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In addition to all of this, there is the blessing of seeing God provide his help at just the right time. I have seen God step in unmistakably to provide what we need at just the right moment.

A remarkable example occurred just last month. I had already received disappointing news a couple of times in a single day. To make matters worse, I learned that our estate fund was about to be completely depleted. The finance committee was scheduled to meet the very next day so I spent some time adding up pending estate fund grant requests. The requests on hand would require the entire estate fund and $4,000 more. We would be forced to make some very difficult decisions.

Not ten minutes after I had finished sharing this news with a few others, I received a phone call from a Thrivent representative. She told me that one of our dear friends and long-time supporters passed away over the summer – and that we were to receive $69,000 in a matter of weeks. The gift could not have come at a better time! I was filled with amazement to see again how God ties all things together in his perfect timing.

There were so many variables that could have changed the timing of these events, and so diminished their emotional impact. But God waited for the moment when the need became acutely obvious – and chose that time to show his provision. I am not sure why God works that way: maybe to show his power and glory, maybe to remind us that he is in control. Whatever the reason, I was encouraged. I thought that it would be good to share this experience with you, too.

Financial Update

In September we came up $12,197 short of what was needed to pay full allowances to all of our missionaries. The minimum allowance paid was 76 percent. We did not need to use any money from the estate fund to reach this amount. Another blessing! Thank you for your gifts and prayers.

Since then, the Giving USA Foundation has published its annual report on philanthropy for the year 2008, revealing that U.S. charitable donations decreased in 2008 for only the second time in 52 years. Individuals and corporations together still managed to give $307 billion in 2008, the second highest amount ever recorded; $314 billion was given in 2007. Roughly two-thirds of charitable organizations saw a decrease in donations in 2008, but contributions to religious organizations as a group did not decline.

For our part, we saw day-to-day giving increase 4.4 percent in 2008 as compared to 2007. Through the first eight months of 2009 giving is down 1.9 percent as compared to the first eight months of 2008. We have had the opportunity to practice commissioned living a little bit! On average, our missionaries have received 87.4 percent of their target allowances in 2009, slightly down from the previous year. Our policy of non-indebtedness has certainly been a blessing, as managing debt would have been particularly difficult in this economy. While many charitable organizations have been forced to reduce staff, we have continued with our normal policy of sending new missionaries as soon as they receive the call… trusting in and praying for God’s provision as they go.

I am encouraged to see that giving in the U.S. still remains incredibly generous. I believe that is because we have an incredibly generous God who has moved in the hearts of so many across the nation. Thank you for your partnership with this ministry!

Financial Update

In August the general fund was $40,241 short of the amount needed to pay full allowances. We used $19,383 from the estate fund to get the minimum balance up to 65 percent. Twelve missionary units received full allowance, 35 units received the minimum allowance, and three units fell somewhere in between.

“The Mission’s financial policy believes and assumes that God is faithful, and may be counted upon to provide in every way, both spiritually and materially, for the advancement of his kingdom’s work around the world.” (Mission Handbook, ¶ 113)

Let me return to the topic of missionary allowances. I hesitate to do so because I do not want to give the subject undue attention. I must also say, however, that allowance payments last month were truly remarkable and I think should be reported in a little detail.

Two days before we closed the books for July, we did a projection. It did not look good. We projected paying as low as 20 percent of target allowances to more than half of our missionaries. We would be forced to use the entire General Fund and the entire Estate Fund and still pay many of our missionaries 20 cents on the dollar. The next day I advised our staff to expect allowances at about that level.

Two days later we closed the books. After final entries were in, however, minimum allowance payments came to the surprisingly high level of 64.6 percent of the target. We did use the entire General Fund and Estate Fund balances as expected, but the funds stretched farther than we thought. Twenty-eight of our missionary units received the minimum amount, fourteen units received full support, and five units fell in between. It was an astounding turn-around, one that made a significant material difference for many of our missionaries and brought a spiritual benefit, too.

So the numbers at the close of July caused some alarm. We paid the lowest allowance levels in more than six years, and the Estate Fund was empty for the first time in my memory. But the alarm did not remain. God filled me instead with joyful anticipation: I was eager to see how he might provide for us in August just as he did in July.

I did not have to wait long to see God at work again. Just three days into the month, I received a call from Thrivent Financial. One of our dear members willed more than $31,000 to our Estate Fund! Three days after standing empty, God restored the fund to a sizable balance. What a blessing to have some reserve again – and what a blessing to have a God who continually provides. Thank you for being a part of this ministry.

[table id=1 /]

Allowances are just a bit over half of the total amount needed to field a missionary family. In May we had 50 full-time missionary units serving. The fielding cost for all of our missionaries combined last month was just over $150,000. The left side of the table below breaks down the total fielding cost into different categories.

* The difference of $18,036 is the amount that allowances were shorted in May

Of that $150,000 needed to field our missionaries $86,500 came from designated support funds. All of the sources used to support our missionaries are listed on the right side of the table above. The total of the support sources was a little more than $18,000 short of the total needed. WMPL pays fixed costs such as health insurance premiums, housing, pension, etc before allowances are paid. For that reason the roughly $18,000 that we were short last month was taken from allowances.

I hope that this chart is a helpful way of looking at how our missionaries are supported and how support funds are spent. One need that becomes evident after looking at these tables is the need for our missionaries to have more partners who support individual missionary both financially and with prayers. While I am very grateful for the large number of partners who contribute to the mission as a whole by contributing to the general fund, I believe there is an additional need for a greater number of partners to team up with a particular missionary family. Please pray that God would inspire more partners to team up with our under supported missionaries. An increase in prayer support as well as designated support fund contributions would be a tremendous blessing. As designated support funds donations increase the general funds and estate funds that we already receive will be freed up for other uses. That I believe is a great goal to aim for.

In addition to using $23,800 from the general fund to support our missionaries we also used $10,100 for other administrative costs such as postage, utilities and miscellaneous repairs on our properties. In all, donations to our general fund in May equaled $34,078. As of the middle of the month of June we have already received $31,705 in donations to our general fund which is the highest total since February. Thank you for your continued partnership with this ministry.

Over the past few years, when our general fund is insufficient, we have used estate funds to raise missionary allowances to a 65 percent minimum. This is the result of a June 2003 resolution of our Home Council. At that time the Council established a minimum of 80 percent of full allowances, when designated support funds and general funds were insufficient and estate funds were available. In May of 2006 the Council decreased the minimum to 65 percent in order to preserve our balance of estate funds.

Since our resolution in 2003, 71 months have passed. We paid full allowances 43 times and were short by some amount in the remaining 28 months. Of those short months, estate funds were accessed 19 times to increase allowances to the minimum. We thank God that estate funds have been available! A total of $270,605 of estate funds were used in this way an average of just over $14,000 for each month estate funds were needed.

Unfortunately, our estate fund balance is getting low. If current trends continue, it is likely that the estate fund will run entirely out by the summer. This is not a surprise. Estate funds are sometimes plentiful and at other times scarce. When the Council decided to use estate funds for missionary allowances, it was known that they may not always be available. Yet the Council thought it good to supplement allowances in this way when estate funds are available.

I have thought that you, our praying members, should be made aware of this. It is possible that our missionaries will receive less than 65 percent of their allowances over the summer. God will provide in his own way, of course. And it is not certain that we will need estate funds at all: God may provide through regular giving as well. But I do ask that you to join us in prayer over this matter. One thing we can be certain of is that our Lord has promised to provide for all of our needs.

Thank you for your partnership in this ministry.

I was astonished to learn that such a well-known author seemingly started his career from what could be described as a passing thought.
“Maybe I should write the book,” he thought. But it was not, really, a passing thought. Rather McCullough saw an opportunity to do something meaningful that was not being done.

As Christians we occasionally have a “Maybe I should…” moment. A young man named David observed the army of Israel doing nothing as Goliath taunted them. He must have been flabbergasted that the army of the living God would back down before this uncircumcised Philistine. At some point it must have occurred to David, “Maybe I should fight this giant.” Peter and John encountered a lame beggar on their way to the temple. Most people, I am sure, simply walked by. Maybe Peter and John had walked by this very man in the past. On this day, however, Peter himself may have been surprised when suddenly it occurred to him, “Maybe I should pray for the healing of this man” (cf. Acts 3). How many people today are serving on mission fields all over the world after hearing a sermon or reading a Bible passage – and suddenly thinking, “Maybe I should go.”

Often enough, we see or hear of different needs in the neighborhood, community and world. We are aware that somebody should step up and do something. Occasionally, God puts the thought in our minds at just the right time: “Maybe I should be the one to pray for that person… Maybe I should stand up for what is right… Maybe I should go….”

What happens next, of course, determines whether this will be a passing thought – or the beginning of something new.

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