Twice Blessed

By: Richard Carnes

As I sit here in my temporary home work space, as many of you are during the COVID-19 virus outbreak, I’ve reflected on what final words I want to express in my last column as President of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation. I am a fortunate individual that has been blessed, not once but twice, to serve in an executive leadership role with the Kentucky Baptist Foundation. The opportunity to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through this legacy stewardship ministry and to be a fellow servant with the KBF board of directors and my staff colleagues is an honor and privilege I will forever cherish.

I want to take the next few moments to express appreciation to several significant relationships and parties. First, I want to express appreciation to the 17 members of the KBF Board of Directors, for their steadfast support, wisdom, and encouragement in directing the financial ministry of the Foundation.

I also want to express appreciation to a dedicated KBF staff I’ve been honored to serve with as colleagues. They are a solid group of professionals who foster a wonderful atmosphere of collegiality and exhibit a commitment to serve every one of our clients in a Christ honoring way. They’ve been a constant blessing to me.

As well I want to express appreciation to KBC Executive Director Dr. Todd Gray and all the KBC Mission Board leadership for the strong partnership support we have with the KBC in serving Kentucky Baptists.

I especially want to express thanks to our donors and clients, who through the past 75 years have called upon the services of the KBF and created funds through the Foundation. Their generosity has enabled us to distribute in excess of $194 million during these 75 years, to Baptist ministry causes as directed by these faithful donors and clients.

I’m happy to report the Foundation is sound and stands on solid footing through this very uncertain period in our country as we confront the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, we’ve all taken a bit of a punch, and it may have knocked a little wind out of us, but we’re still standing, we’re still in the arena, and we continue to proclaim the great Good News that Christ is on the throne and reigns eternal. I’m so proud of our Kentucky Baptist churches and the way they have used this pandemic circumstance to expand the communication of the Gospel and literally taken the message outside the four walls of the church and into the community through creative technology.

I look forward to the advancement of the KBF’s legacy stewardship ministry, and I know the next president will be equally blessed with the opportunity to serve such a special group of people called Kentucky Baptists!

Richard Carnes is retiring as president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation on June 30th, 2020.

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.

A Place to Start

By: Richard Carnes

When working with individuals seeking guidance from the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, we are often asked for suggestions on how best to begin a person’s estate planning process. We suggest using the following four steps as a framework for organizing your thoughts.

People

The people in your life are central to the planning process. List those individuals for whom you are now financially responsible and those whom you would like to assist in the future. This is also the place where you could list your church, and other Christian ministry causes as part of your “family.”

Property

Next, we suggest listing your property. Think of everything you own, including financial assets and tangible property. Begin with income from all sources (salary, investments, rental property, etc.) Also include any current balances in pension plans, individual retirement accounts (IRA’s), 401K plans and other retirement plans. Beside each asset, list its current value. Next to its value, list its cost. Finally, note whether it is owned outright or with others.

Plans

Your plans begin to take shape as you review the list of persons and consider how you wish to provide for them. Study the various assets you listed to determine which ones may match the needs of each person or charitable cause you identified as important to you.

Planners

At the top of the list of planners will often be an attorney and an accountant. Your attorney drafts your will and other legal documents. Your accountant can provide valuable advice on tax matters as well as other estate planning issues, in consultation with your attorney. Others who may participate include life insurance professionals, financial planners, real estate professionals and trust officers.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation is honored to work with individuals seeking how best to organize their planning goals to achieve their personal and charitable objectives, to support their families, their church and other Baptist causes.

To learn more, call upon the Kentucky Baptist Foundation as a helpful partner.

Richard Carnes is president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; www.KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

The Secure Act and the Charitable IRA Rollover Gift (QCD)

By: Richard Carnes

The “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” Act, aka the SECURE Act, was signed into law on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, changes many of the rules governing retirement plans, including several provisions relevant to making charitable IRA rollover gifts (also known as qualified charitable distributions or QCDs.)

Under the SECURE Act, the charitable IRA rollover, or QCD, remains a terrific way to make a tax-free gift to your church and Baptist ministries using your traditional IRA.

How Do I Qualify?

· You must be 70½ years old or older at the time of the gift

· Gifts must go directly from your IRA to the qualified charity

· Gifts must come from a traditional or Roth IRA account

· Gifts cannot exceed $100,000 per donor per year

· You cannot receive a benefit in return for your gift, such as tickets to a gala

Benefits of a Charitable IRA Rollover Gift (QCD)

The SECURE Act increased the age at which you must start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from 70½ to 72. Once you reach 72, one of the great benefits of a QCD is that it will count towards your RMD. However, even if you have not reached age 72, there are still good reasons to consider a QCD at 70½. First, a QCD offers all the benefits of an income tax charitable deduction, even if you don’t itemize your deductions. You can’t claim a deduction for your QCD, but your QCD is not included in your income. Your QCD is always a tax-free gift.

Another change brought on by the SECURE Act is the elimination of the stretch IRA for many beneficiaries. With a few exceptions, children and other non-spouses who are more than 10 years younger than you no longer can stretch their withdrawals from an IRA they inherit from you over their life expectancy. Instead, they must withdraw and pay income tax on all funds within 10 years. This change means that it may be most tax efficient for you to support Baptist ministries and provide for your heirs by making QCDs during your life and setting aside other assets to pass on to your loved ones.

To learn more, call upon the Kentucky Baptist Foundation as a helpful partner.

Richard Carnes is president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; www.KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

Appreciation Gifts

By: Richard Carnes

Many individuals are reviewing their charitable contributions at the year end and considering how they could provide additional gifts to their church and ministry causes. Perhaps you would like to make gifts above what you give out of income as tithes and offerings to provide on-going support to additional Baptist causes.

One such way to achieve this giving is to use assets that have appreciated in value for making “above and beyond” gifts to support the Christian ministries that are important to you. If you have investment securities you have owned for more than a year that are worth more than the security cost, consider using this asset to make gifts.

Your deduction will actually be based on the full value of the security. In addition, you will not owe capital gains tax that would normally be due on a sale of the security.

Using an appreciated asset to make a gift to your church or other Baptist cause can result in a lower after-tax cost to make your gift than if you use the same amount of cash to make the donation. Savings from the charitable deduction and the bypass of capital gains can be considerable. How much you save depends on your actual income and capital gains tax rates.

The process of making gifts of appreciated securities need not be complicated. If your financial advisor holds the securities for your account, instruct that the security be electronically transferred to the financial account of the designated charity. This is often the most convenient way of making your gift.

When giving securities, including mutual funds, bonds, notes or mortgages, specific advice and instructions should be obtained from your financial advisor. Additional time should be allowed for completion of such gift transactions.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation staff is honored to work with individuals seeking how best to make gifts of appreciated assets to their church and other Baptist causes. To learn more, you may contact Foundation staff at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org.

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.

Senior Celebration

By: Richard Carnes

Annually the Kentucky Baptist Convention conducts a wonderful multi-site event entitled Senior Living Celebrations for Kentucky Baptist senior adults. This year’s theme is Race Of A Lifetime, based on the scripture passage of Hebrews 12:1. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate at either Beacon Hill Baptist Church, Somerset on April 16, Parkway Baptist Church, Bardstown on April 17 or Second Baptist, Hopkinsville on April 19. The Kentucky Baptist Foundation is honored to again sponsor the breakfast at each celebration and provide leadership for one of the workshops that will be offered during this event.

This popular Kentucky Baptist Convention event is always well attended by enthusiastic senior adults who come to worship, learn, and celebrate life together. This year, there will be a dozen workshops at each location, covering topics such as creative drama in ministry, being the hands and feet of Christ through volunteering, missions and ministry opportunities for seniors, travel tips for your next senior adult trip, and more.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation’s trust counsel, Austin Wilkerson, will lead an excellent workshop session titled “Estate Planning Mistakes and Solutions”, that helps attendees discover what the biggest estate planning mistakes are and how to avoid them to assure you make the most of what you have. The session will also detail the essential aspects of key incapacity planning tools including Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Advance Directives, and Living Wills.

Austin and I hope to see you at one of the upcoming Senior Living Celebration events, so you too can be inspired to “run with perseverance”. Come join us for breakfast and be sure to attend one of Austin’s workshop sessions during the day. If you are not able to attend, you may always contact us directly to discuss how best to organize your estate planning goals to achieve your personal and charitable objectives to support your church and other Baptist causes. To learn more, you may contact Austin Wilkerson, or me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

Starting the New Year

By: Richard Carnes

Most of us look at the start of a new year as a time for setting fresh goals in many areas of life. These goals typically revolve around common themes such as better health habits (I want to lose 15 pounds), improving personal relationships (I’ll be more attentive to my spouse) or better life balance (I’ll no longer take work projects home each evening). This is also a time when many of us will review and update our financial plans to make sure the plan will provide adequate financial security for our family.

As we consider strategies for accomplishing our personal and charitable financial goals for 2018 and beyond, we should schedule time to do the following:

• Identify your sources of income and expenses
• Determine the value of your assets and the income (if any) they produce.
• Review the needs of family members and others, including your church, and consider any changes that may be needed in your plans. 
• Define your goals for the management and future distribution of financial assets.
• Make a detailed list of your assets, such as home (including furnishings) and other real estate, vehicles and other personal property, financial accounts, retirement plans and other investments, including their original cost and current market value. 

It is also beneficial to meet with your professional advisors to review and establish your personal and charitable financial goals. Your financial advisor, life insurance representative, accountant, attorney or other specialist can help you evaluate your specific circumstances and guide you in structuring an estate and financial plan that best achieves your goals.

Regular reviews of your long-range estate and financial plans are the best way to make certain your desires for the management and disposition of your property are up to date and meet your current needs.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation is honored to work with individuals seeking how best to organize their estate planning goals to achieve their personal and charitable objectives to support their church and other Baptist causes. To learn more, you may contact the Foundation staff at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org.

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.

Do I Really Need A Will?

By: Richard Carnes

Is it truly necessary for us to have wills? This is a common question we receive at the Foundation.

The answer is: Yes, you need a will!

Yes, there are multiple ways to pass property to a surviving spouse, such as joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and beneficiary designations. Nevertheless, everyone should have a will for the following six reasons:

1. There likely are items of personal property—jewelry, collections, household items, etc.—that you and your spouse own individually and that are not governed by joint tenancy or beneficiary designation. 
2. Even supposing that everything passes to your surviving spouse by right of survivorship or beneficiary designation, the surviving spouse would need a will to direct the disposition of assets upon his or her death. 
3. If you and your spouse should die in a common disaster without wills, your property would be distributed per the intestacy laws of the state in which you reside—and these laws might not conform to your wishes. Also, the person selected by the court to administer your estate might not be the person you would have chosen. 
4. If you have minor children and are not survived by a spouse, you can designate a guardian for your children in a will. 
5. In a will you can provide for the particular needs of your children and other loved ones. For example, you might establish trusts for children or grandchildren when a stream of income is more advisable than a lump-sum gift. 
6. In a will you can leave some portion of your estate to your local church and other Christian ministries. You can also do this by naming a charity as beneficiary of an insurance policy, a retirement fund, or a bank or investment account. But when you have a will, you can choose which gifts to make in your will and which to make by beneficiary designation. 

Call upon the Kentucky Baptist Foundation as a helpful partner in these vital planning decisions. You may contact us at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation.

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.

School Time!

By: Richard Carnes

The beginning of a school term is always an exciting time for our children and young adults as they return to school and college campuses across the commonwealth. I recently received pictures of my oldest granddaughter as she began her first day of preschool. There was a twinkle in her bright eyes and a tear in mine as I reflected on her blessed life so far. For my granddaughter, the beginning of her next educational adventure should be smooth. But, for many budding young scholars, the hope of achieving their academic dreams may be deferred due to a lack of sufficient financial resources.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation is honored to work with numerous donors whose passion is helping students receive the necessary financial support to achieve their educational goals. One example of this collaboration is the scholarship funds that donors have created to help off-set the costs of students’ education. For the upcoming academic year, the Kentucky Baptist Foundation had the privilege of awarding 56 scholarships to college and seminary students totaling $78,150 from the 17 scholarship endowments administered by the Foundation.

You may share this same commitment to helping students achieve their educational goals and would like to explore how you can implement a legacy gift plan to fund a scholarship endowment like the ones referenced above. Or you may have a Christian school, college or Baptist seminary that you would like to support through a legacy gift.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation staff is available to assist you by providing guidance in creating these scholarship funds and charitable endowments to support worthy Christian education causes across the state and the nation. To make intentional plans to care for your family and the ministries God is inspiring you to support, call upon the Kentucky Baptist Foundation as a helpful partner. If you have questions, please contact the Kentucky Baptist Foundation office at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, P O Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866)489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org.

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.

Your Annual Gift – Forever

By: Richard Carnes

On any given Sunday, Baptist church members across the commonwealth of Kentucky give their regular tithes and offerings to their church and make contributions to Baptist ministry and mission causes that further the growth of God’s Kingdom across the world. Each of these great stewards is to be thanked for this act of faithfulness. Perhaps you have considered how to ensure that your support for these ministries continues indefinitely into the future; one way is to endow your gift.

To create an endowment, you would leave a certain sum of money or asset through your will or living trust, or perhaps name the charity as a beneficiary of a retirement plan or life insurance policy. That sum would be used to establish a fund benefitting the ministry cause as you have directed. The income distributed from the fund would be a continuation of your annual gifts.

How does this work? An organization like the Kentucky Baptist Foundation considers economic conditions when deciding on an appropriate distribution percentage. The total amount of the gift and this distribution percentage determine how much money will be distributed to your chosen cause on an annual basis. If for instance the distribution rate is set at 4 percent, then for each $1,000 annual gift you want to sustain, an endowment of $25,000 would be required. If you have been contributing $2,000 per year, an endowment of $50,000 would ensure an annual distribution of $2,000.

Ideally, the distribution percentage should be set so that the annual amount available for charitable purposes keeps pace with inflation. The goal is that over time the total return of the endowment will exceed the percentage distributed each year, which means that the endowment principal will grow – and annual distributions will increase accordingly. So, in a sense you will be an annual giver indefinitely, and thus ensure the ministry organization you value will continue to be supported.

To make intentional plans to care for your family and the ministries God is inspiring you to support, call upon the Kentucky Baptist Foundation as a helpful partner. If you have questions, please contact the Kentucky Baptist Foundation at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, P O Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

Planning for Your Family

By: Laurie Valentine

Planning for how to provide for your family at your death should be a key objective of estate planning and it is good stewardship. The costs of probating and distributing your estate and the amount of death taxes due may be greater if you have not planned well, which means less to pass to your beneficiaries.

For those with children under age 18, thought needs to be given to whom you want appointed as guardian for your children if both parents died before all are 18 or older. The court-appointed guardian will make all the decisions you as a parent would be making for your children until each reaches age 18. You can include a provision in your Will designating who you want appointed as guardian.

A decision also needs to be made as to whether the share you want to leave to a family member will be given to them outright or whether their share should be managed by someone else, either until they get to an older age or perhaps for the rest of their life if they are incapacitated or just not good money managers.

Including a trust provision in your Will allows you to empower another person to manage the share of a family member beneficiary. Usually the trustee is permitted to use the trust income for the beneficiary and may also be authorized to use trust principal for the beneficiary’s health, education and other needs.

Heed Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 5:8 and “….provide for [your] relatives, and especially for the members of [your] household…” 

Laurie Valentine is COO and Trust Counsel for the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; (502) 489-3533 or 1-866-489-3533 (Toll-free, Kentucky Only); KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

Educate and Encourage

By: Richard Carnes 

As the development agency for Kentucky Baptist churches, the Kentucky Baptist Foundation (KBF) helps educate a church’s staff and lay leadership on effective ways to implement intentional legacy planning programs for church members. It is imperative that churches educate and encourage their members to see their financial stewardship more broadly than just the donation they place into the offering plate. This stewardship training extends to planning the utilization of all the financial resources entrusted to church members for the benefit of their family, their church, and Kingdom causes.

Church leaders can make great strides in impacting the financial well-being of church member’s families and the well-being of the church’s ministries by scheduling teaching opportunities for their church members on how to become “Kingdom -minded” stewards. The great news for church leaders is they are not alone in providing this type of Christian estate stewardship training for their members. The KBF helps facilitate this training of church members to become more “Kingdom-minded” by conducting educational seminars on financial and estate planning topics at your church. This educational resource is provided by the KBF at no cost to Kentucky Baptist churches.

Some examples of frequently requested seminars are:

Estate Planning Mistakes and Solutions - Discover what the ten biggest estate planning mistakes are and how to avoid them to assure you manage your finances wisely.

Who Will Be In Charge If …? – Explores incapacity planning tools – powers of attorney, health care advanced directives, Living Trusts and what happens if no prior planning has been done.

Ways To Make Gifts To Your Church – Estate stewardship giving ideas to encourage church members to take stewardship to a deeper level – what to give, how to give, and why we as Christians should give.

As your church begins to plan its Fall series of education and training for Wednesday evenings, Sunday evenings or the Sunday morning Sunday School hour, please consider inviting KBF staff to conduct a seminar session at your church. To learn more, please contact the KBF’s trust counsel, Laurie Valentine, or me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533 for the KBF’s full list of legacy planning seminar topics and to schedule a seminar date.

Richard Carnes is president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org

Celebrating Students

By: Richard Carnes

Graduation ceremonies are occurring across the Commonwealth of Kentucky at this time. It is always an exciting time for students and their families as they celebrate the achievement of an educational milestone and look forward to the next phase of the student’s life. For many students, college or technical school awaits them, but some budding young scholars must defer the hope of achieving their academic dream due to a lack of sufficient financial resources.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation has been honored to work with numerous donors whose passion is helping students secure the necessary financial support to achieve their educational goals. One example of this collaboration is the scholarship funds that donors have established at the Foundation to help off-set the costs of student’s education. The Kentucky Baptist Foundation’s scholarship committee met recently to review student applications and grant scholarship awards for the upcoming academic year. The scholarship committee was privileged to award 74 scholarships to college and seminary students totaling $93,385 from the 17 scholarship endowments administered by the Foundation.

You may share this same passion for education and would like to explore how you can implement a legacy gift plan to fund a scholarship endowment like the ones referenced above. Or you may have a Christian school, college or Baptist seminary that you would like to support through a legacy gift. Also, churches can create scholarship funds through the Foundation that will provide much needed financial assistance to their college bound students.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation staff is available to assist you by providing guidance in creating these scholarship funds and charitable endowments to support worthy Christian education causes across the state and the nation. To learn more, you may contact the Foundation’s trust counsel, Laurie Valentine, or me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

Questions You Should Ask

By: Richard Carnes

George Kinder, author of the personal financial planning book Seven Stages of Money Maturity, asks his clients the following three questions to help focus the client’s goal planning.

Question 1. Imagine that you have all the money you need now and in the future. What will you do with this financial abundance? How will you live your life? What if anything will you change in your lifestyle? Let yourself dream by describing a life that for you is complete and richly yours.

Question 2. You have just come from a doctor appointment and your physician told you that you have five years to live. The good part is you won’t ever feel sick. The bad part is that you will have no notice of your death. How will you live your life in light of this knowledge? What, if anything, will you change?

Question 3. You have just come from a doctor appointment and this time your physician tells you that you have only one day left in your life. The question you have now is not how to spend the hours that remain. Instead, ask yourself what am I feeling? What are my regrets and longings? What dreams will be left unfulfilled? What do I wish I had finished that is incomplete?

As I reflected on these three life scenarios my thoughts turned to Jesus’ parable found in Luke 12:16-21 of the rich man who decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, with the intent to take it easy; eat, drink and enjoy himself. God says to the man “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.” This is a tragic consequence of storing up treasure purely for self while not being rich toward God.

The Kentucky Baptist Foundation staff is honored to assist numerous Kentucky Baptists that have sought God’s direction on how they should consider planning their financial matters in order to provide for their families, their church and other Baptist ministry causes. These thoughtful Christian stewards have followed a very different life path to that of the rich man in Jesus’ parable.

If you have questions about Christian estate planning topics or want to request a private estate stewardship consultation, please contact the Foundation’s trust counsel, Laurie Valentine, or me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is the president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, PO Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org

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.

Spiritual Shade Trees

By: Richard Carnes

What are your favorite memories of shade trees? I vividly recall the shade tree planted by my grandparents at their home in Rock Springs, Alabama. My memories include making countless freezers of homemade ice cream under this shade tree; family reunion meals spread out beneath the canopy of this tree and lessons taught by two godly grandparents to 15 grandchildren. Looking back, while we grandchildren didn’t plant this tree, we enjoyed all the benefits it provided.

My grandparents’ life example and legacy were built on both spiritual investment and financial investment. As a farmer and an educator, they lived a modest life, but one committed to supporting their church with gifts of time, talent and property. They realized and instilled in their children and grandchildren that they were working to touch lives across the world from their pew in Rock Springs Baptist Church. You might say that my grandparents were planting spiritual shade trees under which they would never sit, but rather for others to enjoy the lasting spiritual blessing they would provide.

You may be asking, what do shade trees and the Kentucky Baptist Foundation have to do with each other? The ministry of the Foundation is focused on encouraging and facilitating legacy actions on the part of Kentucky Baptist church members. Our team fulfills this mission through educating individuals on how to make gifts through their estate plans. These gift decisions will have the effect of planting spiritual shade trees under which the donor may never sit, but under which many others will sit and enjoy the benefit for generations to come.

That is what legacy planning and giving is all about: committing all the talents and resources God has entrusted to you for the benefit of your family, your church family, and all persons that need the hope of Jesus Christ.

Many donors have entrusted the planting of their spiritual shade trees through the Kentucky Baptist Foundation during the past 70 years. The Foundation is pleased that this past year, through the earnings produced on the gifts and investments placed with the Foundation, it was able to distribute $6,102,144 supporting the ministries of Kentucky Baptists across the state and the world.

Let me encourage you to call on the Foundation to assist you in learning how you can plant your own spiritual shade trees. To learn more, contact the Foundation’s trust counsel, Laurie Valentine, or me at our toll-free number (866) 489-3533.

Richard Carnes is president of the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, P O Box 436389, Louisville, KY 40253; toll-free (866) 489-3533; KYBaptistFoundation.org.

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.

The Great Commission and Discipleship

By: Barry G. Allen

Early in Matthew’s Gospel (4:18-20), Jesus called the first two of his disciples, namely, the fishermen brothers, Peter and Andrew. He called them to leave their nets and to follow him to become fishers of men. Matthew’s Gospel closes dramatically and forcefully with the resurrected Jesus giving his eleven disciples the Great Commission.

As critical as the concern for man’s salvation is in the Great Commission, we in the church have been so preoccupied with the lost world we have failed to focus on that aspect of the Great Commission that is the call to be brought under Christ’s discipline and to be taught to obey all that has been commanded by the one to whom all authority had been given. The call to discipleship is the call to submit to the kingly rule of God in our lives (6:33).

Therefore, we in the church must realize a lot of spiritual maturing had to take place between Jesus’ call to Peter and Andrew to become fishers of men and his commission to them and the others to go and make disciples of all nations. The same is true for us today. There’s a huge amount of teaching from Jesus between Matthew 4 and Matthew 28. Before we can effectively go and teach others to be obedient to Jesus and all he commanded, we ourselves must become obedient, and we have not.

I agree with Henry Blackaby’s assessment of where we are as Southern Baptists and where we ought to go from here. He has said, “If Southern Baptists want to see a Great Commission Resurgence, we need to focus on the relationship between disciples and the living Lord Jesus, not launch a new emphasis on evangelism. Southern Baptists have focused on evangelism and missed discipleship. The heart of the Great Commission and discipleship is to teach them to practice everything I have commanded you.”

Finally, at the heart of discipleship is financial stewardship for Kingdom advancement about which Jesus had more to say than any other discipline (6:19-21, 24).

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

Barry Allen is the retired President and CEO of the KBF and currently serves as a consultant to the interim management team. This article published in this week's Western Recorder also appeared in a previous edition of the paper. 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.

The Gospel in a Nutshell

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO 

John 3:16 has to be the most often quoted verse in the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

As part of my 2013 devotional plan I am using “The Joshua Code,” written by my friend and president of GuideStone Financial Resources, SBC, Dr. O.S. Hawkins. By the way, all royalties from the book go to support Mission:Dignity, a GuideStone ministry that enables thousands of retired ministers and widows who are living below the poverty level to live out their days with dignity and security.

In the book, O.S. reminded me the late evangelist Angel Martinez referred to John 3:16 as salvation’s formula revealed in one verse – the entire gospel in a nutschell. During my growing up years in Mississippi in the late 1950’s and early 60’s our church had Angel Martinez as the spring revival evangelist on several occasions. O.S. further observed Martinez suggested John 3:16 revealed salvation’s cause, cost, condition and consequence.

First, God’s love for every person is the motivating cause of His salvation plan, and not just that God loves us, but He so loves us.

Second, the forgiveness of our sin and the promise of life abundant and eternal come with a cost. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners. Christ died for us.”(Romans 5:8). Our salvation in Christ came at great cost: God gave His one and only Son.

Third, our good works are not the pathway to eternal life. Our salvation has been purchased for us by the blood of Jesus Christ. The condition is to believe, or as O.S. Hawkins stated, to transfer our trust from ourselves and our own efforts to His finished work on the cross of Calvary.

Fourth, those who do not believe in His finished work are perishing; and those who believe have the promise of eternal life. And what a promise! What a consequence!

Let’s share the good news in 2013 like never before!

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