Marion Quinlen knows Foundation grants.
This homemaker, grandmother, and volunteer has been consistently informing herself and others on the Foundation’s Grants Committee, Scholarships Committee, and Berl Olswanger Music Scholarship Committee for over 20 years. She joined the Board in 2001.
Her contributions to the Grants Committee and others that she serves on include the gifts of continuity and a working knowledge of their history; tirelessly overseeing the development of effective systems and policies that remain the underpinning of the granting process; and humbly and consistently doing the sometimes hard work of focusing and discernment. She has worked with four separate Grant Committee Chairs, and also served in that role from 2008-2012.
Marion and Bill Quinlen
She and husband Bill joined Second in October 1979. They are members of the Jeb Russell Congregational Community. Marion has volunteered in many areas of the church, including Women in Ministry, as well as volunteering at the Church Health Center, My Cup of Tea, and serving on the Board of Multinational Memphis.
Bill and Marion are the parents of daughter, Kathleen and son, Thomas. Thomas and his wife Natalie now are members of The Avenue Community Church. Their children, who grew up at Second, are Addie, William, and Amelia.
Hear Marion tell her history with the Foundation:
A Tug Toward Missions
I grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition which had a huge focus on missions and taking the Gospel to the whole world. Every year when we had our Foreign Missions Week, even as a child, I would go each night to hear the missionaries and think how wonderful and exciting their lives were. I was sure I wanted to be a foreign missionary. Thankfully, I later realized that my early impressions were not what being a missionary was like or what God had planned for my life, but that did not extinguish my strong interest in missions.
I was asked to be on the 2PC Foundation Board and on the Grants Committee about three years after the Foundation was started, and I was thrilled. I was so thankful for the opportunity to have a more intimate knowledge of what 2PC was doing with domestic and foreign missions, and what God was doing within 2PC.
It is such a privilege and faith-producing experience to work with the Foundation and with the Grants Committee. The committee members themselves have helped me grow in my faith through observing their lives and faithfulness in their commitment to this work.
The Work
At every meeting, the Grants Committee meets in person with various recipients of funds and those requesting funds, something that is important to Foundation donors. We hear first-hand how the funds being requested will be used, and how funds given have been used and what the results have been. In addition, the committee receives regular written reports. We hear some exciting stories, as well as stories of great difficulties, dangers, lack of resources and funding, and discouragement. We also hear how God uses those hardships to strengthen faith and perseverance and produce fruit in the most unlikely places.
On Getting Involved with the Foundation
Being a part of the Foundation has allowed me to meet many members of 2PC who are dedicated to the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout our city, our country, and the world. These board and committee members have so inspired me to want 2PC to be a leader in our city and our denomination to get the Gospel into every neighborhood and every corner of our world.
The Needs in Domestic and Global Arenas
Being on the Grants Committee has allowed me to meet many dedicated Christians who are giving their whole lives to being the hands and feet of Jesus, giving lost people the Good News. They are in Memphis. They are in seminaries all over our country. They are in slums, war zones, refugee camps, the capitals of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and places we cannot name, in order to keep them safe. Their stories break your heart and fill you with hope. When I leave a Grants Committee meeting, I marvel at what God has done with the funds we have been able to give to these ministries. I also wonder who is going to give the Gospel to all those people that we at Second are not reaching.
A Resource for Ministry Advancement
As Christians we all need to be a part of spreading the Gospel, and there are various ways to do that. Many organizations are familiar to all of us, but the entities funded by the Foundation may be unfamiliar to the members of Second. Having been on the Grants Committee, I have seen first-hand how careful the Foundation and the Grants Committee is in researching the missionaries, seminarians, various programs, and ministries they fund. The Foundation can help point you to areas of interest where you don’t know of a trustworthy organization. The Foundation also allows your undesignated gifts to be used to fund a varied array of Christian agencies, close to home as well as on the other side of the world, agencies whose beliefs and goals are aligned with those of 2PC.
Effectiveness of Charitable Giving Through the Foundation
The 2PC Foundation has made me aware of how effective pooling resources is in accomplishing big ideas and big plans. What may seem to be small bequests or gifts to the Foundation are pooled with other gifts and make a large impact.
Becoming Involved with the Mission of the Foundation
Becoming involved with the mission of the Foundation allows you to become involved with something world-wide in scope, yet very personal to your faith and walk with Jesus Christ. It is located in an office at your own church, where you may go and sit down with Vicki Simmons, the Foundation Executive Director, and discuss what types of missions you are interested in and the different ways you can use your resources to support the Foundation. You may also easily find Board members and Grants Committee members who would love to tell you about what the Foundation is doing. They can give you the information you need to make decisions on how you want to proceed with investing in this Gospel endeavor.