IMPACT Magazine Issue 1.4 | Page 15

Marvin Steinert A family’s secret of success Marvin and Nadene Steinert (ctr.), son Max Steinert and wife Charlotte (left), and son Randy Steinert and wife Delores (right) “My dad taught me tithing,” says Marvin Steinert. He remembers, at age 14, seeing his father Emanuel support the family of four on just $25 a week. Yet every Saturday his father would put $2.50 into an old Calumet Baking Powder can for the collection plate on Sunday. “It makes me teary-eyed thinking about it,” Marvin says. “I knew how badly he needed that $2.50.” His father died just two years later. They never had a father-son talk about honoring God’s command to give. Marvin learned by example. “He never said anything to me. I just saw what he did. And the minute I started making money, I started giving,” Marvin says. Marvin met his wife, Nadene, at the 1940 Frontier Days Rodeo and they married two years later. They have maintained a lifelong discipline of giving, targeting their gifts to the need rather than their personal interests. Though in his 10th decade, Marvin goes to his office once a week, where a granddaughter helps him oversee the family holdings. He continues to give generously to Haggai Institute, and has already passed on to his children what he learned from his father. Marvin and Nadene’s sons have joined them as co-sponsors of a Haggai Institute session, and one of their grandchildren has worked as a volunteer at the Mid-Pacific Center.  With the family’s involvement now spanning three generations, Marvin says, “I never dreamed we’d be able to give as much as we have.” Giving may have been the key to his success. As Nadene says, “The Lord knew who He could trust with the money.” 15