Highlights of GCE 2014

As I mentioned in the announcements, I'd like to give an overview of our General Conference of Elders. I'd like to hit some of the highlights. I'm sure I'll make some of my own personal comments throughout this. But I also took quite a few notes throughout the conference. I don't expect to cover everything because it was a weekend of meetings, obviously. So, as far as the ballot results in terms of who was returned to the Council, Mr. Robin Weber was returned to the Council and Donald Ward. And Mr. Weber was also selected as the Chairman once again for the next few years. So he'll be serving for at least three more years on the Council and will be the Chairman. Dr. Donald Ward has been returned to the Council. And then Aaron Dean was off the Council for a while as a Treasurer, and he is now back on the Council. Mr. McNeely served on the Council for six years. And he is no longer on the Council for a while, but things come and go, so he may end up back on it one day again. The international nominees were Bill Bradford and Ken Murray, and Mr. Bradford was also returned to the Council. The Strategic Plan, the Budget, and also the Operation Plan, which are all explained in this very lengthy booklet. It goes through many, many statistics and so forth in here. This comes out every year before the General Conference of Elders and the Elders' ballot on the Strategic Plan, the Operation Plan, and the Budget. All three were passed with an overwhelming majority. And then also there was a process for submitting doctrinal and prophecy study papers that was also passed and also proposed revisions to the Constitution were also approved. So we had a very fine conference. It was very peaceful, which has been very nice. We've had a few that weren't as peaceful over the years. This is the 20th year, by the way, of the General Conference of Elders, the United Church of God. It began in 1995, and this was the 20th General Conference of Elders. We had an extra one in there, I believe, during a crisis situation a few years ago. So it is the 20th General Conference of Elders, and it went very, very smoothly. It was inspirational to be there. It was a real privilege to be there. I hate to miss those meetings. My wife was telling me a few months ago that I shouldn't go, that there was too much going on. I didn't really disagree with her, but I still like to go. It's something that they want everyone to go if they possibly can, and I'm a glutton for punishment. So I went, I drove all the way by myself, and did it in one day on the way there, and broke it up on the way back.

But everything went very smoothly, and I was glad I went. Mr. Weber gave the first address. He said, Grace and peace be unto you. He mentioned that this was the common greeting of the ancient world of Paul and the other disciples. So, grace and peace be unto all of you as well.

He mentioned also that nothing will separate us from the love of God and Christ, which is also very, very true. He mentioned that the sheep are on the move on the plains of manatee where he lives. I'm not sure exactly what his point was there. I guess the dust is being stirred up by the sheep that are on the plains of manatee where he lives, and I guess that's always true in God's church. The dust is being stirred up regardless because the sheep are always on the move, and the church of God is on the move, and we are moving. We are growing to a certain degree, and we can be thankful for that. Let's go to Ephesians 4 and talk about a few verses that Mr. Weber mentioned in his address. Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4 has some very instructive comments and verses for us.

Let's read the first part in verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Brethren, we've all been called. You are here because you've been called out of this world. You've been called to be different with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, patience, bearing with one another in love. Paul talks a lot about love and the importance of love. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Unity, peace, love. These are all themes throughout all of Paul's 14 epistles. We should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called, in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. So we are all very blessed to be called by God at this time. Nothing will separate us from the love of God and Christ. Our allegiance is to Christ and to the Father, first and foremost. It's not to an organization so much, but it is to the church of God, to God's church. Christ is the head of the church of God. He always will be the head of the church. We are the children of God. We are the children of Israel, the children of Jacob, who is later named Israel. Spiritual Israel, whether we're Jew or Gentile, doesn't matter our race, our color, our gender. We are all one in Christ. Mr. Weber mentioned an environment of growth is about stirring up the Spirit of God in each and every one of us. And that was the theme, creating an environment for growth. And that's exactly what is happening in the United Church of God. We are developing an environment for growth, and hopefully we will not do anything to sidetrack that in the future, because we've done this before. We've had an environment for growth at certain times within the history of the United Church of God, but a few times that environment has been waylaid because of human carnal nature, frankly. And none of us are perfect, and we all have something to do to contribute to those kinds of issues that develop in the Church of God at times. So I would encourage all of you, let's continue to develop an environment for growth, because disunity stops growth. If you want to stop growth, then let's get some division going. Let's divide, let's let Satan conquer, and then we won't have an environment for growth. So I hope we're learning some lessons. If there's one thing that I preached about probably as hard as anything in my 19 years here, is unity. I've tried to set the example of that as well, and I hope that it's getting through to all of you, because if it is, I've accomplished something here that will last. And that will mean a great deal to me in the future. So let's continue to have an environment of growth, of unity, of love, of peace. It's so important. I can't stress it enough. Mr. Weber mentioned again that an environment of growth is about stirring up the Spirit of God. We're going to be keeping Pentecost before long, and hopefully we are continuing to stir up God's Spirit within us.

He mentioned that 3,000 were added on the day of Pentecost. God can perform miracles and work mighty, mighty things if we will just humble ourselves, and if it's in God's will and according to His timing and plan. We don't know what will happen in the future. We may see something like this in our time.

Mr. Weber mentioned to us ministers that your congregations need to see a yielded spirit, a yielded heart and mind in you as their pastor. That is an environment of growth, and the pastors have a great deal to do with an environment of growth. If the leadership is yielded and encouraging everyone to grow and to forgive one another and to love one another and to keep God's commandments, and to do those things that are pleasing in God's sight, then we will continue to have an environment of growth. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to some good years ahead in the United Church of God. That's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see the next 20, if Christ doesn't return sooner, be a lot better than the first 20. The first 20 were good in many, many ways, and we can thank God for that, but certainly we can do better.

He ended by encouraging us to fire up our congregations. So I hope you're fired up out there. You know, a lot of it has to do with your own inner fuel that's going on. You have to feed yourselves with the right things. So fire up yourselves, and then we'll have a fired-up congregation all the way around. So that was the address from our Council Chairman Robin Weber. And then our President Victor Cubick gave a keynote address. He said he was so very grateful for the very peaceful conference that we're having. And probably Mr. Cubick, he can identify with that more than anyone else, because he was the head of the Ministerial Services, Member Services, and so forth, and he's been hearing a lot of the turmoil in the United Church of God.

So he really does appreciate unity and peace, and he's very grateful for that. And he really wants to see that continue. It was interesting. One thing that he mentioned was how God works miraculously at times. For example, he mentioned that in 2008, there was a gentleman named Joseph who was sitting by a deacon in the United Church of God unknowingly. And he was reading an old WCG booklet. This was an old WCG booklet for many years ago.

And so obviously the deacon saw what he was reading and began a conversation with him, and put him in contact with our Elder Nelson Nacomo, and now he and others attend the United Church of God. So they were just sitting, I think, at a park bench or at a bus station together. Someone who had a worldwide Church of God background, but either never attended or had stopped attending for whatever reason, came in contact and is now attending the Church.

Mr. Kuevig baptized people who have waited 20 years for baptism while he was there in Africa recently. Our vision statement is one that encourages a Church that is to be knit together with what every member supplies. You know, that's out of the Bible. Obviously, we all need to do our part. Mr. Kuevig, Mr. Weber talked about the need for the pastors to do their part. And it's also very important that the members do their part.

In 2 Peter 3, verse 18, we are to be motivated and led by the Spirit of God. Ephesians 4, verse 15, we'll go back to Ephesians. Let's actually start reading in verse 11. And he himself gave some to the apostles, speaking of Christ, gave some to the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers. There is structure within the Church of God. You know, God does call people for different purposes, different responsibilities, for the equipping of the saints. So God does this to equip all of us.

For the work of ministry, we're all to become servants of God, servants of one another. For the edifying of the body of Christ, we're all edified when we all serve together, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So, responsibility starts with you. You are to become mature as a Christian. You are to become like Christ. You know, that is your calling to become like Christ. And God works within the Church to do that, to perfect, to edify, to build up. That's what God is doing in your life.

That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men. Okay, there are men that will be deceitful, that will try to divide, even though they may not think they're doing so. But they will be instruments, and they will be used to divide the body of Christ. So we all have to be on guard for anything that would bring disunity to the body of Christ.

Wherever it is, we need to oppose it. And we need to stand up against it. And we need to be counted. We really do. I know there's a balance there, and you have to figure out where that balance is. But we all need to stand up for the truth and for what's right and good. And we need to do it in a godly manner and in a godly way.

Because, again, there are people out there that are cunning, and they are deceitful plotters. And they will plot against the Church of God, even not realizing it themselves. But speaking the truth in love, they may grow up in all things unto Him who is the Head. That's what we need to be doing. Speaking the truth in love, growing and maturing, and becoming like the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, and from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies. According to the effect of working by which every part does its share, it causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

So the foundation is love, and God is love. And we talked about that on the first day of Unleavened Bread here in Tulsa about becoming love. Becoming like God, becoming unleavened, becoming love. That's what God wants us to become. He wants us to become like Him. In Romans 12, let's go there briefly. Romans 12. Romans 12.

And acceptable and perfect will of God. That's what we are called to do, to understand God's will in our lives and to begin making decisions based on God's will for us. And we need to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.

Mr. Kubik mentioned a ladder of involvement that leads to repentance. It leads to baptism and eventually salvation. So there is a ladder of involvement that God uses in calling people and getting them involved. And it's up to us to respond and to climb up the ladder. He mentioned that he listened. Victor Kubik listened to the radio broadcast for about a year. And then he finally wrote in to Box 111 out in Pasadena, California. And he used snail mail, believe it or not. Back in those days, that's what most people used. He ordered the booklet, Why Were You Born? God was beginning to work with him. He was starting up those rungs of the ladder. Then the correspondence, of course, was the second rung of the ladder he mentioned. So God is using different rungs. He's using the Internet in many cases nowadays. The world's changing and has changed quite a bit already. Mr. Kubik mentioned that he's very proud of the media team that we have in the United Church of God. He says they're the hardest working people on earth. That's his opinion. I'm sure they are hardworking people. There is a good bunch of people working together. He mentioned the contrast between the snail mail, Box 111, and now what's going on today. Now people have access with a tremendous flow of information. Instantly, you can have all the booklets you want. You don't have to wait for them. You can have them. They're right there. If you want to stay up night and day and read our booklets, they're there. And listen to telecast and so forth, day and night.

The Internet has revolutionized the preaching of the Gospel to some degree. ucg.org is at the top of its class in terms of people finding us. And he mentioned that all of this basically began when Mr. Kubik was telling Roy Holiday that we needed to register ucg.org. That was years ago. Roy said his son David, who worked at Microsoft, could do this. So that was back a number of years ago when they first registered ucg.org. So that's how our Internet presence began. People oftentimes find us nationally, and then they find us locally. So it starts on a national level oftentimes. In fact, I had a piece of paper here that showed...

Here it is.

You know, I find it very interesting that most people find us because of the Sabbath. I mean, that is the identifying sign between God and His people. That is a covenant between God and His people. When people typically find us, it's because they're looking for a Sabbath-keeping organization. He said that there are over 200 Sabbath terms that are used. However, there are 23 terms that account for 80% of all the clicks and impressions and people coming to our website. And all of these are Sabbath-related. There's 23 of these terms, like Sabbath Church, Seventh-day Church, Saturday Church, Sabbath, the Sabbath, Fourth Commandment, Sabbath Times, the Sabbath Day, you know, on and on it goes. But that's how people find us. It is an identifying sign between God and His people.

You know, Mr. Kubik was instrumental in updating our local websites around the country. It was one of the most effective things I've seen happen in the Church of God since I've been in it since 1974. We actually got something done pretty quickly. We updated all of our websites throughout the nation, at least, and maybe worldwide. I don't know about worldwide, but here in the United States, I know all of our websites were updated, friendlier. You know, we're doing a better job now, and Mr. Kubik had a lot to do with that.

He said he was embarrassed by our local websites. He would go to them, he was embarrassed by them. They weren't kept up to date. They just were not where they needed to be. And so he was embarrassed by that, and so he put together a team, including his wife, who called me. And we talked about it and so forth.

But all of the websites, I think, have been improved, because every single one has probably been improved somewhat, because we've been sharing ideas. We've got local maintainers that keep in contact, and when we don't keep up our local websites, they see that. There are people that are checking on our local websites, and if we're not updating them, then I hear about it.

So I appreciate Kyle Young and the work he's been doing, and also Mr. Hopper has been updating the calendar, and I appreciate the posting of our sermons in a timely manner, and all that, because it does make a difference, and it does matter.

So he said we're now much better, we're up to par locally around the world, around the nation.

So Mr. Kubik is very excited about our future, although he did say we have some significant challenges ahead of us. Three years ago, we had to raise up 30 pastors. We had to bridge the gap between those who were leading. God was gracious. We've been able to do that. Some changes are being made, obviously. He said we need to mentor others and prepare them to serve and to lead in the future.

He said, let go and give responsibility to others. That's what I've tried to do as well. I'm a delegator. I don't try to do it all. I can't do it all. There's no way I can do it all. And I rely heavily on all of you. I rely heavily on the elders. Every one of our elders serves in different ways, and our deacons, our deaconesses, and all the members. I couldn't do it without you. I wouldn't even want to try.

I would definitely head for an island, deserted, if I didn't have your help. So I appreciate everyone's help. I do let go. I'd give responsibility to others. I encourage those who have initiative. If you have some initiative, you'll find something to do in God's Church.

He mentioned that we need to disciple others and create an environment of growth that God will be able to utilize.

I believe that's true here in this congregation. Hopefully we'll see more people come through the door in the days ahead. Hopefully we will be more faithful as a people. We'll set a better example. We'll be more loving. We'll be more responsible. And we'll realize that our example makes a difference. And when we don't do our part, then we do hurt the body of Christ. We are to be a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. So that should tell all of us to stir up the Spirit of God that's in us. And let's try to do our very best. God's looking for our best.

We had a section on honoring our deceased elders and wives by Ken Martin. A special tribute to those who have died in the past year. It's always very moving, and I'm glad we take the time to do this. It's important. It shows that we are a loving church. We do care about our servants, those who have died in the faith. So this is a little booklet here that has those who died, a special tribute to all of those who died. And we spent at least a half hour going through their lives and some of the examples, what people have said about them in the future or in the past, how they have made a difference.

Also, there was a session on a tribute to 50-year employees. Mr. Kubik and Mr. Weber handled this. We've had quite a few 50-year employees in the Church of God. He mentioned that Gary Antion was there at the conference with four generations. His children, their children, grandchildren, four generations.

Gerald Ost. Wilbur Berg, I think, spent the longest, 55 years as an employee of the Church of God. Roger Foster, Vernon Hargrove, Roy Holiday, Fred Callers, David Mills, Glenn White. Also, a tribute to Denny Luker, who served over 50 years, and John Ross Schroeder, who just recently died. They were 50-year employees. And then, those who have served 50 years in the ministry, Gary and Barbara Antion, Roy and Norma Holiday. Alfred Mishnick, who was there, his second wife, died recently. But Mr. Mishnick was there. Some of you know Mr. Mishnick. Glenn and Connie White. So, we have had many very faithful servants. They also gave these pins out to people who have served 40, 50, 20, 30.

It's a 20-year pin for me. I was actually ordained in 1985, so it's been almost 30 years. I was hired in 1989, so it's been 24 years. This is a 20-year pin. I guess they do it every 10 years. 20, 30, 40-year pins. Mr. Rick Shaby gave the Treasurer's Report. He went to 2 Chronicles 26 verse 5.

Let's go there for a moment. I believe that Mr. Shaby is doing a very fine job, as well as pastoring in Florida. He still lives in Florida. Did not feel it necessary to go to the home office.

He has been able to oversee and supervise from Florida. Genesis 26, 5. I'm sorry. Did I say Genesis? 2 Chronicles 26 verse 5. He sought God in the days of Zachariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. As long as he sought the Eternal, God made him prosper. So the point he's bringing out is, as long as we seek God and we put God first in our lives, then God will prosper us. There's a blessing there that goes with this.

It's an important scripture to keep in mind, even from a financial perspective, that if we please God, and if we seek God and we seek his will, God will continue to bless us. Psalm 127 verse 1, another verse that went to... This is one we're quite familiar with. Unless the Lord builds the house... Let's go to Psalm 127 verse 1. Unless the Eternal builds the house, they labor in vain, who build it?

Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. No, it doesn't really matter... It doesn't matter, in one sense, what we do... I'm sorry, that's not coming out right. It does matter what we do. But God is the one that has to build the house. If God isn't building the house, we might prosper for a time, but we're not going to continue to prosper. So that's why it's important that we have unity.

God is unified. He's not a divided house. He's a unified house. And the more unified we are, the more God will bless us. So let's not labor in vain any longer. Let's be sure we put God first and allow Him to build the house. God doesn't tear down the house. People tear down the house. Ministers tear down the house. Members tear down the house. God does not tear down the house. He said that 2013 and 2014 was a financial rebuilding year in United. We were having some financial issues because of hiring so many people and so forth here not long ago.

So I'm happy to report that the income is very, very stable now. We have an eight-week reserve policy, a cash policy, which comes out to $2,525,000. That's what we want to have in reserve. And we dipped well below that some time ago in the previous year. But now we have nearly $4 million on hand now. So we're certainly more solvent financially. We're much better off now than we were a year ago. So it's been an excellent rebuilding year.

In regard to the mission statement, there are three elements of our mission statement. Number one is preaching the gospel, number two, making disciples, and number three, caring for our disciples. He mentioned that our income is spent as follows. 31% goes toward preaching the gospel, 13% toward making disciples, and 56% in the care for the disciples and taking care of the congregations and the churches around the globe. He mentioned congregational care and some of the programs that we have, like education, the festivals, assistance programs to help the poor and the needy, the international subsidies, the legacy program that we have.

He mentioned those are all aspects of congregational care. Preaching the gospel would include Beyond Today TV, the Internet, our Internet presence, what it costs to have that, our call center, answering calls, and so forth when people call us, our media center, the video, the advertising, advertising on Google and various other advertising as well as our booklets that we produce, Making Disciples in All Nations, of course, The Good News magazine, we use that to help bring along our disciples, Bible study lessons, booklets, subscriber development, these are all part of Making Disciples, and some of it overlaps, obviously. And then we have the administration at the home office, insurance, human resources, information services, financial operations. There's a lot that has to be funded. As far as expenses by type, salaries and benefits is 39% of the income that we get goes towards salaries and benefits. Media and advertising, 18%. U.S. and international subsidies, 15%. And everything else is 28% combined. Mr. Holiday gave an address. That was Mr. Shaby's on the treasury. Then Ministerial and Member Services by Roy Holiday mentioned some of the people that work in the department. He said, our goal is to have a godly environment that promotes Christ-like service, spiritual growth, humility, love, and unity. I've had an opportunity to work with Roy Holiday much more than in the past because of being the pre-teen camp coordinator, and also transferring and different things like that. We've had more contact here lately. But I certainly respect Mr. Holiday and the job that he is doing. He mentioned that we have 362 elders in the United Church of God. 283 of them are in the United States. We have 79 elders internationally. We have 81 full-time pastors. No, I'm not sure if this is either 81 full-time pastors or 81 minus 12 because we have 12 that are part-time pastors. So I'm not sure if they were included in the 81 or not. But we do have 12 part-time pastors and 81 pastors. I'm assuming they're separate numbers. Mr. Kubik gave another presentation about website instruction. Again, he talked some more about our local websites and what we were trying to do. He said that 50% of the people still watch TV, but they do it with their tablet. 50% watch it with their tablet or mobile device nearby. So they're searching things, Googling things while they're watching TV. Our goal is to make people feel more comfortable about coming to services. So it's very important, the environment that we have in this room before, during, and after services. So we should be a warm congregation, obviously, because we are warm people. You are a warm person. You're a loving person. So we need to treat everyone very properly in a loving way. The first impression is very important, but second, third, fourth, they're all important. So we need to do our part here in the Tulsa congregation.

He said it's obvious that there is a rise of the mobile web in the United Church of God. I guess he's talking about these things right here, the mobile stuff, you know? In 2011, it was 11%, 2012, 23%, 2013, 40%, and 2014, 45%. So I guess that's the contacts that are made with our website. 45% coming from smartphones.

You mentioned mobile-first design, which I'm not sure exactly what that is. A few of you could probably tell me, but I just have it in my notes, and I don't recall exactly what that went. But I guess that's what we're mobile-first. We're trying to appeal to those out there that have mobile devices. We want to make sure they can contact us. I want to cover another area on youth instruction. This is the United Church of God Youth Instruction Program, a Deuteronomy 6 model. It was presented by Randy and Kay Scriber to the General Conference of Elders.

Let's go to Deuteronomy 6, verse 6. This is a fundamental Scripture that our parents should basically have memorized, or at least they should know what it says and be living it, more importantly. Deuteronomy 6, verse 6. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. We are to write God's laws in our hearts and in our minds. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

So that's all the time, isn't it? You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. In other words, you should make sure that you do not forget to teach your children diligently. This should be first in our hearts and in our minds to teach our children.

Parents have the primary responsibility to teach their children God's way of life. And it is very important that we do so. Some of you have taught your children. They may not be attending God's church right now, but trust me, it has made an impact. And it continues to make an impact. So don't be discouraged by that. Have faith that God will continue to work with our children, and God will bring them around in His time and according to their response as well.

But it is very, very important to teach your children and instruct them in God's way. So those of you who have been faithful in doing so, you can rest assured that there will be fruit in due time. There's no doubt there has already been some fruit, but there will be greater fruit in the future. We must have faith in God, and in His Word, and in what He's doing, it does make a difference.

So parents do have the primary responsibility to teach their children God's way. It's not being done at Sabbath school a few times a month. Now that is not where your children need to be primarily taught. They need to be taught in your home.

And it needs to be as you go throughout the home during the day, as you lie down, as you rise up. You need to teach them God's way, and it should be always on your lips.

Of course, you have to do that with a certain amount of balance and not turn them off by being too preachy and all of that. So there's a balance there. It was mentioned that we have 250 pre-teen lessons on our website. So it's not that we don't have instruction out there. There's lots of instruction.

We're not covering all those lessons here at Sabbath school. We do cover some of them. We also create some of our own. But you have access to those. If you didn't know that, it's time to go find them. There's 250 pre-teen lessons on our website. There's 170 teen lessons on our website. So again, what is youth instruction? It is a method of instructing our children of all ages. We do believe in education in God's church. What part does the church play in youth instruction? The major part that we play is as a support system to our parents.

Again, the parents are the number one source of instruction. I know grandparents have quite a bit to do with that as well in some cases. Parents and grandparents. There are family study guides that you can find online. If I was going to stay here, which I'm not, but if I was, I would want to come out with a family study guide for our parents and begin to... This is a program that Randy and Kay Stryber have recently started using in their congregation.

I guess they have a family study guide. I've never seen it yet. At first I knew about this. For parents to use in teaching. They have two instructors and one observer present at each lesson. They discuss each lesson. They involve the whole church. There's pastor and leadership awareness. They have weekly announcements in regard to this program.

So this is something that is beginning to have more emphasis. So I would think that Mr. Dald will continue this, and we'll see more of that in the future in terms of more help for our parents. Sabbath speakers receive family study guides. They can use the topic in their messages. Men's and women's groups can also use this topic. So it's more of a focus on a particular message for that month. It can be reinforced by the pastor, by the sermonette speakers, even by men's and women's groups.

So it is important, as Randy Stryber was telling us, we need to shift the responsibility to the parents. We need to make sure that you are taking care of your responsibilities and teaching your children. So we need to, again, work with our parents more, work with our instructors more. So that's where we're headed in the United Church of God, a more organized program in terms of our youth instruction, a Deuteronomy 6 model, getting our parents more involved. We have a family education webpage that you can go to.

I mean, the resources have always been there, so parents who are proactive, who are doing their part, are probably already using some of these resources. They're having their own Bible studies. They're doing this sort of thing regardless. Okay, let's see. What time is it? It's 11.36. Let me just...

I want to just go through just a few minutes with... Actually, I think I will bring it to a close and not try to go any further because we want to have that meeting. We have a potluck, so I don't need to go any further today.

I hope that this was helpful to you. There were other presentations, other things that were covered. If I'm around here long enough, perhaps I will share. I don't know how long I'm going to be here. As I said, it's in God's hands in terms of when everything... how it all develops, so appreciate your prayers for all of that in the future. In the meantime, I'll keep preaching at you as best I can. It was really helpful for me to go to the conference.

It was very encouraging for me personally. I believe that I do work with a fine bunch of ministers who really do care about God's people, a fine bunch of administrators, the president, the chairman, the council... Everybody that I see is really wanting to do God's work and do God's will. We realize none of us are perfect. We don't claim to be perfect.

But we do have a heart to serve God and to serve His people. So I appreciate all of you, and with that, Mr. Dunn will lead us in another hymn.