John Wimmer, Religion Program Director

Lilly Endowment

Wednesday, April 14, 6:15 to 8:30 p.m.

John R. Wimmer is a program director in the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment, Inc., an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family. Dr. Wimmer is responsible for several aspects of Lilly Endowment’s grant-making in the area of religion, including support for theological higher education, sustaining Pastoral Excellence initiative, as well as programs on Faith and Giving.  Wimmer was founding president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations, a program funded by the Endowment that helps Indianapolis-area congregations find and use the best resources available to address the challenges they face.

An ordained United Methodist minister, Wimmer was a parish pastor in Indiana as well as North Carolina for fifteen years. He is a graduate of Duke University Divinity School and holds a Ph.D from the University of Chicago, where he studied with noted American church historian Martin E. Marty and conducted historical research on philanthropy and Christian stewardship as they relate to congregational and religious life in America.

Dr. Wimmer has wide experience as a religious leader, having served as teacher and writer, as well as church leader and consultant. John, his wife Jan Blasing and their son, David, live in Zionsville, IN.

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Bill Enright, Executive Director

Lake Institute on Faith & Giving
Indiana University Center on Philanthropy

Thursday, April 15, 9 to 10:15 a.m.

Bill Enright has served as Senior Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, IN.  He is currently director of the Lilly Endowment, Inc., the Wishard Hospital Foundation Board and a trustee of Hanover College. His most recent appointment was as “Advisor of the National Cathedral Association” of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Enright is a graduate of Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA and McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL.  His PhD is from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He also holds two. D.D (honorary) degrees from Hanover College, Hanover, Indiana and Dubuque Theological Seminar, Dubuque, IA

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Una Okonkwo Osili

Interim Director of Research and Associate Professor

Friday, April 16, 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.

In addition to her role at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, Una Okonkwo Osili is an associate professor of economics and philanthropic studies at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.  She is also an associate professor of Philanthropic Studies at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Una Osili’s main areas of research include private transfers in developing and developed countries. She received the Stevenson Fellowship from the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council in 2006 and in 2007, she was appointed as a fellow of the Networks Financial Institute.

Una received her bachelor’s degree in economics with honors from Harvard University and her M.A. and Ph.D in economics from Northwestern University. She is involved in several non-profit organizations including serving as the Chair and Co-Founder of the Philippe Wamba Fund for Road safety in Africa.

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Workshop Speakers

Stewardship/Theology Track

Celebrating the Offering presented by Melvin Amerson
Celebrating the Offering is workshop for pastors and church leaders of small and large churches who want to rekindle the offertory time during worship.  Ideas will be share to create an atmosphere of celebration and extravagant generosity during the offering.

Melvin Amerson is the author of Celebrating the Offering and Stewardship in African American Churches: A New Paradigm. He has completed his third book, a collection of offering meditations. Amerson is a nationally recognized stewardship consultant and known for his energetic and engaging presentations.

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Growing Givers’ Hearts in Good Economic Times and Bad presented by Rebekah Burch Basinger
In these tough economic times, many nonprofit CEOs and boards are pressing fundraising staff to be especially aggressive and organization-centered in their work with donors.  This can create an uncomfortable tension for fundraisers who approach their work with the dual goal of meeting fundraising goals and also being part of growing givers’ hearts toward God. In this workshop, we’ll explore six principles that can guide organizational leaders in re-visioning the fundraising program as integral to nurturing donors in their faith AND to securing the funds needed to support ministry goals – in good economic times and bad.

Rebekah Burch Basinger, Dillsburg, PA., is the executive director of congregational relations for the Brethren in Christ of North America where her portfolio includes oversight of the denominations’ unified giving program. She is also a Governance Mentor with In Trust, an organization that serves leaders in theological education. Basinger has served on the development team of three church related colleges and as an independent consultant to faith-based organizations. She is the co-author of Growing Givers’ Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry, a theme that she has continued to explore over the years in numerous articles and book chapters and in her speaking engagements. Basinger is a graduate of Trinity College, Deerfield, IL, earned a master’s in English from Wichita (KS) State University, and holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

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Stewardship of Talent: Building Engagement Through Talent Awareness and Development presented by Rev. Daniel Mahan
Most pastors are sitting atop a gold mine of talent in their congregations-but that talent remains “unmined” and thus unused.  A proper understanding of talent and how to help others to put talents to use for the sake of the Kingdom is an act of good stewardship, a key to engaging members in the life and ministry of the faith community.  In this presentation, Father Daniel Mahan will explain the principles of stewardship of talent, emphasizing a practical approach to helping church members learn about and apply their own unique talents; he will also discuss how church engagement is enhanced through talent awareness and development.

Rev. Daniel Mahan is a priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.  He is the Executive Director of the Marian College Center for Catholic Stewardship.  Father Mahan was ordained to the priesthood in 1988.  Until the summer of 2006, he served as pastor of Saint Louis Catholic Church in Batesville, Indiana, a parish of 1500 families. Now he serves full-time in stewardship ministry, making presentation to diocese and parishes throughout the United States, Canada , and most recently in Australia.  He serves as a faculty member and the Director of Formation for the Institutes and Conferences of the International Catholic Stewardship Council.  In 2005, he authored  More than Silver or Gold: Homilies of a Stewardship Priest, published by Saint Catherine of Siena Press.

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Simply Stewardship presented by Chi-Chi Z. Messick
Simply Stewardship is a consulting ministry t aid Moravian Churches and agencies in developing comprehensive stewardship programs that increase participation – financial and otherwise – in the life of the church. Simply Stewardship is a two-phase plan that helps assess the congregation’s current situation and operates a six to eight week stewardship program.

Facets of Simply Stewardship include: budget and ministry goals, membership opinion, development of a stewardship theme, narrative budget development, as well as Bible study and Sunday School emphasis.

A native of Winston-Salem, NC, Chi-Chi Messick is Vice-President of the Moravian Ministries Foundation in America.  Chi-Chi joined the Foundation in 2000 as Vice-President and focuses her work on the Moravian Common Fund and Morning Star Campaign Services.  Chi-Chi earned a bachelor’s degree in Organ Performance at Salem College and has attended the College of William and Mary’s National Planned Giving Institute, planned giving and major gifts seminars at Robert F. Sharpe company and Crescendo, as well as Capital Campaign Administration at the Institute for Charitable Giving in Chicago, IL.  She is a member of the Association of Lutheran Development Executives.  She also brings to the Foundation her previous experience working as Assistant Director of Institutional Development at Salem College and serving as Director of Development for WFDD, the public radio station at Wake Forest University. Chi-Chi and her husband, Jack live in Winston-Salem, NC.

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A Theology of Stewardship presented by Fred Milligan
The use of language in recent writings( The Fear of Beggars by Jelly S. Johnson) about economic life and personal generosity in the Church will be discussed.

The Rev. Fred D. Milligan is a Presbyterian minister who has served on the national stewardship staff teams of both the PC9USA) and ELCA churches. He currently serves both denominations as an independent Stewardship Consultant with The Generous Steward Consulting while serving as a Transitional Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Fairfield Glades, TN.

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Theology, Discipleship, Generosity presented by Kevin Park
This workshop will examine biblical concepts like “self-denial,” “cross-bearing,” and “obedience” that relate to Christian stewardship through biblical exegesis and theology.  Special attention will be given to Peter’s confession of Christ recorded in Matthew 16:13-26.

Kevin Park is an Associate for Theology focusing on the theology of stewardship on the Office of Theology and Worship at the Presbyterian Center, Louisville, KY.  He was born in Korea, grew up in Canada, and now lives in the U.S. He is an ordained PC(USA) pastor and served at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Bloomfield, NJ, and at the Office of Asian American Theology and Ministry in Princeton Theological Seminar, as well as at the New Brunswick Theological Seminar as an adjunct faculty before coming to Louisville. He is married with three daughters.

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Pies, Cakes and Crumbs presented by Randy Updegraff Spleth
This workshop that will assist pastors and congregational leaders in understanding and communicating the theological foundations of generosity.  To become a generous church and inspire generous givers, we need to be able to articulate how our faith informs giving.  This workshop will offer tools for this task.

Rev. Randall Updegraff Spleth is the founding pastor of Geist Christian Church, a multi-site Disciples congregation serving northeast Indianapolis.  The congregation was formed in 1985 and now serves a community of over 4,000.  He is married to Dr. Ann Updegraff Spleth and the father of two children, Andrew and Claire.

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Clergy/Laity/ Church Track

What’s New & What’s Not in Funding Today’s Congregation presented Dr. Wayne Barrett
Some things have changed in stewardship today but some principles remain the same.  This workshop will examine these “cutting edge” techniques as well as emphasize those timeless strategies that must not be abandoned.

Dr. Wayne Barrett has been President of the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan since 1982.  In this capacity he has consulted with over 800 congregations in 30 states. He has been a featured presenter at conferences across the US and Canada including North American Conference on Christian Philanthropy, United Methodist Convocation on Development, Robert Schuller Institute on Church Leadership, and the Planned Giving School.  He is the author of many books on financial topics including Get Well! Stay Well! Prescriptions for a Financially Healthy Congregation. He is the editor of CLERGY FINANCE LETTER, America’s leading financial planning journal for clergy.

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Practicing the Discipline of Generous Giving: The Annual Financial Campaign presented by David Bell
Participants will:

• Learn the fundamentals of an annual financial campaign
• Discover the key motivators to charitable giving
• Discuss the spiritual aspects of annual financial campaigns
• Establish a variable annual campaign cycle for your church
• Discover some “best practices” for enhancing annual giving

David Bell is a Senior Partner with Design Group InternationalTM and also serves as the Vice-President of Stewardship with the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan.  David’s experience includes stewardship consultation, organizational visioning, leadership development, and planned giving. He creates hope by providing practical consultation and motivational seminars for faith-based organizations.  He empowers leaders to discover their vital role in enabling communities of faith to embody a generous culture. As a nationally recognized speaker, he is the author of more that 200 articles and has delivered keynote addresses to over 80,000 people. He is currently the chair of the ESC Board of Directors.

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Money is Not a 4–Letter Word presented by The Rev. Michael (Corky) Carlisle
Corky’s workshop will be on how to preach generosity in your church.

The Rev. Michael (Corky) Carlisle is a Kentuckian by birth, attended the University of the South at Sewanee, and was ordained priest in 1975.  Since that time he has served in locations as widely varied as Coventry Cathedral in England, St. Philip’s Bible College in Kenya, St. James in Florence, Italy, and ranging in size from a dozen communicants to 1500. During his ministry he has raised well over $1 million for mission work overseas. He now does interim parish ministry and resides in Sewanee, TN with is wife, Doris, who calls him to live a much holier life than he would without her.

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Narrative and Budgeting as Spiritual Practice presented by Judith Johnson
In this workshop, I will be introducing the concept of narrative budget as a spiritual practice in which we can lift up connections that emerge when we engage the story of our faith and its inherent story of generosity with the story of our congregational life and the story of our money as living out who we are.

Judith Johnson is Minister for Congregational Support with the Hamilton Conference of The United Church of Canada. Judith brings to her work a long history of working and volunteering in all courts of the United Church and in the community. Her work includes working with congregations in visioning and planning as they are discerning new ways of being church. Her portfolio also includes stewardship education and animation.  She has been a consultant in Stewardship and has co-authored, with her husband Warren, a stewardship resource Celebrate Stewardship which has a central focus on Narrative budgeting.  During her recent sabbatical, Judith focused her study and reflection on new understandings of narrative in congregational life and deeper understandings of the variety of narratives of our mission and ministries as spiritual practice.

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Taxing Times – the Canadian Perspective presented by Erik Mathiesen
An overview of recent developments on the Canadian tax and compliance scene as applicable to clergy and churches.  Pragmatic, actionable advice on dealing with the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) and ways to limit having to do so!  IN our sector, The CRA is our friend!

Erik Mathiesen, B Com. is national coordinator for Mission through Finance for The United Church of Canada. In this capacity he provides advisory services to congregations and clergy focusing on effective, streamlined compliance and reporting processes. Having spent his life in the private sector, Erik brings a strong business orientation with pragmatic, actionable advice.

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Pave the Way: creating congregational buy-in for your next big thing presented by Evan McBroom
Properly casting vision - and getting people rallied around it – requires a leader to slow down and map out a plan. When a vision is properly communicated, the intentional build-up of information and inspiration make people eager to participate. This session helps you learn how to bring your vision to life – creating momentum and support within your congregation.

Evan McBroom serves as a communications partner and resource for churches and Christ-centered organizations through Fishhook, the marketing and creative services company he founded in 2003.  He combines the passion of his faith with the expertise gained during a 14-year career with a large corporate communications and marketing company to provide clients with senior-level communications consultation. His areas of expertise include organizational identity and branding, strategic communications planning, and promotions and event campaigns. McBroom initiated The Christian Communication Director’s Roundtable for staff and laypeople responsible for congregational communications. He’s also a guest lecturer, presenter, emcee, board member and trainer for numerous organizations.

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Clergy Tax & Personal Finance (With Implications for Local Church Stewardship Development) presented by Wee-Li Tan
Knowing how to handle one’s personal finances can have a direct impact on stewardship development in the local church:

• Workshop participants will learn the basics of clergy tax and financial concepts, suggestions for working with church treasurers and finance committees, and how to structure compensation/benefit packages.
• Brief overview of an effective approach to developing a year-round financial stewardship ministry that promotes faithful stewardship in a local church.

Wee-Li Tan, an ordained United Methodist minister, is President of the United Methodist Foundation of New England. He has done graduate studies in England and Scotland, and is current a candidate for CFP (Certified Financial Planner) designation.  As an accountant specializing in clergy taxes, he has provided professional tax service to ministers, churches and religious organizations for many years, and is often invited to conduct clergy tax seminars. Rev. Tan serves on many denominational boards including the General Board of Discipleship, Africa University in Zimbabwe, and the United Methodist Church Foundation.

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Estate & Financial Planning Track

Speaking About Money presented by Mark L. Vincent

Mark L. Vincent is CEO of Design Group International, a consulting firm specializing in organizational development. He thinks deeply about the intersection of faith and money, providing innovative guidance to organizations and leaders in need of both, including capital campaign counsel.

Mark speaks and lectures frequently on these subjects. His doctoral dissertation explored a conceptual model for mapping and managing the size of a denomination’s economy. He is the principal writer for Depth Perception, an oft-quoted bi-monthly column, as well as Theological Muse, his blog that features the Whorled Viewz cartoon.

Mark served as the founding editor of GIVING, the annual periodical of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center, and currently serves on the board of the Christian Leadership Alliance.

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Where is God in our discussion about money? Presented by Sharon Clapp
This workshop will explore the ways to gain a deeper understanding about how God intended us to use our prosperity and wealth to transform the world. Attendees will gain practical steps to engage and empower others to think critically about their relationship to money, faith, and generosity. Ultimately discovering how best to “Give It Away” strategically as it aligns with God’s plan for their lives. This workshop intended to help development professionals reexamine their approach to “the ask”.

Sharon Clapp serves as the Director of Giving and Development for the United Methodist Church Foundation overseeing all philanthropic initiatives.  She provides visionary leadership for the annual giving, capital campaigns, special event planning, major gift programs, planned and board development for the agencies and commissions for The Church.  With more than twenty years of leadership involvement in fund development, Sharon has comprehensive experience in all aspects of organizational advancement including planning, administration, fundraising, public relations, operating fund and capital campaign leadership.  She is an experience organizational auditor, Vice President for Development, teacher and consultant.

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Principles of Stewardship presented by Manuel Collazo
The presentation will cover the Biblical principles of stewardship from a practical and life experience way.

Manuel Collazo was born in Puerto Rico in the year of our lord 1955.  He is married and lives in Casselberry, Florida with his wife of 21 years. He has served the Christian Church Disciples of Christ since 1989.  He has held the position of Steward at his home church (Primera Iglesia Cristiana de Orlando…AKA Chickasaw) for over 6 years (3 terms).  Manuel’s calling is in the area of Biblical Stewardship and Licensed by the Florida Region Commission of Ministry as Pastor of Stewardship Education and Development.. As a bi-vocational minister, Manuel is a Solutions Architect with EDS, an HP Company US Public Sector, where I occupy the position of Chief Technical Officer or CTO.  I have completed a Master in Christian Administrations from Masters School of Divinity in Evansville, IN

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Connecting the Dots into Future: Where there’s a Will there’s a Way by The Rev. Dr. Len Hoffman, Assoicate Director for Gift Planning, ELCA Foundation
Participants will explore the value of utilizing wills and planned giving in order to make ultimate gifting possible, and planned giving participants can serve as witnesses through the establishment of a bequest society.

Len Hoffmann has served as a pastor, lead pastor, vice president for advancement for Lutheran Social Services of New England and worked as an consultant to congregations on capital campaigns and annual stewardship support. In his role as associate director for the ELCA Foundation, Len, works with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America judicatories, congregations and donors in establishing mission endowment funds, legacy societies and making planned gifts through wills and estates.

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Creative Stewardship for The 21st Century: Achieving Dreams Beyond the Budget presented by  Donald Joiner
With the way economic conditions fluctuate, it is time to supplement the offering plate and budgets with giving beyond how we normally “fund the budget”.  People want to give and they are looking for more engaging ways to give.  But sometimes we have conditioned their thinking to give only from what is left over from their paychecks.  This workshop will explore and challenge leaders to invite giving from a broader spectrum of possibilities.

Donald W. Joiner is an ordained clergyperson, a certified Financial Planner and a Certified Planned Giving Specialist. He has served churches in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. He has been with the General Board of Discipleship, The United Methodist Church, since 1985. From 1985 to 1999 he was Director of Stewardship for the denomination.  As such he lead the denomination in understanding fund development, planned giving, and clergy finance. Currently he serves as lead of the Office of Operations and Fund Development for the General Board of Discipleship.

He has served on the national Board of the Ecumenical Center for Stewardship Studies, National Association of Stewardship Leaders, and the National Association of United Methodist Foundations. He was the founding chairman of the Habitat For Humanity, Hendersonville, TN., served on the Board of Habitat For Humanity of Sumner County, and the board of the YMCA of Sumner County. He has been an active Mason, serving in leadership capacities in all branches of the Masonic order, for which he was coroneted a thirty-third degree mason, in 1979.

He is a prolific writer and author of: Creating A Climate for Giving; Stewardship: A Rainbow of Possibility; Christians and Money: A Guide To Personal Finance; Securing a Financial Future: and Can I Afford to Retire. He has co-authored  Celebrate Giving; Celebrate and Visit; Celebrate Together; The Abingdon Guide to Funding Ministry volumes 1,2, and 3; Achieving Dreams Beyond the Budget; Funding Ministry on Purpose; and The Planned Giving Handbook; In addition, he is  a contributing writer to: The Interpreter, Clergy Finance Letter, The Clergy Journal, Celebrate Stewardship, The Circuit Rider and Christian Ministry.

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Current Issues in Estate and Charitable Planning presented by Phil Purcell

This highly interactive session will explore the latest developments in estate and charitable planning.  Specific topics will include new laws and legislation, charitable endowments, gift annuities, gifts of real estate and other non-cash assets, ethical issues and much more.  Time will be devoted for questions throughout the workshop.

Phil Purcell, JD is currently Vice President of the Ball State University Foundation.  He has consulted on behalf of all types of charities, including churches and religious organizations.  He is a former member of the national board of Directors of the Partnership of Philanthropic Planning and a current member of the Tax Exempt Advisor Council of the IRS.  He teaches courses on the law of philanthropy, nonprofits and planned giving on behalf of Indiana University School of Law, Graduate School in Philanthropic Studies and the Fundraising School.  Phil holds JD and MPA degrees (with honors) form Indiana University and BA degree from Wabash College (magna cum laude).

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The Bequest: Planned Giving Cornerstone presented by Jeff Pym
Bequests make up the majority of planned gifts received by most churches and other charities. In this workshop we’ll look at how to ask for bequests, thank people for them, track them and administer them after they are received.

Jeff Pym is the Director of Stewardship Ministries for the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Over the past thirteen hears he has also been the synod’s gift planner, encouraging and assisting hundreds of people to express their generosity through planned gifts to the church.
Jeff has 2 degrees in philosophy and a varied work experience. He has also been a volunteer board member for a civic redevelopment committee, a Lutheran seminary and a community development organization.

Home for Cathie and Jeff Pym is Burlington, Ontario, where they have lived for the past 34 years while raising two wonderful daughters. In his spare time Jeff enjoys good books, Sudoku puzzles, dark beer and the occasional cheap cigar.

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Building a Congregational Based Endowment Management and Planned Giving Program by Paul D. McLaughlin
This session will take the participants through a detailed process of building the infrastructure to create and sustain an effective planned giving program at the local church level.  Real life examples of work done with congregations of all sizes will be presented.  Participants leave the session with a complete understanding of what they need to have a successful planned giving program – and it is not rocket science!

Paul McLaughlin is founding President of the Moravian Ministries Foundation, an agency serving both Provinces of the Moravian Church in America.  During his twelve years at the helm, Paul has built the Foundation into a $100,ooo,ooo effort, which has identified and/or secured over $40,000,000 in planned gifts.  Paul is a graduate of Suffolk University in Boston and holds a Masters degree from St. Louis University. He also holds a Certificate in Planned Giving form the National Planned Giving Institute.

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Extended Workshop Descriptions

Encouraging the Joy of Generous Giving: A Call to Financial Discipleship presented by David S. Bell
Churches are facing growing financial pressure as the economy impacts the church’s ability to maintain, let alone expand, our ministries. We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ was meant to do more than just survive.  It’s meant to thrive!  Participants will:

• Gain a deeper theological understanding of Christian stewardship
• Discover the key church leaders’ spiritual role in cultivation generosity
• Examine the current socio-economic trends impacting giving
• Experiment with “best practices” for effective year-round stewardship

David Bell is a Senior partner with Design Group International™ and also serves as the Vice President of Stewardship with the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan.  David’s experience includes stewardship consultation, organizational visioning, leadership development, and planned giving. He creates hope by providing practical consultation and motivational seminars for faith-based organizations. He empowers leaders to discover their vital role in enabling communities of faith to embody a generous culture. As a nationally recognized speaker, he is the author of more than 200 articles and has delivered keynote addresses to over 80,000 people. He is currently the Chair of the ESC Board of Directors.

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Fundraising as Ministry presented by Donaldson Hill

Too often, we create tension and false distinctions between stewardship and fundraising, between the need to raise money and the need to do stewardship ministry.  This workshop explores the intersections between the two and speaks to the idea fundraising as faithful ministry for and to members of our congregations.

Don Hill is Minister and Team Leader for Financial Development for the United Church of Christ. A former member of the Church’s national Executive Council, Hill is a development and non-profit administration professional with over twenty years experience in a variety of settings including education, human rights, theological education and the arts. His past work has included leadership positions with Andover Newton Theological School (one of the seven seminaries of the United Church of Christ), the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Outward Bound.

The Financial Development Ministry Team responsible for planned giving and fundraising to benefit the national ministries of the Church, and for working with local churches, conferences and institutions of the Church to develop and implement funding programs for ministry.

Don is a member of the Board of Directors of Baldwin-Wallace College and of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center.

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Planned Giving – From Faith to Generosity presented by Renard Kolasa
This presentation will provide a practical overview of planned giving, including its Biblical basis, basic tax rules and planning options. Emphasis will be on practical application for those needing this information.

Renard Kolasa, J.D., M.A, is an attorney with Couzens, Lansky, Fealk, Ellis, Roeder and Lazar, P.C. in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  Renard has been the Chancellor for the Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for over 20 years. He focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning, charitable giving, and the legal needs of closely held businesses. He has presented hundreds of seminars on these and related topics, as well as writing extensively in this area.

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