Give It Away, Twice

As a product of immigrant parents, I experienced times of plenty and times of scarcity. No matter what, my father always led us to live in way that reflected his priorities of faith and family.

As I grew up in my faith, I began to think about making a lasting impact in the name of Jesus Christ. I loved missions and spent many summers on short-term mission trips. Each trip I took, I thought the work I did was meaningful but what could I do to ensure people continue to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ? Dr. Jeff Iorg at Gateway Seminary helped me see how I could make my biggest impact — not only once, but twice. 

Dr. Iorg would often tell people he made estate plans to give a full inheritance to his children, and then give it once more to the seminary. When I asked him about how he was able to give the entirety of what he owned twice, he instructed me to research charitable remainder trusts. 

After doing my own research, I made an appointment with my local Baptist foundation to create a trust my wife and I could use to give the entirety of what we have to take care of our loved ones first and once more give the entirety of our estate to gospel work. I was blessed to know I could develop a plan that would allow me to care for my family and exer­cise my commitment to our faith — just as my father had instilled. It is amazing that even if we are not able to make large gifts in our lifetimes, we will make a significant gift when the Lord calls us home.

Before creating our plan, we had three common objections to overcome:

I don’t have anything to give right now. When we established our trust, we did not think of ourselves as having much to give. However, we were blessed to learn that the largest gift we can make is usually an estate gift. This can include gifts from our real estate, insurance, and/or retirement funds. 

I can take care of this later. The reality is that we don’t know when the Lord will call us home. I became more aware of this process after my mother passed at a young age. It took several years in pro­bate to sort through her accounts, even while my father was still alive. 

It’s complicated and will take a long time. My friends at the Baptist founda­tion made an appointment with me in my office and took about 90 minutes to ask about my priorities. With that information, they were able to give me a first draft of my “give it twice” plan. 

If you are interested in doing more through your giving our team of IMB stewardship, advisors can answer your questions or get you connected to an expert who can best serve you. If you already have your estate plan, consider a charitable remainder trust as a means to give generously to both your family and to missions. By making purposeful plans, we can join together in making a huge kingdom impact for the next generation. 

If you are interested in more information on charitable remainder trusts (CRTs), or have general questions on how to maximize kingdom impact through your estate plans, please email generosity@imb.org.