Faith Facts

• Since 1956, the Bell Trust has distributed approximately $40 million in grants to individual congregations for minister salaries, building maintenance, and mission vehicles.
• Barbara Bell Packer, now 98, has served continuously as a trustee since the trust’s founding, representing one of the longest recorded tenures for any foundation board member.
• Family members spanning three generations continue to oversee the trust’s mission of advancing the gospel through Churches of Christ around the world.

The Bell family built one of Dallas’s largest grocery empires and then turned their resources toward eternal purposes. Robert and Katharine Bell established the Bell Trust in 1956 to support the advancement of religious, missionary, and charitable works within Churches of Christ.

Seventy years later, the Texas-based foundation has awarded roughly $40 million to congregations for needs ranging from minister and missionary salaries to church building maintenance and mission vehicles.

“Churches are always dreaming of how they can impact the kingdom,” said Clark Packer, great-grandson of the founders and the trust’s executive trustee since 2020.

“If we can play a small part in helping some of those dreams come to reality, that’s a powerful testimony to the heart of the Bells from the beginning.”

Legacy Church of Christ in North Richland Hills, Texas, has received support to send missionaries to Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, and Ukraine. Missions committee chairwoman Nancy Snelson praised the trust’s model that keeps missionaries accountable to their sending congregations rather than the foundation itself.

Tom Riley, senior minister at Canyon Church of Christ in Phoenix, received grants that helped plant a new congregation in Arizona in 2003. He described the trust as a “cruciform ministry” shaped by the cross of Christ, noting that the trustees seek to make Jesus memorable rather than themselves.

Robert Bell served more than three decades as an elder at Preston Road Church of Christ in Dallas before his death in 1982. The original board consisted of his daughters, sons-in-law, and minister Hulen L. Jackson, all of whom served faithfully for decades.

Barbara Bell Packer, approaching her 98th birthday, remains an active trustee. Her son Barry Packer called the family’s multi-generational commitment “very rarefied,” noting that no one he knows has served as a trustee for any organization for seventy years.

J. Terry Johnson, former president of Oklahoma Christian University and longtime friend of the family, observed that the fruit of the trust’s investment is incalculable, with congregations planted across the United States and abroad, souls saved, and human needs met in the name of Jesus.

The current nine-member board continues to meet quarterly in Dallas to review grant applications. While family members remain the predominant focus, the board also includes ministry and missions representatives to ensure wise stewardship of resources.

Collin Packer, director of strategic development for Let’s Talk Race Ministries, said it is an honor to carry on the legacy and pass down the same values that guided his great-grandparents when they first established the trust.

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Faith Facts

• Scripture commands believers to care for one another in times of crisis (Galatians 6:2).
• Christian churches in America have historically stepped forward during national emergencies to provide shelter, food, and spiritual support.
• Prepared congregations can become reliable centers of hope when government resources are stretched thin.

Covid-19 exposed gaps in many church emergency plans. Leaders across the nation are now reviewing those lessons to ensure their congregations can serve faithfully when the next crisis arrives.

The United Kingdom’s recent guidance urging households to stock three days of supplies has renewed attention on local preparedness. American churches can draw wisdom from this approach and apply it within their own communities.

“Covid-19 caught many churches off-guard,”

Rev. Jules Middleton observed. She urged fellow leaders to learn from the pandemic so congregations can serve more effectively when future emergencies strike.

Practical steps include establishing a disaster response team, creating communication chains that function without electricity, and identifying members with medical or technical skills. Churches should also map vulnerable households and secure backup power for essential ministries.

Food, water, and hygiene supplies kept on-site allow churches to open their doors quickly. Partnerships with local first responders and county emergency offices help coordinate efforts and avoid duplication of services.

Training volunteers in basic first aid and trauma-informed care equips the body of Christ to minister both physically and spiritually. Regular drills keep plans fresh and reveal weaknesses before disaster hits.

Scripture reminds believers that wise planning honors God and protects neighbors. Churches that prepare now can become beacons of stability and compassion when the unexpected arrives.

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Faith Facts

• Pastor Israel Ford of LifeWorks Church in Cleveland, Ohio, publicly admitted he has maintained two wives for the past three years.
• The pastor claims the practice of polygyny is endorsed by Scripture, contradicting both American law and historic Christian teaching.
• LifeWorks Church was co-founded in 2009 by Pastor Ford and his first wife, Lydia Ford.

Polygyny is illegal throughout the United States, yet Pastor Israel Ford of LifeWorks Church in Cleveland, Ohio, announced from the pulpit that he has been living with two wives for three years.

Ford told his congregation that having only one wife is unbiblical and that God permits the practice.

“Having only 1 wife is ‘unbiblical'”

The church was founded in 2009 by Pastor Ford and his first wife, Lydia Ford.

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