Somebody’s Gonna Get Your Stuff

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

Laurie Valentine uses this Jane Bryant Quinn quote in our Christian Estate Planning seminars, which we conduct in churches throughout the year. “You own stuff, you will die, someone will get your stuff.”

We all have stuff of various kinds with varying values, but lots of stuff. Our stuff can be in the form of furniture, clothing, jewelry, automobiles, collections and the like, and in the form of cash, stocks, bonds, mutual fund shares, ETFs, real estate, life insurance and retirement accounts. Whatever stuff we have, and regardless of its value, it all belongs to God, and He has entrusted it to us to manage and to use (a) for our enjoyment, (b) to help others and (c) to invest in eternal things (I Timothy 6:17 – 19).

We all shall die. Some of us are concerned about dying too soon while others of us are concerned about living too long. We human beings are the only ones of God’s creatures who tend to hold on to our stuff to the end.

When we die, someone will get our stuff. In the disposition of our stuff, we Christians have a duty to God, the owner of our stuff, to our families and to those who are in need. To fulfill that duty responsibly, each of us needs a plan. The plan we need will depend upon what kind and how much stuff we have to manage. As citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Commonwealth has a plan for the disposition of your stuff if you have not taken responsibility to have your own plan. Let me assure you the Commonwealth’s plan does not include any provisions for any of your stuff to benefit the “Commonwealth of our Lord.” To fulfill our duty to the One who entrusted our stuff to us, we must take the initiative to have a plan. The basic document in that plan is a last will and testament. With it you can ensure not only who will get your stuff but also who will be in charge of its disposition.

Call Laurie Valentine toll-free for assistance. She is available to give you ideas on how to make a plan that disposes of your stuff in a way that gets it to the someone you want to receive it and in a manner that honors our Lord.

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.

Name a Guardian for Minor Children

By: Laurie Valentine-COO & Trust Counsel 

Children under age 18 are “minors” under Kentucky law. As such, they cannot make decisions for themselves or manage assets. The law requires a guardian be named by a court to handle those things until a child reaches age 18, if there is not a natural or adoptive parent surviving.

Accomplishing God’s plan for how you should provide for your family includes deciding who should be named to take on the important role of “guardian” for your children if both parents died before all children reach age 18. The guardian will decide, among other things, where your children live, go to church, and go to school. And, if you have not set up a trust for each child’s share of your estate in your will, the guardian will be the one managing each child’s share of your estate until they reach 18.

Once parents have made a decision, they should discuss it with the person or couple they want to name as guardian to make sure the person or couple is willing and able to take on the responsibility. Parents should share why they want to name the person/couple and also provide guidance as to how they would want their children raised.

And, once the decision has been made and your choice has agreed, each parent should put it “in writing” by including a provision in their will naming the person(s) so your family and the court will know who you want appointed as guardian if such a circumstance occurs.

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.

Our Time Has Arrived!

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation was formally conceived by a motion from the floor of the 1943 annual meeting of the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky, now the Kentucky Baptist Convention, meeting in Bowling Green. It was created in 1944 when the GABK approved its charter. It was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky on March 8, 1945, almost seventy years ago. The first meeting of its board of directors was held June 19, 1945. Dr. J. W. Black, the General Secretary of the GABK, convened the meeting and agreed to serve as the Secretary-Treasurer of the KBF until other staff arrangements could be made. The late A. M. Vollmer was elected the first full-time executive leader of the KBF effective July 1, 1946. Previously he had served as the superintendent of the Louisville Orphan’s Home. Dr. Vollmer retired August 31, 1964. In his final report to the KBF board of directors, Dr. Vollmer said, “the Foundation has been in the past and will continue to be in the future my first love among all of our Kentucky Baptist projects. This is true because it lives to strengthen all the rest.”

No one has said it any better than Dr. Vollmer. Today, the KBF still exists not for itself but for the rest of our larger and extended Kentucky Baptist family of churches, associations, educational institutions, children’s homes, hospitals, camps and conference centers, mission boards and missions support organizations.

Although the KBF has been serving Kentucky Baptists for almost seventy years, its time has just arrived! Given the significant challenges of financing in the future the missions and ministries of every component of our Kentucky Baptist family, and given the demographic, economic, social, cultural, technological and denominational trends, and their collective impact on charitable giving, the role of the KBF in the future of Kentucky Baptist life will be ever more critical.

Please give Laurie Valentine and me the privilege of facilitating your desire to make a lasting difference in the world for the cause of Christ through your estate plan.

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.

Twelve Steps For Christian Estate Planning- Step #9

By: Laurie Valentine- COO & Trust Counsel

Step #9 Include a Legacy Gift in Your Plan. The Bible reminds us God owns everything and we are merely the managers, not the owners, of all with which he has blessed us. We can “Honor the Lord with your substance” (Proverbs 3:9), by including a gift out of our assets (“substance”) that will help advance God’s Kingdom in this world.

That is what legacy gifts in the context of Christian estate planning are----gifts out of your assets that provide either immediate or deferred benefits to one or more Christian causes you name in your plan. Bequests in Wills and Trusts; designating a Christian cause as a beneficiary of all or a portion of a life insurance policy or retirement account; and gifts that provide benefits first to you and/or others and then to charity are all ways to include a legacy gift in your plan.

Legacy gifts can provide tax savings to the giver and valuable long term financial strength and stability to the charitable cause(s) named to benefit from your gift.

And, most importantly, including a legacy gift in your plan allows you to make a lasting difference for the cause of Christ in this world.

Next Month-Step #10 - Plan Now for Possible Future Incapacity—Part 1.

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.

State Missions: Now More Than Ever!

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO

As I reflect upon my 44 years of vocational involvement in state missions in Kentucky, I am struck by the dramatic changes that have occurred in the population, especially from the immigration of the many and varied people groups who have come to Kentucky, the impact of the secular culture on all Kentuckians and the exponential power of technology that spreads instantaneously the negative impact of the secular culture. As a result, the challenge of the Acts 1:8 challenge has become more formidable than ever, and “state missions” now has an “international missions” element inherent in it.

Since 1913 Kentucky WMU has taken an annual offering through the churches for state missions. In 1976 the offering was named for Eliza Broadus, who was a contemporary of Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong, and who led Kentucky WMU in 1913 to begin a state missions offering. And now, more than 100 years later, this offering is more important than it has ever been because of the growing number of lost, unchurched and dechurched people of the Commonwealth as well as the impact of secularization. This offering undergirds, enhances and supplements on-going ministries as well as special projects focused on reaching the lost and making disciples in Kentucky. You may live in or near a community that is impacted directly by ministries that receive funding from this offering.

Because of the added importance of this offering in the future for reaching Kentucky for Christ, let me encourage you not only to continue to give generously to and through the annual offering, but also to consider making a legacy gift now and/or through your estate plan for the benefit of state missions through the Eliza Broadus Offering. In this way you could continue to contribute to this vital effort beyond your lifetime. What a legacy that would leave of your love for Christ and His mission in Kentucky!

You could begin now to contribute to an existing perpetual endowment administered by the KBF from which the earnings are added annually to the offering. Or, you may prefer to establish an endowment yourself. This is the season of prayer for state missions and the EBO offering. What a wonderful time to give Laurie Valentine or me a call to assist you.

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.