Back in the early 1990’s, I shared with Lakewood’s leadership the value of establishing an endowment for the purpose of funding ministry and missions outside the normal area of our operating budget.
An endowment is a donation to a nonprofit (e.g., Lakewood Baptist Church) for the ongoing support of that organization. In Lakewood’s case the endowment is structured so that the principal amount is kept intact while the investment income is available for use for specific ministry involvement.
An endowment was established, but given that our most pressing needs for the next 20 years has been for facility and staff development, we encouraged our fellowship to focus on our Ministry Budget and our Building Fund.
Since we are now debt-free, we have been able to have a continual focus on our annual ministry budget and now on special gifts to the Lakewood Endowment. In just a few short years of emphasis we have seen our endowment grow to $460,000 and in the last few years have funded additional missions by over $50,000.
Please consider leaving a Legacy Gift of insurance benefits, estate planning/will, or a cash gift to the Lakewood Endowment. Terri and I have the Lakewood Endowment Ministry in our wills and as a beneficiary on life insurance policies. Please join us! The income for all of our gifts will fund missions and ministry well beyond your death.