What is Stewardship Planning?

One of the most conclusive and obvious tests of a person’s character is how he or she spends time and money. It has been said that Christian stewardship is more than the management of things; it is the refusal to let things manage us. As stewards of the resources that God has given to us, we will be accountable to Him on how we utilized our talents to further His kingdom. A common misconception among Christians is that they have to be wealthy in order to benefit from a planned giving analysis. Sadly, they miss out on excellent opportunities to provide for their favorite ministries and to maximize their children’s inheritance.

A good analogy of the resources that we have been given would be an apple orchard. God has placed us in an apple orchard to take care of the trees and pick the apples. Our care of the trees and the distribution of the apples indicates our priorities. Most people are very conscientious about giving a portion of their apples to the Lord’s work but tend to overlook the care of their trees. The value of the orchard is based on the trees, not the apples. Therefore, it would be unwise for the steward of the apple orchard to neglect the health of his trees. Your trees are the assets you own. Your apples are the income received from those assets. For example, your IRA account is the tree and the annual income from it is the apples. Without proper planning, the government has the right to determine the number of apples your children need and to cut down excess apple trees. Unfortunately, most people think their retirement assets will be their children’s inheritance. They do not realize that they are about to transfer a huge tax burden to their children. Safe Harbor Christian Foundation provides a stewardship solution that, in essence, builds a protective fence around your entire apple orchard and distributes your apples – to your family and Christian ministries as you wish.

Safe Harbor is committed to making sure your assets remain in divine circulation according to your wishes. Your stewardship involves making wise decisions in order to minimize taxes and successfully transfer your assets on to the next faithful steward.



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We have been with Safe Harbor since 2002. We feel that their professionalism as CPAs and attorneys provide knowledge about many things and can give advice about how best to grow our money. We consider our money the Lord's money, and we want to use it wisely and put it to work for the Lord. We appreciate the information Safe Harbor has given us on charitable gift giving and other investments.

Marilyn and Albert Yale
Apopca, Florida



Safe Harbor is an organization that spent much time and effort to research our needs and understand our organization so that our foundation accounts would be developed properly. The thoroughness of information and help proved invaluable not just in setting up the accounts, but also in explaining and promoting our long term goals to our people! We are very appreciative of their careful and thorough investment strategies that have rewarded us with good gains every year and helped to meet some of our most immediate needs. Safe Harbor is not just about money, but about ministry. How can they help you meet your ministry's goals by being financially responsible in a way that brings glory to God? Give them a call and put these passionate, professionals to work for you today.

Pr. Rob Knepp
Wayside Christian School
Bucyrus, Ohio



 I am busy as a Bible teacher and a preacher. Neither my wife nor I have the required time or the trained skills to make sound financial investments with our funds. We needed someone to make wise decisions for our investments. We are delighted that Safe Harbor has given us that kind of help for a number of reasons. First, they are competent investors. We started with Safe Harbor when one of their CPAs advised us to put the assets of a stock into a Charitable Gift Annuity to avoid a high capital gains tax. It has been good for the charities that we chose to support and good for our retirement. Second, they are conscientious investors. They invest our funds in harmony with our Christian faith and conscience. Third, they are committed investors giving us an excellent return on our invested funds so that we can give more than we hoped to missionaries and our favorite charities. Fourth, they are consistent investors producing good results each month with the funds that we have entrusted to their care. They have smoothed out the fluctuations that we experienced in the stock market and consistently given us positive gains in times of good and bad economic conditions. We are grateful to the Lord for the help that Safe Harbor has given to us.

Dr. Roger Peterson
Charlotte, North Carolina