United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Chairman Melvin Rhodes called the quarterly meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Roy Holladay gave the opening prayer specifically asking for God to bless the meeting with His wisdom in all assembled.

During a question session with the operations managers and administration, Aaron Dean commented that he had received a number of positive responses to his GCE presentation about our health care plan, and that more research is being done about various options.

In answer to a question from Bill Bradford, Peter Eddington replied that WGN America is continuing to produce responses, although its owner, Tribune Broadcasting, is in bankruptcy. He reported that the WORD Network is continuing to produce very good responses per cost for us. He also stated that there are many options in the broadcasting community. Mr. Bradford asked that, since there were many options, have we considered renegotiating our WGN America contract. Mr. Eddington commented that he thought our contract with WGN America was a very favorable one at this point.

GCE Responsibilities Advisory Committee (RAC)—John Elliott

Mr. Elliott, as the Council liaison with the GCE-RAC, introduced this new committee’s first report to the Council. Its responsibility is to analyze the Constitution and Bylaws in order to clarify the functions of the GCE. He then introduced Dan Dowd (GCE-RAC committee chairman) and committee member Jerald Aust to give the report.

Mr. Dowd reported that the seven-member committee is not in any way trying to compete with the Council of Elders, but seeks to address effective ways for the GCE to fulfill its duties listed in the governing documents. The committee will in due course recommend action steps for the Council of Elders. Mario Seiglie asked how the GCE as a body might, for instance, address a doctrinal concern. Secretary Seelig pointed out that the doctrinal process adopted by the Council still has to gain the ratification of the GCE.

Mr. Dowd pointed out that the GCE-RAC is only an advisory committee and not another layer of governance. Its purpose is to advise on necessary process steps for both Council and GCE regarding any particular aspect of the governing documents. Mr. Elliott concluded by elaborating on the committee’s function to promote a more complete and more smoothly flowing function of church governance. Mr. Aust added that, in the light of our sometimes-challenging historical experiences, the efforts of the committee could serve an important purpose. Gary Antion pointed out that the Council chairman and secretary do serve simultaneously as the Council and GCE chairman and secretary and therefore serve for the good of both bodies.

Mr. Bradford expressed that the onus is on the Council to more effectively represent the GCE (which each Council member is also a member of), and that the Council should focus on improving that relationship. He also expressed concern that we not develop any sort of adversarial positioning of GCE vs. COE. Mr. Antion observed that the GCE simply needs and seeks to understand their responsibilities as identified in the Constitution and Bylaws of UCG. Mr. Elliott reminded all present that his duty was to act as the Council liaison with the GCE-RAC and not to influence its work. He believes that GCE-RAC’s work will serve the Church well in the long run.

Ministerial Code of Ethics—Mario Seiglie, Ethics Committee chairman

Mr. Seiglie discussed the proposed code, which was circulated several months ago. He reviewed the teleconference discussion of the Ethics Committee, presenting their concluding recommendations to rescind the proposed code and ratify the previous code.

Darris McNeely suggested that the Council could learn an important lesson from this, which is to not rush to a decision on such important matters. Treasurer Aaron Dean pointed out that the Church was seeking to protect its assets so that they remain for UCG members’ use, but that can be better done by other legal means. Legal Counsel, Larry Darden, explained that some of that wording would be best added to the Rules of Association.

Don Ward explained that the Council had spent many hours in discussions about the code, but unfortunately had not put it out for feedback. John Elliott commented that the Council made a good faith effort during the discussion and ballot to approve the code and that it was a good code. Gary Antion asked specifically how many elders expressed serious concern about the code to make sure that the Council is not overreacting to just a few voices. Roy Holladay spoke favorably about the newer code aside from the added legal issues germane to protecting UCG assets.

Mr. Seiglie led the Council through a point-by-point reading of the old code as compared to the newer code. After some discussion, the Council balloted upon a motion to remand the newer code to the Ethics Committee for revision and to seek input from the GCE before formal adoption by the Council of Elders. The motion passed unanimously.

Before the lunch break, the Council conducted a short executive session to address a pending, international legal action.

Webcasting and On-demand Video and Audio Policy—Peter Eddington

After Chairman Rhodes called the afternoon session to order, he gave Media Operations Manager Peter Eddington the floor to update and field questions about a proposed new webcasting and on-demand video and audio policy. Mr. Eddington reviewed the history of the current policy and read the proposed new policy for the Council.

One aspect of discussion was the need to use a password to access live church services. Effective ways were discussed about how to provide a means of rapidly obtaining the password for scattered members who may be homebound by storm or illness.

Mr. Eddington addressed the issue of copyright material and especially music. For copyright reasons, audio of nearly all webcasted special music must be unplugged during the service. Mr. Kubik told about a song sung at a local church variety show that was posted on YouTube, which generated a legal warning by the owners of the copyright for the song. He warned about overlooking such songs, which are routinely scanned electronically for unauthorized use.

Chairman Rhodes then called for discussion and a ballot on adopting the edited version of the new policy, which was passed unanimously.

Re-institution of Prophecy and Doctrine Advisory Committees—Scott Ashley

Mr. Ashley rehearsed the history of the two committees, which were formed by the Council a number of years ago. Later a new administration assumed oversight of the committees under the auspices of Ministerial Services, which then let their function lapse.

He suggested that the Council rescind the past motion to hand oversight to the administration and return that oversight to the Council. Operation Manager of Ministerial and Member Services (MMS) Victor Kubik said that he welcomed the change to Council oversight. He did recommend some screening of submitted papers to discern a reasonable priority. He recommended that the committees maintain active monitoring of the GCE Forum and comment on posts that advocate or give voice to doctrinal and prophetic ideas not officially supported by UCG.

Various Council members agreed with the need to reconstitute the two committees with effective communication lines with MMS and the main Doctrine Committee of the Council. Bob Berendt commented that the process would need to be written to reflect the role of the two advisory committees (populated by both Council and non-Council elders) under the direct oversight of the main Doctrine Committee of the Council.

Victor Kubik inquired about the part that MMS will play in the process of doctrinal or prophecy papers being submitted. The present process was discussed. A paper is first presented to the local pastor, and then it goes to the Regional Pastor and on to Ministerial Services. MMS will either answer it, if an answer exists, or forward it to the Doctrine Committee, from which it is then distributed for review and research to the appropriate advisory committee. After that, such papers are returned to the Doctrine Committee for action. The discussion concluded with a request of the Secretary to research the exact wording of the process so a formal resolution can be balloted on at the next Council teleconference.

Reinstitution of an Education Committee—Scott Ashley

Mr. Ashley took the chair and addressed the topic of how the Council can direct the Church to carry on its vision of preparing a people. There is a need to provide focused education, but at the same time we need to be sensitive to existing workloads of pastors and the media delivery team. So the question is how can we get it done?
Bill Bradford added that education needs to be focused on God’s values, character and mind, and that education in other fields is not our focus, as it is available elsewhere.
President Dennis Luker expressed his support for upgrading the ministry’s education. Mr. Kubik added that UCG’s Bylaws as well as its recently approved strategic plan define that improved ministerial education clearly. He added that Dr. Ward is putting together a curriculum for additional ministerial development and training. A pilot program is already in an advanced stage of planning.

Gary Antion, who is responsible for overseeing the Church’s education programs, welcomed the idea of an Education Committee of the Council. It was unanimously resolved to reestablish a standing Council Educational Committee.  The day’s meeting closed at about 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Council chairman Melvin Rhodes called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and the Council immediately entered executive session for most of the day to perform the annual reviews of the Church president and Council secretary. The Council also considered elder ordination reviews as well as other privacy-sensitive business.

At about 4:30 p.m., the Council resumed open session to bid their official farewells to out-going, longtime Council members Bill Eddington and Roy Holladay by presenting each with plaques and gifts in appreciation for their service on the Council. Mr. Eddington had served for six years as a Council member, making the long trip from Australia for each Council meeting, and has been a great help with his expertise on the Roles and Rules Committee. Mr. Holladay had served on the Council for a combined total of 12 years, serving as chairman, on various committees and stepping down from the Council in 2002 to serve as UCG president. He expressed his appreciation and pointed out with a smile that this was his third farewell plaque from the Council.

Then Mr. Rhodes called for adjournment of the quarterly meeting just after 5:00 p.m. with a closing prayer by Council member-elect Mark Mickelson.

Newly Constituted Council meeting—Gerald Seelig

As per the amendment to 8.2.1 of the Bylaws, which had just been passed by the GCE, Council secretary Gerald Seelig immediately called the Council to order for a new meeting to seat the two newly-elected Council members, Mark Mickelson and Carmelo Anastasi.

As Secretary, Mr. Seelig is required to preside over the balloting for the chairman and the newly-formed position of vice-chairman. This special meeting of the Council then selected a chairman for the next two years since Melvin Rhodes’ term as chairman had officially ended at the close of the quarterly meeting. As Mr. Seelig prepared to distribute ballots with each Council member’s name on them, he asked if any of the members wished to withdraw their names from consideration for chairman. In rapid succession, 11 Council members withdrew their names, leaving Mr. Rhodes as the only candidate and by unanimous default, selecting him to serve a second term as Council chairman.

Next Mr. Seelig presided oversaw the balloting for the newly-created position (as per GCE amendment 8.2.2) of Council vice-chairman. On the third ballot, Gary Antion was selected. His duties will be to work closely with Mr. Rhodes in coordinating Council meetings and to be prepared to chair any particular session in Mr. Rhodes’ absence. 

After these brief business items of the Council, chairman Rhodes closed the meeting at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Chairman Melvin Rhodes called the Thursday session to order at 9:00 a.m. The Council then entered executive session to cover several issues.

When the Council resumed open session later in the morning, the first item of business was to approve the governing documents amendment schedule in preparation for the 2013 GCE.

Next Council members selected the committees they’d like to serve on during the coming year and the committee chairmen. Each Council member is expected to sit on at least three committees unless he is selected as a committee chairman, in which case, he would only serve on two. The Council’s guidelines are that no committee should comprise a majority of the Council.

After the members selected committees to serve on and each committee selected its chairman, the Council unanimously approved the results as follows:

• Doctrine Committee: Scott Ashley, Bill Bradford, John Elliott, Darris McNeely, Don Ward and Bob Berendt as chairman.
• Ethics Committee: Carmelo Anastasi, Gary Antion, Mark Mickelson, Robin Webber and Mario Seiglie as chairman.
• Education Committee: Scott Ashley, Gary Antion, John Elliott and Don Ward as chairman.
• Media Committee:  Carmelo Anastasi, Scott Ashley, Bill Bradford, Mario Seiglie and Darris McNeely as chairman.
• Strategic Planning Committee: Bill Bradford, Mark Mickelson and Robin Webber as chairman.
• Roles and Rules: Carmelo Anastasi, Bob Berendt, John Elliott, Mark Mickelson and Gary Antion as chairman.

The final item was for the Council to again name out-going Council member Bill Eddington as the ongoing representative of UCGIA in the New Zealand litigation. The Council unanimously confirmed his service in this matter. The meeting was adjourned at noon with the closing prayer given by Robin Webber.

-end-

Randy Stiver,
Council Reporter
Jorge DeCampos,
Assistant Council Reporter

© 2012 United Church of God, an International Association