More Faith, Less Fear, No Franchises:

What would you say to a 17-year-old who just became the sole heiress of a multi-billion dollar fast-food enterprise that would one day soon need her to run it?

If you said, “God help you,” that isn’t much different than what Lynsi Snyder, president and CEO of In-N-Out Burger, said to herself at the time. And looking back now, Lynsi will tell you that’s exactly what He did.

How It All Started

Harry and Esther Snyder, Lynsi’s grandparents, started In-N-Out in 1948 in Baldwin Hills, California, as the state’s first drive-thru hamburger stand. Later that year, the stand was equipped with one of the first two-way speaker boxes to be used in the food service industry. They grew and expanded, known for their family atmosphere, cheerful service, and a no-nonsense menu that prioritized freshness and quality ingredients. Freezers, microwaves, and heat lamps were banned from all In-N-Out locations, and Esther Snyder continued to hand shape each and every patty for the chain’s 5 locations until 1963 when they opened a meat processing facility.

Harry Snyder passed away in 1976 at the age of 63, and leadership of the company passed to his sons, Rich and Guy, as President and Vice President, respectively. Esther, his widow, continued to lead the company as well. Rich was the first to begin placing Bible verses on the In-N-Out paper cups shortly after becoming a born-again Christian. He had the words “John 3:16” printed ever-so-subtly on the bottom of their cups for those who happened to look. He passed away in a tragic plane crash in 1993 after 17 years as president. His brother Guy (Lynsi’s father) took the reins until 1999 when he also met an untimely death.

Lynsi “had other plans” regarding what she was going to do with her life. But when her father passed away, she was the only surviving Snyder, aside from her aging grandmother, so she 

decided to rise to the occasion…

Activist investors – subtle players in the market who typically want to drive the price of their holdings up often by forcing their companies to break up, sell, or merge – are likely to begin making moves in the tech world, according to experts. IPO valuations are rising, and with them, lucrative, if risky, opportunities for the average investor. The market would do well to keep an eye out for the signs of a bubble, however, in a time where the major trading indexes are up between 50-115% in less than five years, measured from the pre-COVID highs…

According to a new poll by Gallup Research, Americans trust nearly all professions less than they used to, with nurses scoring highest in perceived trustworthiness/ethics (78% trust, still a 7-point drop from 2019) and Congress coming in dead last at 6%. Pastors and clergy came in at an all-time low in the survey’s history, with only 32% calling them ethical. According to Barna Research, almost 2/3 of Americans have a very positive opinion of a pastor they know personally, but a much lower percentage trusts pastors in general…

With their respective wins this week, the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will be facing off in what is expected to be the most-watched U.S. telecast in history on February 11th, Super Bowl Sunday. One of the factors driving interest is the tabloid romance of superstar Taylor Swift with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Swift attends many of the games, and as a result, female NFL viewership is at the highest it has ever been recorded…

Your weekly chance to test your Bible knowledge! The answer to today’s question may surprise you:

Q: What was the name of King David’s father?

Answer at the bottom

TIPS & TRICKS

Key Changes to the Tax Code: 2024 and Beyond

As your local H&R Block is in a frenzy prepping tax returns for the tax year 2023, we ought to have our eyes on next year’s taxes (and perhaps the next one or two years after that) so that we act in our best interests right now. Here are some key stats and facts for this year.

• Businesses only have until April of this year to claim their COVID-era Employee Retention credit.

• The standard deduction for married couples filing jointly is increasing by $1,500 to a total of $29,200.

• The standard deduction for single taxpayers is rising $750 to $14,600.

• The IRA contribution limit and the 401(k) contribution limits have both risen $500, respectively

• New tax brackets have gone into effect to account for inflation:…

• Elon Musk's company Neuralink announces its first successful chip implantation in the brain of a human subject. 

• Amazon Prime Video joins Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Hulu with an ad-supported experience for basic-level paid subscribers, continuing the shift away from ad-free streaming.

• ACE Scholarships, an education non-profit, reports a tripling of school choice scholarship requests since COVID.

• A Harvard study reveals that half of U.S. adults cannot afford to pay rent. 25% of U.S. adults are "moderately cost-burdened," spending 30-50% of their income on rent + utilities, and another 25% of U.S. adults are "severely cost-burdened," spending more than 50% of their income on rent + utilities.

• Sarah Zylstra of The Gospel Coalition chronicles the dizzying speed at which Quebec secularized and how the few Christians that remain today are working to evangelize North America's largest unreached people group: French Canadians.