I'm here with Dave Cooper the founder of Community reinvestment Foundation CRF

tell me a little bit about CRF its Origins how did this idea come about what is CRF and how does it connect to the idea of global missions and funding global missions

CRF started out as a housing company not-for-profit in 1992.

 

Tim shroud we had lunch together one day and wanted to know if I would be interested in getting involved in in the affordable housing side which I knew nothing about but I said sure we had an opportunity to with through this grant program to acquire properties okay and so we started out we went Tennessee we were in Alabama we had

contracts written 19 as I recall wow and we got first one closed and they did away with the program wow so this was months that we had spent so you won for 19. one for 19. 

 

Our batting average wasn't really wasn't very good yeah uh and so that was our beginning syrup was actually started attend attended Lakeview Church and Tom Payno was a very uh force of nature yes uh for raising funds and so every Sunday that we went to church it was obviously a there's missions involved and so that's sure how we were how we really got involved from the beginning our whole purpose was to raise money for Missions okay and so 50 of any surplus cash we have at the end of the year is given to missions programs wow 50 and over the years there were some lean years obviously but the Lord's been good and what's that what's that added up to over the years. 

 

Well I don't have an accurate number but it's around 20 million 20 million dollars given to missions because you started with the idea that we're going to give half away even when there was there wasn't anything to begin with and I want to ask kind of a two-part question why 50 you know a lot of people say 10 20 why 50 how did you land on 50 and then why global missions why not food deserts in downtown MD or the boys and girls club or the YMCA why 50 and why global missions well the 50 just came out of discussions of the board meeting um we had board of directors uh and during that conversation that's a number that just kind of stuck out uh again we didn't have big dollars at time sure 50 wasn't a lot of money but it was a number that we agreed that that's what we were going to do from now on and uh so and the reason the other 50 was to go back into housing so it's not like we were taking any of the money out sure we were putting it back into business. 

 

Yeah why global missions why not something else why not the Boys and Girls Club well you know we had a couple pastors on our on our board um but we came out of the church we started out of the church and the church was very strong in missions giving foreign missions giving and uh and that's why we settled on that now we do give money to other entities sure uh like you said Boys and Girls Clubs that type of thing but that's over and above the 50 percent sure well it's an incredible story of faithfulness again. 

 

I've been a sideline Observer for a lot of those 30 years I've known your family my whole life pretty much and right and you know I know firsthand that you could have been successful in anything that you set your hand to so to see you uh put the Great Commission ahead of your own personal finances your own personal uh ambition is really uh is really something it's really it's really special um what does it mean to you today just to know that all around the world there are businesses missions there are Bible schools there are churches there are there are CrossFit Gyms there are there are entities all around the world and dozens and dozens of countries sharing the good news about Jesus.  

 

That wouldn't be there or at least wouldn't be as well-equipped as they are if it hadn't been for the fact that you started CRF what does that mean to you today well means everything sure because uh that was our objective and our goal and to see now when you go over and you see where those dollars are being utilized um it just means everything to you sure and uh I wouldn't change anything wow wouldn't change the things if I were a young 28 year old entrepreneur and I walked into your office today and said Dave I want to start a business and I want to be Kingdom Minded and I want to I want to give money away to missions what advice would you give me as a young entrepreneur of how to how to do that.

 

Well I think really the only thing I can give is my experience sure you know um if you believe if you truly believe that's what you want to do um then you just have to keep working towards that goal and uh and there's so many opportunities for young people nowadays to start businesses and there's opportunities for them to get into apprenticeship programs and learn how to run a business which is important they're not going to start a business if they can't operate on it yeah and they're not going to give money to missions if they can't operate it but I think you've got to keep that goal out in front of you at all times as you move forward and you're going to have setbacks but if you believe that the Lord's put you in this position and that's where you're going and he's gonna guide you hey thanks for watching if you like this video maybe give us a like a comment share it with some friends if you're interested in more resources from the stone table you can find those at thestonetable.org forward slash start uh before you go hey check out this other video we'll see you next time.


Last modified: Tuesday, October 21, 2025, 9:30 AM