Christ sets people free--free from spiritual bondage of sin and death (Hebrews 2:14-15), Mr. Tkach writes in his June Personal.
How much did it cost? It cost God the Son his life, and all of the suffering he endured that we might have eternal life. The benefits of his sacrifice are given to us.
Freedom is given to us without charge, because we are unable to pay. How much is it worth to us?
Our entire lives, of course. In the past three years, many people in the WCG have been set free! Free from the fear of "not making it" into the kingdom. Free from rules God did not require us to keep. Free from rules that caused us to condemn other Christians. Page 7.
More than 600 women and a few men attended the WCG's international Women Who Live for the Lord conference in Dallas, Texas, April 24 to 26.
"Women did everything from making and selling tamales to selling T-shirts with the conference logo to generate funds to attend the conference," said coordinator Eileen Dennis.
Speakers were Joe and Tammy Tkach, Jannice May and Sheila Graham, all from Pasadena; and Deborah Tyler, founder of Renaissance Ministries; and Mamie McCullough, a motivational speaker known as the "I Can" lady, both from Dallas.
In April we mailed our 1998 Festival Brochure: Festival '98 "Come--Celebrate Christ!" to U.S. members
For us to meet our planning goals, it helps if you register as early as possible if you are planning to attend. Our brochure requests your registration form by June 8.
If you cannot register by then, please do so as soon as you determine the site you will attend. We will accept registration forms throughout the summer, but it helps to have sufficient Festival funds and registration numbers so we can complete our administrative plans to be fully prepared for the Festival in October.
As soon as we receive your registration form, we will mail you a packet of information about the site you plan to attend, including information on hotels and other housing facilities. As soon as you receive this information, you may call the housing establishments.
If you have not received a Festival brochure or have misplaced the form, we are reproducing it in this issue. Page 20.
The church is making available Vision 2000 to congregations and individual members to use as an evangelism tool.
Vision 2000 lists the values and ministries emphasized by the Worldwide Church of God. Pages 22 to 24.
Thank you for your donations in response to Mr. Tkach's letter informing you about our financial crunch, Bernie Schnippert writes in his Update from the Treasurer.
Church income for the first quarter had fallen below budget, and we were beginning to implement unpleasant budget cuts.
Although some cuts were inevitable, your financial response enabled us to avoid some of the more painful measures we feared we might have to take. The mail income average for April finished at almost $124,000 a day. This brought the annual average up to $111,000 a day, very close to our budget projection of $112,500. Page 28.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998