Surprised by God

Surprised by God

By Barry Bledsoe
President, The Baptist Foundation of Alabama

Have you ever been surprised by God? I know I certainly have! Allow me to share with you the journey to my “aha!” moment.

I came to The Baptist Foundation of Alabama as president in April 2001. After a career in law and banking, I quickly set about modernizing the operations of the Foundation. I thought this would be my primary contribution. However, God had something very different in mind.

I had been active in my church my entire adult life, serving in many leadership capacities. I sought diligently to be a good steward and settled the matter of tithing early on. Then came the big surprise.

As an attorney, I knew the importance of having a solid estate plan. So, of course, I already had my plan in place, knowing that the transfer of my assets at death would be the largest financial matter I would personally navigate.

More than rules

I was prepared. I knew all the “tools and rules” intimately and had followed them to the “T”; however, I had never thought about this planning process being a stewardship decision. How could I have missed this?

My wife and I then reviewed our plans through the lens of biblical stewardship.

We discovered that we could still provide for our family in a meaningful way and make a significant contribution to ministries we love. God then delivered an even bigger surprise that led to what has been the primary development focus of the Foundation for the last 15 years.

No one was equipping the church to serve its members in this primarily overlooked, transformational stewardship opportunity. I couldn’t believe it.

As we continue to narrow the gap, to date we have served more than 1,000 families with anticipated Kingdom gifts of more than $284 million — WOW!

What a surprise to be invited by God to join Him in this exciting Kingdom adventure. With approximately 1 million Alabama Baptists, the work has just begun.