Let me encourage you to continue praying for the people of Japan as they deal with tragic loss and ongoing fears. Pray that God might be at work—even in this tragedy—to make Himself known to a nation that has been historically resistant to the Good News of His grace, with 99% of Japan’s population currently non-Christian. Pray for the 330 churches of the Japanese Baptist Convention and their Executive Director, Rev. Makoto Kato. Seventeen of their churches are in the affected areas and have sustained varying degrees of damage and loss.

I can assure you that our mission partners are integrally involved in the necessary disaster relief, community, family, and church recovery work. Should the Lord lead you to make a specific over-and-above gift to assist those efforts, we will gladly get it there quickly. However, I want to call your attention to an often overlooked channel of meeting such needs: the operating budget of First Baptist Church of Plano.

Did you know that a portion of every undesignated gift through First Baptist Church of Plano will go to meet needs in Japan through each of the following mission partners? Through your regular gift of God’s tithe and your offerings, you are at work in Japan right now through Texas Baptists, Mission to Unreached Peoples, the Baptist World Alliance, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and the International Mission Board, meeting needs and sharing the hope of Christ. It is essential that we grow strong as a congregation, or that type of worldwide ministry will be increasingly difficult.

Because I’m often asked, “How are things financially?” we will begin posting a brief “giving gauge” in the worship bulletin so a quick glance at the “dashboard” will give you the situation. Based on the weekly giving trends over the past ten years, the gauge shows what our planned budget requires at this point in the year—contrasting that number with what has actually been received since the first of the year. Here’s an example:

Planned giving through March 20: $526,355

Actual giving through March 20: $477,856 (91%)

Pray like Paul in Acts 9:6 (KJV): “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” When we do that, we honor Him! I’m proud to be your pastor,

Jerry