The DHF of NC Leadership Council met with six members present, and one guest, Rev. Ray Randall from FCC Richlands.  Rev. Pollack welcomed all and opened with a devotion from Ezekiel 37 centered on Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones, and the question; “Can these dry bones live again?”  The DHF of NC has come out of one body and metamorphosed into a new body.   Can this new body live and grow into a new body with new life, and can we give life to others by our witness for Christ?

1. Bill asked the group to review the minutes from our Nov. 4, 2017 meeting and make any comments as necessary.  The minutes were approved.
2. We discussed our recent response to the hurricane disasters in 2017.  The DHF of NC contributed $5,355.00 to the Red Cross in support of Hurricane Harvey relief.  At our last meeting we discussed some of our churches concerns about contributing to specific charities due to excessive organizational overhead and restrictions placed on religious expression.  The question was raised as to whether we as DHF of NC should solicit funds from our member churches for disaster relief, or whether we should leave such issues with the local church.  It was expressed that we should be very careful not to give the impression that we are trying to make giving decisions for the local churches and that the monies the local church gives to DHF of NC is meant to support programs and ministries to our local churches and local needs as agreed to by the Council.  All members felt we should be very careful in how we spend the funds given to our ministry.  Bill stated the issue as follows: “do we want churches to be autonomous at the local level in making decisions regarding disaster relief, and do we want the DHF of NC to use our monies to target specific programs and ministries of the fellowship only?”  Betty noted that their church has a scholarship fund to help support those going to school for the ministry.  Robert Reynolds said events like natural disasters provide us the opportunity to reach out to help others as a group.  Betty suggested that we leave it open-ended and handle the issue of disaster relief as the needs come up.  Since this subject is not covered by our constitution/bylaws, each church should discuss these issues and Council members should further discuss this issue at our next meeting.
3. The group reviewed our DHF of NC PowerPoint presentation and made several recommendations to improve the content.  It was also decided to add a slide containing the names of our member churches.
4. Bill led us in a discussion on a potential speaker for our upcoming seminar.  Bill has personally attended seminars led by Dr. Jim Fleming from “Biblical Foundations.”  Dr. Fleming has lived in and studied in all quarters of Jerusalem and is currently involved in an Archaeological dig in Israel.  Bill presented the group with an extensive lists of seminars that we can choose from that Dr. Fleming presents.  One that Bill highly recommended was titled “Geography of Bible” which he said made understanding the context of the Biblical stories come alive.  The group highly endorsed Bill’s idea.  Bill has made contact with Dr. Fleming’s office and it appears that two Saturday’s were available in April; the 7^th and 21^st.  DHF of NC would fund the seminars and pay for Dr. Fleming’s travel and hotel needs.
5. It was suggested that as part of our opening for the event we would like to have a congregational choir made up from all the churches to sing a hymn.  We will need to identify one of our piano players who would like to play for the choir.
6. Since we hope to advertise this event and bring in attendance from other churches, the group felt that since FCC Richlands has the largest Sanctuary, it would be good if they hosted the event.  Bill said he could see no conflicts in doing that.
7. In anticipation of an afternoon seminar, it was also agreed that we should have the entire meal catered by a local provider.  This would minimize the burden on the host church and also those coming from other churches.
8. In anticipation of being able to attract other churches that might be interested in the event, Bill said he would talk to his wife Nanette about creating an online registration capability.  This would help in determining how many people to prepare for.
9. Our next Council meeting will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2018, 10:00 a.m. at Unity Christian Church.  Our meeting was adjourned with prayer.

NOTE:  At this time we are waiting on confirmation from our guest speaker, but we are hoping for a date of Sat., May 5, 2018.  More to follow. .