2:05 New ministry for special needs: Adventist Possibility Ministries.
New initiative on sexual abuse prevention is being developed. Seventh-day Adventists have lower incidence of this kind of abuse, but any occurrence of it is too much.
Stay tuned . . .
Live Stream: https://live.adventist.org/en/events/event/go/2019-10-11/2019-annual-council/
Bettina Krause elected as associate director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL).
“The front line is the part of the army closest to the enemy” Hensley Mooroven.
Treasurer of NAD used to be automatic associate treasurer of GC. That has been stripped from current policy. Passed.
2:36 “Removed for cause” has added members of executive committee.
Tithe reduction provisions will come up tomorrow afternoon . . .
Annual Council Location & Local Conference Presidential Invitees
Ted Wilson: NAD requested policy items to be looked at. For the last 11-years a provision has benefited one Division. Previously— when an Annual Council was held — local Conference Presidents were allowed voice but no vote in Annual Council. Last time an Annual Council was held outside of the US was in Manilla 2008…
We anticipate future Annual Conferences to be held at the GC, for financial reasons. Cost at least 700k more to hold outside of US. Thus, we will eliminate the voice and vote for local Conference Presidents.
Dan Jackson: Thanks Conference presidents. Expresses concern - this may not be the best for the well-being of the church. Says NAD Conference presidents are important to the mission of the church. Says he voted for this measure in the previous committee, although.
Ted Wilson: Presidents can attend GCAC meetings to observe and learn. Space is limited however. Anyone can attend Annual Council, as long as you can make it by security. :)
Speaker at the mike, makes emotional appeal to not do this. Says that there are two Union Presidents who may be disciplined in a few days and coupled with that sends an “interesting message to the NAD.”
Randy Roberts: Understands the reason for this change. However, he is concerned that it is sends a subtle message that authority in the church bypasses local pastors and NAD conference presidents. Warns against it.
Speaker at mike: Please be careful not to distress or affect our people in the NAD.
Point of Order: reread the section. Focus on the motion, not esoteric unrelated issues.
Speaker: There is no discrimination in what is being proposed.
Israel Leito: This open new wounds. [Unclear on what those “wounds” are.] Loss of authority perhaps. May make an amendment.
Parlimentarian (Karnick) says amending a deletion is hostile to the motion.
GT Ng: This item came as a request from the NAD. This action is not about diminishing anybody, but an NAD request for policy parity.
Alex Bryant (NAD): This specific request did not come from the NAD. Says the NAD requested other policy changes.
Hensley Mooroven: There is no need to have NAD presidents having voice at Annual Council.
Swiss President: Proposal makes sense. Did the GCAC decide to have AC meetings solely in the US?
Ted Wilson: We will not have the money to hold AC in other parts of the world in the foreseeable future. That said, there is no prohibition of Conference Presidents from attending AC meetings. What is being proposed is— not giving them voice. If the NAD truly wants parity—we have worked hard on this aspect. The NAD wants a level playing field, including financial aspects. Union Presidents represent the local field. Conference Presidents are not needed in this meeting—they are free to attend their respective Division year-end meetings.
Karnick: This issue will be seen again at GC Session, if it is voted and passed.
Juan Prestol: I regret the ambiance of this discussion. There is an element of fairness in this. The voice of Conference Presidents are heard in other places. This motion is fair. People are almost dragging us into the conversation tomorrow afternoon. We simply don’t have the funds to hold this AC meeting in other locations, and to automatically give local Conference Presidents voice just because they live in North America is not fair or reasonable. You cannot have parity and this too.
Israel Leito returns to the mike, says that me intended to table the motion, not amend it. [That is not what he said, and the moderator confirmed it.] The moderator however, allowed the motion to table to go forward.
Calling for the vote. Green means yes. Red means no.
Tension is palpable . . .
Not everyone seems to have the voting cards…
Motion to table… If you accept the motion to table discussion will end.
Members of Executive Committee asked to stand.
Ted Wilson speaking. Tabling a motion means you are taking this item and putting it off. The vote is that is you want to put it off indefinitely—vote yes. If you want to settle this issue today—vote no.
Voting …. looks close from the press box. Waiting on the tally of hands.
152 yes votes. 116 no votes. Motion to table carries.
What this means is that the changes to the Constitution & Bylaws that would remove voice from NAD Conference President invitees has been tabled. It could be brought up later.
The decision to delete Section 7 has been moved to motion to table. There will be no further discussion on the matter as of now. However, this portion will be visited at a later time. #GCAC19 Watch Live: https://live.adventist.org/en/events/event/go/2019-10-11/2019-annual-council/…. ANN
4:20 PM — Ministerial resources presentation.
4:27 — break
Artur Stele — We are people of the Book. Resolution on the Holy Bible.
Resolution on the Bible passed. They do these resolutions every year.
Resolution on the Spirit of Prophecy passed.
ASI guideline changes being discussed (model constitution). Motion made.
Steve Dickman (ASI President) speaks on behalf of ASI and this motion. Motion passes.
Change of status — Belize. 11.9% of the population is Adventist. 421,088 total population / 46K SDA members.
4:52 — Ethiopian Union will be split into two Union missions due to growth there—both economic and members. 2011-2018, Tithe has grown 154% there. Membership grew from 122k to 205k. Motion passed unanimously.
Live-streaming will be cut off, as GCAC discusses two sensitive items relating to the work in Asia. There will be some reorganization of territories there. Certain governments in that area can be hostile towards religions.
First motion passed.
Second motion passed
Voting system for the 2020 GC Session being discussed.
New hybrid voting system being introduced. Some desired features:
Privacy of the voter
Credibility and reliability
Transparency
Speed
Simple verifiability
Cost effective
Watching video on the new voting process. Voting delegates are given a special ballot(s). Ballots will be fed through scanner. There are a yes or no side to the ballot. If you put both (yes and no) in the container, your vote will be voided.
New hybrid voting card.
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