At the annual meeting May 6, the General Conference of Elders approved a $25 million budget for the fiscal year 2007-2008, which begins July 1. This is an increase of $3.7 million over the budget approved for the 2006-2007 budget year. In his cover memo to the budget, Treasurer Tom Kirkpatrick wrote that this "represents anticipated growth of between 7 and 8 percent over the likely actual total of income for the entirety of the current fiscal year—a growth rate consistent with the trend over the last couple of years." Increases for Preaching the Gospel and Preparing a People The budget includes "a substantial increase (over $1.6 million)" for preaching the gospel, "the largest year-to-year increase for this purpose in the history of the United Church of God." The budget also includes funding to hire up to five additional ministerial trainees, expansion of the ministerial development program, several three-day regional ministerial conferences and "a significant increase in support of the Youth Corps program." The executive reserve of $1.65 million includes $1.5 million set aside for the home office relocation project. Most budget categories increase slightly in dollar amounts. Still, because the overall "pie" is larger, all but two categories actually decrease as a percentage of the total budget. The two are the executive reserve mentioned above, and Public Proclamation, which increases from 21.37 percent to 24.79 percent of the total budget. Budget Amounts The amounts budgeted for the various programs are: Council of Elders -- $174,900 Home Office -- $1,317,013 Public Proclamation -- $6,196,980 International -- $2,017,665 Ministerial Services -- $10,059,177 Festivals -- $1,074,165 GCE -- $80,000 Insurance -- $1,880,100 403(b) -- $550,000 Executive Reserve -- $1,650,000 Total: $25,000,000 Dr. Kirkpatrick said the 2007-2008 budget "reflects the ongoing grace and generosity of God in blessing the Church with a steady and growing provision of financial resources to help with carrying out its mission." UN