Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Memorial Gifts: A New Idea

By: Barry G. Allen-President & CEO
The North Carolina Baptist Foundation encourages North Carolina Baptist churches to establish “memorial mission endowments,” to receive memorial gifts when church members pass away. It’s a wonderful idea, and I want to encourage Kentucky Baptist churches to consider doing the same thing.

For many years, the KBF has encouraged churches which have established endowment funds with us to encourage their members to direct memorial gifts into the endowments as a means of growing the endowment over time. The NCBF idea of establishing an endowment specifically for memorial gifts is just another way for church members and friends to honor and perpetuate the legacy of those special people in their lives at the time of their deaths.

Memorial gifts are not limited to just writing a check. Memorial gifts also can be made with appreciated securities, real estate, a beneficiary designation of a life insurance policy or a retirement account or a bequest in a will or a trust.

A memorial missions endowment can be established with the KBF with an initial contribution of at least $100. No earnings distributions will be made to the church until the account attains a market value of $5,000. Once distributions are available the church decides each year which missions and ministries will benefit from the distributions. So the endowment becomes a new source of perpetual support for the church’s missions and ministries and provides flexibility as priorities of the church may change from year to year.

The most wonderful feature of a memorial mission endowment is the legacies of those persons being memorialized through gifts to the endowment will continue to be remembered and included in the life of the church well beyond their lifetimes. Unlike the typical memorial gift to a church, which is spent and gone forever, an endowment gift allows the donor and the one being remembered to have an on-going involvement in advancing the Kingdom through the missions and ministries of the church until Jesus comes again.

Call me toll free for more information about how your church could establish such a fund.

(502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Access to Christian Higher Education

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

The accessibility to a Kentucky Baptist Christian higher education is a concern of mine, and I trust, a concern of yours as well.

I believe Christian higher education is more essential today than ever before, and yet, it is becoming less accessible to many students due to the ever increasing cost. This reality is true also for public higher education. But it is the Christian higher education institution that is dependent upon private gifts from you and me to keep it accessible to the students whose family financial circumstances require financial assistance.

At the heart of their missions, our Kentucky Baptist Christian education institutions are teaching institutions with a focus on helping their students become lifelong learners who will make a positive difference in the world through service to Jesus Christ and to their fellowman. Campbellsville University President, Dr. Michael Carter, has stated it this way: “The very essence of Christian higher education, especially in the Baptist tradition, is in the degree that we allow the transformational teachings of the Christian faith to permeate the learning environment of the university…Our mission is about excellence in the classroom…also about the quest to bring our faith through our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, to the world in which we live…This is why Christian higher education is so important and why it is really a contemporary form of ‘missions.’”

There are a variety of channels through which you can provide financial assistance to maintain accessibility for those students who need it. Gifts of any amount can be made to existing scholarship funds of the institution of your choosing or to the Kentucky Baptist Foundation. The KBF has existing scholarship funds that benefit all of the Kentucky Baptist Christian higher education institutions, or you can establish your own scholarship fund with guidelines specific to your preferences.

Call us toll free to assist you in maintaining accessibility for students to receive a Christian higher education at Campbellsville, Cumberlands and Georgetown. 

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Monday, July 16, 2012

E-Devotional-Week 21

PROPORTIONATE GIVING-WEEK 4



EARN MORE, GIVE MORE

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Our older son, Justin, has been an entrepreneur/salesman since the first grade.  It was time for the first grade to have its fundraising drive.  The reward for the top wrapping paper salesperson was a 35mm camera.  He wanted more than anything to win that camera.  Every afternoon he went door-to-door selling wrapping paper.  One afternoon he went dressed in a coat and tie.  One neighbor told my wife later she could not resist buying from him because he looked so nice. 

Now Justin obviously had never read books like How to Win Friends and Influence People, or Think and Grow Rich.  However, he demonstrated at an early age some qualities that will be most useful to him throughout his life if properly channeled.  His mother and I have encouraged him to use his God-given ability to earn all the money he can earn with honesty and integrity, because as a Christian steward, the more he earns, the more he can give for the cause of Christ.

What did Jesus have to say about this?  In Luke 12:48, Jesus said, “Unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required.”  Along with the other important lessons in life, we have tried to teach our two sons “success in life is measured not in acquisition but in contribution.”  Having money results in tremendous responsibility as well as great opportunity.

Prayer Focus: Ask God to help you to grow in your understanding of Jesus’ teaching about the correct use of the financial resources God has entrusted to you.

Next Focus: Tell Your Children About Money



For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Monday, July 9, 2012

E-Devotional-Week 20


PROPORTIONATE GIVING-WEEK 3        

PROPORTIONATE AND SYSTEMATIC GIVING

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Unfortunately, most churches approach the giving aspect of financial stewardship as an economic necessity versus a basic spiritual, and distinctively Christian, imperative.  Giving is at the heart of the Christian life.  Cecil Ray once said, “the Christian giver is one who has first found Jesus Christ as the real Lord of life and then has sought to make both his words and deeds bear witness to this lordship.”  Ask yourself the question, what does my giving say about my relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ?

What does the Bible say about proportionate giving? Proportionate giving was the basis of Old Testament tithing.  Although the New Testament focuses less on the legal basis, it retains the idea of giving as God has prospered you.  The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 8:12, “It doesn’t matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have.”

What does the Bible say about systematic giving? Giving should not be a hit and miss affair.  The Old Testament tithing system incorporated regular patterns that avoided sporadic giving.  Similarly the Apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians to put something aside every week.  1 Corinthians 16:2: “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”

Prayer Focus: Pray for the motivation and discipline to be a proportionate giver.

Next Week: Earn more, Give More

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.


Thursday, July 5, 2012

Kentucky Medicaid Facts

By: Laurie W. Valentine-COO & Trust Counsel 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported people age 65 or older face a 40% lifetime risk of having to go into a nursing home at some time during their lifetime. About 10% of those who go to a nursing home will stay 5 years or longer.

Those statistics, coupled with the ever-growing cost of nursing home care, lead many to be concerned with how they would pay for nursing home care. It is estimated that 5% of long-term care costs are paid by private insurance; 21% are paid by the nursing home resident; and 74% are paid by Medicare or Medicaid.

Medicaid is a government-funded program established to pay the difference between the cost of nursing home care and a nursing home resident’s own income. To qualify for Medicaid benefits in Kentucky the applicant must meet both a “resource” eligibility test and an “income” eligibility test.

An applicant meets the “resource” (assets) test if the applicant has no more than $2,000 of “countable” assets and if his/her spouse has no more than $113,640 in “countable” assets ($113,640 is the 2012 “community spouse resource allowance”).

Excluded from “countable” assets are the applicant’s home (if the spouse or a dependent still lives in it), personal property and household goods, retirement plan and/or IRA accounts; one automobile of any value; $1,500 of life insurance (if designated as a burial reserve); $10,000 irrevocable funeral contract; and property used in a trade or business (rental property is excluded from this category).

To meet the “income” test the applicant’s countable monthly income from all sources (social security, pension or other retirement income, interest, dividends) must not exceed either: (1) the “special income standard” set by the state (for 2012 that is $2,094) or (2) the state-determined nursing home private pay rate ($196.31 per day for 2012).

A Medicaid applicant (or his/her spouse) who makes “prohibited transfers” (transfers for less than full market value) within the “look-back” period (any time with the five years prior to applying for Medicaid) will be denied Medicaid benefits for a period equal to the value of the assets transferred divided by the private pay rate. Transfers made for the sole purpose of qualifying for Medicaid are counted against the applicant no matter when they were done.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Are You qualified?

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Psalm 15 begins with these very direct questions addressed to God: “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?” Then the Psalmist proceeds to state the qualifications of one who visits and then takes up residence with God.

The first qualification of one who desires to be in God’s presence is integrity, which means doing what is right and speaking the truth because it is in one’s heart to do so.

The second qualification is to be careful in what you say and how you treat your neighbor.

The third is to manifest a godly perspective in relating to all people.

The fourth is to keep your word regardless of the changing circumstances in which you may find yourself.

The fifth and final qualification involves the use of money. You must not be covetous in the use of money; you must not prey on others for your own greedy gain; and you must never accept a bribe against another person.

These qualifications, which represent high ethical standards, were set forth by the Psalmist in terms of everyday life and intended to be consistent and continuing habits of anyone who desired to be in God’s presence.

I believe Psalm 15 is as relevant today as it was when it was first used long ago in an assembly of God’s people for worship. It is relevant because it reveals what God expects of us. These simple, yet demanding qualifications of fellowship with God set forth by the Psalmist are very similar to Jesus’ qualifications and expectations of his disciples. In the words of John Durham from his commentary on Psalms, these qualifications are “… stark reminders of what the faithful are asked to be, and an embarrassing description of what we somehow seldom are.”

Let us pray for God’s strength and guidance as we seek to live our lives in ways that qualify us to claim the promise as stated by the Psalmist in the final verse of Psalm 15: “He who does these things will never be shaken.”

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Monday, July 2, 2012

E-Devotional-Week 19


PROPORTIONATE GIVING-WEEK 2          

ARE YOU ROBBING GOD?

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

My late father’s favorite scripture was Malachi 3:10, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse…”  As I recall my early years, I can vividly recall his stewardship testimonies.  He convinced me by his words and deeds of his understanding of the scriptures that giving anything less than one-tenth of my income was robbing God.  He more than tithed his income and business profits, and my mother gave a tithe of the allowance he provided her to manage our household.

I remember my father checking my church offering envelope after I received my first real paycheck.  Guess what?  I had included a tenth.  Tithing became a way of life for me, and I have been able to prove both the reason and the promise Malachi gave the people of God about tithing in Malachi 3:6-12.  My wife and I have taught our children to do the same.

How is failing to tithe robbing God? The tithe principle was born in an agricultural setting.  If there was to be a future crop, some of the current year’s harvest had to be saved for seed.  If everything was eaten, that is if everything was taken out and nothing put back into the cycle, the process would collapse.  The tithe was the “seed fund,” and it is a principle that applies to all of life.  If you are not putting back into the process of life, you are a taker, a freeloader, a burden on the process, and, yes, a robber.

Perhaps you ought to put back more than a tithe.  What Zaccheus did in giving half of what he had is not out of the question for many people. (Luke 19:8)

Prayer focus: Ask the Lord to impress upon you the tithe principle as a way of life.

Next Week: Proportionate and Systematic Giving

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.