REPUBLIC – Unlike many secular agencies, the Missouri Baptist Foundation (MBF) aims to help followers of Christ invest in ministry long after they’ve left this world.
Mike and Mary Day, members of Calvary Baptist Church here, discovered this for themselves after they contacted MBF President Neil Franks this year. They had previously set up a trust through a secular agency, though they knew it needed some updates.
“But then we heard a sermon that challenged us,” Mary told The Pathway. They felt convicted that they needed to invest more in their church and in the advancement of God’s Kingdom through their estate planning. But they didn’t know how this would be possible.
Then, after reading columns by the Foundation’s columns on Christian Stewardship in The Pathway, they contacted Franks and asked for his help.
“He is very personable, very knowledgeable, and he put everything on our level, where we understood through graphs and charts how you could take a few dollars and turn it into a lot,” Mary said. Even more so, he showed Mike and Mary how their funds could be multiplied to advance the gospel for decades. Had they stayed with a secular agency, Mary believes, they may have never discovered the full Kingdom potential of their estate plan. “It’s like God put us together” with the Foundation, she added.
“So many times,” Franks told The Pathway, “we do not realize that the ministries we love and support have become dependent upon the money that we donate to them. Once we pass away, our giving to them will stop, hurting the ministry’s ability to accomplish the mission in which you invested.
“But this does not have to happen,” Franks said. “Everyone of us can leave something to support the ministries we love. Since all of our assets don’t have to be distributed immediately, they can be invested over time, distributed in smaller amounts and last forever. … Fifty years after your passing, you have the opportunity to give far more than you can give in a lifetime.”
Not only does the Foundation help with estate stewardship planning and with legacy giving, but they also provide church loans and many other financial services that “strengthen the mission and ministry efforts of Missouri Baptists.” To learn more about how the Missouri Baptist Foundation can help clients achieve their financial goals for themselves, their families, and for God’s Kingdom, visit https://mbfn.org/.