under 2.5%, driven largely by exclusions of Magnificent Seven stocks — and why that context matters for long-term investors
• How a $140 billion market representing less than half a percent of the broader ETF/mutual fund landscape signals an enormous untapped opportunity for faith-driven capital
• The shift from product-focused exclusionary screening toward engagement and "embrace" strategies — and why shareholder proxy voting and active engagement are now the frontier of faith-based investing
• The growing need for theological clarity in fund screening — from the "big five" traditional screens to harder modern questions around online child safety, human trafficking, and Mag Seven holdings
• The "core satellite" portfolio framework Tim recommends: low-cost, passive, well-screened exposure at the core, with active engage/embrace strategies at the satellite — and why this approach is now achievable with ETFs alone

Guest Quotes:

"I think two things can simultaneously be true as believers. I think we ought to be willing to make sacrifices in order to express our faith in the way that we live. And at the same time, in the faith-based investing space, I believe we ought not need to — that there should be excellent products that are delivering performance that is kind of aligned to the broader market." — Tim Macready

"The variety in the decision-making around screens is a strength of the market rather than a weakness." — Tim Macready

"Watch this space, I think, for more developments there." — Tim Macready (on the emerging "nutrition label" approach to faith-based fund disclosures)

Episode Description:

What does the state of faith-based investing in public markets actually look like heading into 2026? Tim Macready, Head of Global Advisory at Brightlight, joins Richard Cunningham and Luke Roush for the April edition of Marks on the Markets to break down Brightlight's third annual research report — the most comprehensive institutional analysis of faith-driven public markets investing available.

Tim unpacks a nuanced performance picture: the average faith-based fund delivered 16% returns in 2025, but underperformed its benchmark by nearly 2.5% — primarily because many funds excluded several of the Magnificent Seven companies that drove outsized market gains. He explains why this underperformance mirrors patterns seen in the early 2010s, and why history suggests a more favorable environment may be ahead as markets broaden beyond mega-cap growth stocks.

Beyond performance, this conversation is a masterclass in the evolving structure of the faith-based investing market — from the ETF product explosion and the "core satellite" portfolio approach, to the theological questions fund managers must answer about screens, engagement, and what it truly means to invest to the glory of God. Whether you're a financial advisor navigating client conversations or a faith-driven investor trying to align capital with conviction, this episode delivers both the data and the framework.

Episode Title: Solving the World's Greatest Problems: How Collaborative Giving Funds Are Reshaping Impact Capital

Guests: Zac Sicher (Fund Manager, Hunger & Joblessness — Solving the World's Greatest Problems) and Rebecca Yuschak (Grants & Operations Lead — Faith Driven Investor) Host: Justin Forman with Henry Kaestner

Key Topics:

• How philanthropic "first-loss" capital unlocks markets that investment capital alone cannot reach — and why the greatest innovations of the last 50 years started with charitable dollars
  
  
• The Jenga block framework: why attacking one structural pressure point in a complex problem (trafficking, hunger, housing) can cause the entire broken system to collapse
  
  
• The $14–16 trillion housing gap vs. $592 billion in annual US charitable giving — and why charity alone can never close it
  
  
• How Solving the World's Greatest Problems Collaborative Giving Funds work as professionally managed donor-advised funds — 100% of contributions deployed into the field
  
  
• Africa's structural hunger crisis: 378 million people facing solvable food insecurity, a 20x corn yield gap between Zimbabwe and the US, and 30–40% post-harvest food waste — and the market innovations targeting each
  
  

Notable Quotes:

"There is no shortage of money willing to chase profitable solutions. There is no shortage of money willing to follow. There is an immense shortage of money willing to go first." — Zac Sicher

"Capital, when structured properly, has the ability to solve the world's greatest problems. Not exclusively, but to play an important role in solving these problems." — Zac Sicher

"Charity alone was never gonna get us there in many of these times."

— Justin Forman

Eternal Perspective: Rewiring How Faith-Driven Investors Think About Reward, Heaven, and Stewardship

Host Justin Forman sits down with author and theologian Randy Alcorn — founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries and author of 65 books including Treasure Principle, Heaven, and Law of Rewards — for a conversation that challenges some of the most deeply held misconceptions in Christian life and investing culture. From the Protestant Reformation's unintended legacy on how we think about reward, to a vision of the new earth that reframes the very purpose of stewardship, this episode is essential listening for anyone who wants their financial decisions anchored in eternity.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The Protestant Reformation's unintended impact on how Christians misunderstand reward — and why Scripture actually celebrates God-given incentives for faithful stewardship
• Why happiness and holiness are not in conflict, and how getting this wrong has distorted how faith-driven investors relate to wealth, generosity, and purpose
• Heaven and the new earth re-examined: What resurrection bodies, physical work, and eternal creativity reveal about stewarding resources now
• The Ebenezer Scrooge model of generosity: How true conversion produces radical, joyful giving — not reluctant obligation
• Randy Alcorn's "eternal perspective" framework — the common thread through 65 books — and how it applies to every investment and stewardship decision

Notable Quotes:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." — Randy Alcorn (quoting Jim Elliot)

"God has not simply called us to holiness. God has called us also to happiness and there is no conflict whatsoever between them." — Randy Alcorn

"It is more blessed to give than to receive — the word translated 'blessed' is the Greek word Makarios, which means happy-making. It is more happy-making to give than to receive." — Randy Alcorn

About Randy Alcorn: Randy Alcorn is the founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM) and the bestselling author of 65 books, including Treasure Principle (over 1 million copies sold), Heaven, and Law of Rewards. A former pastor turned full-time writer and speaker, Randy's life work centers on one unifying theme: eternal perspective. He gives away all royalties from his books to support missions and ministry, living out the very principles he writes about.