Thanksgiving Offering FAQ

BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS
THANKSGIVING OFFERING FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. "WHY DO WE HAVE A THANKSGIVING OFFERING?"
We have a Thanksgiving Offering because WE NEED IT to "make our ends meet" for the coming year to meet the financial commitments we have made to our missionaries for the services and benefits we provide from the General Fund.

2. "WHY IS THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING SO IMPORTANT?"
The Thanksgiving Offering is ESSENTIAL to make up for the monthly deficits we incur month by month in the General Fund. This deficit is the difference between the monthly income offerings for the General Fund and the outgoing disbursements.

3. "WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING?"
When we receive the Thanksgiving Offering beginning in November of the current year, we put it in escrow in an interest-bearing account. Then we draft from it month by month over the coming year to make up for the monthly deficits we incur in our General Fund.

4. "WHAT SERVICES AND BENEFITS DOES THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING PROVIDE?"
The Thanksgiving Offering enables us to meet the policy commitments we have made to our missionaries. Those standard commitments include:
• monthly salaries
• monthly standard housing allowances
• monthly standard ministry expenses allowances
• missionaries' hospitalization premiums
• hospitalization personal deductible reimbursements to the missionaries
• reimbursements for missionaries' furlough plane tickets
• printing and mailing The Mission Sheets (missionaries' monthly letters, reports, updates -- and detailed report of all offerings given through BFM that month)
• expenses for maintaining Stateside office for communication and daily services
• providing and maintaining a Furlough Home in Lexington for those missionaries who choose to use it
• $8000.00 Auto Allowance provided for each missionary every four years

5. "HOW ELSE IS THE GENERAL FUND SUPPLIED?"
The standard supply for the General Fund is from monthly offerings which are given to the General Fund. These offerings are listed monthly in the Mission Sheets under "General Fund". These offerings are never sufficient to cover the commitments which are provided from the General fund.

6. "ARE "DESIGNATED OFFERINGS" EVER USED FOR GENERAL FUND PURPOSES?"
No. Designated Offerings are designated by the contributor for specific projects and ministry needs the missionaries have. All Designated Offerings are given in total to the designated purposes.

7. "WHAT HAPPENS IF THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO COVER THE MONTHLY DEFICITS FOR THE COMING YEAR?"
In this event, certain monthly commitments which are supplied from the General Fund are reduced proportionately among the missionaries from the General Fund resources which are available that month. WE PRAISE GOD AND BLESS HIM FOR YOUR GENEROSITY, THAT IN ALL THE YEARS SINCE BFM's INCEPTION IN 1942, WE HAVE NEVER FAILED TO SEND OUR MISSIONARIES THEIR SALARIES. THERE HAVE BEEN VERY RARE INSTANCES IN WHICH THEIR MONTHLY HOUSING OR MINISTRY EXPENSE ALLOWANCES HAVE BEEN REDUCED OR ELIMINATED FOR THAT MONTH.

8. "DO YOU EVER USE THE THANKSGIVING OFFERINGS FOR PROJECTS THAT ARE NOT ALREADY PRESCRIBED AND COMMITTED TO OUR MISSIONARIES FROM GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS?"
No. We have never had left-over Thanksgiving Offering funds or balances in the General Fund at the end of the current fiscal year after exhausting last year's Thanksgiving Offering. That means we have no funds committed for General Fund services which can be applied toward other "discretionary" (non-policy/prescribed) uses.

9. "WHAT WOULD HAVE TO HAPPEN IN THE MONTHLY GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS FOR YOU TO USE THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING FOR OTHER THAN CURRENTLY PRESCRIBED / POLICY COMMITMENTS, SERVICES, AND BENEFITS?"
For that to happen, we would need to increase our monthly offerings to the General Fund sufficiently to "break even" each month between the offerings to the General Fund and disbursements from the General Fund. THAT IS OUR LONG-TERM GOAL. In that event, we could then use our Thanksgiving Offering for "growth initiatives": that is, either increasing our current missionaries' services and benefits or assuming full-time support for additional missionaries and expanding BFM's outreach to other fields of service.

10. "WHY IS THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING GIVEN AT THE THANKSGIVING SEASON?"
• The BFM Thanksgiving Offering began many years ago in conjunction with the annual Thanksgiving Missionary Conference in the Detroit-area and has continued that way to this day.
• Also, the Thanksgiving season is good reminder of the thanks we owe God for His Indescribable Gift in Jesus Christ.
• And, the Thanksgiving season and Offering is a good occasion for us to give missionary offerings so others, also, may hear the blessed Good News of salvation through Christ…and, in this way, MULTIPLY STILL MORE THANKSGIVINGS TO GOD.

11. "HOW CAN I GIVE MY THANKSGIVING OFFERING?"
If your church receives a Thanksgiving Offering for the missionaries supported through BFM, then we encourage you to give your offering through your church. Most of the Thanksgiving Offerings which are given by churches are made up by the voluntary offerings of individual members who give to the Offering.

12. "WHAT IF MY CHURCH DOES NOT RECEIVE A BFM THANKSGIVING OFFERING?"
If your church does not participate in the Thanksgiving Offering, you may send your personal gift to the Treasurer of BFM and be sure to designate it "Thanksgiving Offering."

13. "CAN I GIVE MY THANKSGIVING OFFERING ONLY AT THANKSGIVING…OR DURING NOVEMBER?"
No. Most churches and individual Friends of BFM give on or around Thanksgiving Sunday (either the Sunday before or after Thanksgiving Day). However, offerings continue to come in to the Treasurer during the month of December, and sometimes on into January of the next year. But, all offerings designated "Thanksgiving Offering" go toward the same collective Offering for that year.

14. "HOW IS THE "EVERY FRIEND A GIVING FRIEND" PERSONAL GIVING MINISTRY PERTINENT TO THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING?"
We introduced the "EVERY FRIEND A GIVING FRIEND" ministry and plan during the 2003 Thanksgiving Conference. This plan is nothing new or unique; it is just another way to express and articulate what the Friends of BFM have been doing since the inception of the Mission. It is also patterned after the instructions Paul gives us in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9: that is,
1. to purpose in your heart to give an offering;
2. to ask God to supply you with the funds you will need to give the offering;
3. to plan and begin preparing even a year ahead of time (as Paul instructed the Corinthians and the other churches to do); and
4. to give your offerings to the Lord and to the Lord's missionaries willingly and cheerfully and to express your love and obedience to the Lord.
We encourage each Friend of BFM to be a Giving Friend and give personal offerings to help supply our missionaries' needs which are met through the General Fund.
"EVERY FRIEND A GIVING FRIEND" challenges each Friend of BFM to personally participate in missions giving over and above the regular tithes and offerings you give to your church to meet the needs of your local church's ministries.
In the "Every Friend a Giving Friend" plan, we also encourage each Giving Friend to make a personal commitment to either begin giving or increase your giving each month to the General Fund.

YOU CAN FIND THE FULL TEXT OF THE "EVERY FRIEND A GIVING FRIEND" PLAN ON OUR WEBSITE: www.baptistfaithmissions.org OR YOU CAN OBTAIN PAPER COPIES BY CONTACTING OUR SECRETARY:
DAVE PARKS
3985 BOSTON ROAD,
LEXINGTON KY 40514
859.223.8374
daveparks@insightbb.com

15. "WHY DO YOU SET GOALS FOR THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING?"
We set goals because the goal amount is keyed to the projected needs we expect to meet for the coming year of missionary ministry. When we increase the commitments, services, and benefits we need to give our missionaries so they can fulfill their ministries, our needs for the necessary funds increase also. And, please remember with us that WE CANNOT APPROVE AND COMMIT OUR SUPPORT TO ADDITIONAL MISSIONARY CANDIDATES UNLESS WE BELIEVE THE LORD WILL SUPPLY THOSE FUNDS THROUGH YOUR GIVING.

OUR 2006 THANKSGIVING OFFERING GOAL IS $85,000.00.

WOULD YOU PLEASE PRAY AND ASK THE LORD OF THE HARVEST
WHAT HE WOULD HAVE YOU GIVE TO THIS YEAR'S THANKSGIVING OFFERING?
AND THEN ASK HIM ALSO TO SUPPLY YOU WITH THAT GIFT
FROM HIS INEXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES OF GRACE?

OUR NEEDS HAVE NEVER BEEN GREATER…
AND WE ALSO HAVE UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITIES
TO MUTIPLY OUR FIELDS OF SERVICE
BY APPROVING SUPPORT
FOR ADDITIONAL MISSIONARY APPLICANTS.

Thank You, GIVING FRIENDS!