Give Online
Thank you for your prayers and participation in our mission of nurturing lives for following Christ. You can now practice generosity and support our mission financially by giving online through our partners PlanningCenter and Stripe. You can give to Good Shepherd via your bank account or credit card. Just hit Give below to start the process.
2026 Estimate of Giving
Good Shepherd members can now make Estimates of Giving privately online by using the link below. Thank you for participating in nurturing lives for following Christ.
Make your estimate here.Stewardship
Together in Giving, Together in Mission
As always, I’d like to take a moment to thank God for the opportunity to do ministry with you as Good Shepherd! If you’ve received this, you have likely invested your time, attention, and finances at Good Shepherd this year, and I want to thank you personally for being a part of our life together and for your giving…but I also know you don’t do it for my thanks — I believe you do it because you care about the mission!
As I recently mentioned in a sermon, our giving has multiple dimensions. For one, it affects our vertical relationship with God – letting go and sacrificing a bit of what we’re holding onto releases the grip that ‘stuff’ has on us, and it opens us up to faith. But giving also has a horizontal dimension with others – our gifts support our neighbors directly or through organizations or congregations like Good Shepherd.
This year your support (financial and otherwise) has continued to nurture the lives of people young and old who heard God’s Word proclaimed, gathered around God’s table, and were renewed in the waters of baptism. Your gifts helped over 100 kids experience the loving care of God at Little Lambs Christian Preschool this year. You helped support a new kind of worship for all ages in Messy Church. Your gifts helped pay the salaries of leaders who have continued to find new ways to do our mission in changing times.
Because of your participation in Good Shepherd’s ministry – even in the midst of inflation and uncertainty – dozens of hungry people receive food gift cards, bus passes, and have utility bills paid each year. A portion of the gifts you share with Good Shepherd allow organizations like Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Disaster Response to use 100% of every dollar they receive for projects like recovery after Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and Cuba. Our partnerships with the Interfaith Food Pantry and Mildred Helms Elementary School reach a wider circle than we see around here. I know our mission is being lived out when I overhear Good Shepherd members talking about having faith in the midst of difficulties or trusting in grace, even when most of the world seems to think grace is outdated. Lives are changed every day because of you. We could not do what we do together without your gifts.
Because of the generosity of those who came before us, Good Shepherd continues its mission. But the rising expenses of operating a congregation in this time and place are not going away any time soon. For Good Shepherd to remain sustainable, we will need to grow in our membership and giving. For the past couple years, as a congregation, we have increased our giving to God’s mission – even in difficult financial times. What a blessing! As we prepare next year’s budget, we’ll be talking more about what we’ll need to do together to ensure this mission continues.
I believe one of the best tools for this is to prayerfully consider our plan for giving in the year ahead. If each of our households takes a moment to be intentional about planning to use and share God’s gifts, not only will we invite God into our individual decisions, but our congregation will gain a clearer sense of ministry direction. Please use the Estimate of Giving Card to plan your financial commitment to our mission. You can make your estimate of giving in one of three ways: you can return an estimate card by mail, you can bring it in person and place it in the offering plate, or you can fill it out securely online at <www.mygoodshepherd.net/estimate>.
If you gave financially to Good Shepherd in 2025, you should receive a mailed statement of your giving so far. You can also check online by visiting https://mygoodshepherd.churchcenter.com/giving/profile and logging in with your cell phone number. If you provided an estimate of giving last year, you can compare whether you are on track for your estimate. Please let the office know if you find any discrepancies. We want to get it right!
Also note that our Semiannual Congregational Meeting will be held online on Zoom on Wednesday, December 3rd at 7pm. We will be approving our budget for 2026 – our spending plan for doing mission in the next year. You can log in by going to https://mygoodshepherd.net/meeting or by calling 929-205-6099 from a phone and using Meeting ID: 891 2230 7863.
It is a privilege to work alongside generous disciples like you, and I look forward to how God will use us to nurture lives for following Christ in 2026!
Pastor Keith
Paying It Forward - Part Four
by David Mickley
Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy. 1 Corinthians 4
What have we learned in our series?
- A gift to our churches ELCA ENDOWMENT FUND POOLED TRUST may be one of your best ways to “Pay It Forward”
- We have many choices when it comes to methods of planned giving.
- We should be prayerful in our decisions.
- We should seek assistance from legal and financial professionals to make sure that all of the angles are covered.
In this last installment we suggest remembering our church with a bequest through life insurance.
Life insurance that is not needed by family members can be designated for our Building & Repair Fund and other charities. It is easy to change your beneficiary by obtaining a change of beneficiary form and designating “LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, SEMINOLE, FL” as your primary beneficiary.
If you are carrying an active life insurance policy that you no longer need, consider donating it outright to the church. You will receive current tax benefits, and the church can put the proceeds from the policy to work right away or you can continue tax-deductible premium payments via annual gifts to the church if you prefer.
Bequest Through Retirement Funds
Retirement assets are easily designated to the church via a change of beneficiary form obtained from your plans trustee. You can name the church to receive 100 percent or a portion of your retirement account upon your death.
Taxation
Retirement assets have never had taxes paid on them, so they are subject to income taxes when you withdraw them. If you die before withdrawing them, your heirs must pay the income taxes on the assets at their own respective tax rates. If you have a taxable estate, the assets will also be subject to inheritance taxes. However, assets left to a charity receive tax favored treatment.
Bequest Through a Trust
Please consider one of the following different forms of trusts.
- Charitable remainder trust – An irrevocable trust that allows you to donate assets to charity while receiving income for life or a set period, with the remaining assets going to your chosen charity(ies) after that period.
- Charitable lead trust – an irrevocable trust that provides income to a charity for a set period, with the remaining assets then going to designated beneficiaries, often family members.
- Revocable Living trust – A revocable living trust is a legal document allowing you to manage and control your assets during your lifetime, while also providing a plan for their distribution after your death or incapacity, and it can be changed or terminated at any time.
Your attorney or financial advisor can discuss if any of these instruments may work for your individual situation. Additionally, feel free to speak to a member of our finance committee if you need assistance. They are: Pastor Keith, David Mickley, Brett Sengbusch, Gus Dueben, Marilou Nemeth & David Supplee.
Your legacy gift will ensure the continuation of God’s work for years and years to come.