United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report
Video Conference
June 27, 2012

Chairman Melvin Rhodes called the meeting to order and asked Darris McNeely to give the opening prayer. A few minutes were required for everyone to adjust to the new system of WebEx videoconferencing. This monthly meeting served as a practice run for videoconferencing at least one of the longer, quarterly Council meetings each year. Strategic videoconferencing could provide a considerable overall travel and lodging cost savings for the Church.

Operations Updates

President Dennis Luker reported on his recent trips to the area ministers’ conference near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania earlier this month and his visit this past weekend to visit to the New York City congregation on the occasion of their first young adults’ weekend. He reported that the churches are stabilizing and thriving in the Northeast.

Victor Kubik updated the Council on Ministerial and Member Services’ recent ministerial education planning meeting, which mapped out our soon-to-launch ministerial online training program, which will systematically upgrade the biblical and pastoral skills for all church pastors and elders. Plans include a ministerial education certification process. The first two classes that will begin this fall are fundamentals of theology and pastoral skills. Many more classes are under discussion for the future.

Peter Eddington reported for Media and Communications Services, explaining that Beyond Today television will now be on the air on the Harvest Network on Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. Also it will be aired on METV (Middle East TV), based in Cyprus, and will reach viewers in Israel and other Mideast nations on Sundays at 1 p.m. The station will also provide Arabic subtitles for each episode. The funding for these telecast opportunities came from reallocating funds within the Media Budget without increasing costs. Gary Antion commented how pleased he was that we now have the gospel telecasted to the Middle East.

Treasurer Aaron Dean reported that he anticipated the income for the month of June to be about two percent above June of last year, and overall we are in good shape income-wise. To answer one question, he explained that our expenses are running parallel to those of last year, so we must continue to be quite prudent. He also said that from next month forward we will be able to directly compare income to the “normal” 2011-2012 fiscal year. He expressed that we are still counting on our faith line, which is about 6.5 percent above what we budgeted. He pointed out that although God provided last year’s faith line early last year, it may come later in this one. However, he mentioned that one person recently sent a $2,000 donation expressly for the faith line in the budget. In answer to another question, he explained that we are at about 9.5 weeks of reserves.

Routine Council Items

Gary Antion proposed that Keith Wilson be reconfirmed as a member of the Amendment Committee. The motion passed unanimously. Mr. Antion then proposed that because of his specific expertise, former Council member Bill Eddington be appointed by the Council to help the Roles and Rules Committee with overseeing the Governing Documents Review Team and with the assessment of officers. The appointment was also unanimously approved.

Mr. Antion brought up the next agenda item for discussion about assigning some questions sent to the Council for the ministers on the Personal Correspondence team to answer. Council members will continue to answer questions that pertain more directly to Council business. Items of a more general nature, like Bible questions, would then be forwarded to the others to answer. Peter Eddington explained how it the process would work from the e-mail comments on the Council page on the website. Mr. Rhodes suggested that the answering of the questions continue to be at the discretion of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman. When everyone was briefed on the situation and after some discussion, the consensus was to continue with the present process.

The Council then went into executive session to cover a variety of personnel topics. The meeting ended at 5:30 p.m.

-end-

Randy Stiver
Council Reporter

© 2012 United Church of God, an International Association