terryb 
Have you ever been anxious about something to the extent that you lost sleep, or had an upset stomach, only to discover that there really wasn’t anything to worry about, that everything was going to work out anyway? I know … (read more)
In Business School we are taught about “financial leverage.” A lever, of course, is a tool designed to produce output force greater than input force. In the area of finance, a very common “lever” is debt. Investors will use OPM … (read more)
The Prayer League Handbook uses an interesting term: “Intentional Dependence.” The Handbook portrays this as the core principle of something we call “The Prayer League Way.” Jan Tollefson, one of our seasoned missionaries with many years of experience within our … (read more)
While driving through the farmland of North Dakota, my father would sometimes comment on how the soil seemed less black than when he was farming. He attributed this unfortunate fact to erosion and the depletion of nutrients over years of … (read more)
I was thinking about cows the other day. You may wonder what brings a city slicker to think about cows, out in the suburbs in the middle of the afternoon. It wasn’t anything spiritual, at first. I was daydreaming about … (read more)
Years ago, when I began preparing for the mission field, I overheard a member of a potential donor body say, “I don’t want to support an accountant.” “Real” missionaries, he must have thought, are evangelists, church planters, teachers, doctors, and … (read more)
Last month, I reported that we were implementing a change to our retirement plan. We introduced a 50% matching contribution to what our missionaries themselves deposit into their retirement accounts, hoping to encourage them to save. The change is now … (read more)
How should a Christian view retirement? In our Finance Committee, we have been thinking about this a lot. A recent survey of our missionaries revealed concerns about the Prayer League’s retirement plan and whether it is adequate. Prayer League missionaries … (read more)
As stewards of the resources God has provided, we are always looking to contain the costs of missionary operations. Our resources are simply “on loan” from God. We hope to steward them in the very best way possible. We also … (read more)
Well, we have just completed another year – not that “marking time” makes a lot of sense in the eternal things of God. The science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon once said that time is something God invented for the benefit … (read more)