| |
September - October 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
President's Letter . . .
State of the BSA, Plans for the Future
by Richard Nickles
When I became President of the Bible Sabbath Association, I
faced a difficult task. The problems were many, and the
situation looked bleak. There was no job description for me to
know what was expected of me. The BSA had a history of a Board
of Directors who were "directors" in name only, rather
than active workers for the Association's programs. The main
driver of the BSA for forty years, Lawrence Burrell, had died in
1995.
The BSA deeply missed the vigorous volunteer service of
Lawrence, and no replacement could be found. As a result, the
BSA was paying $1,000 per month to perform BSA office
duties. The Sabbath Sentinel magazine,
a color subscription publication, went to a declining number of
subscribers. It was costing twice as much or more just to print
the magazine as there were paid subscriptions. Cash reserves
were dwindling. There was only a half page of literature and
materials available from the BSA. The editor of the magazine,
while often producing a top-notch product, sometimes covered
subjects in a way that offended other Sabbath-keepers. This
included his coverage of the history of Ellen G. White and Waco,
Nehemiah and the Sabbath, and default use of the NIV Bible
translation. For years, we were embarrassed by the fact that the
magazine was seldom printed on time, which hurt its circulation.
I felt like a battlefield doctor. There were so many wounded and
dying, I could not address all the critical issues at
once. First, I worked at greatly expanding the list of BSA
materials, which now covers more than four pages, and is
constantly growing. Friends of the Sabbath and now Teaching of
the Law audio tapes, have been a resounding success. Books such
as Truth Triumphant, the Celtic Church in
Britain, and Sabbath Under Crossfire, have been
well accepted by those we serve. Due to an unusual circumstance,
my wife Shirley lost her job at a critical time when the BSA
needed to address the office support issue. This resulted in her
becoming the BSA Office Manager, and slashed the $1000 monthly
office support cost down to the present level of $650. Shirley's
personal contact with many BSA supporters on the phone, E-mail,
and via letter, has been a boon for the BSA. Our toll free order
number, 888-687-5191, has resulted in many telephone credit card
orders. We are currently paying just 7.9 cents per minute for
the toll-free usage, and looking to lower that to 5 cents.
The exorbitant cost of printing a color magazine to a dwindling
subscription list of only about 300 was then dealt with. The
Board agreed to switch to a black and white format and remove
the subscription price. Tom Justus graciously agreed to print
the magazine at a greatly reduced cost, which saves us many
hundreds of dollars. Currently, the magazine goes to over 800,
and the list is growing. We recently printed 1200 copies for
$800, whereas in the past we paid $1500 or more for printing. We
have a bulk mailing permit in Gillette, which has saved BSA
printing costs.
I set up the BSA website and registered the www.biblesabbath.org
domain name. The BSA receives many requests as a result of our
Internet site. With the kind assistance of Ken Westby, the BSA
now has the ability to have monthly Sunday business meetings on
Westby's telephone conference line.
When I became BSA President, Calvin Burrell expressed concern
that my involvement in Giving & Sharing would negatively
affect the BSA. I believe that the opposite has been the case. I
have constantly advertised BSA materials in our Giving &
Sharing Newsletter. BSA orders from these free G&S
advertisements have exceeded Sentinel promotion of
these items, resulting in large increases of BSA income.
G&S owns the $1,000 Telex tape duplicator which the BSA uses
for its tape duplication. G&S pays for the monthly Internet
access. Our computer was paid by G&S and ourselves. The
result is that G&S has benefited BSA by many thousands of
dollars.
What is Left to Do
After four years of spending 15-20 hours per week on BSA
matters, I will not stand for reelection as BSA President. The
time commitment is too much for me. Another qualified person,
who is willing and able to commit this much time, or more, needs
to come forward.
These are the tasks that need to be addressed:
President -- By the time you read this, the BSA
should have elected a President who is willing and able to lead
us into the future. This person will have a wide knowledge of
Sabbatarian groups, make the time to solve the problems we face,
and command the respect of us all. I expect that the next BSA
President will commit at least as much time as I did to BSA
matters.
The Sabbath Sentinel -- A permanent editor of
TSS needs to be selected, plus a planning committee. This
committee should not be slanted to any particular Church
grouping. The magazine needs to be planned well in advance, and
edited and proofed and ready to print at least 2-3 weeks before
the issue date. The focus of the magazine should not be to
compete with Church publications such as Good News, Signs of
Times, Bible Advocate, Sabbath Recorder, etc., but to
promote the Sabbath to non-Sabbath-keepers, and promote
cooperation and understanding among Sabbath keepers.
Therefore, each issue needs to highlight one or more different
Sabbath groups or ministries, through such means as an interview
with a current Sabbatarian leader, a history of a group, current
analysis of activity of a group or ministry, etc. Each issue
also needs to have an "infomercial" of one or more of
the items of the BSA's literature or tapes available. Each
issue should address practical matters of interest to all
Sabbatarians. Normal "religious" articles should be
less than half the content of the magazine. Positive news of
Sabbatarians should be a major focus. The field is wide open for
such a Sabbatarian nonsectarian magazine. The Journal
newspaper often has a negative perspective, and concentrates on
arguments and contentions between Sabbath-keepers of the ex-WCG
groups. TSS should be a positive publication promoting
Sabbatarian cooperation.
New BSA literature -- The BSA, to survive, must
continually add interesting materials to its Order Blank. We
must put out the mustard. A continual stream of new materials is
our bread and butter. One or two items, per month, need to be
added to our list. These can be new items exclusive to the BSA,
or items published by others. This is a task ALL BSA supporters
can be actively involved in. Without good, new literature, we
die.
Directory -- A continuous updating of the
Directory of Sabbath-Keeping Groups needs to be
done. The 1996 Directory is woefully out of date and has many
erroneous addresses. We continually receive requests for the
location of the nearest Sabbatarian Church. To respond to these
earnest requests, we must institute a searchable database of as
many Sabbatarian local churches as possible. I have outlined a
plan to do this on the Internet. The result will be a printed
version of the Directory, and an "Online" version
(accessed by password by those who are members or have purchased
the new Directory). Via online collaboration and file sharing,
the task of setting it up and continuously updating the Directory
can be split to several different people with responsibility for
certain groups. A team of 4-6 or more people needs to spend a
great deal of time over the next 2-3 months to get it set
up. Then, these same people, or others, should be assigned to
maintain it and keep it current. Maintenance time should be far
less, but the team needs to spend a lot of time to get it set up
at the start. Individuals outside the BSA Directory team need to
have online and printed forms to submit new or changed data for
the online Directory.
The Directory is a MAJOR function of the BSA.
We continually receive correspondence from people asking where
is the closest Sabbatarian Church. At this time, we are unable
to help them. An expanded, continuously updated Directory
fulfills a prime objective of the BSA, to promote the Sabbath
and cooperation among Sabbath-keepers. Our online database
should have the address of every Sabbatarian Church congregation
in the world.
Parts of this database, such as a Calendar of Sabbatarian
events, and special meetings and festivals, would not be limited
to password access. An online Directory and online calendar of
events will bring traffic to the BSA website, and orders for BSA
material and subscriptions to TSS. In line with this, we need to
add the ability for customers to purchase BSA materials online,
using their credit card.
Team approach -- The President needs to
organize the Board of Directors and other BSA supporters into
functional teams. The BSA needs to exemplify cooperation. Every
member of the Board should be expected to regularly work for the
BSA. Successfully implementing these tasks will carry the BSA
into the Twenty First Century. Whether or not you are a BSA
Board Member or officer, the field is wide open for you to use
the BSA as a tool to promote the Sabbath and cooperation among
Sabbath-keepers. May zealous men and women come forth everywhere
to promote the Lord of the Sabbath!
TSS
September - October 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
|