At the close of volume year #63, the board reports on the activities of the past year. God has again been faithful, as is evidenced by the continued publication of the Standard Bearer.

Our new business manager will be Mr. Donald Doezema. He has consented to take on the responsibilities, in the near future. Mr. Vander Wal will assist during this transition period. The board again thanks Mr. Vander Wal for his many, many years of dedicated and careful labor. We look forward to working with Mr. Doezema in the coming years.

Our mailing equipment, which we purchased last year, has not worked out to our expectation. We are now in the process of trying to return this equipment for a full refund. This has met with difficulty and frustration and we have sought legal advice. But this does not mean that we wish to continue with our old equipment. Mr. Doezema has a personal computer with software for addressing labels. He will be using this along with a label affixing machine that the board is purchasing, to do our mailing. We hope that by next year we can report that things are working wonderfully.

An important but often forgotten item that the board takes care of annually is the filing of an annual Michigan non-profit report. We have done so again this past year.

Our Finance Committee has gone through our storage garage and organized all the loose copies of past issues. These are available to anyone who desires them. Requests for loose issues should be directed to John Cleveland, David Kamps, or James Koole.

The long anticipated index of past Standard Bearershas been printed and distributed. We once again thank the committee for working on this very worthwhile project. The board had advanced the committee $1,000 for the purpose of working capital. For repayment the board decided to buy 25 indexes at the normal sale price of $32.75, and to distribute these to those who decided too late to purchase an index. This purchase totaled $819.25. The committee has paid us the balance of $180.75. Our supply of indexes is already being depleted. Those interested in an index should contact the business manager.

The board also has a committee working with the Permanent Committee for the Publication of Protestant Reformed Literature to investigate the need, feasibility, and cost of building or purchasing a storage facility. They have nothing to report at this time. Presently we pay $52.00 a month for our storage needs. The Permanent Committee pays $151.05 per month.

An outlay of money was approved for a new cover design for our Standard Bearer. Maybe sometime soon we will see what the staff has approved.

We thank our retiring board members John DeVries, Jon Engelsma, and John Kalsbeek Jr. for their labors in the past three years. The labor is without material reward, but we labor in the knowledge that our cause is to distribute our paper for the purpose of giving God all the praise, honor, and glory.

Finally, but not the least, we thank the writing staff of the Standard Bearer. Without the efforts of our editor and department authors, our work would be in vain. Thank you, men, for your continuing effort.

We as a board ask that you continue to remember us in our labors as your board. Remember the cause of the Standard Bearer in this coming year.

Yours in Christ,

Jim Van Overloop, Secretary