We are excited about your response to the Lifestyle Giving Newsletter. It is written with one purpose in mind, to help you in developing your lifestyle of giving. And we trust that you will make that your objective as you read this issue.

In this issue, we will take another step, especially as we look at what the Word says about systematic giving,
". . .of the first fruits, upon the first day," and how that relates to our relationship to God.

We are also continuing our look at the importance of property ownership, and we have included several other articles that we trust will help you in your estate and gift design.

We are continuing our study of the five basic steps of developing a lifestyle of giving. As you'll recall, we have covered Step 1, recognition that the basis of all stewardship is work, and Step 2, taking a percentage of that which we earn from our labors and giving it.

Now, let's look at the third step.

The third basic step of developing a lifestyle of giving is that our gift is "of the first fruits, upon the first day."

Please take time to read Leviticus 23:9-14. This passage describes the feast of the first fruits. And it gives an interesting overview of what God expected from the children of Israel.

There were two important requirements of the gift presented during the feast. First, that it be of the first grain, and second, that the lamb sacrificed be without defect.

As believers, first fruits giving is an indication that we have placed God first in our lives with our gifts of the first fruit, and in presenting our best, without defect. No other form of giving does this. Another interesting point in the feast of the first fruits is that the children of Israel were to "not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain" until they brought their offering to God.

In reality, the children of Israel could not touch the rest of the crop until after the feast of the first fruits.

This is part of God's covenant relationship with His people. If we honor Him with our first fruits, then He will protect the rest for our use. He wants us to live a lifestyle attractive enough that others will be attracted to it. He wants to do good things for His children. But as in all areas of our spiritual lives, we must first make our commitment to Him.

In Malachi 3, God chided the people for not bringing the entire tithe to Him. Verse 12 is often left out of the teaching of this passage, but it is a key principle to why the covenant system for giving was established.

If we honor Him with our first fruits, He can protect the remainder, prevent the pests from devouring our crops and keep the vines in our fields from casting their fruit (verse 11).

And all nations will call us blessed for ours will be a delightful land. Those who do not know Jesus Christ will want to become a part of the body of believers because they see what God is doing because of our giving. Our churches will grow, colleges can be built, and our missionaries can be sent forth.

And evangelism will take place. The feast of the first fruits was a Sunday feast. And it was a lasting ordinance for generations to come. Before the children of Israel entered the promised land, before they were scattered and the Gospel was taken to the Gentiles, a seal was placed upon first fruits giving so that it would not cease.

We believe it is for us today.

In the last issue of Lifestyle Giving, we examined the five basic types of property ownership. Here, we want to show you how property ownership will affect the transfer of your property.

The Importance of Property Ownership
Most estate plans that fail to accomplish an individual's desires, fail because the individual does not realize the importance of property ownership.

How you own your property . . . in your name only, with another person as tenants in common, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, as tenants by the entirety, as community property . . . can be as important to your estate plan as whether or not you have the proper legal instruments.

Why is property ownership so important? Because there are legal priorities to the transfer of property. Not that one form of transfer is preferred over another, but it takes preference in order of transfer.

The first priority of transfer is lifetime gifts. Anything that you give during your lifetime is gone from your estate, unless you maintain beneficial interests in the property.

The second priority of transfer is by operation of law. Trusts, joint tenants with rights of survivorship, payable on death accounts, beneficiary arrangements on life insurance policies, and transfers with retained interest, are all transfers under operation of law, and are second priority transfers.

The third priority of transfer is testamentary distribution, or distribution by your will. Any property that you have given away during lifetime, or property transferred by operation of law, is not subject to your will. Many estate plans fail at this point.

Example #1:
Mrs. Jones's will leaves a substantial portion of her estate to a charitable organization.

She was concerned about the management of her property in case of incompetency. In an attempt to care for this concern, Mrs. Jones placed her daughter's name on her property as joint owner.

The result is that all property will pass to her daughter by joint ownership provisions (operation of law). Other charitable and personal beneficiaries listed in her will (testamentary distribution) will receive no benefit.

Example #2:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith established a trust through their wills to postpone distribution of assets to their minor children until the youngest child reaches age 25. They did not want their children to receive too much money, too soon. The majority of the Smiths' estate was made up of life insurance, and their children were named contingent beneficiaries.

A common disaster occurred. The children inherited all of the life insurance proceeds at age 18, by operation of law, which took preference over the will that established the trust.

Example #3:
Mr. and Mrs. Brown's estate was subject to tax. When their attorney drafted their wills, he included very sophisticated provisions to avoid tax on part of the estate. But Mr. and Mrs. Brown continued to hold their property jointly.

At Mr. Brown's death, all of the property was transferred to his wife, by operation of law, and nothing was available to fund the tax avoidance trust.

The fourth priority of transfer is intestate distribution, the distribution that occurs if you die without a will. State laws vary and are constantly changing. But in many states, when an individual dies without an estate plan the estate is divided two-thirds to surviving children, and one-third to the surviving spouse.

Intestate distribution will probably be the most expensive, as it will not include any tax planning. And equally important, there are no provisions in the laws of any state to care for your charitable interests.

Therefore, to rely upon state law to express your desires and what you understand to be God's plan of stewardship for your estate, probably would not be wise.

We trust you understand the importance of clearly conveying to those who are helping you plan your estate, details of how your property is held.

The estate planning process involves the transfer of property. And in our attempts to avoid probate and save taxes as we make these transfers, we often lose sight of the people.

Your estate has been accumulated as a result of your labors and God's blessings. Whether or not that estate has a positive or negative impact on the people and organizations with whom you are involved, is very important.

There is a parable in the Scriptures that tells about a young man who came to his father and asked to receive part of his inheritance. The father evidently did not realize his responsibility, and the impact the money would have upon his son's life. The son wasted his inheritance in riotous living, and found himself in a deplorable condition.

When he realized his condition, he returned to his father, who greeted him with open arms, placed a ring on his finger and killed the fatted calf to celebrate his return. But family relationships were strained. His brother did not welcome him, though the father assured him that his inheritance was still in tact.

This parable provides an insight into some potential family problems in estate planning. It illustrates the problem of distributing too much money to children, before they have learned the responsibility of managing property.

It also illustrates problems in interpersonal relationships that may arise, though the effects are not directly upon other members of the family.

It is so important to keep our perspective. People are more important than dollars.

How do you keep this from happening in your family? Let us share with you some thoughts for consideration.

Consider naming an individual who does not have a vested financial interest in your property, or a bank trust department, to serve as personal representative of your estate or trustee of any trust that you establish. Many family problems come about because a family member placed in this position of responsibility had to make decisions that were not acceptable to or popular with other family members.

• Division of household goods and personal effects . . .
• Sale of the family home . . .
• Continuation of the family business . . .
• Interpretation of a will that seems to be in conflict with what a parent shared with another family member . . .
• Attempted enforcement of lifetime promises made to family members but not included in the estate plan . . .

All are areas that can better be handled by naming an individual who does not have a vested interest in the property as personal representative or trustee.

Interpersonal problems in family relationships may also occur when a child must go to the probate court and ask to be declared legal guardian in a time of incompetency prior to death.

There are costs and restrictions of the court, choice of nursing care, property management decisions, and "preserving the inheritance" for the other children... decisions that may better be made by giving a bank or trust company, or someone who does not have a vested interest in the property the power of attorney.

Distribution of household goods and personal effects. If you had $100,000 in cash, you could divide it equally, to any number of people. But how do you divide the antique table that you received as a wedding present from your favorite aunt equally among three children?

It is important that you express your desires as clearly as possible for each unique item of personal property. Often, these desires change. Therefore, it's impractical to do this in the will. The legal wording in the estate plan, combined with a letter of instructions placing your desires for personal property distribution in your own handwriting, may be the most workable plan, leaving the least room for interpersonal conflicts.

The guardianship of minor children is an important people-planning decision. The choice of guardians may make the difference in the lifestyle of your children.

Protecting children from receiving too much money, too soon. In most states, the legal age for inheritance is 18 years. How much money can a child receive at that age, without effecting lifestyles? Eighteen is about the age of a college freshman . . . the time of the first romance, or the excitement of sports cars. With an inheritance, the child might drop out of school to get married, buy a fast, shiny car, or whatever else seems important at that age.

For this reason, you might "postpone financial death" by establishing a trust to maintain the property as one unit until the youngest child reaches an age of greater maturity, for example, 25. If there are mental or physical disabilities, the trust can be continued for the benefit of the disabled child.

Yes, people are more important than dollars. Let's make sure that in our estate planning we do everything possible to eliminate the potential of interpersonal family conflicts.

Did you ever wish after you had made a decision that you could change it? Circumstances changed, your desires changed, or unanticipated needs arose? Many individuals do not know that you can make charitable gifts about which you can change your mind. And there are many advantages to such gifts.

First, you can eliminate management worries, especially if you are in your retirement years and would rather spend your time fishing than reading the Wall Street Journal.

And of course, there is probate. Through certain types of agreements with Manhattan Christian College, probate can be avoided at the time of death.

There is another very important reason for transferring property but retaining the right to have it returned. There is satisfaction in knowing that if you do not need the property in the future, it will be available for the work of the Lord.

There are no income tax advantages to revocable transfers, although you avoid gift and estate taxes when you and your spouse are the only beneficiaries. When there is a beneficiary other than a spouse, you do have to consider gift and estate tax implications.

We have prepared a Special Planning Report, How to Give a Gift You Can Take Back, covering many different types of gifts that allow you to change your mind in the future.

Why not write for a free copy today, and discover whether or not one of these gifts can be an integral part of your lifestyle of giving.

Many individuals desire that their estate plans contain a statement of their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe this is an excellent idea.

A personal testimony in your will might be as simple as the following statement.

"I, ____________________, mindful of the brevity of this life, and having placed my faith and confidence in Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord, who redeemed my soul through His shed blood and death upon Calvary's Cross for my sins and who thus assures me of eternal life, do hereby make, publish and declare this to be my last will and testament."

Or, you can write your own testimony, making it personal to you and your family.

We can think of nothing more fitting for family and friends involved in the processing and distribution of property after your death, than to have the witness of knowing that your property was accumulated because of your act of stewardship, based upon your personal relationship with Christ. Why not consider this as part of your estate plan?

We recently heard of a young man who had developed a unique lifestyle of giving.

Since becoming a Christian, this gentleman has taken a percentage of everything he has invested and set it aside in a separate trust fund . . . his stewardship fund. The principal of the trust was not touched at any time.

His investments have grown, and so has the income he gives to his favorite charitable organization.

This income is in addition to his giving from his salary and investment income.

In a few short years, God has honored his investment, and today the income from his "stewardship account" exceeds the giving from his other earnings.

Is there a scriptural basis for this plan of giving? Not necessarily. Is it something every Christian should do? Not necessarily. But it has brought blessing to this young family and the organization they support.

It's an idea that you might consider as you develop your lifestyle of giving.

At the beginning of this newsletter, we said that we desire to help you develop your lifestyle of giving. We want to return to that subject.

Why not take time today to write and share with us your comments concerning this or recent issues of Christian Steward. And if you have developed a unique style in your giving, we would like to hear about it.

Also, while you are writing, please take time to request free copy of the Special Planning Report, How to Give a Gift You Can Take Back. We know it will be of interest and value to you.

© Lifestyle Giving, Inc., 1994, 1999. Printed by permission.