#53 I was an Alcoholic and My Millions Couldn’t Save Me - Stu Fuhlendorf
Stu Fuhlendorf was a staunch atheist with a tremendous success record in the marketplace... but he was also an alcoholic. During a booze-filled trip around the world, he couldn't shake the idea... what if God actually was real?
The following is a summary of the podcast interview above with Stu Fuhlendorf. Many more details are included in the original podcast episode and we encourage you to listen.
Written by Jace Bower
Finding Identity
Stu Fuhlendorf grew up in Greeley, Colorado. Neither of his parents were Christians and they divorced when Stu was 14. From that point to his freshman year of college, Stu devoted himself to his studies and to athletics. While the rest of his friends partied, Stu wasn’t interested. This changed when Stu attended college.
While at college, Stu was introduced to alcohol. He liked it a lot. This turned out to be a pivotal moment in Stu’s life. From then on, alcohol increasingly became a central part of his life, to the point that it became part of his identity.
Meeting Trish
Four years after this first introduction to alcohol, Stu graduated with a degree in social sciences. Shortly afterwards he met his future wife, Trish, at a bar in Colorado. They began dating and got married 11 months later.
Trish got a job as an aerospace engineer at General Dynamics in California and Stu decided to enroll in the MBA program at the University of San Diego. While studying in the MBA program, Stu kept up his drinking habits. He would study during the day and then hit the beach with Trish and their friends at night. During these nightly outings, Stu would drink so much that his friends would have to put him in the car and Trish would drive him home.
Looking For a New Challenge
In 1989, Stu graduated from business school. He moved his family back to Colorado, where Trish got a job at Lockheed Martin. Stu became the controller at a brand new casino that was opening up underneath Colorado's newly legalized gambling laws.
After two years, working at the casino began to wear on Stu. It wasn’t that he felt any moral qualms about watching senior citizens spend their Social Security checks in his slot machines all day long. It had just become old and it felt kind of pointless. He wanted a new challenge and one was opening up in his hometown of Greeley. A technology manufacturing company was looking for a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Stu got the job.
Worldly Success
By 1994, the company was experiencing a lot of success and they went public. Stu shared in the success of the company and began to make a lot of money. True to his priorities, the first thing that Stu did with his new wealth was to build a bar in his basement.
As the years went by, the success continued. The company acquired other businesses and grew to about 1400 employees. Stu and Trish moved their family again to Denver. Throughout all of this, Stu’s drinking habits grew and his attitude towards God became more antagonistic. For much of his life, Stu didn’t really regard God much at all. He was an atheist but never talked about God with anyone. As his wealth grew, he became more self-sufficient and more of a staunch atheist.
However, in the midst of all this success, Stu continued to drink more and more. Hardly anyone would have guessed that he was struggling except for Trish. She knew that he was drinking more than before, even though he was getting everything he wanted.
Trish Meets Jesus
Meanwhile, Trish was doing some spiritual searching of her own. She was meeting with a pastor in Denver and asking questions. He invited her to attend a women’s conference, which she did. At that conference, Trish came to faith in Jesus Christ.
Stu began to notice a change in Trish and he didn’t like it. She was less distressed by things than she had been in the past. He was angry but she had a peace about her. Unknown to Stu, she was also attending church and regularly reading the Bible.
Failure & Deeper Addiction
A few years later, Stu's frustration with life in general led him to seek out a new job as the CFO of another startup tech company, this time based in Seattle, where he moved his family.
The company made a successful IPO in 2000 and Stu was again awash in success and wealth. Then the DOTCOM bubble burst and the company, just like many others at that time, went bankrupt. Facing this failure led to more drinking and alcoholism for Stu. He got a job as an investment banker and would fly to Chicago every couple of weeks to consult with clients and manage mergers and acquisitions. During those flights from Seattle to Chicago, he would drink almost non-stop.
In 2003, Trish brought her husband to church for the first time. The pastor’s message challenged and intrigued Stu. He wanted to hear more. He also began to attend a community group with his wife. He was struck by the relationships he saw in that community group. But he still wasn’t a Christian, nor did he pretend to be.
A Life-Changing Experience in London
In 2004, Stu was hired to be the CFO of another startup to manage their IPO. Stu joined the executive team on a worldwide trip to meet with investment bankers from prestigious investment firms like Atlas Venture, Sequoia Capital, and Kleiner Perkins.
While the team was in London, they passed by the building where Karl Marx wrote his Communist Manifesto. Amidst other comments, one member of the team pointed out that Marx was right about one thing: religion was the opiate of the masses. Stu verbally agreed at the moment but kept reflecting on the comment.
That night, he declined to drink with his co-workers in their hotel and instead went up to his room alone. He sat down and a thought struck him: what would the world be like without Jesus Christ?
At that moment, in his hotel room, Stu realized that he had gotten it all wrong. Jesus Christ was sovereign and in control, not Stu. He wept and prayed for forgiveness. He confessed faith that Jesus was indeed his Savior.
The Process of Recovery
While this was Stu’s moment of salvation, he didn’t share this experience with his wife Trish until much later. He held back because he realized that his worldview was going to change and so were his actions. He was still an alcoholic and needed time to wrestle with what implications his new-found faith was going to bring. Eventually, two years after his conversion, Trish heard about Stu’s experience in London as he told another friend what had happened.
Things at the company where Stu was CFO began to deteriorate. He and the CEO were both fired from the company. Stu cashed out all of his stocks and bought a wine distributorship, right as the 2008 recession hit. It seemed like Stu’s life and career were crashing in on all sides. His drinking addiction became worse and he finally checked himself into rehab.
Over a period of a few years, Stu struggled to get sober and remain that way. Finally, in 2012, he was able to shake his alcohol addiction for good.
A Faithful & Sovereign God
Now Stu pastors Redemption Hills Church in Littleton, Colorado.
Stu’s life was changed by God’s grace. While Stu kept fighting for control throughout his life, God was the one really in control of Stu’s destiny. He was using ordinary people like the Christians in Stu’s community group and Trish to shift Stu’s perspective and help answer his questions.
Trish, in particular, was faithful in praying for her husband. Even when she became a Christian and Stu remained an atheist, she focused on her holiness and not her happiness. She remained faithful to him and through prayer and inviting him to church, played a big role in introducing him to God.
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Jace Bower is a writer with a passion for justice and biblical principles. He writes at jacebower.com.
Win an Autographed Copy of Wall Street to the Well by Stu Fuhlendorf
Note: Winner must live in the United States.
Note: Winner must live in the United States.
Additional Information
Redemption Hills Church - The church where Stu is the Senior Pastor. Feel free to visit anytime!
Stu’s book “Wall Street to the Well” on Amazon
Companies where Stu was CFO and led their IPOs
1st company: EFTC
2nd company: Metawave
3rd company: Isilon
