Many pastors and church missionaries are forced to rely upon the charity of others once they have become either too old or ill to perform ministerial duties.
Many pastors and church missionaries are forced to rely upon the charity of others once they have become either too old or ill to perform ministerial duties.
The Memphis Baptist Ministerial Alliance recently held a luncheon to spotlight this dilemma and offer an opportunity to seek pathways to more secure financial future. The event was held at 460 East McLemore and sponsored by The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board.
Rev. Dwight Montgomery served as the Toastmaster. He introduced the guest, Rev. Clifton Morgan, who has the title of Relationship Manager with The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board or The MMBB. The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board was found and incorporated in 1911 to bring a measure of financial stability into lives of clergy and their loved ones.
At the beginning of the 20th century ministers managed to make ends meet on an average annual salary of $683. A few scattered retirement homes existed, but there was no central organization devoted to the well-being of ministers, missionaries and their families.
Henry L. Morehouse, a frontier pastor, organized the MMBB after recognizing that churches needed help caring for Baptist ministers during the 1880's. The Northern Baptist Convention organized a campaign in 1911 that would raise funds to turn his vision into reality. It raised over $200,000 to start the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board.
Mr. Milo C. Treat, a donor from Washington PA., gave $50,000 and later John D. Rockerfeller contributed $40,000.
The fund would later provide a large measure of comfort and security to the family of one of America's best known ministers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Rev. Morgan informed the pastors that The MMBB was the only company that would insure the civil rights leader who continuously received death threats while he was alive.
At the time of Dr. King's death, the civil rights leader had been with the company for one year. Still he had paid enough in premiums to qualify his widow to receive checks for her and their children.
Rev. Morgan stressed that The MMBB was a company that provides programs for pastors to invest in retirement and tax deferred accounts, medical plans, dental plans and long-term care insurance. Rev. Morgan said that in the beginning of The MMBB history its primary goal was to support followers of the Baptist theological viewpoint. However; as of the year 2000 the benefits of The MMBB became available to all pastors of other denominations.
For more information, Rev. Morgan can be reached by email at clifton.morgan@mmbb.org.