THE HISTORY OF CFW

In 1981, a group of businessmen from the Western District of the Missionary Church Inc., felt led to start a fund to plant new churches and support them financially until they could support themselves. They observed that in the early stages of a new church, more people received Christ for the first time than people did in many established Churches. As a result, Western Loans was established and operated similar to a credit union. Funds were collected and deposited into interest bearing accounts and then loaned out to new churches. As the churches grew, they paid back the loans and the funds were recycled so that the church planting program could multiply. The program was very successful and the demand for funds increased. The newly appointed Western District Superintendent saw the need to expand the churches ability to take in certain kinds of gifts. He determined that a foundation would best serve the need, so in 1992, Western Loans evolved to become the Stewardship Development Foundation. The foundation expanded the districts ability to take in complex gifts such as real estate holdings, appreciated stocks and bonds, or a family business.

In the spring of 2005, the Board of Directors voted to expand the reach of the foundation. They felt that a Christian Community Foundation was needed in the Southern California area to support the needs of the church at large. As a result, Christian Foundation of the West was born. The number of seats on the board was expanded to accommodate other denominations and ministries. Since then, CFW has formed strategic partnerships and alliances with several Christian organizations that help educate, promote, and support the mission of CFW.

Please click here to read our Statement of Faith.


Charles Schultz
Chairman of the Board

Charles Schultz is a California attorney who specializes in charitable giving and estate planning. He is President of Crescendo Interactive, Inc. and is the principal author of the Crescendo Planned Giving Software and the GiftLegacy Pro eMarketing System. Each year he is producer and moderator for the popular GiftLaw teleconferences. In addition, he is editor for the GiftLaw.com charitable tax planning web site, the GiftLaw Pro charitable tax service and also edits the weekly GiftLaw and GiftLegacy eNewsletters.

Charles writes, speaks and publishes extensively. He teaches over 30 planned giving seminars per year and is the creator of GiftCollege.com, an Internet education program for gift planners and professional advisors. Charles assists a select group of business owners/trustees of major charities in charitable estate planning. He received his law degree from the University of Michigan. Charles is certified as an ePhilanthropy Master Trainer and serves on the board of the ePhilanthropy Foundation.


G. Michael Livingston
Vice President

Mike grew up on the Island of Jamaica. At the age of 17 felt a call to ministry, which he followed by getting his theological training at Ft. Wayne Bible College in Fort Wayne, Indiana and at the age of 22 becoming a Senior Pastor in Fleetwood Pennsylvania.

After pastoring for a total of 22 years, he was called to become the District Superintendent of the Western District of the Missionary Church. Mike and his wife Judy with their two daughters, Heather and Holly, moved to California where he began his duties in August 1989.

In addition to being a pastor to the pastors, one of his main duties in that position, was to oversee the starting of new churches. The district had an entity called Western Loans which provided loans for churches; however, Mike realized that he needed to have a means to fund these church plants.

He then started a foundation called Stewardship Development Foundation, with the main purpose of providing funds for church planting. That foundation evolved into what is now called Christian Foundation of the West, (CFW). Many churches have been planted as a direct result of the funds from the foundation.

Additionally Mike has developed a Rebirthing process for churches that need radical surgery. Since developing this process, he has personally mentored /coached several churches across the country through successful rebirths into healthy, dynamic, growing churches.

Mike has also strategized a process for refocusing the pastor and the church with the goal of producing healthy, reproducing churches. He is also a certified consultant for "Natural Church Development" founded by Christian A. Schwarz.


SusAnne L. Jenkins, Esq.
Secretary

SusAnne Lee Jenkins is an attorney, businesswoman, writer, and motivational speaker, who has personally experienced what she teaches. As a widow, she understands the importance of pre-planning and the difficulty of making decisions while dealing with grief.

A fourth-generation Ventura County resident, in 1997 she founded her own law practice, which focuses solely on estate planning. For her clients, she strives to make estate planning understandable and non-intimidating.

SusAnne graduated with a B.A. in journalism and a Spanish minor from the University of Oregon. She received her Juris Doctor (law degree) at Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia, earning the American Jurisprudence Award for legal writing and a Distinguished Achievement Award, recognizing her for the highest estate and family law grades in her graduating class. She is licensed to practice law in California and Virginia.

Besides English, she speaks Spanish, Signed English and American Sign Language. SusAnne is the author of numerous books on the subject of estate planning including: Do You Need a California Living Trust?, Understanding Basic Estate Planning in California, and Get Your Information in Order: A Guide for Organizing Your Personal, Estate and Financial Information.

In addition to serving as a board member of Christian Foundation of the West, she is Chairperson of the T-3 Team (Time, Talent, Treasure) at Ventura Missionary Church.


Kathy Saigeon
Treasurer

Katherine L. Saigeon is Chief Financial Officer of The Fuller Foundation, Pasadena California (affiliate Foundation for Fuller Theological Seminary). The Foundation is a trust fiduciary for charitable trusts; it manages a donor advised fund program and provides financial and administrative support services to other Christian based not-for-profit organizations on a national basis. Previously, Ms. Saigeon was Chief Financial officer of The California Endowment, and VP for Finance for The Kellogg Foundation. Her career in philanthropy spans 20+ years. Her early career as a CPA was with Price Waterhouse. She has served in leadership positions on numerous charitable boards, and professional associations during her career. She currently serves on the board of a Christian based Family Foundation, and is active in her local church's educational ministries.



Members at Large


Evan Friedmann

Evan is a successful businessman. After selling his software company, he retired and now volunteers his time to promote various ministries. In addition to volunteering his time, he and his wife enjoy traveling throughout the world.


John Gardner

John Gardner is CEO of Logos Health Systems, Inc. of Thousand Oaks, CA

He has an MBA, is a Certified Healthcare Executive (CHE) and Diplomat in the American College of Healthcare Executives, has been active within the Southern California healthcare community for 20 years, is a public speaker on a range of business topics including Business Ethics, and has served on the boards of several business and community organizations.

John has been active at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village for over 25 years having served for 12 years on the Elder board. He has had numerous leadership responsibilities to include small group leadership, coaching / counseling and teaching.

John has sensed a long calling to Biblically based business practices and financial stewardship. In addition to his 10 year term on the Foundation Board, he leads the local chapter of Fellowship of Companies for Christ (FCCI), and serves on the Marketplace Ministries leadership team at Calvary Community.

John and his wife Lucy have been married for 40 years and have two adult children and 4 grandchildren who live in Thousand Oak.


Richard Kasel Jr.

Rick Kasel is the Associate Pastor and Director of Stewardship & Estate Planning at Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch. He provides leadership and training in all financial areas of the ministry. In his role as Associate Pastor he provides personal financial counseling and holds multiple responsibilities in the support and administration areas of church management.

Prior to accepting the call as Stewardship Pastor in 2000, Rick had a distinguished career in Industrial Sales. He graduated from Don Bosco Technical Institute in the field of Practical Metallurgy and then served in various sales and management positions, including 22 years with DuPont Printing and Publishing. When his division at DuPont was purchased by Agfa Film, Rick found himself faced with a career situation that challenged his Christian values. Agfa was the primary supplier of film for the pornography industry in Los Angeles. Rick volunteered to take an early retirement rather than conduct business in the pornography industry for Agfa. That same week, without knowing Rick's recent career decision, his Pastor approached him with the request to consider serving as the Church's first Stewardship Pastor.

In addition to serving on the CFW board, Rick is a founding member and serves on the board of the Los Angeles and Ventura chapter of the Christian Financial Professionals Network, also known as CFPN.


Steve Livingston

Steve is a prominent businessman in the Los Angeles area and owns multiple automotive dealerships.


John McVittie

John is a retired Civil Engineer and General Contractor. In 1949, John received his Engineering Degree from McGill University, Montreal Canada, and in 1963 he founded McGall Contructors, a commercial and industrial contracting company. He operated McGall until he retired in 1991. John has been an active member of Ventura Missionary Church for the past 40 years, serving as Chairman of the board for 5 of those years. He is also a founder and Charter Member of Western Loans, the predecessor of Christian Foundation of the West (CFW), which is an expression of John's passion to financially support and plant new churches. In addition to serving on the CFW board of trustees, John has served on the board of the Western District of the Missionary Church for over 26 years, most of the time as District Secretary.


Dave Reinders

David Reinders is a Certified Financial Planner and Investment Advisor. His Firm, David S Reinders, CFP, has been providing fee-based comprehensive Financial Planning and Investment Advisory services to individuals, families, business owners, and Christian ministries since 1992. David has been married to his lovely wife Anne for 20 years. They live in Valencia with their three children: Kristen (19), Alison (17) and David (14). Kristen attends Biola University and David and Alison attend Village Christian School in Sun Valley.

David has been involved in Charitable Gifting strategies since he came to California in 1981 as a financial supporter to help plant a campus church at UCLA. David is active in serving various faith-based organizations including the Foursquare Denomination where he serves on the Investment Committee. He and his family attend The Church on the Way where David serves as a member of the Church Council. David is also a Founding Member of the Christian Financial Professional Network and the Vice President of the LA Ventura branch. David is an Advisory Affiliate of Associate Planners Investment Advisory and is a member of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners. Currently, David is focusing on writing and public speaking as well as mentoring other Christian Financial Planners. For recreation David enjoys stock car racing, bowling, hiking, camping and traveling.


Randall P. Sanada

Randall is a Founding Member of the Christian Financial Professionals Network and has served on its Board of Directors. Currently, he is President of the LA/Ventura branch. As a member of Cornerstone Church in Moorpark, CA, Randall serves the Elder Board as a member of the Building Task Force. He and his wife Kay are regular leaders of Crown and Special Edition Bible studies.

Randall is a professional investor and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). He has two bachelor and two master degrees in the areas of business management, computer sciences and financial services.

In 1972, Randall embarked on his career as a financial advisor. He designed the first financial planning software, which was purchased by IDS/American Express. American Express also featured him in its 1985 Annual Report. Randall toured the United States training American Express financial advisors and was a television spokesperson for the company.

In 1987, Randall retired from American Express to establish a "family office" to manage their investment holdings. Other families were invited to participate and Alliance Financial Group, Inc. emerged. Today, Alliance has become a centralized financial services firm providing its clients with various resources ranging from asset management to tax and estate planning under the direction of a team of credentialed financial professionals. At the firm, every advisor's top prority is the practice of stewardship, (serving the clients' best interest).

With his sons in charge of the day to day operations, Randall is free to serve on the CFW Board, as well as pursue other ministry opportunities. Randall believes that the best investment is the one that involves Christian ministry, hence his focus on being a generous giver.


Jim Sullivan

Jim Sullivan is the US Regional Director of Development for Crown Financial Ministries and a member of that organization's North American Leadership Team. Jim and Kathy Sullivan took their first Crown study shortly after they were married in 1990 and were greatly impacted. God placed in their heart a passion to further this ministry and Jim came on staff as a Regional Director in 1993 covering 5 western states. At that time there were about 22 churches using Crown in the region. Under Jim's leadership that number now stands in the hundreds and includes Korean and Hispanic speaking congregations.

Jim and Kathy work as a team and have a passion to develop and train the infrastructure of staff and volunteers to bring Crown into the churches and Christian organizations throughout Southern California and Hawaii. They strongly believe that it is crucial to be "working in the trenches" to effectively interact with, identify and recruit leadership and ministry partners, as well as develop new alliances, programs, and ministry development opportunities.

They live in Mission Viejo, California with their daughter, Desiree, and are members of Saddleback church.


Sam Gallucci

Sam Gallucci built a career as one of the Founders in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Market. He has held several senior level positions, including serving as Executive Vice President and General Manager of PeopleSoft CRM, a division of PeopleSoft with over 400 employees and 200 million in annual revenues.

During the course of his career in CRM he became a well known key note speaker and luminary in his field, speaking frequently at conferences, business radio and TV.

After a life changing encounter with the Lord over 7 years ago, He made a major shift in his career to pursue Gods calling into ministry. Since that time, Sam has written a book co-authored by Steve Arterburn entitled "Road Warrior" Protecting your Integrity, Faith and Relationships when you are away from home. The book is scheduled for release by Random House in February of 08. In addition Sam is Teaching Director of a Community Bible Study class in Westlake Village.

Sam was on Staff at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, CA for 4 years as Team Coach of Worship and Events; He is a licensed minister and is currently attending Seminary.

He is President of CRM Associates, a management consulting firm that specializes in serving Church, Para-Church Ministries and Businesses to help them improve performance through improved customer relationships.

Sam and his wife Toni have been married for over 25 years. They have three boys - Louis 23, Nick 21, and Anthony 17


Advisory Members:

William Rehwald, Esq.
Senior Partner, Rehwald, Rameson and Lewis
Woodland Hills, CA

Dick Edic
Executive Director, Vision Resourcing
San Diego, CA