The DHF of NC Leadership Council met in regular session on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 at Pleasant Hill Christian Church with five members of the council present.  The meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Gary Edens followed by a devotion by Rev. Lynn Maxwell on Romans 12.  In the first verse Paul calls us to become a living sacrifice for Christ.  In verse 9 (NIV) Paul says “Love must be sincere. . .”  This statement sets the foundation for the rest of chapter 12.  Everything covered by verses 9-21 must be done in sacrificial love.   The truth is that for us to truly live the Christian life that Paul lays out, the foundation of everything must be based on God’s love, “agape” love, since love, love without any form of hypocrisy.  The way we learn this love is found in verse 2 (NIV), “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. . .”  The more time we spend meditating on God and his Word, the more we are transformed and renewed and the more we are able to love and live out God’s perfect plan for our lives.

Lynn read the minutes from our last meeting on Nov. 5, 2016.

1. Gary is still working on contacting Rev. Kevin Ray of DHF and having certificates made for all churches identifying them as belonging to DHF.  Lynn has also not completed a draft of a membership certificate for churches belonging to DHF of NC.
2. Betty Stowe is still working on the best solution for a debit/credit card for our fellowship. A motion was made to add Danny Bailey, from Amity CC, to our fellowship checking account as a backup for Betty.  A motion was made by Rev. Roger Noble and seconded by Gary Edens.
3. Advertising Campaign.
   1. Betty Stowe placed an ad in the Sun Journal for DHF of NC to be printed once for four weeks. The cost was $134.16.
   2. Lynn placed our ad in the Goldsboro-Argus paper to be printed each week for 4 weeks at a cost of $110.16.
   3. Danny Baily placed a color ad in the Pamlico County Compass paper for 3 printings at a cost of $300.00. Amity CC paid for the cost of the ad.  Much thanks to Amity for their generous support.
   4. Lynn received a quote from the Johnstonian News, Inc. which has three newspapers: Kenly News, The Selma News, and the Princeton News Leader with a readership of over 7,000+ readers. The costs for one printing in all three papers and a week on each papers Web site is $252.00.  The group approved going ahead with this offer. Since the News And Observer turned out to be cost prohibitive, this will allow us to have some coverage up in this area.
   5. Lynn has not received a quote from the Jacksonville and Kinston papers yet, but the group indicated they wanted to ensure we were advertised locally.
   6. We also need to locate some local papers up in the Edenton area or around Little Washington, as well as Beaufort County. If anyone has any recommendations, please let us know.

4. We are working on plans for the seminars on March 18, To-date we have not identified anyone to make presentations on women’s and men’s ministries.  It was also recommended that we include information on youth and young adult ministries as well.  The goal of these seminars is to increase participation in the core ministries of the church.  Gary noted that Rev. Kim Holley has done a lot of research in young/young adult ministries and it may be that she could lead in this area.  Lynn will check with Kim.
   1. Lynn will contact Mount Olive College to see if they have anyone who could lead these seminars.
   2. Lynn will contact Kim Holley and ask her to contact Campbell University for possible support in this area.
   3. Lynn will check with Kim to see if FCC Richlands would be willing to host the seminars.
   4. If we should have a requirement for additional seminar topics, Danny Bailey mentioned that their minister, Rev. Kenny Conner, has presented some excellent sermons on the history of our country and the religion of our founding fathers. Perhaps Kenny could offer a seminar on this topic.  Also, Rev. Jack Mumford’s seminar on prayer was a huge success at our last seminar and might be willing to do it again.

5. Gary reported on the needs of the Wrapped In Love ministry, which was adopted as the first ministry supported by DHF of NC. Jeremy Holley appreciated the generous donation we made to the ministry in 2016.  Jeremy said that they need approximately $3,500 to completely stock the trailer and be ready to meet any need.  They have several fund raisers upcoming to help fund the equipment needs, but asked if we would be willing to make another donation in 2017 to help fulfill their needs.  Lynn made a motion to donate another $1,000 to Wrapped In Love ministries.  Roger Noble seconded the motion and the group approved the motion.  A check was delivered to Jeremy Holley after our meeting.

6. In accordance with our constitution, Lynn and Gary are scheduled to rotate off of the council this year and be replaced by two new members. The constitution say:

“Nominations for new Council members will be announced to the Fellowship by the Leadership Council sixty (60) days before the expiration of a term.  All nominations received will be reviewed by the current Council members and voted on by the member churches.”

Since the next gathering of DHF of NC churches will be held on Sep. 16, 2017, an announcement to the churches for nominations should be in the hands of the churches by July 16, 2017.  Churches will make recommendations to the Council who will then make their recommendation to the churches for approval.  The new officers should be installed at our gathering in September.

7. Betty Stowe will forward the year-end financial report to Rev. Kevin Ray in accordance with the conditions of our membership.

8. Due to need for finalizing plans for our seminars, the next council meeting will be held on Sat. Feb. 18^th at FCC Richlands at 10:00 a.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lynn Maxwell