From the Memo Board: October 2016

Financial Status Report

We have uploaded a Financial Status Report to your SecureCloud account. This is meant to show you the financial details that we have on file, such as your support estimate and the average amount of support you received this past quarter. This is information we provide to pastors who may call about your ministry. We ask that all missionaries update their support estimate once every four years, or as their lives and ministries change. Please review this information and contact us if you have any questions.

Support Average Figures

Our Office uses an average of funds received each quarter when calculating the percentage of support you are currently receiving. We use normal fiscal quarters rather than updating the averages after every month. We find that this yields a more accurate figure because it accounts for donors who send funds quarterly rather than monthly. Updating the average every quarter also allows for those on deputation who are frequently receiving new support to see an up-to-date figure of what is really being received. While it is helpful to know the percentage of support that has been promised, we encourage you to also be aware of the percentage of support actually being received. Click here to review information about how to calculate a support estimate.

Updated Manual

We recently updated the Missionary Procedures Manual in order to include changes that have taken place over the past few years. Most of these changes have been published individually in Headquarter Happenings over time. The current version of the manual is now available in SecureCloud under the Forms and Manuals section. If you have any questions please contact Naomi Torberson.

Vehicle Rentals & Material Acquisitions

We have been made aware of two different ministries that can help your ministry with vehicle rentals and more:

  • Christian Missionary Technical Services assists missionaries with many services, including vehicle rentals, purchases, materials acquisitions, and shipping containers. Check out their website for more details.
  • Missionary TECH Team (located in Longview, TX) is now leasing vehicles for missionaries on furlough. Their rates for rentals, as well as the lease application form and more information, can be found here.

 

From Our President: October 2016

Danny Whetstone

Summer is ended! In my part of the world the green leaves will turn to a variety of colors that will dazzle our eyes. As the days pass it will get cooler, and then colder. We know this because it has been our experience year after year.

The observations of older people have always interested me. I remember a farmer once telling me that if you dug a hole for a fence post in the wrong moon phase you could put the post in the hole and not have enough dirt to finish filling the hole. On the other hand if you dug the hole in the correct moon phase you would have sufficient dirt to pack down for a firm hold. Is it some kind of magic? No, it is simple observation over a long period of time.

It appears that we too often endure the long, cold winter without seeing fruit for our labor and grow so discouraged that we fail to reap the harvest when it is all around us. A vicious cycle follows until we complain about the lack of harvest while the seed is still in the barn.

The Lord permitted those that would follow Him to catch a great many fish after they had worked all night without taking anything. When they acknowledged their amazement at what He had done, He declared that He would make them fishers of men. Jesus came to seek those that would be saved. He has invited us to join Him in His great commission to see people saved by His grace. Is it possible that we could allow this most noble cause to be buried under the rubble of daily activities? Could it be that we would permit the misuse of this calling to seek converts to cause us to neglect this sacred duty? Might it be that we fear failure should we dedicate our lives to this task to seek the lost?

I would like to find some acceptable excuses for my lack of diligence in reaching out to a lost world, but there aren’t any. It is true that evangelism is only part of the Great Commission, but it is part. As a matter of fact, it is the first part. If it was important enough for our Lord to come to earth to seek the lost should it not be important enough for us to rise to the occasion in our generation to go into the highways and hedges looking for them? If we are just too busy to evangelize we are just too busy with something that should be left undone!

We know that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation.” We must broadcast the seed believing that it will do its perfect work if given the opportunity. The Lord is counting on us, and the world is depending on us. If we fail let it not be caused by neglect.

God bless each of us as we strive to serve Him faithfully in the coming days. May each of us be more diligent in our witness for Christ than we have ever been before.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

Prayer & Dates: October 2016

October 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 October. 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.