Teleconference
United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report
Thursday, January 11, 2001 Teleconference
The Council of Elders met for six hours today by teleconference, with a full docket. They discussed an answer for the Church of God, A Christian Fellowship (CGCF) on doctrinal questions, points pertaining to the General Conference of Elders (GCE), Council items that will impact next yearâs budget, and a few miscellaneous matters.
Doctrinal Answers
All twelve Council members were present to begin the meeting, and delved into finalizing answers to doctrinal and governance questions (about the United Church of Godâs teachings and practices) put forward by the CGCF. Questions ranged from Unitedâs belief on the ultimate destiny of man to governance questions on the relationship of local congregations to the home office.
Doctrine Committee chairman Leon Walker pointed out, as some concerns were raised about how answers should be worded, that what is needed is a clear answer to the questions CGCF ministers or members have asked. Fuller explanations may well be made in church publications or study papers. After extensive ãwordsmithingä Council members pronounced themselves satisfied with the responses, and left the composition of the final draft in Mr. Walkerâs hands.
General Conference of Elders
Next on the agenda, Council reviewed how to establish a new process for GCE election of members to the Council of Elders. This is needed because of the passage of an amendment at last yearâs GCE limiting the names on the final ballot to six U.S. and two international, and the failure of a recent proposed amendment to set the Council make-up at exactly nine U.S. and three international members. After discussion, the Council entrusted Secretary Gerald Seelig with setting forward a proposal for its review.
Suggestions for a theme for the 2001 GCE then occupied center stage. GCE members have put forward a number of possibilities, and the Council settled on developing the concept of a sense of urgency, and a call to action in moving the Churchâs work forward. This theme will fit in with the focus for the 2001 festival video.
What about the international ministers coming to this yearâs GCE? Last year, all full-time salaried elders from international areas were brought to Cincinnati at church expense, and were able to hold two days of meetings before the General Conference. With the need for final international input on the Rules of Association, these meetings proved immensely beneficial. President Les McCullough gave his opinion that the Church could ãdo a repeat performanceä in 2001 for its international elders. Council also approved a request for assistance in bringing in two newly ordained elders and a translator from Germany for the GCE meetings this May 5-7 in Cincinnati.
The last concern in this section of the agenda dealt with when to fund a GCE for all elders again. The last such funded General Conference was in March, 1998, in Louisville, KY, when just over 80% of all the United Church of God elders were in attendance. All the Council members concurred that such a General Conference needs to be held, but differed as to the timing. Messrs. Dean, Jewell, Holladay, and Ward wanted to pay costs for all elders to attend in May, 2002. But in the end, ten members ö Messrs. Antion, Dean, Dick, Holladay, Kubik, McCullough, McNair, Seiglie, Thompson, and Walker agreed to wait until 2003. This will give more lead time for budgeting, as costs could well run five to six times higher than the $60,000 currently set aside for the annual meeting.
Council Budget Business
Three items of Council business rose next. First, the concept of whether to include money in the Council budget for the wives of Council members to attend each set of meetings (rather than the current practice of two out of four sets of meetings) was raised. Chairman Roy Holladay and others recalled this approach from 1995, at the Churchâs inception. Robert Dick pointed out that this had been done in order to include the input of the ladies, since it had been determined at that early stage that the corporate board of the Church would be a Council of Elders, thereby limiting membership to men. Mr. McCullough observed that his wife had always felt welcome to attend meetings, but that certain types of Council business were laborious for Council members themselves, let alone for visitors not directly involved in the process. He questioned whether funding their attendance would mean pressuring Council membersâ wives to attend more than they wished. John Jewell elaborated on the value of being able to ãbounce ideasä back and forth with his wife, whether she was physically present at the meetings or not, and stressed how valuable this was to him. Chairman Holladay asked for a straw poll of Council opinion, and Messrs. Antion, Dean, Holladay, Jewell, Kubik, McCullough, McNair, Thompson, Walker, and Ward favored funding the attendance of the wives, Mr. Seiglie opposed, and Mr. Dick abstained. Future Council budgets will reflect the change.
Council next set the location of its December 2001 meeting for the Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL area. Mr. Holladay, in raising the issue, pointed out that no meetings had been held in the southeast area of the country since a 1996 Council meeting in Birmingham, AL. Council members Dean, Dick, Holladay, Jewell, Kubik, Seiglie, Thompson, Ward, and Walker were in favor of the choice, Mr. McCullough and Mr. McNair abstained, and Gary Antion was not present for the poll.
Mr. Holladay asked the Council for its input on its own budgeting procedures, suggesting that individual committees should submit their budgets to the chairman, who would discuss the budgets with each committee chairman before forwarding them to the treasurer for inclusion in the budget. This proposal was approved.
Miscellaneous
A few miscellaneous concerns rounded out the dayâs business.
First, the Council passed two resolutions unanimously (Gary Antion absent):
ãWhereas, the Council of Elders desires to rescind its resolutions of January 15, 1998, with regard to appointment of legal counsel to the Council of Elders,
ãNow therefore, it is hereby resolved, that the legal firms of Weston, Hurd, Fallon, Paisley & Howley, LLP, Counselors at Law, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Rosenfeld, Meyer & Susman, LLP, of Beverly Hills, California, will no longer be legal counsel to the Council of Elders, although the Council of Elders reserves the right to use these firms, or any other firms it deems advisable, should an issue arise, which warrants such action.ä
The second related resolution:
ãWhereas, the Council of Elders desires to appoint Larry Darden, Attorney at Law, as General Counsel to the Church and Legal Counsel to the Council of Elders,
ãNow, therefore, it is hereby resolved, that Larry Darden, Attorney at Law, is appointed General Counsel to the United Church of God, an International Association, as well as Legal Counsel to the Council of Elders.ä
The Council then decided to go forward with a pictorial publication of United Church of God ministers and their wives. Photographing the ministerial couples will begin in May at the General Conference, continue throughout the year at regional conferences, and be concluded by individual photographs taken as needed.
Noting Church Constitution Section 4.1.6, dealing with GCE approval of relationships with other fellowships, the Council appointed a six-man task force from the GCE, chaired by Matt Fenchel, to research and present procedures on securing such approval. The six members (none of whom are Council of Elders members, and two of whom are non-salaried elders) will be asked to serve by Mr. Fenchel. At that point, the identity of the entire list can be made public.
The group then turned its discussion to the upcoming meeting (on March 12, 2001) with the Executive Council of the CGCF, and logistics of meeting location. Due to the size of the group, and the anticipated visitors who may wish to attend the open sessions involved, the Holiday Inn Eastgate, near the home office, was decided upon. Any closed sessions mutually deemed necessary can be held at the same location.
The Council concluded its busy day with an executive session.
-Doug Johnson
