Greetings again from the Treasurer's office.
It's been a while since my last update, and a number of important events have transpired since then. The two most notable ones were the Feast of Tabernacles and my twin grandchildren reaching their seven-month birthday. I'll update you on these later in my article, but for now let's get to the finances.
September nudged financially upward a bit from August. As you may recall, throughout the summer we usually get a mid-year dip, and I said that it looked like the summer of 1997 would "live down" to the usual summer reputation.
As expected, June, July and August showed a continual downward progression. But, as also expected and hoped for, September began a reversal to the summer doldrums, with a modest increase over August, our worst month, to $118,191. During most of the summer months the yearly average daily mail income stayed within projections even though the monthly daily mail average did not.
The upward movement signaled by September followed through into October so that the daily average mail income rose again to a slightly more respectable $121,315.
As of now the only offering total I have is for Trumpets. It came in slightly more than the projected amount of $900,000.
We budget in advance for these offerings, and it is vital that they fall at or near projections. The fact that this first offering came in so close to our projection is an encouraging sign. Thank you for your generosity.
As the year has progressed we have tried to fine-tune our year-end projections. We had hoped to post a daily average mail income for the year of about $122,000 per day.
Certain positive signals have given us reason to project this amount upward so that now we hope for a daily income average of about $125,000 at year's end.
Please pray with me that this $125,000 level proves to be an actual figure and not just wishful thinking.
Another matter I wish to address is expenses. As the chart shows, although our income is down about 20 percent from last year, our expenses are down by almost exactly the same percentage.
This is the result of almost herculean efforts by our employees and ministers, who have been doing their best to stretch every penny. It reflects painful cost cutting, especially here at headquarters, although all operations were affected.
Even though our income is down, we have a fighting chance of balancing income and expenses this year, something that has not occurred much in the last six years or so.
Now regarding the Feast, I was blessed to go on the Caribbean cruise this year and met a lot of people. Since I kept last year's Feast at home with my wife, Arlene, who was ill at the time and unable to travel, getting out among church members was a special treat.
I was struck anew by the warm, supportive demeanor of everyone I came in contact with. Just being with so many of you is uplifting and makes me want to express my pleasure at your godly love and Christian demeanor, not to mention your support for the church.
Finally, I thought I would give you an update on the "World's Cutest Grandchildren" (Heather and Clint Resler, my daughter Crystal's children, of course).
We saw them at about seven months, at my daughter's house in Madison, Wisconsin, and they have become even cuter with time. Heather is crawling and standing up on her own. She sometimes crawls over to her brother, Clint, and takes his toys, but he is so gentle he doesn't cry (already acting like a Christian).
Even though the twins have been showered with toys, their favorite toy is the television remote control.
My son-in-law, Dan, and my daughter don't like to give it to them since they put it in their mouths. So, they have tried to substitute a look-alike remote that doesn't do anything. However, my grandchildren ignore the fake and destroy the real one. Wow. Cute and intelligent too!
Well, the end of the year is fast approaching. Please pray with me that income holds and that we with the responsibility to plan, will have the wisdom to know what to do and the faith to put it into practice. God be with you and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words and prayers.
I appreciate the financial information you disclose each month.
It is especially helpful having you state our projected income figures and then give the actual average daily mail income to compare with the projections.
However, I wonder if you could from time to time give us more information about the nature and size of the church's various expenses.
Yes, I would be happy to. From time to time I will use this part of my column to list some major expense category in a manner that is easily readable.
This time I will list the expenses associated with the church's Computer Information Systems area, which provides the hardware and software to process our subscriber lists, member lists, accounting system, e-mail, Internet web site and other things.
WCG Computer Information Systems 1997 Budget
Payroll $ 563,871: Payroll for staff of 14 and FICA tax
Depreciation & amortization $351,863: Capitalized lease agreement for AS400; PCs, printers and network equipment
Contracted services $240,000: Use of outside vendors for software/hard- ware support and telecommunications for ministry and international offices
Software and equipment $145,200: Equipment and software upgrades, vendor maintenance of software
Telephone $42,160: Phone support of pastoral ministry and international regions' computer needs. Toll-free e-mail dial-in used by pastoral ministry and some local elders.
Professional development $12,000: Training for headquarters staff
Supplies $27,687: Modems, toner cartridges, memory upgrades, CDs, disks.
Travel, lodging, meals $10,200: Support of remote locations, international
Postage $1,720: Mailings to pastors
Mileage reimbursements $1,200
Maintenance $1,099: Cabling for headquarters facility
Total $1,397,000
Nov. 18, 1997, WN, page 15
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