October 21, 2007 Conference Call Meeting

Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ

Conference Call

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Pastor Dan Smith, Executive Director
Mr. Dan Barz, Assistant to the Executive Director
Pastor Erwin Ruhlig, Ex Officio, Treasurer, Business Manager
Mr. Matthew Tassey, Chairman
Ms. Mallory Hicks, Secretary
Pastor Paul Becker
Paul Mueller
Andrew Wilson
Nathan Sielk
Debbie McBee
Lisa Moyer
Susanna Krepel

INFLOWS
CHURCH 5,661.87
Designated Gifts 245.60
FOUNDATIONS 1,936.93
INDIVI 4,134.01
INTEREST 93.50
MISC 1,587.41
Reimbursement 1,036.49
TOTAL MISC 2,623.90
New Years 3,345.49
ORGANIZATIONS 782.50
SALES
CD Sales 393.00
Piano Score Bks 256.00
SCRIPTS 20.00
SONG BOOK 484.00
TOTAL SALES 1,153.00
SpringBreak Travel Teams 4,671.29
SUMMER TRAINING
Regist 5,434.25
T shirts 1,362.50
Travel teams 2,203.00
TOTAL SUMMER TRAINING 8,999.75
Thrivent 13,040.00
Thrivent Match 5,918.00
Ch'pter 4,348.00
TOTAL Thrivent Match 10,266.00
TRACTS 12.50
WEEKENDS 8,307.77
FROM Note 5,431.14
TOTAL INFLOWS 70,705.25
OUTFLOWS
Uncategorized 27.74
ACCRUALS 2,250.00
Late Fees 31.10
MATERIALS
CRIPOST 635.55
CRIPRINT 906.24
TOTAL MATERIALS 1,541.79
MISCELLANEOUS
Designate Gift 245.60
DEVELOP 2,206.30
Reinburse 2,364.82
Spring Break 4,146.71
SUMTRN 1,571.44
TOTAL MISCELLANEOUS 10,534.87
New Year's Eve Event 1,308.86
Office
Internet 39.60
NEWEQUIP 1,364.18
SUPPLIES 3,923.74
TELEPH
Barz 533.87
Office 117.12
TOTAL TELEPH 650.99
TELEPH, Smith 53.34
UPS 133.79
US POST 214.75
TOTAL Office 6,380.39
Sal&Bene
ASST. DIR
Cash 13,941.00
Housing 13,941.00
Met life 496.00
TOTAL ASST. DIR 28,378.00
BENEFITS
WKBenef Barz Disability 703.62
WKBenef Barz Health 13,775.03
WKBenef Barz Retirement 1,780.65
WKBenef Ruhlig Health 4,608.00
TOTAL BENEFITS 20,867.30
EX DIR
Cash Smith 3,600.00
TOTAL EX DIR 3,600.00
TOTAL Sal&Bene 52,845.30
Travel
97 Ford van IL 4,721.75
AUTOS
GAS 14.53
TOTAL AUTOS 14.53
BOARD 1,068.81
Staff Barz 1,115.82
Van Rental 1,490.95
TOTAL Travel 8,411.86
TO OAFC2006 5,431.14
TOTAL OUTFLOWS 88,763.05
OVERALL TOTAL -18,057.80

Assistant to the Executive Director’s Report- Dan Barz
Local Weekends – By God’s grace we have been able to have a full schedule for our Michigan & Indiana group. In July, five Michigan youth and I joined the TT weekend in Baton Rouge. Our fall will end in strong fashion as I will conduct a second October weekend in Dubuque, Iowa to encourage Ambassadors in Eastern Iowa. In November we will have 2 Michigan weekends, the second being served by Jacob Mueller and Concordia Ann Arbor students. Other complete schedules include:
• Minnesota through next spring
• NW – Oregon/Washington has weekends scheduled into 2009

Summer Training – God blessed our 2007 Summer Training with modest growth, good speakers and the chance for stronger connections with synod boards and officials. Two speakers have donated their honorarium to OAFC and the people of Pasadena donated most of the other items. Our Friday night training event, the convention opening service, and exhibiting at the convention were all blessings, but placed added stress on our week. This seemed to prove that most of our normal schedule is the best way to run the week. It did seem that spending Wednesday night with our hosts worked well. We could keep that as an option to the Family Night activity.

• 2008 Summer Training is set for July 15-21 at St. John in Champaign, IL. We will be holding our first meeting there on Monday October 8 at 6:30 PM. Letters have been sent to more than 25 area churches inviting them to the meeting and to participate in ST.

• 2009 Summer Training needs a site. Suggested sites include Lincoln, NE; Des Moines, IA; and Sioux Falls, SD. One other thought for future locations would stretch all of us in making a trip west to serve around our NW group.

Travel Teams – In 2007 we were blessed with 3 teams. The New Orleans Team was unique in both its focus and timing, but both seemed to work well. We continue to be challenged in getting complete reports from each team. After communication with Veronica Schmidt and seeing a sale I have bought 3 flash drives so that each team can put all information on them. It does seem that either I or a representative (who does not have to worry about other details) needs to be present at the rendezvous to collect reports, funds, etc.

• 2008 TT – We have good leads for several teams for next year: the NE, Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan, and Ohio or Sioux Falls.

Web Work – Ed Allen continues to work with me to update and maintain the www.oafc.org site. I strive to update the Home and Prayer & Praise pages weekly, the Crier page monthly and other pages as new information is received. In the future we might look at new hosting along with links to devotions, Bible verses, and the like that could change daily. Our desire is to be able to connect to Ambassadors, supporters and seekers – both for ministry and for Christianity.

Crier – That we cannot print and mail a Fall 2007 Crier is a major disappointment. This is one of our most important publications for both Ambassadors and supporters. I have become convinced that sending a Crier is still important even in this electronic age. Ideally we would do well to send 4 editions each year. Some alternatives:

• At Pastor Ruhlig’s request a special edition was printed to include with letters to OAFC supporters. This can be done monthly.

• We do some specific fund raising looking to people with a mission heart and financial resources.

• The Web Crier is a good idea, but what might be more effective is a monthly e-mail Crier. I have been looking various letters that I receive and see some that are very attractive, including color and pictures. One company that was recommended by 2 sources is www.constantcontact.com. For $30 a month we could send 2500 messages a month ($50/mo. would give us up to 5000 letters) which at this point would be our basic mailing list. I would anticipate considerable time to develop and maintain our e-mail list. I have learned that it is important to have a letter that links pictures to our web site so that e-mail servers do not block our mail. There must also be a method to “unsubscribe”.

• We need to update our statement on Prayer Supporters so that it accurately reflects what we will be doing. It should also include a strong emphasis on e-mail addresses.

LCMS Convention & Youth Gathering Exhibits – Thanks to our working with the Friday evening training event in Houston, we had a very good deal at the convention at just $100 for our exhibitors’ fee. The Youth Gathering cost over $1000 for exhibiting, travel & material. But we had many fine contacts from both events. I have sent out about 50 messages and packets of information to contacts from the 2 events.

• The 2010 convention will also be in Houston – If another training event were held as suggested by Rev. Scott Snow, I would recommend our sending a single team to do it and an exhibit.

• The LCMS site has recently announced that the next Youth Gathering will be July 17-21, 2010 in New Orleans. We will need to think ahead to what that means for ST & TT.

New Years Gathering – Plans are moving very well for the December 28 – January 1 Gathering at St. Paul High School in Concordia, MO. The theme is “Created in Christ Jesus” based on the focus of our speaker Brian Young. Our contacts are working on community support from local churches. Registration is now open on the web site, but has not been mailed to leaders.

Spring Break Travel Team – In 2007 we were able to have 2 good teams in Arizona along with a Nebraska team. The timing of Spring Breaks and Easter will make any teams difficult in 2008. Should we be able to add to the 2 Ambassadors ready to serve at the end of February, we have several places to serve including New Jersey, Beaver Falls, and Indianapolis. I do not plan on serving this year as we have a possible family conflict. Should plans change at the last minute, I could take out the team.

OAFC Alumni – Slow progress is being made in this area. We have ideas for gatherings for ST. In 2008 Tammy Mackie is hoping that we might do ST near an Iowa gathering spot. Amy Paulsen and I had a recent meal discussion about the mailing she is planning.

OAFC Priorities – It would be good for our Board to think through the priorities we have for our ministry. This can start with person thinking, “If we could we should . . .”

College Visits – I would like to make fall visits to the closest schools – Ann Arbor, River Forest & Mequon. In order to help plans for New Years, it would be great to make a trip to Seward.

LEA Convocation – I will be leading 2 sectionals in Minneapolis next April 24-26.
Personal Notes – My wife Ann lost her job accompanying choirs at our high school and Johanna is in her senior year. Both points bring some stress to our lives.

• Officiating – volleyball and some basketball gives both some recreation and modest added income. Since Michigan was forced to change its girls sports schedules this year, I have spent much more time doing volleyball this fall.

• Vacation Time – In June I had a week with my brothers while “on call”. I took off a week in August after the busy July. We will be making a long weekend trip the end of this month and in November I hope to take part in a week long trip to New Orleans as people from my area work from Camp Restore.

• Michigan District PCW Conference – Since we had done much exhibiting, I went only as a participant, but equipped with materials. It was an excellent conference.

• Continuing Education – was a question raised at the conference and something I desire.
In his verbal report, Mr. Barz noted that the weekend in Dubuque, Iowa was a success and that interest was generated.

In his verbal report, Pastor Smith noted that excitement is building for the New Years Gathering in Concordia, Missouri. Brian Young is scheduled to speak at the New Years Gathering on Creation and Evangelism.

Pastor Smith spoke about OAFC’s involvement at the National Youth Gathering. He feels that it was a good outreach and many comtacts were made. Churches were asked to fill out contact information at the OAFC booth and a list has been compiled for potential Travel Team stops and weekends. This list has been e-mailed to local area directors.

1. Youth Manuals-
Mallory Hicks, Noah Elmshaeuser, Melissa Shore, and Jonathan Drefs are members of a committee whose purpose is to rewrite OAFC’s current Youth Manual into a more user-friendly, compact manner. Mallory has been delegated to contact the other committee members and restart the project.

1. 2% raise for Daniel Barz in 2008-
a. motion to approve by Debbie McBee, second by Nathan Sielk
b. motion for 50% housing allocation by Pastor Becker, second by Susanna Krepel
Motion carried

3. Location of OAFC office-
Motion to approve Pastor Ruhlig’s home as the location of the OAFC office for 2008 by Lisa Moyer, second by Debbie McBee.
Motion carried

4. Treasurer and Business Manager-
Motion to appoint Pastor Ruhlig to serve as the Treasurer and Business Manager in 2008 by Andrew Wilson, second by Paul Mueller. Further discussion will occur at the January meeting.
Motion carried.

5. Production and Distribution of the Crier-
a. Motion to omit the production and distribution of the October issue of the Crier due to cash flow shortage by Susanna Krepel, second by Pastor Becker.
b. Motion that Pastor Ruhlig continues the monthly newsletters via e-mail for November and December by Debbie McBee, second by Mallory Hicks.
Discussion tabled until the January meeting, when an informed decision will be made about the possibility of an electronic Crier

7. Tentative Schedule for January Meeting-
a. Approval of the 2008 budget
b. Summer Training plans for July 8-14th, 2008.
c. Reports from the Secretary, Treasurer, Executive Director, and Assistant to the Executive Director.
d. New Years reports
e. Nominees for the 2008 BOD election
f. Travel Team plans: Spring Break and Summer Training teams.
g. Preliminary plans for Summer Training 2009
h. The future of the Crier
i. Treasurer and Business Manager
j. Youth manual
8. Adjournment-
Motion by Lisa Moyer, second by Paul.
Motion carries.
9. Closing prayer by Pastor Becker