2011-12 THANKSGIVING OFFERING  |  GOAL: $100,000.00

We hope you have been planning for your Thanksgiving Offering since giving last year’s.  Paul wrote the Corinthian church about the special offering they were giving and receiving – and reminded them that they had announced their intentions a year before that time that they would enthusiastically participate [2 Corinthians 8.10-11].  The steps that Paul lays out for us to follow are: [1] Purpose in your heart that you will give, and what you would like to give  |  chapter 8.11-12 & 9.7 [2] Plan ahead by laying aside designated portions as it comes in – so you won’t have to get it all together at the same time…and especially on short notice  |  chapter 9.1-5 [3] Pray about it frequently, and trust God to give you what you need to receive in order to give what you have purposed to give  |  chapter 9.6-11

MONTHLY GENERAL FUND SOLVENCY

We need every one of us to continue to give regular monthly offerings to our GENERAL FUND in order to supply our missionaries’ ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE TRANSACTIONS every month.  Without our generous offerings to our GENERAL FUND, we cannot finance our missionaries’ standard monthly disbursements without requiring them to suffer deductions from their monthly deposits.  We thank God – AND THANK EACH OF YOU – that we have not had to reduce our missionaries’ monthly deposits any month this year.  That is because you have supplied their needs by your generous contributions to the GENERAL FUND.

If you contribute regularly to our GENERAL FUND – I hope you realize just how essential a role you play to keep our missionaries’ ministries going month by month.  Please know that your giving not only supplies the needs of God’s servant-saints, but it also multiplies the thanksgivings that are continuously being given to God for you!  2 Corinthians 9.12-15

BUT – WE ALSO NEED A GENEROUS THANKSGIVING OFFERING

We use the funds from the Thanksgiving Offering to finance all the other benefits and services we have committed to them to provide for their ministry needs.  FOR EXAMPLE: calculating here from the 1^st of August [after the first seven months of 2011], we have disbursed approximately $49,000.00 of the $63,400.00 from last year’s Thanksgiving Offering.  That gives us approximately $14,400.00 to carry us through the remainder of the year. It will require a lot of ‘eking-out’ to make it last.

[If you want to refresh your memory how our Monthly General Fund and Thanksgiving Offering monies are applied – open up ‘April 2011’ in the right-hand Archives column, and you will find there an article describing how our various General Fund commitments are supplied and disbursed.]

THAT IS WHY WE NEED TO REACH OUR $100,000.00 GOAL.

2010-11 THANKSGIVING OFFERING  |  GOAL:  $100,000.00

During the month of May, you gave an additional $470.00 to the current Thanksgiving Offering, bringing our accrued total to $63,269.27.  Thank you!  “For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God.” [2 Corinthians 9:12]

THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING IS ALWAYS OPEN!

2011 THANKSGIVING OFFERING

We also encourage you to begin planning right now for your 2011-12 THANKSGIVING OFFERING.  Purpose in your heart what you believe the Lord wants you to give [2 Corinthians 9:7] and begin asking the Lord to supply you with those offerings so you can give them.  2 Corinthians 9:8 promises that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”  God is ABLE…and God is FAITHFUL.  Lay it aside month by month in anticipation of this coming November so you will have it to give at that time.

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“THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” GIVING FRIENDS

And especially to each one of you who gives so regularly, faithfully, and generously to our GENERAL FUND.  Your May offerings are reported in this month’s Mission Sheets.  We bless and thank God for each contributor.  We use these Offerings Reports as our THANKSGIVING LIST to God.  We thank God for you by name.  We don’t know some of you by name because you give anonymously – but God knows who you are.  But, regardless of how you choose to identify yourself, EVERY ONE OF YOU IS A ‘GIVING FRIEND’, and WE BLESS GOD FOR YOU!  You are a great encouragement to your missionaries – and you also inspire others to give by your challenging example.

YOU ARE THE ONES WHO CARRY US FROM MONTH TO MONTH.  Please know how grateful we are to God for you.

If you are not giving personal offerings to the monthly General Fund, WILL YOU COMMIT RIGHT NOW – THIS MONTH – TO DO SO?  We really need for each one of us to make the personal commitment to give regular monthly offerings to our General Fund.  I am certain that, if you begin with this commitment, not only will the Lord honor your purpose of heart, but He will also supply YOUR needs so you can give to His servants’ needs.

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WILL YOU GIVE AT LEAST $1 A DAY FOR WORLDWIDE MISSIONS?

I know that many of you are giving much more than that – but if you are not giving a personal offering each month to our GENERAL FUND to help maintain our missionaries’ essential needs, will you ask the Lord to supply you with a regular monthly offering of $30 to our GENERAL FUND?  Together we can provide them with the funds by which they can continue their daily ministries.

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PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU CONTIBUTE TO THE GENERAL FUND, YOU ARE HELPING TO SUPPLY THE ESSENTIAL MONTHLY NEEDS FOR TWELVE FAITHFUL MISSIONARY FAMILIES. Our monthly GENERAL FUND is used to provide equitably for the standard commitments we have made to the missionaries who are supported through BFM.

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OUR MISSIONARIES’ MONTHLY NEEDS HAVE INCREASED

The ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE TRANSACTIONS [Tier 1] to supply our missionaries’ standard monthly commitments have increased just this month.  Included in those monthly commitments is the hospitalization premiums we provide for them.  The total monthly premiums increased by another $1,131.81 beginning in June.  The total monthly premium is now $11,075.93.

When combined with their monthly salaries [$20,426.00], standard monthly housing and ministry allowances [$10,950.00], and the costs of producing and distributing these Mission Sheets [$1,622.50], the total monthly commitments is $44,074.43.  These disbursements to them MUST be supplied by our monthly GENERAL FUND offerings.

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YOU CAN NOW CONTRIBUTE TO BFM VIA CREDIT CARD

As the old Toyota commercial jingle used to say: “YOU ASKED FOR IT – YOU GOT IT!”  You have asked us to allow you to contribute via your credit card.  Go to our website www.baptistfaithmissions.org and click on “Donate/Support” and use this added feature.  Some of you have already begun to give this way, and we thank you!

1 Samuel 25.17

Now, therefore, KNOW and CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL DO…

PLEASE HELP US WITH AN IMMEDIATE URGENT NEED!

We stand in an IMMEDIATE, URGENT NEED of offerings for our GENERAL FUND!  I know you have heard that before, but it was true before – and it is still true now.

I hope you will bear with me while I explain WHERE WE ARE, WHAT WE NEED, WHY WE NEED IT, and WHAT EACH OF US CAN DO TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS GREAT MISSION ENDEAVOR!

HOW OUR OFFERINGS WORK – WHAT THEY DO

First of all, you know that ALL OF THE COMMITMENTS WE MAKE TO OUR MISSIONARIES COME FROM OUR GENERAL FUND.  We make the same equitable commitments to every one of our 12 missionary families.  Those commitments include the standard disbursements we make to them each month [salary, standard housing and ministry expense allowances, hospitalization premiums, Mission Sheets printing and distribution for their monthly updates and reports], and also the other benefits we provide for them throughout the year when they are due or needed [support services, furlough transportation, children’s education assistance allowances, etc].  All of these disbursements come from your offerings to the General Fund.

The offerings you designate for their special projects and requests are not used for the standard commitments we have made to them.  You have already ‘pre-addressed’ your designated offerings for those specific projects, and we forward them on to the missionaries per your designation.

WHERE GENERAL FUND MONIES COME FROM

Second, we have two sources for GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS.  [1] We have the MONTHLY OFFERINGS YOU GIVE FOR THE GENERAL FUND.  [2] We also use the annual THANKSGIVING OFFERING to make GENERAL FUND disbursements throughout the year.

HOW THESE OFFERINGS ARE ALLOCATED

Now – let me explain again HOW WE DIVIDE THOSE GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS INTO TWO CATEGORIES OR ‘TIERS’ [as we call them].  We have ‘TIER 1’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS and ‘TIER 2’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS.

‘TIER 1’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS [AND SUPPLIES]

We also call these ‘TIER 1’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS by another name.  We call them ‘EMT’ DISBURSEMENTS.  In our common usage, ‘EMT’ stands for ‘Emergency Medical Technician’.  When you need life-saving or life-sustaining services, you call the ‘EMT’.  So, we call the most essential sustaining services we provide for our missionaries ‘Essential Maintenance Transactions’.  These are the monthly transactions that keep our missionaries going…provide for their essential needs to keep them functioning daily on their fields of service.

These TIER 1 [EMT] disbursements are:  [1] salaries:  currently $20,426.00 per month;  [2] standard housing and ministry expenses allowances:  currently $10,950.00 per month;  [3] hospitalization premiums:  currently $11,918.11 per month;  [4] Mission Sheets printing and distribution:  currently $1722.50 per month.  These are the monthly standard disbursements we make to our missionaries FROM THE GENERAL FUND each month just to maintain them and keep them functioning.

‘MONTHLY GENERAL FUND SOLVENCY’

You have frequently heard us appeal for funds to make our MONTHLY GENERAL FUND SOLVENT.  Here’s what we mean by that, and how that works:  the current monthly total for the above EMT disbursements is $45.016.61.  These TIER 1 [EMT] disbursements must be supplied from our monthly GENERAL FUND offerings.  This is what we mean by ‘MONTHLY GENERAL FUND SOLVENCY’.

PLEASE NOTE:  If our monthly GENERAL FUND offerings don’t meet these needs, then we have no other option but to PROPORTIONATELY DEDUCT A PORTION FROM EACH MISSIONARY’S MONTHLY DEPOSIT TO MAKE THESE TIER ONE [EMT] DISBURSEMENTS BALANCE WITH THAT MONTH’S GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS.  We just cannot ask them to add that additional sacrifice to the sacrifices they are already making!

Here’s the exception to that rule:  if some month’s GENERAL FUND offerings EXCEED that month’s ‘EMT’ disbursements, then we carry over that excess, and it will supply that much deficit we may incur in another month.  Our missionaries will receive the benefit of ALL MONTHLY GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS, either in the month they are given, or in another month when they are needed to make up that month’s deficit.

‘TIER 2’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS [AND SUPPLIES]

Now, the other GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS which are not included in the TIER 1 [EMT] are called ‘TIER 2’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS.  We give them also another name.  We call them ‘PRN’ DISBURSEMENTS.  ‘PRN’ is another medical term which means ‘AS NEEDED’.  We make these ‘PRN’ GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS as they are needed throughout the year.

For example:  furlough transportation expenses, children’s education assistance allowances, providing and maintaining a furlough house in Lexington, subsidizing 60% of their personal hospitalization deductible, and all the other support services we provide to take care of their needs.

THESE ‘TIER 2’ [PRN] GENERAL FUND DISBURSEMENTS COME FROM THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING.  When we have a generous Thanksgiving Offering, we can supply these commitments.  If our THANKSGIVING OFFERING does not supply those commitments over the course of the year, then we won’t have the funds to make those disbursements.

WHERE WE ARE

Now, that brings us to WHERE WE ARE right now.  We have just completed the first quarter of 2011.  We have already made some significant disbursements from the Thanksgiving Offering we have given.  We have given $60,000.00 toward our 2010-11 Thanksgiving Offering.   [Just by way of immediate comparison, we gave $92,000.00 for our 2009-10 Thanksgiving Offering.  This year’s offering is obviously 35% less than last year’s.]

So far this year, we have already disbursed $9500.00 toward furlough transportation expenses, and we will disburse more before 2011 is over.  We have disbursed $4000.00 toward our missionaries’ children’s education assistance allowances.  We have disbursed already $2400.00 toward hospitalization personal deductible reimbursements.  Those items alone already total $16,000.00, and there have also been additional monthly ‘PRN’ GENERAL FUND disbursements we have made from the current Thanksgiving Offering.  AT THE CURRENT RATE OF DISBURSEMENT, THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING ‘TIER 2’ SUPPLIES WILL NOT CARRY US THROUGH THE REST OF THE YEAR.  In fact, to be precise, we have already disbursed $25,600.00 of that $60,000.00 Thanksgiving Offering during this first quarter of 2011.  [Last year, our total TIER 2 General Fund disbursements was $87,962.34.]

WHAT WE NEED

[1] We need an IMMEDIATE, URGENT offering from each one of us to AT LEAST replenish these funds we have already disbursed.  We need AT LEAST that much to help us make the remaining funds last through the next three quarters of the year.  And – WE WILL NEED ADDITIONAL OFFERINGS TO SUPPLY THE REMAINING ‘TIER 2’ DISBURSEMENTS UNTIL THE NEXT THANKSGIVING OFFERING.

[2] We need an IMMEDIATE, URGENT increase in our MONTHLY GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS.  Our missionaries’ TIER 1 [ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE TRANSACTIONS] require consistently-increased MONTHLY GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS to balance these standard monthly disbursements SO WE WON’T HAVE TO MAKE THOSE DEDUCTIONS FROM THEIR MONTHLY DEPOSITS!

WHAT EACH OF US CAN DO

I must thank each one of our Giving Friends for the offerings you have given…and are giving.  YOUR GIVING TO THE CURRENT THANKSGIVING OFFERINGS – AND YOUR MONTHLY OFFERINGS TO THE GENERAL FUND IS WHAT KEEPS US GOING AND SUPPLIES OUR MISSIONARIES’ MINISTRY NEEDS.  We can’t thank each of you enough.  We lay out your offerings each month before God and thank Him for each of you.

But, here’s what EACH ONE OF US CAN DO IMMEDIATELY!  Will you make a commitment right now that beginning this month, YOU WILL GIVE AN ADDITIONAL $10 OFFERING TO THE GENERAL FUND?  I know that many of you are already giving very generously and sacrificially.  We bless God for you.  Will you make a personal $10 increase in your offerings?

IF YOU ARE NOT GIVING A MONTHLY PERSONAL OFFERING TO OUR GENERAL FUND, WILL YOU BEGIN WITH A COMMITMENT OF A MONTHLY $10 PERSONAL OFFERING TO THE GENERAL FUND?

[1] If your church is sending offerings to the BFM GENERAL FUND, you can give it through your church’s offering and ask your church’s treasurer to add it to the existing offering.

[2] You can send it directly to our BFM Treasurer: Pastor George Sledd  |  PO Box 471280  |  Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280.

[3] You can go to our website www.baptistfaithmissions.org and contribute via check.

You will not find more faithful, productive, and effective missionaries than these 12 missionary families whose financial support are administered through Baptist Faith Missions.  EACH OF OUR MISSIONARIES SERVES BY THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE SENDING CHURCHES – and they are establishing Baptist churches among the nations of the world.

• GIVE in obedience to Jesus Christ to ‘GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE’.  Matthew 24.14  |  2 Corinthians 9.13

• GIVE to supply our missionaries’ ministry needs.  2 Corinthians 9.12

• GIVE to increase many more thanks to be given to God.  2 Corinthians 9.15

• GIVE for the salvation of many more.  Philippians 4.17  |  Romans 15.15-24

• GIVE because you love Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 8.8, 24

• GIVE TO THE GLORY OF GOD.  2 Corinthians 9.13

1 Samuel 25.17:  Now, therefore, KNOW and CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL DO…

PLEASE HELP US GIVE OUR MISSIONARIES A RAISE!

THREE ‘WEAK LINKS’ IN THE MISSIONS-GIVING CHAIN

You know how Solomon described the strength of inter-twining strands that become much stronger when they are woven together. Ecclesiastes 4.12: And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

By the same token, we also know that the strongest chain can be broken by just one weak link.  Every link bears the strain on the chain.  BUT WHAT IF YOU HAVE THREE WEAK LINKS IN THE SAME CHAIN?  It will break soon and often until the links are strengthened.

When we talk about the ‘MISSIONS-GIVING CHAIN’, we mean the missions-giving supplies from us to our missionaries.  They depend on us [humanly speaking].  But, there are at least THREE WEAK LINKS that keep breaking and failing to support them adequately

1 – AN ALREADY-WAY-TOO-LOW SALARY

We give each of our missionaries the same salary: $1717.00 per month.  That’s less than $430 per week.  Way too little.  And, we haven’t increased their salary in 10 years.  [I gave you the history of their last increases in the December 2010 issue of the Mission Sheets – also on this page’s January 2011 posts.] I would dare to say that none of us could live on such a modest living wage – and wouldn’t want to try.  But, our missionaries do.  WE SHOULD MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO DO BETTER FOR THEM – but, their salaries come out of the General Fund.  And, our monthly General Fund offerings don’t presently cover all the necessary disbursements we make to our missionaries on a regularly, monthly schedule.

2 – A STEADILY, PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING COST OF LIVING

We all know how all our own living costs continue to – not just ‘inch up’, but – skyrocket.  We are presently, here in the US, in a dramatic increase in gasoline prices.  Our missionaries have paid WAY more for gasoline than we do – on a daily basis – for years.  Everything is going up in price faster than we can keep up with it.  Well, try to keep up with the ever-increasing costs of living on the same modest salary you’ve had for the past 10 years!  That’s what our missionaries are doing.  WE SHOULD MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO DO BETTER FOR THEM – AND HELP THEM TRY TO MEET THESE RISING COSTS OF LIVING…but we will have to consistently increase our giving to the General Fund in order to do that.  It is just that simple.

3 – A STEADILY, PROGRESSIVELY DECREASING OF THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR AND THEIR LOCAL EXCHANGE RATES

Which means, very simply, that every one of those few dollars we are giving them exchanges for fewer and fewer of their local currencies – which, in turn, are also buying less and less.  THOSE ARE THE THREE ‘WEAK LINKS’ in the ‘MISSIONS-GIVING CHAIN.’

WHAT CAN WE DO?  What we MUST do is EACH OF US INCREASE OUR PRESENT GIVING FOR THE GENERAL FUND.  All the commitments we make to our missionaries are disbursed out of the GENERAL FUND.  If our giving to the GENERAL FUND either stagnates, or worse, declines, then we are not only NOT INCREASING OUR GIVING TO THEM, but THE OFFERINGS WE ARE GIVING ARE DECREASING by attrition and erosion.  THE CHAIN KEEPS BREAKING!

1 Samuel 25.17

Now, therefore, KNOW and CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL DO…

2010-11 THANKSGIVING OFFERING  |  GOAL:  $100,000.00

At the time of this writing [first of March, 2011], we have received $59,718.82, including your THANKSGIVING OFFERINGS received during February.

GOD BLESS EACH ONE OF YOU WHO HAS GIVEN TO THIS OFFERING.  If you have not given a personal offering yet, please do so as the Lord gives you Grace to give!  No offering is too small.  No offering is insignificant.

You can give your offering designated to BFM THANKSGIVING OFFERING through your church, or you can send it directly to our Treasurer for THANKSGIVING OFFERING.  Baptist Faith Missions, c/o George Sledd, P.O. Box 471280, Lake Monroe FL 32747.

UPDATE:  This year’s Thanksgiving Offering is down 35% from last year’s. And, we needed ALL of last year’s $92,264.30 that we gave.  There are very significant sums which are disbursed from these Thanksgiving Offerings during the year – sometimes thousands of dollars at a time.

Just one example, last year [2010], we disbursed $16,000.00 just for furlough transportation expenses.  So far here in the first quarter of 2011, we have already disbursed $9500.00 for furlough transportation expenses.  When we take sums like this out of $60,000.00 [this year’s Thanksgiving Offering total] just for one line item [and especially this early in the fiscal year], it doesn’t take long to exhaust the supplies.

Besides, each month we disburse an average of $5000 per month for other regular support services we provide for our missionaries.

So, WE HOPE YOU WILL CONTINUE TO HELP US MAKE IT THROUGH THE YEAR BY GIVING TO THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING!

Hattie Marie Bratcher, 83, beloved and faithful missionary wife of Brother Harold Bratcher, passed from this life into the Presence of her Lord and Savior in Manaus, Brasil, on February 4^th at 10:39 P.M.  She had been hospitalized for the four weeks previous to her death.

She was born in Madison County, Kentucky, a daughter of Sherman and Flossie Moore.  As a young girl, she started attending a newly-organized Baptist Church in the community of Newby.  It was there, on a Sunday morning, that she heard Harold Bratcher, a young preacher from Georgetown College, preach his first sermon at the church.  She was one of eleven persons in attendance that Sunday morning.

God, in His Providence, brought Harold and Marie together, and in 1955 they were untied in marriage at Newby Baptist Church by Brother Clarence Walker.  For the next few years, Brother Bratcher pastored at Newby, then went into full-time evangelism.  Next he taught at Lexington Baptist College.

When Brother Bratcher announced that he felt called by God to go to Brazil as a missionary, Marie was not “sold” on the idea.  But before they married, she promised to go with him wherever he felt led of the Lord to go.  So they went to Brazil, arriving in 1955 along with their young son, Asa Mark.  For the next 52 years she labored with Brother Bratcher in the great Amazon Valley of Brazil where they led many people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  They were also used by the Lord to organize several Baptist churches.  When they would come to the States on furlough she often traveled with him visiting supporting churches and reporting on the Lord’s works in Brazil.  She always had a big smile for those she met and was beloved by all for her sweet spirit.  She and Brother Bratcher were inseparable in their life and service for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Besides her husband, she is survived by two sons and their wives, two granddaughters, one grandson, and one sister, Dean Cruse of Richmond, Kentucky.  She was preceded in death by her parents, one son, Joel, and one brother.

Memorial services were conducted in Manaus, Brazil, on Sunday, February 7^th.  Her body rests in the Saint John the Baptist Cemetery with that of young Joel’s awaiting the day when the Lord returns with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God.  Then all of the dead in Christ will be raised and we will forever be with the Lord.

Memorial offerings can be sent to Baptist Faith Missions, c/o George Sledd, P.O. Box 47180, Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280.  Please indicate if you want your MEMORIAL GIFT to go toward the General Fund, or if you want it to be a special gift for Brother Bratcher.

bfm.SCAN.Thkg Offng.Yearly

At the time of this writing [first of February, 2011], we have received $59,199.07, including your THANKSGIVING OFFERINGS received during January. 

GOD BLESS EACH ONE OF YOU WHO HAS GIVEN TO THIS OFFERING.

If you have not given a personal offering yet, please do so as the Lord gives you Grace to give!  No offering is too small.  No offering is insignificant.

You can give your offering designated to BFM THANKSGIVING OFFERING through your church, or you can send it directly to our Treasurer for THANKSGIVING OFFERING.  Baptist Faith Missions, c/o George Sledd, P.O. Box 471280, Lake Monroe FL 32747.