Welcome to the home of the Missouri River District(Nebraska) of the United Methodist Men. Missouri River District Churches   Celebrating 100 Years of Ministry Click Here for Details

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.

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 Dave Mendyk Charlie Walcutt Gary Spivey

Opening Prayer: Gary Spivey Devotional: Gary Spivey; In the Grip of Grace, from Max Lacado

Treasurer Report: Gary Spivey reported a checking account balance of $ 736.79, with a check to Elkhorn UMC as a thank you for using their church (donations collected from March 2008 meeting).

Conference President Report: Bill Stambaugh reported on the plans for the upcoming Annual Conference. The person staffing the UMMen booth will also be responsible for collecting the offerings at each coffee station during the conference. Bill will staff the Conference UMMen booth on Wednesday; Craig will staff it on Friday, and someone will be needed for Thursday. Craig will provide a sign-up sheet for folks who might want more information about Nebraska UMMen.

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): 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. Now looks to be June.
3.  Craig reported that the Nebraska UMMen logo shirts have hit a snag. The vendor providing the shirts went out of business, so a new vendor had to be selected. Polo, t-shirt and sweatshirt styles are available.
4.  Ken Walker reported that the new Nebraska Conference UMMen web site is under reconstruction- more to follow.
5.  Craig and Charlie challenged Dave Mendyk and Bill Stambaugh to walk for the Cowboy Trail ride by donating a per-mile amount.
6.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm
7.  Gary closed the meeting with a prayer.

1.  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.
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).
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