ECAMFC National Convention 2016

You can download the brochure of the National Convention 2016 by clicking here.

Date: May 5, 2016
Location
The Convention took place at the Prayer Palace, 1111 Arrow Road, Toronto.
We are very grateful for the great hospitality of the Prayer Palace staff.
Attendance
The National Convention was well attended and, by the afternoon, all seats were taken. We counted about 75 people attending

Theme of the Convention

“I press toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

Devotional

“Trusting God on the Road to Jericho” by Rev. William Main 
Rev. Main shared his experience in coming to God and the beginning and success of Harvest House Ministries and Harvest House Christian Fellowship. Harvest House helps young men through an alcohol and drug program. Through the inner change brought about by faith in Jesus Christ, the program has rehabilitated, instilled self-discipline and reintegrated many of them into society.

Business Meeting

Report of the Business Meeting

Dr. Mingardi reported on the new developments and the future direction of ECAMFC. These focused on three areas:

• Improving communication with our members
• Improving the support we provide
• Increasing participation of our members

The presentation included the following items:

• John F. Craig’s resignation from the Board, for health reasons
• Following ECAMFC’s new Board Member selection guidelines, the Board appointed Rev. Terrence McCarron to the Board of Directors – The members accepted the appointment
• The Board’s decision to pass a bylaw to no longer engage a Chartered Accountant to conduct an external audit. The reason for the new bylaw is that the law does not require an audit when the income is as low as ours. Further, the cost of such an audit would be more than one quarter of our income. Up to now, we were able to obtain the audit at a reasonable cost. The members accepted the new bylaw.
• There was an increase of 8 members since the last convention.
• A comparison of the Financial Audits from 2013 to 2015. Our income decreased by close to $4,000 because some of our members cannot pay for their membership dues. Some are aging and others have financial difficulties. We keep their membership active in order to allow them to continue in the ministry. The expenses did not change significantly. There still was a small surplus.
• We have added a new level of Membership: Lay Minister. This will enable applicants who do not have adequate educational requirement to minister under the supervision of a minister ordained by ECAMFC. The applicants can at the same time take courses to improve their ministerial education.
• The Board is conducting a review of the curriculum of the Extension Bible Institute to clarify the educational requirements and offer different options on how to satisfy them.
• The Board decided to hire a manager to help at the Head Office.
• Some services to the members were improved:
  • Free advertising for our members is available on our website. For now, the ads have two categories: Vacant Positions and Ministers Available
  • During the last 12 months, we had 7 Regional Meetings. These meetings enable members to be informed, receive ministry and know each other. They also are an outreach for new members. The number of people attending these meetings is increasing. We are planning to have 6 Regions each with 2-3 meetings each year.
  • An ECAMFC Facebook page was developed. The page communicates announcements and news to our members.
  • A free Smart Phone App was developed to enable members and anyone interested to connect and receive news about ECAMFC. This is operational and information on how to install it on your smart phone will be available on our website.
  • We developed a new logo for ECAMFC and a logo that our members can use in their materials.
  • We fixed some problems and made some improvements in the website. We also realized that many of our members do not know how to benefit from some features of our website and we will produce some instructions to help them.

Dr. Mingardi described many ways that members can participate and benefit from ECAMFC activities. He stressed that we need to grow to continue to overcome the decrease in income and to improve our services. Our members can make a key contribution to our growth by sharing about ECAMFC, by reaching out, and by inviting others to the Convention and to Regional Meetings.

Additional information  on Dr. Mingardi’s presentation will be available in the members’ area.

Election of the President

The members re-elected Dr. Mingardi as the President for 2016. He received 86% of the votes.

Officers of ECAMFC

• Maurizio Mingardi – President
• Gordon Williams – Vice-President
• Patrick Reid – Treasurer
• Terrence McCarron – Secretary

Fellowship Lunch

As usual, this was a good time to re-connect with our friends and members at a personal level.

Ordination Ceremony

“Finishing Well” – by Rev. Patrick Reid

Rev. Reid gave a message on encouragement in the faith to all of us and about the importance to trust in God and to persevere in our ministry.

Ordination of New Members

Eight new members were received into ECAMFC with the laying on of hands:

1. Rev. Aiden Choi – Ordained
2. Rev Watana Chowattanakul – Ordained
3. Rev. Suchitra Chowattanakul – Ordained
4. Rev. Marilis Gutierrez – Ordained
5. Rev. Jeffrey Kendall – Ordained
6. Rev. Vuyo Mpumlawana – Licensed
7. Rev. Julian Ramirez – Ordained
8. Rev. Judith St. Thomas-Carmichael – Ordained

We welcome all our new members and will pray for their ministry.