The quarterly meeting of the Pacific Union executive committee in June was largely concerned with preparing for the quinquennial constituency session, Aug. 27-28.
Though the executive committee didn’t officially convene until 11 a.m., the committee members — who make up the majority of the nominating committee for the union session — met at 8 a.m. to nominate union leaders for the next five years. The nominating committee, chaired by North American Division President Don Schneider, nominated all the incumbents, including Tom Mostert, president; Ricardo Graham, executive secretary, Ted Benson, treasurer; Arnold Trujillo, vice president; and the three ethnic ministries directors, George Atiga, Bobby Mitchell and Jorge Soria.
Delegates to the constituency meeting in August would vote to accept or reject these nominations.
The executive committee voted several more recommendations for delegates to consider in August. Most important was their recommendation to merge the union conference (which coordinates the ministry of the church) and the union association (which has managed the property of the church) into one organization in order to protect the assets of the church from duplicate lawsuits. The General Conference is encouraging all conferences to make this change.
They also voted to recommend that the executive committee meet only three times each year in order to save the expense of travel.
As usual, the committee voted significant finances for evangelism and other church work. They voted to add $5,000 to the $20,000 previously voted for helping build churches in Rwanda. And they added $6,000 to the amount previously voted for Stewardship Spotlight DVDs for showing in local churches and Sabbath schools.
The annual special appropriation from the NAD, $301,863 this year, will be divided among the conferences in proportion to the tithe from each conference. And the committee voted to donate $39,000 to Holbrook Indian School and loan them another $11,000 to finish the boy’s dormitory.
The committee approved several people for ordination to the gospel ministry: Able Santiago, Scott Hakes and Kent Sharpe from the Arizona Conference; Dennis Miller from Hawaii; and Jeffrey Thompson and Timothy Eberhardt from the Northern California Conference. The committee also voided the ordination of Carlos Tereso Salome from the Southern California Conference.
Three pastors, all from SCC, were approved to pursue Doctor of Ministry degrees: Alfredo Lee, Robin Park and Ronald Pollard. And six were approved for ministerial scholarships: Jimmy Painter from NCC; Geoffrey Christopher Blake from SECC; and Kurtley Knight, Lawrence Dorsey, Jr., Loren Hodnett and Joseph Soohwan Oh, all from SCC.
One of the functions of the Pacific Union is to manage reserve funds to be loaned to conferences and colleges during times of low income or high expense. The committee voted to renew lines of credit for La Sierra University ($2.5 million) and SCC ($3.8 million), and to grant a new line of credit to the Arizona Conference ($1 million).
One evidence of growth in the union is the quarterly list of churches and schools granted loans. In June, the committee approved over $4.8 million in loans: Corona Main Street Spanish, $503,122; El Cajon, $750,000; Arizona Conference office, $292,500; Payson, $48,000; Monterey Bay Academy, $98,726; Visalia Central Bilingual, $575,400; Red Bluff, $200,000; Rio Lindo Adventist Academy, $225,000; Sacramento Adventist Academy, $325,000; Stockton-Mayfair, $665,000; Palm Desert Oasis, $950,000; Riverside Kansas Avenue, $903,091; Breath of Life (SCC), $1,235,000; and Glendora Spanish, $35,000.
During the first quarter of 2006, the membership increased by 471 to 210,246. This was largely due to baptisms in Arizona and Nevada-Utah.
The next committee meeting will be held Nov. 16 at the Pacific Union Conference office.
