After almost two years of working around the challenges of COVID-19, the Mid-America Union Conference invited a limited number of individuals to participate in person during annual Year-End Meetings, hosted at the union’s headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska. The week of Nov. 15-18 saw a level of activity akin to pre-pandemic times, as Adventist educators, youth directors, ministerial directors, Hispanic ministry coordinators, treasurers and communication professionals met in separate groups to celebrate accomplishments and lay plans for the future. Attendees followed local health guidelines throughout the week, including wearing masks and using hand sanitizer frequently.
Human Resources personnel and executive secretaries hosted virtual or hybrid gatherings. The MAUC Board of Education and the MAUC Executive Committee also met virtually, since there is not room to socially distance large groups in the union’s office building.
The ministerial directors met on Union College’s campus with theology students to become acquainted and discuss potential job opportunities, while the educational superintendents and principals met with education majors at Union for the same purpose.
“The highlight was the Union College Pizza Feed on Tuesday evening where we enjoyed good food and shared the mission and value of working in Adventist education with our preservice teachers,” said LouAnn Howard, education director for the MAUC.
The conference youth directors met with incoming MAUC Church Ministries director Tyrone Douglas and together the group decided that the Mid-America Pathfinder Camporee that had previously been scheduled for August of 2022 will not be held, due to lack of time for the new team to plan and prepare for it.
As usual, the MAUC Presidents Council convened the day before the Executive Committee meeting to discuss ideas and potential proposals. “It’s good to be able to meet in person again,” said MAUC president Gary Thurber. “Our team is committed to working closely with all other church entities in preparation for the General Conference Session to be held in St. Louis and the International Pathfinder Camporee scheduled for 2024 in Gillette, Wyoming.”
Thirty-three individuals attended the virtual Executive Committee meeting on Nov. 18 to receive reports, vote on the minutes of previous meetings and approve scholarship and internship applications as presented by Hubert J. Morel, Jr., vice president for administration of the Mid-America Union. The group also received the Compensation Review Committee’s recommendation and voted the appropriate credentials for all union employees, along with parsonage exclusions for the six ordained ministers employed by the union for 2022.
MAUC vice president for finance David VandeVere presented a review of the union’s finances (his first since taking office on October 1), and an update on the 2022 budgeting process. “There’s a learning curve for me,” said VandeVere, who is accustomed to working with a significantly larger budget. “It’s a different kind of budget,” he added, in comparing a conference’s budget to a union’s budget.
During his report on the progress of Hispanic Ministries in Mid-America, Roberto Correa stated that membership was at 8,234 to date, with the newest Hispanic group meeting in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Hispanic coordinators are planning for over 200 local sites to host evangelistic meetings in 2022. In addition, a youth congress is being planned for 2023. Correa pointed out that since many Hispanic young people are not currently attending Adventist schools there is a special need for hosting the youth congress.
View the Mid-America Union calendar of events
Savannah Carlson (right), HR director and assistant communication director for the Minnesota Conference received the Excellence in Communication Ministry Award during the MAUC Communication Advisory last November for her outstanding work in creating and sharing digital content during the pandemic. Communicators from local conferences and other church entities, including AdventSource, Union College, AdventHealth and Christian Record Services, participated in multiple workshops and discussion groups throughout the day.
