Barnabas Foundation Blog

The Stewards Fund, a donor-advised fund, provides you with a simple, flexible and tax-efficient opportunity to have tremendous Kingdom impact.

Ready to sell your vacation home, rental property, farmland or other real estate? Before you go to market, you may want to consider a smart, flexible gift to ministry instead.

Bert and his wife traveled to one estate sale after another in search of abandoned treasure. Their pursuit: antiques and well-worn furniture they could repair, repaint and repurpose for their upcycling business. What they hadn’t expected to find were clues to the prior owners’ affections.

Q: When should I consider updating my will? A: People commonly update their wills related to important life occasions, like having a child or losing a loved one. But there are other subtle transitions that have implications for your estate plans.

Planning for the future is easy for married couples who never disagree. For the other 99 percent of couples who sometimes view things differently (and the other 1% keeping their squabbles secret…wink, wink), there’s potential room for conflict.

David Vander Ploeg was among a small group of attorneys and businessmen whose expertise and vision launched Barnabas Foundation in April 1976. He served as the Foundation’s second executive director from 1993 to 2000, and he remained a passionate advocate for the organization well beyond his official “retirement” from that position.

“When the game is over,” she said, packing up all his land, houses and hotels, “it all goes back in the box.” Likewise, Jesus taught His disciples that everything we possess in this lifetime is temporary.

Generosity had always been part of Laura’s childhood. For Rich, it was a brand-new paradigm. “It was not something I really thought about before marriage,” Rich remembers. “When we got married, Laura and I began the conversation about regular and intentional giving.”