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Missouri River District Board Meeting Date: June 12, 2008

Special Focus: Upper Room Prayer Ministry, Scouting, Camp Fontanelle, Society of St. Andrew Ministries, Nebraska UMMen 100/1000 Foundation Present: Craig Nordaker Ken Walker Bill Stambaugh Scott Avery Ron DeBord Opening Prayer: Craig Nordaker Devotional: None tonight Treasurer Report: None tonight Conference President Report: Bill Stambaugh was attending the Annual Conference. Nebraska UMMen 100/1000 Foundation Report: Randy Fleming, Executive Director of the UMMen Endowment Fund was attending the Annual Conference. District Lay Leader Report (Linda Warren / Betty Wiles): No report Old business:

1.  None

1.  Special thanks to St. James- Bellevue UMC for hosting this month’s planning meeting and for the coffee.
2.  Craig reported on the status of the visitation program. St. Paul- Omaha and Pawnee City were the first churches chosen. St. Paul- Omaha associate pastor was very welcoming, but a date to visit has been changed several times. The new Senior Pastor, Dr. Keith Johnson, will be contacted by Ron DeBord, to coordinate with Rev. Kurt Stecker and a couple of lay men. Craig will contact the Pawnee City minister.
3.  Craig reported that the Nebraska UMMen logo shirts have been reordered from a new supplier and are now available. Craig will be mailing out the shirts recently ordered in the near future. Polo, t-shirt and sweatshirt styles are available.
4.  Ken Walker reported that the new Nebraska Conference UMMen web site is now fully operational and is ready for updates as they become available.
5.  Ron indicated he would like to try and identify a ‘major’ speaker for the district UMMen organization to sponsor and promote. He envisions a delegated event chairperson and will put some thought to it in the coming weeks.
6.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm
7.  The next meeting will be hosted by Willy Lucht and include a meal (no need to arrive early).
8.  Ron closed the meeting with a prayer.

1.  30-45 minutes of a future 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.
2.  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.
3.  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.
4.  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). PARTIALLY COMPLETE.
5.  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.
6.  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.
7.  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
8.  Bill suggested that our Board consider whether and how to solicit local congregations for donations. Tabled until District budget is compiled. INITIATED