Is God’s will in your will?

Last Will & Testament

The best way to begin a legacy plan is with a Last Will and Testament. Completing a Last Will and Testament allows you to conserve your assets for those you love, including your family and your church. It also gives an opportunity to further God’s work in Mississippi and around the world by providing future support to a ministry passion.

Additional potential benefits include avoiding capital gains taxes, reducing your current income taxes, reducing federal estate taxes, and increasing your current income. But above all that, the most important benefit is advancing God’s work in your lifetime and beyond. What a wonderful legacy to leave to future generations!

Only 46% of Americans have a will.

*according to a June 23, 2021 Gallup article

Legacy Planning Tools

These are some of the ways you can structure your assets for the future.

  • You can make a gift to the Mississippi Baptist Foundation and designate it for any or all Baptist causes, from your local church, to the World Hunger fund at the International Mission Board. With your gift to the Baptist Foundation, you will know your gift will be used as you directed until Christ comes again.

  • By establishing a Trust you authorize a third party to handle your designated assets on behalf of one or more beneficiaries. Through a Trust agreement you can establish your wishes for when and how distributions are made.

  • A Gift Annuity is a contract in which you irrevocably exchange a gift of cash or securities for a guaranteed, fixed income each year for the rest of your life. At your death the funds remaining in the account go to the Baptist cause you specified. A Gift Annuity is generally established for the life of one or two people, such as a husband and wife.

  • You can make the Mississippi Baptist Foundation the owner and beneficiary of a life insurance policy that you do not need any more or you can purchase a new policy naming the Baptist Foundation as owner and beneficiary. This is a great way to make a gift to further the cause of Christ.

  • The Pooled Income Fund accepts gifts from many donors and “pools” those funds together for investment purposes. The Pooled Income Fund distributes quarterly the Fund’s earned income on a proportional basis to all participants. When the last named income beneficiary of a gift dies, that portion of the Fund principal associated with the gift is distributed to the Baptist cause you specified.

  • You can make a gift of your house or farm while retaining the right to live in the house until your death. You have the assurance that your house or farm will be used at your death for the Baptist causes you directed.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

- Acts 4:32