Hobby Lobby founder David Green wants to reshape the way Christians view success. At 84, Green appears to have found the secret to success: what started as a single store in Oklahoma City has expanded to over 1,000 stores in 48 US states. The stores see somewhere along $8 billion in revenue. Yet, while Green certainly has seen monetary success, his new book, The Legacy Life, looks at success in a different light.

“The Bible talks about our life being nothing but a vapor,” Green said. “That helps us decide what we’re going to do with our lives. We’re here for a short time — so what are we going to do with it?” Green told The Christian Post in an interview. The book is written along with legacy strategist, Bill High, who helps people focus on multigenerational planning. “People think legacy is an estate plan. They think that’s the ultimate aim, and it’s not. That’s just a document. I told the Green family early on, ‘You actually have a good estate plan, but you don’t necessarily have the best legacy plan,’” he told CP. “If you’re going to succeed generationally, you need a clear vision, mission and values that one generation can articulate to the next.”

For Green, that means doing more than just acquiring stuff. “Just acquiring a lot of stuff is not what makes someone happy. God’s been very good to us in business, but we want to do it for a reason bigger than this vapor life,” he said. Part of the legacy has been in founding the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. The museum seeks to teach others about the history and authenticity of the Bible, a project that will outlive Green. High also emphasized the importance of preserving stories. “Wealth is not just financial capital. It’s spiritual, emotional and social. Write down your top 10 stories. Moments of faith, moments of despair, failures, those stories carry values,” he said. And for Green, his greatest legacy remains his faith. “My greatest aspiration isn’t financial. It’s using what we have to tell as many people as possible about Jesus.”

Speaking to “The Legacy Life,” Green and High spoke about the vision for generational planning. Green recalled his parents, who pastored a church, always asking him what he was doing for the Lord. “That’s how your life matters. God has given us all a purpose,” he said. “We all have a purpose and what is your purpose? It’s different than my purpose, but God has got a purpose and our goal is to find out what God’s purpose is in our family. And by the way, our families now with our grandkids and our great grandkids are 46 of us. And so we think they’re all unique and God has some purpose for every one of their lives.”