United Church of God, an International Association Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting Report Cincinnati, Ohio February 25, 2013 After a previous evening followed by a busy morning of committee meetings, the first session of the Council meeting began at 1 p.m., when Council chairman Robin Webber called the meeting to order and asked Bob Berendt to deliver the opening prayer. In his opening comments Mr. Webber cited the vision and mission statements of the Church which are drawn from Scripture. He pointed out that our guiding document is the Bible. He then read from Isaiah 66:1-2 about the need for us all to have a humble and contrite heart before God that trembles at God s Word, and from Micah 6:8 about doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God, stressing the importance of that attitude as we serve God in these Council meetings. He called for approval for the minutes of the Council meeting of December 2012, which was unanimous. When the agenda from this current round of meetings was put up for adoption, there were two additions of executive session nature. It was also approved unanimously. Mr. Webber then introduced president Dennis Luker for his report to the Council. President s Report Dennis Luker Mr. Luker explained that more details of home office operations would be presented by the operation managers following his presentation. He then focused on seven spiritual reasons why the United Church of God will thrive and succeed in serving God. 1. We love God with our whole heart, and God s love never fails! It is1 Corinthians 13 that defines true, spiritual love for God and for neighbor. 2. Our loving Savior will love and guide us. We look to one man only, the Man Jesus Christ (Romans 5:15). In Matthew 28:18-20 the commission Christ gave His Church included that He would be with us always. Christ is the only Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18), and He only has the preeminence. We must look to Him. 3. We are totally committed to doing the work of God as long as we have life. It is a lifetime commitment that we have to do this work. In John 4:34 Jesus Christ proclaimed that His food was to do the will of God and finish His work. 4. We strongly desire to grow spiritually and learn to love one another as Christ commanded us. We know that we have not always practiced that kind of love. In United we are not doing that perfectly yet, but we are striving to. As instructed in 1 John 3:14, we love the brethren and strive to lay down our lives for each other.
5. Because of the fervent prayers of brethren around the world. Brethren are praying for God s Work. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 the brethren s prayers make a powerful difference. In United we have experienced that. God does not look for huge numbers. He looks for quality. The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous in James 5:14 is proven time and again. 6. Because of faithful elders and pastors. They are qualified and converted shepherds of the flock (1 Pet 5:1-4). These are the kind of elders we have in United, dedicated to God and helping us to achieve our goals. 7. Because of a dedicated, committed staff of office workers, in the office and in the field. As in Romans 16, we are fellow workers with Christ. That s what we see at the home office, very dedicated staff working many extra hours. Ministerial and Member Services (MMS) Victor Kubik Mr. Kubik reports that the Church is in the building process. He expressed his gratitude for the small team we have in MMS, particularly for the assistance of Chris Rowland. We have 345 elders (269 in the U.S. and 76 international) and 195 Bible study groups and congregations in the U.S. We have 81 pastors and associate pastors in the U.S. In the first place we are committed to people, elders and members. Secondly, we focus on administration (salaries, healthcare, etc.). And thirdly, we re concerned with education. We have started the online ministerial education program, and it has been a success. Ministers around the world are asking when they can be part of it. This year s class has been a prototype. But we want to run through it again to record and use it as a curriculum to train ministers overseas. Plans call for a doctrinal and pastoral care class, plus a gospels class for elders. Other areas of MMS involvement include education for our congregations, Feast of Tabernacles, United Youth Camps, Women s Services (which provides biblically based resources to help woman achieve their potential to serve), and Youth and Young Adult Services, which Randy Stiver will be coordinating. MMS also works with international areas overseen by senior pastors from the U.S. Official MMS communications with the ministry are through the Ministerial Journal and the weekly e-news. And finally, Good Works which is coordinated in conjunction with LifeNets. Finances Aaron Dean As treasurer, Mr. Dean reported that the current income fiscal year to date totals $11.5 million and expenses are at $11.9 million. Expenses have not come down as quickly as expected, as people are renewing their Good News subscriptions at a higher rate than we anticipated mostly in areas outside the U.S. However, our financial situation is a lot better than what it was a few months ago. We expect that gap to continue to narrow so that our expenses come in line. We are putting together a balanced budget for our forthcoming meetings.
There has been no development on the sale of the Texas property. Financial reports at the GCE will have a slightly different layout, to be more easily understood and will include projected cash flows. Mr. Dean expressed his thanks to our employees for the financial hit they had to bear to help balance the books, and thanked the members for the special offering, which is now in excess of $730,000. Peter Eddington Media and Communication Services Mr. Eddington stated that the Church works every day preaching the gospel. He said that, as a job for us, outside of God and family, it is the most important thing we do. We have a disciplined staff and a systematic plan to deliver a stable and consistent effort to preach the gospel. There is no single defining action to get to the world but hard work and varied approaches, like radio, TV, and Internet. The process can be likened to a giant concrete flywheel that is ever so hard to get turning, and yet with years of pushing it slowly gathers momentum until eventually it turns powerfully, hard to even stop, with just a push every revolution. One day, by consistent work in preaching the gospel, we would hope to find ourselves catapulted onto the world stage suddenly in the public eye as the Church of God makes a mark on religion. Here are some of the statistics from Mr. Eddington s handout: The dedicated Roku Beyond Today (BT) channel went live on Jan. 29, and we ve had 25,000 video views with an average of 6.19 minutes each. About 4,600 people have the Beyond Today channel installed on their Roku boxes. We re finding that people are willing watch video on an internet connected television longer than they do on their computer or Internet browser. The Australian office reports that they re increasing their BT coverage for the eight-week lead-up to the Passover season. Not all their viewers and website visitors are trackable, but just the responses they can track are running just under $5 per response. BT in Canada, now in its seventh year, has had 28,000 responses. The last nine week average was 144 responses per week. Several Canadian pastors report that there are new members attending services due to BT on Canadian TV. UCG.org unique visitors totaled 4.6 million in the past year more than we had predicted at the December Council meeting. The Internet Alexa ratings record that UCG.org has moved from 30th to 18th place among all Christian denomination websites. Donors and coworkers increased slightly in 2012 from 2011 and provided just under $2 million of the Church s income. We are finding that our hardcopy magazines and booklets help to significantly increase our donor and coworker numbers and motivation to support God s work. Over the last 12 years, of the nearly 5,000 members added to United, we were able to track 968, and of them 628 were added initially to our files via the Internet.
The Wall Street Journal reports that for successful websites great content is not just enough. The experience that people have is very important. The experience has to be good. The connection between technology and content is getting more and more critical. Our ultimate goal is to be number one online source for people who want authentic Christian content. Delivery vehicles our children and grandchildren will use, we will probably hardly recognize. It is a continuous job to keep up to date. BT is transmitted in high definition on the Roku channels, and it is also available on apps with Apple TV, Wii, Xbox and PlayStation 3. Committee Reports Mr. Webber introduced the chairmen of the various Council committees, who then reported on the work that each of their committees had done on behalf of the Council. Strategic and Finance Committee Bill Bradford The other members on the committee are Mark Mickelson, Roc Corbett and John Elliott. Mr. Bradford explained that they have had good, strong discussions of the information that is the Committee s responsibility to review and prepare. After the cash reserve crisis of last year, the Committee with the administration is keeping a closer eye on income and outgo. Mr. Bradford then cited Luke 12:42-43 about the wise steward who stays productive and responsible, showing that that is the Committee s goal in preparing the Budget and Operations Plan for the General Conference of Elders to ballot on. Media Committee Darris McNeely The other elders on the committee are Carmelo Anastasi, Scott Ashley and Mario Seiglie. The Committee has had one meeting since December and another this week. Between now and the GCE, the Committee will be involved in reviewing the media department s Vision Guide, which some media employees have been writing. Education Committee Don Ward The other members of the committee are Bob Berendt, Gary Antion and Scott Ashley. Dr. Ward illustrated on the whiteboard the Committee s recommendations for our education programs. The concern is to stop the trend in the Church (which also exists in society) to be more informational and less educational. He expressed a concern that we are developing more island-like branches of education within the Church s overall structure. We have many programs mostly good but what are their purposes when considered together? One of the Committee s recommendations is to produce a website for accessing all the educational programs. He also listed a void in the area of teen education and several other educational areas that will need better overall coordination also a recommendation from the Committee. Another main recommendation of the Committee is to develop a coordinated system to identify and train future leaders, especially future church pastors.
Roy Holladay mentioned that this type of coordination has been needed for many years. Dr. Ward added that the challenge will be implementation of the coordinating effort, and that discussion will need to include the overall philosophy of education in the Church. Roles and Rules Committee Gary Antion Mr. Antion reported on the Committee meeting the previous evening, which included UCG legal counsel Larry Darden sitting in with the other Committee members Mark Mickelson, Roc Corbett and Carmelo Anastasi. He listed the points they discussed, including a recommendation to change the Council nomination procedure back to its previous configuration where all elders names would be listed on the possible nominees list, and any elder who wished to not be considered would need to specifically request that his name be removed from the list. The Committee also studied the background and process of the Expelled Elder Appeals Committee and recommends that certain changes and updates be made. Ethics Committee Mario Seiglie Carmelo Anastasi, Roc Corbett and Mark Mickelson also sit on the committee. Mr. Seiglie reported on the Code of Ethics document, which has received positive reviews. The Committee has several other items to present to the Council in the course of this quarterly session. Doctrine Committee Bob Berendt Fully 50 percent of the Council sits on the Doctrine Committee, which is understandable given our focus on following God s Word. The Doctrine Advisory Committee has been populated with qualified elders, with Larry Walker chairing it. Mr. Berendt concluded with mentioning that the Committee has one particular item to bring to the Council, which has to do with eating unleavened bread during the Days of Unleavened Bread. With the committee reports complete, the Council adjourned for a short break and entered executive session for the remainder of the day. -end- 2013 United Church of God, an International Association Randy Stiver Council Reporter