{"id":125442,"date":"2026-04-20T11:03:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-teacher-brings-final-financial-stewardship-workshop-to-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:03:06","slug":"former-teacher-brings-final-financial-stewardship-workshop-to-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-teacher-brings-final-financial-stewardship-workshop-to-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Former teacher brings final financial stewardship workshop to Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The \u201cEmpowered Stewardship: Thriving in Today\u2019s Economy\u201d event will be held at Lamp Post Creative Learning Center on Saturday. (Bailey Duran\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A free, faith-based financial workshop led by a former local educator aims to help community members reduce debt, build stability and apply biblical principles to money management during its final session in Cortez.<\/p>\n

The event, titled \u201cEmpowered Stewardship: Thriving in Today\u2019s Economy,\u201d combines scriptural teachings on finances with tools for budgeting, debt reduction and building wealth.<\/p>\n

The final workshop will be at 9 a.m. Saturday at Lamp Post Creative Learning Center, 32171 U.S. Highway 160.<\/p>\n

Andy Bennetts, a Cortez native, former teacher and debt-to-wealth specialist at Empower Wealth Solutions, is one of the speakers at the workshop. Bennetts said the series grew out of his own experience learning a financial system designed to accelerate mortgage payoffs. Using the approach, Bennetts and his wife reduced their 30-year mortgage to 15 years without refinancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often liken it to a GPS, a financial GPS,\u201d Bennetts told The Journal. \u201cSo, instead of just wandering around and paying when the bank tells us to pay, we\u2019re more strategic about it, and it gives us very specific guidance basically on what to pay, when to pay, how much to pay \u2026 that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sessions typically draw about 10 participants and are free and open to everyone, though they are promoted through area churches. Organizers expect a larger turnout for the final workshop, with a goal of around 30 attendees. Other speakers include Christian author Lynn Spencer and wealth specialist Sandy Northup.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

What:<\/strong> Empowered Stewardship financial workshop<\/p>\n

When: <\/strong>Saturday<\/p>\n

Where: <\/strong>Lamp Post Creative Learning Center, 32171 U.S. Highway 160<\/p>\n

Details: <\/strong>Free faith-based workshop on debt reduction, budgeting and biblical money principles. Lunch provided.<\/p>\n

Information:<\/strong> (970) 739-2229 or www.empowerwealth.solutions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI knew what it could do for people. I knew what it was doing for us, and I wanted to tell them about that system,\u201d Bennetts said. \u201cPeople are drowning in debt, drowning in bills and this kind of stuff. And two, as a teacher, I know that financial education is not talked about like it should be at all. So, I\u2019m wanting to remedy some of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous workshops have included success stories, Bennetts said, including one couple who reportedly saved more than $100,000 and shortened their mortgage by 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that is probably most impactful to me are the success stories like that, and that just warms my heart,\u201d Bennetts said. \u201cIt makes my teacher heart happy knowing that we\u2019re making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program is supported by a grant from the LOR Foundation, which helped cover the cost of the sessions, including meals. Workshops typically last two hours, but the final session will run three hours to include biblical teaching, core financial material and lunch, which will be catered by Mona Makes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of wisdom in the Bible as far as how to use money,\u201d Bennetts said.<\/p>\n

Follow-up one-on-one conversations with Bennetts are available for participants seeking guidance on topics such as debt, student loans or investing.<\/p>\n

More information is available by calling or texting (970) 739-2229 or at www.empowerwealth.solutions.<\/a> Registration for this weekend\u2019s workshop is open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faith-based session is Saturday at Lamp Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5903],"tags":[21,1698,60,407],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-125442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-cortez","tag-finance-general","tag-montezuma-county","tag-religion-and-belief"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125442"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=125442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}