BBA Foundation, Inc.

Many people know of the other two nonprofit corporations created by the Birmingham Baptist Association — Baptist Health System and M-POWER Ministries — but a third one is not as well known.

The Birmingham Baptist Association Foundation, founded in 1991, has an important mission to carry out. The Foundation receives, manages, and disburses funds and receives, buys, and sells real estate to provide a broader base for the ministry and work of the Association.

Gene Turner and Ted Hull were recently elected by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees to serve as president and vice president of the corporation.

Gene and his wife, Hazel, are members of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church. Gene is a retired church administrator, having served at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church and Birmingham First Baptist Church for many years.

Ted is an attorney with his own civil practice. He and his wife, Joan, have been members of Brookwood Baptist Church for 33 years. He has served in several leadership positions within the church, and he began serving on the board for the Foundation last year.

The Foundation has quickly acted on several matters this year. It has approved grants for:

• Up to $25,000 for a new roof at M-POWER. Earlier plans to build a sloped roof over the flat roof on the building were deemed unworkable, because of air conditioning equipment on the building, so a new flat roof will be installed. The money for this grant is coming from the funds derived from the sale of the BBA’s Clay property.

• Up to $20,000 from Ruhama funds for a disaster relief shower unit. The mobile unit will be able to provide disaster victims and relief volunteers with facilities to bathe and wash laundry on site. The unit will also be used with World Changers events in Birmingham when the volunteers stay at area schools. The trailer will be ready soon, and former members of Ruhama will have the chance to dedicate it for ministry.

• $10,000 to lay the groundwork for a new ministry center in the Fultondale area. It would be similar in ministry to what M-POWER does in the Woodlawn and South Avondale areas. The money is from Sixty-Sixth Street Baptist Church funds.

In the past many churches have received funds from other churches of the Association. The Foundation continues to search for new ministry and church sites.

The BBA Foundation is preparing for the future. Ted is leading a review of the legal needs of the Foundation, looking at the changing role it has in serving the works of the Association.

"We are beginning to see needs for churches downtown; people are beginning to return downtown," said Gene.

"The Foundation is open to talking with churches or individuals who would like to provide funds through grants or wills."

The Foundation can help with the legal work needed to establish a gift through a grant or will. For more information, contact the BBA office: 599-3245 or info@bbaonline.org.

-Article by Stuart Sentell