Ministry is “taking care of the responsibilities entrusted to us,” Barry Bledsoe, president of The Baptist Foundation of Alabama, told Alabama Baptist messengers during his report to the state convention Nov. 16.
Noting the three ministry focuses of the Foundation — a program that is academically sound, technology up-to-date and works in stewardship development — Bledsoe said he currently is concentrating on stewardship development. He defined this as helping people recognize their stewardship opportunities to support the Lord’s work.
This involves planning the stewardship of one’s estate and the financial future of one’s family, he said.
Foundation officials are urging as many Alabama Baptists as possible to consider planning and executing stewardship decisions affecting their estates, Bledsoe said. The Foundation has partnered with Kingdom Stewardship Alliance to work with Alabama Baptist churches to conduct “vibrant estate stewardship ministry” conferences.
Since November 2010, 10 churches have received planning assistance.
The result of these decisions will ultimately mean more than $250 million going to Baptist causes, he added.
“[Estate stewardship] introduces members to the reality that how we plan our estates is most often the largest act of financial stewardship we will ever undertake,” Bledsoe said.
When the Foundation was organized more than 70 years ago, the hope was to one day have $10 million in assets, and today it is distributing $10 million annually to Baptist causes, he said.
According to the Foundation’s financial position statements listed in the convention’s Book of Reports, the organization’s fiscal year 2010 liabilities and net assets were $209,098,179. Specifically, investments for fiscal year 2010 were $46,366,009.
The group’s proceeds from sales of investments were $2,314,427.
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