Experience Assurance

President Tom Mostert's page on "Experience Assurance" in the June Recorder was excellent, and something we need every day. I would like to add to these quotations one that thrills me every time I read it. To one who did not enjoy the assurance of salvation in Christ, Ellen White penned: "The message from God to me for you is 'Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out' (John 6:37). If you have nothing else to plead before God but this one promise from your Lord and Saviour, you have the assurance that you will never, never be turned away. It may seem to you that you are hanging upon a single promise, but appropriate that one promise, and it will open to you the whole treasure house of the riches of the grace of Christ... Present this assurance to Jesus, and you are as safe as though inside the city of God" (Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 175). So powerful and full of promise! Thanks for the beautiful Recorder which I look forward to every month. May God continue to guide you through His Holy Spirit.

Helena Reid

Kailua, Hawaii

Canvasback in Kosrae

Amen! [“Canvasback Team Works in Kosrae,” July 2006] I was a missionary on Kosrae teaching at the SDA School for a year, and it great to see others believers bring to reality the dreams and prayers of so many of my friends on Kosrae. I know how truly important it was for them to have a presentable church in which to worship God. On their behalf, thanks.

Corey Fuller

Tithe By Ethnicity

My question is in regards to Theodore Bensen's article in the August 2006 Recorder on the union remaining financial stable. I was just wondering what the purpose or reason was for including the information in "Chart B." I do not understand what point he was trying to make in showing how tithe contributions differ among different ethnic groups. I felt that it was unnecessary to include that information in the article and that it could potentially be interpreted in a negative way. If you have any information that you could share with me that might help clarify this for me, I would greatly appreciated it.

Lavonne Scroggs

Many of the subsidies and reversion funds that are provided to the ethnic ministry departments of the Pacific Union each year are allocated based on tithe. The African-American and Hispanic groups have specific funds that are returned from the North American Division based on the tithe. The Pacific Union also distributes funds to the conferences to use for education, evangelism and capital projects among these ethnic groups.

The Asian-Pacific groups do not receive these same subsidies from the North American Division. So to help with the Asian work, the Pacific Union set up a formula based on tithe to give additional funds to the Asian groups. These subsidies come directly from the Pacific Union operating budget and are passed back to the conferences as additional funds to use for education, evangelism and capital projects among the Asian groups.

Because 42 percent of our membership is African-American, Asian or Hispanic, we included this information for their interest.

Theodore Bensen

Treasurer, Pacific Union