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Dear Calvary Family,

For Giving Tuesday, we thought we’d give an update on how we take financial responsibility seriously here at Calvary Church, share ideas for making the most of your giving under the current tax structure, and provide details on our upcoming solar project that was announced during last Sunday's service.

You can give today to help make a difference and impact the lives of people here in Orange County and around the world by contributing to Calvary's General Church Ministry Fund, Reach Missions Fund, Emergency Needs Fund, or our Building Fund (Major Projects, Forward in Faith) at CalvaryLife.org/Give.

Financial Responsibility and Accountability
We steward the funds entrusted to Calvary with great care and biblically grounded wisdom. A dedicated team of volunteer Trustees provides financial oversight for our church, helping us set budgets, prioritize projects, and navigate key decisions. We are deeply grateful for their shrewd insight and faithful service. This team brings together a diverse blend of accountants, lawyers, business owners, construction experts, and government workers. Their recommendations are then reviewed and affirmed through a vote of the Elder Board, ensuring strong accountability and alignment with our mission.

Giving Philosophy
As we approach the end of 2025, we are only slightly behind budget in both our general and missions giving—a season in which we historically receive the majority of annual contributions. Much of this year-end surge is influenced by tax-related considerations, as people evaluate deductions, catch up on their annual giving, or choose to share from a Christmas bonus. While we recognize these practical factors, we believe that giving is foremost an act of worship and obedience to God as an expression of the heart. It should be based on what you and the Lord decide you should give, but Scripture calls us to give from our first fruits with the tithe of ten percent serving as a guiding principle. At the same time, we understand that various U.S. tax incentives exist to encourage charitable generosity, and wisely making use of them can help you steward your resources well, enabling you to potentially give even more while paying less in taxes.

Current Tax Law Changes
Many of you are aware of some of the changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill that was passed this year. We encourage you to check with your tax advisor for specifics, but if you itemize deductions, there is a slight reduction of 0.5% of adjusted gross income that isn’t deductible in 2026, so giving before December 31st gives you a larger write-off. Those of you who use the standard deduction will get a new benefit in 2026, where you can deduct up to $1000 for single and $2000 for married as a write-off on top of the standard deduction so you will get a tax benefit in 2026.

Creative Giving
Some other ways to give that can provide a tax benefit are giving a qualified distribution of up to 100,000 from your IRA if you are 70 ½ or older. This can come out of your required distribution and reduces the taxable amount of your distribution. Giving appreciated assets like stock helps save capital gains taxes because you can electronically transfer stock directly to Calvary’s brokerage account. We can sell it and not pay taxes on the gains, but you get to deduct the full amount on the day of donation if you’ve held the asset for at least a year.

We also highly encourage you to consider Calvary Church in your Living Trust so you can continue to steward well what God has given, even beyond your physical life. A few times a year we offer a seminar and continued guidance to help you establish a free Living Trust or estate plan. There is no obligation to give to Calvary if you utilize this resource, but we ask you to prayerfully consider it.

Solar Update
Speaking of Living Trusts, it was a recent estate gift that prompted us to begin researching solar as a way to further the impact of this gift over time. We continue to desire to steward our resources well and have found that investing in a solar electricity system for the Worship Center roof will be an excellent way to do that.

The entire solar energy system costs $1.1 million to purchase and install. We need to take advantage of incentives that are expiring in 2026 that will allow us to receive about $550,000 back in rebates. The system itself is being paid for from this estate gift, but our electricity savings could actually recoup the cost of the project within 5 years. There are projected savings over the next 30 years of approximately $6.3 million in electricity costs as we use less from the grid, which helps our community as well.

You can find out more about the solar project at CalvaryLife.org/Solar or see different ways to give on our website at CalvaryLife.org/Ways.

If you have questions about any of these things, please contact our Executive Pastor, Michael Welles at 714-550-2313 or Michael is available to discuss these questions at length and will also be available the last few days of the calendar year to receive your year-end gift as needed.

May the Lord bless you and keep you,
Eric Wakeling and Michael Welles