Council of Elders Meeting Report - May 6-8, 2014

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United Church of God, an International Association

Tuesday May 6, 2014

The first day of the post-GCE meeting of the Council of Elders (COE) was called to order by Chairman Robin Webber at 9:00 a.m. Meeting at the Holiday Inn Eastgate allowed several elders and wives to be present for the morning session. All members of the COE were present.

Per his custom, Chairman Webber opened the sessions by reading the UCG Mission and Vision Statement. He then read from Psalm 1.

The minutes of the February meetings were then unanimously approved. Following the approval of the three-day agenda the meetings proceeded. Since the president and operations managers had given reports at Sunday’s GCE meetings none were given today.

Committee Reports

Ethics: Members: Mark Mickelson, Roc Corbett, Carmelo Anastasi, Mario Seiglie (chairman)

Mr. Seiglie reviewed the scope of the Committee’s work, as directed by the Council of Elders. The committee’s work extends to all matters of ethics and ethical conduct within the church organization.

SPECIFIC TASKS

The Ethics Committee recommends policy that defines conduct standards for all members serving on the Council of Elders of the Church.

Recommends policies that define standards of conduct for the elders and employees of the Church.

Monitors and recommends revisions of the policies and procedures concerning ethics and standards of conduct within the Church.

Oversees and administers, as directed by the Council, policies and procedures dealing with alleged unethical behavior within the Church.

Develops procedures for dealing with unethical behavior in the Church.

Recommends and monitors ongoing education programs for the maintaining of ethical standards throughout the Church.

Other tasks consistent with the scope and responsibilities set out in the overview and as directed by the Council.

Presently, no new tasks have been remanded to the Committee.

 

Education. Rex Sexton, chairman, gave the first report since the committee received its Scope of Responsibilities in February. Some of the highlights covered in the report were:

Ambassador Bible Center: This year’s class is nearing graduation and the next class is being accepted. A new class of 30 students is expected in August.

Focused Education has developed articles and seminars for various addictions such as alcoholism, abuse and addictions.

One part of the education program that has generated many queries in recent months is the status of the Bible Reading Program. It is hoped to have the Bible Reading Program ready for the New Testament in early 2015. The editor, Tom Robinson, is currently backlogged with editing booklets and other writing projects, but hopes to be able to find time for the BRP after the Feast of Tabernacles.

One other program to mention is the Marriage Enrichment seminars. United's marriage program is two years old this GCE and has been extremely well received. Twenty five church areas have received the workshops. We will be scheduling workshops in Canada and several states during the coming year.

Roles and Rules. Roc Corbett, chairman. Current members are Roc Corbett and Rainer Salomaa. The project of compiling COE records of policies, resolutions, minutes and other material has been completed and will be distributed to the Council today.

Recent weeks has been taken up with compiling the president and secretary assessments. Both are done and will be held during this quarterly meeting. Standardized guidelines for the selection of the chairman and deputy chairman have been accomplished. In August the Council will be presented with proposed guidelines for the selection of the president.

Strategic Planning and Finance. Bill Bradford, chairman. Current members are Mark Mickelson and Don Ward.

Strategic Planning and Finance Committee is a standing committee of the Council of Elders. Its overall responsibility is to verify that a Strategic Plan (with operation plan and balanced budget prepared by administration) is presented to the GCE each year. It follows up by monitoring the approved Strategic Plan to see that it is implemented and followed by management in a prudent manner and complies with constitutional, bylaw and legal requirements and standards. It will focus on internal and external conditions that could materially affect the operations of UCG in strategic and financial areas and make this known to the full Council of Elders for direction.

In the coming months the committee will be undertaking the triennial review of the Strategic Plan.

Doctrine. Members are Bill Bradford, Scott Ashley, Mark Mickelson, Darris McNeely, Don Ward and John Elliott (chairman). The committee receives regular inquiries and requests about doctrine and teaching. It is important that both members and elders remember the process for submitting doctrinal questions. This is an effective process that greatly aids the work of the committee. Below are projects that have recently been completed:

UB/Resurrection statement on Beyond Today. Council directive was to assess and clarify the issue. This has been done and a report will be made to the COE.

Last Great Day Paper. The document has been renamed as a “Study Paper” and a new title, The Last Great Day / Eighth Day - Study Paper will be suggested to COE. The next step is to review the content of the paper. 

Spiritual Gifts. Concerns about posted sermons on the subject had been raised. In addition the committee reviewed a paper on the subject by Scott Ashley. It has been decided to edit Scott’s paper and revisit the subject at a later date.

Media and Communications Committee - Scott Ashley, chairman.

The Media Committee met on April 28. In attendance was Scott Ashley, Mario Seiglie, John Elliott, Darris McNeely, Peter Eddington and Rex Sexton (Don Ward absent). Peter Eddington reported on certain current media matters.

Media Department is slightly over budget. Part was the $400k increase, but another $200k is being spent above budget. This seems to be as a result of higher than expected responses to media initiatives and the resulting costs of serving them. International areas have rising subscription numbers, as with U.S. subscriptions. Print fulfillment is also rising. Most of those expenses are not on salaries, but on fulfillment.

ION Network is doing very well, better than WGN did in its early stages. It is now reaching a larger, more diverse group then previously. The past three weekends had a good response. 

The Cincinnati East webcast is now available on its own dedicated Roku channel. Archived sermons are also listed there. So people can go to that site anytime and watch a sermon.

Peter said they have created 7 or 8 printed Beyond Today publications with a 5,000 print run. The concept is that our literature library is limited. After offering it to BT viewers they want something else, something new. So they create these additional pieces for BT viewers whose supplies are quickly depleted.

A report of the work of the Content Committee was made by Darris McNeely. At the initiative of President Kubik a Content Committee was formed in October 2013 and has been meeting on a regular basis since. Meetings take place on Friday mornings in the president’s office. Current members are: Vic Kubik, Robin Webber, Scott Ashley, Roy Holladay, Peter Eddington, Mike Snyder, Jamie Snyder, Darris McNeely (chairman).

The Media committee further discussed staffing needs for skilled writers for the Good News. Aspects of the Beyond Today format were briefly discussed as well.

Scott opened discussion about whether there is a real need for the Media Committee at the current time. All members present felt the Media Committee should continue.

There are no current CEO-mandated projects before the Media Committee.

Review of Possible Edits to MMS Operation Policy - Rainer Salomaa

The policy statement for operation Manager of Ministerial and Member Services needs updating with a few edits. The Roles and Rules Committee is recommending the requirements for field pastor experience be reduced from 20 to 15. This would broaden the selection pool of potential candidates.

After the proposal was presented Mario Seiglie seconded the motion and a discussion ensued. Discussion centered on the number of years of pastoral experience needed for the role of MMS Director.

President Victor Kubik commented on the need to consider any candidate from a large pool of elders in order to find the right person for the job. Roy Holladay cautioned on locking the Church into a specific number of years needed for the job. Bill Bradford felt no number is needed as part of the policy, rather the administration and Council should determine what is need for the job and find the right person for the role. Other questions and cautions were voiced.

Rainer proposed the Roles and Roles Committee obtain more information and bring this matter back to the Council in August. The motion was withdrawn and Chairman Webber remanded the matter back to the Roles and Rules Committee.

Setting Dates for August COE Meeting

August 11 was confirmed as the date for the next quarterly meeting. Any committee meetings would be held on August 10.

Roles and Rules Committee - Roc Corbett

In preparation for the Council of Elders choosing a chairman and deputy chairman later in the week, Roles and Rules Committee chairman Roc Corbett led the Council through the process approved by the Council in February 2014 for nominating and selecting Council members for those responsibilities. The Council also reviewed the qualifications and responsibilities of the chairman and deputy chairman as outlined in the United Church of God bylaws.

Part of the process calls for Council members to notify whether they would be willing to serve in these responsibilities if nominated. Those who indicated their willingness to serve as chairman were Aaron Dean, John Elliott, Don Ward and Robin Webber. Those who indicated their willingness to serve as deputy chairman were Aaron Dean, John Elliott and Rex Sexton. The process allows for Council members to later add or withdraw their names from consideration before balloting begins (as some later did).

Mr. Corbett also led the Council through a review of the 2014-2015 governing documents amendment schedule, which must be approved no later than 10 days after the conclusion of the annual meeting of the General Conference of Elders and sent to all members of the GCE. Due to the various deadlines and mandated periods for review, proposed amendments must be submitted to the Amendment Committee by June 30. The amendment schedule was unanimously approved by the Council.

Following the lunch break the Council went into executive session for the required annual evaluation of the secretary, Gerald Seelig.

After this the Council came back into open session for Mr. Corbett to present to Council members notebooks containing governance documents and administrative materials. Previously the Roles and Rules Committee had proposed and the Council had approved the committee compiling such notebooks and creating an online library of documents as a resource for Council members.

Following this the Council went into executive session for the required annual evaluation of the president, Victor Kubik, and other items.

 

Wednesday May 7, 2014

The Council of Elders (COE) met at the home office of United Church of God, Milford, for executive sessions during the whole day, Wednesday May 7th, except for two open sessions during the day.

ABC Task force

During the first open section, the ‘Ambassador Bible Center (ABC) and Ministerial Training Curriculum Development Plan’ of August 12, 2009, which had the objective to assess the effectiveness and progress of the ABC and Pastoral Training Programs against future needs, was rescinded, because the development program was never fully implemented or completed.

It was also resolved that an ‘ABC Task Force’ of existing faculty, administration and professional educators be formed to, review the ABC program with the intent to ensure it is accomplishing its Mission Statement and achieving its outcomes, to review its curriculum and to ensure relevance of both the curriculum and program to the needs of the United Church of God and its Vision and Mission Statements. An initial core of men and women to populate this task force was approved based upon their willingness and availability. This initiative has been directly placed under the oversight of the Education Committee of the COE.

Additional action items tabled

Later in the afternoon another open session was conducted by the Council chairman, Mr. Webber, to table three additional items:

The first 2014/2015 Council meeting will be held as a video/web-conference on Wednesday May 28 at 2pm to decide on who will be on the various standing committees of the Council for the new session of the COE. Those committees are: Strategic Planning and Finance, Roles and Rules, Ethics, Doctrinal, Media and Communications, and Education.

A new church-wide survey of brethren, elders and all employees will be conducted during the summer months of this year in conjunction with the major strategic planning exercise that occurs every three years. The current exercise is slated for this coming December in preparation for the GCE to review and potentially approve in May of 2015.

The chairman remanded the Facilities Building Policy of 2001 regarding the purchase or building of church facilities to the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee to review and bring forth any recommendations to the full Council during this present 2014-2015 session.

 

Thursday May 8th, 2014

The Chairman of the Council, Mr. Webber, opened the last session of the current Council of Elders meetings, soon after 9am, and asked Mr. Aaron Dean, council-elect member, to open in prayer. All Council members, the president, and operation managers were present.

 

Mr. Webber thanked the home office staff for making all Council members welcome during their current stay. All the help behind the scenes is greatly appreciated, as well as the support from Charles Melear the church’s event planning coordinator. Mr. Webber then asked Mr. Melear, who also is current chair of the GCE Planning Task Force, to give a feedback on the latest General Conference of Elders (GCE).

GCE Report back

Mr. Melear gave a report back of the recently held GCE. The total GCE attendance was 286. An addition during the GCE was the pre-services Bible studies. The international exchange was well received. The Sabbath webcast went well, except that we had some difficulty with the piano accompaniment on the webcast. Some elders had difficulty accessing the business portion, but most problems seemed to be individual problems with their PC’s or browsers. Media personnel will investigate the source of concerns.

All sessions were recorded for the benefit of those that could not access them live. Mrs. Patty Sexton’s presentation on Social Security, Medicare and Disability will be helpful for all to listen to.

Mr. Webber raised the concern that some pastors and remote employees were not able to attend the GCE for financial or other personal reasons and some of them for a few years. He stressed the importance of contact with the home office, involvement in the business activities of the church, and the worthwhile personal connections that develop during this time that serve the church for many years to come. He suggested that the administration, in conjunction with the Council, looks at a possibility to grant some partial financial assistance to those elders with needs to “prime the pump” of opportunity. This would not be every year, but occasionally. Mr. McNeely emphasized that it would good to consider, particularly for next year, as we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary. Mr. Peter Eddington said that it would be nice to consider, but we would need to free up funds, as it is not in the budget. Mr. Bradford suggested that Mr. Melear works in that investigation. Mr. Kubik supported that suggestion.

 Mr. Webber stated that the Question & Answer session this year was very well received and deemed profitable. Some of the written Q & A’s were not covered due to time constraints. Those that sent in written questions that were not answered at the live session will have replies by the individuals best suited to answer and be placed on one of our forums. This could take a few weeks, due to just coming off the General Conference of Elders and Council meetings.

Closure of the 2013/2014 Council

After a short break, Mr. Webber introduced a thank you service award to Darris and Debbie McNeely for their service to the Council for two concurrent terms of service (2008-2014) and their ongoing service to the Church. Mr. McNeely thanked all present and offered special appreciation to Mr. Larry Darden, legal counsel, for lessons observed and learned by him over his time on the Council..

In closure, Mr. Webber thanked God that Jesus Christ is the Head of the United Church of God. He thanked all for their labor of love in the Council and for the efforts of the Secretary and the Legal Advisor. In this manner, Mr. Webber completed his term of office as Chairman. He then asked Mr. Scott Ashley to close the 2013/14 Council in prayer at 10:15am.

Opening of the 2014/15 Council

Due to the fact that this year was the end of the chairman’s term, after a short break, the secretary, Mr. Gerald Seelig, called to order the newly elected 2014/2015 Council at 10:27 a.m. and asked Mr. Rainer Salomaa to open in prayer.

The one purpose for the inaugural session of the new council chaired by the secretary is to select the chairman and deputy-chairman of the newly elected Council, as per UCG guidelines and process for nominating and electing Council chairman and deputy chairman in years were regular terms expire.

The names of Council members to be elected as chairman were Mr. Webber, Mr. Dean and Mr. John Elliott. The members then were officially nominated and then the Council recessed for prayer before casting the ballots.

After recess the nominated members were given an opportunity to address the Council. Before casting the ballots all Council members knelt and Mr. Bradford prayed asking for God’s and Jesus Christ’s will to build His Church to continue being fulfilled. Ultimately through our proscribed balloting process in such matters, the Council selected Mr. Webber for a second term as chairman to run till May 2016. A chairman may serve in that capacity for two consecutive terms at a time.

Mr. Webber then addressed the new Council, welcomed Mr. Dean to the new Council, and introduced the secretary to conduct the selection of a deputy chairman. The names nominated were Mr. Elliott, Mr. Dean and Mr. Corbett. The re-elected chairman asked Dr. Don Ward to pray for the selection process and the Council decided to proceed with the selection without a recess. Mr. John Elliott was elected deputy chairman.

Mr. Webber closed the Council meeting with a prayer by the president, Mr. Kubik, at 11:45 a.m.

-end-

Jorge de Campos

Interim Council Reporter

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