The Treasurer’s report was given by Jerry. Ralph Harris has stepped down from the position after years of service. Jerry had his name put on the account. See attached “ICRC UMMen Financial Report”. We are in better shape financially than in the recent past, mainly due to the strong ticket sales from the Cardinals game. Most of the sales came from the singing group Encounter. A check has been written to Encounter for $1000 to return a portion of the earnings back to them, also to IGRC for mailings, and to NCJUMMen for 2007 dues. Beginning balance 9/1/07 was $6944.33 and ending balance 10/25/07 was $5403.86. There is interest in moving the account to a national bank. Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report was made by Paul Espy and second was made by Mark Dehority. The motion carried.

A UMSL Regional Conference Wrap-Up was given by Jim. Approximately 185 men attended the event. Jim described the talks given by the speakers, the various mission projects worked on, and the different breakout sessions. Dan said that some money was made on the conference which will be distributed back in the amount of about $1500 for each of the two jurisdictions. It is hoped that at the next conference that there will be more sponsorships solicited from districts and businesses. Jim said that local presidents should be in attendance at the big conferences.

Further discussion on attracting younger men was led by Jerry that we need to be Spiritual Fathers and mentor younger men in the faith. He passed around the book Spiritual Fathers by Dan Schaffer and suggested that we follow the ideas in the book. Comment was made to have more District Presidents come to Conference UMM meetings, and one suggestion was made that if the DP could not come that he send the district vice president.

Mark mentioned that the computer blog coming on line will help draw younger men. It is called 7 Villages and is a new social networking system, as described in the article on the last page of the Stewardship Supplement of the November Current. Jerry then told a story about a young woman and how she was helped during a prayer session at a Remote Prayer Center, which is one of the ministries we support.

A report of the Family Fishing Event was given by Jim. This past June’s event on Fathers Day at Lake Shelbyville was a little bigger with 42 participants and more organized than the previous year. There were prizes for the kids and for the biggest fish. We made $75 on the event although spent a significant amount in a first class mailing to publicize both the fishing event and the UMSL conference. Jerry said that we might consider next year having the kids to do a lure toss though a hole, and have someone to show kids how to tie fishing knots. See if it is possible to get Clay Dyer to come. Clay spoke at the Purdue conference and is a master fisherman though born without fully developed arms and legs. We could get Steve Ward, pastor from Wisconsin, to talk about fishing. Or get a couple of guys from the Bassmasters group to speak. Post the event at the lake for campers who might want to come.

A short CD presentation was given on Letters from Dad by Mark. This brought out a lot of discussion on how to do this and the value in it. This seems to be a good way to tell family members what you really think, what is important to you, and that they are important to you. This was followed by a break.

District President reports were given. Only two district presidents were in attendance. One had no report.

Mark Dehority of the Sangamon River district said that his district had an In-gathering. They are doing a number of activities and supporting a number of ministries. He is trying to get one of the cluster UMM groups going. He has visited several churches. They are putting information on a district web page, trying to be more connectional.

Jeff Thornton of the Mississippi River District had to work on the Saturday of the meeting but sent his report which is attached. In addition, there is to be an Iron Sharpens Iron conference in the Metro East area (location as yet unknown) on February 9, 2008 (http://www.ironsharpensiron.net/). Also there is to be Remote Prayer Line event at Union UMC in Belleville on Sat. Nov. 10 from 9am – 5pm. Training for the prayer line will be provided at 8am on Nov. 10 and also from 9-11am on Nov 3.

Kent Lolling, Director of Connectional Ministries, spoke that the conference web site www.igrc.org is a great site, has a lot of links, and is getting better in terms of having more links and being connectional. We could set up a newsletter on the conference web site and could send it out as an e-mail (e-newsletter). We would work with Paul Black to do this. Paul is Director of Communication Ministries for the conference.

Kent

spoke further and said that UMM could consider how to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of men’s ministry in the church at Annual Conference. He suggested we create a CD presentation for show either on the floor if shorter say 3-5 minutes, or in the UMM booth if longer (or maybe both, it might even be run almost continuously if in the booth). Need faces in it, need visual pictures, still or movie – get pictures from GCUMM or from our own membership (fishing pictures?). Alternately have a talking head presentation. Sit down with Paul Black in any case to set up the CD. Discussed a “Rebirthing” concept for UMM… “The perception is…but the reality is…” Jerry and Ted volunteered to work on setting something up for Annual Conference.

The men then had lunch after the blessing by Jerry. After lunch, the men were led in singing of several songs by Ted.

The Heifer report was given by Orville. In his report (attached) Orville noted that the September 2007 giving from the conference was way down. The giving is listed by church and district for the month of September, as is the conference giving for each month in 2007, and the giving by district for 2007. The total giving thru September is $23,365.91 with 81 churches participating. Orville also said that he had been given an honor by his local unit in that they had named their group the “Orville N. Mueth Chapter of Caseyville UMM”. They have 53 EMS members.

The Scouting Report was given. Ray Gessel was not present but sent in his report (attached). Dennis said that scouting is not just Boy Scouts but all Scout organizations. The Religious Awards banquet in his area was not well attended. He asked for people to promote religious awards. PRAY has a new fifth award out now to go along with the other four awards. The national scouting program faces the usual challenges from small but vocal minority opinions. 2008 is the 100^th anniversary of men’s ministry in the church and NACP approved plans to focus on a different aspect of men’s ministry each month. In February 2008 the celebration will emphasize scouting and youth-serving agencies.

A Planning Session was led by Jerry. The next Full Council meeting will be Saturday, January 26, 2008 from 9:30 – 1:00 at the tentative location of Shelbyville First UMC. The UMMen Executive Meeting will be April 5, 2008 from 9:30 – 12:30. The last Full Council meeting will be November 15, 2008 from 9:30 – 2:00.

Jerry said that we will conduct a Fall 2008 Training Event (Conference Men’s Rally) in October 2008. The rally will be all day on a Saturday and maybe including Friday evening. We should schedule a couple of good speakers. Some names mentioned included Brett Clemmer or someone from Man in the Mirror, Dan Schaffer the author of Spiritual Fathers, the man from Letters from Dad, also mentioned were Larry Malone, David Adams, and Rick Warren. Speakers, location, date need to be lined up. Meeting organizer volunteers are Jim, Mark, Jeff (nominated by Ted), and there was a request by Jerry to include Bill Schumaker on the committee.

Offering collected from the meeting was $70. There was a motion by Jerry with second by Kim to give the $70 plus an additional $430 from the treasury for a total of $500 to Heifer International. Motion passed.

Next there was a motion by Jim with second by Orville to make a donation of $100 to Nothing But Nets. Motion passed.

IGRC United Methodist Men

Full Council Meeting

February 10, 2007

Minutes

The Full Council of the IGRC UMM met at the United Methodist Conference Center in Springfield on Saturday, February 10, 2007 from 9:30am – 2:00pm. Attendees were as listed: George Bolinger, Jim Bolinger, Bob Chase, Mark Dehority, Paul Espy, Kim Hellenga, Dan Henry, Ted Kornegay, Lee Lovett, Dennis Luessenheide, Andy Maxwell, Jerry Motsinger, Orville Mueth, Dave Paterson, and Jeff Thornton.

A welcome was provided by Jim Bolinger and he offered a prayer request. Introductions were done around the table. This was the Dave Paterson’s first council meeting and Pastor Lee Lovett was also in attendance. A Bible Study/Devotion was led by Chaplain Paul Espy based on Psalm 91. He told how his pocket New Testament provided comfort and supported his faith during his combat experiences in the Korean War. He learned to trust in God. Similar to the situation described in the parable of the ten virgins, we as Christian men also have to be ready to serve in His church. Paul closed with prayer.

The Treasurer’s report was given by Jerry Motsinger, in the absence of Ralph Harris. According to the report, our balance as of 12/31/2006 is $3356.04, not including the monies in the holding fund.

Old Business was discussed. Bob Chase who is President of NAUMS and is a member of the general commission and the UMM Foundation, spoke on scouting ministries. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has just listed a new United Methodist Scouting Ministries DVD, available though the BSA. He discussed PRAY awards. At the upcoming July NCJ/SCJ Regional Conference in St. Louis, Bob will lead a training session on Scouting. This session will fulfill one of our conference goals of having a training event for Scouting. This training will aid district presidents and all interested in scouting.

The Heifer report was given by Orville Mueth. In his report dated January 21, 2007 Orville listed the monies that were sent through the Conference office for the year 2006. There were a total of 142 churches and 1 conference-at-large that participated in this giving. The total for the year 2006 was $63,173.54. The total giving for the year 2005 was $49,898.77. This is an increase of $13,274.77, which is a good increase. The figures do not include monies sent directly to Heifer. The breakdown by church and district is given in the attached report.

A Cardinals baseball update was provided by Jeff Thornton. The game is scheduled for June 9, 2007 and the team is playing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Game time is 6:15 PM. Jeff hopes to bring in a singing group from Alton to sing the national anthem and they may bring in many more people with them. Tickets are at three price ranges - $10, $25, and $30. Tickets may be obtained by e-mailing Tom Correnti at ummbball@swbell.net with the number of tickets wanted for the LA Angels game. Tom will respond to the e-mail and give seating preference on a first come basis. Then you mail a check to Tom and he will mail you the tickets after the money is received. Last season approximately 1400 tickets were sold. Men go tell your people.

Jeff discussed the McKendree Basketball game which was that same day February 10, 2007. This game is a fundraiser for the Mississippi River District UMM, in which part of the ticket sales go to the college and part go to the MRD. Instead of emphasizing attendance by men, the emphasis is on sponsoring kids to attend. Girls game is at 5PM and boys game is at 7PM. One ticket lets you see two games.

New Business was discussed. Jim Bolinger, Dan Henry, and Ted Kornegay discussed the Regional Conference at UMSL (University of Missouri at St. Louis) on July 13-15, 2007. Men can register on-line or mail in their registration. The conference has a goal of 125 men to attend, and the MRD alone has goal of 65 men. The conference will provide inspiration, training, and missions work. At the most recent planning meeting it was decided to contact all past Purdue attendees and a suggestion also was made to contact local presidents. Ted suggested having Jerry or someone in the conference office to send a link to pastors and/or put something in the List Serve. Cost for the regional conference is $99 per man. The conference begins Friday evening so many of the attendees will not need to miss any work. Fliers are available on this event.

At the regional meeting the Mens Ministry Specialist (MMS) program will be further presented. Dan said that the mens ministry specialist will be a resource person within the existing hierarchy of UMM who will work in concert with district presidents and other UMM. GCUMM would like to have about six MMS in each district if possible.

At the conference, there will be praise bands that will be performing but may not be listed on the agenda. There is planning for three bands Saturday night. A suggestion was made for Jim Bolinger to consider Harvest out of Troy UMC, contact name Tim Price. Andy Maxwell suggested the group by the name of Shark, and Jim requested that Andy send him an e-mail to give Jim contact information on Shark.

Jim is working on getting corporate sponsorships for the conference. A number of companies were discussed by the group to see if they would purchase ads in the program as sponsors of the conference. These companies were Edward Jones and Enterprise Leasing. Jim is also interested in donations from individual districts in the amounts of $100 per district, and from individual churches in the amount of $50 per church. Districts and churches who sponsor this event will be listed in a box ad in the conference program.

There was a presentation by a representative of a group called Iron Sharpens Iron. Tom Cheshire spoke to our group. This is a fairly new group that is organized nation-wide and is similar to Promisekeepers. This group works together with other mens organizations including UMM. The group puts on conferences of its own at cities across the country. Twenty-four conferences will be presented in 2007. He is a member of the Iron Sharpens Iron group that meets in Springfield. There will be a one-day conference in Springfield on March 31, 2007 at the Springfield UMC in the sanctuary. The organization focuses on discipleship. There will be 16 training seminars during the day and they will provide tools for discipleship. Doors will open at 7:30 AM and the conference ends at 4:55 PM. Cost is $39 per man with an $8 lunch. Conference is for men ages 13 and up. Exhibitors may present at a cost of $150 per exhibitor. We did not discuss whether our UMM would want to be an exhibitor. Tom Cheshire gave each of our group a packet of brochures. After this presentation, there was a break.

Jerry led a discussion on the Nothing But Nets initiative. Jerry described how the provision of nets to African youngsters is reducing the incidence of deadly malaria. The mosquitoes carrying the disease come out at night and the nets act as a barrier to the mosquitoes. The United Methodist Church is participating as one of the sponsors of this initiative. You can give $10 to the website for one net. Andy Maxwell moved that we as conference UMM donate $100 to the Nothing But Nets campaign through the UMC Advance Special. Motion was seconded by Mark Dehority. The motion was voted on and passed. There was further discussion that we pass this issue to the districts for further financial support.

Jerry distributed articles to the group. One was Why Men Hate Going to Church. He distributed another article entitled When You Know It’s Time to Revitalize Your Men’s Ministry. Another article was Increase Attendance Through Great Event Promotion. All these articles may be used for study and for training purposes.

The group recessed for lunch. A prayer for lunch was said by Paul Espy. Lunch was catered. Singing was then led by Ted Kornegay.

Jerry spoke on 2006 accomplishments and noted that we did a good job on meeting those goals. He presented the UMM Charter Report. In the IGRC there were 63 active in 2007, versus 58 in 2006. So we are going in the right direction. The attached report gives the breakdown by district.

Jerry presented the EMS Report. Active in the IGRC in 2007 are 236, versus 220 in 2006. This is also going in the right direction. This was broken out by district. The MRD lead the conference with 113 EMS members. The conference also had 36 Legacy members in 2006. Orville spoke of the techniques that had worked for him in having success in getting men in his church to join EMS. Orville and Jeff led a discussion within the group on working on Charters and EMS. Concerning EMS, when pastors actively support the process with the men in their church, numbers are typically higher. If the pastor is not able to support EMS membership, another good course of action is to have someone else to act to coordinate EMS in each church.

The Scouting Report was given by Dennis Luessenheide. He discussed the Cross and Flame Award which is a local award, the Torch Award which is a conference award, the God and Country awards for Scouts, the God and Service award for adult leaders, and the Good Samaritan Award for youth. Applications for Torch Award need to be submitted to the conference office by the end of April 2007. Scout information can be found on

Another resource is at http://www.naums.org/ for general scouting information. Ray Gessel was not able to make the meeting but he sent a report as attached.

Jim Bolinger spoke on the Fishing with my Father event to be held at Lake Shelbyville. The event will happen on Saturday June 16 on Fathers Day weekend from 10am to 4pm at the 9^th Street Pavilion area near the beach. Poles and bait are available. A New Testament or Strength of Service will be given to the youth. The pavilion is available both Saturday and Sunday so we have it for two days even though no event is scheduled for Sunday. Adults need a license to fish, and kids 15 and under do not need a license. Event fee is $5.00 per adult and $2.50 per child and prices will increase after the date of June 11. We are trying to gain support of this event among the men and families. Additional information is attached.

Jerry rallied the men regarding the conference UMM goals for 2007. He said to keep pushing EMS, chartering, attendance at the UMSL conference including the scouting session, SOSA, Cardinals game, and the fishing event. Consider submitting applications for Torch Awards and consider submitting Lifetime UMM awards.

IGRC United Methodist Men Full Council Meeting

November 11, 2006

The Full Council of the IGRC UMM met at the United Methodist Conference Center in Springfield on Saturday, November 11, 2006 from 9:30am – 2:00pm. Attendees were as listed: George Bolinger, Jim Bolinger, Bob Chase, Mark Dehority, Paul Espy, Ray Gessel, Kim Hellenga, Dan Henry, Ted Kornegay, Steve Liehr, Kent Lolling, Andy Maxwell, Jerry Motsinger, Orville Mueth, Jeff Thornton, and Steve West. Kent is relatively new to our group and is the Director of Connectional Ministries for the IGRC.

Jerry Motsinger opened with a prayer and provided a welcome to the men. Jerry led a Bible study entitled Spiritual Warfare and had the men break up into groups to discuss the topic. Using the biblical passages provided, the men discussed spiritual warfare from the following perspectives: what the battle fronts are, what the tools used against us are, and what defenses we have.

The Secretary’s report from the January 28, 2006 full council meeting, as written by Kim Hellenga, was discussed and approved.

The Treasurer’s report was given by Jerry Motsinger, in the absence of Ralph Harris. According to the report, our balance as of 10/31/2006 is $3617. 79. Jerry said that in addition to that amount, we raised $683.00 from this past summer’s Cardinals game. Jeff Thornton spoke of a possibility that if he is able to schedule a certain choir from the Alton area to sing the national anthem at next year’s Cardinals game, that it could mean sale of approximately 300 additional tickets for us.

The Scouting Report was given by Ray Gessel. Ray passed out a report of material from the NAUMS website regarding responsibilities of scouting coodinators, a page of conference scouting objectives, list of BSA units in the conference by district, award applications for Torch or Cross and Flame awards, and scouting brochures. This information was to be put on the conference UMM website. [Secretary’s Note: On November 16, 2006 Jerry e-mailed that he added the Scout information to the conference website.

Ray plans to publish a list of God and Country winners in the Current. He would like to see us give out more adult religious awards.

Bob Chase said that they are adding another agency called Amachi to help children of incarcerated adults.

Bob said they are creating a new position called Associate Coordinator, which is a position to help districts with no scouting coordinator. The Associate Coordinator might not be from that particular district but can step in and help that district.

Jerry suggested the Listserve as a means of communication for scouting. We submit an item and Michele puts it out across the conference.

There was discussion on Mark Dehority’s suggestion to have each local church’s mens president to be the church’s scouting coordinator. There were pro’s and con’s on this suggestion.

Jeff Thornton said that he and maybe other district presidents need training on scouting. Bob Chase suggested doing training for scouting here at the UM Center to aid district presidents.

Bob also suggested doing Bishops Dinners in the districts for scouting. If the Bishop will do it, great. If not, consider having a “District Superintendent’s Dinner” for scouting.

Ted suggested having the local church youth coordinator of each church to be scouting coordinator for that church.

Bob Chase said that men might want to get copies of the Guidelines, which give job descriptions for scouting ministry and other church positions.

There was no written report given on Meals for Millions/SOSA. It was said that the number of Hunger Relief Advocates was being reduced because of low funding. Giving from our IGRC for Meals for Millions/SOSA is not as good as some of the other conferences, although we do relatively well by comparison in giving to Heifer Project. Steve Liehr keeps track of this ministry for our group.

A Jurisdictional Report was given by Dan Henry. Dan talked about the jurisdictional conference that will occur on July 13-15, 2007 at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. He had brochures for bulletin boards. Fliers on the event are available. Tony Campolo will speak, there will be a potato drop, the new General Secretary for GCUMM David Adams will be there, lots of things will happen for inspiration, mission, and training. This event, being in St. Louis, is closer and easier for us in the IGRC to go to than is Purdue or Nashville.

The next national UMM conference in 2009 will not be at Purdue. It will be at Belmont University in Nashville. Nashville offers better transportation and better local support. It was reported that our IGR conference led the nation in attendance for the last two national men’s conferences.

The Heifer report was given by Orville Mueth. In his report dated November 10, 2006 Orville had broken down the giving to Heifer by individual church and by district within the IGRC for the year 2006. A total of 96 churches and 1 conf. at-large participated in giving to Heifer through monies sent through the conference office. Total giving for the year 2005 was $49,898.77. Total giving through the month of October 2006 was $41,401.66 which is about a $10,000 increase over the same period for 2005. The figures do not include monies sent directly to Heifer. Orville explained the three programs for giving including General Project, Living Gift, and Fill the Ark.

District Presidents Reports were then given. Each president provided an update on last year’s accomplishment/challenge, as described as follows:

Ken Werts of the Kaskaskia River District submitted a report, although he was not able to make the meeting. Kim read the report. Ken had a partnership meeting that was scheduled for this Saturday and it was a “must be present” meeting. The one thing he did want to mention was that the Kaskaskia River District participated in a VIM Mission to D’Iberville Mississippi in October where they spent seven days helping refurbish homes in the community that were storm damaged. There were 31 in the group, many of whom were men from churches in the District. The home Church they worked from in D’Iberville was Heritage United Methodist Church. They were able to make a donation of $5,000.00 in addition to the materials that were purchased.

Andy Maxwell of the LaMoine River District has five chartered churches including Jerseyville. Andy spoke at Wesley Chapel UMC and discussed an affiliation with the local Lions Club which does a number of community service activities, including distributing eye medicine to combat eye infections in developing countries. He suggested to our group to consider sponsoring a child from a developing nation to attend school for a year. Andy’s own church sent $100 from the UMM to Liberia for school.

Jeff Thornton of the Mississippi River District puts out a quarterly newsletter. The Jerseyville church, which is actually in LaMoine District, attends MRD events and has recently attained a high EMS membership in addition to achieving all the conference goals. The Caseyville church now has seven Wesley Fellows. The men had a work day at the Midwest Distribution Center on a Wednesday in September, and are planning a weekend event there in 2007. The district rally attracted 151 men who heard from the national UMM president Glenn Wintemberg. Thirty of those in attendance had never been to a sanctioned men’s event. Jeff recommends that other presidents call each local pastor to request prayer for the success of their rallies. The district sponsored a Pastors Appreciation Dinner last December and are making plans for another one this year. Coming up on Saturday night February 10, 2007 is Methodist Night at McKendree College in

Lebanon

, which is a basketball game vs Harris Stowe. It raises $400-500 for the district. Tickets are available.

Mark Dehority of the Sangamon River District had a typed report. His district is still incorporating part of the old Okaw River district. They had a district training event and a men’s conference. They have a men’s representative for each cluster. They talk about men’s ministry at cluster meetings. They are continuing the fencing projects which are a good fundraiser for the district, and this fund supports the truck initiative. They are committed to doing a potato drop and a remote prayer training event. They had an In-Gathering where they distributed items to various charities. Mark is contacting every pastor and attending services at 69 of the district churches. The district has over 30 men’s groups and some are not chartered. The district is trying to have a contact at each church, even ones who don’t have a men’s group. He is posting events on the Sangamon district men’s web page so men can attend events from other areas.

Jerry noted that he would be happy to post district events from any district on the conference web page. He requests that the districts send him their calendars so he can put the events on the conference web page.

There was a Prayer/Lunch break at this time. Paul Espy offered a blessing on the meal. After lunch the men did some singing of two songs led by Ted Kornegay.

A report on the progress of updating the GCUMM website was given by Bob Chase. GCUMM is developing and improving the men’s commission website. The site will give more information along the lines of stories of how men’s lives and hearts are affected by men’s ministry. There will be more emotional impact and less of the cold data side. The national UMM website is www.gcumm.org

A discussion on the 2007 Jurisdictional Conference (also known as the 2007 Regional Conference) at UMSL was led by Jerry. The Missouri Conference is paying most of the expenses in making arrangements for the conference, and needs financial support from the other conferences. They are asking for $250 from each of the conferences in the two jurisdictions attending. A motion to donate $250 from our conference was made by Ted and seconded. Jerry called for a vote and it passed. (Jerry will contact Ralph for payment.)

Jerry requested the district and local churches to check the e-mail for the notice requesting donations of $250 per conference, $100 per district, and $50 per local church to fund the UMSL conference. He suggested our group take the request back to the districts and local churches and each one consider making a donation. Donations may be made out to Missouri Conference United Methodist Men at the following address:

Conference UMM goals for 2007 were set during discussion led by Jerry. After discussion, the following goals were developed:

7. Increase EMS/Legacy memberships by 10%. This goal is accomplished primarily at the level of the local church. Our experience has shown that in order to increase EMS memberships in the local church, it helps if the pastor or an EMS coordinator writes a letter to all the men in the church, inviting membership.

The next item was to decide what charity to send the offering from the day’s meeting, which came out to $70. Steve West made a motion to send the offering to the UMM Foundation. This motion was seconded, voted on, and passed. (Jerry will contact Ralph for payment.)

IGRC United Methodist Men Full Council Meeting -January 28, 2006

Minutes

The Full Council of the IGRC UMM met at the United Methodist Conference Center in Springfield on Saturday, January 28, 2006 from 9:30am – 2:00pm. Attendees were as listed: Jim Bolinger, Terry Clark, Mark Dehority, Paul Espy, Ray Gessel, Ralph Harris, Kim Hellenga, Dan Henry, Bob Jones, Ted Kornegay, Jerry Motsinger, Andy Maxwell, Orville Mueth, Bill Schumaker, Jeff Thornton, and Garry Zachery.

Jerry Motsinger provided a welcome to the men, gave the agenda for the meeting, discussed EMS and Legacy Builders programs, and made opening remarks. Introductions were given by each man around the table. It was noted that Dan Henry, our jurisdictional president, was present for the meeting. Prayer requests were solicited from the men and a number of requests were made. Jerry led a prayer for all those mentioned. Jerry led a Bible study on hunger entitled The Fast That I Choose and had the men fill out a report card as an evaluation on how well they and their local church did to help ease hunger in the world. He read from James 2: 14, John 14: 12, Mark 11: 22-24, and Matthew 7: 7-11. The study led to a discussion on hunger and the role our group could play spiritually and materially in helping with this problem. Jim Bolinger led the group in a prayer.

The Treasurer’s report was given by Ralph Harris. Our bank balance is $3456.92.

The Secretary’s report from the November 12, 2005 Full Council meeting was discussed. One correction was noted, in which Andy Maxwell noted that his district should be spelled “LaMoine”. Paul Espy moved to approve the minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by Jim Bolinger, voted on, and passed.

Orville Mueth gave the Heifer report. In his report dated January 17, 2006 Orville had broken down the giving to Heifer by individual church and by district within the IGRC for the year 2005. A total of 142 churches participated in giving to Heifer through monies sent through the conference office. Total giving for the year 2005 was $49,898.77. Total giving for the year 2004 was $43,331.79, which is an increase of $6566.98.

Ted Kornegay attended a planning meeting on January 14 in St. Louis for the cross-jurisdictional NCJ/SCJ UMM meeting to be held on July 13, 14, 15, 2007 at UMSL. The theme will be Getting Into the Word, Going Into the World. There will be other upcoming planning meetings including a March 25 planning event at UMSL, for which we hope to have representation from the IGRC.

.Another event will be a training event for men held at the Manchester MO UMC on a Saturday in June (not March) 2006. Any man is welcome to come. This program will touch on the Mens Ministry Specialist program. A goal is to develop three or four Mens Ministry Specialists in each district.

A Scouting report was given by Ray Gessel. Ray reported that he hears from only about three of the district scouting coordinators. Each of the districts should have a scouting coordinator who sends Ray reports of what is going on in each district. For each district that does not have a scouting coordinator, he suggests that each District President should

recruit his own scouting coordinator, not Ray. For each district that does have a scouting coordinator, Ray wants to contact all the District Presidents, have each District President to contact the district scouting coordinator, have the coordinator attend district meetings, and update Ray with reports on what is going on in scouting in each district.

Through an e-mail communication sent January 24 from Dennis Luessenheide, Dennis said that “I concur with Ray Gessel that the designated money [kept in the Conference UMM treasury] for Scouting Ministries should be held as designated for future use, whether is be awards or a retreat”.

Ray was interested in getting more information out about the God and Country program using the web site or the Listserve. [Secretary’s note as of 5:21 PM January 28 – Jerry updated the UMM web page to fix the ‘broken’ Boy Scout link per http://www.gbgm-umc.org/igracumm/ .] It was noted that info on God and Country can also be obtained though P.R.A.Y.

There was next a discussion about the UMM website and how it could be updated so that it would communicate the type of information it should. Terry spoke that we could talk to Susan Meister or Katherine Flynn about a web page and what we want in it. After some discussion led by Mark Dehority and Jerry, there was some interest in forming a committee composed of Jerry, Mark, and Susan Meister to look at a web page.

[Secretary’s note as of February 2, 2006 – Jerry has done a lot of work since our January 28 meeting on our existing conference UMM web site including adding a ‘Disaster Link – Hurricane Contacts’, ‘FAQ’ link, updated the Boy Scout link, added graphic links to our supported ministries on the front page, reset the page counter on the main page, and is making other improvements per http://www.gbgm-umc.org/igracumm/ .]

On April 28, 29 2006 there will be a training opportunity in Peoria. The event starts on April 28 with a dinner at Riverside Church. On April 29, Steve Sonderman will speak on “How to Build a Life-Changing Mens Ministry” at Peoria First UMC from 8:30am to 2:30pm. The men discussed that they wanted to support the event financially. Andy Maxwell moved to give $200 to Peoria First UMC to help defray costs. Jim Bolinger seconded. The motion was voted on and passed.

The men then had a lunch break. Andy Maxwell said a blessing on the meal. Money collected will be donated to Strength for Service. $100 was collected. After lunch the men did some singing of four songs and was led by Ted Kornegay.

Jeff Thornton said that on February 18 his district is sponsoring Methodist Night at McKendree College in

Lebanon

. This is a basketball game in which McKendree plays against Hannibal-LaGrange College, in which part of the proceeds goes to the district UMM. Game time is 7pm. Jeff has tickets.

Mark Dehority was asked to speak on how mens groups from his district did fundraisers to raise money for Bibles. Mark said that three local churches got together to put in fences and raised over $3200. Profits went to buy over 860 Bibles for Louisiana. Another local group puts siding on houses as a fundraiser. Orville Mueth then spoke of how a group once sent grain to Guatemala back in the 1950’s as part of the Heifer Project.

Jerry conducted a planning session for his conference UMM goals for 2006. Nine goals were listed.

The first goal is increase EMS memberships by 10%. Our experience has shown that in order to increase EMS memberships in the local church, it helps if one person coordinates EMS for each local church and it also helps if the pastor or coordinator writes a letter to all the men in the church, inviting membership.

He spoke of increasing growth in number of charters by 10%. District Presidents can take responsibility for charter growth.

He spoke of the need to increase giving to SOSA challenge fellowships (two per district) and also to increase giving to Hunger Relief Advocate Sponsor fellowships (two per conference). Accomplishing these goals will require the local churches to step up.

Doing a potato drop is a goal – Contact Marion Kelly with SOSA in Big Island, Virginia, tell her you want to do a potato drop, and she will help you. Her number is 1-800-333-4597. The group thought that a potato drop at the Peoria Civic Center or in East St. Louis could be successful.

Plan one conference Remote Prayer Center event is a goal. It sometimes requires planning for 6 to 8 months in advance of the event, especially to get certain time slots. It was felt that doing one of these would be a blessing to all involved.

Jim Bolinger suggested having conference UMM to do additional fund raising activities in addition to the Cardinals ball game.

Plan one Father/Child fishing event. This is good for fellowship. Lake Shelbyville was mentioned.

Plan one golf fundraiser. Peoria First UMC had one with a golf pro which drew 64 guys. Quincy had one for Chaddock. It was also mentioned that a bowling event is a good alternative and easier logistically.

Hold one conference-wide training event – At this time it looks like we will have three training events that involve our conference. One is the April training event in Peoria. A second is the June training in Manchester MO. A third will be the conference UMM rally in Fall 2006, maybe late November or early December. Names discussed as to a speaker were Gil Hanke, Robert Powell, and Glenn Wintemberg.

IGRAC UMM Meeting

Jan 22, 2005 IGRC Conference Center, Springfield, IL

Attendees:

Bill Lawrence George Bolinger Ted Kornegay Steve Liehr G.James Bolinger Mel Brinkman Jerry Motsinger

Jake Highland Bob Perry Virgil Miller Omer Ulrich Paul Epsy Ken Miller Steve West

Bob Jones Terry Clark George Kastl

George Bolinger provided the opening prayer and remarks.

Latest version of UMM Magazine is excellent. If you are an EMS member, you receive it automatically. Each Dist. Pres. should have received informational packet from Nashville. Included in it is an excellent devotional. UMM Prayer line is 1-800-251-2468. Nashville office is 1-800-809-4563 – excellent for resources/help.

We have 980 churches in the Conf. and only 150 chartered UMM groups. We must do better! EMS still needs improvement. One EMS from each church would be 1,000. Orville Mueth alone has 35 in his church and Ellis Leighty at McComb Wesley has almost as many. Call one of them if you need to know how to do it. We had 220 from our conf. at Purdue last time. Let’s exceed that this year. We were the top conf. and the Mississippi River District was the top district.

Songs and worship were led by Bob Perry and Mel Brinkman. Bob used extracts from the presentation made last fall by Shane Bishop and Mark Jordan.

We agreed that all our UMM should pray for Purdue at one time, together. We chose noon on Super Bowl Sunday. Please put it on your calendar and join us. Each day thereafter, please include it in your morning devotional. Target time is 7:15 A.M. each day. This was chosen since Purdue starts on 7/15.

Past minutes were approved as presented. Bill Lawrence advised the group that he is giving up the job of secretary just as soon as the nominating committee can find a replacement.

Bob Jones attended the Laity Network Committee meeting. Their major emphasis areas are: prayer, walk to Emaus, and Stephen ministry. He provided us with a list of lay leaders and lay speakers.

Jim Bolinger presented the results of his survey on the Fall Rally. The feedback was strong that we had a successful event. The vast majority like a one day event. October is the preferred month. Topical suggestions were for a Prayer Workshop, a service or mission project, and Men at Midlife.

Terry Clark talked about communications. Top priorities are making disciples for Jesus Christ, developing leaders, and always connecting with the rest of the world. As the leadership goes, so goes the church. The Current is an excellent communications vehicle. You should subscribe if you don’t already get it.

Nominations were submitted for Jerry Motsinger as president and Ted Kornegay as vice president. Bob Jones was nominated for second vice president, but declined on the basis that having two from one district wasn’t sound. We all agreed to nominate Jim Bolinger and he accepted. The new officer slate was accepted without objection. Congratulations to all!!

We watched an excellent video on UMM that is good for leading up to Purdue.

Ted Kornegay has vests and tee shirts left. He has 13 tee shirts and 17 vests and will order more if need be. The tee shirts range from $13 to $16and the vests are $13 to $19. Please contact Ted if you have questions. You can order them on our web site. They really are nice for wearing at Purdue.

Ken Miller from Vermillion District is working on a spring gathering at Dwight, IL He is looking for officers. He has two churches he thinks are about ready to charter.

Steve West says the Iroquois District is plugging along.

Ted Kornegay gave the Mississippi River report. Jeff Thornton has taken over that job, but is on a youth event this weekend. They had a successful pastor appreciation event. They have one sub district that is doing well, but some others are struggling. They had a good turnout at UMM night at McKendree basketball. They plan to set up a district scholarship for Purdue.

George Kastl represented the Okaw River district. Jerry Zachary is their prayer advocate. Their objective is to add 50 EMS and 5 more charters. They are going to emphasize Purdue
attendance. They are planning a district UMM day. They are recruiting cluster representatives.

Jake Highland from Embrass District says they are trying to reach out to churches such as Tuscola. They are planning a dinner to try and recruit UMM.

Steve Lieher says they are emphasizing Purdue. He handed out a 2 page report on the Society of St Andrews.

Bob Jones provided an update on the Heifer Project.

Mel Brinkman, our prayer advocate, is planning on going to Nashville for training.

George has the marked up copies of our bylaws. He will send the final copy to Terry Clark. Ken Werts needs to send a clean copy to Jerry Motsinger and to Terry.

PURDUE IDEAS:

Use a call list

Check the websites

Contact the lay speakers and get them involved

Promote it everywhere, even at work

Possible use of a teleconference aimed specifically at Purdue

VISIONING

Concern about cost of mass mailings

Communications is the key to everything

Jerry encourages the use of the Conf UMM website. Check it out: Send Jerry your calendars and he will post on the site:

WWW.GBGM-UMC.ORG/IGRACUMM

We need training for our officers throughout. Purdue is having good training sessions for virtually every office. Please plan on attending one of them.

Nashville has mailed attractive flyers on Purdue to each person who attended the last one. Each president has a package that includes Purdue material. Get out the word!

The Professional Bull Riders Outreach Ministry service is being held in St. Louis at the Savis Center at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, Feb. 26 and Sunday, Feb 27. What a great opportunity to hear the toughest professional athletes in the world testify to their faith. Admission is open to all. Call Bill Lawrence if you need more information (618-236-7311).

Dates to remember – mark your calendar:

April 16, 2005 Executive Council Meeting – Springfield Conf. Center.

July 15-17, 2005 PURDUE

Nov 5, 2005 Full Council Meeting - Springfield

IGRAC UMM Executive Council Meeting

January 31, 2004

Asbury UMC, Kankakee, IL

Bill Lawrence, George Bolinger, Ted Kornegay, Steve Liehr, G.James Bolinger, Dan Henry, Kenneth Werts, Jerry Motsinger, Steve West, Bob Perry, Bunny Wolfe, Pastor Dan Young

Songs and worship were led by Bob Perry. Bob’s devotional was based on Psalms 139. He emphasized that we should look towards what God wants in a UMM vs. what we want. He suggests we need to knock on someone’s door – invite them to lunch or something to bring them the message of Christ. Bob suggested that chapters of UMM might want to subscribe to the UMM magazine and give it to a man regardless of whether that man is an EMS member or not. Spread the word – the UMM magazine is a great way.

George led a devotional based on the book, Souls Among Lions, by Will Campbell (Musings of a Bootleg Preacher). Will Campbell notes that when you write rare books for a living, paychecks are sometimes few and far between.

Past minutes were approved as presented. Since Ralph Harris was unable to attend, we had no Treasurer’s Report. We will provide one at the next meeting. If you need any information, contact Ralph Harris.

Jerry Motsinger will attend the next national meeting of UMM Conference Presidents in place of George.

The Heifer project report is attached. Thanks to Orville Mueth for all his hard work and great results. We noted how important and exciting the Heifer Project can be to young Sunday School children. Contact Orville if you need materials or support.

Dan Henry gave us a report from the Jurisdiction. IGRAC UMM are near the top of all categories and lead the pack in the number of Charters. We are number three in EMS memberships. Dan briefed us on the effort to have Methodist Foundation endowment dinners in each conference. Bunny Wolfe added that this is an opportunity to promote United Methodist Men in general.

Ted Kornegay reported that his District is re-looking at a Pastor’s Appreciation Dinner. They had to reschedule and are looking for a new date.

Ted is working with the Human Mosaic Project for the Conference and agreed to do a short presentation at our next meeting.

Jerry Motsinger provided a report on EMS memberships. Check the web site for an update. We discussed the following as ideas to promote EMS:

Encourage District Presidents to support their District Superintendents with a complimentary EMS

We approved a motion supporting complimentary memberships for the District Superintendents from each District of UMM and suggested that we could take the cost out of the District funds distribution. We will have Ralph Harris look into this possibility.

Steve West passed around an article that talked about our National President, Gil Hanke, presenting President Bush with a John Wesley Fellowship Award. Bunny Wolfe will get it published din the Current and try to find some pictures. Dan Henry says that Gil should have the pictures by now.

Ken Werts reported on his initial review of our constitution. Other than wording change type of improvements, he sees no immediate need to revise. He will provide recommended changes at our next meeting which will be our first opportunity to legally modify it.

Bill Lawrence invited everyone to plan on attending the Professional Bull Riders Outreach Ministry service that is being held in St. Louis at the Savis Center at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, Feb. 21^st. What a great opportunity to hear the toughest professional athletes in the world testify to their faith. Admission is open to all.

There is a good possibility we will have a new Bishop next summer. If so, we should provide the Bishop with a complementary EMS membership and make sure that we inform the Bishop on our UMM activities.

We discussed our next annual meeting that is scheduled on October 16^th in Springfield and decided we needed to have an annual retreat as an essential part of that gathering. We agreed to make it a Friday Night/Saturday event and to probably have a work day at the Disaster Relief Center. Jerry Motsinger, Jim Bolinger, and Bob Jones will form the committee to plan it. We will look into possibilities of getting at least three powerful speakers to lead sections of the retreat and to have a theme and program that will attract men of all ages, especially the younger men. Bill Lawrence agreed to contact Rev Shane Bishop and Rev Mark Jordan to see if they would be willing to form a team for one section. Jerry will also try and get Bishop Woody White. We agreed that the singing group the 4 Hims that entertained us last year would be an excellent singing group if we can get them. We plan to ask each unit president to attend themselves and to bring with them at least one young father, their pastor, and at least one high school or college youth. Jerry will bring us up to date on progress at the May meeting. We agreed to provide whatever seed money the committee needs, but set the limit currently at $500 until they can brief us in May as to their expected needs.

We concluded with a visioning session where George asked each attendee to express one thing they would like our UMM to achieve. The visions were as follows:

Orville Mueth reports that the Heifer project is running substantially behind last year. Keep in mind, for your contributions to be counted, they must come through the Conference.

Dennis Lusenheide gave the Scouting Report. See attached. It was suggested that Larry Coppock could help with problems in contacting Scouting Councils.

Ted Kornegay – Mississippi River. Ted is working on a work path project for the Methodist Village in Godfrey. More details to follow at future meetings. Orville Mueth will help coordinate.

The district is working on a pastor appreciation dinner in February to be held at Rend Lake. Richard Eslinger and his wife Alice will speak. Each church should set aside some education funds to fund their pastor’s expenses.

Jake Highland – Embrass. Jake’s local church had a very successful pancake dinner and served over 300 and raised over $800.

Ken Werts – Kaskaskia. He has lots going on with his local churches. Vandalia has been successful with an annual fish fry with the fish coming from their fishermen throughout the season and proceeds going to charity. This is the kind of event that needs to be fed to Nashville for use in the UMM magazine and to the Current as well.

Butch Barton - Cache. Lots of work being done on the Light House project in Southern Illinois. He says they need block layers. On Sat. Oct 25^th, there will be a tornado cleanup in Pope and Massac counties. This effort is to help local farmers clean up their fence rows and fields so they can get back to normal operations. The Metropolis First Church will arrange meals for workers if notified in advance.

George suggested that the late Jack Brown was very active in the Light House Project. Butch introduced a motion that was adopted to donate $300 to it in memory of Jack.

Bunny Wolfe suggested that each District get organized for disaster relief efforts.

Jerry Motsinger – Illinois. He is working on increasing charters. They had a successful work day in May at Livings Springs Camp in conjuncton with Spoon River. The Smithville church had a very successful craft sale.

Steve West - Iroquois. Steve has two churches in mind he is going to visit to promote UMM activities.

George introduced a proposal from Gil Hanke, the national UMM President, that we honor our Bishop by awarding a Wesley Fellowship. After a spirited discussion, a motion was introduced, but defeated, to honor Bishop Christopher accordingly. The vote was 3 in favor, 8 against.

Dan Henry talked about the Endowment campaign to support UMM ministries. See attached information sheet. Dan would like to see 1 or more events during the next year to raise pledges of anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000.

There was discussion about the nominating committee. George agreed to re-work it. We nominated a slate of officers for re-election and by voice vote, the group was elected. See attached list.

Jan 31, 2004 – Executive Council – Kankakee Asbury, 196 S. Harrison, (815) 933-4408 – Steve West to host.

Oct 16, 2004 – Full Council Meeting – New Conference Center in Springfield (subject to availability) Need host.

We discussed the need to continue emphasis on EMS and Charters. See attached report. Our goal is to have at least one EMS member in each of our UMC churches in the Conference. If we met that simple goal, we would have 900+ EMS members. We only have 278. Another goal is to add 5 additional charters this year.

An excellent suggestion was made to have UMM units give an EMS membership to each boy in the Confirmation Classes. This would establish a connection with UMM from an early age. Please give it some serious thought.

Kwasi Kena from the national office of GCUMM gave an inspiring presentation on what is happening with UMM programs. He has a top quality PowerPoint presentation that is available on request by simply contacting him in the Nashville office.

Veterans Day Services – raise money for Strength for Service devotionals for our troops.

National fatherhood initiative. A very exciting ministry to reach fathers of all ages.

Bob Perry was ill with the flue and couldn’t attend. Keep him in your prayers.

Since handouts were provided, those attending the meeting should receive these minutes without attachments.

Bill Lawrence George Bolinger Ralph Harris Dennis Lussenheide Ray Gessel Ted Kornegay Ted Frost Tom Bellegante Steve Liehr Jake Highland
Samuel Columbus Steven Knebbel Norman Dixon Bob Jones Keith Baker G.James Bolinger Bill Schumaker Kenneth Werts Llewellyn Barton Dan Henry

George Bolinger provided the opening prayer and remarks.
Songs and worship were led by Ted Kornegay and Bill Schumaker.
Past minutes and treasurer’s report were approved as presented.

Ted Frost from the United Methodist Foundation updated us on the status of the new Conference Center being constructed near Springfield. He indicated that they are asking groups to support the Center by helping to pay off the debt instruments. Jim Bolinger made a motion that was seconded by Butch Barton that we are supportive of the concept that United Methodist Men throughout the Conference support the new Center with their gifts.

Dan Henry, President of the North Central Jurisdiction (NCJ) of UMM, presented his report. He has two themes this year: (1) Support for TQuest small group training and (2) Support for the NCJ Sons of the Father gathering scheduled for Jul 25-27 2003 at Naperville, IL.

Dan Henry showed us the TQuest packets that are being made available. They consist of 40 weeks of lessons, a journal, a tape/CD, and an order form. The cost is $37.50 each. There are a few pilot groups that are using TQUEST and the feedback is very positive. This is a super vehicle for small group ministry and since it is designed for groups of either 4 or 6 men, it is also an excellent vehicle for smaller churches to use.

Ted Kornegay made a motion and Bill Schumaker seconded that the Conference fund one kit for each District President for them to use for demonstrations and to provide them a seed inventory. The kits are available upon a simple request from the District President along with a commitment to use them. Requests should be made to George Bolinger. The motion was adopted and 4 kits were distributed to District Presidents that were present and indicted they wanted them.

Steve Liehr briefed that the Seymour UMC recently celebrated 50 years of UMM Chartering. They celebrated on the church grounds with an impressive ceremony.
Dennis Lusenheide and Ray Gessel presented the Scouting Report. The period September 2002 through October 2003 is set aside for emphasis on growth in scouting. Scout Sunday will be in February 2003. There are several adult awards to include the Torch, the Cross and Flame, and the John Wesley award.

We all agreed that we should attempt another Scout-O-Ree in 2003. Ray has a person in Peoria that will provide strong leadership. Jim Bolinger motioned and Bill Schumaker seconded that we support the Scout-O-Ree up to $500. The motion was adopted.

Susan J. Meister is the new Communications Director and publisher of the Current for the Conference. We should establish a strong relationship with her and encourage her to publish our UMM material in the Current. Bunny Wolfe is our Liaison with the Conference office.

Bob reported on the August Rally at Chatham. In spite of somewhat disappointing turnout, it was very successful. The volunteers completed quite a bit of work on one of the new buildings. We particularly enjoyed the music of the 4 Hims.

We had a wide-ranging discussion on the need for improved communications. Word simply HAS to be forwarded along to the next lower level until it reaches the individual man in the individual chapter of UMM. District Presidents, Chapter Presidents, and any other leaders simply must do a better job of distributing the communications that are passed out on the many UMM programs and developments. We spend a large amount of money and time to get the material out from the Conference and you each need to encourage your people to do pass the word along.

Bill Schumaker motioned and Steve Liehr seconded that we award an annual UMM Lifetime Membership to a clergy in the Conference. The cost will be $200 annually. The motion was adopted and Bill Schumacher agreed to head up the committee to make this happen.

George Bolinger provided the following comments:
The recent UMM Newsletter noted that:
26 Million attend church; 68 Million don’t
27 Million Read the Word; 67 Million don’t
85% of the unchurched were previously churched
Men attending church have dropped from 43% to only 23%

The nominating committee has asked us to confirm Bob Perry as the Prayer Advocate. It was done. Likewise, we confirmed Keith Baker as the new President of the Sangamon District and Steve Hubert as the Vice President along with Samuel Columbus the President of the LaMoine District. Our thanks to outgoing Presidents Frank Hamra and Bob Kraus.

Our goal continues to be 5 new charter groups for each District.
Our long-term goal is 100% charters.
We also seek to get 600 (one from each church in the Conference) in EMS

Cache River: (Butch Barton)
Working with Alan Mulligan on the Lighthouse Project. The Lighthouse will be nearly 50’ tall and will be located on a prominent overlook south of Marion, IL. It draws attention to their mission center.
Butch is seeking support from his districts.
Jessie McPherson has been very active in a tiny church (brought it back from one member to over 35).

Okaw River: (Tom Belegante)
Taylorville has changed to monthly meetings on the 1st Sunday of the month. They keep a list of To-Do Items that keeps them focused on service projects.
Quote of the day, “Young boys do what they see the older men do”.
We need to relate to God’s concerns.
Next year, there will be an Aldersgate Conference in Springfield featuring Gary and Sally Moore.

LaMoine River: (Sam Columbus)
“I’m glad to be here”
Ted Kornegay mentioned that the Jerseyville chapter is actually in LaMoine district, but they work closely with his district due to location.

Illinois River: (Keith gave the report for Mike Good)
Mike was attending a rally at Riverton Church and only one of them could be at our meeting.

Embrass River: (Jake Highland)
EMS - trying to get each church to Charter and get as many EMS members as possible
Working on the goal of 5 new charters for the district
Not having a district rally. Planning instead a Pastor Appreciation Dinner in Feb.
Heifer Project - have several participants in the district giving about $397.
26 from Shelbyville attended the Cardinals Methodist Night.
No one currently using TQuest.
Some from Shelbyville attended work days at the Disaster Center.
Jake’s UMM have only 4 formal meetings per year. They do have a bi-weekly meeting where 12-15 men attend for breakfast.

Mississippi River: (Ted Kornegay)
Last week’s district rally at McKendree was successful. It promoted the youth ministry at McKendree.
Feb 1 is UMM night at McKendree basketball game. Ted has tickets.
Ted is working on a Pastor Appreciation diner as a possible substitute for a rally.
Working towards getting more youth and more clergy involved in UMM.
Ted is on the Inclusivity Committee for the Conference. He welcomes support.

Spoon River: (Bill Shumaker)
They have been working at Living Springs Camp.
Their August rally served Pork Chop dinners and they had over 30 men.
November is their Chainsaw Saturday - they cut wood for Living Springs.
Bill is making good use of his two assistants.

Kaskaskia River: (Ken Wertz)
He has met with most of his local chapter presidents.
His personal contact has increased EMS and Charter numbers..
Ken wrote to all of his district pastors and introduced himself.
He is stressing our role in making Disciples and in using material from Nashville.
Rev. Jack Wolf at Benton has started a small TQuest group and sent Ken a testimonial letter on what it has meant to his men.

Greg Patrick, the local UMM President from Taylorville, was present and contributed to our discussion on communications. There is general agreement that nothing substitutes for personal communications.

We encourage our Chapter presidents to pass along material that is sent to them. If it doesn’t get distributed at the local level, all is for naught.

Bill Lawrence is planning on a surprise in the next mass mailing we do to the District Presidents. Watch for more when the next batch comes your way.

Steve Liehr is a Meals for Millions coordinator. He will have us information for the next meeting.

United Methodist Men - Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference
George F. Bolinger, President (217) 774-4225, Bill Lawrence, Secretary (618) 236-7311

1. George Bolinger opened the meeting with remarks as follows:
a. Great success on the Scouting jamboree
b. Thanks to Paul Widicus for his outstanding support in publicity (see enclosed flyer for his appreciation dinner being held in Springfield on Friday May 31 - contact point is Alison Bolen 217-747-0720.
c. Rally handouts will be distributed at the upcoming annual conference
2. Devotional - Larry Lawler - Money, a Biblical point of view
a. Poverty - worldliness and man’s obsession with money
b. Prosperity - you have not because you ask not - Tithing
c. Stewardship - God owns everything we have and it is all a gift from Him. We give back out of appreciation to Him.
d. Larry handed out a list of 8 focus questions for us to ponder
3. Minutes - Bill Lawrence - minutes from the Jan meeting were approved as presented and distributed.
4. Treasurer’s report - Ralph Harris. Approved as presented.
5. Motion was made by Ted Kornegay and seconded by Dennis Lusenheide that any check outstanding over 60 days will be returned to the general fund. Motion approved.
6. We asked Ralph Harris to send Bill Lawrence a copy of the canceled $500 check we sent last Fall to the Distribution Center to cover additional expenses of 9/11. (Note: the copy has been received and it was cashed by the Distribution Center in December).
7. Videos were shown on with discussions that followed during lunch:
a. UMM Vision 20002
b. Building Brothers
c. World Service Fund - changing lives in the name of Christ
d. TQuest for Men
8. Fall Rally details
a. Many copies of the brochure will be distributed to Annual conference attendees.
b. Copies of the brochures will be sent to all District Presidents.
9. Scout Jamboree - Ray Gessel and Dennis Lusenheide
a. Ray and the group are looking at future locations
b. They will send a letter of appreciation to the camp director
c. We still need Torch award nominations. See Ray or Dennis for details.
d. We still want to have a Scouting Coordinator in each District. We need volunteers and names - see Ray or Dennis is you know of someone (note they do not have to be a man nor do they have to be a Boy Scout)
e. We were reminded during the jamboree of the Boy Scout policy on overnight accommodations. The rain and confusion resulted in a temporary violation of that policy and it was corrected. We will watch it carefully in the future
10. Brothers United - Bill Lawrence
a. Scheduled now for June 28/29 in St. Louis. Jointly sponsored by IGRAC and Missouri UMM. Brochures available. Need maximum publicity and support.
b. If you know of anyone interested in attending, have them see Bill Lawrence or email him at WLL5@charter.net
c. Bill mentioned the very successful Bull Riding breakfast at Christ United Methodist Church in Fairview Heights. The lesson to all is to listen to God’s voice when he wants you to do something - even if it is out of the ordinary. Mighty results can be achieved when you let God lead you.
11. Jim Bolinger submitted a motion that was adopted that we support a total of two ½ expense scholarships per District for anyone wanting to attend the Brothers United event that needs help financially with covering the cost. If you know of someone that might be interested in attending, but who needs some financial assistance, please let Bill Lawrence or George Bolinger know.
12. Gerald Motsinger asked Bill Lawrence to send him an email containing the Brothers United brochure. George Bolinger will distribute Brothers United brochures at the Annual Conference Men’s breakfast.
13. Group Reports:
a. Group 1 - Pastor appreciation dinner in each District
i. Strongly support the idea
ii. Need Bishop and District Superintendent support
iii. Needs to be financially supported - perhaps from local UMM, from SPRC/PPRC, District or Conference UMM treasury
iv. Timeliness is a factor. The October time frame is good
v. Mike Good is working on a dinner in his District and will give George Bolinger some of the details for distribution.
b. Group 2 - Mission projects, EMS, chartering
i. EMS is a hard sell. We still don’t have a persuasive argument for what the individual gets out of it. It is often viewed as money that goes one way to Nashville.
ii. Charter applications are critical. They can be sent in without money if necessary and that is worthwhile because it lets Nashville identify the group and get them in the loop for distribution of materials.
iii. George Bolinger has the information for the Conference on chartering.
c. Group 3 - Wesley Fellows, Life Membership, and Good Samaritan awards
i. A motion was made by Jake and seconded by Jim Bolinger that we make strong efforts to honor new and old UMM organizations and that we promote life membership awards at the local level.
d. Group 4 - TQuest for Men
i. We noted that both the TQuest and the Servant leader courses offer excellent material for small groups of UMM to work through.
ii. Bill Lawrence introduced and Ray Gessel seconded a motion stating that we have looked over the TQuest material and find it to be excellent if you want to promote or start a small group ministry within your UMM group. The motion carried.
14. George announced that Sons of the Father will be the theme of the Jurisdictional rally to be held in July 2003. This is a jurisdictional event that fits between the Purdue events. Mark you calendars and be planning on attending.
15. Ray Gessel introduced and Ted Kornegay seconded a motion that we allocate $500 of the designated Scouting funds to go towards the expenses of the Conference Jamboree that was just held. The motion carried.
16. Ted Kornegay provide the following comments:
a. The Nashville training event for District Presidents was excellent.
b. He is looking at McKendree College to host the next Mississippi Rivers District UMM Rally.
c. The sub-district meeting held recently discussed the issue of reconciling ministry. Ted has a letter on the subject that was provided by Leon Johnson. You can get a copy of the letter from Ted.
17. Regrettably, we had to end the meeting on a very sad note. Bill Lawrence announced that Mr. John Ellis, the Treasurer of the Christ United Methodist Men and a backbone of the Christ United Methodist Church collapsed and died this morning while playing golf. Many of you may have known John. He was very active in every aspect of his Church and was a perfect living example of a Christian man. He will be sorely missed. We closed the meeting with a prayer for John’s family and friends.

1. George Bolinger 2. Bill Lawrence 3. Tek Kornegay 4. Allen Wisemen 5. Jake Highland 6. Ray Gessel 7. Bob Jones 8. Michael good 9. Larry Lawler 10. Jim Bolinger 11. Ralph Harris 12. Jerry Motsinger 13. Lewellyn Barton 14. Dennis Lusenheide

United Methodist Men - Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference
George F. Bolinger, President (217) 774-4225, Bill Lawrence, Secretary (618) 236-7311

Attendees: Bill Lawrence, Llewelllyn (Butch) Barton, Allen Wiseman, Ken Werts, Paul Widicus, Larry Lawler, G James Bolinger, Paul Espy, Robert Krause, George Bolinger, Bob Jones, Ralph Harris, Ted Kornegay, Frank Hamra, Orville Mueth, Jake Highland, Jerry Joe Clark, Virgil Miller, Michael Good, Jerry Motsinger, Steve Liehr, Tom Starnes, Dennis Lussenheide

George opened the meeting by reemphasizing the following:
a. He would like our 2002 EMS goal to be at least 1 new EMS per charge.
b. Likewise, our charter goal is 5 new charters per chapter.
c. We need to support attending the Nashville training event in April.
d. We need to learn to embrace religious diversity since we are the most religiously diverse nation on earth.
e. Meals for Millions is pleased with our support. We are still looking for a hunger advocate.

A motion was made and adopted that the Conference UMM pay $100 to each District President attending the Nashville event and $50 for each local President. Anyone interested in taking advantage, please contact George.

Larry Lawler presented an excellent devotional centered on Matthew Chapter 4. He says for us to be successful fishers of men we need to:
a. Go to new locations - fish where the fish are.
b. Use new bait - every fish reacts to different bait.
c. Use new times - some times are more important than others and some times people are more receptive.
d. Go in new directions - you have opportunities to witness that far exceed those of the minister.
Bottom line - Be a fisherman for Jesus. Invite others to come and know what you know.

Paul Carlock led the discussion on the upcoming Retreatoree for scouts to complete the God and Country award.
Paul provided handouts. The Planning Task Force will meet on Feb 5th at noon in Springfield. The retreat is open to all denominations, but it will be protestant oriented. We need a list of all troops from each District. Suggest sending a newsletter or article to the local newspaper, especially the small local papers. We are looking for a financial supporter who is willing to fund patches for the group of scouts. Estimated cost is $450 any business supporting this would get appropriate publicity. A good project for local UMM chapters would be to sponsor any scout who wants to attend or any coach willing to help.

Bob Jones talked about next summer’s annual rally. It will be held at Sugar Creek (adjacent to the Distribution Center).
For the two days preceding the rally, there will be UMM workdays at the Distribution Center. Cost for food and lodging at the Center is $29 per day. You can bring you camper or RV.

The annual report was distributed for review. With some minor corrections, it was adopted for submission.

Bill Lawrence made two presentations. One was on the Bull Riding Breakfast to be held at Christ UMC in Fairview Heights on Feb 24th. This is an excellent opportunity to hear professional athletes from the most dangerous sport in the country talk about their Christian witness. If you know of someone who would like to attend, contact Bill.

The other presentation was on Brothers United. On April 19/20 the first of hopefully six events in 2002 will be held in St. Louis. Bill asked that we give it strong support. The prime candidates are pairs of Christian men of different racial or ethnic backgrounds who want to establish a meaningful man-to-man relationship. The pilot Brothers United event was held in August 2000 at Grace UMC and was well supported by the IGRAC. Contact Bill if you have potential candidates. We need your prayers and your personal involvement in this event.

Connie Kern briefed the group on her Children’s Supper Hour ministry. If your chapters of UMM are looking for a good mission project, you couldn’t find a better one. They need financial help, volunteers, and “things” such as refrigerators, household goods, etc. Our group collected money to pay for the noon meal they provided and the excess was donated to her effort.

George talked about the successful Cardinals night at the ballgame and emphasized what a great fundraiser it is for our missions. Bob Noland from O’Fallon First UMC has volunteered to create a bell choir for entertainment at the next one. We adopted a motion that he proceed in that direction.

George suggested that we formally task Jerry Motsinger to be our Charter/EMS “pusher”. We adopted a motion to that effect. Good luck Jerry, Let’s everyone get behind him!

Ted Kornegay still has some shirts and vests for sale. He is almost at the break-even point and would really like to get more sold.

Orville Mueth reported on the Heifer project. To get full credit, churches and UMM groups need to make their donations through the Conference. The money all still ends up in the right hands, but we get the proper credit.

Steve Liehr mentioned there has been a slight change in the EMS distribution instructions.

Jerry Motsinger has the next Annual Conference UMM breakfast already arranged at Bethel UMC in Peoria (1 ½ blocks from the civic center).

Jerry would like us all to populate the web site with articles, pictures, etc. You can access the web site at www.gbgm-umc.org/igracumm

The Hispanic mission at Cobden, IL (near Carbondale) is in need of donations of household items and appliances. This is an excellent mission possibility. Contact Butch Barton if you can help. Please don’t feel constrained by the fact that you are further north - I-57 is up and running and rental trucks are readily available.

Tom Starnes closed the meeting with an excellent presentation on the Secrets of the Vine book by Bruce Wilkerson. This is an excellent follow-on to his Prayer of Jabez book. Tom emphasized that the words in John Chapter 15 are those of a man who knows He will die soon and that we should pay special attention to them. We should lean close and listen!

The Executive Council will meet on Sat. May 11th at 09:00am at the First Church in Normal,IL.

The Planning Task Force for the Boy Scout God and Country Retreat-oree will meet Tuesday, February 5, 2002 from 12:00 noon until 1:30 P.M. at Ryan’s Steak House, 3150 Chatam Road, (just south of the Wabash and Chatam intersection), Springfield, IL. Please come. Registrations are coming in. We need to organize our plans.

United Methodist Men - Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference
George F. Bolinger, President (217) 774-4225, Bill Lawrence, Secretary (618) 236-7311

George opened the meeting by announcing that our Conference UMM had the best attendance at Purdue and that the Mississippi Rivers District had the best District attendance. Hats off to everyone who made this possible. Since I am the secretary, I’d like to take editorial privilege and say a great big thanks to George Bolinger and to Ted Kornegay for their leadership. If you are looking for men’s leaders to emulate, you couldn’t do much better than these guys.

Our Cardinals Night Out event was successful. We received $1,764 from it. Thanks to the 19 churches that participated from our conference.

George read a letter from former President Jimmy Carter and Habitat For Humanity urging prayer and support for our country during this period of need. Paul Widicus reminded us of the need to continue giving to agencies such as UMCOR and advised that UMCOR is concentrating their efforts on the many “little” people who might otherwise be falling through the cracks of the system.

George also read an excellent article about how to treat people who are different than us. He pointed out that the U.S. has become the most religiously diverse nation on earth and that facing the religious diversity probably is the emerging challenge of the 21st century.

A motion was made by Tom Starnes and seconded by Bill Lawrence that we accept the nomination committee’s recommendation of Bob Jones as our new Vice President. The motion was carried with lots of enthusiasm. Bob - we are all very pleased to have you take on this tough job. George has asked Bob to focus on coordinating our mission programs.

The Treasurer’s report was accepted as presented (see attached copy). We directed Ralph to clear out his old outstanding, uncashed checks and to transfer any balances to the general fund.

Steve West made a motion that was seconded by Bob Jones that we send a donation of $500 to the Distribution Center at Chatam in partial reimbursement for some of their September 11th relief effort expenses. The motion also directed that the executive committee consider sending another $500 in February. The motion was passed and adopted.

Ray Gessel presented a good report on the scouting status (see attached). He handed out a card that the Council has put together on flag etiquette (see attached). Paul Widicus asked Ray to meet with him and Dennis Lusenhide to talk about the effort that Paul Carlock has proposed to get some Scouting retreats going.

Thomas Hawkins the director of CMT gave a presentation on the formation of new churches. He emphasized keeping an eye on Jesus, positioning for the new century, and forming spiritual leaders.

Orville Mueth presented a report on the Heifer Project (see attached). We still need more churches to contribute and they should do so through the conference. At Orville’s 75th birthday celebration, his friends and family contributed $1,400 that was sent to Africa for the project. That money is not included in the attached report.

Debbie Beard presented an excellent presentation on Big Brothers/Big Sisters (BBBS). She asked us to set a goal to get at least one BBBS volunteer in each of our respective jurisdictions. We were privileged to meet Ryan, one of her little brothers who has been adopted by a big brother who was there accompanying him. Ryan not only saved the day by showing us how to get the video recorder running, he also stated that BBBS can bring happiness into another child’s life. Guys, we need to get behind this effort and enlist volunteers to help in the BBBS effort. See that attached list for contact points.

Dan Henry, the president of the North Central Jurisdiction of UMM, noted that the jurisdiction consists of 12 conferences located in 9 states. In 2003, the NCJ will have convocation, probably at North Central College in Naperville, IL. Dan told us that UMM have four major emphasis areas: (1) Christ focused (2) Pastoral support (3) meaningful relationships with other men and (4) mentoring/venturing with our youth.

Spoon River - Bill Schumaker reports they are working on getting firewood for the Living Springs Camp. The mail trucks are still for sale to raise money for the Distribution Center. Bill suggests we concentrate on any new ministers within our districts, especially those who have a previous record of support for UMM.

Cache River Lewellyn Burton - Butch reports that Herrin UMM had an excellent fish fry on Friday.

Iroquis District - Steve West says they are planning a pastor appreciation dinner this spring. He has been to several churches lately to talk about UMM. George suggests that we consult the quarterly listing of chartered/EMS groups for leads. If you aren’t getting the list, please contact Nashville office of UMM.

Mississippi River - Dave Johnson represented Ted Kornegay. This Tue. night, they are having a district dinner with a panel discussion on the Purdue experience. He indicated that Jan 24th, 2002 is UMM night at McKendree basketball. The proceeds from this effort will go to a newly formed group called Heralds of Hope that has been formed from the three minority UMC churches in the East St. Louis Metro area. Tickets are $5 and even if you can’t attend, please purchase some to be used to bring minority youths to a college event at a Christian college (see flyer attached for details. This is a great opportunity for your UMM groups to fellowship and to share their good fortune with those who don’t have the opportunities we have. Dave also brought along a box full of IRGRAC UMM vests and tee shirts. They are still available. If you want one, please contact Ted.

Okaw District - Normam Dickson talked about a Father/Son banquet for Taylorville.

Embarras - Virgil Miller was present and reports all is about normal within his district.

Illinois District - Jerry Motsinger couldn’t attend our meeting, but as you can see from the attached report, he and his men have been very active. Thanks Jerry for thinking of us. Just a reminder, if you have pictures/articles that are worthy of posting on the web site, send them to Jerry.

Dennis Lusenhide reported on scouting activity. He provided a handout he downloaded off the web (see attached). They are still looking to host rallys and are looking for potential sites.

Bill Lawrence briefed on the preliminary plans for more Brothers Untied events patterned after the one we held a year ago in August. Dr. Harris and Larry Malone are hoping to have six of the events within the next year. Plans call for the first one to be held again in the St. Louis area. Be looking for more publicity in the future.

Steve Leihr talked about efforts to build a new parsonage for the Hispanic ministry in Momence, IL. Bob Jones noted that the “dream team” might be able to help. This could be an excellent opportunity for some service projects.

We talked about the need for UMM units to charter. Paul Widicus pointed out that chartering is the best way for the local UMM unit to get in the mainstream of communication and that it provides excellent access to resources. Someone pointed out that our discipline calls for each UMC to have a chapter of UMM and that chartering is consistent with the discipline. George wants to establish a goal of getting 5 new charter groups within each district over the next year. We also need to push EMS membership.

We are still in need for a Hunger Relief Advocate (HRA) for our conference. George asks that each UMM group (chartered or not) step up to providing $200 to the Meals for Million efforts. We were briefed on a new international extension of Meals for Millions that is allied with MFM. Anyone interested in becoming the hunger advocate for either their church, district, or the conference should contact George.

19 Oct 2002 - next year’s council meeting, probably to be held at Taylorville.

There was considerable discussion about next year’s rally. Bob Jones has agreed to chair the planning group and George would like Ted Kornegay and Tom Bellagante to help him. Note that Jerry Motsinger has also volunteered to help. The consensus was that the meeting should be held to one day like we did this year. We are leaning towards using the Distribution Center and Sugar Creek UMC as the site. Please get with Bob or George if you have suggestions.

George asks that district presidents send him a list of their officers with contact information.

Tom Starnes, our conference UMM prayer advocate, gave an excellent presentation on the impact that the Prayer of Jabel book has had on his life. He noted that the two books, The Prayer of Jabel, and the Power of the Vine, have given him an astounding amount of inspiration and recommends them to all of us. Tom also would like each of us to pray for our President in this time of war on terrorism. He recommends an excellent website, http://presidentialprayerteam.org/register.asp to register in a prayer group specifically for the President. He also read an inspiring poem entitled In the Valley I Grow and related the story about 26 guards watching over a missionary who was in danger of being killed. Tom’s message to us all is “how can God use You to bless United Methodist Men.

Subject: Minutes of Executive Council Meeting, May 12, 2001, Normal First UMC

Attendees: George Bolinger, Jim Bolinger, Bill Lawrence, Ted Kornegay, Larry Lawler, Steve Liehr, Ralph Harris, Allen Wiseman, Ray Gessel

Larry Lawler provided the devotional with a theme of visions and dreams. He encourages us to look at UMM in five years and dream “that someday we will ------“. We are encouraged to believe even though we may not immediately see the results.

Steve Liehr reported on the North Central jurisdiction. They are working on Convocation 2003. He re-emphasized that success comes from personal contact from the District level down to the local UMM chapter. Our biggest challenge and our biggest opportunities come in attracting new and younger men to UMM.

Ralph Harris gave the treasurer’s report. A motion was made and carried that Ralph cancel the outstanding uncashed checks and put them back in the general treasury. District presidents may reclaim their funds at any time on request.

George reported on our progress for Purdue. Out goal is 443 and we have 147 registered. The Mississippi district has exceeded their goal. Scholarships are still going begging.

Ted suggested we need more publicity in the Current. Bill Lawrence agreed to contact Paul Widicus to see what can be done.

Ted also suggested we encourage local chapters to use a phone committee to call all their members by the first of June to encourage attendance.

Ted reports that vest sales are doing OK, but several are still not committed. Time is running out if you want a vest with your name on it.

George briefed the group on the late Orville May’s contributions to UMM. A motion was made and carried that we donate $35 to Emanuel UMC at Edwardsville, IL in memory of Orville.

George expressed his thanks that the conference UMM have donated over $2,000 to the Table of Grace church at Waterloo, IL. The money went primarily for sanctuary chairs.

We continue to support and promote the UMM night at the Cardinals baseball game. Flyers and order blanks have been distributed on a conference-wide basis. $5 of the ticket price goes to our conference UMM fund. The event is on August 18th. Come see the Cardinals and support a good cause.

Bill Lawrence briefed the group on the upcoming UMM Conference Rally to be held on August 25th at Sugar Creek UMC in Chatham, IL (near Springfield). The theme is supporting the local UMM chapter. We plan to start at 9:30 A.M. and hope to conclude by 4:30 P.M. We really need your help in finding men who are willing to give a presentation on things that are working for their group. Please contact Bill at 618-236-7311 or email him at WLL5@home.com if you have suggestions. We hope to have a presentation and tour by the Disaster Relief Center, which is located next to the Sugar Creek church. More publicity will follow soon.

Ray Gessler gave an excellent review of the overall scouting program that includes Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4H, and Campfire Girls. He is looking for a coordinator for each district who is willing and able to support the scouting program. He also talked about their awards program that includes Cross and Flame, Torch, God and Service, and God and Country.

Jim Bolinger reported on his representation on the Conference Ministry Team. They are working with a reduced budget as a result of a decrease in benevolence funds that stems from an increasing bill for ministers health and retirement programs. They are starting an effort to spread the Methodist ministry program at the junior college level in a manner similar to the Wesley Foundation efforts at colleges and universities. They are also looking at redefining the urban ministry.

George introduced us to a program from John Maxwell called the MVP program. This calls for partnering with your pastor in prayer. Contact George if you would like more information.

We are looking for a Hunger Advocate to replace the huge void left with Steve Grubb’s death. What a great cause. Did you know that only 3.7% of the Society of St. Andrews funds goes to fund raising and administrative costs? The remaining 96.3% goes directly to support the needs of hungry families in this country. Your local UMM chapters are encouraged to pledge $200 per chapter for this great cause.

If you are attending Annual Conference in June, a reminder of the Laity breakfast being held at Caseyville UMC on Sat. June 6th at 6:30 A.M.

George reported that his first cluster meeting that was held in Litchfield went well. He is planning on more of these. The dates and times will be announced once they are determined.

George handed out a packet of material on Big Brothers/Big Sisters. They are looking for ways to better partner with churches. This might be an area where your UMM could do some great work.

As usual, George loaded the group with handout material. Some of the key pieces are included in this mailing, but if you want a complete packet, please contact George Bolinger.

Illinois Great Rivers Conference UMM Executive Meeting
Feb 10, 2001 10:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M.
Asbury UMM
1229 South Grand Ave
Springfield, IL 62703-2630
(217) 522-8147

Attendees: George Bolinger, Bill Lawrence, Ralph Harris, Paul Widicus, Ted Kornegay, Bob Krause, Larry Lawler, Tom Starnes, Jerry Motsinger, Harold Isbell, Allen Wiseman, Jim Bolinger, Frank Hamra, Paul Carlock

Tom Starnes presented the opening prayer. He used a prayer that has gotten wide circulation on email and on the Paul Harvey show.

Larry Lawler led the devotional. Larry reminded us of the next meeting of the Executive Board will be held at Normal First on the campus of Illinois State University at 211 N. School St., Normal, IL 61761 (309) 452-2096. Larry will be our host.

Ralph Harris presented the treasurer’s report. Our current balance is $7,866.36. Paul Widicus pointed out that our books need to be audited and a report sent to him. A motion was carried that Jerry Motsinger audit Ralph’s books and send the report to Paul.

A motion was made by Larry Lawler and seconded by Jerry Motsinger that the President or the Treasurer be authorized to sign checks on our account at the 1st National Bank of Tremont. The necessary signature authorization papers were then signed.

A motion was approved that we go ahead and send the designated dollars we have on hand for the Steve Grubb memorial to the Society of St. Andrews –MFM.

We discussed the ongoing problem with uncashed checks that go to the District Presidents for EMS distributions. Ralph has a list, some dating back to 1998, of small checks that have gone out and never been cashed. Bill Lawrence will write a letter to the District Superintendents listing
the outstanding checks and stating that unless we hear differently from them within 60 days from the letter, that the checks will be cancelled and the funds will revert to the general Conference UMM treasury. This year’s EMS checks are available and for those present, checks were provided or the District President directed they be put back into the general treasury. Ralph will get out letters on the remaining ones. District Presidents are reminded that if they do not want the checks, or if
they have no open account to handle them, and they want to have the money held in our general treasury, they should let Ralph know. The letter will ask them to make that decision before the checks are distributed.

Paul Widicus reminded us that the IGRAC Conference office has funds that can be made available on request to handle special expenses such as mailings, etc.

Information was made available on Purdue Odyssey 2001. New information is coming out soon. The District Presidents need to make sure we get maximum publicity. Registration to date is 2,011. There are several scholarships available as described below. If you are interested, please send your request to George Bolinger.

The National Association of Conference Presidents will have two ethnic and two youth scholarships to help defray registration and fees on request.

Harold Isbell motioned, and Tom Starnes seconded that we set aside money for 6 full scholarships at $210 each for Purdue. The money includes both registration and EMS membership. Our scholarships are intended to attract young members who might not have the financial means to support attendance. Applicants should be between 12-29 years of age. Exceptions can be
entertained if an applicant if slightly below or above the age limit.

Paul Widicus pointed out that if we have more than 10 total applicants, there might be some Conference money to help out.

George provided a small book of new Guidelines for UMM Ministries. He will mail them out to those not in attendance.

Bill Lawrence provided a status report on our August 2001 Rally. It will be held south of Springfield at Sugar Creek UMC in Chatam on Sat. August 18th from 10:00 till ??. The theme is providing help to the local UMM units and their officers. District Presidents need to do two things: (a) help find success stories and nominate someone to present them at the rally and (b)
make sure we get the word down to the unit level that this is their rally and there WILL be something in it for them! We will probably also try to have a tour of the new Disaster Relief Center.

Ted Kornegay provided us a virtual style show on the newly purchased UMM vests. They are very colorful with a deep blue background with yellow lettering. They are available for immediate purchase and an order form is enclosed with the minutes. Districts can actually “check out” some samples to show to their men. Please contact Ted if you want to have some for samples. The vests are useful for attending rallys, conferences, and particularly for attending Purdue. Note that the sizes run pretty small. There will probably be several orders for the 3XXXs. A guy weighing around 175 or less with medium build will probably take a large.

Paul Carlock provided us with an excellent overview of the Boy Scouts God and Country and Religious Emblems award. Based on his work in two different areas of Illinois, Paul feels we should consider having one or more retreats to allow scouts to work on the Religious Emblems award. Frank Hamra motioned and Jim Bolinger seconded that we develop a program for having such retreats and that Paul Carlock be appointed as chairman. We adopted the motion. Paul will work with our group as well as with Ray Gessel, Dennis Luessenmeide, Paul Widicus and
perhaps Larry Coppock, UMM Director of Scouting at Nashville.

Allen Wiseman showed us the plaque that has been received for presentation to Mary Jo Grubb in honor of Steve's work with the Society of St. Andrew and the Meals for Millions program. It will be presented at Albion First United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 25th at the 9:00 A.M. worship service. George Bolinger will be presenting the plaque. Your attendance is welcomed as are any correspondence that you might want to direct to Mary Jo.

Frank Hamra briefed the group on a BAT function the Sangamon River District is sponsoring. BAT stands for Be All Together and it is a dinner to honor the women who support all of the UMM. The dinner will be Nov 3, 2001 at the Springfield Signature Inn. The price will be $24.99 per couple. More information will follow, but couples from throughout the conference are
welcome.

Frank Hamra provided the group with an eat-in lunch. The donations we collected were generously donated to Asbury’s program, The Children’s Supper Hour. This is a fantastic program where they feed nearly 60 youths two nights a week and provide them Bible training and an opportunity to work on computers. Connie Kern provided the group with some examples of what their kids are doing and the program is fantastic. This would be an excellent program for your UMM to support. They are always in need of funds. Please contact Frank if you think your group can support them.

Jerry Motsinger updated us on his excellent progress on the Conference UMM website. We discussed several good things that can go on the website, including these minutes, photos of UMM activities, the vest order, etc. If you think you have something he can include, please email Jerry at
JMOSTING@JUNO.COM or you can email directly through the website. The web site is at www.gbgm-umc.org/igracumm/ Thanks Jerry for all the hard work and great results. Please log on and take a look at the site. Keeping this site current and useful is up to YOU. Jerry is dependent on us to give him current events and useful information.

George Bolinger urges everyone to emphasize chartering and EMS membership. We still have far too few chartered units and far too few EMS members.

An opinion poll is being circulated on requirements for the new United Methodist Conference Center to be built in Springfield. The group gave input to George and he will answer for all of us.

After some discussion, a motion was made and carried that we continue to support the annual UMM Night Out at the Cardinals baseball game. Glen Wintemberg is giving up the task of organizing the function, but we will continue to work with his replacement. Last year, we received $1,205 as our share of this effort.

Many of you know Orville Mueth. His family is organizing a surprise 75th birthday party for him on Sunday, March 2nd from 2-5 P.M. at the Collinsville American Legion Hall. If you can attend, please contact Terry Mueth at 618-344-3115 or David Mueth at 618-344-1256. In place of gifts, they have asked that you instead make a donation to Heifer Project International. Please try not to let Orville know about this, his family is trying to surprise him.

On Friday and Saturday, March 15th, the Heifer Project is holding a dinner and training session at the Caseyville UMC. Orville Mueth is the project officer. You CAN contact him on this one for details.

Jerry Motsinger read a thank you note from Carole Lakota who led our Native American Prayer Service at the last East Bay rally.

Ted Kornegay advised us that 199 showed up for the UMM Night at McKendree College. All proceeds from the ticket sales went to the Table of Grace, a new UMC at Waterloo, IL.

Jim Bolinger will serve as the UMM representative for the Conference Ministry Team.

One final administrative note: If you have an email account, please let Bill Lawrence know. He is at WLL5@home.com We particularly need to know if you are willing to receive these minutes and other correspondence as Word attachments to an email. This can speed up our communications and save lots of money on postage.

Oct 14, 2000 - Council Meeting
Illinois Great Rivers United Methodist Men Council
Minutes of October 14,2000 Meeting
Laurel United Methodist Church, Springfield

Members Present: George F. Bolinger,President; Gerald Motsinger,Vice-President and President of Illinois River District; Paul Widicus (after lunch), Liaison from Conference Ministry Team;Ralph Harris, Treasurer; Larry Lawler, Chaplain; Allen Wiseman, Past President and chair of Nominating Committee; Orville Mueth, Heifer Project Representative; David Johnson, Mississippi River District Treasurer (Representing Ted Kornegay); Bill Schumaker, President Spoon River District; Frank Hamra, President Sangamon River District; W. Thomas Bellegante, President Okaw River District; Virgil Miller, President Embarass River District; Llewellyn "Butch" Barton, President Cache River District; Steve West, President Iroquois River District; Ellis Leighty, Legal Advisor; G. James Bolinger, Conference Ministry Team Nurture Representative; Steve Liehr, Vice-President of North Central Jurisdiction UMM.

Call To Order and Welcome: George Bolinger called the meeting to order
at 10:10 and shared some devotional thoughts from Bits and Pieces.

Devotions: Chaplain Larry Lawler shared Galatians 3:23-29 and thoughts about “Looking for Many Good Men.”

Selection of Secretary Pro-tem: George Bolinger asked Larry Lawler to be Secretary Pro-tem because Steve Grubb, elected Secretary, died in August and the Nominating Committee would be nominating a new person who was not able to be present today.

Minutes of August 11,2000 meeting at East Bay: Larry Lawler was asked to read the minutes submitted by Ted Kornegay, Secretary Pro-tem. There were some corrections made: 1. The name of the person leading the Vermilion River Work Camp to Mexico is David Prussner, 2. George and Jim spell their names Bolinger, 3. Larry Lawler moved that “we go for a one day rally.” Steve Liehr moved and Tom Bellegante seconded that the minutes be approved with the above corrections. Motion carried by unanimous vote.

Treasurer’s Report: Ralph Harris distributed three reports: Fall Retreat showing income of $3,399.55, Expenses of $4,048.44, for a net loss of $648.89; EMS checks sent to districts that had not been cashed totaling $389.00; General Funds showing Balance July 31,2000 of $7,839.85, Income through October 10 of $2,179.95, Expenses of $3,607.02, leaving a balance of $6,412.78 (which includes designated monies being held for Scouts of $682.62, District EMS of $765.10 and Okaw District of $154.50). This results in a useable balance of $4,810.56.
It was pointed out that we should be receiving our share of the Cardinal Game ticket sales before too long.
Steve West moved and Jerry Motsinger seconded that the Treasurer’s Reports be received. Motion carried by unanimous affirmative vote.

Retreat and Purdue Attendance Goals: George Bolinger handed out sheets indicating Goals for each district at 10 for retreat and 40 for Purdue. Embarass and Sangamon districts each had 8 at the 2000 Retreat (total of 55).
It was suggested that the location of the retreat has a lot to do with attendance. It was also pointed out that 2001 Retreat is to be only one day, probably in Springfield.

Nominating Committee: Allen Wiseman, chair, nominated Bill Lawrence of Fairview Heights to be Secretary. Ellis Leighty moved that the nominations be closed and that the secretary cast a unanimous vote for Bill Lawrence. Motion carried by a unanimous affirmative vote.

Purdue Promotion: George Bolinger showed a video that is available to promote registration. He also distributed a letter from Joe Harris, General Secretary of the Commission on UMM indicating that he has been assigned by the Congress Committee to work with IGRAC for promotion. Our assigned goal is 443. George also handed out samples of posters and registration leaflets that should be widely distributed. He commented that “IT IS UP TO US TO SELL IT!”

Next Meeting of the Council: Arrangements have already been made for the October 13,2001 Council meeting at Laurel Church Springfield. George urged all men to get that date on their calendars.

Charters and EMS membership by district: George called attention to the statistics about the number of charters and EMS members for each district (As of 4/1/00 there were 118 chartered units out of 671 charges and 320 EMS members).

Notice of persons who are ill: The Rev. Al Milligan, former Chaplain, has been and remains quite ill. Orville May, Lay Leader form Collinsville is making progress, but still needs prayers for complete recovery. Jack Brown has been hospitalized several times.

Prayer and Grace for Meal: Jim Bolinger offered prayers of healing for the men mentioned above and thanks and grace for the meal.

Lunch Break: Around the tables we were asked to discuss:
1. Work out a suggested approach to get 5 more chartered units in each district.
2. What can be done to get at least 50% EMS members?
3. What would like to see happen with UMM?
4. Make a special covenant with each man to pray for him daily.
5. Suggestions for promoting Purdue 2001?

Scouting: George shared letters from Ray Gessel and Bobby Logan about Scouting.

Heifer Project: Orville Mueth reported that from January through September, 65 churches have given at least once through the IGRAC treasurer. This is a little below last year. 1998 was the best year to date and then there has been a drop off of support. $14,170.09 has been given for general projects, $6,437.68 for Living Gifts for a total of $20,607.17.

Annual Conference Breakfast: Orville also issued an invitation to UMM to a breakfast during the 2001 Annual Conference that will be held at Caseyville Church on Saturday morning. The offering last year went to The Table of Grace (new church being started in the Mississippi River District at Waterloo).

Society of St. Andrew: George Bolinger reported about the Meals for Millions and the promotion of a generous gift in memory of Steve Grubb.
Jim Bolinger offered to speak to groups about the program, if desired and as schedule permits.

District Reports:
Spoon River: Bill Schumaker indicated an excellent retreat had been held at Living Springs Camp. They are also sponsoring a Volunteer in Mission Day November 11 when they will cut, split and stack wood for use in the fireplaces during the winter.
Illinois River: Jerry Motsinger reported and shared the surveys taken by participants in the 2000 retreat, suggesting that these might be used by the committee planning for 2001. He suggested the Sugar Creek Church/UMCOR Distribution Center as a site and possibly having some “work project” in conjunction with the retreat.
The Illinois River District will have a meeting on November 4th at Chillicothe.
Sangamon River: Frank Hamra indicated that they are trying to get re-energized and reorganized following the illness of their former president John Shipman. He shared a letter that will be going to churches about the brainstorming session, officer recruiting and planning of the future.
Okaw River: Tom Bellegante indicated that he will be visiting churches in the near future. He also reported on the VIM trip to Moscow Russia: “Building Bridges of Peace.”
Embarass River: Virgil Miller indicated that he would soon get started with reorganization with the support of Superintendent Alice Shirley.
Cache River: “Butch” Barton reported that this part of the state is economically challenged. He has contacted each charge to encourage chartering, even if they can’t pay all of the chartering fee suggested.
Iroquois River: Steve West will be sending a letter to all pastors promoting Purdue and the advantages available to EMS members.
He is planning a rally for February. They need a new beginning.
Mississippi River: David Johnson reported that the district will be having a forum at Jerseyville with some of the General Conference members.

Report on Brothers United Meeting: This was a “good start!” There weren’t enough participants from the black community. The costs were paid by the General Commission on United Methodist Men.

North Central Jurisdiction Activities: Steve Liehr shared some ideas and plans. They recognize that there is a problem with chartering. It is important to have a linkage of communication between local groups, the Conference, districts. This is also a major source of revenue for the General Commission. He suggested that district presidents contact churches with charters and those that are listed in the Journal and Yearbook listing that they have a men’s meeting.
NCJ is planning for a 2003 Convocation, probably at a United Methodist College. They will invite all jurisdictional bishops. They are asking for a lot of prayer to support this meeting.
NCJ is encouraging each Annual Conference to fund one of more John Wesley scholarships.

Nomads: Ellis Leighty encouraged all those with recreational vehicles to participate in one or more of the many opportunities available to combine travel and service.

IGRAC: Paul Widicus reported that there is a new direction now in the Conference. He spoke about becoming “Welcoming Congregations to God’s Banquet Table.” He also talked about the program that is being expanded to help moving United Methodist to find the nearest United Methodist Church.

New Business: Jerry Motsinger moved and Bill Schumaker seconded that the IGRAC UMM develop a web-site, and also a list of those who have e-mail addresses. Motioned carried by unanimous affirmative vote.

Old Business:
Vest for Purdue: Steve West moved and Tom Bellegante seconded that we order vests for Purdue to identify IGRAC attendees at the best price available. The officers have the authority to make the final decision. The motion carried by a unanimous affirmative vote.

Nomination for a District President to serve on Executive Committee:Steve West was nominated and accepted this responsibility. Nomination carried by a unanimous affirmative vote.

Executive Committee Meeting February 10,2001: The meeting will be held at Asbury Church in Springfield beginning at 10:00 a.m. Frank Hamra will serve as host.

Executive Committee Meeting May 12, 2001: The meeting will be held at Normal First Church beginning at 10:00 a.m. Larry Lawler will host.

Adjournment: David Johnson moved that the meeting be adjourned. Bill Schumaker led a benediction.

L. Barton moved that treasurer Ralph Harris be authorized to pay outstanding bills regarding the retreat. Motion seconded by Dan Henry and approved.

Ralph Harris' treasurers report was submitted for approval showing a balance on hand of $6237.63. L. Barton moved for it's approval, seconded by Jim Bolinger. Motion was approved.

A Mission work opportunity led by David Prussner of Vermilion River District was mentioned. It is a work project in Monterey, Mexico, which is ecumenical. David's group will leave from Chatsworth on January 6th, travel 2.5 days into Mexico, and return on January 20th.

Payments were authorized for the Native American group and the El Paso singers of $100 each.
It was also suggested and approved that a love offering for their ministries be received.

Discussion was held regarding the IGRAC annual retreat and the added activity of the 2001 Odyssey at Purdue. Larry Lawler moved the we go for a one day rally to be located in Springfield from 9 to 4 pm on a Saturday to be determined by the committee but some time following the Purdue event. A committee for planning was appointed by George Bolinger of: Bill Lawrence, Harold Isbell, and Larry Lawler. This committee is charged with the planning of the 2001 and also the 2002 IGRACUMM rally/retreat(s).
Meeting closed with prayer.

IGRC United Methodist Men

Full Council Meeting

October 25, 2007

United Methodist Conference Center - Springfield, IL

Minutes

A welcome was provided by Jerry Motsinger. A Bible Study/Devotion was led by Chaplain Paul Espy based on Genesis 12 about the faith of Abraham and Issac. He asked if we could have that much faith. Several personal comments were made related to the devotion.

The Secretary’s report from Kim Hellenga from the last Full Council meeting of February 10, 2007 was examined. Motion to approve was made by Steve West and second was made by Jim Bolinger. The motion carried.

IGRC United Methodist Men

Full Council Meeting

February 10, 2007

Minutes

The Treasurer’s report was given by Jerry Motsinger, in the absence of Ralph Harris. According to the report, our balance as of 12/31/2006 is $3356.04, not including the monies in the holding fund.

IGRC United Methodist Men Full Council Meeting

November 11, 2006

The Secretary’s report from the January 28, 2006 full council meeting, as written by Kim Hellenga, was discussed and approved.

IGRC United Methodist Men Full Council Meeting -January 28, 2006

Minutes

The Treasurer’s report was given by Ralph Harris. Our bank balance is $3456.92.

Jan 22, 2005 IGRC Conference Center, Springfield, IL

January 31, 2004

Asbury UMC, Kankakee, IL