reading

Thank you to my wife, Michele, my blessing, whose faith in me has encouraged me in countless ways. You have prayed, cried, and pressed with me as we have unleashed the gift of giving in our own lives, and without your fervent and steadfast support, I would not be the man I am today.

Thank you to my children, Robby, Matt, Isaac, and Elizabeth. You are living examples of those who are quick to give to the Lord and to others, each in your own unique ways, out of your substance, your time, your effort, and your heart. I am so excited to see each of you walking in the things God has prepared for you in your own special calling.

Thank you to Donna Parsons, my assistant, my co-laborer, the one who never does merely her best, but always does whatever it takes. You have captured and carried the vision of this book, both at the office and in prayer. Without your dedication, this book could not have happened.

Thank you to my pastor, J. B. Whitfield. Your hope, joy, and unwavering commitment to imparting the principles of the Word of God have made a positive difference in my life and family in countless ways.

I also owe gratitude to my original mentor on giving: the late Johnny Simmons. It was his ministry of the Word of God that first opened my eyes to the gift of giving. I will never forget him or his legacy that so impacted my life.

Closing Thoughts

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

James 1:22-25 (The Message)

Proper decisive action leads to victory but inaction never will. Procrastination is not a virtue. After reading this book, you have enough information to begin building a lasting legacy for your ministry and assist givers in building and leaving their legacy.

The best way to implement these learnings is as unique as your ministry. The first step should be the same for every ministry: seek God. Take time, as much as you need, and maybe more than you think you need, and seek God’s will concerning His role for your ministry in helping to unleash the gift of giving, both to benefit your ministry and to benefit the legacy of the giver.

Meet with one of your ministry’s main supporters for lunch or coffee, both husband and wife if they are married. Share with them what you have learned in this book. Ask them for their help in better understanding the needs of the giver, including their needs. Be transparent. Share your vision with them. Tell them what God showed you when you went to seek Him concerning this. Get their feedback and ask them for their help in building your ministry’s legacy by unleashing the gift of giving.

Take the learnings you have gained and share it. Gather a small group of couples from your ministry’s main supporters and share with them what you have learned. Teach them about the tools. Share the stories of the legacy plans in action. Have follow-up meetings to enlist their feedback and ask them for their help in building your ministry’s legacy by unleashing the gift of giving.

Host a vision meeting dinner. Invite a group of your ministry’s supporters and their friends as well as those who you know that might become supporters. Share the impact you are making today and your vision for future growth. Share some of the learnings from this book: the reasons people give, the ways people give, the stories of the legacy plans in action. Give them an opportunity to meet with you later to discuss ways of working together to fulfill the vision.

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

II Cor. 13:11 (NLT)

With your new understanding of the interdependence between the ministry and the giver, you are in the ideal position to help unleash the gift of giving. Unleashing the gift of giving is the key to building and leaving a legacy for the kingdom of God. It is my heartfelt prayer that God would work through you to unleash the gift of giving to further His kingdom.

If you are interested in working with a legacy advisor to help facilitate your unleashing the gift of giving, I would be glad to discuss the opportunity with you. You can contact me at my office by phone at 336-499-4999. Just tell my staff that you are a ministry that is ready to unleash the gift of giving and they will set up a time for us to discuss your situation over the phone.

Appendix: The Capital Assessment

Ministry Gifting: Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teaching, missionary

Functional Gifting: Helps, leadership, administration, craftsmanship, service, giving, music, knowledge, wisdom, prayer, hospitality, mercy, exhortation

Human Capital

About The Author

Rusty Russell, CFP^®, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founder of a legacy planning firm located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Rusty, a native of North Carolina, has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Furman University and a Master’s degree in Management from the University of Southern California.

In 1995, after nine years as a US Army officer, Rusty decided to pursue the financial planning field with a national financial planning company. In 1998, Rusty founded his own firm. Rusty specializes in family legacy planning, a customized process that helps families build and leave a family and ministry legacy. He guides clients through a disciplined process that facilitates taking advantage of the opportunities and avoiding the potential pitfalls inherent in their financial success. This results in financial independence today and a lasting legacy for generations to come.

Rusty has served as a faculty member for the Guilford College Certified Financial Planner program, teaching retirement and estate planning fundamentals to CFP^® certification candidates, and as a fellow with Life Christian University, teaching a course to ministry students on Biblical finance. He also teaches professional continuing education courses in the areas of wealth management and business succession. Rusty and his wife, Michele, have four children and are active in leadership at Agape Faith Church in Clemmons, North Carolina.

Chapter 1

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children….

Proverbs 13:22

A legacy is a gift or inheritance left to an heir. It is what you pass to the next generation that will represent you when you are gone.

A successful legacy is best achieved by the skillful blending of the work of the ministry with the wealth of the giver around a common vision. In order to have a successful legacy, a ministry needs sufficient resources to pass its vision to the ministry’s successor. A family needs to pass meaning and significance along with their wealth to the next generation to have a successful legacy. These needs serve as the catalyst to begin the legacy planning process. Combining these two legacy needs creates dynamic opportunities for success for both the ministry and the giver.

Why do you want to leave a legacy? Why do you want to unleash the gift of giving? What is your reason, your motive?

Whatever your reason, it will fall into one of two categories: to further the Kingdom of God or to further your own aspirations. I do not mean to say that desiring to increase and grow and flourish is an ungodly thing—quite the opposite! God desires that we be fruitful and multiply and fill up the earth with all that He has in store for us. Maybe you are at the beginning stages of your ministry and you are just hoping to make it to next month and keep the lights on. Maybe your goal is to continue to grow your well-established ministry for generations to come.

The real question is, “Whose agenda will this growth fulfill: His or yours?” If you intend to use this book to find a better way to meet your own needs by getting others to give to you, stop now! Of course it may seem so clear that your ministry is for God, about God, and founded at the direction of God. Dig deeper. Make sure you are really clear about the desire of your heart. Jeremiah warns us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart…” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

Ask the Lord, right now, to show you what is truly in your heart. If it is truly to further His kingdom, His way of doing things—great! Read on! But, if you are even the least bit unsure of the purity of your motive, either from fear or immaturity or whatever, stop now and seek full understanding of His plans for the future of your ministry. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:5-8). God desires for you to know His plans for you, your future, and the future of your ministry. If after you can say, in faith, that you are sure that your desire is to further His kingdom, read on and Unleash the Gift of Giving!

That sounds simple enough, but maybe too simple, too vague. How does a ministry further the kingdom of God concerning giving? By ministering giving. Again, that sounds simple, but vague. How do we “minister” giving? By teaching sound doctrine on giving, operating the finances of the ministry according to that doctrine, and ministering to the giver, both the giver of current gifts and the giver of planned gifts (more on that later.)

When you focus the financial aspect of your ministry on ministering to the giver, not just receiving from the giver, you work as a co-laborer with the giver to build a lasting legacy of ministry with integrity. This, in turn, furthers the laws of the Kingdom of God operating in the ministry and in the giver, thereby both increasing in the fruit of righteousness and leaving their own legacy for the generations to come. That is unleashing the gift of giving.

For too long, the gift of giving has been restrained: restrained by religious tradition, restrained by fear, restrained by ignorance, restrained by selfishness, and many other ungodly restraints. Trust God that, as you delve into the material in this book, He will give you a clear revelation of how to keep from restraining His gift of giving in your ministry and in those to whom you minister so you can build a legacy for the Kingdom of God.

Since motive is such a big deal, why should anyone build a legacy anyhow? Does God really need our help furthering His kingdom? Absolutely! We are the body of Christ. We are the laborers. We are all He has to work with on this earth. Remember again God’s blessing for man spoken to Adam: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…” (Genesis 1:28). That is our job. Create a legacy. In fact, fill the whole earth with all that God made that was good. Now that is a legacy! Unfortunately, our world today is woefully short of fulfilling our mandate to leave a legacy for God, but that is one reason why it is all the more important.

In Luke 19, Zacchaeus makes his famous pledge to the Lord that he will unleash the gift of giving, giving half of his goods to the poor and paying back four times anything he has taken through cheating. Just after that, Jesus tells us the story of the nobleman’s journey.

¹¹ Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. ¹²Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. ¹³So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ ¹⁴But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

¹⁵“And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. ¹⁶Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ ¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ ¹⁹Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’

²⁰“Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. ²¹For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²²And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. ²³Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

²⁴“And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ ²⁵(But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) ²⁶‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ²⁷But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’”

Luke 19:11-27 (NKJV)

In the King James version, verse 13 uses the word “occupy,” but the actual meaning of that word is to do business, continue growing assets, expanding. We see this in the rewards given to the servants upon the master’s return. Whether we own and operate a for-profit business, lead and direct a ministry, or work for an employer, we are expected to grow assets, expand capability, and advance. Jesus said, “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize–a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].” (Matt 11:12 Amplified). From God the Father’s original job description given to man to be fruitful and multiply to the transfer of the ministry of Jesus, exhorting those that would come after Him to follow in his legacy and do greater works than He (John 14:12).

God is all about increase. We who are called into His ministry, whether in the five-fold ministry of pastor, evangelist, apostle, prophet, or teacher, or in business or government, we are to be about increasing and leaving a legacy. It is not an option; it is a command. The only question that remains is how will we handle this charge He has left to us—hiding it idly out of laziness and fear or working to increase it according to our ability, bringing increase and hearing the Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” The choice is ours.

Chapter 2

You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

II Corinthians 9:11 (NIV)

One of the things every believer is called to do is give. We are told to give all throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament alike. Every born-again believer has the ability and corresponding responsibility to be a giver. First, in Malachi 3:10, we are instructed in the tithe, the connection to our covenant. After that, we are to give offerings, give to the poor, and take care of the widow, orphan and stranger. In other words, we are to give to what the world refers to as charity, which is another word for love. This is modeled by God Himself, as He so loved the world He gave. We who are created in His image are to be His representatives of giving on the earth, helping Him to meet needs.

Just as some people are called to be pastors or evangelists, there are those who are called by God to be givers—those with the gift of giving. Those whose very talents and desires, submitted to God’s plan, long to finance the spreading of the kingdom of God, whether through humanitarian relief of food, clothing, and shelter; evangelism; education; medical; or other deliverables that advance the kingdom of God in the earth.

Paul, in his first letter to Timothy, has a charge for those who are wealthy: “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (I Tim 6:17-19) Most of the sixth chapter gives instructions on how to handle wealth. Unfortunately, through misunderstanding or intentional misapplication, too many who are wealthy have been taught that they should not be wealthy, and that somehow God is unhappy with their wealth. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you carefully study chapter 6, you will see that Paul is not attacking wealth, but greed.

Those who lustfully pursue wealth to fund their own desires are practicing a form of idolatry: the love of money. Those who pursue financial gain to meet the needs of the kingdom of God are pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Money does not corrupt motives; it merely reveals motives by amplifying the ability to act on motives. The one with the gift of giving is constantly looking for opportunities to meet the needs of others to bring glory to God. Being wealthy for God is the embodiment of the gift of giving and is exemplified in II Corinthians 9:6-8:

“⁶[Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings. ⁷Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, ‘prompt to do it’) giver [whose heart is in his giving]. ⁸

(Amplified)

Acknowledgements

Closing Thoughts

Appendix: The Capital Assessment

Human Capital

About The Author

Chapter 1

Chapter 2