What exactly does the Missouri Baptist Foundation do? I have heard that question lots of times over the last six months. My standard answer has become a lot more than any of us realize. On the one hand, we help manage endowment funds for churches and entities helping them grow ministry funds in order to accomplish ministry both today and tomorrow. We also provide church loans, cash savings accounts, short term fund management along with coaching, education and seminars for churches related to all financial matters.
But the real joy of our ministry is when we work with individual Missouri Baptists helping them navigate their financial and estate matters. Take, for instance, a couple we met with recently. This couple in their 70’s have a modest estate, are in good health, like to travel, but have no children. We previously helped them set up a trust, where upon their passing, all of their worldly assets would be placed. We then, as successor trustee, will ensure those assets get to their designated beneficiaries with a portion being left as a perpetual endowment for ongoing Baptist work.
They were coming in to make some adjustments spurred on by an upcoming trip. Several people mentioned in their estate plan were no longer alive or no longer had the capacity to serve them should that need arise. MBF will help them review all of their documents and ensure their wishes will be carried out. We also asked questions about their powers of attorney, any new assets they may have gained, and their current wishes on giving. We also spoke about their desire to begin to cede some of the management over parts of their estate.
In their own words, they needed somebody they could trust to carry out their wishes and act in their best interest. They both had parents who suffered from dementia and have known friends who had been taken advantage of in their later years. He commented he did not want his life work “going down the drain” and was looking to find someone who will outlast him.
Or consider the case of a widow we recently helped. She reached out to us because all the paperwork and keeping up with things were getting more than she wanted to handle. She has been managing quite well but is beginning to feel inadequate. Though she knows lots of people in her community, she did not want everybody knowing her business, and she did not feel comfortable trusting just anybody. We were able to help put together a plan where she will be well cared for but also ministries she cared about will one day benefit from her life’s work.
Or consider another couple we recently helped. He had always taken care of all the finances, but his health has declined to the point he is not able to manage. Even though they have children, they are not comfortable in entrusting them with a large sum of money. She was just about at her wits end, when she remembered the Missouri Baptist Foundation and the trust she had in us. Today she is well on her way to financial peace with a plan that will provide for her husband, herself and her adult children when the time comes.
All of that happened within one week of each other. I am so thankful I have been called into a ministry that truly helps people in a time of great need. We, at the MBF, act at the request of and in the interest of our client, ensuring their wishes are carried out, both during their life and beyond. While we always ask about the ministries our clients support and the desire they have to continue to support them, we see our role as an opportunity for our clients to grow in their relationship and obedience to God. If you need someone to trust concerning confidential financial matters, we would love the opportunity to have a free, no obligation conversation with you concerning your estate. There will be no high pressure tactics or agenda other than to discover your wishes and brainstorm a plan to accomplish what the Lord has laid on your heart. Why? Because that is what the Missouri Baptist Foundation does.