By Ronald
Kelly
By Ronald
Kelly
Last month we did not publish a financial update because of the fall festival break. Therefore, this month we'll bring you up to date through September and October.
Please note the accompanying charts and graphs for our traditional comparisons. The chart on this page includes about $1 million paid by La Roche College to extend escrow on the Big Sandy property.
September had fewer banking days, so our monthly income was a little lower than a typical month--$1,474,219, to be exact. The daily average for September was $92,139, still short of our projected income average of $95,000 a day.
Income in October picked up to $1,814,516. However our daily banking average was only $86,406. Mail income for the year-to-date is running 9 percent below the same date in 1998. While we always hope for that negative figure to improve, we nevertheless appreciate the loving sacrifices our members are making.
One of the primary traditional sources of donation income has been our annual festival offerings. And once again members have responded generously to those special offerings.
This year we projected a special offering income of $4.2 million. I'm thrilled to report that we will exceed that figure. The special offering total from January through October is $3.8 million.
Some congregations take up special monthly offerings, rather than take up collections on or near any festival season. Some use the Thanksgiving and Christmas season as an occasion to show special appreciation.
Whatever our personal preferences regarding when and how to give offerings, I trust we all count it a privilege to participate in the ongoing work of the church. These special offerings, coupled with a slightly higher-than-projected increase in estate donations, have kept us close to our targeted income projections.
As you read this issue of the WN, we will be in the final days of the year. As we enter a new year, we look forward to exciting opportunities in our church fellowship. We solicit your prayers for a successful completion of our property sales before the end of 2000. We are diligently at work planning for the move to a different, and much smaller, headquarters facility.
During the coming year we will once again be conducting a series of pastoral and church leadership conferences around the nation. In addition to inspiring worship time together, our denominational leadership team will present a variety of informative and inspirational topics including open discussions on the future direction and funding of our church and its mission.
We'll be focusing on how to preach the gospel in our neighborhoods, in our communities and around the world through the mission efforts of our collective membership.
While we are but a small part of the Body of Christ, all together we have an opportunity to reach out far beyond what each of us could do individually. The coming years will hopefully find the WCG filling an important role in the greater Christian community.
All of you are in our daily prayers. We especially pray for God's blessings on you and your congregation during the coming year.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999