United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Meeting Report

Videoconference

November 8, 2012

Vice-chairman Gary Antion called the videoconference meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. EST and asked Council member Bill Bradford to give the opening prayer. All Council members and the secretary were present via phone or the Web connection. At the home office conference room the president and all three operations managers were also in attendance, in addition to Richard Kennebeck, who was overseeing the technical details of the Web connection.

Selection of a New Council Chairman

The main item on the agenda was the selection of a Council member to serve as the new chairman. Mr. Antion read the responsibilities of the Chairman from the Bylaws and then turned the meeting over to the Council secretary Gerald Seelig to conduct the selection process. He and Mr. Kennebeck of the home office IT department explained how the Council members could cast their secret ballot via the WebEx connection. Due to technical difficulties one Council member was connected to the conference by phone, so he balloted via e-mail to the secretary.

At a previous meeting the Council members had nominated several of their members to be considered for service as chairman. On the first round none of the nominees received the required two-thirds majority. After a number of rounds of balloting with time allowed for additional prayer, Robin Webber was selected as the new Council chairman. Mr. Webber then asked Mr. Antion to continue conducting the rest of this meeting since he was already prepared for it.

Strategic Planning and Finance—Robin Webber

As chairman of the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee Mr. Webber led this scheduled discussion. He reported the Committee’s recommendation that the Church begins to shift away from budget planning based on emergency and need, and now develop and operate on a numerically balanced budget based on donations and projections starting with the 2013-2014 fiscal year. He then proposed this as a formal motion, which was seconded by Mark Mickelson. Mr. Antion asked for discussion.

Darris McNeely expressed that although he agrees with the proposal, we actually need a balanced budget now. After extensive discussion, the vice-chairman asked for a vote on the proposal. The secretary took the roll call ballot, and it passed unanimously.

Mr. Antion explained that our pressing financial concerns require an additional meeting, which is scheduled for next Tuesday, Nov. 13. He then shifted the Council to executive session for the remainder of the meeting.

-end-

Randy Stiver

Council Reporter

© 2012 United Church of God, an International Association