Creative Contentment

Jon Collins left a thriving business to start The Bible Project

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“Generosity seemed like a key that unlocked the Christian life for me,” said Jon Collins, the co-creator  of the Bible Project.

Collins, along with his wife Tristen, addressed a large gathering at the 2024 Generous Giving Celebration in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April. They reflected on some of the turning points that led to the crowd funded Bible Project, now in its 10th year.

“I love communication, I love media, and I love explaining things with animation,” said Collins.

After starting a business with a few friends that excelled faster than any of them anticipated, Jon and Tristen had to reprioritize.

“We just were in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people, and it just took off,” said Jon. “It really came as a surprise to us. We began to make more money than we ever planned to make. It wasn’t long until we were bringing more in in a month than we were used to bringing in in a year.”

“At first it was exciting,” said Tristen, who met Jon while they were both students at Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon. “We had a list of things we wanted to check off our list. It felt great to pay off debt, upgrade our cars and house. It also had an impact on our friendships.”

But it wasn’t all positive. “Jon was feeling conflicted in his job and business,” said Tristen.

“We felt this tension,” added Jon. “We didn’t like it.”

The inner conflict escalated. “I became obsessed on just making as much and accumulating as much as possible,” said Jon. “It really created this conflict in my spirit because it’s not why I started business.”

When a friend called and asked Jon to come to Colorado and make a video about Generous Giving, he agreed. Capturing the essence of generosity at the conference, held at the historic Broadmoor Hotel 12 years ago, turned out changing his life’s trajectory.

“I got to hear stories of people who were living these bold, joyful, courageous lives,” said Jon. “It was really captivating. I just remember thinking, man, this is a gift. God gave me a gift. I came home all jazzed and excited to get unstuck.”

Seeing generosity from a new perspective sparked a desire to give more creatively.

His enthusiasm was contagious, and Tristen was inspired by the stories Jon shared.

Tristen jumped on board with creating a family mission plan, capping their household budget, and dividing their income into a budget fund and a generosity fund.

At that point Jon felt like he needed to remove himself from his current businesses to focus on the project.

“It was like God was calling me to free up my mind and imagination for something that was next,” said Jon.

When college friends moved back to the Portland area, Jon and his friend Tim Mackie began to talk about the Bible and craft storyboards and scripts to produce short animated videos.

“We had two scripts ready to go,” said Jon, “We still had some money set aside in our checking account to give away. I came to Tristan and I said, We’re ready to make these videos. They’re not cheap. Why don’t we use this money to make these videos?” In Jon’s mind, it was a no brainer. But Tristen was hesitant.

“It was surprising because we had more money than I think we would have ever imagined,” Tristen explained about her trepidation. “At the time, our lives were pretty unstable. John was constantly thinking of quitting his job. I just had our second baby. Having the money didn’t take away my fear of not having enough.” In the end, she decided not to let fear dominate.

It wasn’t an easy transition. For Jon, unraveling himself from his business proved to be exhausting. After having wrestling with several “worst case” scenarios, he felt peace they were being obedient.

“No matter what,” said Jon, “I can be content in what God has for us.”

Jon talks about the decision to give away the Bible Project content. “When you lead with generosity, people respond with generosity.”

Tristen added, “It’s really beautiful to us to think about how generous giving is what helped birth Bible Project. It’s the generosity of thousands of people that’s made Bible Project what it is today. Our family is so grateful to be part of a team that shares the message of God’s generous, abundant love, and it’s sustained by the generosity of God’s people.”

The Bible Project has 4 stars and a “D” transparency grade in the MinistryWatch database, and a donor confidence score of 71.

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