Doug Morrow challenged messengers at the IBSA Annual Meeting to think eternally. Before introducing a slate of Illinois Baptists to give testimonials about interactions with the Baptist Foundation of Illinois (BFI), the Executive Director said, “The real impact is in people’s lives. What I want you to observe is dependent on whether we can see eternity from here.”
Judy Shoemaker, a retiree, committed to missions, said before investing through BFI she “thought it was [just for] preachers and church staff members.”
She likened her previous investing to the parable in Matthew 25 about burying money in the ground. “I realized I was the one burying the money,” she said. “Putting it in a bank account and only getting 1%. Folks you don’t have to have $20,000. You can just have $1,000 and put it together with other people’s money and do good things with it.”
I should have done that years ago,” Shoemaker proclaimed. “I should have saved up when I was working. I wish I’d done that.”
Next up was Carol Stewart, who became involved with BFI before the death of her husband, Thurman.
She and Thurman were always able to tithe, but they never seemed to have money left over at the end of the month for investing. Still, she said, “God was good.”
Before his death in 2022, she said Thurman started to make small investments and became involved with the BFI board. After Carol’s mother’s death, he insisted they begin a scholarship in her name.
Since Thurman’s passing BFI has checked up on her and helped her with investing decisions. Carol said, “They’ve just been a tremendous help and blessing to me.”
Next, Skip and Joannie Leininger shared their testimony via video. They had begun the process of writing their wills with BFI, but then Skip was diagnosed with cancer—multiple myeloma and lymphoma. He began treatment but became septic and went into a weeklong coma. Before he was totally unconscious, Skip told his wife to call BFI about his will.
“All I could think of was we had done our wills, but we had not completed them with our signatures,” said Joannie. “The very next day they came to Barnes [Hospital] and I finished my part. Skip woke up enough the next day and completed his part.”
In business, Morrow reported BFI has helped almost 200 families create Christian Estate Plans, which will produce $250 million in Kingdom giving. At the tenth anniversary of expansion of the church bonds program, BFI has written 92 bond issues and raised more than $21 million for church loans. And BFI manages 1,715 custodial accounts valued at more than $64 million.
Messengers approved the following for 2024:
– Budget of $442,500 which is $26,344 above the 2023 budget.
– BCHFS Board of Trustees Officers: Chair—Pam White, The Ridge Church, Carbondale; Vice Chair—Brent Cloyd, Northside Baptist Church, Fairfield; Secretary—Mihaela Sexton, FBC, Petersburg.