Janice Trotter manages Utah Idaho’s finances

By Karen L. Willoughby

“When I first started at Wyoming, probably within six months of starting,” Janice Trotter told Wyoming’s Horizons newspaper, “I was sitting at my desk, running numbers on the adding machine, and it just hit me: ‘They pay me to play with numbers all day. How good is that?!”’

Trotter handles the accounting for three state Baptist Conventions: Utah-Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming, where she started in 1998, after moving early in the year before from northern California.

“With Janice’s knowledge of State Convention work and understanding of GuideStone, she would be someone who could handle any financial question from our churches or state convention Executive Board,” Rob Lee, Executive Director of the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention told UI Connections, “Janice’s love for assisting churches in new work states, in supporting SBC missions worldwide, and her integrity are driving core values to her ministry.”

Damian Cirincione, executive director for the Nevada Baptist Convention, told the Nevada Baptist, “Janice Trotter’s kindhearted leadership and dedication to her work has made her a valuable asset to Nevada and beyond,” “Over the years, her guidance in leading the business aspect of the convention has not only fostered growth and collaboration but also shed light on critical issues that needed attention.”

“In my three years working with her, I’ve seen firsthand how her insight and compassion inspire positive change and progress,” Cirincione continued. “She has a heart for pastors and that shows in the three conventions she works for. She has been a great blessing to me.”

Executive Director Rondie Taylor told Wyoming’s Horizons, “Janice has faithfully served Wyoming Southern Baptists for decades. Her experience, knowledge, and integrity has been and continues to be a tremendous blessing to our network and our office staff.”

Born in Houston, Texas to Christian parents, Trotter made her initial profession of faith in Jesus while in Sunday School one morning. She was 6 years old. Several years later she met Bruce Trotter at El Camino Baptist Church’s youth group in Sacramento, Calif.  They married in 1973, have two children and two grandchildren.

The family moved to Wyoming “to get out of California” in 1997, Trotter said. Soon after, Bruce saw an article in Wyoming’s Horizons state Baptist newspaper that the bookkeeper had resigned.

“You should apply,” he told his wife. With the background in accounting she’d acquired from working for the IRS while in college, she got the full-time position.

Fifteen years later, with their parents in Redding, Calif., getting older, the Trotter family moved early in 2012 to Reno, Nevada, to be closer to them. 

Trotter became a part-time, remote accountant for Wyoming, and later in 2012 she picked up a similar role for the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. In 2013, she added a similar position for the Nevada Baptist Convention.

“Over time it evolved into more of a business manager role, with more decision-making,” Trotter said. “All three conventions each have some uniqueness, but they all have the same tasks and functions for their states.”

Trotter has three separate bosses and three similar but separate jobs.

“I take care of paying bills, recording the funds in and out for each state convention,” the accountant said. “I help review insurance coverage and help with setting up a new insurance policy when necessary, such as this year when Wyoming’s insurance policy was ‘non-renewed.’

“I do reports, such as for IMB and NAMB,” Trotter continued. “I interact with the Southern Baptist agencies, handle HR [human resources] tasks, both for new and retiring employees. I interact with banks and credit card companies, answer church treasurer questions, and occasionally I do training for church treasurers.”

Churches are different in at least two aspects from secular businesses, Trotter said: in ministerial compensation, and in the “bottom line.”

Church treasurers need to know how to properly document and report the ministerial staff’s income, including housing.

And, churches do not make a financial profit, but rather a spiritual profit. Yet churches cannot spend money they don’t have, so church treasurers need to be alert to the cash flow.

“When I do training, there is so much to cover and not much time,” Trotter said. “We talk about basic bookkeeping, reporting to the IRS, and the basics about the Cooperative Program and how it works, because for a lot of people, CP is just ‘there;’ they don’t understand the process.”

Trotter has been known to travel nearby to help onsite at a church. The state convention pays her mileage, and she tells church pastors and other leaders, “This is your Cooperative Program dollars at work.”

“I enjoy helping churches fix their issues,” Trotter said. “I’ll help them figure out how to do things right, how to get their books straightened out. Maybe their books aren’t balancing. Maybe they’re using outdated software. One church had someone who hadn’t sent in payroll taxes. Or even just showing them the proper way to record things.” 

Trotter uses the same software for all three state conventions: ACS: Automated Church Systems. She works on one state convention’s books at a time, and there isn’t a way to put income or expenses into the wrong state convention because each transaction requires a state convention-specific account number,

“There’s a camaraderie among all of us, a great deal of trust,” Trotter said, adding that she has no time or interest in taking on any additional state conventions.