Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1997 - Rparchives.org

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA 125
We give thanks to the Lord who has continued to bless the work of thi
We thank God for devoted and hard-working employees who serve the church
with gladness. We are grateful that He is blessing our efforts to provide Psalms for
singing to the church of Christ. We thank Him for giving us opportunities to bring
young people together and to bring nations together in our conferences. In these
works of your Board of Education and Publication, God has made himself known
and His presence has encouraged and directed what we have been able to
accomplish.
This report is in two parts. The firstprovides some details of the work of the
Board during the last year. The second is a significant proposal to restructure the
Board to better enableit to carry out its work in the future. We desire for Synod
to act on this proposal this year.
THE WORK OF THE BOARD
Publications
The publications work of the board is of three sorts. First, the Covenanter
Witness, our nearly monthly denominational magazine. Second, the publications of
Crown sc Covenant, chiefly the Book of Psalms for Singing, but also a significant
list of titles of theological and bible studies, as well as Psalm-singing materials and
recordings. Third, printing services, recently made possible by the in-house printing
capacities acquired with the Risograph equipment. Although there have been
technical snags in getting this equipment to run as well as was expected (you may
have noticed the change in quality of print, especially of graphics in the Covenanter
Witness), the decision to buy in-house printing equipment has so far proved to be
a wise one. It permits lower per unit costs in publications and gives the staff a
greater degree of control over the work. We are very thankful for the hard-working
personnel of the Publications office, Director of Publications and Managing Editors
Drew and Lynne Gordon, Production Assistant and Secretary Linda M. Au, Office
Manager Steve Hostetter and a series of Mail Clerks that have served us. These
people do their work with gladness, serving the Lord and this branch of His body.
Sales of our published work continue to be strong. The Covenanter Witness has
been slowly building its subscription base. Its production costs have been reduced
so that it now requires far less in subsidies than it has in the past. We continue to
be encouraged with the quality of the volunteer work provided for the Witness, in
the Learn sc Live, Youth Beat, Kids Page, and Watchwords columns. The staff
continue to work to improve the technical quality of the magazine.
Crown sc Covenant has had another very strong year of sales, producing an
even higher profit than in 1995. Projects currently underway include Psalm Visuals
for Teaching Children, "First Forty" Psalm CD, Psalm Settings Teaching CD by
Jason Coghill, Trinity Psalter Song Leader's Edition. The moneys generated by
Crown sc Covenant are deposited in a revolving fund from which large publication
projects may be funded. Significant funds are needed, for example, whenever we
reprint the Book of Psalms for Singing. In 1997-1998 we anticipate deficit