Month: June 2020

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A Culture of Responsibility: July 2020

by John O’Malley

Click below to view the video version of this devotional.

This article is part four in a six-part series. Each article in this series focuses on the values we display when we are at our best. The five values are Selfless, Eager, Responsible, Valuable, and Exceptional.

The family of Kish’s female donkeys wandered away. Kish wanted the donkeys home. The donkeys were valuable for breeding and riding. Kish sent his son, Saul, and a servant to find the family’s donkeys. Saul and the servant were assigned a responsibility: seek the female donkeys and bring them home.

Saul’s responsibility was to do whatever it took, go wherever necessary, adjust his course as needed, and finish the mission. Saul’s relationship with his father meant he had the higher calling to find the donkeys and please his father. Saul sought the donkeys and kept his father’s heart close to him.

God used Kish to accomplish His will for Saul and Israel.

Saul found more than the missing donkeys. Saul saw God’s man — Samuel. Saul also learned God’s will for his life. He discovered God had more for him on the journey than to find the missing donkeys.

God does the same with us. He mobilizes us to fulfill an assignment, and while completing the task, we find God had more for us than the one destination.

God assigned you to seek souls. Your church commissioned you to fulfill a divine assignment. Your responsibility is to go wherever is necessary and adjust your course to accomplish God’s mission.

At first, you thought what you would find on the mission were eternal addresses would be changed, an indigenous church planted, and leave a spiritual legacy for the Lord’s glory.

You may realize now, on God’s missionary assignment, you found more than the “donkeys.” You found God’s assignment bigger than you could ever imagine. Perhaps, like Saul, you discovered more than the souls to whom He sent you. You found much about yourself, your family, and your God.

Responsibility is a significant aspect of missionary service. Responsibility is a massive part of our office culture at World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions.

Each month we perform thousands of tasks, receive hundreds of requests, and take scores of calls. Each task, request, and call we receive, we take as our divine responsibility. We commit ourselves to be responsible to God, the Executive Board, and you to help with your harvest work.

Being responsible means taking ownership of your request, following it through until resolved, and proactively finding solutions to assist you. We know we are at our best when we are responsible for the assignments you give us.

Each day each team member delights in fulfilling your request. We love to hear from you. When you have a need, we pray for you. When you rejoice, we rejoice with you. When you weep, we weep with you. Our responsibility to you is more than clerical; it is spiritual.

May God find us responsible whether we serve in the field or the office.

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.

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From the Memo Board: July 2020

Dates to Know

July 3 – Our Office and US banks will be closed in celebration of Independence Day.

August 1 – June Financial Reports will be due for US Missionaries.

August 1 – July Financial Reports will be due for Non-Resident Missionaries.

September 1 – July Financial Reports will be due for US Missionaries.

September 1 – August Financial Reports will be due for Non-Resident Missionaries.

Things to Consider When Mentioning Financial Needs to Donors

You may occasionally have financial needs that are not covered by your regular support funds. WWNTBM asks that you contact us prior to seeking designated funds from donors. It is good for your donors to be aware of the needs of your ministry. However, there are some things that you should think through when mentioning such needs to donors. Please keep these in mind, and contact our office if you have any questions.

First, if you are asking to raise funds for a specific project, we request that you confirm for us in advance that your sending pastor is aware of and behind the project. In order for WW to issue tax receipts for specially designated funds, the Executive Board has to include it in our minutes, and they prefer to know that your sending pastor is aware of the situation.

Second, there are many logistical items the Office can assist you with. For instance, it may not be advisable to ask donors to mark a gift as “France Building” because we may already have another missionary raising funds with that designation, and it could create confusion for how we would post the donation. Therefore, it is always best to confer with the Office prior to contacting donors, so that we can help advise on the best way for funds to be designated. In addition to the designation, there may be tax implications to you based on the manner in which funds are designated. We can help ensure the best tax situation for you as funds are received.

Third, we always recommend that donors make checks payable to WW, rather than to the individual missionary. Although we do have the ability to cash checks in your name, this makes for a smoother process and can avoid unnecessary tax paperwork for the church and the missionary. (If a church makes funds payable to you in the amount of $600 or more over the course of the year, they are required to issue a separate 1099 to you, even if the funds came through WW. In addition, if you are not a US citizen, there may be other tax and visa implications for you.)

How to Record Canceled Flights on Your MFR

Many of our missionaries had flights that were canceled due to the COVID-19 virus. This creates a unique situation for MFRs. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind.

If you received a cash refund of the costs but had not yet listed the ticket purchase on your MFR, you can simply leave all records of the transaction(s) off of the reports.

If you received a cash refund of the costs and had already listed the original purchase as an expense on a previously submitted report, you should list the refund as “income from other sources” in the month you received the refund. This shows a full paper trail of the financial transactions.

If you received an airline credit, rather than a cash refund for the tickets, you may still list the cost of the ticket on your report. However, you should ensure that you only exchange the credit in the future for the purchase of another qualifying ministry flight. Because the cost was already accounted for, you would not list the cost on a future MFR when redeeming the credit later on, which would result in a duplication of the expense. However, ticket change fees or mileage redemption fees related to using the credit may still be listed as additional costs on your report.

Software Policy

Microsoft allows WWNTBM, as a non-profit, to provide discounted software to our missionaries. After an audit from Microsoft, we realized changes in their policy cause us to make adjustments in our policy.

Missionaries and their nuclear family are eligible to receive discounted software through WWNTBM. Children out of the home are not eligible.

Board members are eligible to receive discounted software for their personal computers; however, their ministries and families are not eligible to receive discounted software through WWNTBM.

Ministries such as churches, schools, orphanages, etc., are considered separate entities and are therefore not eligible. If your non-profit ministry needs discounted software for its office, you can seek to establish a non-profit relationship directly with Microsoft.

If you are interested in obtaining discounted software or have questions about the above policy, please contact Rebekah Tolley.

New Baby!

Elijah Thomas Elwart was born on June 1. He weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 21 inches long. Elijah is the first son of Jackie and Brittany Elwart, who are on deputation to go to Big Bear, CA. He joins his sisters Charlotte (13), Audrey (11), and Sadie (9). Pray for the Elwarts as they travel and raise their support.

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A Culture of Eagerness: June 2020

by John O’Malley

This is part three in a series about the culture of World Wide. Click below to view the video version of this devotional.

Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah served King David’s interests. These men, called mighty men, acted on the king’s behalf. Each man was courageous, bold, and eager to take an impossible task with God’s help and to accomplish the impossible for the honor of Israel, the king, and God.

Scripture records an occasion when David was in a cave called Adullam. In a valley below was a troop of Philistines. Over twenty miles away, at home in Bethlehem, was a garrison of Philistines.

David longed for water from home. David had water available to him in the cave. He longed for water from his hometown well, the well by the gate.

David spoke from his heart. “Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” The mighty men heard David’s heart’s desire. They made the more-than-forty-mile round trip. They broke through the garrison and the troops of the enemy they encountered, to bring David water from home.

David knew he could not drink this water. Their sacrifice, endangerment, and honor were more than David could bear. He could not even sip this water of sacrifice.

David’s heart was toward God. He took the water, which to him was pure, precious, and valuable, and poured it out to the Lord as a sacrifice.

Our trio of warriors were men of honor too. Their eager effort to get the king water from home was rewarded enough to them. Their offering to David became David’s offering to God.

In continuing my series on the five disciplines* of our agency’s culture, please notice the eagerness of David’s mighty men. The mighty men heard the mere wish of their king. They accomplished the impossible with eager ability.
As part of our agency’s culture, our office staff commits to eagerness. We want to do more than what you request. We are eager to bring God glory and bring you pleasure by fulfilling your request.

How we treat you has as much to do with our walk with God and our calling to serve you, as it does with our daily job description.

In ministry, have you lost your eagerness? The eagerness you began this course with, do you still manifest it? When ministry becomes monotonous, devotion-less, and without eagerness, the people you serve the Lord in front of lose.

When you lose eagerness, it affects your pulpit ministry, public ministry, and private ministry. A marriage without eager responsiveness can wither. A home without eager participation can quickly drift in the sea of complacency.

As a leader at WWNTBM, I commit to being eager to listen, love, and labor for the honor of the King. Is your highest level of eagerness for the spiritual things in life? May God help us if we become eager for the carnal.

Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley

*The Five Disciplines of SERVE: Selfless, Eager, Responsible, Valuable, Exceptional

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