The mission of the General Commission on United Methodist Men is
to assist men to know Jesus Christ, to serve Him, to grow spiritually and seek
daily to do his will.
|
Missouri River District Board Meeting
Date: April
10, 2008 |
Special Focus: Upper Room Prayer Ministry, Scouting, Camp Fontanelle, Society
of St. Andrew Ministries, Nebraska UMMen 100/1000 Foundation
Present: Craig Nordaker Scott Avery
Willy Lucht Ron DeBord Scott Herring Opening Prayer: Ron DeBord
Devotional: Gary Spivey; from Max Lacado
Treasurer Report: Gary Spivey reported a checking account balance of $ 716.65,
with a check to Union Memorial as a thank you for using their church (donations
collected from March 2008 meeting).
Conference President Report: Bill Stambaugh
unable to attend.
Nebraska UMMen 100/1000 Foundation Report:
Randy Fleming, Executive Director of the UMMen Endowment Fund was unable to
attend.
District Lay Leader Report (Linda Warren /
Betty Wiles): Unable to attend Old business:
-
EMS memberships funded by
attendees for district co-lay leaders, superintendant and one other person
were submitted, with a welcome letter from the district UMMen to each
recipient. It should be noted for future reference that the special EMS
membership rate of $10 for a ‘second member signed up’ is no longer in
effect.
New Business & Roundtable comments:
-
Special thanks to Scott Avery
and Elkhorn UMC for hosting this month’s planning meeting and for the treats
and coffee.
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Scott Avery requested that he
would be happy to collect pictures (or copies of) of UMMen activities at
either a local church level or otherwise, to help promote UMMen District
purposes.
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Ron, Charlie and Craig
initiated the visitation program- both likely to occur in May. St. Paul-
Omaha and Pawnee City were the first choices.
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It was recommended that this
group publicize its events on the new Nebraska UMC calendar of events.
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Craig reported that the
Nebraska UMMen logo shirts are available for ordering. Polo, t-shirt and
sweatshirt styles are available.
-
Craig shared his initial
impression of the book No Man Left Behind provided by David Mendyk. Summary-
WOW! More to follow.
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Scott Herring showed off his
presence and new pacemaker scar. Everyone is blessed with Scotts continued
presence and expertise.
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Gary shared that the Nebraska
UMMen have now adopted a UMMen version of the conference Discipleship
initiative.
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It was voted to donate $50
from our checking account to the Cowboy Trail Ride/Walk sponsored by
Nebraska UMMen.
The mission of the General Commission on United Methodist Men is to assist
men to know Jesus Christ, to serve Him, to grow spiritually and seek daily to do
his will.
-
Ron agreed to track down our
Missouri River District UMMen Charter document and apply the annual renewal
sticker to it for calendar year 2008.
-
The meeting was adjourned at
8:00pm
-
Gary closed the meeting with
a prayer.
Next meeting: Thursday, May 8, 2008 7:00pm, at St. James UMC, 1501 Franklin,
Bellevue, NE Respectfully submitted, Craig Nordaker- Secretary
Carry-over action items:
- 30-45 minutes of the June 2008 district meeting will be devoted to
district budget discussion; as a follow-on to our earlier establishment of a
‘district’ Mission focus and financial procedures. The result will likely
include how we want to financially support our district Missions focus.
- General discussion about a Missouri River District fund raising
program. Ron D. and Randy F. will put together a straw proposal for the
Board to consider, including a draft letter from Ron DeBord to each
congregation/charter group in the District.
- Randy suggested that the District consider coming up with a structure
of ‘giving levels’ or categories to help motivate contributors to UMMen. An
example might be $100+ would be the ‘Kingdom’ level of donation, etc. Randy
F. volunteered to follow-up with Ron D. to develop a draft proposal.
- Craig suggested this Board investigate how it can engage with, promote
or support the conferences recently announced UMC conference Discipleship
Plan. The Nebraska UMMen has now published its Discipleship Plan. It can be
supported by all UMMen District organizations. Craig will bring a copy to
the next Missouri River District meeting to see if we want to further
localize it for our District (or not).
- Ron shared some thoughts about how valuable some trend and demographic
information would be for this Board. For example, it is estimated that about
1/3 of the congregations have a UMMen group of some type. This isn’t
confirmed, but could be. Whatever the number is, a goal of improving that
to, say, ½ within 5 years (or whatever) could be an action for the District
Board to consider taking on.
- Bill S. also recommended that this group consider some form of
fund-raiser to help support the work of the Nebraska Conference UMMen.
Tabled until a draft District budget is compiled. PARTIALLY COMPLETE.
- Charlie suggested that this group consider identifying and publishing
near-term and longer-term goals at an upcoming Board meeting. Initial
suggestions from Charlie included figuring out how we can best focus effort
toward forming new UMMen groups in congregations where they don’t already
exist and also increasing the number of younger participants. Ron D. has
indicated he would like to lead this effort and has collected some ideas
already from Board members. INITIATED
- Bill suggested that our Board consider whether and how to solicit
local congregations for donations. Tabled until District budget is compiled.
INITIATED
