by Keith Bassham
I am taking an Accounting Concepts for Managers course these days, and so I am paying more attention than usual to the flow of numbers and reports from the business side of the Tribune. I don’t know whether I know more about less, or less about more after a few sessions with my instructors, but I do know from my reports that the Tribune has many friends who are responding to the February Tribune Offering (FTO) appeal.
On the positive side (debit, left – credit, right … I think), I have noticed several new names on the list of those committing and giving to the FTO. And I have also noted churches that I know are doing all they can to stay above water and still they are motivated to participate in the annual offering. Some states with fewer participants have already sent in their reports, and I see that more than a couple have exceeded what they did last year!
There are still reports to come, and several I will not be able to complete until we meet later in the month (I’m writing this in early February), and if we have a repeat of last year, some will not be complete until months from now.
Keep in mind, this is not an exercise in scorekeeping like a sporting event — and it’s certainly not academic. There is a more important point to this appeal. We raise the offering to help us print and circulate the Tribune. Some readers receive the magazine at no cost to them, and we gladly distribute them on that basis among our Bible college students, to our missionaries, for our retired preachers, for the ministry widows, in newly planted churches, and even a few prison libraries (I get a very nice thank-you letter every year from a prison chaplain in Colorado).
But all the Tribunes, even the ones circulated without charge, and the one you hold in your hand, cost somebody something to produce and mail. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but that is the truth of it. If you did not pay for the magazine you are reading, someone is ministering to you. And if you gave to the Tribune through the offering, or through monthly Tribune support, or even if you purchased a subscription, someone somewhere is benefitting from your ministry.
How do I know this? It’s simple. The books have to balance — a ministry taking place on one side means someone is receiving ministry on the other side. That’s something accounting teaches. Why not help us keep things in balance? Be on both sides of the ledger — give to the Tribune, and receive the Tribune. Call the office at (417) 831-3996 and make a commitment by phone, or ask for an offering card or subscription envelope to be mailed to you. If you are a pastor, call and ask about receiving a monthly bundle of Tribunes for your church. We will all benefit.