WWNTBM
We love having people stop by the Office! In the last few weeks, we’ve had visits from several of our missionaries, as well as some larger groups. If you are ever in the area please come by and see us. Here are pictures of some of our recent guests:
December 1 – October Financial Reports will be due.
December 8 – Revised pay date for those who normally receive funds on the 10th.
December 8 – All prayer letters should be submitted to our staff in order for your recipients to get them before Christmas.
December 18 – Please contact us by this date if you will need funds in your account before Christmas or the end of the year.
December 20-27 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Christmas.
January 1 – November Financial Reports will be due.
January 9 – Missionaries will receive their statements of December Support Received.
January 11 – All missionaries will receive their final December support on this day, regardless of the day they normally receive support.
January 15 – December Financial Reports will be due, along with any remaining receipts or financial paperwork for 2017.
January 31 – W-2 Forms and other tax documentation for the 2017 year will be available.
Please contact us via Signal by December 18 if you would like funds in your account before Christmas. Final December support distributions will be made on January 11th for all missionaries, regardless of their regular pay date. Contacting us by December 18 will enable us to schedule your funds around bank closings and holiday hours. Should you have an emergency need after December 19, you may contact our staff at the following numbers:
John O’Malley: 704-974-6108
Kim O’Malley: 704-974-1008
During a typical month, we close the books on the 25th and any checks received after that date are posted to the following month. Due to receipting requirements, we cannot do this in the month of December. As a result, please be aware that your December support total may be higher than normal, while your January support total may be lower than normal. Please be sure to plan ahead for this!
We have recently had several requests for information about tax preparers used by other missionaries. Therefore, we wanted to make this available again to everyone in case others are looking for a new tax preparer.
Studies have shown that the average person who uses a tax professional, instead of filing their own taxes, receives a much greater tax return. Many have also found that using tax software does not always compare to the benefits of using a professional either. In many instances it is not that the software or the self-filer is wrong, but that other choices not obvious in the software may be better for the individual. (Information 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 list of tax preparers used by other missionaries is available on SecureCloud, under the Forms and Manuals section. Each of these agencies are currently taking new clients. Prices and level of assistance can vary greatly from one agency to another, so it may be beneficial to contact them first to discuss your individual circumstances before choosing a preparer. A less expensive option may not always be the most beneficial for your situation.
Each year we are required to publish to all missionaries the following:
WWNTBM currently offers our missionaries the option of participating in a 403(b) Retirement Plan, the non-profit version of a 401(k) plan. We encourage all of our missionaries to participate in some type of retirement planning. If you do not currently have a 403(b) account and would be interested in opening one, please contact our office for a listing of vendors and more information.
Due to IRS regulations, we are required to use a Third Party Administrator (TPA) to handle all 403(b) accounts. The administrative fee is $50.00 per year, which will be deducted from Support each January or February for those who contribute. The TPA assists us by administering our plan and keeping us in compliance with the Department of Labor and IRS codes.
Please note that loans and hardship withdrawals are not allowed by the companies who manage your 403(b).
Please see the 403(b) Availability Notice in SecureCloud under the Forms and Manuals folder for the latest information on contribution amounts and limits for 2017 and 2018.
The following recordings were recently published on Uplift.com. You may access the site by entering the username: wwntbm and the password: gospel. These recordings for our missions family contain the Uplift calls in their entirety, including prayer requests and challenges to our missionaries. We hope they will encourage your heart.
I pray that you have had a prosperous 2017. This has been a very busy year for us and for that we are grateful to the Lord and His people. This is an appropriate time to reflect on just how good the Lord has been to us, our family, and our ministry. Surely we do that on a regular basis anyway, but there is just something about another year passing that gives us pause to look back while planning ahead. As you consider 2017 did it turn out as you had planned? If it did not, what could you do to make things better in 2018? Give some time to consider your prayer time, Bible study, witnessing, and family time. Even if the past year was all that we wanted it to be, it should only be a step forward to help us grow in the year before us.
Sometimes failure will motivate us to press on to be victorious. Don’t permit discouragement to stop you, but rather commit yourself from this day forward to strive with more conviction to give God your best. Also, success can, at times, make us so satisfied that our dreams for the future are diminished. It could very easily cause us to rest in the past instead of pressing ahead expecting greater things from the Lord. Success could also cause us to think we have reached the apex of God working in and through us without considering that He can reach beyond anything that we can ask or think. May we press on for God’s glory and the good of those we minister to.
It is my sincere prayer that you will have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Enjoy some special time with your family during the holiday season. This time of year would be no more special for us than any other month, but this is the time that we set aside to thank the Father for sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins. He can easily be buried under an avalanche of activity if we are not careful and mindful of the significance of these very special days.
May your ministry in 2018 be as fresh and wonderful for you as it was when you first dreamed of following the Lord into it. The days ahead of you were unknown, but with fear and excitement, you pressed forward. You certainly understand more now than you did then. Ask the Lord to give width and depth to your vision for the future and dream beyond what you can see.
In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone
If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.
For the next few months, Bro. John O’Malley will be sharing with us from his book, Overcoming Your Devotional Obstacles. We know that everyone can use some encouragement to stay in the Word of God on a daily basis, and we hope these articles will be a blessing to you in your walk with the Lord.
The Obstacle of Application–I do not know how to apply Scripture to my life.
I know what it is like to struggle with applying Scripture. You begin to feel inadequate and eventually want to stop reading your Bible. You are not alone. I am right there with you; I know this struggle.
Applying Scripture to your life is what brings the Word of God to life. It takes you from drifting and wondering to life engaged with the Bible. I love when I get the sense of the verse and can relate it to someone else. I tend to preach and write as I understand a verse or passage of Scripture.
You can learn to apply any passage to your life with three Bible study methods I personally use in my life. Each of the three methods is designed to take you from personal frustration with your Bible reading to a place where applying the Bible comes naturally. I want you to learn to inspect a passage and determine what God is saying to you. First, we will look at the EXAMINE study method to help you with applying the truth of God’s Word to your life. The EXAMINE Bible study method is what I use when I struggle with applying what I read in the Bible. The word EXAMINE is an acrostic.
This Bible study method is simple and engages both my mind and heart to find the application of a passage as I examine what is there. I developed this method to help me. I hope it helps you. The EXAMINE Bible Study method helps us cut a straight road (the Biblical words–“rightly divide”) through the passage. We do not want to get side-tracked with other things until we figure out what does this passage or verse mean and then how does it apply to me?
To examine something means check every detail of something in order to gain some information. This method is more for verse studies than it is for chapter studies. You may not have an answer for every point of this method. The first time may be hard for you but push through. If you would like help, email or call me, and I will help you through it.
E – Evaluate the context of the verse. Look at the verse in relation to its surrounding verses. What is being said in the five verses before and after? How does the context prepare or conclude the way for the verse you are studying? The sentence you write should start with “The verses before and after are teaching _________.”
X – X-Ray the contents of this passage or verse. Look intensely at the structure of the verse. (Structure means the phrases, clauses, and marks of punctuation. Does the verse have questions? Commands? Principles? Precepts? Promises?) Look at every clause and phrase marked with its punctuation. What do the words mean in their usual definition? What do this passage or verse’s meanings say to you? The sentence you write should start with “The structure of this verse contains _________.”
A – Analyze the passage or verse for any commandments. Look for any command to obey. A commandment is something we are to do. Look for words like say, do, go, be, or must. Ask yourself, “What should I do as a result of reading this passage or verse?” The sentence you write should start with “I will follow God’s command to _________.”
M – Meditate on the comforts of this passage or verse. List the comforts of this passage or verse. A comfort is something that touches your spirit. It is the emotion tied to the truth presented. What comforts do you find in this passage or verse? The sentence you write should start with “God comforts His children with _________.”
I – Investigate the cause of this passage or verse. Why would God choose to include all of the words in this passage or verse in the Bible? What did someone do or miss in their life that prompted the Holy Spirit to inspire the human author to pen these words? Now, look at your life. Does the same condition apply that prompted the passage or verse to be included in Scripture? The sentence you write should start with “God included this verse to help me to _________.”
N – Note your convictions from this passage or verse. By convictions, I mean list what you believe as a result of studying this passage or verse. What is this passage or verse teaching you to do? The sentence you write should start with “Because this verse is in the Bible, I must _________.“
E – Examine your own comments of this passage or verse. Review all that you have written about this passage and write a summary sentence. The sentence you write should start with “Today, because I have studied this passage or verse, I will _________.”
Next month, I will share the PRAY Method and the Best Devotions Ever method. My prayer is that you will begin 2018 with a renewed zeal for studying and applying the Bible.
If these thoughts have been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know. If you’d like to purchase the entire Overcoming Your Devotional Obstacles book in PDF, Kindle, or iBooks format, click here.
December 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 December. 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.