The Goodness of God

By Randall B. Terry

The goodness of God is the best way to describe what we have experienced in the Texas Conference during the past four years. I am reminded of the song “Goodness of God.” It begins, “I love you, Lord, for Your mercy never fails me. All my days, I’ve been held in Your Hands. From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head, Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.”

In these past four years, we have experienced many things, especially the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic. When it started, we were very concerned about how it would affect the finances of our members and the Texas Conference.

The mission-minded focus and generosity of our members are genuinely inspirational. By the goodness of God, our members have been blessed in their returning of tithes and giving offerings.

The mission of the Texas Conference Treasury is to serve our constituency and safeguard the resources God has entrusted to us. Leviticus 27:30 says, “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD.” This is a vast daily undertaking for our department, which includes many new staff members.

Constituency delegates will receive a copy of the audited financial statements for the years ended Dec. 31, 2019-Dec. 31, 2022. The General Conference Auditing Service conducted these audits, and the statements report the financial activity of the Texas Conference and Association. The Association works with churches and schools to process purchases and sales of buildings and to review contracts with builders and architects with the help of our real estate attorneys and consultants. The audits, which take place annually, are just one of the internal control systems designed to ensure that funds are handled appropriately and with Christian integrity.

In the past four years, faithful members have returned $233.7 million in tithe, compared to $195.7 million for the previous quadrennial. That is an increase of 19.4 percent. The tithe graph shows an annual increase of 18.6 percent and an average of 4.7 percent per year. This is truly remarkable due to financial constraints within the United States during the last four years. The only explanation is God’s goodness.

The Texas Conference tithe distribution graphic shows how the tithe is distributed. In addition to providing funds for Texas Conference ministries, a portion of the tithe is shared with the world church. The tithe returned to God literally takes a trip around the world to assist in proclaiming the everlasting gospel.

Approximately 4 percent of the total tithe is returned to the Texas Conference as an appropriation for education and evangelism. That means that approximately 64 percent of each tithe dollar is used to operate Texas Conference ministries.

The Ministries category includes Church Planting | Volunteer Lay Pastor | Church Revitalization, Family Ministries, Lake Whitney Ranch, Ministry & Evangelism, Men’s Ministries, Pastors, Prayer Ministries, Prison Ministries, Summer Camp, Women’s Ministries, Youth & Club Ministries and Young Adult Ministries.

The Services category includes Auditing, Communication & Public Relations,

Adventist Community Services, Information Systems, Literature Ministries and Planned Giving & Trust Services | Stewardship.

Our payroll team processes more than 1,000 employees’ paychecks twice a month. Our auditing team works with local treasurers to audit finances for more than 320 churches and companies and 17 elementary/junior high schools. This year, volunteer screening was added to Treasury because it is a Risk Management area. Since every church and school volunteer must be screened before interacting with our young people, that can be thousands of volunteers screened each year.

The property manager assists churches and schools with their building and property needs. Currently, we have 47 buildingrelated projects in process. In the past four years, we have purchased 16 buildings and sold 20.

Malachi 3:10 encourages us, “’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,’ Says the LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’”

We are thankful for God’s blessings and for your part in growing and enhancing His work in Texas. I am so grateful for the Treasury team that makes this report possible and the local church and school treasurers, who diligently work together to complete God’s treasury ministry.