Foundation Board Honors Randy Johnson

 

The Christian Church Foundation Board of Directors met in Indianapolis, IN, April 21-23, 2024, for their spring meeting. In oversight of the Joint Investment Trust (“JIT”) (the Foundation’s comprehensive investment program), the Board reviewed economic conditions, current performance, and long-term outlook to approve the 2025 JIT defined-Income rates as follows: Common 3.75%; Beasley 4.00%; Campbell 4.25%; Bostick 4.00%; and Brown 2.00%. Providing the rates now, which will be effective for the 2025 calendar year, allows ministries to faithfully budget. The Board was able to retain the same Income rates from 2024 by maintaining its goal of maximizing distributions to support the Church’s ministries, while mitigating the impact of inflation on future ministry.

The high point of the meeting was celebrating Rev. Randy Johnson’s 23 years of ministry through the Foundation as its Vice President, Southeast Zone, and his upcoming retirement. Randy was joined by family and friends as Rev. Joanne VerBurg, Ruth Weaver Hazen, and Rev. Peter Morgan shared lighthearted and meaningful reflections of their many years of shared ministry with Randy, as well as the current and long-lasting impact of his ministry on the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Randy expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to build relationships with donors, pastors, churches, and partner organizations to help them express their faith through financially supporting and growing those ministries they hold dear. He also shared the many ways his family supported and partnered in his ministry, including crediting his wife Sandy for seeing how Randy’s gifts, offered through the Foundation, would serve the Church, even before Randy accepted the call to ministry at the Foundation. Todd Adams, President and CEO, Pension Fund of the Christian Church, presented Randy with the Honored Minister’s Pin and Lori Lucas, Senior Vice President of the Christian Church Foundation, provided Randy gifts on behalf of the Foundation staff. Randy will continue to serve as a consultant with the Foundation after his formal retirement on September 1, 2024.

The Board welcomed two new staff members, Melinda K. Mains, Vice President of Compliance and General Counsel and Rev. Nadine Burton, Vice President for the Great Lakes Zone. See prior releases of these new staff announcements.

Additionally:
•The Board received a clean, unmodified opinion from Forvis, LLC. A copy of the audit report can be read here.

•Investment market performance results for 2023 and first quarter 2024 were reviewed by the Board and can be read here.

•Additional information about distributions for 2023 can be found in the annual report.

The Board’s next meeting will be November 8-10, 2024, in Dallas, Texas.

Christian Church Foundation serves Disciples by gathering, stewarding, and distributing dollars for mission. We do this by identifying and assisting donors who desire to make a difference through planned gifts, and by assisting Disciples ministries to be good stewards of their gifts through sound policies and prudent faith-based investment services.