Dear Rev. Kelm,

Your observation, too, is a good and cautious one. That particular data item should have been qualified as you suggest: that it does not incorporate cumulative results, but reflects the subset of congregations that respond.

Is there a correlation between larger numbers and submission of numbers? It seems plausible, but who can say? Paradoxically, to be certain about that, we'd have to have all the numbers--but if we had all the numbers, we wouldn't care!

Seriously, we do appreciate your eye for detail and will continue to strive to report accurate and timely results from the data we are given.