The King’s Business: April 2020

The King’s Business

by John O’Malley April 2020

World Wide accepted me for missionary service in 1993. As a 29-year-old, I knew God’s will for me. I know His will now. My calling is to serve God in my generation and advance the Great Commission.

Since 1993, I have watched Brother Wingard, Brother Whetstone, and many other leaders and workers in my association with WWNTBM. I work with wonderful servants. I learned from these servants that the Lord’s work requires my best. (Numbers 18:29)

Do you realize what it takes for you to be at your best? Are you aware of what you need to be at your physical best? Do you consider the minimums you need for your nutrition, sleeping, and exercising? Do you recognize which spiritual practices you need daily to be at your best? Do you focus on which mental disciplines you need to be at your best?

These questions are what I ask myself and the missions office. When we make sure we are at our best, we serve you better. We bring the Lord glory when we are at our best.

I wonder how often I am at my best in this work I am supported by churches to do? God’s acceptance of me and His willingness to work with me makes me want to be at my best.

Our Great Commissioner does not seek extraordinary people. He seeks willing people. He takes available people. He uses flawed people. He is most pleased with people who have faith. (Hebrews 11)

In our office, we are on a five-year pursuit to study, embrace, and practice five disciplines of when we are at our best. We listed what we need to do to be at our best. We believe we are at our best when we serve others. Our goal is to practice five disciplines in every communication. In our staff meetings, we look for these values in you and in ourselves. We hold ourselves accountable to these values.

We want to be at our best for God’s glory. We have, at every desk in our office, these values etched on a glass plaque. We also had these values printed on canvas. We hung this canvas in the hallway between the offices. We quote these values in every staff meeting.

The five disciplines are an acrostic of the word SERVE. We are at our best when we are Selfless, Eager, Responsible, Valuable, and Exceptional. I will write more on these values each month in my article of Headquarter Happenings.

We want you to catch us at our best. We want to catch you at your best. When either of us is not hitting the mark, will you give grace to us? We will give grace to you.

The King’s business requires our best, not just our haste.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley here to let him know.

From the Memo Board: April 2020

Dates to Know

April 10 – The Office will be closed in celebration of the Resurrection.

May 1 – March Financial Reports will be due.

May 1 – Quarterly Reports for Foreign Non-Profit Organizations will be due; please see more information below.

June 1 – April Financial Reports will be due.

June 15-18 – Family Fellowship Week in Kinston, NC.

WWNTBM’s Response to COVID-19

With the growing awareness of the COVID-19 virus, we wanted to take a moment to encourage you. The Missions office is still open. We plan to continue working in the office as usual, until further notice.

We are taking the recommended precautions to keep our office staff healthy. We are requesting no visitors to the Office through May 1, 2020, in compliance with the NC Governor’s recent executive order. If more serious restrictions occur, we have provisions to get your support to you. Pray for our staff’s health, safety, and strength.

We are planning on holding Family Fellowship Week. We are monitoring the federal and state legislation and the capabilities of the host churches. Please continue to monitor your email and http://familyfellowshipweek.com.

Please know that we are praying for you. We are aware that this virus is affecting everyone in our missions family to some extent. Please let us know if there is any way we can assist you during this time.

Click below to view a message from Bro. Jeremy Lockart about the coronavirus. Click here for a transcript of that message.

Tax Impact of COVID-19

Extended Deadlines: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the US Government has extended tax filing deadlines for all individuals until July 15, 2020. Please click here to read information from our tax attorneys on how this change may affect you personally. We recommend that you still speak with your tax preparer about the ability to file as soon as possible if you expect to receive a refund.

Families First Act: In addition to the extended deadlines, our CPA has informed us that the recent Families First Act released on March 18 may have implications and benefits for those who are self-employed. All of our US-Citizen missionaries fall into this category. Our CPA’s advice was to recommend that you speak with your tax preparer to discuss how the Families First Act can benefit your personal situation.

Doctrinal Agreements

If you have submitted your doctrinal agreement statement, your new card for 2020-2021 is now available for you to download and print from your SecureCloud folder. If you have not yet submitted your annual agreement, please click here, or email Naomi Torberson as soon as possible, indicating that you have read and are still in agreement with our Articles of Faith. If you have questions or concerns, please contact John O’Malley.

Family Fellowship Week

In Mark 6 we have the record of Christ sending the apostles forth into ministry. After their journeys, they returned and reported to Him about what they had done. Christ’s first response was an invitation for them to come apart and rest, as they were so busy they had not time to even eat. This is one of the goals for our annual Family Fellowship Week. We realize that you are busy with the work to which you have been called. We seek to provide an opportunity for you to come apart and rest, in an environment where you can be physically rested and spiritually refreshed. If you will be in the US and have not yet done so, please contact Rebekah Tolley to register for the week. We hope to see you in Kinston, NC, June 15-18. If you are planning a furlough in 2021, now is the time to add the date to your calendar for next year! This meeting always begins on the third Monday of June. Current information is available at https://familyfellowshipweek.com.

Quarterly Reports for Foreign Non-Profit Organizations

If you have gone through the process to have your foreign ministry certified with our CPA, the first Quarterly Report representing January to March of 2020 will be due on May 1. You should have received an email with details about how to submit the report. If you have questions please contact Naomi Torberson.

If your ministry has been chartered and established as a non-profit organization, we recommend getting a bank account in its name and then going through the process of certifying it as a Foreign Non-Profit Organization with our CPA. This process takes several months and costs around $400. The purpose is to show that your ministry meets IRS standards to be considered a public rather than a private charity. With this status, 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. If you are planning to raise funds for the purchase of land or buildings, it would be advantageous to have this step in place before funds arrive in our office for such a project. Please contact our office for more information.

Travel to and from the United States

US Citizens should be aware of the REAL ID Act and how it may affect your airline travel within the United States. Click here to view the latest information from the Department of Homeland Security. As a result of COVID-19, the current effective date has been moved to October 1, 2021. Missionaries may wish to update their driver’s license to obtain the REAL ID while they are in the US on furlough. Otherwise, plan to have your passport with you for all domestic travel.

Non-US Citizens: In advance of planning any personal or ministry travel to the US, please contact Laura Cmaylo to discuss the visa and financial implications involved with Stateside travel so you and our office can be fully prepared.

New Schedule for Uplift Calls!

We are nearing the 3 year anniversary of our weekly Uplift meetings! We are excited about the feedback we receive from our missionaries, and our staff looks forward to this time of connection. To better accommodate various timezones, we are changing our normally scheduled Third Thursday meeting to Third Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. While the Friday morning calls are typically geared towards those on deputation, everyone is welcome to join at any time. Meetings take place on the following schedule each month:

Every Friday at 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time
First Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Second Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Third Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Fourth Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time