February 2016 – Headquarter Happenings

February 29, 2016March 2, 2016

From Our President: March 2016

Will you think back to your interview with World Wide during your application process? I know for some of us that was a long…long…long time ago! At the end of the interview you would have been asked to simply make us aware if you changed your mind about the position that you held at that time. In order for any of us to have been accepted, we would have—of necessity—responded with an answer of “yes”.

in·teg·ri·ty:  the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. “He is known to be a man of integrity.”
synonyms:
honesty, probity, rectitude, honor, good character, principle(s), ethics, morals, righteousness, morality, virtue, decency, fairness, scrupulousness, sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness. “I never doubted his integrity.”

For so many today, the end justifies the means. You see it in politics and in business all the time. But this should not be part of the Christian’s dealings. Anyone has the right to change his mind about almost anything; however, if we establish relationships on our words to each other we should be honest enough to let the other know if we change our position.

Personally, I have no problem respecting someone that has an opinion contrary to mine. As a mission, World Wide has never set out to hurt anyone, even if we disagreed. On the other hand, it is very difficult for me to understand why we would establish a relationship on an even playing field and not maintain a steady line without communicating that for weeks, months or even years.

Once trust is broken it is a very difficult thing to renew. If you change your mind about any of the things covered in the application process, please let us know before it finds its way through some other means to us. We mean you no harm, but the integrity of our relationship must be maintained if we are going to work together.

We are proud to say that by-and-large the people we have worked with through the years have dealt above-board with us. It is rare that situations arise that require us to go separate ways. As we are traveling to various churches we look at the missions’ display, and we are very pleased to talk to the pastor about your ministries. Keep up the good work. We pray the Lord’s richest blessings to be yours.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

February 29, 2016February 29, 2016

From the Memo Board: March 2016

Family Fellowship Week

Family Fellowship Week is fast approaching! Please be sure to make plans to join us June 20-23 at Valley Baptist Church in Edinburg, VA. We will be exploring the theme, Workers Together With God. You’ll not want to miss this exciting time of encouragement with fellow servants. Click here to see what others are saying about this life changing week!

Moving to the Field or Furlough Trips

Are you leaving for the field soon? Planning a furlough? Click here to see a list of tips that might help in your planning stages. These lists are a part of the Missionary Procedures Manual, which is always available on SecureCloud.

Tax Alert

For tax year 2015 a significant change took effect in regards to the Federal Child Tax Credit. It is our understanding that this will affect those living abroad who have children under 17 and who utilize Forms 2555 or 2555-EZ when submitting their tax returns. If this applies to you, you may want to discuss with your tax preparer whether calculating your 2015 return without Form 2555 or 2555 EZ will give you a better outcome. Please discuss with your tax preparer whether this change will affect the amount you should be submitting in estimated taxes for 2016.

Tax Notes

As you prepare to submit your financial documents to your tax preparer, here are some things you may want to remember to give them:

List of dates you were in the US vs. out of the country
Details of any housing expenses
Information on any retirement plans
Information on any investments
Information about any foreign bank accounts on which you are a signatory
Details of any family births or deaths (Names, dates, and SSNs)
Details of estimated taxes submitted
Information about your health coverage and medical expenses
W-2s, 1099’s, and other tax forms received
Details of charitable contributions

New Missionary

Sammy and Connie McNeill have recently joined the World Wide family. The McNeills are sent out of the New Testament Baptist Church in Robbins, NC, with Pastor Darrin Richardson. They have been married for 33 years and have two adult daughters. Bro. McNeill has recently retired as the Chief of Police. His experience in law enforcement and as a coach in local schools has given him a burden to reach the unchurched youth in America. Pray for the McNeills as they begin this new ministry.

New Babies

Congratulations to Fred III and Brittany Daniel on the birth of Carolina Rose on January 28th. Carolina weighed 7 pounds and was 21 inches long. She is the sixth child of the Daniels, and joins older siblings Katherine, Ashlyn, Fred IV, Kevin, and Isabella. The family serves in Mexico.

Congratulations to Stephen and Charity Jenney on the birth of Samuel on January 29th. Samuel is the second child of the Jenneys, and joins his older brother Judson. The family plans to begin deputation this spring to work in the Southwestern United States.

Congratulations to Josh and Joanna Town on the birth of Jennifer Rose on February 16. She weighed 8.14 pounds and was 20 inches long. Jennifer is the third daughter of the Towns, joining Juliana and Jayla. The family currently serves in Lebanon, where they have been preparing for a stateside ministry to Muslims. They plan to transition back to the US later this summer.

February 25, 2016February 29, 2016

Prayer & Dates: March 2016

March Prayer/Praises and Special Dates

Click the link above to download a PDF of prayer requests and praises as well as the birthdays and anniversaries for March. Note: You will need to login to SecureCloud in order to view this document. Once you have logged in, click on Files Shared, then Headquarter Happenings, then scroll to the month you would like to view. This step protects people with WWNTBM in restricted access fields.

February 25, 2016February 29, 2016

Featured Article: The Greatest Race

Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. . . . The blood of righteous Abel . . . By faith Abel . . . Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. (Gn. 4:8b, Mt. 23:35, Heb. 11:4, 12:1)

Many unusual and remarkable races take place on our planet. Some are individual; others require team effort. Some span entire continents; others cross forests, glaciers, or oceans. Some are on foot; others are on wheels, on animals, inside machines. Some use primarily muscles; others use mainly brains and savvy. Some take minutes; others take hours, days, months, or even years. Almost all have in common that they are in some way grueling and exhausting, and require dogged determination. Many also include the risk of serious injury or even death–and on and on.

But there is one race that dwarfs them all; so much so, that it really does not deserve to be placed alongside them for comparison.

Think about a race, a kind of relay race, that spans at least 6,000 years! What man or organization could keep the records? Who could possibly monitor and supervise it? By all human standards, a race that went beyond the death of all its directors and participants would not even make sense.

But this race is a real, literal race. It has an Organizer, start and finish points, registered participants, a specific timespan, and final rewards.

However, it does have some rather odd characteristics. For one thing, back when the race started, there were no human beings watching it. The first runners, after participating, then became the first spectators; well, sort of. To this very day, as each one finishes his or her leg, they are promoted into the heavens, from where they watch the rest of the event.

Each runner is unique, in almost every way, and so are their races. Some run for a long time, others hardly even seem to get warmed up. There are men and women and children from nearly every language, country, century, and social category. Each receives a brand new stage, customized for them, specifically prepared for their time and place.

This massive event has been going on since the Garden of Eden and a selective list of some of its important runners is found in Hebrews 11. The brief summary of each of their performances provides much food for thought.

For example, take the first on the list, Abel. I am always tempted to feel sorry for him. He had so little opportunity to run, being cruelly and abruptly bumped off the course before he could accomplish much at all. I’ve sometimes wondered if he could be nursing a tiny grudge because of his bad luck.

But that way of thinking is totally off track.

Why? Because the Master of the race is Jesus, the Eternal One. He’s the One who gave the initial pistol shot and who is calmly waiting at the finish line to announce the end of the contest.

He will individually and perfectly reward every faithful runner.

But is there any possibility that He might forget someone like Adam and Eve’s unfortunate boy?

Not a chance.

A few thousand years into the race He personally jumped in to run alongside some of His created ones. While running, He specifically honored His martyr Abel, and then had Matthew record His words, so that there would be no doubt that Abel was still on His mind! But just in case there still remained a few skeptics out there, He placed him on the first pedestal of faith in that famous eleventh chapter.

The Race Master’s records are perfect.

Now . . . I am in this race too.

And so are you, if you have believed in Christ. Moreover, it is a privilege beyond words to enter it and we only get one opportunity to run.

My only goal should be to be faithful and run well. The length of my race depends entirely on the Lord and is ultimately of no real importance.

Dear Father, many have run before me, but those in this list are carefully chosen for me to study and learn from. Please don’t let me ignore or neglect such an opportunity. Amen.

February 2, 2016February 4, 2016

Tax Time Reminders

Tax season is once again upon us! Here are several reminders concerning tax issues that you may face. We trust that this information will be useful to you, both in giving you a better understanding of your reports and helping you to be aware of items that may affect your personal taxes. Please be sure that you are following published guidelines found in your Missionary Orientation Manual when listing expenses on your financial reports. Thank you!

Tax Paperwork for 2015

Tax related paperwork generated by WWNTBM will be in your SecureCloud folder on February 1st. This includes W-2 forms, MFR Summary Reports, and Estimated Tax letters. If you requested that we submit your tax information directly to your tax preparer, please note that those documents may not be sent until mid to late February. This is to ensure that there is time for us to include any forms that may arrive in our office from other sources. If you have any questions, please contact Naomi.

The Affordable Care Act and Your Taxes

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will affect your taxes in regards to your Health Insurance coverage. If you are enrolled in the Health Insurance Marketplace, you should expect to receive a Form 1095-A from the Marketplace, which you will need to submit to your tax preparer. If you were not enrolled in the Marketplace, you may still need to discuss your Health Insurance plan with your preparer, as it is our understanding this will affect your tax return this year.

It is our understanding that US residents living overseas who may have returned to the US for more than 35 days in 2015 may also be subject to specific fees regarding the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision of the ACA. Information about this is available on the IRS website by clicking here.

Questions about this should be directed to your tax preparer.

1099 Forms

If churches issued funds payable to you in excess of $600 during the year 2015, they may issue you a 1099 form. If those funds were either mailed to the office, or included on Line 2 of your MFR as extra income, they are already included in the total of your W-2. Our office can assist you in verifying whether the funds were included on your W-2. Your tax preparer can assist you on your return in recording this so that you are not taxed twice on the same income. We recommend that you request churches to make checks payable to WWNTBM to avoid this issue in the future.

Foreign Tax Exclusion

In order to claim the foreign tax exclusion, you must be out of the US for 330 days over a 12 month period of time; however, these days do not have to be in the same calendar year. In order to gain the full benefit of the foreign tax exclusion, your tax preparer may be able to revise your returns based on the actual time you have spent overseas. Because of this, it is vital to provide your tax preparer with all of your travel dates to and from the US. You may also wish to discuss with your tax preparer what dates would be the best travel dates when planning to leave for the field or return on furlough, as this could affect how much you are allowed to claim under the foreign tax exclusion.

Estimated Tax Payments

Missionaries are considered to be self-employed, and are therefore subject to self-employment taxes. Submitting quarterly estimated tax payments throughout the year will help to prevent having a large tax payment due each April. Estimated tax payments can be submitted on your own, or, if you are interested, you may contact our office for information on how we can submit them for you.

Tax Paperwork for those with Foreign Bank Accounts

US Treasury Dept. regulations require that if you have any foreign bank accounts, and if the sum total of all of your foreign accounts has ever been $10,000 at any given time during the past year, you must complete the IRS Foreign Bank and Financial Account Form (FBAR) and give it to your tax preparer. This includes all foreign accounts on which you are a signatory, such as a ministry account. This form, and further information about it, is available on the IRS website at www.irs.gov. It is our understanding that there have been several changes to these requirements in recent years, and you may also need to complete Form 8938. Please refer to the IRS website and your tax preparer if you have any questions.

Ministry Bank Accounts

If your ministry has been chartered and established as a non-profit organization, we recommend having your ministry get a bank account in its name. Funds for purchases such as land may be able to be sent directly to your ministry, thus eliminating your personal tax liability. Please note that there are limitations to this option. Of course, regular support could never be sent this way. Please contact our office for more information.

Utilizing a Tax Professional

Studies have shown that the average person who uses a tax professional, instead of filing their own taxes, receives a much greater tax return. When comparing the returns of those who self file vs. those who use a tax professional, it is estimated that a self-filer loses between $297 and $791 in missed refunds. The savings far exceed the amount spent to hire a professional. (Statistics taken from daveramsey.com.) It is also good to note that not all professionals are familiar with tax situations that might affect you. We encourage all missionaries to use a certified tax preparer who is familiar with special tax situations that affect missionaries. A listing of tax preparers used by other missionaries is available on SecureCloud, under the Forms and Manuals section.