{"id":41387,"date":"2015-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/origin-of-skin-in-game\/"},"modified":"2015-05-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T00:00:00","slug":"origin-of-skin-in-game","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/origin-of-skin-in-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Origin of &#8216;Skin in the Game&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to one story (which may be a legend), in the late 1960s, the now-iconic investor Warren Buffet pried seed money for his very first stock fund from eleven doctors who&#39;d agreed to kick in $105,000. Then, in a symbolic act of his own commitment, Buffet added $100 of his own money to the kitty. No one knows exactly when the phrase &quot;skin in the game&quot; entered the American lingo, but many pinned it on Buffet&#39;s willingness to plunk down his own $100. The now common phrase captures the essence of an investment of heart and courage and risk, not the mere investment of money.<\/p>\n\n<p>The idea is simple: You have no business asking others to trust you with their money if you&#39;re not willing to put your own resources at risk. If you have no &quot;skin in the game,&quot; no stake of vulnerability, then your engagement is distant and rhetorical rather than personal and visceral. We might play fast and loose with others&#39; resources but not with our own. Put another way, it&#39;s one thing to <em>work for<\/em> an entrepreneur; it&#39;s quite another to <em>be<\/em> the entrepreneur. The first involves little personal investment; the second demands our heart, our time, our sacrifice, our Commitment, some real &quot;skin.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3615,3640,3749,3911,4043,4057,4281,4408,4450,4931,4945,5115,5164,5316],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-41387","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-church-membership","tax_ctp_tags-commitment","tax_ctp_tags-dedication","tax_ctp_tags-excuses","tax_ctp_tags-generosity","tax_ctp_tags-giving","tax_ctp_tags-involvement","tax_ctp_tags-lukewarmness","tax_ctp_tags-membership","tax_ctp_tags-self-sacrifice","tax_ctp_tags-seriousness","tax_ctp_tags-surrender","tax_ctp_tags-tithing","tax_ctp_tags-zeal"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Origin of &#039;Skin in the Game&#039; - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/origin-of-skin-in-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Origin of &#039;Skin in the Game&#039; - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to one story (which may be a legend), in the late 1960s, the now-iconic investor Warren Buffet pried seed money for his very first stock fund from eleven doctors who&#039;d agreed to kick in $105,000. 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