RMCNews – Denver, Colorado … “When I was 18 years old, I took an interest survey in college that said I should be a funeral director. When you’re 18, you don’t want to hear that. I joked and laughed about it. But, you know, here I am, at the end of my career, working with wills and trusts and helping people plan for their legacy. The interest survey was probably right back then,” Mary Lynn Green, RMC’s new director of planned giving and trust services, said.

Mary Lynn Green, the fourth child of a railroader and nursing assistant, grew up in small-town America in Missouri. She recalls the town having around 2000 people and two main schools–a public and a Catholic school–both around the same enrollment.  Green adds, “We were not rich in material things, but I never grew up thinking anything but that I had a very good life.”

Her mother, she says, was an Adventist, while her father wasn’t. Later, in life he was baptized into the church, which created a unique family situation. She sees this as an asset in her current role when dealing with blended families of all types.

Green describes her new role as, “giving folks peace of mind by helping them plan for their future and [to] understand where they are today, where they want to be in the future, and even as they pass away.”

As director, Green is honored to lead a department that provides these services free of charge. Many conferences do not offer this. “It is a service of our church to the Rocky Mountain Conference constituents. There is no fee for doing the work that we do.”

She explains that even though planned giving and trust services deals with financial aspects of everyday life, they are doing ministry.

“We always think of what we do as a ministry. The relationships that we build with the constituents who reach out for our services are our utmost priority. We represent the church, and we aim to send the message, ‘We care about you. You are part of our church family.’ And we’ll continue to do what we’re doing as a service, developing relationships, listening to people, encouraging them, praying with them.”

Green added that planned giving and trust services helped individuals stay connected during the recent pandemic. “During the pandemic, Matt Moreland [associate director / field representative] spent hours on the phone. People were lonely, isolated. They needed to know that the church cared. By providing this service and by building relationships, we want people to know that we care and this is their church.”

After serving under two previous directors, Green plans to lead the department with an emphasis on grace while expanding technology use. “I think for me, my focus is grace. We make mistakes. We’ve all experienced the grace of the Supreme, and I believe in extending grace. I love the team that I work with. There is no division between me and the team. We’re all a team. We all work as a team. Out of the [previous] two directors, I probably have the most technological focus. As much as anything else, it’s the experience I have and the times we live in.” She looks forward to leading the department in visiting as many churches as possible.

Green is interested in visiting the vast territory of RMC including parts of Wyoming where she lived for a time. “We had the privilege of living in Northern Wyoming for five years and we loved Wyoming, but we didn’t get over to the Eastern side of the state. The same for Colorado, I’ve been to the Western Slope a little bit but I haven’t been down to Alamosa, and I have not been to the churches in New Mexico. I would love to have the opportunity to stop and say hello to folks, share potluck, visit, and answer their questions.”

Green, with her husband, lives in Denver and spends her free time exercising and taking breaks to enjoy family time with her two sons who are in their early twenties.

Planned Giving and Trust Services is available to answer your questions. Please call 303-733-3771 or email [email protected]. If you would like to schedule a visit to your church from Mary Lynn Green or anyone from the department, please contact your pastor.

–RMCNews; photo by Jon Roberts