The Pacific Union Executive Committee usually meets at the Union office in Westlake Village for its quarterly meetings. But once each year, the committee, which also serves as part of the constituency for La Sierra University and Pacific Union College, meets at one of those schools to hear reports and vote school business. On March 17, the committee met at La Sierra, so their regular business was limited to the morning hours, with the LSU Constituency meeting in the afternoon.
Still, the committee devoted considerable time to two items on the agenda. The Focused Community Ministry proposal had been discussed at almost every meeting for the last year, but was finally voted. The document suggests several models local churches might choose from to better reach all the people who live near their church. For more information, see the February issue at
www.pacificunionrecorder.com.
The second issue was a proposed letter from the Union president to California legislators, voicing objection to AB 1967, a bill which seeks to replace “man and woman” with “two persons” on the marriage license requirements in California. The committee approved the concept of the letter with the understanding it be written in such a way as to neither compromise the Church’s position on the separation of church and state nor obscure the Church’s commitment to respect for all people.
The committee voted one other item for discussion at future meetings: they set up a committee to explore more cost-efficient methods of operating the union, conferences and institutions.
As usual, the committee voted funding for various projects, including $208,468 from the Evangelism Endowment Fund for 14 separate initiatives. Holbrook Indian School received $25,000 for boy’s dorm improvements and the upcoming La Voz evangelistic campaign received $10,000 for printing Spanish Discover Bible lessons. They also voted $3,500 for Ron Pollard’s mission trip to Kenya and $5,000 for a La Sierra University mission trip to Ghana.
The committee voted Capital Reversion Funds: $266,000 for Hispanic ministries, $41,288 for Asian/Pacific ministries, and $285,000 for Regional (black) ministries. They also approved a $19 million financing plan for a LSU science building, subject to LSU Board approval.
The committee voted to ordain/commission Joseph Gim, of the Southeastern California Conference, and to approve Doctor of Ministry studies for Michael Dunn, William Penick and Malcolm Perry, from the Northern California Conference (NCC). In addition, Jason Decena, Gregory Brian Johnson and Michael Kontes of the NCC; Salvador Arnulfo Garcia of the Southern California Conference; and Roland Geyrozaga II and Jesse Seibel of the Hawaii Conference were approved for ministerial scholarships.
Union Treasurer Leon Sanders reported that tithe increased 2.6 percent in 2003, a significantly lower gain than in previous years, and that there was a “dramatic decrease” in mission giving.
In the secretary’s report, Ernie Castillo noted that Church membership decreased by 609 in 2003 (from 209,507 to 208,898), mostly due to purging long-missing members from official membership records for insurance purposes. There were 7,233 baptisms in 2003, down slightly from 7,313 in 2002.
