Treasury
By Randall B. Terry, Texas Conference Treasurer
The mission of the Texas Conference Treasury Department is to safeguard the resources God has entrusted to us.
The past two years have been full of ups and downs. We have learned new phrases and adapted to different circumstances because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite all this, we have continued to further the work here in the Texas Conference.
Through the faithfulness of God, our Texas Conference constituents and modifications made by our administration and Executive Committee, we finished 2020 stronger than we started.
It is always exciting to see church membership grow each year. Often with that growth, additional staffing is desired. The key to making that happen, though, is realizing that the Texas Conference pastors, office staff and a portion of our teachers’ salaries and benefits is covered by tithe funds.
If tithe returns are low, that requires a reduction in the budget, which in turn results in a reduction in staffing. Since roughly 80 percent of the conference’s budget is employee salary and benefits, you can see where substantial budget reductions are required.
After a 12 percent increase in tithe for 2018 and a continual increase in membership in 2019, the demands for increased staffing were warranted. Unfortunately, though, there was a tithe decrease of 1.3 percent for 2019 compared to 2018, so we started 2020 with a budget deficit.
In the midst of much prayer and many long discussions trying to figure out how to solve that challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
With so much unknown as to how this disease was spreading, it was decided to close our churches. That created another challenge for our members desiring to return their tithes and give their offerings.
Thanks to innovative thinking, many churches started drive-up offering times. Others visited members to collect the tithe and offerings, while some chose to give online.
AdventistGiving.org is a web and app platform where members can return their tithes and offerings. Churches can sign up to offer this service at no cost to the church. This provides members with a way to return tithes and give offerings locally and abroad.
When COVID-19 first began, we had approximately 115 of our 319 churches and companies signed up for AdventistGiving. Within weeks, we had processed approximately 130 new applications. At the end of 2020, 275 of our 319 churches and companies were signed up for Adventist- Giving. During 2020, more than $34.8 million was donated using AdventistGiving.
After everything was said and done, we ended 2020 with a 2.1 percent increase in tithe compared to 2019. This could have only been accomplished by God’s blessing on His people of the Texas Conference and their faithfulness in returning their tithes and offerings. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
In January of 2020, Barbara Craft, Associate Treasurer, Payroll, retired after 18 years of service in the Texas Conference. She oversaw the processing of payroll for more than 1,000 employees of the Texas Conference. She had one of the longest commutes of anyone who works in the conference office, yet she was so consistent with showing up at the office, each and every day. Save for a few wintry days or sicknesses, Barbara was always in the office. Madeline Ogando, Associate Treasurer, Payroll, has assumed Barbara’s position and has been overseeing the processing of the conference payroll.
Earlier this year, Roger Mekelburg retired after 20 years of service in the Texas Conference. He served as the Planned Giving & Trust Services director, as well as Association Secretary/Treasurer. The Texas Conference Association holds the title for all Texas Conference properties. He also assisted churches and schools with buying and selling properties and completing construction and remodeling projects.
Beginning February 1, 2021, Raul Del Valle was hired as Property Manager to help churches and schools with their building and property needs. Lynette Ecord, who was Associate Director for Planned Giving & Trust Services, was elected as the director of the department.
God hasn’t provided the right undertreasurer yet for our team, but we deeply appreciate our current team, including our local church and school treasurers, who have stepped up to diligently complete God’s work.
Auditing
During the past two years, the Auditing team completed financial reviews (normally called audits) for 101 of our churches. These reviews include, but are not limited to, the handling of remittances, offerings, payments and bank reconciliation.
To improve financial review performance, the team has developed and implemented training sessions for church and school treasurers. Each year, church treasurers receive four one-hour classes, and last year, training began for school treasurers as well. Church treasurers have a choice of four types of classes: Basic or Advanced, English or Spanish. The topics include creating a chart of accounts, registering offerings, making deposits, AdventistGiving, registering checks, reconciling bank accounts, reporting, budgeting and policies and procedures. Once training is completed, the materials are posted to our website so all treasurers have access to the information, whether they were able to attend or not. So far, 443 treasurers, assistants and pastors from 233 organizations have benefited from these instructions.
The team has also responded to 2,124 calls from 291 of our organizations, an average of 88 calls per month. Topics include, among others, questions from new treasurers, AdventistGiving, corrections to deposits or checks, reconciliation, procedural questions from pastors, accounting software installation, budgeting and questionsregarding month-end closing.
Staff
