The Council of Elders concluded its quarterly week of meetings at the home office before noon this morning. You will be reading about some of the highlights in Council reports in a few days and videos of some of the presentations are already online at http://coe.ucg.org/videos

A variety of topics dealing with the direction of the church were discussed. The meetings started Monday with reports from Operation Managers. Among them was a report about media from Peter Eddington, finances from Rick Shabi and  Ministerial and Member Services from Chris Rowland.

Reports from the ethics, education, media, and roles and rules Council committees were also given. Other highlights were the review of the Feast of Tabernacles and plans for next year's Feast locations. Last Sunday morning, festival planner Charles Melear and I met for two hours and talked about some important considerations for major festival sites as well as some satellite video-only locations.

At Council meetings, policies are reviewed or created. A fair amount of time was taken discussing proposed amendments to the Rules of Association, led by Jorge de Campos.

One item of special interest was Beyond Today studio expansion, which will be an addition to our current home office, providing proper, much-needed facilities to produce better television programs using a variety of sets and more advanced equipment. A letter to the entire membership from Peter Eddington and myself will be sent shortly. You can see the video recording of this presentation at http://coe.ucg.org/content/beyond-today-studio-proposal-and-resolution .

Here are a few highlights from my Monday morning President's report.

Report

The past three months are highlighted by a number by education items of note.

- Ministerial Education Program
- Ambassador Bible College
- Labor Day Leadership Weekend
- Pastoral Development Program (a 10-day course for our new ministerial trainees, as well as newer pastors)

Ministerial Education Program

This is our overall program for identifying future church leaders and training them. The team is composed of myself, Darris McNeely, Steve Myers and Chris Rowland. We meet and exchange ideas regularly as we prepare the curriculum for classes we teach. The program brings in elements from all the educational efforts we currently have, including Ambassador Bible College, Online Training and Labor in the Word.

Ambassador Bible College

The academic year started on August 29 with 23 students. At the beginning of next semester, three more students will be arriving. We are pleased with the makeup of this year's class. They are very talented class musically and artistically. Almost everyone in the class is in the choir. Three students are from Australia. One student is hearing-impaired and deaf signing volunteers are providing a valiant effort at interpretation. They are Debbie McNeely, Corbin Rose, Jan Cook, Richelle Docken, Kim Preston and Cindy Phelps. Connie Sipes also helps with transcripts. We thank them wholeheartedly for their many hours of service!

We have two additions to the faculty this year: Randy Urwiller, from East Texas, is teaching Writings, and Scott Ashley is teaching Harmony of the Gospels.

Last week, we had a special presentation by recently retired State Department employee and Living Church of God elder Ray Clore. He gave an interesting presentation about the Foreign Service and a scenario of the prophecies in Daniel 11.

ABC had applied with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) to give the I-20 forms allowing application for visas for potential international students. Our application was denied. SEVIS is a nationwide, Internet-based system that the U.S. government uses to maintain accurate and current information on non-immigrant students (F and M visa), exchange visitors (J visa), and their dependents (F-2, M-2, and J-2). We are continuing to look at our options. I want to thank Aaron Dean along with Dr. Michael Schuster and his wife Karen in Portland for tirelessly pursuing possibilities to accept students from more of our international areas.

Labor Day Weekend

Our September 2-5 leadership workshop included 31 attendees from all over the U.S., including one couple from Canada. It was themed "Let This Mind Be in You." We provided training for church leadership rooted in service, doctrine and leadership. Home office staff hosted a Saturday night dinner at their home for two to three couples.

Pastoral Development Program

This was definitely one of the highlights of the year at the home office for new ministerial trainees and pastors, held November 7-16. 12 men plus their wives were in attendance, including three from outside the United States: Jim and Almeda Lucas from Canada, Nawa and Felicia Talama from Zambia and Roy Demont who oversees all the congregations in South Africa.

We have four new trainees, bringing us up to seven total trainees at this time. Two from last year are already assistant pastors and one is a now a pastor. We are very pleased by what this program has produced.

New round of Regional Conferences to start in Atlanta

Our upcoming conference will actually be two conferences: an all-day leadership workshop for church members on Sunday, January 15, followed by a two-day ministerial conference.

The leadership workshop will have the theme "What Every Member Supplies." Sessions include "Capturing Christ's Vision for the Church" by Darris McNeely, "Becoming a Disciple: The Heart of Christianity" by Victor Kubik, and "Reaching Out and Lighting the Way" by Steve Myers. Church members in the Southeast region should check with their pastors for details if they would like to attend this workshop. The meeting will be followed by the regional ministerial conference beginning on Sunday evening.

Lewis and Lena VanAusdle to Malawi

Lewis and Lena VanAusdle have just obtained visas to work and live for one year in Lilongwe, Malawi. This will be a big boost in providing ministerial support for international areas that are overseen at a great distance from the United States. We thank them for their willingness to accept this assignment and challenge. We have found an adequate home for them, along with providing furnishings. Aaron Dean will also go to Lilongwe at the same time to help them get situated.

Lena will continue to manage Good Works from afar. I very much appreciate her diligent working with me on church outreach and humanitarian programs.

Other News

I'll leave the report here. You can actually hear more by seeing the original presentation online at http://coe.ucg.org/content/chairman-welcome-president-operation-manager-reports-5

I am grateful to God for everything that He has delivered us from and am thankful in advance for where He will take us with the Work that He is doing on the earth through us, as imperfect instruments.

I am thankful for our hard-working ministry, their humility, love of the brethren and maintenance of unity in the Church to do the Work that God has given us to do. I am also thankful to our home office employees. We have a great environment to work in.

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).