This is a UCG Breaking News post. Today’s post is below.
This the beginning of COE reports on this weeks meetings. All bolding is from the original report; my comments are indented and identified. This meeting report is filled with falsehoods and attitude setting statements for a drift into Tkach evangelicalism.
These people do NOT love Christ or the Father! If they did, they would do what the scriptures teach and command.
Ex 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. To say the Sabbath is holy and then to go out to pollute it, is an abomination before Christ and the Father.
In addition to this report the following message has been sent out from UCG:
|
Ministerial and Member Services Report – Victor Kubik
|
|
|
Committee Reports
|
|
|
Finance Report – Aaron Dean
|
|
|
Chairman Welcome – Robin Webber; Presidents Report – Dennis Luker
|
|
|
Media and Communications Services Report – Peter Eddington
|
United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting Report
Cincinnati, Ohio
February 25, 2013
After a previous evening followed by a busy morning of committee meetings, the first session of the Council meeting began at 1 p.m., when Council chairman Robin Webber called the meeting to order and asked Bob Berendt to deliver the opening prayer.
In his opening comments Mr. Webber cited the vision and mission statements of the Church which are drawn from Scripture. He pointed out that our guiding document is the Bible. He then read from Isaiah:66:1-2[1]Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?[2]For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. about the need for us all to have a humble and contrite heart before God that trembles at God’s Word, and from Micah:6:8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? about doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with our God, stressing the importance of that attitude as we serve God in these Council meetings.
He called for approval for the minutes of the Council meeting of December 2012, which was unanimous. When the agenda from this current round of meetings was put up for adoption, there were two additions of executive session nature. It was also approved unanimously. Mr. Webber then introduced president Dennis Luker for his report to the Council.
President’s Report—Dennis Luker
Mr. Luker explained that more details of home office operations would be presented by the operation managers following his presentation. He then focused on seven spiritual reasons why the United Church of God will thrive and succeed in serving God.
1. We love God with our whole heart, and God’s love never fails! It is 1 Corinthians 13 that defines true, spiritual love for God and for neighbor.
ADMIN: This is utterly false! If we loved God with our whole heart: We would be doing what our Father and Jesus Christ command us! the leaders of UCG DO NOT LOVE either Jesus Christ nor the Father!
2. Our loving Savior will love and guide us. We look to one man only, the Man Jesus Christ (Romans:5:15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.). In Matthew:28:18-20[18]And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.[19]Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:[20]Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. the commission Christ gave His Church included that He would be with us always. Christ is the only Head of the Church (Colossians:1:18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.), and He only has the preeminence. We must look to Him.
ADMIN: We must KEEP all of the teachings and commandments of Christ which UCG DOES NOT DO.
BEWARE you HWA followers; this statement is an indication that they are rejecting HWA for teh false evangelical Christ.
BEWARE you followers of Jesus Christ! I agree that we should NOT stand on the traditions of HWA or any man: however they are using this truth; to reject any truth that the man had, and to jump on the evangelical “love love” bandwagon.
3. We are totally committed to doing the work of God as long as we have life. It is a lifetime commitment that we have to do this work. In John:4:34Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Jesus Christ proclaimed that His “food” was to do the will of God and finish His work.
ADMIN: This is utterly false. They are committed to doing what they think is right; and they reject any zeal for the teachings and commandments of God.
4. We strongly desire to grow spiritually and learn to love one another as Christ commanded us. We know that we have not always practiced that kind of love. In United we are not doing that perfectly yet, but we are striving to. As instructed in 1 John:3:14We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death., we love the brethren and strive to lay down our lives for each other.
ADMIN: This is utterly false, as they reject growth in spiritual knowledge and in the true love of Christ, which is the diligent KEEPING of all his teachings and commandments.
BEWARE you followers of sound doctrine and the true Christ. They are establishing the mind set to enable a strong drift into false religion and the evangelical errors, as somehow being spiritual growth just like these same men did with Joe Tkach.
History repeats itself as the same men, using the same lies, teach the same errors as Joe T! First organizational unity and a false Christ, then doctrinal drift in the name of growth!
They also substitute a false unity of men for unity with God, and a false love of men in place of true godly love; which is to KEEP teach all men to diligently KEEP all of God’s commandments.
5. Because of the fervent prayers of brethren around the world. Brethren are praying for God’s Work. In 2 Thessalonians:3:1-2[1]Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:[2]And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. the brethren’s prayers make a powerful difference. In United we have experienced that. God does not look for huge numbers. He looks for quality. The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous in James:5:14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: is proven time and again.
ADMIN: Such prayers make absolutely NO more difference then catholic prayers for the RC church and the pope; unless they are coupled to zealous obedience of all the teachings and commandments of Christ and the Father which UCG rejects.
6. Because of faithful elders and pastors. They are qualified and converted shepherds of the flock (1 Pet:5:1-4[1]The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:[2]Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;[3]Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.[4]And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.). These are the kind of elders we have in United, dedicated to God and helping us to achieve our goals.
ADMIN: Faith in an organization, traditions or men; means absolutely NOTHING. There must be enough faith in God, to DO his will, by KEEPING ALL THE TEACHINGS of Christ and the Father.
7. Because of a dedicated, committed staff of office workers, in the office and in the field. As in Romans 16, we are fellow workers with Christ. That’s what we see at the home office, very dedicated staff working many extra hours.
ADMIN: ONLY those who teach what Christ taught, which is to KEEP all of the Father’s will; are fellow workers with Christ. Only those who do what Christ did, which is to fully and whole heartedly KEEP all of the Father’s commandments and will, are the fellow workers with Jesus Christ!
Ministerial and Member Services (MMS)—Victor Kubik
Mr. Kubik reports that the Church is in the building process. He expressed his gratitude for the small team we have in MMS, particularly for the assistance of Chris Rowland.
We have 345 elders (269 in the U.S. and 76 international) and 195 Bible study groups and congregations in the U.S. We have 81 pastors and associate pastors in the U.S.
In the first place we are committed to people, elders and members. Secondly, we focus on administration (salaries, healthcare, etc.). And thirdly, we’re concerned with education.
ADMIN: NO commitment to the commandments of the father or of Christ.
We have started the online ministerial education program, and itFhas been a success. Ministers around the world are asking when they can be part of it. This year’s class has been a prototype. But we want to run through it again to record and use it as a curriculum to train ministers overseas. Plans call for a doctrinal and pastoral care class, plus a gospels class for elders.
Other areas of MMS involvement include education for our congregations, Feast of Tabernacles, United Youth Camps, Women’s Services (which provides biblically based resources to help woman achieve their potential to serve), and Youth and Young Adult Services, which Randy Stiver will be coordinating. MMS also works with international areas overseen by senior pastors from the U.S. Official MMS communications with the ministry are through the Ministerial Journal and the weekly e-News. And finally, Good Works which is coordinated in conjunction with LifeNets.
ADMIN: When the Feast comes, Carefully Watch what they are teaching.
Finances—Aaron Dean
As treasurer, Mr. Dean reported that the current income fiscal year to date totals $11.5 million and expenses are at $11.9 million. Expenses have not come down as quickly as expected, as people are renewing their Good News subscriptions at a higher rate than we anticipated—mostly in areas outside the U.S. However, our financial situation is a lot better than what it was a few months ago.
We expect that gap to continue to narrow so that our expenses come in line. We are putting together a balanced budget for our forthcoming meetings.
There has been no development on the sale of the Texas property. Financial reports at the GCE will have a slightly different layout, to be more easily understood and will include projected cash flows.
Mr. Dean expressed his thanks to our employees for the financial hit they had to bear to help balance the books, and thanked the members for the special offering, which is now in excess of $730,000.
Peter Eddington—Media and Communication Services
Mr. Eddington stated that the Church works every day preaching the gospel. He said that, as a job for us, outside of God and family, it is the most important thing we do. We have a disciplined staff and a systematic plan to deliver a stable and consistent effort to preach the gospel. There is no single defining action to get to the world but hard work and varied approaches, like radio, TV, and Internet.
The process can be likened to a giant concrete flywheel that is ever so hard to get turning, and yet with years of pushing it slowly gathers momentum—until eventually it turns powerfully, hard to even stop, with just a push every revolution. One day, by consistent work in preaching the gospel, we would hope to find ourselves catapulted onto the world stage—suddenly in the public eye as the Church of God makes a mark on religion.
Here are some of the statistics from Mr. Eddington’s handout:
The dedicated Roku Beyond Today (BT) channel went live on Jan. 29, and we’ve had 25,000 video views with an average of 6.19 minutes each. About 4,600 people have the Beyond Today channel installed on their Roku boxes. We’re finding that people are willing watch video on an internet connected television longer than they do on their computer or Internet browser.
The Australian office reports that they’re increasing their BT coverage for the eight-week lead-up to the Passover season. Not all their viewers and website visitors are trackable, but just the responses they can track are running just under $5 per response.
BT in Canada, now in its seventh year, has had 28,000 responses. The last nine week average was 144 responses per week. Several Canadian pastors report that there are new members attending services due to BT on Canadian TV.
UCG.org unique visitors totaled 4.6 million in the past year—more than we had predicted at the December Council meeting. The Internet Alexa ratings record that UCG.org has moved from 30th to 18th place among all Christian denomination websites.
Donors and coworkers increased slightly in 2012 from 2011 and provided just under $2 million of the Church’s income. We are finding that our hardcopy magazines and booklets help to significantly increase our donor and coworker numbers and motivation to support God’s work.
Over the last 12 years, of the nearly 5,000 members added to United, we were able to track 968, and of them 628 were added initially to our files via the Internet.
The Wall Street Journal reports that for successful websites great content is not just enough. The experience that people have is very important. The experience has to be good. The connection between technology and content is getting more and more critical. Our ultimate goal is to be number one online source for people who want authentic Christian content.
Delivery vehicles our children and grandchildren will use, we will probably hardly recognize. It is a continuous job to keep up to date. BT is transmitted in high definition on the Roku channels, and it is also available on apps with Apple TV, Wii, Xbox and PlayStation 3.
ADMIN: All of this work is absolutely irrelevant to God, if they are not preaching what God has commanded; which they are neither doing nor preaching. In ten years they will be destroyed in the tribulation or be just another evangelical social club.
Committee Reports
Mr. Webber introduced the chairmen of the various Council committees, who then reported on the work that each of their committees had done on behalf of the Council.
Strategic and Finance Committee—Bill Bradford
The other members on the committee are Mark Mickelson, Roc Corbett and John Elliott. Mr. Bradford explained that they have had good, strong discussions of the information that is the Committee’s responsibility to review and prepare. After the cash reserve crisis of last year, the Committee—with the administration—is keeping a closer eye on income and outgo.
Mr. Bradford then cited Luke:12:42-43[42]And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?[43]Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. about the wise steward who stays productive and responsible, showing that that is the Committee’s goal in preparing the Budget and Operations Plan for the General Conference of Elders to ballot on.
Media Committee—Darris McNeely
The other elders on the committee are Carmelo Anastasi, Scott Ashley and Mario Seiglie. The Committee has had one meeting since December and another this week. Between now and the GCE, the Committee will be involved in reviewing the media department’s Vision Guide, which some media employees have been writing.
Education Committee—Don Ward
The other members of the committee are Bob Berendt, Gary Antion and Scott Ashley. Dr. Ward illustrated on the whiteboard the Committee’s recommendations for our education programs. The concern is to stop the trend in the Church (which also exists in society) to be more informational and less educational. He expressed a concern that we are developing more island-like branches of education within the Church’s overall structure.
We have many programs—mostly good—but what are their purposes when considered together? One of the Committee’s recommendations is to produce a website for accessing all the educational programs. He also listed a void in the area of teen education and several other educational areas that will need better overall coordination—also a recommendation from the Committee. Another main recommendation of the Committee is to develop a coordinated system to identify and train future leaders, especially future church pastors.
Roy Holladay mentioned that this type of coordination has been needed for many years. Dr. Ward added that the challenge will be implementation of the coordinating effort, and that discussion will need to include the overall philosophy of education in the Church.
Roles and Rules Committee—Gary Antion
Mr. Antion reported on the Committee meeting the previous evening, which included UCG legal counsel Larry Darden sitting in with the other Committee members Mark Mickelson, Roc Corbett and Carmelo Anastasi. He listed the points they discussed, including a recommendation to change the Council nomination procedure back to its previous configuration where all elders’ names would be listed on the possible nominees list, and any elder who wished to not be considered would need to specifically request that his name be removed from the list.
The Committee also studied the background and process of the Expelled Elder Appeals Committee and recommends that certain changes and updates be made.
Ethics Committee—Mario Seiglie
Carmelo Anastasi, Roc Corbett and Mark Mickelson also sit on the committee. Mr. Seiglie reported on the Code of Ethics document, which has received positive reviews. The Committee has several other items to present to the Council in the course of this quarterly session.
Doctrine Committee—Bob Berendt
Fully 50 percent of the Council sits on the Doctrine Committee, which is understandable given our focus on following God’s Word. The Doctrine Advisory Committee has been populated with qualified elders, with Larry Walker chairing it. Mr. Berendt concluded with mentioning that the Committee has one particular item to bring to the Council, which has to do with eating unleavened bread during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
ADMIN: The focus of the Doctrinal Committee is not on following God’s word, but on preventing any spiritual growth, by protecting and maintaining tradition. That will soon be changing with a drift away from the biblical Christ, and into evangelicalism a la Tkach, in the name of [false] spiritual growth.
With the committee reports complete, the Council adjourned for a short break and entered executive session for the remainder of the day.
ADMIN: This has been published as a news item under the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act.
-end-
Randy Stiver
Council Reporter
© 2013 United Church of God, an International Association UCG
Tim McCaulley
February 27th, 2013 at 14:42