The Epic, Pt. 56

On April 30, 2009 Brother G received a phone call from Elder Ramirez, who said that he would be sending Brother G an email later in the day with minutes of the previous meeting. Elder Ramirez also informed Brother G that the Potomac Conference Executive Committee would next meet on May 28, 2009. (He did not explicitly state whether or not the Group would be allowed to appear at that meeting). He did say that Elder Miller had decided to resume direct oversight of the “process” and wanted to meet with the representatives of both sides of the dispute on May 19. The purpose of this meeting was explained only as explaining the process of presenting this matter to the executive committee. Elder Ramirez also said that the attendees of this meeting would be everyone who had been at the last one plus Elder Miller and two members of the executive committee (Brother G wasn’t told which two or why these additional individuals were to be present). Brother G asked whether Elder Ramirez intended to include the information about the May 19 meeting in the email Elder Ramirez had said he would be sending later in the day. His response was, "No, that's why I'm calling you," but when the email showed up it did include the same information about the proposed meeting.

“Dear [Brother G] and Pastor DeSilva,

“In preparation for the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, May 28, 2009, Bill is scheduling a special meeting with the three representatives from each group for Tuesday, May 19 at 4 pm at the Buccaneer House. Please confirm that you will be able to attend. I am also attaching the minutes from our last meeting. Please review them to ensure that they reflect the content of the meeting. If you have any questions please let me know. Thank you for continuing to be a part of this process. I wish you a blessed day.

“Jorge A. Ramírez”

The minutes Elder Ramirez sent are included below. They have been reformatted slightly in the transition to this forum because Blogger doesn’t seem to acknowledge tabs, but the content is unaltered.

“Takoma Park Church Leadership and Small Church Group Representatives Special Meeting
“April 16, 2009
“6:00 pm
“Minutes

“Present: [Elder J-misspelled], [Elder D-misspelled], pastor Alan DeSilva, [Elder C-misspelled], [Brother X-misspelled], [Brother G] and Jorge Ramirez

“Welcome
“Elder Jorge Ramirez introduced himself and welcomed representatives from both groups. He thanked everyone for being present.

“Devotional
“Elder Ramirez shared a brief devotional from Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, pp. 299-301 dealing with division and discord in the church. An appeal was made to both parties to consider in prayer the unity that can only be achieved in Christ.

“Prayer
“Elder Ramirez offered prayer to begin the meeting.

“Summary of last meeting
“Elder Ramirez briefly summarized the contents from last meeting between [Brother G] and pastor Alan DeSilva. The issue at hand is: ‘The present governance structure of the Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church is not in harmony with the Church Manual. This is notably reflected in the absence of a Church Board as stipulated in the Church Manual.’ After much discussion between the two parties, pastor DeSilva submitted in good faith a proposal to [Brother G] to resolve the disagreement. The proposal was: ‘To add the support and accountability board as part of the church ministries board, as drawn in a flow chart.’ Further, the proposal was subject to the following conditions: (1) Proposal does not in any way suggest that the current governess structure has been outside the boundaries of the church manual, and (2) This proposal is subject to discussion and final approval from the Takoma Park church in business session.

"[Brother G] thanked pastor DeSilva for making this proposal, but indicated that as a representative from the group he would have to present such proposal to them for their consideration.

“Process leading to this meeting
“On February 15, 2009 Elder Ramirez received an email from [Brother G], indicating that the group had met and considered pastor DeSilva’s proposal but had some objections and therefore could not accept it. The group asked that another meeting be scheduled with larger representation from both sides to further discuss the matter.

“Elder Ramirez responded the same day indicating that the group’s request to meet with a larger group was appropriate. He further asked that the names of the three representatives as well as an outline of their objections be send to him in writing before the meeting could take place. He would work on scheduling the meeting date. The requested information was sent in and the meeting was scheduled for Thursday, April 16 at 7 pm.

“Review of process for this meeting
“Elder Ramirez indicated that the Takoma Park church group would have 20 minutes to introduce their objections to pastor DeSilva’s proposal with no interruptions. After their presentation, pastor DeSilva and the church leadership would also have 20 minutes to respond to the objections. After this, the Takoma Park church group representatives would have an additional 15 minutes to add any further comments, followed by 15 minutes of rebuttal by the church leadership representatives. There was consensus by both parties as to the process to be followed for this meeting.

“Takoma Park church group rep’s
“[Brother G] explained that a written statement outlining the group’s objections to pastor DeSilva’s proposal would be read by [Brother X-mispelled], followed by further clarification from other members of the group. Also, he indicated that two additional documents were being distributed as supporting evidence. Eventually, the document showing three columns was disallowed due to the fact that the group’s representatives could not explain it. [Brother X-misspelled] went on to read the three-page paper outlining the group’s objections.

“Takoma Park church leadership
“Pastor DeSilva and the rest of the church leadership responded by pointing out areas of concern and disagreement to the group’s objections. Some of their main observations were: (1) Church Manual is a guideline not doctrine, (2) In large churches such as Takoma Park, sometimes there is a need to create certain ministries and reorganize it’s structure in order to become more effective in carrying the mission of the church. In addition, they reiterated their strong conviction that the present governance structure of the Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church is in harmony with the Church Manual. They requested further clarification on a few items.

“Takoma Park church group rep’s
“Representatives from the group responded to some of the concerns raised by the church leadership. In addition, it was pointed out that the document that gives direction to this new structure was a document that was created by the Conference. Further, it was made very clear that the Paul Borden Report is the main issue. This was a recommendation coming from a Baptist minister.

“Takoma Park church leadership
“The church leadership once again expressed their concerns as to the strong language on some of the issues raised. Once again, it was evident that there was overwhelming disagreement as to the nature of the issue.

“Resolution
“After further discussion, both parties felt that it would be useless to continue the meeting since the disagreements between the two parties remained unchanged. Therefore, it was voted to refer this issue to the Potomac Conference Executive Committee for final resolution.

“It was further agreed by both parties that the Conference Executive Committee would be the final stop in this matter and that their decision would be final.”

The Group, upon reviewing these minutes, concluded that they did not accurately reflect the Group’s understanding of what had taken place in the previous meeting. Beyond the numerous misspellings of names there were other errors, most notably the assertion that both sides had agreed that the decision of the Executive Committee would be final. The Group had always maintained a policy that representatives were not empowered to make agreements, only to present and report the results. This policy had not been set aside for this meeting. Even if it had, none of the Group’s representatives had any understanding of having entered into such an agreement. It was clear that substantial corrections needed to be made to the minutes.

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