


Thanksgiving and GivingTuesday are rapidly approaching.
Continue readingIn Memoriam – We remember Scott Read
Continue readingLeaving a Legacy: Third Quarter 2021 E91 Foundation Update
Continue readingResource for the Source: A Mid-Year E91 Foundation Update
Continue reading“Hindsight is 20/20.” A commonly used phrase that often carries with it a negative connotation. It’s a phrase that’s also being used in conjunction with this past year, 2020, that, no doubt, always will be associated with the adversity we all continue to face – in one way or another — as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this adversity, however, the E91 Foundation has continued to fulfill Christ’s directive: going into the world, teaching, making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), and meeting the physical needs of hurting people (Matthew 25:35-40). In fact, during 2020, E91 Foundation awarded grants totaling $121,656. Following are those organizations and/or individuals that received grants this past year:
CRU/Keith Spence — $5,000 to purchase supplies to facilitate virtual workshops (due to COVID-19) for staff in South Asia; E91 LIFT Campaign/Church Planting — $12,500 for a new-church plant in New York City; TCM (Taking Christ to Millions) International Institute — $5,000 to help bring TCM’s practical ministry-training program to Sierra Leone in West Africa; Young Life/Coleman McIntyre — $5,000 to fund new hiring/onboarding initiatives for Young Life staff in Indiana/Kentucky; Christian Missionary Fellowship (CMF) International — $5,000 to host and educate refugee children at a Christian school in Southeast Asia; IDES (International Disaster and Emergency Services) — $877 for worldwide ministry of responding to disasters; Jesus Inside Prison Ministry/Jesus House — $2,500 to provide a safe Christian setting for prisoner re-entry; The Tolan Donor Advised Fund within the Foundation allocated three grants totaling $32,079 to the following ministries: Alexander Christian Foundation (college scholarships to Indiana students entering the ministry), Polish Christian Ministries, and Allendale Christian Camp and Retreat Center; E91/Masks — $3,500 was granted by the E91 Foundation to partner 50-50 with East 91st Street Christian Church to provide $7,000 to purchase KN95 masks for area hospitals in a collective project with some 20 Indianapolis-area churches. As a group, the churches pledged money to buy 200,000 masks. The initial batch of masks was distributed during the first week of April!; Shepherd Community Center — $5,000 grant to help Shepherd “meet families’ immediate needs during the pandemic.” E91 Foundation’s grant specifically was earmarked for providing food relief — “mitigating the extreme circumstances caused by COVID-19 and ensuring families have access to food. . . .”; THE ARK Christian Ministries — $2,500 for double-decker ropes course, an outdoor facility where groups can be hosted during COVID-19; Ascent 121 — $5,000 for furnishing classrooms/therapy rooms as well as providing therapeutic supplies and resources for teen survivors of sex trafficking in Indiana; Central Christian College of the Bible — $5,000 to support the launch of a Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership degree; Christian Student Fellowship/Indiana University — $7,500 for safety and cleaning needs due to COVID-19 at IU campus ministry so that discipleship/mentoring could continue; Jubilee Village Project — $2,000 to provide Luo language Bibles to Kenyan villagers; Life Centers — $5,000 to help relocate the southeast Indianapolis Life Center and to hire a full-time Burmese-speaking employee; Mission to Connect — $2,500 to purchase tents, food, bus passes, and basic necessities for those who are homeless; National Network of Youth Ministries — $2,500 for training and development meetings to increase the support of youth leaders with partner ministries in the greater Indianapolis area; OMF International/Grovers — $5,000 for church planting in Cambodia; Operation Find and Feed — $3,200 to help underwrite 12-week Operation Lead the Way class for homeless men; Refuge for Women — $5,000 to help launch Survivor Made, a job-training program for women who are victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Since its founding, E91 Foundation has granted more than $1.6 million to evangelical nonprofit ministries in Indianapolis and throughout the world. The generosity of our donors makes it all possible.
“. . . Are you giving generously to things God cares about?,” wrote Pete Briscoe in his Oct. 31, 2020 online devotional excerpted from his book, Experiencing LIFE Today. “. . . Are you really allowing Him to guide your generosity day to day,” continues Briscoe, “according to clear Biblical principles and the leading of His Spirit in you? Or will you die rich and foolish?”
Incorporated in 1994, East 91st Street Christian Church started the E91 Foundation as a long-term Christian charitable entity separate from the church’s day-to-day business and budget. The Foundation was formed to provide members and friends with an opportunity to leave a long-lasting legacy of Christian service and missions through bequests, memorials, and gifts. The Foundation adheres to Christian beliefs and principles and provides a vehicle for the broader Christian community to remember Christ and give a portion of their family’s final assets or unexpected proceeds back to God.
We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us by donating to the E91 Foundation. While a board maintains the endowment and grants funds to qualifying entities, donors can make contributions for specific purposes or create an endowed fund. The board then uses the interest each year within the donor’s guidelines to fund missions and ministries.
If you’re interested in making a one-time donation to the E91 Foundation, we can accept cash, check, or donation via PayPal. If a check, please make it payable to “East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation.” Checks or cash may be sent via regular mail to: East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation, 6049 E. 91st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250. You may also make a one-time donation or a legacy memorial gift via PayPal on our donation page. Any E91 Foundation board member is also able to accept donations, answer questions, or help you through the process, or you can visit our donation pages to get more information or to contact us to help expand God’s kingdom. Please consider – if you haven’t already — leaving a lasting legacy for the support of Christian service.
As we’re reminded in 1 Timothy 6:17-19: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Blessings,
Blair and Beth Austin, Co-Presidents
E91 Foundation “Excel in the Grace of Giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7)
“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16)
As we approach Thanksgiving 2020, undoubtedly — due to COVID-19 — this time-honored holiday will look and feel much different than it has in past years. And it may be difficult for us to have thankful attitudes in the midst of all these likely changes.
“I am proclaiming right now that in times of suffering, a heart of gratitude means more than just saying ‘thank you,’” wrote Debra Fileta in her Nov. 22, 2019, Thanksgiving devotional entitled, How to Have a Thankful Heart Through Difficult Times (Crosswalk.com). “It means believing God is who he says he is,” continued Ms. Fileta, adding: “Believing that He is good, that He is love, and that He is for me. Believing that He never changes, that He never fails, and that He is working all things for what is good.”
Similarly, Glynnis Whitwer, in her Nov. 24, 2019, Thanksgiving devotional, The Sacrifice of Thanks-sharing (www.proverbs31.org), wrote: “. . . We continue to learn that showing thanks to God involves sharing, and sharing involves sacrifice. God still calls us to share out of our abundance, and it still involves sacrifice. But when we share our lives, our homes, our money, our hearts, our skills, and our time as an outpouring of thanksgiving, God is pleased.”
As we approach this Thanksgiving season, what are you willing to share sacrificially to show thanks to God?
On April 4, 2020, just as the pandemic was taking hold here in the United States, USA Today published an article featuring the headline: “Attorneys See Surge of Requests for Wills as Coronavirus Takes Its Toll Across the U.S.”
According to the article, written by Tony Plohetski: “Attorneys and other experts specializing in end-of-life affairs say they have seen a surge in requests for help with wills and end-of-life documents in the past few weeks. ‘A lot of people don’t want to address their mortality, and now that this pandemic has occurred, it actually accelerates their concerns for getting their affairs in order,’ said Jack Garniewski, president of the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils and a CPA in Greenville, Delaware. Some have had documents in place for years, but COVID-19 prompted a rush of updates because financial situations have changed or families have grown.”
As a reminder, on April 15, 2021, E91 Foundation and E91 church – in conjunction with Christian Financial Resources (CFR) – will co-host a Will-Trust Seminar. Please mark your calendars and watch for more details as they become available.
Incorporated in 1994, East 91st Street Christian Church started the E91 Foundation as a long-term Christian charitable entity separate from the church’s day-to-day business and budget. The Foundation was formed to provide members and friends with an opportunity to leave a long-lasting legacy of Christian service and missions through bequests, memorials, and gifts. The Foundation adheres to Christian beliefs and principles and provides a vehicle for the broader Christian community to remember Christ and give a portion of their family’s final assets or unexpected proceeds back to God.
We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us by donating to the E91 Foundation. While a board maintains the endowment and grants funds to qualifying entities, donors can make contributions for specific purposes or create an endowed fund. The board then uses the interest each year within the donor’s guidelines to fund missions and ministries.
If you’re interested in making a one-time donation to the E91 Foundation, we can accept cash, check, or donation via PayPal. If a check, please make it payable to “East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation.” Checks or cash may be sent via regular mail to: East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation, 6049 E. 91st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250. You may also make a one-time donation or a legacy memorial gift via PayPal on the website donation page. Any E91 Foundation board member is also able to accept donations, answer questions, or help you through the process, or you can visit our contact page to get more information or to contact us to help expand God’s kingdom.
In 2020, E91 Foundation has awarded grants totaling $108,456. During 2019 — its 25th Anniversary — the Foundation awarded grants totaling $116,381. And, since its founding, E91 Foundation has granted nearly $1.5 million to evangelical nonprofit ministries in Indianapolis and throughout the world. The generosity of our donors makes it all possible!
In Luke 14:12-14, Jesus said: “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
During this Thanksgiving season, let’s remember Proverbs 11:25: “The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed.”
Blessings,
Blair and Beth Austin
Co-Presidents
E91 Foundation
“Excel in the Grace of Giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7)
“But since you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we have kindled in you — see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7)
Generosity — one of those words that’s easy to gloss over and take for granted. But what does it actually mean? The dictionary (Merriam-Webster) defines it as “the quality or fact of being generous; a generous act.” Also, “abundance; great generosity of spirit.” But how does God define generosity? Perhaps Luke 12:48 provides some Biblical perspective: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
And Jesus’ impactful parable in Luke 12:16-20 offers some additional Biblical perspective: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.”‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”
The word legacy – much like generosity – has different shades of meaning. Here, however, we refer to legacy in the context of Christian stewardship, which embodies generosity of spirit. Jesus says in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these my brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” “If the (rich) man in Luke 12 had left his grain for the poor, he could have made a lasting difference, not only for their welfare, but for the Kingdom,” wrote Catherine Durant in her 10/10/2014 blog, Stewardship: Transforming Generosity. “If we want to be known for living like Jesus, we need to be counter-cultural in a world where the average person’s desire is to leave a legacy of personal success and achievement,” continues Ms. Durant, adding: “The legacy Jesus left was sacrifice. Leaving a legacy not only benefits Christian charities that desperately need support, it’s a final act of a life that witnesses to God’s own generosity and compassion.”
What legacy will you leave?
On Thurs., April 15, 2021, from 7-8:30 p.m., E91 Foundation and E91 church – in conjunction with Christian Financial Resources (CFR) – will co-host a “Will/Trust Seminar.” Please consider joining us and watch for more details as they become available.
Incorporated in 1994, East 91st Street Christian Church started the E91 Foundation as a long-term Christian charitable entity separate from the church’s day-to-day business and budget. The Foundation was formed to provide members and friends with an opportunity to leave a long-lasting legacy of Christian service and missions through bequests, memorials, and gifts. The Foundation adheres to Christian beliefs and principles and provides a vehicle for the broader Christian community to remember Christ and give a portion of their family’s final assets or unexpected proceeds back to God.
We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us by donating to the E91 Foundation. While a board maintains the endowment and grants funds to qualifying entities, donors can make contributions for specific purposes or create an endowed fund. The board then uses the interest each year within the donor’s guidelines to fund missions and ministries.
If you’re interested in making a one-time donation to the E91 Foundation, we can accept cash, check, or donation via PayPal. If a check, please make it payable to “East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation.” Checks or cash may be sent via regular mail to: East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation, 6049 E. 91st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250. You may also make a one-time donation or a legacy memorial gift via PayPal on the Foundation’s website (www.dev2.cmsdevelopment.net). Any E91 Foundation board member is also able to accept donations, answer questions, or help you through the process, or you can visit www.dev2.cmsdevelopment.net to get more information or to contact us to help expand God’s kingdom. Please visit www.dev2.cmsdevelopment.net for an electronic version of the Foundation’s brochure, “2019 in Review…2020 in View.”
Through the first nine months of 2020, E91 Foundation has awarded grants totaling $91,456. During 2019 — its 25th Anniversary — the Foundation awarded grants totaling $116,381. And, since its founding, E91 Foundation has granted nearly $1.5 million to evangelical nonprofit ministries in Indianapolis and throughout the world. The generosity of our donors makes it all possible!
As Jesus teaches us in Luke 21:1-4: “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.’”
Indeed, Excel in the Grace of Giving!
Blessings,
Blair and Beth Austin
Co-Presidents
E91 Foundation
“Great pressure means great power!” Among daily devotional Christian classics, perhaps one of the best known is Streams in the Desert. First released in 1925, it features the spiritual inspiration that helped sustain Mrs. Charles E. Cowman during her years of missionary work in Japan and China. Nearly 100 years later, her reflections are still relevant today: “In the pathway of faith, we come to learn that the Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways. Both in the physical and spiritual realm, great pressure means great power!”
Great pressure aptly describes the current COVID-19 crisis conditions we all have been struggling to endure and navigate during what continues to be unprecedented times. So, what is the great power that may be derived from this worldwide pandemic? Since the onset of COVID-19 in the United States, we have witnessed the great power of God – by His grace — allowing E91 Foundation to continue to carry out its original objective of “fulfilling Christ’s directives set forth in Matthew 28:18-20 to go into the world teaching, making disciples, and Matthew 25:35-40 – to meet the physical needs of hurting people.”
This past March, for example — upon very short notice — the E91 Foundation partnered 50-50 with East 91st Street Christian Church to provide $7,000 to purchase KN95 masks for area hospitals in a collective project with some 20 Indianapolis-area churches. As a group, the churches pledged money to buy 200,000 masks. The initial batch of masks was distributed during the first week of April! E91’s pledge was for $7,000 to purchase 5,000 masks. “This opportunity popped up quite unexpectedly,” wrote E91’s Adrian Fehl, executive pastor and staff representative on the E91 Foundation board, “but it’s giving us all a real chance to show unity within the Body of Christ.”
Similarly — on April 30th — the E91 Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to Shepherd Community Center to help Shepherd “meet families’ immediate needs during the pandemic.” Jay Height, Shepherd’s executive director, wrote: “For 35 years, Shepherd Community has faithfully worked to achieve its mission of breaking the cycle of poverty on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis. Through our multitude of programs aimed at providing a Continuum of Care, we have diligently undertaken a calling to fill our neighborhood with help and hope. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit our neighbors hard, and we’d appreciate your support in meeting their basic needs.” E91 Foundation’s grant specifically was earmarked for providing food relief — “mitigating the extreme circumstances caused by COVID-19 and ensuring families have access to food. . . .”
So far — in just the first six months of 2020 — E91 Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $70,000. During 2019 — its 25th Anniversary — the Foundation awarded grants totaling $116,381. And, since its founding, E91 Foundation has granted nearly $1.5 million to evangelical nonprofit ministries in Indianapolis and throughout the world. The generosity of our donors makes it all possible!
Incorporated in 1994, East 91st Street Christian Church started the E91 Foundation as a long-term Christian charitable entity separate from the church’s day-to-day business and budget. The Foundation was formed to provide members and friends with an opportunity to leave a long-lasting legacy of Christian service and missions through bequests, memorials, and gifts. The Foundation adheres to Christian beliefs and principles and provides a vehicle for the broader Christian community to remember Christ and give a portion of their family’s final assets or unexpected proceeds back to God.
We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us by donating to the E91 Foundation. While a board maintains the endowment and grants funds to qualifying entities, donors can make contributions for specific purposes or create an endowed fund. The board then uses the interest each year within the donor’s guidelines to fund missions and ministries.
If you’re interested in making a one-time donation to the E91 Foundation, we can accept cash, check, or donation via PayPal. If a check, please make it payable to “East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation.” Checks or cash may be sent via regular mail to: East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation, 6049 E. 91st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250. You may also make a one-time donation or a legacy memorial gift via PayPal on our Donation Page. Any E91 Foundation board member is also able to accept donations, answer questions, or help you through the process, or you can visit our Contact Page to get more information or to contact us to help expand God’s kingdom.
Later this year, E91 Foundation and E91 church – in conjunction with Christian Financial Resources (CFR) – plan to co-host a “Will/Trust Seminar” at E91. Please consider joining us and watch for more details as they become available.
“All our supply is to come from the Lord,” reads the January 1 Streams in the Desert devotional entry. “Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no drought can parch that river, ‘the streams whereof make glad the city of God.’”
And Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Great pressure, indeed, means great power!
Blessings,
Blair and Beth Austin
Co-Presidents
E91 Foundation
“Excel in the Grace of Giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7)
Download our 2019 Annual Report
During 2019, E91 Foundation awarded grants totaling $116,381. Following are those organizations and/or individuals that received grants this past year:
Incorporated in 1994, East 91st Street Christian Church started the E91 Foundation as a long-term Christian charitable entity separate from the church’s day-to-day business and budget. The Foundation was formed to provide members and friends with an opportunity to leave a long-lasting legacy of Christian service and missions through bequests, memorials, and gifts. The Foundation adheres to Christian beliefs and principles and provides a vehicle for the broader Christian community to remember Christ and give a portion of their family’s final assets or unexpected proceeds back to God.
St. Francis of Assisi said: “For it is in giving that we receive.” We invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us by donating to the E91 Foundation. While a board maintains the endowment and grants funds to qualifying entities, donors can make contributions for specific purposes or create an endowed fund. The board then uses the interest each year within the donor’s guidelines to fund missions and ministries.
If you’re interested in making a one-time donation to the E91 Foundation, we can accept cash, check, or donation via PayPal. If a check, please make it payable to “East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation.” Checks or cash may be sent via regular mail to: East 91st Street Christian Church Foundation, 6049 E. 91st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250. You may also make a one-time donation or a legacy memorial gift via PayPal on the Foundation’s donation page. Any E91 Foundation board member is also able to accept donations, answer questions, or help you through the process.
As E91 Foundation begins its second quarter century of faithful stewardship, please consider – if you haven’t already — leaving a lasting legacy for the support of Christian service. As we’re reminded in Acts 20:35: “It is more blessed to give than receive.” Indeed!