“You Don’t Have to Be a Millionaire” to Support the Youth Endowment Fund, Rhode Island Healthcare Executive Challenges

“You don’t have to be a millionaire to make a difference” for youth, said Merrill Thomas, who served twice as a Baptist Foundation of New England board member. The secret to sustaining a not-for-profit endowment, he advised, is to give generously every month to a cause in which you believe.  

Thomas and, his wife, Lorelei, residents since 1985 of Warwick, RI, are making a significant difference by giving sacrificially and consistently to support the BCNE’s youth ministries. Rather than give undesignated donations that will be absorbed into the annual budget, they decided six years ago to help build an enduring legacy by supporting the foundation’s Youth Ministries Fund.

Why do they support New England Baptist ministry by giving to an endowment? “When you start a new ministry or a church,” Thomas responded, “you need funds, and New England is a very expensive place to live and have a family.” Endowed gifts invested properly grow significantly over time.

The Thomases are the parents of two boys and two girls and the grandparents of six. Their children committed their lives to Jesus Christ and were baptized after they responded to the Gospel while attending the youth ministry of Faith Baptist Church, Warwick.

The family moved to Warwick for family reasons and joined the BCNE-affiliated church five years later after searching for a faith community that, he said, “taught sound doctrine, had programs for our kids, and was seeing people being saved and baptized.”

The healthcare executive and his wife were raised elsewhere, he in Seattle and she in upstate New York. In January 1990, they joined Faith Baptist, which describes itself online as being “dedicated to multiplying followers of Jesus.” The church offers its middle and high school youth an environment that is said to be “fun, spiritually stimulating, and challenging.”

Their children participated over the years in the BCNE’s Youth Encountering Christ (YEC) in January and CrossWalk in July. The winter retreat and summer camp were “great influences on their lives and so we are very happy to support that going forward,” said Lorelei Thomas, who is retired as the assistant manager of a bank.

“We appreciate the impact that the youth ministry had on our family,” Merrill Thomas stated. “The endowment will allow annual giving to the youth programs, while also allowing the principal to be invested for many years to come. We believe that endowment-fund giving is a way to make a lasting difference for youth in New England.”

One of the major benefits of the youth camps, conferences, and events “was the gathering of kids from all over New England. Our kids were able to see that, even though our state did not have a lot of other Christian kids, when you combined all the churches together, there were a lot of other Christian kids and that we were not alone,” Thomas observed.  

Relationships matter as much as family for the Thomases. For twenty years, they have counted Allyson Clark, the retiring BCNE associate executive director and next-generation ministry leader, as a friend. Their son was baptized by Ken Lyle, the late BCNE executive director, who was Faith Baptist’s interim pastor. More recently, they have cultivated a friendship with the current executive director, Terry Dorsett.

“Merrill and Lorelei have always had a deep commitment to helping young people on their faith journeys. They demonstrate that commitment through volunteering in their church, and other ministries including the Baptist Foundation of New England,” Dorsett commented. “They also demonstrate that commitment through generous donations to the Youth Ministry Endowment Fund that is helping train the next generation of leaders in the church.”

As their children became adults, their daughter, Beth, led music at BCNE youth programs for many years, and their son, Kyle, met his wife, Emily, at a summer camp. “All four of our kids enjoyed attending events during their junior and senior high years, which we feel were very influential in their faith,” Thomas stated.   

Students gathered in prayer at YEC

When the Thomases learned that budget cuts were impacting the ability of the BCNE staff to continue some of the youth ministries, they decided to make monthly contributions to BCNE and thus help “ensure that the ministries in New England were not cut.” In January, 580 youth and adult group leaders from 42 BCNE congregations in 5 states participated in the YEC 2023 winter retreat.

“Reaching the next generation is an important goal for Kingdom-minded churches,” according to the foundation’s web page. The BCNE partners with churches and supports their youth ministry through opportunities that collectively encourage about 1,400 teenagers to grow in Christian faith and become church leaders. BCNE also equips volunteer youth leaders. The endowment supports the costs of operating these ministries but does not underwrite individual scholarships. 

The 2023 CrossWalk camp will be held July 17-22 at Nichols College in Dudley, MA; registration opens later this month. The 2024 YEC winter retreat will be January 26-28.

Until recently Thomas, president and CEO of Providence (RI) Community Health Centers, invested his time and business expertise by serving as a Baptist Foundation of New England board member. He gave two years as a board member when Lyle and the late business executive Paul Gallier launched the foundation twenty years ago with a single gift.

“We made a commitment to grow the youth endowment, which at that time was very small. Our initial goal was $50,000 and I am very happy to now see that, with the support of others, we are now over $70,000 in the fund,” Thomas noted.

Last year while on a retreat, the foundation’s board prayerfully set a goal of growing the youth fund to $200,000 by the end of 2027. In a yearend “Impact Report,” Dorsett, challenged, “We need to raise an additional $600 per month to meet that goal.” As of December 31, 2022, the fund totaled $76,565. Four years ago (December 2018) the fund, which began in 2016 with the gift of an anonymous BCNE staff member, stood at just $13,514. No one has yet included the youth fund in an estate plan, Dorsett confirmed.

The Thomases “encourage other families and past program participants to make a gift to the Youth Ministries Fund and continue to make an impact on youth for many years to come,” Thomas concluded.  

A Massachusetts native and a New England Baptist since 1970, Dan Nicholas is the BCNE managing editor.