Crossworld President Dale Losch’s new book, Giving Outside the Box, released on Sept. 15, 2020. We interviewed Dale to hear his inspiration behind the book and what he hopes it will inspire in readers.

Dale, where did the idea for the book come from?

I didn’t originally set out to write a book. I wanted to write a series of short stories or lessons to share with my kids about how we as a family have experienced God’s amazing provision. My goal was to encourage them to trust God with their finances and become growing givers themselves. It was only after the document got longer and longer that I started to think about turning it into a book in order to share it with others.

Why a book about giving?

I don’t think we really believe what God says about giving. Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.”

If Christ-followers believed this, the statistics on giving would look much different than they do. The statistics indicate that the average Christian in America gives somewhere between 2 and 4 percent of their income.

I’ve written this book because I really do believe what God says. I’ve experienced His incredible generosity and provision as a growing giver, and I love talking about it. Many books on giving either don’t have a strong biblical apologetic for generous giving, or they don’t have much practical illustration of what it looks like. Giving Outside the Box includes both a thorough look at what the Bible says and lots of practical illustrations that demonstrate the reality.

Why is this topic important today?

We’re facing the greatest generational transfer of wealth in the history of the world. In the next 20 years, the Boomer generation will hand off between $30-68 trillion. What’s shocking is that of those who’ve already made a will, only 6% include a charity as a beneficiary. That represents a huge opportunity as well as maybe the greatest potential neglect of responsibility we’ve ever seen, if our generation doesn’t pass off some of that wealth to kingdom causes.

Boil it down for us. What’s this book really about?

Jesus said that unbelievers are smarter with their money than most believers are. And that’s surprising to us, but He said that because many believers are squandering their potential investment returns by improper management of His resources. Giving Outside the Box is about how to maximize the future return on what God has entrusted to us by becoming a growing giver now.

What does the title mean?

We need to break out of the traditional thinking about giving that puts an upper limit — usually 10% — on what we think God desires of us as givers. Grace giving doesn’t put limits on generosity but is as limitless as God Himself. The title, then, is a challenge to unleash the potential of giving without constraint.

You’ve said some of the inspiration for Giving Outside the Box came from your childhood experiences. Tell us about that.

I was deeply impacted by the example my parents set for giving. They were consistent, faithful tithers, even though they never made much money. They ingrained in me the idea that giving God 10 percent of your income was normal — not something for “super Christians.” Establishing tithing as a baseline from a young age made it easier for me to become a growing giver later on.

What do you know about giving now that you wish you could tell yourself as a young adult?

I know now that it’s possible for someone who’s not wealthy by the world’s standards to give back to God far more than 10 percent of their income. In the early days of our marriage, my wife, Jerusha, and I thought giving 20, 30, or 40 percent of our income seemed admirable but out of reach. But we took it one step at a time and our “giving muscle,” as I like to call it, grew stronger. 

I also know now that you can’t “out-give” God. As R.G. LeTourneau said, “I shovel it out, and God shovels it back to me. But His shovel is bigger.”

One more thing I know now is that the sacrifice of giving more and keeping less is so worth it. Seeing how God provides and often blesses us beyond measure has been truly thrilling.

What’s in it for the reader?

I really believe God’s abundance is full to bursting, just waiting for people to believe Him and begin to grow in their giving. The apostle Paul says, referring to generous people, that God is able to make all grace abound — a word of blessing, plenty, overflow, excess, and favor. The prophet Malachi said God would open the storehouses of heaven and pour out uncontainable blessings to anyone who would believe God and obey in the matter of giving. Generous giving results in God’s richest blessings and financial freedom in ways that defy explanation.

That sounds almost like the prosperity gospel. Do you address that in the book?

Yes, the overwhelming teaching of Scripture is that God loves to bless generous givers — not so they can be rich in this life, but so they can be even more generous. Prosperity theology is a theology of half-truths. It makes obtaining earthly wealth the goal, when that is not the goal. The goal is to become increasingly generous, laying up treasure in heaven by stewarding well the abundance God gives us here on earth.

What future do you envision if readers follow your advice in the book?

I see people discovering God in ways they never imagined possible. I envision the gospel spreading more rapidly to the least-reached places on earth because God’s people become more generous than ever before. I imagine churches and ministries thriving because the people in them just keep getting more and more generous. And I dream of meeting people in heaven who will be there as an indirect result of grace-filled generosity.

How can people get the book?

Giving Outside the Box is available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon. And the audiobook is coming soon! 

Learn more about Giving Outside the Box, watch a trailer, and order in bulk here.