The sudden death of state Rep. Lea Fite, of Jacksonville, on Oct. 26, 2009, was a shock to many, including the members of Iron City Baptist Church, Anniston, his church home.
Nearly 10 months later, the Calhoun Baptist Association congregation was stunned once again when members of Fite’s family presented Senior Pastor Mike Holcomb and the church with an $850,000 check.
Holcomb believes the donation stemmed from a conversation he had with Fite about the challenges that often come with church growth, including the cost of constructing new buildings. Soon after this conversation, he believes Fite made plans to include Iron City Baptist in his will, never imagining that in four months, he would die.
“Lea loved his church so much and invested in it for the future,” Holcomb said. “He was about leaving a legacy, and this (offering) will be used to further the kingdom of God.”
Though estimates vary, surveys by financial experts suggest that at least half and perhaps as many as three-quarters of American adults do not have a will. However, a will is a person’s last opportunity to distribute his or her assets, according to Barry Bledsoe, president of The Baptist Foundation of Alabama (TBFA). Though it can be frightening to face the prospect of our own mortality, estate planning, including writing a will, is a critical part of stewardship for adults of all ages, he said.
“When it comes to stewardship, the largest act of financial stewardship most of us will ever undertake is how we plan our estate,” Bledsoe said.
But the church is the most overlooked “charity” in America when it comes to estate gifts, he said.
The term “estate” refers to everything a person owns, including property, retirement accounts, insurance policies and anything else with monetary value. “When we die, everything we own goes to other people in one of three ways: by right of survivorship, by contract or by will,” Bledsoe said.
The right of survivorship means that anything owned jointly goes to the person named as joint owner, which is usually a spouse or child. Houses and bank accounts often pass in this way. Retirement accounts and life insurance policies pass by contract because they require that the owner specify a beneficiary. The beneficiary can be the owner’s estate but only if it is in writing.
The remainder of an individual’s assets, including gifts to family, friends or organizations, may be distributed through a will. However, few assets actually pass by will because many are either jointly held or have a designated beneficiary, Bledsoe said.
“If you co-own a home with your spouse but you state in your will that the home should go to your children, your will is ineffective. Likewise if you write in your will that you want an IRA to go to the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes but you have your son named as the beneficiary, by law, the son gets the IRA. A will is the only opportunity we have to make charitable gifts, if we choose to do that, but it has to be done correctly,” he said.
Randy Driggers, TBFA vice president for development, works to educate Alabama Baptists about the principles of biblical stewardship and the many ways the Foundation can help them design an estate plan.
Though TBFA does not write wills, staff members can help individuals construct language for gifts to Baptist entities. The Foundation also can serve as executor of an estate for those who agree to leave 10 percent of their estate to Alabama Baptist causes.
TBFA provides helpful tools for those who are just getting started on an estate plan. One tool is LegacyLinc, available through the Foundation’s website (www.tbfa.org). LegacyLinc takes about 30 minutes and guides the user through a series of questions about assets, taxes and stewardship. By the end of the tutorial, the user can have a starting point for an estate plan.
But TBFA doesn’t just help individuals. Its Kingdom Stewardship Alliance (KSA) is designed to equip local church leaders to teach others about estate stewardship. Driggers called KSA an ongoing way of sharing the stewardship message with people in the local church, which is critical for the long-term support of work at the local, state, national and international level.
“It is so important for the people in the pew to understand that how they plan their estate may be the most significant gift they can give to further the missions work of the church,” he said.
For more information, call 334-394-2000.
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