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. Minutes of the Committee for Unity
Met at the home of Wayne Bartrow,
April 1, 2000
The committee meeting convened with Brother Joseph F. Smith presiding and the following members in attendance:
Jack Evens, Dwight Deitrick, Wayne Bartrow, Gary Wheeler, Peter Gould (Secy.)
The meeting opened with a season of prayer. Brother Joseph then gave a brief presentation on recent labors he was involved in (i.e. trip to England). He then read a letter by Charles Green expressing the hope that the purification of the church would begin with the meetings in Kirtland this month. Brother Joseph had contacted the pastor of the local restoration branch in Kirtland and arranged to use their facilities for check-in beginning about 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Joseph also read some of the historical societies’ notes and rules relative to our use of the Temple in Kirtland. Tours will be available between 9:00 and 5:00 on Saturday, and our meeting is scheduled to start at 6:00.
The schedule for our meetings was then discussed as follows:
29th:
6:00 – 6:15 p.m. – Invocation and Welcome – Joseph Smith
6:15 – 6:45 p.m. – Worship and songs – William Whenham
6:45 – 7:00 p.m. – Historical comments – Jack Evans
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. – Prayer Service – Wayne Bartrow
30th
9:00 – 9:30 am – Song Service – William Whenham
9:30 – 11:30 am – Prayer Service – Dwight Deitrick
11:30 – 12:00 p.m. – Closing Comments – Joseph Smith
It was decided that provision is to be made for a record of the meeting – Pete Gould to be responsible to arrange for recorders. Brother Jack Evans suggested that Brenda would also be willing to assist in this. Also nametags are to be used for controlling admittance to the services. The suggestion was made to remind people to refrain from visitation in the temple. These rules are to be noted in the next newsletter. It was agreed to ask the Sanford, MI branch to provide ushers for the services. It was also agreed that thank-you letters should be written to the Kirtland restoration branch, the historical society, and the RLDS presidency for their cooperation in our requests.
We then discussed issues of hardness that have apparently begun to arise among the brethren, and the need to first address these issues with our brothers rather than discussing those problems with others. It was resolved that as members of the committee we set aside any animosity on past issues and resolve matters of concern or hardness between ourselves without evil speaking of one another.
We then discussed the potential for our August meeting to be in Minnesota, hosted by the Bemidji local of the Church of Christ (TL). Peter agreed to verify this agenda item with the saints in Bemidji and return to the committee with a decision. This August meeting needs to be scheduled around the Maine reunion – also in August – if possible.
Wayne then brought up a discussion on the presentation to the CCR (Church of Christ - restored). He expressed the concern that the committee had not really pursued our obligations to solicit some action from the brethren of the CCR, and felt that the matter was rather left hanging. Some discussion of this matter followed. Although no clear action item resulted from this discussion, the general sense of the discussion was to the effect that we need to make our objectives more clear when approaching various organizations in this manner.
Wayne furnished us with a treasurer’s report, followed by a brief discussion of the Reunion, and the need to furnish a list of preachers for publication in the Rod of Iron.
Brother Dwight dismissed the meeting with prayer. Our next committee meeting set tentatively for sometime in May.
Peter Gould, Secretary - Committee for Unity.