Loose Hands, Open Hearts

Jada Edwards says generosity grows through trust, sacrifice, and everyday compassion.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of our occasional series Generous Living where we highlight people practicing radical, creative generosity with the resources God has given them.

“It doesn’t matter who earned it, at the end of the day it is God who gave it.”

Jada Edwards on her book ‘A New Way to Love Your Neighbor’ / Video screenshot @Jada Edwards

Those are the words of author and Bible teacher Jada Edwards as she addressed the gathering at the 2025 Celebration of Generosity Conference in Austin, Texas.

Drawing from her book “A New Way to Love Your Neighbor: Be Curious, Brave & Free  – How To Transform Your Relationship with God and Others,” she encouraged attendees to hold loosely what they think is important and trust God for the results.

“My husband Conway and I were newlyweds when we first navigated our approach to finances together,” Jada said. “He placed great importance on responsible stewardship, ensuring we had margin for generosity.”

Jada said she grew up in a comfortable, stable home. Her dad was a successful businessman and her mother a nurse—a sharp contrast to how her husband grew up in Jamaica with very limited means. Jada worked hard to build a career in the IT field while Conway was a seminary student working on his master’s degree at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). He later attended Regent University for his Doctorate in Strategic Leadership.

Conway had grown up witnessing day-to-day provision. His father, a school chaplain in full-time ministry, often prayed over needs as simple as lunch money. He said provision would arrive in unexpected ways, with God always receiving the glory. Jada’s upbringing emphasized careful planning—long-term investments, annuities, and steady progress.

“These two perspectives eventually converged, reshaping a unified understanding of generosity,” Jada said. “I once viewed myself as middle-class, yet trips to Jamaica revealed privileges I had taken for granted”.

Speaking of her husband, Jada said, “When we met, he was determined to make a difference in the world, and I wanted to join him in that mission.”

One of his convictions was to live on one income. “I agreed in principle, suggesting—half in jest—that it should be mine, given my stable career while he served in ministry part-time due to his visa restrictions,” she said.

But that’s not what Conway had in mind. “He gently insisted it should be his, trusting that God would provide. Despite my initial skepticism, we proceeded on faith. We moved into a small one-bedroom apartment—smaller than the condo I had previously owned alone. It was a significant adjustment, one that taught me to release attachments to comfort and entitlement I had scarcely recognized before.”

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In those early years, resources were tight and luxuries like travel or date nights were out of reach. An unexpected kindness from a couple that Jada barely knew made a difference that shifted her entire perspective on what living a generous life looked like.

“A mentor couple from my husband’s seminary days invited us to spend a weekend at their lake house,” said Jada. “They told us they had purchased the home in order to bless others with a place to reconnect and be refreshed. Then they handed us the keys to both the house and their Lincoln Navigator, encouraging us to enjoy the time away. Their generosity—offered freely and without strings—left a lasting mark on me.”

Experiences like that one shifted the couple’s trajectory. “The good news is that generosity is not fixed; it can be cultivated,” she said. “By God’s grace, even those who did not grow up with it can learn to hold possessions more loosely and adopt a broader perspective of stewardship.”

Reflecting on Acts 2, Jada pointed to the early church. “Amid their devotion to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer, generosity emerged naturally,” she said. “The community shared deeply because they had witnessed God’s extravagant generosity in Jesus, who surrendered power, privilege, and provision for our sake.”

She said generosity goes beyond just money. “Generosity, at its core, involves sharing what we have been given. While money is one expression, the posture extends far beyond finances.”

In 2008, with only 10 people gathered in a living room, the Edwards started One Community Church, which has now grown to over 13,000 members across multiple campuses, even extending globally. It was a church built on prayer and conviction that God would provide, Jada said.

Jada and Conway shared a conviction about asking for money. “It was clear. Don’t pass the offering plate,” she said. There were baskets in the back of the room for tithes and offerings, but the topic of finances was kept to a minimum. “I know from testimonies of people in our church that talking about generosity was so healing for those who had come out of unhealthy churches. But more importantly, we were able to say, ‘Look at what God has done.’ By God’s grace, it has grown beyond what we could have imagined.”

Sometimes, Jada feels convicted to look for practical ways to share. In one instance, someone donated a financial gift, and she prayed about what to do with it.  A pregnant woman delivering pizzas in the rain knocked on their door.

“No one chooses this,” thought Jada, as she looked at the woman. “She almost dropped the pizza when I handed her one-hundred-dollar gift I had been holding onto. She was like, ‘Can I hug you?’ Jada invited the woman into her home and asked if she was thirsty or needed anything. “Then we had this great conversation. It wasn’t like, ‘Come to the altar and give your life to Christ.’ But I know it was a moment when God drew her heart just one step closer through generosity.”

She said the generosity of the early church pointed to God who was generous beyond measure. “The same principle holds today: genuine generosity—financial and otherwise—fuels kingdom growth. It is not about earning credit or protecting our own name, but about making His name  known.”

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