Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
One of the embedded virtues of business is its forward-looking focus. Entrepreneurs must focus on the future or risk falling behind. But that focus is not just about diligence or calculation. At its best, it reflects deep consideration for the greatest number of people. In this plenary address, David Bahnsen argues that there is real hope for the future even amid growing negativity and cynicism. If that hope cannot be found in media or politics, it can be found in business, where the virtues that sustain society are most vital and most cultivated.
David L. Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm with offices in Newport Beach, New York City, Bend, Nashville, Minneapolis, Austin, Phoenix, West Palm Beach, Dallas, and Grand Rapids, managing over $9 billion in client assets.
David is consistently named one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times. He is a frequent guest on Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, and Bloomberg and is a regular contributor to National Review and World. He appears weekly on The World and Everything in It discussing the week’s economic and market news.
David is a founding Trustee for Pacifica Christian High School of Orange County and serves on the Board of Directors for the Acton Institute and National Review. He is the Senior Fellow of Economics for the Center for Cultural Leadership, and a long-time faculty member for both the Acton Institute and the Blackstone Fellowship of the Alliance Defending Freedom. David is passionate about the integration of faith and economics and has lectured and written for years about a theology of wealth and the marketplace. He responds to the term, “Kuyperian,” is deeply appreciative of Tim Keller and Father Robert Sirico, and has read more systematic theology than any human should ever read. His late father, Dr. Greg Bahnsen, was a renowned Christian apologist and is David’s personal hero and mentor.
He is the author of several best-selling books including Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It (2018), The Case for Dividend Growth: Investing in a Post-Crisis World (2019), and There’s No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths (2021). David’s newest book, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, was released in February 2024.
His ultimate passions are his wife of 22+ years, Joleen, their children, sons Mitchell and Graham, and daughter Sadie, and the life they’ve created together on both coasts.
The Acton Institute is a think-tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
This direction recognizes the benefits of a limited government, but also the beneficent consequences of a free market. It embraces an objective framework of moral values, but also recognizes and appreciates the subjective nature of economic value. It views justice as a duty of all to give the one his due but, more importantly, as an individual obligation to serve the common good and not just his own needs and wants.
In order to promote a more profound understanding of the coming together of faith and liberty, Acton involves members of religious, business, and academic spheres in its various seminars, publications, and academic activities. It is our hope that by demonstrating the compatibility of faith, liberty, and free economic activity, religious leaders and entrepreneurs can contribute by helping to shape a society that is secure, free, and virtuous.
Visit our website: acton.org
Subscribe to the Acton Line Podcast: acton.org/acton-line
Visit the Acton Bookshop: shop.acton.org
Follow Acton on Facebook: facebook.com/ActonInstitute
Follow Acton on Twitter: twitter.com/ActonInstitute
Follow Acton on Instagram: instagram.com/acton_institute
One of the embedded virtues of business is its forward-looking focus. Entrepreneurs must focus on the future or risk falling behind. But that focus is not just about diligence or calculation. At its best, it reflects deep consideration for the greatest number of people. In this plenary address, David Bahnsen argues that there is real hope for the future even amid growing negativity and cynicism. If that hope cannot be found in media or politics, it can be found in business, where the virtues that sustain society are most vital and most cultivated.
David L. Bahnsen is the founder, Managing Partner, and Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm with offices in Newport Beach, New York City, Bend, Nashville, Minneapolis, Austin, Phoenix, West Palm Beach, Dallas, and Grand Rapids, managing over $9 billion in client assets.
David is consistently named one of the top financial advisors in America by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times. He is a frequent guest on Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, and Bloomberg and is a regular contributor to National Review and World. He appears weekly on The World and Everything in It discussing the week’s economic and market news.
David is a founding Trustee for Pacifica Christian High School of Orange County and serves on the Board of Directors for the Acton Institute and National Review. He is the Senior Fellow of Economics for the Center for Cultural Leadership, and a long-time faculty member for both the Acton Institute and the Blackstone Fellowship of the Alliance Defending Freedom. David is passionate about the integration of faith and economics and has lectured and written for years about a theology of wealth and the marketplace. He responds to the term, “Kuyperian,” is deeply appreciative of Tim Keller and Father Robert Sirico, and has read more systematic theology than any human should ever read. His late father, Dr. Greg Bahnsen, was a renowned Christian apologist and is David’s personal hero and mentor.
He is the author of several best-selling books including Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It (2018), The Case for Dividend Growth: Investing in a Post-Crisis World (2019), and There’s No Free Lunch: 250 Economic Truths (2021). David’s newest book, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, was released in February 2024.
His ultimate passions are his wife of 22+ years, Joleen, their children, sons Mitchell and Graham, and daughter Sadie, and the life they’ve created together on both coasts.
The Acton Institute is a think-tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
This direction recognizes the benefits of a limited government, but also the beneficent consequences of a free market. It embraces an objective framework of moral values, but also recognizes and appreciates the subjective nature of economic value. It views justice as a duty of all to give the one his due but, more importantly, as an individual obligation to serve the common good and not just his own needs and wants.
In order to promote a more profound understanding of the coming together of faith and liberty, Acton involves members of religious, business, and academic spheres in its various seminars, publications, and academic activities. It is our hope that by demonstrating the compatibility of faith, liberty, and free economic activity, religious leaders and entrepreneurs can contribute by helping to shape a society that is secure, free, and virtuous.
Visit our website: acton.org
Subscribe to the Acton Line Podcast: acton.org/acton-line
Visit the Acton Bookshop: shop.acton.org
Follow Acton on Facebook: facebook.com/ActonInstitute
Follow Acton on Twitter: twitter.com/ActonInstitute
Follow Acton on Instagram: instagram.com/acton_institute
