See Our Impact

Due to the generous legacy bequest of Dr. James Russell, the Resurrection Foundation was able to make two grants in 2017 totaling $125,000 to the Britain Infant Development Center at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. This was in addition to a $50,000 grant provided by the church's 2017 Easter missions offering. The Britain Development Center offers holistic approaches to child development, therapy and early education. It involves family members in multi-disciplinary care. The grants from the...

I felt called to preach and lead the church in 2015. It was like Jeremiah, ‘an intense fire in my heart’ (Jer. 20:9 CEB). At the same time, Rod and Sharon Hennig were answering their call to set up a Fellowship Endowment with the Resurrection Foundation. Rod and Sharon‘s fellowship not only gave me the enormous gift of learning, but also formation as a leader. I served on the staff at Church of the Resurrection and learned a great deal about the practice of ministry! During my three-year...

Val and Rob Smith have been Resurrection members since 2004. Beginning as “nominal Christians,” they’ve been greatly impacted by their spiritual and serving experiences at Resurrection and wanted to find a way to help others have a similar experience. With no children, their estate planning focused on determining the best use and application of their residual estate for the greatest impact. They have felt so blessed in their lives and wanted to find a way to share those blessings with others....

Larry Hanna was a husband, father, WWII veteran, and lifelong, active Methodist. His faith journey influenced many and will continue to do so as a result of the generous gift he left the Resurrection Foundation when he passed in 2018. He lived his life by faith, raised his family with faith, and through his estate planning has ensured that others can receive the gift of faith. His gift enables the Church of the Resurrection to be a witness to faith for many generations. Larry’s life, and the...

I have chosen to leave a legacy to Church of the Resurrection because I believe the church’s mission and ministry is the most important work in our community and the world. God has provided for my family through the years, and I’m thankful to be able, through this legacy, to continue supporting our church after I’m gone. The church has been important in the lives of my husband, Lowell Thuma, and me. We started attending here after his retirement, as a Pastor of 50 years, to serve God along...

I began playing the organ for my church at age 14, and I am also a CPA. As such, I realize that all of the money I have saved for retirement will be taxed if I pass it on to my beneficiaries. It took me 10 minutes to change the beneficiary on my retirement accounts to the Foundation, so that 100% of the money I have saved can go tax free to benefit the church. And it required no changes to my will. As an organist, the future of our church music program is important to me, so I designated the...

Dick Radford is a long-time member of Church of the Resurrection Builder’s Sunday School class. Dick and his deceased wife, Dorothy, gave a generous gift to the Resurrection Foundation, to establish a new seminary scholarship fund. Each year the class looks forward to helping a Resurrection seminary student with a much-needed scholarship. Dick and Dorothy, as part of the Foundation’s John Wesley Legacy Society, wanted to help seminary students who will serve in the United Methodist ministry...

My brother, Tom Schmidt, was born with Down Syndrome in 1957. Our family loved and nurtured him so he could become all that God envisioned. Tom graduated from the special education program at Shawnee Mission North High School. His education equipped him to enter the workforce, and he worked for 30 years in the food services industry. Our family was so proud of the caring service he gave to others. His employers were appreciative of his dependability and recognized the value he brought. Tom...

In 1985, just a few weeks after Doug and I were married, we joined Metropolitan Avenue United Methodist Church. As I reflect on our marriage’s early years, I can see Jesus laying a foundation for Doug and me to eventually become part of The Church of the Resurrection foundation. Metropolitan Avenue was a wonderful place full of well-seasoned Christians who had many life experiences and lots of sage advice to share. Doug jumped right in and joined the board of trustees. I worked in children’s...