Dear Church Family,

I am writing on behalf of the Deacon Board with news about the health of our church finances. I will begin with some amazing news, and end with an invitation.

In the Spring of this year we received news that the church was named in the estate of Lynn Juenemann, a longtime First Baptist Church member who had recently died. Lynn was a quiet presence in our church across the decades, singing in the choir and laboring in his vocation as a pharmacist. I was privileged to preside over Lynn's memorial, attended by a small group of friends and church members. We spoke of his faith, his life and the unique unfolding of eternity that is lived by each of us. What we did not know about at that time was the gift that quiet Lynn Juenemann left his church family. Lynn named the church to half of his estate. His last offering to the church was over $1.8 million.

Estate gifts happen from time to time, but this gift surprised us in a couple of profound ways. Most estate gifts name the Foundation of First Baptist Church as the beneficiary. This gift was directed to the church itself, supporting the ministry budget and stewarded by the Board of Deacons. This allows for flexibility by our Deacons and Staff on how to allocate the funds. The other surprise was the timing of this gift. Most of you know that our church community has been through a hard season over the last year. This financial gift will allow our church to thrive while we rebuild for the next season of our life together. Another blessing of this gift will be its impact on missions. We have a standing practice of sharing at least 10% of our tithes and offerings with ministry partners beyond our church. This gift will therefore result in a large allocation to missions locally and around the world! The Deacons have created a subcommittee to explore the most thoughtful and prayerful ways to utilize this financial gift. That team is composed of Dave Powell, Susan Christopher, and Rich Laski.

Now for an invitation. On the Giving page of our website you will find a quote by Henri Nouwen, “God’s kingdom is the place of abundance where every generous act overflows its original bounds and becomes part of the unbounded grace of God at work in the world.” This may be a good time to reconsider your own practice of generosity. How will you participate in supporting our ministries as we step forward together into the future? Maybe this is a good time to consider your own estate as an act of generosity beyond your lifetime. Generosity is meant to be a joyful practice. There is no pressure, and God always provides what we need. In a year of profound disruption, it still surprises us how God provides. We live in the overflow of God’s abundance.

In the coming months we will be considering options to best steward this financial gift for now and into the future of our community. Please join us in gratitude for the life of Lynn Juenemann who blessed our community in so many ways during his life and this profound way he has provided for the future in his absence from this earth.

less without you,

Pastor John Jay and the Board of Deacons