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Association Updates: October 2012

By October 5, 2012June 17th, 2014No Comments

Christmas is just around the corner! Individuals, families, Sunday School classes, and churches can help support the ministries of the GARBC by taking on a Christmas Giving Project! Find a project that fits your passion and utilize the resources provided. Get excited about the impact you can have on pastors and churches across the country and around the world!

Health Care Tax Credit Available

Do you have a church staff for whom your church provides health care coverage? Your church may be eligible for a health care tax credit.

Michael Nolan, GARBC director of business administration, explains, “The Affordable Care Act includes a health care tax credit that is designed to encourage small tax-exempt organizations to offer health insurance coverage to their employees for the first time or maintain coverage they already have. A health care tax credit provision allows for 25 percent of tax credit for health care coverage that a church pays out for church employees, as long as the church pays at least 50 percent of each employee’s health care premiums.”

In order for a church to qualify for the credit, it must meet all of the following three requirements:

  • The church must have fewer than 25 “full-time equivalent employees” for the tax year; if there are less than 10 employees, the percent of credit is greater.
  • The average annual wages of the church’s employees for the year must be less than $50,000 per employee; if the average is less than $25,000, the percent of credit is greater.
  • The church must pay at least 50 percent of premiums for health insurance coverage for each of its employee.

Here’s a simplified version of how it works: Ministers are employees for tax reporting purposes, so they are counted as employees, but the wages are not added into the calculation. The following is an example of an average GARBC church:

1 senior pastor—makes $60,000
1 office workersecretary—makes $25,000
1 associate pastor—makes $40,000

“According to this exemption possibility,” Nolan says, “the church has three employees, with the average compensation of $8,333 per employee ($25,000/3). The pastor’s salary is taken out of the equation. The church would qualify for the maximum credit as long as it meets all three of the criteria above. The credit is up to 25 percent for the part the church pays of the health insurance premiums for employees. So some churches have not thought it was worth the time for the amount of the return.”

Visit the IRS website to find deadline details and the necessary documents to file.

Contact Michael Nolan, 1.888.588.1600, ext. 853, for questions regarding church finances. He can assist you in suggesting cost-cutting measures for your church.

Distinctively Baptist Curriculum

Regular Baptist Press is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. As a ministry of the GARBC, RBP was founded to produce distinctively Baptist Sunday School curriculum based on the entire “counsel of God.” (See RBP’s doctrinal statement as posted at www.rbpstore.org.) When your church uses RBP curriculum, you can be assured you are providing your teachers with doctrinally sound, student-engaging curriculum.

In contrast to RBP’s distinctively Baptist curriculum, other publishers produce generic nondenominational curriculum. For instance, in marked difference to RBP’s defined doctrinal statement, notice one publisher’s explanation of its doctrinal perspective and an additional publisher’s nondenominational approach. Celebrate RBP’s 60th birthday with us—make RBP your “go-to” source for distinctively Baptist curriculum.

2012–2013 GARBC Directory Ready for Delivery

Keep in touch with your GARBC colleagues and churches! Contact information changes often. Included in this year’s edition is a church resource list of companies and agencies that displayed at the 2012 GARBC Conference. Order the new GARBC Directory through Regular Baptist Press online, or call 1.800.727.4440.

Regular Baptists around the Country
OCTOBER events
1, 2: IL-MO conference, Harvest Baptist Church, Oswego, Ill.
1, 2: Mid-Continental ARBC conference, Stony Point Baptist Church, Kansas City, Kan.
11, 12: IL-MO craft retreat, Camp Manitoumi, Lowpoint, Ill.
12, 13: BNN Camp Gilead mother/daughter retreat, Carnation, Wash.
13: NARBC conference, First Baptist Church, Nebraska City, Neb.
18: IL-MO Camp Manitoumi banquet, Germantown Hills Baptist, Metamora, Ill.
18: BNN Camp Gilead old-fashioned hymn sing, Carnation, Wash.
18, 19 IARBC pastors’ and wives’ retreat, Iowa Regular Baptist Camp, Ventura, Iowa
18–20: Minn. ARBC youth retreat, Camp JIM, Pillager, Minn.
19, 20: WARBC fall conference, First Baptist Church, Kiel, Wis.
20: IL-MO Alton area pastors’ fellowship, Alton, Ill.
15, 16: Empire State Fellowship conference, Heritage Baptist Church, Canastota, N.Y.
19, 20: CARBC men’s retreat, Victory Ranch, Moreno Valley, Calif.
22, 23: Sunshine Fellowship conference, Peace River Baptist Church, Punta Gorda, Fla.
22–24: OARBC fall conference, Calvary Baptist Church, Bellefontaine, Ohio
25–27: WARBC teen retreat, Camp Fairwood, Westfield, Wis.
29, 30: MARBC conference, South Baptist Church, Flint, Mich.

GARBC Staff Itineraries
OCTOBER

John Greening
7: Calvary Baptist Church, Menomonee Falls, Wis.
20: Church consultation, Covington Bible Baptist Church, Oxford, Ga.
21: Covington Bible Baptist Church, Oxford, Ga.

Alex Bauman
20: RBP Impact Teaching Seminar, Grace Baptist Church, Batavia, N.Y.

Chris Hindal
24–26: Good Soil seminar in Harrisburg, Pa.
27: Fly to Tokyo to begin 6-week Asia trip

John Murdoch
14: Cornerstone Baptist Church, Hamilton, N.Y. (a.m.); Grace Baptist Church, Tully, N.Y. (p.m.)
15, 16: Empire State Fellowship conference, Heritage Baptist Church, Canastota, N.Y.
19, 20: Almond Tree training, Bible Baptist Church, Kokomo, Ind.
26-28: Chaplain candidate Kriess ordination council/service, Walnut Ridge Baptist Church, Waterloo, Iowa
29–Nov. 1: Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary chapel, Ankeny, Iowa

Michael Nolan
28: North Park Baptist Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.