Month: September 2020

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The Homegoing of Norma Heath

Norma Jean Heath
August 28, 1936 – July 5, 2020

Mrs. Norma Jean Heath passed into the presence of her LORD on Sunday, July 5th.  Mrs. Heath was born on August 28, 1936.  She married Dalton Heath on August 29, 1962.

Mrs. Norma was a Registered Nurse. She was a wonderful cook, seamstress, and gardener. She faithfully served the LORD alongside her husband in Liberia, West Africa, as well as in pastoral and Christian school ministries in the US.  She loved to read and study her Bible and had an extensive ministry teaching ladies. When the LORD called them back into missionary service, they joined WWNTBM and spent over 20 years serving in Micronesia and the Pacific. Eventually, they returned to the mainland, where they continued serving in a representative and recruitment role.

The Heaths have one daughter, Andrea, who is married to Paul Milner. They have two grandchildren, Bradley and Summer. (The Milners also served as missionaries with WWNTBM for many years, and Bro. Paul was a member of our Board of Reference.)

Proverbs 31:10-12  “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.  She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.”

Condolences may be sent to Bro. Heath at [email protected],
and to the Milners at [email protected].

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From the Memo Board: October 2020

Dates to Know

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

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

October 12 – Most US Banks will be closed for Columbus Day.

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

November 1 – October Financial Reports will be due for Non-Resident Missionaries.

November 11 – Most US Banks will be closed for Veterans Day.

November 20 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Thanksgiving.

November 26-27 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Thanksgiving.

December 1 – October Financial Reports will be due for US Missionaries.

December 1 – November Financial Reports will be due for Non-Resident Missionaries.

December 13 – All prayer letters mailed through prayerletters.com should be submitted to our staff in order for your recipients to get them before Christmas.

December 17 – Please contact us by this date via Signal if you will need funds in your account before Christmas or the end of the year.

December 20 – All prayer letters submitted solely through MailChimp should be submitted to our staff in order for your recipients to get them by the end of the year.

December 21-25 – The office will be closed in celebration of Christmas.

January 1 – November Financial Reports will be due for US Missionaries.

January 1 – December Financial Reports will be due for Non-Resident Missionaries.

January 8 – Missionaries will receive their statements of December Support Received.

January 13 – 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 for US Missionaries, along with any remaining receipts or financial paperwork for 2020.

February 1 – 1099 Forms and other tax documentation for the 2020 tax year will be available.

Medicare Enrollment

We have recently learned that US individuals who fail to sign up with the Social Security Administration for Medicare benefits at least three months prior to their 65th birthday may owe a monthly late penalty for the rest of their years while they are on Medicare. If you are nearing your 65th birthday, we recommend that you click here to learn more. We are not sure how Medicare benefits affect individuals overseas. However, if you are in the US, you may wish to look into supplemental insurance coverage to help with medical needs not covered by Medicare. If you do not already have a company or agent for insurance, please let us know and we can send you contact information for companies who may be able to assist you.

Financial Report Reminder

As we enter the last quarter of the year, thoughts turn to year-end tax procedures. Many people begin thinking of last-minute deductions that will affect them. For our US Missionaries, if you anticipate making large ministry purchases and you desire the purchase to be a deduction in the year 2020, you may wish to make the purchase by the end of November. Because of the way our 1099s are calculated, December expenses are “reimbursed” out of January income, so the tax benefit on your 1099 would actually be considered a 2021 reimbursement. Regardless of when the purchase is made, you will still receive a tax benefit. However, we wanted you to be aware of these deadlines as you plan your expenses over the next few months.

Please keep in mind the due dates for financial reports. With the holidays approaching it is easy to let these slip past, but our CPA has encouraged us we need to keep to the due dates, per IRS regulations. The best situation is for you to report all ministry expenses through WW, thus providing the fullest tax benefit. If you do not submit an MFR on time, you can still submit it on your personal taxes on a Schedule C. If you are not currently submitting financial reports we suggest you consider this option. If you have questions about this, please contact Naomi Torberson.

Celebrating 50 Years

In 1971, God brought to fulfillment the dream He had planted in Bill Wingard’s heart to start a missions agency. That same year, Calvary Baptist Church of New Bern hosted the first annual Family Fellowship Week. The Lord willing, June 21-24, 2021, New Testament Baptist Church of Kinston will co-host the 50th Family Fellowship Week, along with Calvary of New Bern. The week will celebrate the completion, rather than the beginning, of our 50th year of service. Mark your calendars and make plans now to attend!

Uplift Podcast

The following recordings were recently published on uplift.wwntbm.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.

Hard Days, Hurting Days, Humble Days by Jeremy Kobernat

Christ’s Righteousness by Josh Wagar

Deputation Email Using MailChimp by Kevin Taylor

God Provides by Matthew Rose

Christ is All I Need by James Grandinetti

Meekness by Jonathan Earnhart

A Chance to Reassess by Ken Sparks

Bible Translation by Steve Zeinner

Being Real on Deputation by Jacob McKinney

Success or Failure? by Ghassan Haddad

Where is Your Focus? by Daniel Fetter

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I Serve Others – Inspire: October 2020

by John O’Malley

In recent months, I shared with you the core values of World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions. These values are best remembered with the acrostic: SERVE. We believe we are at our best when we are Selfless, Eager, Responsible, Valuable, and Exceptional.

We attempt to exemplify these traits in every communication with you. We review these values every week in our staff meeting. We inspect ourselves weekly to make sure we meet what we expect of ourselves.

The acrostic SERVE fits in a larger sentence acrostic: I Serve Others. This phrase, I Serve Others, captures all we want to do for the Lord at WWNTBM. Over the next seven months, I will write on the values we hold dear in the phrase, I Serve Others.

The first value of this phrase is the word Inspire.

We choose daily to inspire or depress people with our words. You meet people in your community, your church, your ministry. These people need words which will build them, better them, and bless them. It is hard to choose the right words. Our emotional health, our spiritual discipline, and our temperament all play a role in whether we will use words which inspire or words which depress or deflate people.

Solomon’s words help me and haunt me: Death and life are in the power of the tongue: And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (Proverbs 18:21) My words will either kill someone or will give them life.

Think of all the words you used this week. How many words made someone die a little on the inside. How many of your words breathed life into a person? Did your spoken or written words wound an entire segment of society, a child, a spouse, a co-worker, or a friend?

Perhaps you are like me. I prefer to hear words which give life. I dislike hearing words which cause me to die a little on the inside. I despise it even more when I choose words which cause people to die on the inside.

Since heart surgery, I’ve given thought to an epitaph, whether etched in stone on a marker, or on hearts of the people I met. I want it to be, John pointed people to Jesus and inspired people.

Our words can suffocate or strengthen. Our words can inspire or depress. It is easier to use words which hurt others. It is a challenge and a choice to use words to breathe life into people.

Our staff at WWNTBM want to inspire you every time we speak with you. It is easy to speak words of life to you because you inspire us. You inspire us with your kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. (Ephesians 4:32) You inspire us with your faithfulness when we see you facing trauma, trouble, and trials. You inspire us with your words. Your words speak life into our staff.

Please know, wherever you are in the world today, I believe in you. I believe in the work God called you to do for Him. I believe you are the right person in the right place at the right time. I believe the best about you. I believe you can do all God called you to do.

There are plenty of mean things to say about mean people. Let us be people who inspire others to go further, do more, and be who God wants us to be.

I am inspired when I think of you!

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 Heart of a Missionary: September 2020

Disappointments
by Lou Ann Keiser

I will never forget how disappointed I was when I saw Plymouth Rock. My impression from history books was that it would be an outcropping, a large rock—like Gibraltar. But, it wasn’t. Our family walked over to it, looked down from the railing, and it was only a stone. To be fair, it’s a big stone and probably weighs a few tons. Stamped with 1620, it’s thought to be the same one the Pilgrims saw.

I was dumbfounded. This is it? Okay, let’s move on. Why even include this rock in the history books?

For an entirely different reason, I was disappointed with the site of Custer’s Last Stand at Little Big Horn—the great battle between the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Native American tribes against the Seventh Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. Legend has it that only one army man survived. They were entirely outnumbered, and it was a sad day.

My disappointment, however, was in the signage. At the time of our visit, there were some fine granite monuments, detailing the happenings during the battle from sites that overlook the battlefield. It’s a desolate, hilly place. One can easily picture the action.

One of these monuments divided the words as needed in order to fit its tapered shape: TR-OOPS and BESIE-GED were two of the hyphenating gems we noted, carved with care into the beautiful gray granite. My family was cracking up. I am sure General Custer felt worse than “oops” when he perceived the multitude surrounding him.

We quoted “Bessie-Jed” the remainder of our trip. It was funny but disappointing that the stone carver wasn’t more familiar with rules for syllable divisions. It’s amazing that the National Park Service actually put up those stones without correcting them. TR-OOPS, for sure!

All of us have been disappointed at one time or another—and not only with stones. We might be disappointed in people and circumstances.

My father used to sing a song, “There’s No Disappointment in Jesus.”*

“There’s no disappointment in Jesus,
He’s more than my tongue can tell;
His love is so sure and so steadfast,
His friendship divine will not fail.
Chorus:
There’s no disappointment in Jesus,
He’s all that He promised to be;
His love and His care comfort me everywhere;
He is no disappointment to me.”

When everything around us is crazy—as it is now—Jesus never changes. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). This means that the same God who created the world, parted the Red Sea and dried the path, led His people with a column of fire and cloud, and then sent His Son for us is the same God we know today.

That same Jesus who healed the sick, raised the dead, read men’s thoughts, and cast out demons is with us today.

There is no disappointment in Jesus. He’s perfect. He loves you. He saves. He rescues. He’s a refuge for us. We can call out, and He actually translates our prayers to God. He acts as a lawyer, representing us to God. He cares.

I don’t know what you face today. Whatever it is, you can run to Jesus. There is no disappointment in Him.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

*by John C. Hallett, 1940.

If this article has been a blessing to you, let Mrs. Lou Ann Keiser know here. Disappointment first appeared on Lou Ann’s blog in May 2020.