Budget Time

by    T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                                                    Vol. IV, No. 6, August 1991

In church after church around Virginia finance committees are beginning to work on next year's budget. The Banner suggests that every conservative church consider prayerfully placing two causes in its 1992 budget.

The first cause the Banner wants to lay before finance committees is the SBC Adopt an Annuitant program. These are retired church staff (mostly pastors and wives) whose annuity payments are too small to live on. A church can commit to contributing any monthly amount, although $50 per month is suggested.

In Virginia there are 910 annuitants with 174 receiving $100 or less per month and 232 receiving $101-$200 monthly. Only 30 of these folks have been "adopted" so far. Nationwide out of over 20,000 total annuitants there are 3,400 in dire need. Over 10,000 receive less than $200 per month.

If your church would like more information about adopting an annuitant, you may call toll-free 1-800-262-0511 or write: Mr. M. Ross Taylor; Endowment Department, SBC Annuity Board; P.O. Box 2190; Dallas, TX 75221-2190.

The second cause is the Banner itself. Late last November your newly elected trustees established the goal of increasing the list of folks receiving the Banner from the 1,615 who received the 5 November 1990 issue to 5,000 as of 1 November 1991. We are making good progress. Our issue dated 14 July 1991 went out to 3,335. That leaves us another 1,665 to go by November.

Of course, as the mailing list increases so do costs. Currently it costs a fraction of a penny less than 30 cents to place one copy in the hands of a reader. One issue of 5,000 will cost $1,471. Everything possible is done to keep costs at a minimum. All labor is voluntary, unpaid.

Readers will perhaps have noted that we do not offer subscriptions. A subscription implies a contract: You pay your $10.00 and receive your paper regularly like clockwork. Precisely because all work is voluntary, we cannot publish on an exact schedule. And we decided that to give the wrong impression and have a number of people feel we were not meeting a commitment would not be honoring to the Lord. Therefore we send the Banner out free.

The obvious result of the above two paragraphs is that we need more contributions from both churches and individuals who are led to support the Banner. The steady, dependable income from regular monthly or quarterly checks from churches is especially important, although of course every donation of whatever size is most welcome.

How much should each church contribute? That is up to the church and the Lord's leading. Perhaps it will be helpful in scoping your decision to note that $125 per month will pay for one complete 5,000 copy issue. Likewise, $62.50 monthly would pay for half an issue, and $31.25 a month for one-quarter of an issue. Obviously there are great differences in resources between churches. Whatever is appropriate for your church will be most gratefully received. Contributions may be sent to: The Baptist Banner; 4009 Lafayette Boulevard; Fredericksburg, VA 22408.

The other side of the Banner challenge is to continue increasing our reader list. If you know anyone who should be getting the Banner and isn't, just send their name and address (and if you know it, the name of the church they attend) to: The Baptist Banner; 8601 Buckboard Drive; Alexandria, VA 22308.

One last word. If your church can participate in only one of these causes, pray about it, but the Banner suggests that you support the Adopt an Annuitant program. Many of these loyal and now elderly servants of Christ are really in financial straits. How would you like to try to get by on less than $200 a month?