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.