Dr. Lonna Hardin is a serial entrepreneur and owns her own education and business consultant company.
The faith-based business owner said she was in prayer at church when God gave her a vision over a decade ago.
“God took me into a room, and He showed me all the world’s wealth, and He said to me, ‘Do you see all of this? None of it compares to My glory. I am Lord of economic kingdoms,” said Hardin.
“That’s what kept ringing in my ears. He was literally just showing me that I am not just Lord of monetary systems. I’m Lord of economic systems, which economy could be natural gas, agricultural land and any economy that creates value.”
She said she felt a sense of a “holy hush,” and when she came out of the vision it took her years before she acted on it.
“He was going to bring these systems down, and reorder the systems, and how it was going to be really important for people that they be ahead in the new season to understand the new economy and how to navigate it,” said Hardin.
In 2019, before the pandemic, she felt God was pushing her to help families create a plan for the coming days ahead. She also wanted to equip people to take the problems of this world and create solutions for them.
“That’s the importance of the ‘pray, profit and prosper’ strategy because we’re not building to survive; we’re creating systems that are going to be around for generations,” said Hardin.
She created the course with the hopes that individuals look at what is coming in the future economically and plan accordingly.
She said looking ahead to the financial landscape of 2024 would be a good way to understand what is coming.
Kyle Jay Anderson, clinical assistant professor of business economics with the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI, said the overall global economic growth in 2024 will be positive but lower than previous years.
“Inflation has come down significantly over the last half year, and that trend is expected to continue in 2024. We expect inflation to be less than 3% in the coming year,” said Anderson.
This will be seen in most durable goods (automobiles, appliances, etc.) where prices have come down slightly.
Grocery prices will remain high but should not go up much more.
Gasoline prices are currently low but will likely be higher next spring and summer.
“The biggest economic factor right now is inflation. If inflation continues to cool as we’ve seen over the last 6 months, then the Federal Reserve will begin lowering interest rates in late spring or early summer,” said Anderson.
“This will help businesses to continue to invest and will help interest rate sensitive markets like housing.”
He said the job market has been surprisingly resilient in 2023 given that there have been significant interest rate increases.
Generally, when interest rates go up, businesses tend to cut back on investment and hiring.
The unemployment rate is very low at 3.7%, and Anderson said he expects that some reduced hiring in the first part of the year, and unemployment could go up to 4% or a little higher.
That would still be pretty low by historical standards.
“Overall, the job market is quite strong. Service industries are continuing to have hiring needs. Health care is especially strong, where increasing needs are leading to more hiring and many job openings. Construction also continues to do well,” said Anderson.
“Many large-scale construction projects continue around Central Indiana.”
Hardin also has a book called “Lord of Economic Kingdoms” geared toward Christian entrepreneurs that incorporates the pray, profit and prosper model.
Contact staff writer Jade Jackson at (317) 762-7853 or by email JadeJ@IndyRecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
