Bill Stewart didn’t have a Christian background or a college education—but after he came to Christ at age 19, he started preaching right away! He wanted to tell everyone about the peace of God he had found. Eventually, he was a founding partner in a financial company, helping middle-class people get debt-free and lay a solid foundation for the future … and all the while he and his wife Sarah were supporting their church and the Cru ministries they love.
“When our business went public, we had shares that had started out at $19 per share and had now grown to $108,” Bill shared, “We had a lot of those capital gains that if we had sold them, we would have had to pay taxes on. So, when we heard about a Great Commission Donor Advised Fund and the opportunities with Cru Foundation, we thought, What a great way to be able to give and avoid these taxes. Instead, we could give it to the Lord.
“We wanted to be able to give to the people we knew, and we were involved with, and I learned how we could advise contributions directly to those we supported. That’s what we loved about it—and it has simplified our giving because we used to write a lot of individual checks every month and send those out. Sarah can go online and make the distributions, and it totally simplified our life.”
“The legacy I want to leave is one of loving Jesus and impacting the world for Christ. We could leave a legacy of money and an economic crash could take that all away. But nothing could take away the love of Christ.”
Today Sarah and Bill continue to build God’s kingdom through their support for Cru—and they’re building the legacy of sharing Jesus that has always been their aim.