Attendees: Bonnie Bates, Convener; David Southard, Recorder; Clarence Price, Lawrence Gilley, Nathan Wright, Ginger Comstock, Deanne Bellinger, Vatsala Ponnuraj, Melva Victorino, Peg Mainusch, Bob Welcher, Marjorie Watrobski, Marcie Agee, Anthony Green, Kay Woike, Dona Roll and Rick Cowles, Upstate Regional Conference Minister.

Bonnie opened our Meeting at 11:15 AM. Bonnie welcomed all and asked us to pray for another member of our Commission, Joe Phillips, who is undergoing a cataract operation. She provided us with copies of today’s meeting agenda. Lawrence provided an opening prayer. David provided a sign-in sheet and asked attendees to add their e-mail addresses. Bonnie commented on the great number of participants (17) at today’s meeting and asked us to introduce ourselves. Anthony Green thanked the Commission for providing funds for a recent Mission trip.

Minutes from the November meeting were reviewed. (Rick made copies for those needing them and David had made an e-mail transmission to most of the attendees, as well). The minutes were accepted, by consensus, as presented.

Web Site was next discussed. Lawrence reported that work still needs to be done. He said to go to the NY Conf. website, if we can’t reach the Commission web site.

Raul’s visit for Mission Possible II and to other locations was described by Nathan and Nathan and others thought the visit had gone “quite well.” Several others at the meeting contributed their comments and there was general agreement that the experience went well for everyone. Raul was said to have enjoyed his visit. He has a good “sense of humor” and is more “progressive” than many of the attendees expected him to be.

Bonnie spoke about some of our members attending the General Assembly of Mision Cristiana, in March, at Mision Cristiana and Raul’s invitation. Margie Price and four (4) others volunteered to attend. According to Rick the approximate cost is $900 for the flight, plus in-country expenses. Much discussion ensued with the conclusion (1) that some of the expense can be borne by our Commission, (2) that we would send (sponsor) two Commission members and (3) that these be Margie Price and Bob Welcher. The plan is that Bob and Margie will attend the Assembly, which begins on March 28, and return on or about April 7, 2008.

Criteria for the global partner visits will be developed on by Bob, Marcie, Nathan and Margie, compiled in our new Yahoo group and shared at our next meeting. Clare proposed additional “study groups” for language and culture. Tony Green will investigate & report to our Yahoo Group. Margie will e-mail David with some info.

Nathan reminded us about the planned visit by our Mision Cristiana partners to the NYConference annual meeting at Silver Bay, June 6-8, 2008. Clare volunteered to ask his congressman to help get Visa(s) approved for visitor(s) from Mision Cristiana.

Bob Welcher reported that Jan Aerie provided Beth Miller as his contact with Global Ministries . We discussed Missionary partnerships. Phyllis Bird will itinerate in June of 2009. Bruce and Linda Hansen will return to Honduras in 2010. Lawrence suggested that we stay in contact with them. Bob will invite them to attend the annual meeting in June, also our next Commission meeting. Bonnie suggested that we continue our relationships with the Barnes, with Phyllis and with Mision Cristiana. We have notified Global Ministries that we will not begin a relationship with missionary Gloria Viscente (Guatemala). Wayne Wilson, formerly a missionary in Swaziland and now Assoc. Pastor at St. Albans UCC, has asked to serve on our Commission.

Melva offered to do the display table for our Global Commission at the annual meeting. She will, also, arrange staffing, so that someone will be there most of the time. Our Commission table should be right beside the NYHELP table.

Bonnie has volunteered to join with the Commission on Ecumenism for their trip to Germany. Clare will discuss with Geoffrey Black. A “Nicaraguan Project” may be planned for an American/German Youth group.

Rick stated he believes we should use our MMI trained people to help provide guidance from our Commission to the method for establishing our conference as a Global Mission Conference. We discussed the process. The new Yahoo Group, which Lawrence will set up for us, will be used to begin working on the guidelines for becoming Global Mission Associations and a Global Mission Conference.

Vatsala shared the mission activities of her church. Bonnie reminded us that we often forget that Prayer is as important as funds and volunteerism to developing and supporting a missionary partnership and becoming a global mission church. Melva offered some suggestions from her church’s mission experience.

Lawrence suggested we nominate someone from our Commission for an annual award or establish/create an Award for the annual Conference. Bonnie will investigate the existence of an award.

For our lunch break, Bob offered to provide grace.

Next on our agenda was The Disaster Response Team (DiRT) discussion. . Clare reported that the November meeting wasn’t held but he passed out the list of team members who he’ll call, including Regional Coordinators, to a meeting, soon.

Ginger provided us with pictures from the Honduras trip in August 2007. She, also, provided us with a project report. 12 people will travel in February and Engineers w/o Borders will work with them on the water project. Sustainable Harvest is a wonderful partner, acc. to Ginger. Another group will travel in July 2008, and Ginger may go with them. She gets questions about school kids being “pen pals” with Honduran kids. It sounds nice, but mail service is bad and the only reliable way to take messages is with travelers, plus, the language barrier is “tough”. NYHELP Budget discussed.

The picture of attendees at Mission Possible was passed around.

Bonnie will e-mail a report to us from the World Council of Churches, which reflects much of what we discussed at the MP II Retreat).

Clare said we should try to hear Barack O’Bama’s speech to the Synod.

We approved holding Mission Possible III in the Fall of 2008. Attendance was good at Mission Possible II.

Nathaniel Cowling requested financial help to go on a mission trip. Marcie moved to provide him with $200, 2nd by Melva, unanimously approved. Clare suggested, strongly, that we establish protocol (rules & procedures) for future such requests. Rick suggested that Nathaniel be requested to attend the annual Youth Event and Bonnie will ask him to attend one of our Commission meetings to report on his trip.

We worked on planning the 2009 Budget for our Commission. We decided to request $1,500 for Mission Trips, $3,000 for Meeting Expense, $7,000 for Global Partnerships for a total of $15,000 for the 2009 NYConf Commission on the Global Church Budget, other expenses remaining the same as 2008 request.

For the next UCC News, Margie will write a review of Mission Possible II, Anthony will write a report from his trip to South Africa and Clare will provide pictures.

Bonnie and Rick stated that they were very thankful for, and appreciative of, our commitment and energy as members of our Global Commission. Rick closed our meeting in prayer (source was Psalm 29).

Our next meeting is Saturday, March 15, 11 AM, at the NY Conference Office.

Respectfully submitted by Recording Secretary David G. Southard.