Special Focus: Upper Room Prayer Ministry, Scouting, Camp Fontanelle, Society of St. Andrew Ministries, Nebraska UMMen 100/1000 Foundation Present: Charlie Walcutt Craig Nordaker Randy Fleming Ron DeBord Ken Walker Willy Lucht Scott Herring Gary Spivey Gene Latham Michael Perez Bruce Chapman Steve Norris Bill Stambaugh Opening Prayer: Gary Spivey; devotional also Old business: Previous meeting notes- approved as published Carry-over action items (see below) Roundtable comments:

1.  Special thanks to Ron DeBord for providing a lasagna dinner for the attendees and to Gretna UMC for the use of the building.
2.  Randy Flemings’ challenge letter to help fund the new John Wesley UMMen Conference administrative/training fund was reviewed by those present. Craig Nordaker presented a draft letter to be sent to each Senior Pastor in the District and also UMMen leader, if known. Possibly the church administrative assistant also. Input on minor wording suggestions taken. Craig will also provide a final copy of the letter to the Conference UMMen officers, via Bill Stambaugh, to be offered as a suggested guide to other Districts who may wish to approach their Nebraska John Wesley Fund participation with a letter campaign. Craig reported that to-date, $4,200 has been donated to this new John Wesley fund, including 5 private donations and a full $1,000 contribution from the Prairie River District UMMen.
3.  Randy Fleming introduced Bruce Chapman, our new Nebraska Conference 100/1000 Club Treasurer. Bruce and Randy presented the quarterly financial report of all funds in the 100/1000 Club.
4.  Randy Fleming recommended that the Sunday worship offering at the upcoming 2008 Winter Retreat be donated toward a 100 Club membership in memory of Dr. Alva Clark, who recently passed away. Discussion followed with the consensus suggesting ½ go to the Dr. Alva Clark 100 Club memorial and ½ toward Camp Fontanelle. Another possibility being considered would be to have a free-will donation at another time during the Retreat for one or the other. This will be decided later and announced on Saturday of the Retreat.
5.  Randy recommended that a regular agenda item for future Missouri River District UMMen meetings should include an agenda item for a 100/1000 Club report and also a conference report.
6.  Living Faith attendees reported that their UMMen group is planning several activities throughout 2008 which will leverage the 100th Anniversary of United Methodist Men, including planning for a fund raiser. Other congregations are encouraged to make similar plans to incorporate our Centennial into 2008 activities.
7.  Ron DeBord explained that he will begin putting together a calendar for visits to congregations in the District to try and engage men in a local gathering or UMMen organization.
8.  Gary Spivey reported that we currently have $716.08 in our checking account. Recent expenditures included our $65 annual charter renewal fee and Great Dads Seminar expenses. Approximately $200 in private donations were received.
9.  Bill Stambaugh reported that he will be working with Duane Daake, our Conference Scouting coordinator, to process the Cross & Flame award recommendation recently submitted by Willie Lucht.
10.  Craig reviewed the Missouri River District Lending Library contents so that all could make use of it.

1.  Discussion on the detailed agenda for the upcoming Nebraska United Methodist Men Retreat February 15-17 at Camp Fontanelle. A separate detailed agenda will be distributed to all interested parties and also available at the Retreat. One adjustment that occurred following this meeting was from Kurt Stecker, who shared that Rod Handley would not be available, as hoped for. This leaves Session #1 open- to be filled in with one of the backup programs (yet to be determined by the program committee).
2.  Bill Stambaugh and Willie Lucht will make arrangements for the Cross & Flame setup at the Retreat.
3.  Gary Spivey kindly agreed to arrange for a pair of UMMen Centennial birthday cakes for Saturday evening.

Next meeting: Thursday, March 13, 2008 7:00pm, at Union Memorial UMC, 2712 R St Omaha, NE 68107 (take the Q street West exit from South Kennedy Freeway/Hwy 75, then one block south/left on 28th to R street). Respectfully submitted, Craig Nordaker- Secretary Missouri River District United Methodist Men

1. 1. 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.
2. 2. 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. Initiated by Ron D. & Randy F.
3. 3. Craig suggested this Board investigate how it can engage with, promote or support the conferences recently announced UMC conference Discipleship Plan. Tabled for future consideration and discussion.
4. 4. 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. Ron volunteered to research what information might be available either from the conference (state level), District (maybe from the District Superintendent, Randy Sailors) or national UMM (maybe Dave Adams). No action as yet.
5. 5. 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.
6. 6. 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
7. 7. Bill suggested that our Board consider whether and how to solicit local congregations for donations. Tabled until District budget is compiled. INITIATED