Steward Resources

When I partnered with Jim Stewart to begin Jim Stewart Realtors, Inc., 50 years ago, I fully believed my primary spiritual gift was that of administration. But as I dug deeper into spiritual gifts, it became very apparent that my primary gift was that of giving – stewardship. And then it all made sense why God put me where He did, where we could make money or hire, but also give money. 

I was born in a Christian home. Dad would write a check on Saturday afternoon to give to the church on Sunday morning. I saw that faithful stewardship modeled my whole childhood. As soon as I had my first job in high school, I tithed that money. It was just what I had learned to do. 

Barbara and I started the Earl B. Patrick Family Charitable Fund in 2000 to support missionaries, churches and organizations dear to us, including Baylor and the Business School. I could see what Baylor was accomplishing and we wanted to be a part of that. 

God has allowed us to do this. I’ve never thought of myself as being a wealthy person. But if you’re consistently giving and putting it somewhere where it’ll grow, you can do those kinds of things.