EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared in Fruitful, a special publication produced by TAB Media in partnership with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. View a digital copy of Fruitful here.
By John Ashworth
The Baptist Foundation of Alabama
It has been just a few months since I officially took the reins as the seventh president at The Baptist Foundation of Alabama. Let me say how thankful we are to be serving in this ministry and serving Alabama Baptists.
This year was a time of change for our ministry. We celebrated the retirement of our president, Barry Bledsoe, after 20 years of excellent service at TBFA.
While our leadership has changed, our commitment to serve Alabama Baptists remains the same: in every service we offer, resource we provide, investment we make, our heart is to make Him known.
At the Foundation, we have a unique assignment in helping fulfill the Great Commission — everything we do is about mobilizing resources for Kingdom purposes. There are a number of ways we do that.
You have heard our ministry talk about the opportunity we all have to advance the Kingdom through Christian legacy planning. But your Baptist Foundation offers many other services to help strengthen churches to propel their ministry around our great state.
For example, many churches ask us to help them with Kingdom Impact Investing, or investment solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of their ministry. In this, we exclude investments in companies engaged in activities that do not align with their faith and include investments in companies furthering Kingdom work while also seeking to generate a compelling market return.
Church loans
We also offer church loans to support the purchase, building, renovation or refinancing of capital projects. Ministries can have confidence the interest from these loans is poured back into Kingdom causes, unlike loans from secular lenders.
And when COVID-19 emerged, we partnered with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions to develop an online giving platform to help churches expand giving beyond the offering plate.
Created within days of Alabama’s lockdowns, we helped more than 70 churches put plans in place to move giving online.
These are just a few of the services we offer to help mobilize resources for Kingdom purposes.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you, your families and your church.
Integrating your investing with your faith
Most Christians in America today have a blind spot — integrating their investing with their faith. At TBFA, we believe there is a better way to invest.
Traditional investing says make as much money as you can, almost without caring how you made it. And then, if you are a Christian, take a percentage of what you earned and give it away.
Unknowingly profiting
But so many Christians may be unknowingly profiting from industries like gambling, tobacco, pornography and abortion — working against God’s plans for humanity. But 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV) says, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And at The Baptist Foundation of Alabama, this includes our investment portfolio.
We believe you should feel 100% confident your investments are leveraging your resources, honoring your faith and pleasing the Lord. If you are unsure about your current investment strategy, let us show you how wise stewardship of your portfolio can lead to much more than a financial harvest — it can lead to the expansion of God’s kingdom!
For more information
For assistance or more information, go to our website, tbfa.org, or contact our ministry engagement staff at 334-394-2000. To see a video, please visit vimeo.com/tbfa/invest. To see how we have helped Alabama Baptist churches just like yours, please visit vimeo.com/tbfa/impact.
Our team stands ready to help you however we can.
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