November 3, 2011 Member Letter

November 3, 2011

Dear Brethren,

What a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles! Sharron and I spent this Feast in Corpus Christi, Texas, and it was great. The Feast had all the elements we look for each year—great spiritual food, good fellowship and time with family. From all the reports, it was an exceptional Feast everywhere.

We also had a very strong international attendance during the Feast this year. You may not be aware of this, but about 40 percent of our total Church attendance resides outside the United States. I don’t have all the statistics necessary to back this up, but from all I can gather this is the highest percentage of international members that we have seen in the modern history of the Church. We truly are an international body of people—a worldwide family!

We have now completed one full cycle of God’s holy days for 2011. The Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day capped off an extraordinary year for us. Our first year will be one to remember for many reasons. We began from a “standing” start back in December of 2010, and now we see a viable organization with congregations, pastors and members around the world.

The members here in the U.S. and, I’m sure, around the world have been very generous with their offerings, for which we are deeply thankful. For those who have an interest in statistics, the seven annual holy days produced a total U.S. offering of approximately $2.3 million (this is a preliminary number and does not take into account offerings sent by mail after the holy days or offerings given internationally). Our average per person was 10 percent higher this year than the average for offerings last year (2010). And the Last Great Day was a wonderful conclusion to the year with our highest average per person, even higher than the special offering on the First Day of Unleavened Bread.

Our highest actual attendance on a holy day in the U.S. this year was 5,002. By including a very conservative estimate of two people per connection for the Webcasts during the Feast of Tabernacles, we calculate that COGWA had a total attendance of around 5,300 in the U.S. and close to 9,500 worldwide.

The Feast of Tabernacles has always been a highlight and a stage setter for the Church over the past many years. This year was no different. With the Feast reminding us of our spiritual foundation and what this work is all about, we are now ready to tackle some major decisions. One of the statements that we used prior to the Feast was, “We will make that decision after the Feast.” Well, “after the Feast” is here, and we do have a number of major decisions awaiting us!

Before getting into a description of those decisions, I would like to address some foundational principles regarding the Church. My goal in the sermon during the Feast was to emphasize that we cannot ignore either aspect of the work of the Church—preaching the gospel to the world as a witness or caring for those whom God has called. It seems wrong thinking to believe that God would be happy with us if we preached the gospel to the world but failed to care for those whom He called to be part of His family. The apostle Paul said it this way: “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). I don’t believe it is a stretch to say that Paul would be equally disappointed if we “preached to others” while those already called drifted away due to our lack of care.

A quick study of the Gospels will show that there were occasions when Christ had “compassion” on the people because they were without the care of a shepherd. Matthew 9:36 is one of those: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”

Some of the final words that Christ spoke to Peter prior to His ascension to heaven also dealt with taking care of those whom God has called—His sheep. In John 21 Christ asked Peter three times if he loved Him more than the others. Of course, asking it three times places a great deal of emphasis on the question. After Peter’s answer each time, Christ said: “Feed My lambs;” “Tend My sheep;” and “Feed My sheep.” The word translated “tend” in the New King James Version is quite interesting and means to keep or care for. In addition to preaching the gospel, it is a responsibility of the Church and the ministry to care for the brethren. 

Now I want to bring you up to date on the decisions and the process of decision making that will take place in the next few weeks. We have several important decisions that are before us, and I want to encourage all of us to take the time to pray specifically about each one. The primary ones are: (1) the city where our principal office will be located, (2) the strategic plan for 2012, (3) the operation plan for 2012, (4) the budget for 2012 and (5) the media plan (part of the strategic plan) for this next year. These decisions will be made in Orlando, Florida, at the next board meeting, Dec. 5-8, 2011. Our process calls for the president and his administration to put forward specific proposals in each of these areas for the approval of the board.

Let me explain about the office location and describe how this process will be concluded. First, I want to state that having seen the Church suffer controversy more than once in recent years over the process for selecting an office location, I am committed to bringing this to conclusion with a clear consensus on the part of the administration and the board. I don’t believe we should elevate this decision beyond what it really is—the selecting of an office to do the work of the Church. At most, the choice of city will affect a handful of employees—primarily the eight to 12 working in the office. The vast majority of the Church and ministry will not be directly affected by the city that is selected for an office.

In August of this year we appointed a task force to study potential locations. In addition, we secured the assistance of a member who is a professional in company relocations to assist us. The task force has put forward six cities for us to consider, and those cities are currently being reviewed by the administration. Research tells us that all six cities have a cost of living below the national average and that each one has unique opportunities for leasing office space. Our consultant has informed us that everything is negotiable because of the current bad economy, making bargains available in each city.

We will prepare a report on each of the six cities, providing information on the cost of living (including the cost of housing and cost of food); ease and cost of transportation (with a large percentage of our ministry and members outside the U.S., having a cost-effective international airport in close proximity is considered important); cost of utilities; and proximity of members and congregations. I am sure you will not be surprised to know that every state and city has a different taxing structure. Some rely heavily on property taxes; others rely heavily on sales or income taxes. After collecting the information, we will do our best to choose an environment that will give our employees the best quality of life while providing the least expensive and best setup for an office. We will begin with a small office; and if it grows, it will be because the work of the Church has grown and not because we feel there is a need for an impressive location or large office with many employees.

The Ministerial Board of Directors will review the material from the task force and consider the recommendations from the president and the administration. Once a city has been approved by the board, we’ll begin working to find the best office facility that we can afford in that city or surrounding areas. It will likely take several weeks after we make the decision on a city before we actually move into an office. In summary, we want God involved in all of our decisions, but we do not want to create a controversy by elevating a decision on the physical location of an office to something that it isn’t.

Projecting and determining the 2012 budget is another major decision to be made in Orlando. Our fiscal year now corresponds to the calendar year. We have a burning desire to accelerate our media efforts in order to take the gospel to the world, and we will always be working to increase our effectiveness. How much we can accomplish in the next year will be determined by the resources that God provides, but we do have the holy day offering from the First Day of Unleavened Bread in store and ready to be invested in media projects under development.

This past Monday, Oct. 31, during a webinar board meeting, the Ministerial Board of Directors selected Joel Meeker as its first chairman. The administration looks forward to working with Mr. Meeker and the board as we plan for our first meeting together coming up in Orlando during the week of Dec. 5. Congratulations are in order to Mr. Meeker for his new responsibilities!

Brethren, we are asking that you keep all these decisions in mind over the next few weeks. I don’t think anyone can say that we rushed into things this past year. When we meet in Orlando in December, it will be almost one year since we began; and we have done everything over the past year in a deliberate and thoughtful manner. We want to get it right his time, even if the process sometimes tests our patience. The good news is that within another month we should be able to make some exciting announcements as we take the next steps in reorganizing. Thank you so much for your prayers and letters. They do mean a lot!

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks