David Wills

Transcript

Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections. It's a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are talking generosity with Baylor's 2024 Alumnus of the Year. We're visiting today with David Wills, whose passion for helping Christians plan their estates and support causes they love led him to lead the world's largest Christian grant-making foundation. After earning his Bachelor's in Business Administration at Baylor in 1985, followed by a law degree in 1988, the two-time Baylor graduate went on to serve as co-founder of Generous Giving and TrustBridge Global Foundation. And as president of National Christian Foundation. He's now NCF's President Emeritus and he is, as we said, Baylor's 2024 Alumnus of the year. He lives in Waco with his wife Chris. And we're really glad to have the chance to visit with you today. Mr. Wills, congratulations on your Alumnus of the Year award and thanks for taking the time to visit with us today.

David Wills:
An honor to be with you Derek. Thank you.

Derek Smith:
Well, it's great to have you here. And I'm curious, Alumnus of the Year, what did it mean to you to be honored in that way by your alma mater?

David Wills:
Well, it was shocking, frankly. Could very well be one of the most humbling things that's ever happened in my life. So actually when I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke. I thought certainly there are so many other people, but our family is a Baylor family and has been multi-generational, and so it had a family aspect to it. It was clearly a personal honor. And then I've got kids, I still have kids at Baylor, and so it was extraordinary. I'm not even honestly sure how to answer your question. It's such an overwhelming honor.

Derek Smith:
That's wonderful, well deserved. You mentioned you still have kids at Baylor. What's it like being a Baylor dad after being a Baylor alum when you were their age?

David Wills:
Well, I'll tell you that from my perspective, Baylor just keeps getting better and better. And so I'm so thankful. We just had one graduate a little over a year ago. We had one graduate about six years ago, and we've got a senior and a junior now. And I tell you what, the more we get engaged with Baylor, the better it looks. And so we're very, very blessed to be a part of the Baylor family.

Derek Smith:
Talking with David Wills, Baylor's 2024 Alumnus of the Year. You know Mr. Wills, I talked a little bit about what you've done, a very brief description. I'm curious, as you're talking to Baylor alumni about the topics that you're really, really passionate about as you visit with your fellow Bears, what are some of the topics that when they come up you really enjoy talking about, whether it's professionally or whether it's even Baylor related or both?

David Wills:
When I'm talking with people about Baylor, especially the alums, I love to give them a glimpse into what Baylor is like today. We live outside of Waco, a place called China Spring. And so we're involved with Baylor. And so many of my friends and alums, they don't have the privilege of living this close. My wife and I are very involved in the business school. There are a couple of courses that we kind of help with. One of them is called God and Money, and the other one is the best class in the business school. And we even travel with these, I was going to call them kids, they're kids to us. And I'm telling you what's happening in their lives, they are being transformed in every way, spiritually, educationally.
These are just extraordinary kids with extraordinary professors that are impacting their whole lives. Probably just because I was not as mature as they are when I was at Baylor. I didn't sense that that was like that. But I'm telling you today, it is amazing what Baylor is doing. The education is extraordinary, but the relationships that these professors are having with these kids is transformational. That's what I talk to people about when I'm talking to alums about Baylor. I just basically tell them it was incredible when we were there and it's far better today.

Derek Smith:
So now it's not just about facilities. So I almost don't want to boil what you just said down to facilities, but are the classrooms in a foster campus a little nicer than the ones that you took your classes in?

David Wills:
Yeah, just a tad. The law school is a little bit nicer than Morrison Hall was as well. So yeah, it's an easy selling point. I have two professors, Michael Rodriguez and Tyler Self, that when I have a potential student a friend who wants to send their kid, is trying to get their kid to Baylor, I just get them to go over to Foster, spend some time with these two professors. And so far we're batting a thousand on getting kids to Baylor when we do this. Yes, the facilities are quite a bit nicer than they were back in the old days.

Derek Smith:
The old days. Hey, the '80s. Don't sound that long ago. But a lot has changed for sure.

David Wills:
A lot has changed.

Derek Smith:
Visiting with David Wills and Mr. Wills, you help guide people towards exhibiting generosity to organizations or causes they love. But I want to hear in your voice. You know when someone's asks you, "Mr. Wills, what do you do?" How do you answer that? What's the description you give?

David Wills:
Well, the short description I give is I have the best job in the world.
So what I do is I have the very good fortune of spending time with some of the most generous people on Earth, and you've never met an unhappy, generous person. So all of the people that I get to serve, they're just full of joy and they just want to actually do more and more of what they've been doing from a generosity standpoint. And I have the privilege of working with many of the ministries that they support who are some of the most extraordinary works in the world. And so I probably shouldn't be paid for what I do every day is just an amazing adventure interacting with those two groups.

Derek Smith:
So for you personally, when did you first start down this path? Was it something you thought about when you were young or did it come later?

David Wills:
It did not come when I was young. I grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, and in your high school, they give you the spiritual gift tests. You may have taken one of those yourself, but let's just say mercy and giving were the lowest two scores consistently when I was younger. I would describe myself as a greedy person living in an extraordinarily generous home. So it really started by me seeing my parents be extravagantly generous my whole life. It's still that way to this day. So that would be the first seed. When I got out of law school, went to practice in Dallas, and through many God ordained circumstances, I met a guy named Greg Sperry. And Greg was a lawyer as well. He was a former litigator, and he had switched his practice really to a trusted estate practice focusing on the charitable aspect.
And well, let's just say a year later, I'm working with Greg, we're moving to the great state of Georgia, and he's been my mentor since the first week of 1992. He was the catalyst, well, he just completely changed the trajectory of my life. God did through him, I would say. Does that answer your-

Derek Smith:
Yes, that does. Absolutely. And for you, practically, what did that look like? I mentioned that you've served as co-founder of Generous Giving and TrustBridge Global Foundation, president of National Christian Foundation. I'm sure this could be a question that could take up the entire show if we [inaudible 00:08:20]. What did that path look like? Where's that path led you from there to here?

David Wills:
Well, with regards to those other entities, gosh, that is a long question. It takes a long answer, but I'll be as brief as I can. We just, as we continue to serve more and more families, we began to learn more and more of what their needs were. And so there's kind of two sides to this. Every giver asks and answers three questions along their journey of generosity. Why should I be generous? How do I do that and where should I give? And through their lives, they just keep answering these questions. The first question is why? And it's probably the most important and foundational question. And the church struggles with that question. And so that's why Generous Giving was created. It's solely is about helping people on a transformational way and an experiential way go deeper and deeper into the why of generosity.
The where question is a fascinating question in the world we work, and that's how these other entities kind of came into existence. So it used to be that all you did was write a check or put some money in an offering plate, but today it's much bigger than that. So grant-making or giving charitably can be that the normal charitable giving, it can also be impact investing today. And it can also be to individuals. And there's organizations that we are a part of, they're not inside of NCF, but they kind of run alongside NCF to help accomplish all of those things.
And then in addition to that, now people are starting to give internationally to charities that are not US charities. That's the TrustBridge piece of the puzzle. An organization is called Helping Hands is who we use to help give to individuals in need. The Impact Foundation is the organization we use to do impact investing. And I could go on and on with other organizations that... We've kind of created a flotilla, if you will, to really serve all the needs in the generosity movement. And now it's global. So now there are probably about 15 NCFs all over the world, and more and more are coming online.

Derek Smith:
You talk to so many people in this work. I'm curious, as you ask them those three questions, are there things that you are continually learning? Because I'm sure you probably hear some of the same answers, but I'm sure there's a lot of things that hit you in a new way or pleasantly surprise you. What's it like getting to walk through those questions with people?

David Wills:
Well, let's be honest, Derek, the reason there was a group of us that started Generous Giving because we needed Generous Giving. As just believers, we're continually in a mode of discipleship, of growing in our faith in Christ. And as you do that, especially if you have the gift of giving, you start to grow in that gift as well. And so it's extremely personal. Now, you might think that I'm the last person that should be doing this. If I'm flunking the spiritual gift test when I'm in high school and giving is the lowest score, what on earth is God doing? But that's the way, exactly the way God works.
He takes somebody like me completely unqualified really, from a spiritual standpoint, and says, "I'm going to put you right in the middle of this." He's more interested in my heart than any of the things that I do. And so it's a constant with all the people that we work with and ourselves, everybody that's in the NCF and Generous Giving, TrustBridge, Impact Found... All of those environments, all of us are learning and learning about the power and the joy you can find in generosity as we're serving people that are actually being extravagantly generous.

Derek Smith:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with David Wills, Baylor's 2024 Alumnus of the Year. David Wills served as co-founder of Generous Giving and TrustBridge Global Foundation and is president of National Christian Foundation. He's now NCF's President Emeritus as we visit with him. And I'm curious, we talk about generosity and certainly there's the financial giving aspect. There's some people who have a lot to give, some people who don't have as much to give. But what have you learned about what generosity looks like no matter what your financial station in life is, no matter what you have to work with, I'm sure you've seen a little bit of everything.

David Wills:
Oh, absolutely. And generosity, because of my professional background where we've been talking about financial generosity, but generosity is not just about financial generosity. I have a mentor named Ken [inaudible 00:13:18], and Ken says, there's five things that God entrusts into our care that we are to steward. Three of them are pretty often time, talent, and treasure. And then there's two more. There's truth and there are relationships. And so in all five of those spheres of our lives, everyone has been blessed in different ways, and maybe you might say in different degrees with these five things.
Every day is a generosity journey because every day we're stewarding those five things. And so it never stops. It's just a part of who we are. And the more faithful we are, stewarding those five things, the more joy we experience in our lives. That's the way God designed it. And so he is, and it's all a response to his generosity to us, all of it. Not only that he entrusts these things to us to steward, but he himself is the ultimate picture. The grace of God is what attracts us to be extravagantly generous as we steward those five things in our lives.

Derek Smith:
Well, Mr. Wills, I think you just kind of answered part of the question I was going to ask you. You talked about how you get to work with generous people are happy people, and you get to work with some of the happiest people around. You mentioned that you had a journey, your own personal journey to generosity. And I'm curious, when you think about are happy people generous or are generous people happy, or where do those lines intersect? Because I think what you really just described is a journey, a journey that you went on and becoming more Christ-like, and almost maybe you see the fruits of that develop throughout different seasons of your life.

David Wills:
Well, yeah. It's a really, really profound question that you're asking, of course, in different ways. It's both. And as far as, which is the chicken or the egg, happiness or generosity. The scriptures tell us though, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So our heart follows our treasure. It's a guarantee. It's not just a principle. It is a scriptural truth. And so if you want to experience greater joy in your life, be more generous. If you want to have a bigger heart for missions, give to missions. If you want to really become more engaged in your local church, give more to your local church. Your heart will follow. It's just the way it works. And when it's generosity, the bonus is, is that you also never meet somebody that was generous, that wishes that they hadn't been. It just doesn't happen. And so when you're stewarding those five things towards anything in this life, your heart is going to go there. And the joy is just a part of the mix. It's automatic in the formula, if you will. Is that answering your question?

Derek Smith:
That's a great answer. Absolutely. Great description of that, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also as we visit with David Wills here on Baylor Connections. And Mr. Wills, switching gears just a little bit, I'm curious. As you think about your Baylor, tell me what you've just described your passion for, it really shines through, and I know your time at Baylor led towards that as you started down one path in law, but then switched, you formed a foundation that became the largest of its kind. I'm curious, when you think about Baylor and how it impacted you, you mentioned you teach. What are some of the other ways that your love for Baylor has kind of manifested itself over the years and impacted your path?

David Wills:
That could become an emotional question for me, and I know this isn't true for everybody in everyone's professions, but God put me at Baylor to prepare me specifically for what he would call me to quite a few years, five, six years after I left Baylor. I mean the education itself, I was very fortunate. One of my majors was entrepreneurship. It was extraordinary. So my actual education significantly impacted my future. Then I went to law school, and that was something that even to this day, I still engage in my profession and the educational path, but that was just a part of the picture, my experience with the care of the professors that I had when I was in school, it changed my life. It just did. It's just, yeah, I'm sorry.

Derek Smith:
That's wonderful.

David Wills:
Because several just come to my mind immediately, instantly, and we don't have time for me to tell you those stories. But yeah, Baylor's not just about the books. The professors and the relationships they have with us, had with us back then, were transformational. And obviously the friends that the gift of relationships, which is one of those five things, it's one of the main reasons I try to encourage people to send their kids to Baylor because the gift of relationships is not the same everywhere. Baylor is extraordinary. God, there's an outpouring of relationships for folks that are blessed to go to Baylor. Those three things were like three legs of a stool that have been a massive part of really everything.

Derek Smith:
And I know now you said your kids are following in your footsteps, so I'm sure that's one aspect that keeps you busy and keeps you connected. But for you and your wife, Chris, where are we likely to find you all either enjoying Baylor or just enjoying this stage of life when you're not working or teaching?

David Wills:
I think I can answer that word in one word, Max. He is our first grandchild. He's about a year and a half old, I'd say getting close to two years. And I'm telling you, he's got us. Our oldest child, a Baylor grad, and his wife, Abby, and Johnny is his name, they have blessed us with Max as a grandchild. They live in Dallas. We're just about an hour and a half away. I don't even know if that's what you were asking in that question, but when-

... you said something I thought of Max. So that's what you really get. Yes. So yeah, we have seven children, six boys and a girl and two daughters-in-law, and now we have Max. So our family is where you will find us if we're not working, we're with family.

Derek Smith:
That's great. Well, I'm sure Max is the beneficiary of some great attention from you all as you burn miles up and down I-35 and that sounds like a lot of fun. Let me ask you to close things out. When you think about your time working with members of the Baylor family, working with others, or just getting to share with these Baylor students, what's the aspect of that that at this stage in life, enriches you the most?

David Wills:
Well, we're very, very blessed because the life experiences that we have, both from our work, from our family, our friends, we're full. We're just full to overflowing in our life. And so if the person that you're asking me to talk to as a Baylor student, I would be saying to them, "Just use this time and just steward it well. Just get everything you can out of it and God will bless you accordingly."

Derek Smith:
Well, that's wonderful. Well, Mr. Wills, thank you so much for your time, for the work you do, and if people are interested in learning more about giving, I know you can really just... Is it as simple as googling National Christian Foundation, or Generous Giving and taking a look at what's available?

David Wills:
Yeah, you could look into any of those entities that I mentioned before, and it's great to do that. You'll learn that there's a whole world out there with regards to generosity that you probably never would've imagined, but it's a wonderful place to be, and as I said, it's a fun place to be.

Derek Smith:
Absolutely. Well, Mr. Wills, thanks so much for taking the time to share with us. Congratulations on being named Alumnus of the Year, and just appreciate your time today on the program.

David Wills:
Oh, it's been my privilege, Derek, thank you.

Derek Smith:
Thank you so much. David Wills Baylor's Alumnus of the Year, co-founder of Generous Giving and TrustBridge Global Foundation and President Emeritus of National Christian Foundation. Our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith, a reminder you can hear this and other programs online, baylor.edu/connections. You can subscribe to the program on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.