The Funny Thing About Food ...

Did your mom and dad make your food fun?  I remember my parents making me meals that looked cool and that seemed to make them taste great.  You know what I mean, fried bologna that looked like pac man, hot dog octopus and broccoli trees.

Not only did we have fun with our food, there was always plenty of it.  Sadly, this is not the case for all kids today.  According to the USDA, over 16 million children lived in food insecure (low food security and very low food security) households in 2010.  This means that they live in homes were they aren't sure where their next meal is coming from.  In fact during 2010 there were over 20 million kids that received free or reduced lunches at school but during the summer when school is not in cession only 2.3 million kids got feed through the USDA's summer food service program.

So only 10% of the kids that get free or reduced lunches at school are getting the same lunch benefits in the summer months.  We want to change that!  Our church and other churches in our town are banding together with others in the county and using the USDA's summer food service program to get those kids in need a free lunch Monday through Friday and perhaps a little fun too.  This summer EVERYONE gets feed!!!  This summer no one goes hungry!  This summer we will be the hands of the church, reaching out to make a difference in the lives of the children of our community.

J

Stop Knocking on Wood!  Call or email me to understand what your coverage is ... No matter who you're with, know what you have!

The Best Gift Ever !!!

When I was a kid I used the phase "the best gift ever!" quite often.  Maybe I was easily impressed or perhaps I had a grandiose way about me.  Either way, I'm sure that the person who gave me the gift felt good about getting me something that I really loved. 

Christmas time is a great example of how giving and receiving is an important part of life ... both for the giver and for the receiver.  Nothing feels better than being able to get someone a gift that hey love, so in a way the receiver is the most important person in the exchange of a gift.  Without those that would receive ... our gifts would have no value.

Have you ever given a vagrant with a sign some small donation or helped a young mother pay for groceries while in line (when she didn't have enough to pay for them)?  Made you feel good, didn't it?  Well sometimes we who have look down on those that don't have ... not concisely, it's just sometimes we time, "why don't they just get a job?" 

We should however remember that in God's world we all have a role and no role is more important than the next.  So the beggar is just as important as those that donate.  Our role in the gifting process doesn't determine our value only our reward.

Merry Christmas ... may the gifts you receive bring you great joy and the gifts you give be joyfully received.

J

Giving your family the gift of life insurance will make the difference in paying for food, heat, and medicine if your pay check stops when you die!

How to fix your Church?

Our church just voted to spend a lot of money on remodeling the kitchen and updating our electrical service along with some other renovations that need to be done.  If you've ever been involved in a church project like this you know that from concept to completion you have a lot of different ideas and concerns to consider.   You see a church board listens to an idea and discusses it for a long time and the community may change it's mind about the project over a two year period.  Very often what some see as necessary others see as an extravagance and many folks will change their minds back an forth more than once based on new evidence or a different point of view.

However, more often than not the final decision will come down to one question ... can we afford it?  Even if the money is in the bank (and it usually isn't) people will ask that question.  All kinds of non profit look for ways to make sure they have enough money.  In a church we collect a weekly offering that helps pay the bills and we ask for special offering to fund projects like the one we are doing now.  But imagine if the church decided to build a new kitchen and they had the money in the bank, how cool would that be?  Remove the question of how do we pay for it and you can focus on much bigger questions like ... "how can we use this new kitchen to glorify God and do his work her on earth?"  But how does a small town church acquire enough cash to do this kinds of projects?  Well there are many ways but the most common is Memorial gifting.

Giving a final gift at your passing or a give in memory of someone you love who has passed on is the best way for a church to fund construction, or mission work, or community services.  This can be land, autos, cash or life insurance proceeds.  As an insurance agent (and a guy without land) I like the idea of a life policy for the church.  If you are 40 years old and buy a 20 year return of premium life insurance policy to secure your gift to the church (with a death benefit of $100,000) then if you die before age 60 the church will get $100,000 (a poor substitute for all the tithes they will lose by your passing) but if you live to age 60 you set it up so the church will get $14,000 at that time or $37,000 when you do pass away.

A 35 year old man could pay $10 a week and not have to pay any more after 20 years.  This would give the church a $35,000 payment if you die plus the death benefit will increase year after year and at age 60 it would be $52,000.  There are a hundred examples of how to leave money but the bottom line is, no other method of giving back will pay the church a set figure no matter if you only made one month's payment to it!  You should speak to your insurance agent about this option ... I know I am going to!

J

How to Give Enough!

Our church is in the process of a remodel project and in the course of that project we are forced to think about future projects that will involve construction or at the very least sizable sums of money.  We are fortunate enough to have a nest egg that was left by a generous donor to build or remodel as we need to, but that gift which was given some time ago is pretty rare. 

To be frank, how many of us have enough money now that we are whiling to give a large chunk to the church before we die which out worrying about possibly needing that cash to live on before we die?  Most of us who are church goers would like to leave behind a legacy but we can't afford to lose control of the money that we may need if our retirement investments take a turn for the worse once we are relying on them for our income.  Sometimes it seems that the days of the big donors are gone, but some young people are planning ahead now and securing their legacy before it starts costing too much.

A 65 year old man can plan to leave $25,000 to the church by putting it in his will and having the money in a money market account just in case he needs it.  But who knows if that will even be left for the church by the time he dies, taxes and probate expenses can eat up the proceeds and lessen or eliminate the money this gentleman wants to leave behind.  The same 65 year old can put that $25,000 in a single premium life policy and the church will get nearly $45,000 before the rest of the estate is settled.  If the man out lives his saving he can always withdraw the cash and use it to live on, but for now he has protected his legacy.

A young woman age 25, wanting to inspire young people after she is gone can leave a $100,000 gift to the church and pay only $13 a week for a life insurance policy (plus she can stop paying all together at age 40).  Her gift can be used anyway she wants, to build a school room, pay for mission work, or create a youth program.

Young or old ... a lump sum of cash or a few dollars a week ... using life insurance to leave a legacy to your church is just a smart way to do it.  You can help your future church leadership expand, maintain or recreate and help show them the true meaning of Christian love.

Call a life insurance agent that you trust and talk about how you can create a legacy for the church and still have a safety net for your finances.

J

Let Freedom Ring!!!

As we head into the first week of July and celebrate Independence Day I find myself in reflection on the past week.

Last week was VBS (Vacation Bible School) and it is always a long week for all involved.  We plan it for months and put all that we have into a great educational and spiritual week.  But this also afforded me an opportunity to work with our local food pantry.  They loaned us a ton of corn (literally 2000 pounds of canned corn) to draw attention to the needs of the hungry in Greene County.  We built a castle out of the corn in our church that stayed up all week to remind the kids of what God's love could accomplish.

While thinking about the week, I realized that we have a great opportunity to impact the lives of those around us, far more that just a single meal.  The benefit one receives from our local food pantry can be quite literally LIFE CHANGING.

You all know that I am an insurance agent, and I like to say that I sell piece of mind.  My clients sleep better at night knowing that their homes, autos, and families are protected.  The food pantry gives people a sense of hope ... through the food and encouragement that they pass out each week they give people HOPE, and hope is far more valuable than piece of mind, or money in the bank, hope shows us that we are not alone, we do count, our suffering has purpose and there is something better just around the corner.

John, one of the Directors at the food pantry gave the kids a quick lesson each night, it was based around the scripture; John, chapter 21, verses 15 - 19.  In this passage Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he loves him ... each time Peter says, yes he loves the Lord, and each time Jesus tells Peter to "Feed my sheep!" ... our visitor John simplified it by calling out to the kids "Love God" and they would respond with a thunderous "FEED HIS SHEEP!" ... Service to mankind is mandated by our God!  Our service brings hope to those we serve!  Hope brings freedom to everyone!

Remember, if you need piece of mind call me ... if you need food call John ... if you need Hope ... pray.

J

Real Stuff ... our view of Joplin!

The Joplin relief effort here in the South West part of Indiana has really caught us off guard, but not in the way that you might think.  You see Greene county is the 4th poorest county in Indiana, we rank in the bottom 10% of counties nationwide for higher education and in the bottom half of all counties in the US for adults with a HS diploma.  Our unemployment rate is 8.3% and the average household income is only about $41,000 a year.

I'm not trying to deflate my fellow Greene county residents, in fact it's quite the opposite.  You see it is the perfect example of what my friend Jerry told me the other day (Jerry is over 70 and always has words of wisdom).  He said "Jason if it ever comes that I need a hand out, you know real help, I'll head over to the poor side of town."  Greene county (and our neighbors) decided that we may not have a lot but we have enough ... in one week the efforts of Leroy Barnhill and his army of volunteers, along with the residents of our community, shipped 115,000 pound of aid to Joplin in 4 separate semi trailers.

By the time we are all home from work on Tuesday that will be 5 or 6 semis and 135,000 pounds of supplies.  And this is shipped direct, no middle man, no government, no red tape ... just good people doing what Jesus would do!  I've heard about very young children giving their very best toys, young men giving the jacket off their backs, and a mysteriously appropriate gift of thousands of sets of rain gear.

How great are the people in my community ... pretty damn great.

http://www.bloomfieldfcc.org/page_32.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greene-Daviess-County-Joplin-Relief/209609692411938

Helping Joplin Now!

Sometimes it is amazing what can be done with just a mission and some focus!  My friend LeRoy is very focused and he's on a mission.  When he heard that the main terminal for the trucking company that he works for was under assault from nature along with the rest of Joplin MO, he leaped in to action. 

LeRoy is a trucker and so he started filling a semi-trailer with stuff ... makes sense, truckers driver trucks and trucks haul stuff.  But in the course of a day Leroy ran out of his own stuff to put in the truck so he said a prayer and called some friends.  Those friends brought some stuff and they all said a prayer and called their friends.

It wasn't long until they had the 1st truck filled with pallets of water, clothing, food and supplies.  Right now LeRoy is filling the 3rd, 4th, and 5th trucks ... his friends and the friends of those friends have continued to pray and bring stuff.  People (strangers) are calling LeRoy from as far away as Oklahoma and donations are coming in from the east coast and all around.  The TV news and the local papers heard about LeRoy's friends and their stuff and they started talking about it.

So now LeRoy and his band of friends (long time and newly introduced) are looking to collect 150,000 pounds of good to send to a couple of churches in the Joplin that are distributing the goods.  This has turned into a massive relief effort that is unique as it is going direct from the donors to those in need. 

If you want to help or just show your support to this little group, click on the link below and log on to facebook ... LIKE the page and keep tract of the needs for this effort.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greene-Daviess-County-Joplin-Relief/209609692411938

Giving More ... Charity Planning

We all reach a point in life where we see the need to give back. Whether it is our local church, the Humane Society, or some cancer research center, we see the need to help out in some way and to financially support the cause.

So we give a little each week or each month knowing that a little at a time over a long period adds up. But have you ever considered how much you will be giving over the next 20 or 30 years. It really adds up, for example if a 30 year old woman gave $10 a week to her church for 35 years (until she retires) she would have given the church $18,200 over that time. But what happens if she dies in an accident before age 65? The church will lose that income and have to make it up elsewhere. Not a huge monthly amount but if that happens a few times the church will be without thousands of dollars in income that it needs to maintain the building and continue the programs that cost more and more each year.

There is a way to insure that the charity (in this case her local church) will receive all that she planed to give over her lifetime regardless of how long (or short) that life is. If the same 30 year old woman (in good health and a non tobacco user) bought a traditional life insurance policy for the whole amount that she plans on giving to the church ($18,200) and she made the church the beneficiary, it would cost her about $4.20* each week (premiums would need to be paid for about 20 years until the cash value was high enough to allow for off set) ... if she then gave the church the remaining $6 a week her total gift to the church during the 35 years would be $14,040 but the church would get the death benefit of $18,200 even if something happened to her after her first payment on the life policy. If she lives to age 65 the church would have gotten her tithe of $14,040 from the previous 35 years and a death benefit of over $20,000* when she passes.

Life insurance can make sure that the amount of money you want to leave to a charity is a sure thing, and if you make the charity the owner of your policy and you just pay the premiums then your premiums can be tax deductable. This is the most common use for life insurance, that is to protect someone or some group from the financial loss associated with the premature death of a supporter. But there are other ways to use life insurance to increase your charitable gift after you pass away.

Let's say that a 65 year old woman loses her husband after they both had worked for a lifetime. His retirement was $1900 a month but she was living comfortably on her own retirement and decided to give that amount to the Humane Society to help fund the programs her husband supported for nearly 70 years. If she were to pass away in the first year the Humane Society would only get $22,800 ($1900 times 12 months) but if she were to use the $1900 a month to purchase a life insurance policy the Humane society would get nearly 3/4 of a million dollars* to continue the work her husband supported all his life.

Another example of using life insurance to expand your gifting to the charities you love is the Single Premium life policy. If you have a lump sum of money that you do not need for your income and you want to pass along to fund future building needs for your church a great option is to use it to buy a single premium life insurance policy. Let's say that a widower age 72 wants make sure his $50,000 CD is used for the church's future building projects he could greatly expand the benefit by purchasing a single premium life policy worth about $75,000* when he passes away.

The one thing to remember is that anyone that wants to use life insurance as a way to support their favorite charity must be insurable and if they have conditions that are ongoing such as diabetes you may get less for your money or you may not qualify for a policy at all. Your best bet is to talk to an Agent that you trust and let them know what you want to do ... they will be able to design a program that meets your needs and gets the money to your charity regardless of how much longer you live.

This is a really cool idea that deserves an extra look ... it is a great way to guarantee your gift or greatly expand it.

J

* all figures are general examples and are based on a person in good health that does not use tobacco and are only accurate for certain companies at the time of publication.