wfn.org | Presbyterian Foundation and Publishing Corp. Commended

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GA97129 
                   Presbyterian Foundation and  
                 Publishing Corporation Commended 
 
SYRACUSE--The oldest and one of the newest entities  associated with 
the Presbyterian Church were applauded by the 209th General Assembly 
during the report of the Assembly Committee assigned to review the 
work of the Presbyterian Foundation, serving the church since 1799, 
and the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, founded three years ago.  
Committee moderator Susan Davis Krummel told the Assembly there are 
many reasons to commend both. Applause by commissioners after the 
reports were made demonstrated their agreement with the committee's 
enthusiasm.   
     Former General Assembly moderator Price Gwynn, who chairs the 
board of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, said he was pleased 
to report that the denominational publisher is alive and well, which 
was not the case three years ago.  He said that $2.8 million in loans 
is fully repaid and the corporation is debt free.  Good employee 
morale, adequate sales, predictable expenses and a bank balance of 
$3.8 million are the reasons he gave for enthusiasm among PPC board 
members.  
      "We now have a ministry, not just of the printed word, but of 
the transmitted word," Gwynn said as he introduced a presentation of 
the Presbyterian Hymnal on CD Rom, soon to be available. 
     Committee moderator Krummel said the committee wished to commend 
the board and staff of the Presbyterian Foundation for the impressive 
increase in funds in the past few years.  Board vice president Robert 
Martz reported that gifts and deposits in 1996 totaled a record $128 
million, a 41.5 percent increase over the previous year.  He said the 
Foundation had assets of $1.4 billion at the end of 1996.  Foundation 
board chair Georgette Huie said the Foundation board and staff spend 
99 percent of their time talking about relationships and one percent 
of the time talking about money.   
     Honoring donor wishes and funding the mission of the church are 
the imperatives in the life of the Foundation.  Huie said, "Common 
ground at the Foundation is like a whole field just waiting to be 
sown and then harvested."     
     Krummel reported that all the accomplishments of the Foundation 
have been made in a climate of increasingly complex regulations.  
Martz said that the Foundation took bold steps two years ago to 
prepare to provide protection for service to all the church in all 
its mission, creating a safe harbor from which to look to the future 
with confidence.   
           Foundation president and CEO Larry Carr was reelected to 
another four-year term, with the support of the Foundation board, the 
General Assembly Council, the Assembly committee and the Assembly.  
In his report to the Assembly, Carr said, "God has brought us 
together to serve the church in ways that only God could have 
planned," adding that he considered it a blessing to have been 
invited to serve the church during the past four years.   
     He reminded the Assembly that the Foundation does not make 
mission decisions and is not just for rich people and rich churches.  
"More than a third of the gifts last year were under a thousand 
dollars, and we rejoice in them," he said.  Carr predicted that the 
next  century will be a time of unprecedented financial resources and 
pledged to surpass the highest standards of fiduciary responsibility 
at the Foundation.     
Jane Hines 

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