What We Learned by Letting Go and Living Untethered

For years, I had read about people who talked about radical generosity—giving ninety percent and living on ten. Very few I seen were able to do. Not because the idea wasn’t noble, but because surrender at that level confronts fear, control, and security. Then COVID came and all our ministry industries shut down. Systems failed. The staff left for more secure scenarios. What felt like collapse actually became my time to do what I always dreamed of doing.

In that season, a commitment was made: everything that comes into Breaking Free goes back into the field to feed and serve the hurting. No salaries. No personal benefits. No buildings. No accumulation. Just ministry—real people, real needs, real presence. What looked irresponsible by worldly standards became freeing in God’s economy.

Scripture reminds us, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1). When God owns the work, He assumes the responsibility. We stopped trying to sustain ministry and started trusting God to sustain obedience. What is beautiful is Breaking Free is reaching and disciplining at least four times more than prior.

Along with that commitment came another conviction: we do not solicit money. We don’t fundraise. We don’t appeal emotionally. We don’t ask hurting people to support the work being done among hurting people. Our social media simply reflects daily kingdom work—what God is doing, where He is moving, who He is helping. It is testimony, not marketing.

Jesus never chased provision. He obeyed the Father—and provision followed. “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). We believe that.

There isn’t even a place to give on our website. That surprises people. Just a few days ago someone asked, “How in the world do people even give to you?” The answer was simple: if God leads someone to give, they’ll figure out a way. And they do.

That posture does something important—it separates emotional giving from Spirit-led giving. Emotional giving reacts. Spirit-led giving obeys. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion” (2 Corinthians 9:7). No pressure. No manipulation. Just obedience.

Now, to be clear, God has also brought a small handful of faithful partners alongside us—people who have walked with this ministry over time. They don’t wait for appeals. They don’t need persuasion. They simply say, “Scott, when you’re going out of the country… when you’re feeding children… when there’s a need beyond the ordinary—let us know.” And when those moments come, we do.

But that represents maybe five percent of the story.

Ninety-five percent of what God does through Breaking Free happens without asking, without planning, without pressure. It happens through daily provision, quiet obedience, and God moving on hearts exactly when He chooses. That distinction matters. Relationship is not solicitation. Transparency is not fundraising. And obedience never needs manipulation.

We have watched God provide—not extravagantly, not anxiously, but faithfully. Daily bread. Daily needs met. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). That verse isn’t poetry—it’s practice.

Living debt-free over the years has also been part of this freedom. Debt doesn’t just affect finances—it restricts obedience. “The borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). Freedom expands availability. At this stage of life, there are no major obligations pulling backward—only a calling forward. No retirement to protect. No security to preserve. Just availability.

The enemy’s strategy is often not to stop ministry, but to entangle it. “No soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Timothy 2:4). God’s way is lighter.

And here’s the truth—we never lack. Not because we planned perfectly, but because God is faithful. “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Once you live this way, it becomes easy to keep it. And we’re not changing it.

Because freedom isn’t found in having more—it’s found in trusting more. And when God knows He can trust a ministry’s heart, He proves again and again that it can trust His.