In this episode of Yahweh’s Money, I sit down with Steven Waddy, President of the Anne Arundel County NAACP, for a powerful conversation about boycotts, buying power, and how turning purchases into purpose can transform communities.

We dive deep into how consumer choices become spiritual advocacy, why disinvestment after George Floyd’s murder sparked today’s wave of boycotts, and how God calls us to align our wallets with justice, stewardship, and compassion. Steven shares his journey from civic engagement in Atlanta to leading community impact in Maryland, offering wisdom on what it really means to spend with intention.

Together, we unpack the hard truths about Target, Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks, Nike, and beyond while grounding it all in biblical principles that remind us: our money is never just currency, it’s a tool for Kingdom change.

This episode is part testimony, part social commentary, and all conviction.

Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

• How commodification, capitalism, and identity collide in our spending habits.
• The concept of economic violence—and why calling it out matters.
• Why financial resistance requires both conviction and compassion.
• How legacy organizations like the NAACP provide vital discernment and direction.
• Why every purchase is a spiritual decision with ripple effects on justice and community.

Featured Scripture:

Proverbs 31:8–9 — “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Featured in Podcast:

The Black Consumer Advisory

Action Step:

This week, prayerfully review where your money is going. Identify one company or cause you can support more intentionally—and one you may need to reconsider based on your values. Because small changes, multiplied by millions of believers, can make a Kingdom-sized impact.

Connect with Steven Waddy here:

Anne Arundel County NAACP Website

Anne Arundel County NAACP Instagram

Anne Arundel County NAACP LinkedIn

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

In this episode of Yahweh’s Money, we’re getting candid about something that affects all of us: comparison. Shay Cook welcomes powerhouse entrepreneur and coach Dr. Johnetta Thurston for a soul-stirring conversation about identity, finances, and faith in the age of the algorithm.

Shay and Dr. Johnetta open up about the silent weight of social pressure, how spiritual alignment helps resist financial distraction, and what true contentment looks like in a world obsessed with more.

If you’ve ever scrolled through social media and felt like you’re behind—or wondered why your blessings feel delayed—this episode will remind you that God’s timing is never late, and your path is yours alone.

Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

• Why comparison is the enemy of stewardship—and how to break free from it.
• The hidden financial and emotional cost of “keeping up.”
• Biblical truths about success, obedience, and God’s timing.
• Real talk on solopreneurship, burnout, and defining your own version of success.
• How contentment and legacy are more powerful than luxury.

Featured Scripture:

• Galatians 6:4-5 – “Each one should test their own actions... without comparing themselves to someone else.”
• Proverbs 22:7 – “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
• Philippians 4:6 – “Be anxious for nothing…”
• Luke 14:28 – “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost…”

Action Step:

Audit your digital space this week.

1. Unfollow or mute three accounts that spark comparison or discontent.
2. Then follow three accounts that nourish your faith, finances, and well-being.

Final Word:

Comparison can bankrupt your peace. But when you stay rooted in your purpose and focused on your own lane, God can do the work of multiplying your seed in due season. Trust His timeline. Your breakthrough doesn’t need a filter—it needs faith.

Connect with Dr. Johnetta here:

Website: https://www.jdamanagementandconsulting.com/

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

In this episode, we get real about what happens when ambition is led by purpose—not pressure—and how trusting God with your finances, goals, and career can lead to outcomes that defy logic.

From tithing through pay cuts to setting boundaries in grind culture, Dewan Clayborn, President & CEO of the Central Maryland Chamber, shares his testimony of what happens when you follow God’s call—even when it doesn’t make sense on paper.

If you’ve ever wrestled with the tension between ambition and obedience, or wondered whether your goals are rooted in faith or ego, this episode is your reminder that God doesn’t just tolerate your ambition—He designed it.

Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

• How to tell the difference between godly ambition and worldly hustle.
• Real talk on tithing, trusting God with money, and spiritual stewardship.
• Why obedience sometimes looks like a pay cut—but leads to overflow.
• The spiritual significance of speaking in tongues, prayer as a couple, and building legacy.
• How to align business, career, and personal goals with your faith.

Featured Scripture:

• Colossians 3:23-24 – “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…”
• Philippians 4:19 – “My God shall supply all your needs…”
• Romans 10:9-10 – Salvation through confession and belief.
• James 4:7 – “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
• Ephesians 6 – The Armor of God (spiritual warfare)

Action Step:

Spend 10 minutes this week in quiet prayer. Ask: Are my goals led by God—or by pressure? Choose one goal to revise with faith, purpose, and alignment in mind.

Final Word:

Ambition isn’t the enemy of faith—disobedience is. When you surrender your hustle to God, He’ll take what took years and restore it in one season. Your grind doesn’t have to be exhausting. It can be anointed.

Connect with Dewan here:

LinkedIn: Dewan Clayborn, IOM | LinkedIn

The Next Generation of Nonprofit Leadership by Dewan Clayborn

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

In this episode of Yahweh’s Money, we’re keeping it real, keeping it holy and keeping it honest. Shay Cook sits down with her sister, salon owner and entrepreneur Montoya Silver for a powerful conversation about debt, faith, and financial freedom.

In this episode, we're diving into the emotional and spiritual weight of financial responsibility, how being uncomfortable is often where God does His best work, and why debt isn’t always a bad thing—it’s a tool that, with the right mindset and stewardship, can lead to generational wealth.

From scaling a business with borrowed funds to paying yourself as a service-based entrepreneur, Montoya shares her unfiltered journey with debt, business ownership, and spiritual alignment.

If you’ve ever felt the anxiety of owing more than you’re earning—or wondered if faith has anything to do with your finances—this episode is your reminder that freedom starts with surrender.

Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

• A reframed perspective: why debt isn’t always bad, but staying in it without a plan is.
• How entrepreneurship tests your faith—and your budget.
• Biblical strategies for finding peace in financial pressure.
• The power of responsible stewardship and spiritual growth.
• How fixed expenses and fluctuating income require both wisdom and faith.
• Why paying yourself is paying your people.
• What it means to be uncomfortable and still obedient.

Featured Scriptures:

• Proverbs 22:7 – “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
• Philippians 4:6 – “Be anxious for nothing…”
• Luke 14:28 – “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost…”

Action Step:

Choose one debt this month—just one—and make a plan. Whether that means paying it down, refinancing, or simply praying over it with intention, name it and claim your authority over it with God’s help.

Final Word:

Debt may be uncomfortable, but discomfort births growth. When you partner with God, even your financial mess can become a message of freedom.

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

Welcome to Yahweh’s Money: The Crossroads of Religion and Money. I’m Shay Cook, an Accredited Financial Counselor®️, passionate believer, and the founder of Crusaders for Change®️, LLC.

If you’ve ever felt curious, uncomfortable, confused, or even guilty talking about money in a spiritual setting, I created this space for you.

We’ve been taught that money is the root of all evil. That tithing is about obligation, not overflow. That debt is a sign of failure—not a place where grace can show up. But I believe it’s time to challenge those narratives.

On this podcast, I dive deep into the connection between faith and finances. We’ll talk about tithing, saving, debt, financial trauma, generosity, and more—all through a biblical and empowering lens. Because I believe you can be faithful and financially free. You can trust God and still have a budget. You can walk in your purpose without walking in lack.

Each episode weaves together scripture, practical financial tools, and real conversations to help you break free from shame, embrace your role as a steward—not a struggler—and build a life of abundance that honors God and your goals.

This podcast is part of the mission I’ve been called to through Crusaders for Change, where we help people walk in financial healing and spiritual wholeness. Visit crusaders4change.org to learn more about our programs and community.

If you're ready to stop surviving and start stewarding, I invite you to hit follow. Let’s walk this journey together.

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

In this episode of Yahweh’s Money, we’re keeping it real, keeping it holy—and keeping it hilarious. I sit down with comedian and radio personality Larry Lancaster for a soul-nourishing conversation about the power of laughter, faith, and financial resilience.

This isn’t your average “let’s talk money” episode.

We dive deep into how humor becomes a spiritual tool in hard times, why many of our financial issues are rooted in ego—not lack—and how a cheerful heart truly is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22). Larry doesn’t hold back as he shares his journey from growing up in the roughest part of Baltimore to building a thriving comedy career grounded in purpose and faith.

We talk about the emotional weight of trying to make ends meet, the shame that often comes with financial struggle, and why God might be giggling right along with us—because sometimes, laughter is all we have left. And sometimes, that’s exactly what gets us through.

This episode is part testimony, part stand-up set, and all heart.

Here’s what you’ll walk away with:

• A new appreciation for laughter as a holy act of survival.
• Real talk on how ego often keeps us in debt, not a lack of money.
• Stories from Larry’s upbringing that shaped his outlook on money, manhood, and mental health.
• How growing up with a parent with mental illness taught him grace, grit, and gratitude.
• Why financial literacy without spiritual alignment will leave you feeling empty.
• The role of joy, jokes, and Jesus in managing economic pressure.
• What Diddy, church, money, and designer jeans can teach us about humility.

And yes—there’s also a bit about a sleepy McDonald’s employee, $19 jeans, and a thousand bottles of baby oil that’ll have you laughing out loud and shaking your head.

Featured Scripture:

Proverbs 17:22 — “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Action Step:

Find one financial frustration this week and laugh about it. Whether it’s a ridiculous fee, a busted budget, or a week of creative cooking with what’s left in your pantry—laugh, reflect, and give it to God. Then ask Him to renew your joy in the middle of your financial journey.

Because while God gave us wisdom, budgeting tools, and community support—He also gave us laughter.

Let this episode remind you that even when the money’s funny, the joy is still real.

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

In this powerful episode of Yahweh’s Money, I sat down with my daughter, Alana Cook, for a candid Gen X vs. Gen Z conversation about faith, finances, and finding your own path.

Together, we explored how different generations approach money, the church, and what it really means to walk in financial freedom while staying spiritually grounded.

Here are a few key takeaways from our discussion:

Faith and Finances Are Deeply Personal

While older generations often tied financial decisions to church traditions like tithing, Gen Z is questioning religious institutions and redefining what it means to honor God with their money.

Financial Literacy for Gen Z Starts at Home

From budgeting to building confidence in spending, teaching our children early builds a solid foundation. Even small habits—like grocery shopping lessons—can shape a lifelong money mindset.

Wealth Gaps Call for New Strategies

With rising costs and limited job opportunities, Gen Z is navigating a very different economic reality. Together, we talked about how faith, resilience, and adaptability are key to creating generational wealth in a broken system.

If you’re parenting a young adult or are one yourself, this episode offers practical insights and biblical money principles for building financial independence and spiritual strength.

Let’s keep having the hard, holy conversations—across generations.

Episode Resource:

Proverbs 22:6

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com

In the season 4 opening episode of Yahweh’s Money, I had an open and heartfelt conversation with my husband, Nathaniel Cook Jr., about the intersection of love, legacy, faith, and finances in Black marriages.

Drawing on our 26-year journey together, we reflected on how biblical principles, patient partnership, and intentional money management have shaped our relationship and approach to generational wealth.

Here are a few key takeaways from our discussion:

Compromise is Crucial

Marriage and money both thrive on honest conversations and joint decision-making. Neither partner will always be right, and building wealth requires alignment—even if visions aren’t identical, they must point in the same direction.

Faith Fuels Financial Resilience

Leaning on faith helps navigate disagreements and encourages patience, trust, and hope—both in God and each other. Strong faith doesn’t erase worry, but it anchors couples through uncertain times.

Generational Understanding Builds Wealth

Wealth isn’t just about assets; it’s also about the mindset passed on. Demonstrating responsible financial behaviors and discussing money openly with our daughter has helped her set a new “floor” for her own future, raising the bar for the next generation.

If you’re looking to strengthen your relationship or build a financial legacy, consider scheduling a "money date" with your partner—pray together and align on your vision for the future.

Let’s keep breaking cycles and building together!

Episode Resources:

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Send us a text

💸⛪🕍📿💵

Our podcast is proudly sponsored by Crusaders for Change, LLC (C4C) and hosted by our CEO and Founder, Mrs. Shay Cook. At C4C, we provide customized corporate financial wellness programs for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. Our services are tailored to create happier, healthier, and more productive work environments. We also empower individuals and couples to overcome debt, improve their credit, boost savings, and more. Ready to learn more about how C4C can impact your life? Contact us today at https://www.crusaders4change.org/!

Schedule a Free 15-minute Clarity Call Today!

Comments, questions, or suggestions on topics? Email yahweh@crusaders4change.org

And, follow us on:
Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Music by: Lamonte Silver - Owner of essentialmusicclub.com | Previously by ROA - roa-music.com