“The church sent the delegates… ” – Acts 15:3 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters,

This past year has been an exciting and productive one for our cooperating churches. More and more congregations are joining this cooperative effort aimed at coordinating our mutual trans-congregational interests–such as 3rd world missions funding and planting strategy, regional leadership fellowships to sharpen and train full time and lay leaders in a face-to-face context, and national and international conferences.

In accordance with our United Plan for Cooperation, the churches last year, by geographical region, selected delegates to attend a series of meetings before and during the 2006 ILC. At that time, the delegates made various conference location decisions and appointed a committee of nine–a Steering Committee–to oversee the progress of our cooperative effort.

Last week, at the 2007 ILC hosted by Los Angeles, the Steering Committee initiated a series of suggestions which were adopted by the worldwide delegates. These suggestions replaced the past year’s Steering Committee with ten different committees, each with a more clear and specific charge, and chaired by commended brothers (and a sister) who have the willingness, maturity, ability, and passion to move such committees productively forward. The delegates selected each committee chair for a two year service term. They will select committee members as needed. In addition, the delegates elected all six members of a new Strategic Building Committee, whose charge is to bring the voices of expert builders from around the world to the fore–in the form of web articles, interviews, and news updates. So many churches have expressed a need for more teaching on how to build with gold, silver, and costly stones and prayerfully this particular committee can boldly and effectively meet this need.

Together, all of the committee chairs constitute a new Coordinating Committee which will handle the worldwide delegates’ agenda each year and help coordinate needed input for each ILC program.

Here is a summary of the new committees and their respective charges:

  1. Teen Conference Committee (chair: John Porter)–charged with shaping the spiritual program for teen conferences & synergizing on how to build stronger teen ministries.
  2. Campus Conference Committee (chair: Mike Taliaferro)–charged with shaping the program for international campus conferences and synergizing on how to build stronger campus ministries
  3. Singles Conference Committee (chair: Todd Asaad)–charged with synergizing regarding singles’ needs and developing singles’ conferences
  4. Shepherding and Advisory (chair: Sam Powell)–charged with giving profile to the needs and issues of shepherding and with helping resolve trans-congregational problems and conflicts
  5. Missions Coordination (chair: Andy Fleming)–charged with evaluating the funding needs of our mission churches and making any appropriate recommendations
  6. Women’s Ministries Committee (chair: Robyn Williams)–charged with discussing and making recommendations regarding our worldwide women’s ministries to meet needs
  7. Strategic Building Committee (chair: Mike Fontenot)–charged with bringing voices of expert church building and our best practices to the fore and formulating appropriate recommendations to the churches as they have need.
  8. Communications Committee (chair: Roger Lamb)–charged with facilitating communication opportunities, especially via the web, for our worldwide cooperating churches and their leaderships
  9. HOPEww & Benevolence Committee (chair: Mark Templer)–charged with updating our worldwide churches regarding the needs of the poor and our best opportunities to meet those needs
  10. Teaching and Ministry Education Committee (chair: Steve Staten)–charged with encouraging and promoting the continual learning of the Bible and other spiritual studies among our ministers and members.

Each committee is charged simply to serve. There is no authority vested in them, yet prayerfully, their efforts to serve the greater body of Christ will bear much fruit and make every congregation’s work smoother and clearer.

Also, the Delegates decided on the following dates for future international conferences:

  • July 3 – 6 2008 Intl. Campus Ministry Conference — New Orleans, Louisiana — Hosted by the San Antonio Church of Christ
  • August 29 – 31 2008 Intl. Singles Conference — Dallas, Texas Hosted by the Dallas / Ft. Worth Church of Christ
  • October 8 – 12 2008 Intl. Leadership Conference “The Edge” — Kiev, Ukraine Hosted by the Kiev Church of Christ
  • April 14 – 17 2009 Intl. Conference of Youth Ministry — Chicago, Illinois Hosted by the Chicago Church of Christ
  • July 2009 Intl. Campus Ministry Conference — North America: Hampton Roads, Virginia and Seattle, Washington: Other Continents: TBD
  • October 2009 Intl. Leadership Conference — Denver, Colorado Hosted by the Denver Church of Christ

On behalf of the now-dissolved Steering Committee,

Mike Fontenot
Shawn Wooten
Dinesh George
Sam Powell
Mike Taliaferro
Scott Green
Mark Templer
Al Baird
Bruce Williams

For further observations and comments on the International Leadership Conference: