TOM CARTER Director

The Trust Services Department has been established to help individuals and families continue their wholehearted support of the Lord’s work through wills, trusts, annuities, special gifts, and other legal plans adapted to their local jurisdiction.

There has been continued growth in the funds flowing to the Lord’s work as the result of trust services activities. The amount coming to the Lord’s cause was approximately 10 times more during the past quinquennium than it was from 1970 to 1974. Close to the equivalent of US$800 million has blessed the Lord’s work as a result of the careful planning of our dedicated members since 1970.

Growth in trust services has occurred around the world in the past five years. At the last General Conference session it was voted that trust services become a full department of the worldwide church. This has helped to increase the blessings that flow from trust services in the various divisions of the world.

Division Reports
Trust services in the Africa-Indian Ocean Division, under the leadership of Priscille Metonou, has expanded into every union of that field. A division-wide seminar was held in 1997, and certificates were given for the completion of the course to trust services personnel. It was a thrill to see seminars at which our church members divided up into groups by occupation. Persons from every station of life were included. The groups discussed how they would be able to provide in a better way for their families and also have something left over to give as a special gift to the Lord’s cause. Some of these groups are continuing to meet and to implement their plans.

The Eastern Africa Division is giving emphasis to trust services under the leadership of Priscilla Handia. Seminars have been conducted throughout this division, all with very good response. At a meeting in 1999 the Seventh-day Adventist attorneys in the country of Kenya were especially recognized for their support of trust services. Approximately 50 attorneys have offered to give their legal assistance, without cost, when members desire to remember the Lord’s cause in their future plans.

The Euro-Africa Division has benefited from maturities in the trust services area for many years. Jean-Luc Lezeau has been leading out as director of trust services during this quinquennium. Both the Czech Republic and Romania had trust services introduced to them for the first time.

The Euro-Asia Division is the one division in which trust services is still just getting started. While there was no appointed trust services director for the division at the time this report was compiled, the Euro-Asia officers are fully committed to appoint someone soon and implement trust services throughout the division.

Leslie V. McMillan serves as the director of trust services for the Inter-American Division, where many of our members have responded to remembering the Lord’s cause, not only through wills, but also through trust agreements. A number of seminars and training sessions have been held throughout the division to expand the trust services program there.

The North American Division not only has increased in its maturities to the Lord’s work, but has implemented a number of programs to raise the standard of the services provided by trust services and also communicate better to the membership the advantages of utilizing these services. This year the NAD Trust Services Certification and Accreditation Committee is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary. The committee was set up to see that Trust Services be maintained at the highest professional level. This included the proper auditing and examination of those audited reports to determine if each trust services organization was at the proper level of accreditation. There are seven members on the committee, including three professional laypeople. During the past 15 years the committee has accredited 63 denominational entities in North America or 91 percent of the organizations that have been audited.

A North American Division-wide development and promotion effort was launched during this quinquennium to generate awareness of trust services and of the general concepts of Christian estate planning and planned giving. This was done because of two major factors: (1) the high level of spiritual and professional services available to church members and friends of the church because of the success of the certification and accreditation process; and (2) the unprecedented buildup of affluence and intergenerational transfers of wealth beginning in the 1990s and continuing into the twenty-first century.

Entitled “Planning for the Cycle of Life,” this development program, which is undergirded by research conducted with 125 trust officers and 4,825 church members in North America, will include an ad campaign in the Adventist Review and union, conference, and institutional periodicals; a Web site; a toll-free response line; brochures; and other materials to assist individuals in the process of remembering their family and the Lord’s work in their life plans. The program targets six different age and life situations for members of all races to inform them how trust services can assist them in the most important life changes and provide resources for the stewardship issues they face. The toll-free number, 1-877-WILLPLAN, and the Web site at www.willplan.org are now operational.

TRUST IN KOREA: The Northern Asia-Pacific Division Trust Services Department in Korea, under the direction of Kim Jong Moon, pose outside their division office building.

Possibly the Northern Asia-Pacific Division has initiated trust services activities as much as any world division. Kim Jong Moon, the director of trust services, has led out in implementing trust services in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

The South American Division, under the leadership of the trust services director, Arnaldo Enriquez, is making plans to adapt trust services to the countries throughout this large division. While trust services has been introduced into parts of Brazil, and the Austral Union, special efforts are being put forth to introduce trust services in other new areas, such as Bolivia and North Brazil.

Full-time trust services personnel in the South Pacific Division continue to render valuable service to the membership in that division. Robert G. Douglas is the director of trust services and, as an attorney, gives valuable legal and spiritual leadership in the South Pacific.

Along with his responsibilities as treasurer, P. Daniel Kunjachan serves as director of trust services for the Southern Asia Division. He called a division-wide meeting to introduce and implement trust services throughout the division in 1999. As a result, they are in the process of naming trust services directors for each union in the division.

Bobby J. Sepang, director of trust services for the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, directed a division-wide trust services seminar in 1998. He brought in General Conference, division, and local trust services personnel to present the various topics. This included legal counsel, at all the various levels, to implement trust services properly. Countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia have been working in the trust services area for many years. During this quinquennium trust services has expanded into other countries, with the officers of the unions in these localities committing themselves to realistic plans for the future.

The Trans-European Division is probably the cradle where the legal concepts involving trust services, such as leaving property to charities or the church at death, were first implemented in modern society. Graham M. Barham, who is the treasurer of the division, serves also as the trust services director. They continue to experience excellent maturities from the program and will expand into new areas, such as Israel.

Spiritual Impact
After feeding the 5,000 by multiplying the little boy’s five barley loaves and two small fish, Jesus gave the command: “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost” (John 6:12, NKJV). Christ could easily have created just enough food so there would be nothing left over. Instead, He created enough so that there were 12 basketfuls left. These fragments proved to be a great blessing as they were carried to the people on the mountainside who had heard of Christ, and when they received pieces of the actual bread they were led to believe that He indeed was the Messiah. So it is that when we come to the end of our life on earth, there is usually something left over that Christ has blessed us with. As you can see from the graph, these few fragments, the results of members’ taking the time to plan and to remember the Lord’s cause, have been a tremendous blessing. As more and more members enter into gathering up the fragments that are left, or are accumulating assets, more and more people can be brought to Christ as a result.