I’m glad our exterior church signs are monumental and not electronic—or worse—marquis-styled letter signs. Monumental signs do not have to be changed each week. The Senior Minister—nor anyone else on the church staff—has to conjure a quippy quote to publicly post each week. It has been my observation that church signs typically push creativity to the limits. Creativity usually, over time, gives way to cheesiness. The worst end up as a Facebook meme…or embedded in the hippocampus of my brain. A couple of months ago—just weeks before Christmas—I was traveling north and passed a small, white-frame church with a marquis- styled sign. The pre-Christmas message? Give the Gift that Keeps on Giving: A Female Cat. It wasn’t what I expected to see on a church sign. I’m still searching for the theological significance, but I must say, it was memorable. Of the many church signs I’ve passed, read and forgotten, I remembered this one.
Give the gift that keeps on giving. If we had a message sign, I might complete the phrase differently. Give the Gift that Keeps on Giving: The Foundation of First Baptist Greenville. Years ago, some generous and visionary individuals established what we now know as The Foundation. The Foundation is managed by trustees elected from the membership of our church. Earnings from the corpus of The Foundation accounts have funded multiple mission endeavors, property improvements/repairs, and leadership training opportunities. Recently, a new fund was established through the Foundation—the Tithe Fund. Individuals were requesting the ability to make a donation to The Foundation that would perpetually pay their tithe to the church’s budget after their death. While no prior funds held by the Foundation supplement the church’s budget, monies specifically designated to the Tithe Fund will aid in the day-to-day mission and ministry of the church.
If you want to give a gift that keeps on giving, I’d get some information about The Foundation of First Baptist Greenville during Foundation Sunday, February 2… and in the words of a retired gameshow host, remember to have your pets spayed or neutered.
—Jim