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

Thursday, August 26, 1999 — Seattle, Washington

The Council of Elders today finalized the restructuring of its internal committees, briefly discussed possible dates for the General Conference of Elders in 2000, gave its approval to yesterdayâs presentation of a new educational thrust sponsored by the church, received two short reports from Treasurer Tom Kirkpatrick, and concluded the day in executive session dealing with personnel issues.

John and Tina Jewell

Committee Restructuring

Chairman Bob Dick opened the second day of meetings by turning the Councilâs attention to finishing the task of restructuring its internal committees. Faced with changing needs, the Council, by unanimous resolution, reduced the number of committees from ten to seven. The Executive Committee remains unchanged, but the following comprises the new list of Council committees, committee members, and chairmen:

á       Doctrine Committee ö Roy Holladay, John Jewell, Burk McNair, Leon Walker, Don Ward, members; Leon Walker, chairman.

á       Education Committee ö Gary Antion, Vic Kubik, Dennis Luker, Richard Thompson, Don Ward, members; Don Ward, chairman.

á       Ethical Review Committee ö Gary Antion, Roy Holladay, Dennis Luker, Burk McNair, Richard Thompson, members; Gary Antion, chairman.

á       Media and Communications Committee ö Gary Antion, John Jewell, Vic Kubik, Les McCullough, Don Ward, members; Vic Kubik, chairman.

á       Roles and Process Committee ö Aaron Dean, John Jewell, Dennis Luker, Burk McNair, members; Dennis Luker, chairman.

á       Strategic Planning and Finance Committee ö Aaron Dean, Roy Holladay, Les McCullough, Richard Thompson, Leon Walker, members; Roy Holladay, chairman.

By unanimous resolution, the Council also retained its current method of selecting committee members, mandated that committees with fewer than four members would have the chairman chosen by the entire Council, and called for job descriptions of each committee to be placed in the Council Manual.

Administration

Les McCullough led the Council through a more thorough discussion of the previous dayâs presentation regarding a new educational program for the church. Several Council members and wives commented on the fact that many church youth showed a real desire for some structured form of biblical education during this past summerâs United youth camps.

Discussion centered on the name to adopt for the program, and after some deliberation, ãAmbassador Bible Centerä was chosen as a working title, with the clear statement ãsponsored by the United Church of Godä as a subhead. Legal counsel Larry Darden apprised the group of the state of Ohio requirements regarding presenting certificates to those who complete the course of instruction. The Council unanimously adopted the following resolution:

ãNow therefore, it is hereby resolved that the United Church of God, an International Association, will establish and sponsor a formalized structure for the study of the Bible, to be called Ambassador Bible Center.ä 

Many details remain to be worked out, and time is short to meet the intended start date for the first nine-month session (first week in January, 2000), but enthusiasm at having some form of structured education venture launched dominated the session. Mr. McCullough encouraged input, including from the ministry and membership of the church at large.

Council briefly visited the issue of setting a date for the General Conference of Elders for next year, and considered several possible dates in May or June, 2000. Further discussion will follow later in the week of meetings as time in the schedule permits.

Mr. Kirkpatrick then updated the Council on a section of the IRS code dealing with private inurement of benefits to board members of nonprofit organizations. He also detailed progress made to date by the task force on Human Resource policies, and indicated his desire to meet the deadline for completion of the task forceâs work, which is January 10, 2000.

The Council concluded its second day of meetings in executive session, covering matters dealing with employment issues, compensation for Council members who are not employees of the church, and reviewing specific cases of ministerial credentialings, ordinations, and removals.
  

-Doug Johnson

© 1999 United Church of God, an International Association

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