Ministerial Services operation manager Jim Franks wrote in the Dec. 27 Ministerial Services Newsletter and Journal:

"We are happy to announce that we have hired an elder for the full-time ministry. Shawn Cortelyou and his wife, Elizabeth, [began] working for the Church effective Dec. 31. Shawn is currently serving as an elder in Canton, Illinois. Shawn and Beth will remain in their local area working with their current pastor, Ken Graham, until next summer. At that time we will consider a more permanent assignment. Our budget this year has approval for hiring a total of four men, but it remains to be seen whether we will actually achieve that goal."