2025 Impact Report
Rooted in Faith,Growing in Love
Joining What is Newly Emerging
to What is Deeply Rooted
In a vineyard, hope works quietly through grafting that joins new vines to established rootstock, nourishing both to bear abundant fruit. A thriving church does the same, connecting deep, resilient roots of faith with new faithful expressions of ministry, for the benefit of both.
At TMF, we’ve seen how tradition can anchor innovation, and how new energy can renew the church. Grafting the two together is for mutual flourishing. When rooted together, we make space for growth so the whole vineyard — the whole church — can thrive and bear fruit for generations to come.
Dear Friends,
At Texas Methodist Foundation, we believe that when people come together in faith, their love becomes action, and that action changes lives. This is the Body of Christ at work, bearing the fruit of God’s enduring love.
This year at TMF, we’ve been inspired by the practice of grafting: a beautiful process by which gardeners and farmers join a new shoot to a strong, established rootstock so both may flourish.
It’s a powerful image of what Texas Methodist Foundation strives to do: through Learning and Innovation cohorts, learning journey experiences, and convening innovative leaders from across the Wesleyan ecosystem, combined with deep investing, lending, and charitable giving expertise, helps meet the needs of churches, all to strengthen the rootstock of the church while tending the grafts of fresh ministry.
Every day, we have the honor of working with churches and nonprofit ministries rooted in scripture, rich in faithful practices, and steady in their calling. We partner with innovative ministries and courageous leaders bringing fresh energy and hope to churches and neighborhoods across Texas and New Mexico.
In 2025, TMF Impact Certificate investors, borrowers, donors, and leaders like you helped make love in action possible. We received $TK million in new investments, bringing the total funds managed to $TK million. Our loan portfolio closed the year at $TK million. We received $TK million in gifts to support churches and ministry and made $TK million in donor-directed distributions. Through our Grants ministry, we provided $TK million in grants to TK churches and ministries, serving more than TK individuals. We also invested $TK million in Learning and Innovation innitiatives and cohorts.
Among the many stories of impact this year, two stand out. Rev. Dr. Paul Escamilla — long-time participant in TMF's leadership cohorts and now a facilitator guiding congregations to live the Gospel with new vision and new purpose — chose to invest in TMF's Impact Certificates as another way to strengthen the church's witness. And Scott Roberts transformed part of his IRA into an endowment with TMF, ensuring that the church that shaped him as a child will continue to form future generations in faith.
As you read our 2025 Impact Report, I hope you see your faith reflected in these stories and how your generosity is helping love continue to take root, grow, and bear fruit. Thank you for your partnership as we together tend the grafts needed for vital churches and flourishing neighborhoods.
By the grace of God, may it be so!
Rev. Lisa Greenwood
President & CEO
Texas Methodist Foundation
Mr. John Esquivel
Board Chair
Texas Methodist Foundation
Impact Certificate Investors Create A Cycle of Generosity
Giving Back by Investing
Investors in TMF Impact Certificates express a faith and generosity that both fund loans to churches and nonprofit ministries and earn a competitive return.*
Impact Certificate investors make possible a cycle of generosity that funds loans to churches and nonprofit ministries serving the needs of their communities, helping more people experience God’s love in tangible and transformative ways.
To learn more, we welcome you to meet the team.
Planting Seeds for Future Miracles
For Rev. Dr. Paul Escamilla, every challenge begins with love, because where there is love, there can be miracles.
As a facilitator with TMF’s Courageous Congregations Collaborate, Rev. Dr. Escamilla helps congregations live the Gospel with new vision and purpose. He purposefully invested in TMF Impact Certificates to seed a future where grace flows through infrastructure and love fuels imagination.
Loans Make Ministry Dreams Possible
Helping Ministries Take Root and Thrive
Since the early 1960s, TMF has helped churches and nonprofit ministries secure affordable loans with flexible terms that meet their unique borrowing needs, sustainably grow for the long term, and realize their God-inspired dreams.
TMF Impact Certificate investors fund loans for church construction projects and their capital needs. Unlike commercial financial institutions, loan interest earned by TMF is reinvested back into churches and nonprofit ministries through learning and innovation programs, philanthropy services, and grants.
To learn more, we welcome you to meet the team.
MEET THE TEAM BUTTON
Tending to the Heart of a Community
In 2019, a powerful storm collapsed the roof of Travis Park United Methodist Church’s youth building, flooding the entire historic facility. Yet, the damage didn’t diminish the congregation’s spirit — it revealed their resilience and commitment to their neighborhood.
Thanks in part to a loan from TMF, this historic church completed phase one of its restoration and kept its doors open. Today, the heart of Travis Park UMC beats stronger than ever. Their ministry was never about the building but about providing a home and sanctuary built on the love for their community.
Generosity Sustains Ministry
Planning for Faithful Generations to Come
Planned giving is how a cycle of generosity enables your faith to take root and grow for generations.
TMF’s Philanthropy team works closely with churches and donors to create giving plans that reflect their faith, values, and vision.
Through Donor-Advised Funds, endowments, and charitable trusts, we help maximize philanthropic impact — ensuring your generosity continues to bear fruit for years to come.
To learn more, we welcome you to meet the team.
Passing on a Legacy of Faith and Service
When Scott Roberts was ten, his father changed his life by taking him and his brothers to First UMC in La Porte, Texas. Those early Sunday mornings felt simple at first, with hymns and warm handshakes. But those mornings shaped him deeply, setting a course for his life that he is now passing on.
Inspired by his father’s quiet faith, Scott created an endowment with TMF so his church could thrive for generations to come, ensuring that the church that shaped him as a child will continue to form future generations in faith.
Grants Create Pathways to Hope
Nurturing Transformative Ministries
TMF expands donor impact by partnering with innovative churches and nonprofit ministries that transform communities across Texas and New Mexico.
TMF supports projects focused on evangelism with social impact and on programs that improve conditions for those living in poverty bringing a cycle of generosity to neighbors and communities.
To learn more, we welcome you to meet the team.
Loving Our Neighbors
neighbor2neighbor (n2n) is a TMF program that helps churches build on their gifts to become the heart of flourishing in their neighborhoods by expanding and deepening relationships.
Through n2n, pastors and lay leaders learn to serve with and for their neighborhoods while re-energizing their congregations. In 2025, the initiative grew to include 21 churches across Texas and New Mexico.
Grafting Innovations Into Traditions Nourishes Both
Leading With Faithful Imagination Across the Wesleyan Landscape
Across dozens of cohorts, learning journeys, publications, podcasts, and experimental initiatives, the Learning and Innovation team at TMF engages hundreds of leaders—from church leaders to bishops to spiritual entrepreneurs—at the leading edge of faithful change.
Together, these efforts are sparking imagination, forging unlikely partnerships, and equipping the church to meet this moment with courage, creativity, and hope.
To learn more, we welcome you to meet the team.
When a ChurchDares to Dream Big
What bold dream is stirring in your heart — so big it would be impossible without God?
That question took on new depth during a recent Learning Journey to Atlanta, where District Superintendents from the South Central Jurisdiction witnessed a powerful expression of ministry in motion at Atlanta First United Methodist Church. Hosted by Rev. Jasmine Smothers, the group explored the church’s ambitious redevelopment project — a vision that reimagines church property as a catalyst for community transformation.
The project includes 320 housing units — most of them deeply affordable — alongside space for a school, a new fellowship hall, gym, church offices, and 10,000 square feet of retail. It’s a comprehensive, Spirit-led response to real needs, made possible only through deep and diverse partnerships with the city, housing agencies, developers, nonprofits, and others.
At the heart of the vision is a guiding mantra:
“Attempt something so big that without God it’s bound to fail.”
“We left not only with insight,” reflected Rev. Robert Ortiz, Las Misiones District Superintendent, “but with a deeper awareness of how the Holy Spirit is building on the church’s long legacy — stirring fresh imagination for how we live out justice, compassion, and bold, Spirit-led innovation in our communities today.”
Conversations that ignite imaginations
NURTURING STORIES THAT SPARK IMAGINATION FOR THE FUTURE CHURCH
Every movement begins with a spark — and often, that spark is a conversation.
The Igniting Imagination® podcast invites church leaders and change-makers into bold dialogue that encourages vision, connection, and renewal for the future church.
Each episode opens up a dialogue and invites listeners into new possibilities for themselves, their church, and their community.
Hospitality When It’s Uncomfortable
With Rev. Alicia Forde and Tamice Spencer- Helms
Church Property: Key Takeaways From This Season
With Shannon Hopkins and Rev. Mark Elsdon
Sharing
the Fruit of Faithful Conversation
Generative conversations on the Igniting Imagination® podcast this year showed us new ministries rooted in the Wesleyan tradition and in faithful witness to heal the world.
Seasons explored critical themes for the current and future church including the role of hospitality in what is emerging in today's spiritual landscape, not just as a friendly gesture but as a profound spiritual and proactive action.
They discussed profound insights from esteemed guests, across the church property landscape who challenged them to see church properties not merely as real estate to be managed, but as sacred spaces with a deeper purpose and divine calling.
And included a powerful conversation at the intersection of faith and community transformation to talk about what it looks like when churches step beyond their traditional walls and into the lives of the people they serve.
Guests shared inspiring stories of answering the call to mutual flourishing, rooted in love, justice, and community.