President Clyde Kilough opened the conference with a presentation focused on visionary leadership, mentioning the example of Herbert Armstrong and the compelling vision he had for the work of the Church. He reminded us that we are all still benefiting from the "capital" Mr. Armstrong built up over the years and that it may be time for us to invest in the future.

Next, Jim Franks, Ministerial Services operation manager, guided us through some interesting statistics on the full-time ministry, projecting 10 years into the future (2017) and illustrating where we might find ourselves if, on average, our pastors chose to retire at age 70. We were startled to learn that we may have as many as 46 pastors retiring over the next 10 years! As Mr. Franks continued to present statistics on the number of new ministers we would need to find and train over the next few years, he made it clear that an expanded training center would play a key role in helping us meet this challenge.

During the course of the conference, each regional pastor presented a brief update on his region. Other topics covered included a media update by Larry Salyer, a Feast of Tabernacles update by Doug Horchak, a ministerial training update by Richard Pinelli, an Education Program update by David Register, manpower discussions and a presentation describing proposed changes to the annual appraisal process for pastors.

In attendance were Ken and Kathy Giese (South Central Region), Bruce and Phyllis Gore (Southeast), Larry and Bonnie Greider (Southwest), Jim and Lois Haeffele (Florida), Mike and Zelda Hanisko (North Central), Denny Luker (Northwest), Larry and Linda Neff (Mountain), Greg and Marian Sargent (Central), Paul and Jane Suckling (Northeast) and Lyle Welty (Great Lakes).

As always, we enjoyed spirited discussions on a variety of topics, excellent food and fellowship and a chance to enjoy the hospitality of the home office. UN