October Report: Since the Feast of Tabernacles many people have asked me about the Holy Day offerings and how much more was received this year than last. I would have liked to report about them earlier in the "Pastor General's Report" to ministers or in the post-Feast edition of "The Worldwide News." The reason I did not is that all the factors were not yet known: in fact, some are still not known. The increases for Trumpets, Atonement and the first day of Tabernacles did not reach our budget estimates of a 12% increase, but averaged about 7% or 8%.
The Last Great Day appeared to be outstanding with a 32% increase. This year members in the U.S. and Canada were asked to add any excess Festival tithe to the offering, instead of turning it in separately. That is possibly the reason for the unusually large increase. Until the end of the year when all Festival tithe offerings are totaled, we will not know for sure.
The Holy Day offerings for the year are approximately 9% more than 1984. The combined months of September-October are 7.5% more, and the year-to-date stands at 10.4% more than last year.
These increases are not as great as we had hoped for in 1985, and do not reach our income budget on which our expense budget was built. During the year we have also increased our expenses considerably to take advantage of unusual and unexpected opportunities in media. As a result of these factors, our cash reserves were lower than anticipated, and were temporarily depleted at our expected low point just before the Feast. This is the first time that has happened since I was made treasurer. We must not permit this to happen again, so it is necessary to trim back to where we can again have acceptable levels of reserves.
The Scriptures promise that God will supply our need: in fact, Jesus said that before we even ask, God knows what the need is. I believe God has supplied the need, but we possibly have sometimes not adequately used those funds. Please pray that God will guide Mr. Armstrong and all who are involved in any financial aspect of the Church to use the funds the way He wants, and not the way we think may be right.
The budget process for 1986 has begun. First for the international offices, then the U.S. departments. This is a difficult but essential task each year. Your prayers and financial support are greatly needed and appreciated.
REPORT FROM THE TREASURER'S OFFCE
Worldwide Church of God