United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Meeting Report

Dec. 17, 2008—Milford, Ohio

In this morning’s session, President Clyde Kilough introduced one more media presentation to complete his reports to the Council. Later in the day, a number of items were discussed that were on the agenda sent out earlier by Chairman Robert Dick.  

Web Development

Mr. Kilough began by quoting from his letter in the 2008-2009 Operation Plan regarding the goal of Public Proclamation. “Our highest priority for the coming year is to build a significant presence on the…Web as the primary vehicle for delivering the gospel message. We have been heading in this direction for a long time, but we are specifically focused on developing a master plan and increasing the number of skilled staff capable of implementing it… We will undertake close cooperation with talented Web designers and artists throughout the Church to achieve the most effective sites, hire appropriate staff to manage and maintain these sites, and use contracted services to supplement staff as needed. We will also develop a plan to optimize search engine hits on our sites.”

After a few more comments, Larry Salyer introduced the chairman of the Web Development Task Force, David Gosse, to present the various ideas of how the Web can be used to its full potential. Mr. Salyer noted that Aaron Booth does a great job in our Web development, but that we needed more help. He therefore constructed a task force consisting of talented Church members as a “think tank” for big scale thinking about how the Church can best use the Internet. Mr. Gosse is a member from Las Vegas, with his own Internet business. He attended Ambassador in 1990-1992 and has been a software developer since 1998, and was recently awarded his first patent for search engine software.

In opening, Mr. Gosse remarked that the trend in media is toward the Web, and since the Web is information, the number one vehicle to get that information is through search engines. He noted that the task force is mirroring the UCG Strategic Plan with objectives and strategies. So, our highest priority is to build a highly visible Web presence.

Mr. Gosse showed a number of Web sites that use video, but that also provide users the capability to read the text at the same time. Video is great, but by itself cannot be searched for unless text is attached with it. This offers a great window of opportunity for the Church. For example, with the new GN Commentaries, we have the video, related resources and the text of the video. The text contains highly searched-for words on the Web, so our presence is increased in search engines. Once things are done correctly, then every TV program and video and all print material that the Church has produced can be found on the Web. The key factor, he pointed out, is that the Web offers exposure to the largest audience possible at the time they want it!

Mr. Gosse gave a number of statistics showing how media use is changing. For example, the Tribune Company declared bankruptcy, which affected 12 papers and 23 TV stations. Gannett, which publishes USA Today and many other papers, is cutting 10 percent of its jobs as a number of print media companies are transitioning to the Web. Magazine ads are down, and many people are now reading online editions for free.

TV viewership is also down. Within the last two years, 2.5 million people have switched to watching TV programs on the Web. Even some first season runs of TV programs are now on the Web. Hulu.com, for example, hosts 19 pages of TV programs available for people anywhere in the world to watch on the Web. The average time someone watches TV is 16.4 hours per week, while the average time spent on the Internet is 32.7 hours per week.

Internet users now number 1.5 billion worldwide, and they conduct 335 million searches per day, making Web searching the second most popular online activity. The “Millennial Generation”—those born from 1983 to 2003—is already maximizing the Web. This is the medium through which they talk and communicate with one another. They are online. In 2010, they will equal or surpass the number of Baby Boomers.

Europe’s Internet population is 384 million; North America’s, 248 million; Asia’s, 578 million. These are audiences that can be reached with the gospel message. Our long-term goal is to be listed on the first page of relevant searches on the most active Web search engines. So the first phase of the task force’s work is to show us how to identify the most popular search phrases that people use and include those words in our literature.

He then discussed content management systems (CMS). By employing a single template for all of our sites, visitors will develop a better identity with our work. Mr. Gosse recommended this template system to help us obtain optimal results. He gave an online example showing how one template is applied to over 700 sites, yet each site is unique in its focus. The examples he used can be found at www.wearenetwork.com.

The idea is that most of the Church’s sites can be tailored with the same template, which eventually could include all the home pages of congregations around the world. This would allow each home page to have a GN Commentary or specific booklets advertised, etc. All this optimization could raise our rankings on search engines.

Another benefit of CMS is that changes can be made efficiently. For instance, when we find some things that work well, we can make that change simultaneously on all the templates on all related Web sites, and that could enhance our ratings on the search engines as well. The more content we create, the more we can be found on the Web and the more people will bookmark us in order to return to our sites.

Peter Eddington mentioned that we already put everything online that we produce. Mr. Gosse pointed out, however, ways that we could improve and maximize the content we produce. In answer to a question about the search function on our sites, it was pointed out that all of our related sites can now be searched from our home page.

The “social media” phenomenon was addressed next. This is the fastest-growing area, with 580 million users worldwide who want to interact through sites like www.twitter.com, www.facebook.com and www.myspace.com. Social media is not just a buzzword. It is popular, it is interactive, and it is the most addictive media on the Web. This is where viral marketing comes in. If people have strong interest in a topic, they share it with others. For instance, an article recently came out titled “How Social Media Is Killing CNN.” People on the street in Mumbai were reporting on the news using their own cell phones, and they were sharing video of these events in real time, before the big news sources. The amount of Web traffic about this one event was in the millions.

Church members can be further educated on how to share items from the Church’s Web sites with those in their social media circles. Google follows all the inbound links to our sites and that can also contribute to our heightened presence on the Web. This could easily generate excitement and participation among members as they discover ways to be more directly involved in spreading the gospel.

Mr. Gosse said that even though a challenge exists of pushing a religious message when only about 10 percent of the world is interested, there are methods of employing different phrases and words that will heighten our exposure. Mr. Booth gave an example of how slightly changing the words in some of our literature (based on researching the top phrases people are looking for) made our sites rise dramatically on search engine listings.

In conclusion, Mr. Gosse said that members of the task force were thankful to have been asked to serve in this way. Our peers, those of our generation, he said, enjoy participating in the work of the Church. We are passionate about the Church. He made an eye-opening observation that while the present generation of leadership in the Church has passed on the legacy of knowledge and history, his and future generations will perhaps be more adept at delivering the message in powerful ways to perpetuate that legacy. Mass communication and personal communications are going to the Web. That is where our generation is headed.

The Council and staff noted how much they appreciated the presentation. Mr. Salyer said there is great excitement in this project, and asked that all questions and thoughts be sent to him to pass along to the task force, rather than flooding them directly with questions. Mr. Dick remarked that it is good to hear from a representative of a group of people who are dedicated to the Church in this project.

Other Council Business

The following items were presented to the Council for discussion and decision:

From the Roles and Rules Committee:

Bill Eddington presented a document detailing the Council assessment of the president. The Council unanimously adopted the paper. A document also specifying the role of the president was discussed. One minor point in that paper needed clarification, and so Mr. Eddington will bring forth that document tomorrow with the edits. Mr. Eddington also noted that Mr. Kilough was involved in giving input on these papers.

Executive Committee action:

Jason Lovelady presented a resolution that transfers the Big Sandy, Texas, local Church building to the ownership of the United Church of God, an International Association. In accordance with the Local Church Building policy, the Executive Committee approved the action. The Church will assume the remaining loan of $350,000, with the appraised value of the Big Sandy Church building at $1.1 million. The Council unanimously adopted the resolution.

Mr. Lovelady presented two other resolutions in concert with Chris Anderson, who joined the Council by phone. Both resolutions dealt with the Church’s 403(b) retirement plans coming under revised Federal regulations. The Council unanimously adopted both documents.

The GCE Planning Task Force:

The international members of the Council had crafted a proposed schedule and activities for the Friday international meeting prior to the annual GCE meeting. Dave Register said the task force recommended the proposal, which was then unanimously approved by the Council.

Mr. Register also provided the results from the surveys sent to the GCE concerning a Q&A session. In the survey, completed by 216 elders, 67 percent preferred an online Q&A prior to the GCE meetings and 77 percent preferred having the operation managers and Council answer the questions.

A discussion followed about those who still want a Q&A with the Council at the GCE meeting. The Council decided unanimously that there will be an online Q&A prior to the GCE meeting and, after the business meeting, an open Q&A on Sunday evening, with the Council and operation managers. Details will be sent to the GCE later.

One other point was raised: The Council normally schedules the annual GCE meeting during the first week in May, but in 2011, Mother’s Day falls on that first weekend. So, the Council agreed unanimously to schedule the GCE meeting for May 14-15, 2011.

Proposed Amendment to Bylaw 7.5.3:

As allowed by the amendment procedure, a Council member, with at least three other Council members in support, may present an amendment for consideration. Mr. Eddington presented the Council with a proposed amendment to Bylaw 7.5.3.

As to reporting the details of amendments, in the December 2007 Chairman’s Commentary, Mr. Dick wrote: “Often the question arises, ‘Who voted which way and what were the amendments about?’ You may have noticed that, just as in past years, neither of these were addressed in the Council reports. There is a reason. The Council does not ‘vote’ on proposed amendments. The process simply seeks to know if four or more Council members endorse the proposed amendment going forward.

“As for the content of the amendments, any partial reporting on, or attempt to summarize, the content and intent of the proposed amendment can be a disservice to the authors. Each of these proposed amendments will be seen in full by all the GCE along with the names of their authors and the authors’ statements of justification…our intent is to allow each proposed amendment to have a full and fair review along with statements of concern and justification and not to be preempted by a partial report, which is the best the Council reporter can do.”

After a lengthy discussion, at least four Council members gave show-of-hands support for this amendment to go forward to the Amendment Committee for processing. If approved by the Amendment Committee, it will be an item placed on the agenda for the 2009 GCE meeting.

February Council Meeting Location:

Due to the current economic downturn and the need to cut expenses, Mr. Dick asked the Council if we need to reconsider the location of the February Council meeting—currently contracted to be held in California. Charles Melear had sent the Council a lengthy memo outlining several potential issues we could encounter if we exercised the allowable cancellation clause in our contract.

A number of Council members agreed that we should not cancel the contract without careful consideration, but we must also recognize that we are living in uncertain economic times. Mr. Dick commented that the main reason the Council’s February meeting has been held for the last few years in southern climates away from Cincinnati, was because of the unpredictability of the winter weather.

Mr. Dick then asked the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee to meet with Jason Lovelady and review what the expenses will be for either attending in California or in Cincinnati for the February meetings. He asked that a recommendation be made and presented at tomorrow’s meeting.

Council Reporter

Ó 2008 United Church of God, an International Association