United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting Report

Milford, Ohio

Monday, May 3, 2021

Chairman Len Martin called the morning session to order at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, and the meeting was opened with prayer. All 12 Council of Elders (Council) members were present. Scott Ashley, Bob Dick, Mario Seiglie, Randy Stiver and Tony Wasilkoff were online.

Chairman Martin welcomed everyone, including the newly elected Council members, Paul Wasilkoff (online) and Brian Shaw. The last Council meeting minutes were approved. The agenda for the week was also approved.

Committee Chairman Reports:

Doctrine Committee (DC)—Mario Seiglie

The DC has the reviewed project of the “Born Again” paper ready to present to the Council for further review and approval later in the day. The DC is continuing work on the review of the “Calendar” paper and the review of the “Voting and Involvement in Politics” paper.

Education Committee—Aaron Dean

International travel has still been limited by COVID-19 restrictions. It has forced some areas to progress toward self-sufficiency in finding ways to provide for their needs. We still provide guidance and help in other ways.

Ambassador Bible College (ABC) is approaching graduation with the graduation dinner Thursday night, rehearsal on Friday and graduation itself on Sunday. The size of the class allowed for almost total in-class face-to-face instruction. A member has purchased three homes and is remodeling them for student housing in the future. This will make it easier for students to be close to the home office and share rides for those who do not have cars.

The hymnal article will be brought up to the Council later in the week for discussion.

Ethics Committee—Randy Stiver

The Ethics Committee has no mandated duties or assignments at this time.

Media and Communications Committee (MCC)—Scott Ashley

The MCC is mandated to preview the media reports ahead of the quarterly Council and GCE meetings. The MCC previewed them on April 29. There are no other items before the MCC.

Roles and Rules Committee (RRC)—John Elliott

The Council performs an annual assessment of each officer of the corporation. The two remaining officer assessments (the Secretary and the President) for this fiscal year will be completed during this week.

As the new Council year begins later this week, it is a good time to review the Council Member Handbook, which provides pertinent information about Council service.

This year’s deadline for submitting proposed amendments is by June 26.

Strategic Planning and Finance Committee (SPFC)—Dan Dowd

The SPFC is tasked with oversight and input with the administration regarding budget and strategic planning, and any other matter the Council remands to them. Dan Dowd and John Miller met with Mark Welch, Aaron Dean, Chris Rowland, Vic Kubik, Darris McNeely, Peter Eddington and Rick Shabi (online) in a meeting at the home office on April 7 to further discuss the strategic plan and finance metrics discussion to be presented in the December 2021 meetings. There will be a follow up meeting on June 2, 2021.

Later this week, Mr. Dowd will lead a discussion with the Council following up on the Retirement Policy review that was remanded to the SPFC.

The SPFC still has pending work to be done on revamping the Building Purchase Policy. This will be ready for discussion in the August meetings.

Review of Committee Scope and Responsibilities—Len Martin

Chairman Martin reviewed the “Scopes and Responsibilities of the Committees of the Council of Elders and the GCE.” There are some areas of this document that need to be reviewed, updated and edited. It was unanimously approved to be remanded to the RRC to review the entire document and have each committee review their sections and bring it back to the Council in the December meetings.

Review of Amendment Schedule—Frank Dunkle

Secretary Dunkle presented the current amendment schedule for the Council to review. The Council will finalize and approve it later in the week, so it can be sent out to the elders.

Doctrine Committee Update—Mario Seiglie

During the DC update on December 9, 2020, the DC was asked to further edit the “Born Again” doctrinal study paper to help with clarity. On February 24, 2021 the Council reviewed it and on April 12, 2021 the DC had an online meeting to go through the suggested edits of the “Born Again” paper. There is no doctrinal change. These edits are to help with clarity, consistency and the tone of the paper. Mario Seiglie, as chair of the DC, went through the proposed edits with the Council. Mr. Seiglie went through a DC approved document explaining John:3:5 and then presented the revised “Born Again” paper for about 2 ½ hours with the Council. The Council then unanimously approved the “Born Again” doctrinal study paper. The updated paper can be found online with the study papers (https://www.ucg.org/study-papers).

Order of Services Policy—Mark Welch

Mark Welch, operation manager of Ministerial and Member Services (MMS), presented to the Council some proposed updates and changes to the “Order of Services Policy” in the Pastor’s Policy Manual. Based on feedback from last year’s member survey, many of our members and ministers feel two hours is too long for Sabbath services and that many sermons are too long. The updated policy is to give the pastors more flexibility on how they do the Sabbath service and to bring our policy up to date with our actual practice. Ninety-minute services are recommended, but a pastor may still choose a longer service, taking into account the needs of the congregation. The policy is not meant to put constraints on the pastor, but to give them leeway to make decisions allowing more flexibility in our service format. The Council spent 1 hour and 45 minutes discussing and editing the policy. The updated policy was approved by the Council and will be sent to all elders.

Regional Camp Discussion—Victor Kubik

President Kubik introduced Steve Nutzman, overall camp director, and Rex Sexton, Northwest camp director, to present a proposal to set aside funds to buy a camp facility in the Northwest. Three donors have already earmarked donations and have requested that the Council create a restricted fund for purchasing a camp facility in the Pacific Northwest, and to approve fundraising for this camp facility. The Council discussed this for about 30 minutes and approved setting up a restricted fund for the purchase of a camp in the Northwest, with any excess funds given beyond the needs of the Northwest camp to be kept for the future United Youth Camp needs.

Bob Dick and Randy Stiver had to leave the meeting.

The Council went into executive session at 5:03 p.m.

The Council adjourned for the day at 5:54 p.m.

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Chairman Len Martin called the morning session to order at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, and the meeting was opened with prayer. All 12 Council members were present. Scott Ashley, Bob Dick, Mario Seiglie, Randy Stiver and Tony Wasilkoff were online.

The Council went into scheduled executive session for the day to go through ordination requests, the annual review of the Secretary and the President, and the legal update.

The Council adjourned for the day at 5:24 p.m.

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Chairman Len Martin called the morning session to order at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, and the meeting was opened with prayer. Eleven Council members were present. Scott Ashley, Bob Dick, Mario Seiglie and Tony Wasilkoff were online. Randy Stiver joined a few minutes later.

Retirement Policy Update—Dan Dowd

Dan Dowd, chair of the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee (SPFC), presented ideas and input the SPFC had received for ways to improve the retirement policy. The Council discussed this for about 45 minutes and directed to SPFC to further research certain prioritized ideas and bring them back to the Council in future meetings.

Unfinished Business—Len Martin

• Hymnal article: Aaron Dean, chair of the Education Committee (EC), discussed the current draft of the hymnal article for the United News. It was discussed with input from the Council for about 30 minutes. The EC will continue to work on the article with the input.
• Amendment schedule: Frank Dunkle, Council Secretary, presented the 2021-2022 Governing Documents Amendment Schedule to the Council for input. It was unanimously approved.
• Historical Archive Project (HAP): Bob Dick updated the Council on the progress of the HAP from the December 9, 2020 meeting.

Upcoming Council Meeting Dates

• August 16-19, 2021
• December 6-9, 2021
• February 28-March 3, 2022
• May 17-19, 2022 (2022 GCE meetings: May 15-16)

Honoring Outgoing Council Members—Len Martin

Mementoes of appreciation were presented to the two outgoing members of the Council.

Robert Dick

Anthony Wasilkoff

Chairman Martin expressed the Council’s appreciation for the service they had rendered, which was followed by personal comments by each of those receiving the honors.

The 2020-2021 Council adjourned at 12:06 p.m.

The 2021-2022 Council was called to order with Brian Shaw and Paul Wasilkoff seated on the Council at 1:04 p.m. Randy Stiver joined the meeting at 1:27 p.m.

Chairmen Martin led the discussion going through populating the committees of the Council and selecting their respective chairs.

The following are the updated committees and their chairmen:

• Doctrine Committee: Scott Ashley, Jorge de Campos, Darris McNeely, Mario Seiglie (chair) and Randy Stiver.
• Education Committee: Aaron Dean (chair), Jorge de Campos, Brian Shaw and Paul Wasilkoff.
• Ethics Committee: John Elliott (chair), Mario Seiglie, Randy Stiver and Paul Wasilkoff.
• Executive Committee: Scott Ashley, Aaron Dean, Dan Dowd, Len Martin (chair) and Darris McNeely.
• Media and Communications Committee: Scott Ashley (chair), Jorge de Campos, Darris McNeely, Randy Stiver and Paul Wasilkoff.
• Roles and Rules Committee: Dan Dowd (chair), John Elliott, John Miller and Brian Shaw.
• Strategic Planning and Finance Committee: Aaron Dean, Dan Dowd, Darris McNeely, John Miller (chair) and Brian Shaw.

The Council adjourned the meetings at 1:34 p.m.

-end-

Council Reporter

Shawn Cortelyou

[These are not the official minutes from the Council meeting. Elders can find those at the Home Office with the Council Secretary. Video recordings are posted for the elders on the UCG Ministerial Resource Site.]

© 2021 United Church of God, an International Association