United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting

Cincinnati, Ohio

Monday, December 9, 2013

After the Council spent most of a day in a retreat to do some brainstorming and organized analysis, chairman Webber called the early session of this December meeting to order and asked Council member Mark Mickelson to open with prayer. He then introduced UCG president Victor Kubik to speak about a time-sensitive media proposal.

Media Proposal: Victor Kubik and Peter Eddington

Mr. Kubik greeted the Council and then asked Media and Communications Services operation manager Peter Eddington to present to the Council the following proposal:

Request from the President and Media and Communications Services

As reported in the August 2013 Council of Elders meeting, the number of Good News magazine subscribers has declined to the lowest level in more than 14 years. This is mostly because of recent budget cutbacks from the media budget totaling $1.4 million. As a result, the number of coworkers and donors has likewise decreased, resulting in falling income from this category.

Therefore, the president and Media and Communications Services bring forth a proposal to the Council to increase the number of U.S. Good Newssubscribers by 78,000 through additional, un-budgeted advertising. Please see the attached advertising summary showing costs and expected subscription results from a long-proven variety of strategies.

The administration is seeking approval from the Council for Media and Communications Services to go over budget this fiscal year by the amount shown. Church treasurer, Rick Shabi, concurs with this request, and says that monies can be allocated from what was originally slated in this year's budget for additional reserves, and notes that income this fiscal year is stable.

By way of explanation, Mr. Eddington then added that typically people expect everything on the Internet to be free and this is not where most of our subscriber donations come from, however they will go to the Internet to subscribe for a free magazine. It's when they begin receiving and reading the print copy that it starts the motivation to want to support the work of publishing the magazine and its sister efforts in proclaiming the gospel. He also pointed out that this has been true through the decades of our experience in God's Church.

The proposal was for the Council to approve an addition of $398,000 to the media budget to spend for print (mostly direct mail) and Internet advertising to begin to rebuild The Good News subscription list.

Several Council members asked for clarification on how the added expenditure will affect our budget cutback that we are working through. Treasurer Rick Shabi commented that it will take somewhat longer to reach the financial stability goal with its eight-week cash reserve. In answer to the question of how long it might take to begin to add donors and coworkers after spending for this advertising, Mr. Kubik explained that it usually takes two years of receiving Church literature before a person acts on what he or she is learning to the point of decision to be financially supporting the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom.

Mark Mickelson asked if the time-sensitive print advertising could be approved and then the Council could wait on the other aspects of the proposal for further strategic discussion. Mr. Eddington said that it could, but he would need to reword the proposal. Mr. Mickelson urged caution because although the proposal is a strategic issue, the annual budget is also a strategic issue.

Rex Sexton asked what was the most advantageous timing during the year for launching print advertising. Mr. Eddington commented that the best time is during the winter months for the U.S. Mr. Shabi commented that we do have the appropriate cash flow to fund this proposal in the early months of the coming year (calendar and fiscal).

Don Ward expressed his concern about spending the added funds and preferred that there be a longer discussion on it. Roc Corbett commented on the scripture that says that God gives increase to the sower and that he favored the investment in the time-sensitive, print advertising. Dr. Ward asked how much we would save by buying the advertising now versus in a few months. Mr. Eddington said he would have to go back and run the numbers to produce that figure.

Mr. Eddington also explained his preference to include the Internet advertising with the print part of the proposal because the two work together to motivate higher responses.

Mr. Webber put the proposal to a vote and it passed 10 to 2 with Mark Mickelson and Don Ward casting the dissenting ballots.

Update on Kubiks' Visit to the Living Church of God Headquarters

Mr. Kubik gave a report on his recent visit to the Living Church of God when he and wife Beverly attended the funeral of Sheryl Meredith. He had been in contact with Jim Meredith previous to the trip to discuss the Taclobon hurricane recovery for our combined Philippine brethren.

The Kubiks were graciously received at the funeral and had many friendly discussions with various LCG ministers, members and friends. Rodrick Meredith invited them to join him and some of the other ministers for lunch in his office. The discussion of church government came up and was most congenial as Mr. Kubik explained how UCG actually works. More discussion ensued about the scope of their Living University and recovery progress for the Philippine brethren. All in all, Mr. Kubik was encouraged by the visit and hopes to have some of the LCG officials visit the home office in the near future.

-end-

Randy Stiver

Council Reporter

© 2013 United Church of God, an International Association