From the Office of the CAO

July 31, 2012

New monthly news feature

Westminster Chief Administrative Officer, Steven J. Carter, begins a new series of updates from the business office and the office of development.  Below is the first of his monthly reflections on Westminster's progress as it seeks to train Christian leaders to proclaim the whole counsel of God throughout a changing world.

It’s a New Beginning!

Does the chance for a new beginning sound appealing to you? If your world is Downton Abbey and your name is Anna, a new beginning is the joyful prospect of finally marrying Mr. Bates. Both Anna and Mr. Bates have lived long enough to have all the youthful idealism kicked out of them. They know how hard life can be. And yet, the prospect of a joyful new beginning with one another is tantalizingly close.  (Season three premiers on January 6, 2013!)

In the Finance Office in Machen Hall, we've begun a new fiscal year. All the Year-to-Date items in the budget reports are reset to zeros. A new development team is making plans on a clean slate.  But there are clouds overhead.  Westminster needs one million dollars more in contributions than we received in the year that just closed.  How will such a sum ever be raised?

So rather than a feast with bride and bridegroom, we had a solemn day of fasting and prayer to welcome the new fiscal year.  We acknowledged we don’t deserve to be blessed by God but we believe God loves to bless those who humbly seek Him.  We called on the Lord of the harvest to send the resources Westminster needs to continue to train leaders for the new creation harvest.

Before we began to pray, we heard that a friend of Westminster was so encouraged by the announcement of the day of fasting and prayer that she was sending a wonderful gift.  We also heard that three of the visitors from China who had been with us wanted to become Christians before they returned home.  He really is making everything new!

To support Westminster's mission to train Christian leaders to proclaim the whole counsel of God throughout a changing world, visit our online donation page here.