Bishop's Call for a Special National Board Meeting

DATE: December 9, 2004
TO: US National Board Members
FROM: Paul Hirschy
RE: Special Called US National Board Meeting

All of you should have received my December B-Mail by now in which you read the information regarding the three referendum issues. Because the Missionary Church join and receive referendum did not receive a majority of votes, we are going to have a special US National Board meeting on February 14-15, 2005. This meeting will begin at 1:00 pm Monday, February 14, and end by at least 4:00 pm Tuesday, February 15. The meeting will be held in the Habecker Dining Commons conference room on the Huntington University campus.

The main purpose of this special meeting will be the preparation for the US National Conference. Normally, the Executive Leadership Team would have cared for most of this preparation. Because of the recommendation from the Executive Leadership Team regarding the Missionary Church, the Executive Leadership Team and I do not think that it is in the best interests of everyone involved for the ELT to make all the necessary decisions that will prepare us for the National Conference. Therefore, I am asking all of you to be present for this special meeting.

The referendum on Property and the National Conference Representation both passed with a strong majority, and I am confident that we will want to move those items forward in our discussions at the National Board meeting. I plan to have open discussion at the National Board meeting on each of those referendum items.

I have enclosed a copy of the report of the Property Study Committee to the Executive Leadership Team dated March 10, 2003. On the second page of the report you will see the suggestions for Discipline revision. I would like for all of you to read these carefully and come prepared to enter into discussion so that we can refer to the Discipline Revision Committee the most current thinking from the National Board.

I am also including a copy of the final wording on the Property referendum, which was approved by the National Board and is not a part of the report from the Property Study Committee. Primarily, it has added the item of the Camp/Conference Center Property.

I have also included a copy of the National Conference Task Force Report, which was submitted to the National Conference in June 2001. The reason I have included this information is because it has a number of sections dealing with the US National Conference representation that will be addressed in our discussion. I am sending this information along as a discussion starter to our meeting. Some of you will want to add additional items to our discussion about things you think need to be changed in our current structure.

When we have finished our discussion of the structure we will then decide as a National Board if we need to have a small group of people work on the final proposals that will be sent to the Discipline Revision Committee.

Another item this National Board will need to deal with is the appointment of the Nominating Committee for the US National Conference. The Nominating Committee will need to be selected from the elected delegates to the 2005 U. S. National Conference.

I am sure there will be additional items that will come up before the National Board meets in February that will be added to our agenda. If you have items that you think need to be addressed, please send those to me as soon as possible so I can consider whether we should put them on the agenda of the National Conference Steering Committee or the agenda of the National Board or the National Conference.

This February meeting will be an important step in the process of preparing for the US National Conference in June, and I hope that each of you will be able to be present. After the first of the year my secretary, Sherry Rupert, will be sending communication asking for your plans to participate in this meeting as well as getting information from any of you who will need housing or public transportation.

I pray that each of you will have a wonderful Christmas and look forward to a good year in 2005.