Present:        Charlie Walcutt        Craig Nordaker         David Mendyk

                        Randy Fleming        Ron DeBord              Ken Walker

                        Bill Stambaugh

 

Opening Prayer: Craig Nordaker

 

Old business:

            Previous meeting notes- approved as published

            Carry-over action items (see below)

 

New business:

            Treasurers Report:

o   Details deferred this month; Gary reported no expenditures since last meeting.

 

Roundtable comments:

§ Bill provided and read a copy of his official report to the Nebraska Annual Conference

§ Randy Fleming shared an update about the UMMen Foundation and the new effort to establish a separate ‘administrative fund’ and fund source to raise visibility about the need to cover Foundation costs

§ Craig N. volunteered to facilitate a 20 minute session at an upcoming district meeting of the officers and guests present to identify the ‘key’ missions that the Missouri River District wishes to promote during fund raisers. The idea is to brainstorm a large list and arrive at the ‘top 5’ (or whatever number the group wishes to promote). A separate meeting may be appropriate or possibly a tag-on to a regular monthly meeting might be needed. A draft list to work from includes:

o   Local District

§  Many are available, including Camp Fontanelle, Wesley House, etc.

o   Conference

§  100/1000 Scholarship Foundation, NE UMMen Administrative Costs, Jail Ministry, etc.

o   National

§  Meals for Millions, Heifer Project, Society of St. Andrew Hunger Relief, Upper Room Prayer Line, Nigeria-Nebraska UM Partnership, etc.

o   Special One-time Contingency’s

§  Tornado response, special family need requests, etc.

§  Craig N. clarified with David M. regarding the format for the magnetic UMMen signage and will produce those as soon as possible.

§  Craig n. mentioned that a 12-passanger van is reserved for the UMMen Summer Rally at Camp Norwesca. If not enough riders are identified, alternatives include Bill S. can take 2 or 3 riders with him, Craig N. can take 5 or 6 riders with him and Tim Brown can take 5 or 6 riders with him. To date, rider interest other than these names include David M. and Gary Spivey.

§  The proposed Fall Rally for the Missouri River District UMMen is still being researched. David M. will investigate details in obtaining the ‘Great Dads’ program; October 6 is the target date; Ron D. will investigate the availability of the Nebraska City UMC.

§  Ron D. shared that he has ordered 6 copies of Spiritual Fathers to be available for check-out and reading by anyone interested.

§  Ron D. has ordered the UMMen business cards we discussed previously.

§  Craig N. mentioned that he and Scott Avery will begin to assemble a CD/DVD to be used as a program or promotional item to encourage the formation and growth of UMMen chapters. Info about our District, examples of past projects, typical activities, our goals, etc. will be included.

§  Ron D. mentioned that he is researching the formation of a type of ‘speaker bureau’ to be developed for use by local UMMen chapters.

§  It was reported that Wesley House is now ‘in the black’, financially.

§  Ron D. reported that the Gretna UMC  is working to establish a weekly Friday morning UMMen devotional time.

§  Everyone is encouraged to promote the NE Conference Summer UMMen Rally at Camp Norwesca August 17-19. Very few reservations have been received to date. Beside the anticipated fellowship and spiritual growth opportunity provided, it will be a great chance to see and support Camp Norwesca for the first time (for many of us). Registration forms have been sent to every congregation representative and are available at the Missouri River District web site.

§  It was voted and passed for Gary S. to write a $100.00 check to the NE UMMen Conference for administrative expenses of the conference leadership to help offset personal expenditures.

§  David M. reported that the NE conference archivist has volunteered to provide previous Nebraska Annual Conference reports for his research into the history of Nebraska UMMen.

 

Closing Prayer:    Ron Debord

 

Next Meeting:

            Special time and agenda!

            Start time is 6:30pm and includes a spaghetti dinner, provided by our host, Ron DeBord. Craig N. volunteered to bring a dessert.

 

            Location:        Gretna UMC

                                    11453 So. 204^th St

                                    Gretna, NE  68028-7873

                                    (402) 332-3213

 

 

 

Carry-over action items:

1. Suggestion was made to solicit some level of funding from local congregations in the District. Further discussion resulted in the suggestion to develop a funding source strategy and also to develop and publish a District ‘use of funds’ policy or guidelines. Reviewed the draft Financial Policy distributed earlier. Discussion, motion by Craig N., second by Bill S., and approval by those present (with one typographical error corrected). Attached is the new, approved, policy. COMPLETE
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. Discussion, tabled for further future discussion.$$
3. It was agreed that the District would provide a ‘speaker bureau’ service to the congregations in the District regarding UMMen topics, organization, testimonials, etc. Initially, Randy, Dave, Ron and Charlie will be available. General discussion and further support expressed by all present. To continue development at future meetings, with input from Ron D. Scott will assist with assembling the ‘package’.
4. 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.
5. Ron reiterated his goal to begin contacting those congregations without a chartered UMMen group regarding the feasibility of either chartering, or at least forming some type of men’s group. INITIATED
6. A request to get an update from Paul Bryan regarding the current status of Wesley House came forward. Terry Abram volunteered to follow-up with Paul Bryan and report back at a future board meeting. COMPLETE
7. 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.
8. Discussion about the value of a ‘new UMMen group start-up package’. Charlie expanded with the need the launch new groups at congregations without a UMMen group. This sounds like something this Board, or a sub-committee, will want to develop and make available. INITIATED
9. 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.
10. Dennis Edwards shared his vision that the UMMen emphasis on fatherhood be a focus for consideration. No action as yet. INITIATED FOR POSSIBLE FALL RALLY
11. 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
12. Bill suggested that our Board consider whether and how to solicit local congregations for donations. Tabled until District budget is compiled. INITIATED
13. Bill suggested that this group discuss and put together a plan to encourage local groups of UMMen to charter their local groups. General discussion. Include as part of ‘traveling show’ package. INITIATED DISCUSSION
14. Bill S. suggested that business cards be made available to the Board members to hand out to interested parties in local congregations. Items to consider including on the cards would be District and Conference telephone and web contact information, UMMen logo, abbreviated purpose or similar, blank line for personalized telephone number or name contact, etc. IN PROGRESS