Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1993

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 89Nominating Committee. Item 5 was amended and adopted as amended.Item 6 was referred to the Finance Committee. In reference to therequest of the Board for forgiveness for negligence in regard to someof the teachings in seminars at the 1992 Carleton Conference "not inkeeping with the doctrines and testimony of the church," it wasmoved, seconded and carried that the Synod express its appreciationof the E&P Board's study of this matter and grant full forgiveness forany negligence. The report as a whole was approved and is as follows:REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATIONAND PUBLICATIONThe past year has been a year of transition for the work of this boardFollowing our decision in 1992 to significandy reduce staff because ofbudgetary constraints, we have spent time in the subsequent monthsimplementing that decision. We have developed new job descriptions,replaced and reorganized the work of our one part-time secretary andcombined the position of Publications Director and Managing Editor. Asof last month we only have a quarter-time coordinator of Youth Ministries.The full impact of these staff cuts is only now beginning to be realized.How this will affect the ministries and efficiency of the office will be morefully known in the months ahead. Over the last several years, we have cutour total expenditures, sold investments, and utilized alternative fundingsources to adjust to a $50,000 decrease in annual grants from RPM&M.We continue to be pleased with the feedback we have received on TheCovenanter Witness. We have tackled some controversial issues in the lastseveral months: women's role (Synod issue), psychology, birth control,and the pastor-congregation relationship in our denomination. We have atall times tried to stay in line with and promote the doctrine of the RPCNA.We are especially thankful to God for the growth of Crown andCovenant Publications during the past year. In 1992 we eclipsed ourprevious sales record by $20,000. Sales were up by 77 percent over theprevious year. The tremendous increase was due partially to a Psalter Saleand the International Conference. But mostly we can point to the increasedattention we are giving to promotions, aided especially by our new catalogand catalog update. The primary strength we have found is our Psalmmaterials. Disseminating the Book of Psalms for Singing is an importantministry that has had fruitful results in the lives it has touched. This is oftenthe firstthing that attracts non-RPs to our products. Psalm tapes and CDsare also attractive outside our own denomination. The new children'sPsalm tape has been especially popular.