Ministry partners’ gifts multiplied to help students

One of the favorite miracles of Jesus for Mike Hughes, vice president for Institutional Advancement at Southwestern Seminary, is the miracle of multiplication found in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14). Jesus has compassion and feeds an estimated 10,000-15,000 people (5,000 men plus women and children) with merely five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus goes over and beyond by ensuring there are twelve baskets of leftovers.

“Day in and day out, I have the privilege of seeing the miracle of multiplication occur at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as ministry partners give their ‘five loaves and two fish’ in response to their compassion for students who sacrificially answer God’s call to get equipped,” Hughes says. Yes, major gifts do occasionally arrive, but as President Paige Patterson often states, our people are “butchers, bakers and candlestick makers.”[1] The average annual gift Southwestern Seminary receives is $600 (that is, $50 per month). Yet, God combines all the gifts received to overwhelmingly meet the needs of students in terms of scholarships, endowments and operating budget.

Southwestern Seminary continues to offer several pathways by which ministry partners can assist in the midst of their busy lives. In addition to accepting checks via “snail mail” at Office of Institutional Advancement, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, PO Box 22500 Fort Worth, TX 76122, ministry partners can give their “five loaves and two fish” via:

Online Giving: Save the cost of envelopes and postage by going to swbts.edu/give to make a one-time or recurring gift. It is fast, easy and secure.

AmazonSmile: Direct someone else’s money to Southwestern Seminary. Amazon donates 0.5 percent of the price of your eligible Amazon purchases to Southwestern Seminary. This occurs automatically, and you merely need to log in to smile.amazon.com using your existing account and select “Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Development Foundation” as the charitable organization the first time. Then, as you shop until you drop, Amazon donates to Southwestern Seminary. Over the past three years, AmazonSmile has donated more than $32 million to charitable organizations.

Mustard Seed: Everyone’s spare change together makes a difference through this new charitable giving app. Each time you make a purchase with your credit or debit card, the purchase amount is rounded up to the nearest dollar. Those few extra cents are then donated to Southwestern. For example, if you spend $3.75 on a cup of coffee, $0.25 is donated to Southwestern. For more information, watch the video at www.mustardseedapp.org. Once you sign up, merely select Southwestern from the list of ministries and you effortlessly begin helping students.

Planned Gift: Southwestern Seminary can help you define planned gifts that anyone can afford, protect your assets from the government, and actually pay you income. Visit swbts.plannedgiving.org to begin exploring.

Southwestern Seminary views fundraising as ministry. “I have the privilege of matching a ministry partner’s God-directed passions and gifts with Southwestern’s needs,” Hughes says. “I have a front-row seat to seeing how God uses people to help students, who then graduate and share the Gospel around the globe.”

If you would like to talk with Mike Hughes about assisting Southwestern Seminary, you may contact him at 817-923-1921, ext. 7200, or mhughes@swbts.edu.