General Vice President for the Lake Union Conference, Carmelo Mercado, opened today’s Executive Committee with prayer and a devotional based on Matthew 18:1-6. He focused on the question asked of Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” and Jesus response, “He who humbles himself as a little child.” Joseph and Mary, the parents chosen for our Savior, Jesus, were highlighted as examples of being humble enough to choose the call of duty to their God, even though it involved sacrifice of reputation, status, and being put in tight situations. God is looking for followers today who have humble hearts like Mary and Joseph, and regardless of the consequences, will follow Him faithfully because it’s the right path to choose.

During President Titus Naftanaila report, he highlighted several events happening, including Milwaukee South Hispanic Company organizing as a new church, the Milwaukee School’s recent accreditation for six more years, the 12 baptisms in Durand following the recent conference-wide Prophecy Countdown evangelism, upcoming Wisconsin Camp Meeting, the Lake Union Constituency Session, and the upcoming General Conference Session being held in St. Louis, MO, June 6-11. With the following slides, President Naftanaila proposed the “I Will Go” strategic plan for our conference as the new focus for the 2022-2026 quadrennium.

Voted/Approved: April 6, 2022, minutes

Voted/Approved: Baptism / Membership transfers

Voted/Approved: Discussed and recommend to October 16 Wisconsin Conference Constituency Session the following change for Section 7 of Wisconsin Conference Constitution and By-laws:

Voted/Approved: New Risk Management Committee terms as recommended by Risk Management

Executive Secretary/Treasurer Brian Stephan shared that tithe is down 3.52 % year to date, but, if we remove a windfall tithe received last year, we would actually be up a bit. Wisconsin Budget is down 8.03% from last year, but if we remove the windfall from last year, it is not down too much. Our cash on hand is up 55% over last year. “The Lord has given special blessings over the past three years,” said Brian. “The Lake Union and Payroll Protection Plan gave us money to help us through the pandemic in 2020. Then, in 2021, we had limited activities in our conference due to the pandemic, plus we experienced a 9% tithe increase. Now, in 2022, we are blessed by yet another source of income. In a normal year the conference receives maturities of trusts and annuities somewhere between $50,000 to $250,000 dollars. However this year we have already received maturities of over $750,000. Medical costs at this point are below what we experienced over the last two years. We praise God we are within our planned budget, and are still able to be building up our reserves. Overall, Brian reported a strong Financial Statement for April, 2022.

Auditing Committee Chairman Rodney Hahn told us the auditors came and reviewed our records recently, and we are thankful to have a positive clean financial statement.

Ministerial Director Adam Case shared an exciting report regarding the recent conference-wide evangelism effort, Prophecy Countdown – highlights are listed in the slide below. He expects we are off to a good start for next year’s outreach as well, as 26 evangelistic efforts already have funding approved. He is expecting to have about 75 funded by the end of the year. The goals set for 2022 were 2,400 Bible studies, and 240 baptisms. Where we are at this point is illustrated in the first chart below. With the other slides, he shared some other insightful and revealing statistics regarding our pastors and lay-pastors, our retirement situation in the North American Division, and what the “Great Advent Movement” of pastors looks like in our conference over the past few years. While statistics are useful, Adam reminded us that we are about God’s work and shared the perspective of Psalm 108, “My heart is steadfast.”

Next, our Hispanic Ministries Coordinator, Evelio Miranda, enlightened us about the many events happening here in Wisconsin with our Hispanic brothers and sisters. From Department Training, Global Youth Day, Women’s Ministries, Children’s Ministries Training, Brotherhood Day, JAHWI Leaders Retreat, Metropolitan Youth Rally, Hispanic Children’s Spiritual and Sports Day, to Hispanic Camp Meeting, they are a busy group with a focus on outreach. Evelio also shared that Hispanic title is trending up, as the chart below shows. Hispanic tithe is about 14% of our Wisconsin tithe giving.

Youth Director Zack Payne gave us a quick rundown on club ministries, summer camp and more. The highlights are listed on the slides below.

Before the Executive Committee went into Executive Session, President Titus Naftanaila shared that Communication Director Juanita Edge will be stepping down from her duties the end of June, 2022. She has served as Communication Director for 12 years, was also Health Ministries Coordinator for eight of those years, and worked alongside her husband at Camp Wakonda for 10 years prior to that.

Juanita Edge, Communication Director