The DHF of NC Leadership Council met with all seven members present.  Lynn welcomed all four of the new members of the Leadership Council: Rev. Bill Pollack of FCC Richlands, Elder Robert Reynolds of Pleasant Hill CC, Rev. Kenny Conner of Amity CC, and Elder Keith Metts of Tuckahoe CC.

Rev. Bill Pollack opened the meeting with a devotion from John 16:25-33 with the focus on verse 33; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Bill reminded us that trouble in this world is the normal and not the exception.  It is natural to question why bad things happen to good people, but Jesus reminds us that there is no one good except God.  We can all expect troubles in this world because we are living in a fallen world.  Trouble is the common lot of all humankind.  The good news comes from Jesus when he says “. . . be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Rev. Lynn Maxwell updated the attendees on the status of Rev. Kim Holley and Rev. Gary Edens.  Kim has left to assume her new role as Senior minister of Flora Christian Church, Flora, Indiana.  We all pray for God’s blessings upon Kim, her family, and Flora CC.  Rev. Gary Edens is facing open heart surgery at Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk, Va.  Everyone will be in prayer for Gary.

1. Lynn read the minutes from our last meeting on Aug. 19, 2017. Betty Stowe presented the financial report.  Betty noted that to-date DHF of NC has disbursed $5,355 in support of Hurricane Harvey relief.

2. There were concerns raised by some of the churches in regards to which charities we should be partnering with in disaster relief efforts. Some churches were hesitant to support the American Red Cross due to their excessive overhead and restrictions on religious expression.  Lynn will check with DHF to see if they have a preferred charity not only for national emergencies, but international emergencies as well.  Kenny Conner and Danny Bailey will do some research on various charities and report back to the council.  Betty noted that churches could indicate where they wanted their funds to go and she would make sure they went to the designated charity, and would itemize it all in her records.

3. The first order of business for the new council was to elect new officers to lead the council.  After some discussion the council nominated Rev. Bill Pollack as the Leader and Robert Reynolds as the Vice-Leader of the Leadership Council.  We thank them both for their willingness to serve.

4. We reviewed our recent Gathering back in September. Everyone thought that the speaker, music, food and format were just right.  Robert said he would check the date of the Jones County Heritage Festival to make sure our next Gathering did not conflict with it if possible in hopes of improving our attendance.  We also hope to invite churches outside our fellowship to our Gathering in hopes of generating interest.  We should also ensure the word gets to multiple people within a particular church.

5. We discussed the need to identify other churches within North Carolina that have left the Disciples and might be interested in our fellowship. We will initiate an effort to discover the best way to locate these churches. All churches are urged to share any information they might have on potential churches.  We also discussed following up with Rick Vernon about doing a segment on his TV show.  Lynn will also revisit an ad with the News & Observer in hope of a better price than the one we were given earlier.

6. We discussed our vision for DHF of NC. Betty mentioned the need to have a plan on how we will spend our money.  We are blessed with a healthy balance in the bank and we need to be using it in a responsible manner to support some type of worthy mission(s).  Betty said that people like to see their money working and not just sitting in the bank.  We will all consider this and make it a major topic in one of our meetings.

7. We also discussed how to make better use of our Facebook Page by ensuring all our churches can post items of interest to the page. It was suggested that we assign a page editor from each of our churches so everyone can see what’s going on in our churches.  The following persons were suggested as editors:

1. Betty Stowe – Unity CC
2. Maryann Mumford – Otway CC
3. Nannette Pollack – FCC Richlands
4. Perry Rogan – Tuckahoe CC
5. Lynn Maxwell – Pleasant Hill CC
6. Amity CC – needs to appoint someone.
7. Comfort CC – needs to appoint someone.

8. Lynn noted that from time-to-time he does a bulletin insert from the DHF of NC meeting for Pleasant Hill’s church bulletin. Others present said they would like to receive it so they could put it in their bulletins.  Lynn will follow up with this.

9. We discussed that it is time to start thinking about setting a date for our Spring Seminar and identifying topics to be presented.

10. Our next meeting will be held on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 at FCC Richlands at 10:00 a.m. It was noted that if any church would like to host the meeting to please let us know.  The meeting was closed with prayer.