Report – 2017 National Convention and Business Meeting

Date: May 4, 2017 

Location 

The Convention took place at Durham Full Gospel Church 419 Brock Street N. Whitby, ON. We are very grateful for the great hospitality of the church pastors and staff.

Attendance

This year we counted 47 members and 15 guests who attended.

Theme of the Convention

“Back to the Beginning”  “. . . continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house,. . . “Acts 2:46

Devotional

Rev. Terrence McCarron, pastor of Durham Full Gospel Church, shared from John 7:38 “ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” He ministered to us on the need to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through us that we might do the works of God..

Business Meeting

Dr. Mingardi reported on the new developments and the future direction of ECAMFC.

The development in 2016 focused on these areas:

• Improving communication by our communication channels
• Improving support by the services we provide
• Encouraging participation by members working together

The 2016 results are:

• The Financial Audit for the 2016 was approved by the Board of Directors and will be uploaded on the website.
  • The analysis from 2013 to 2016 shows an income increased to $22,2740.
  • The 2016 expenses increased by $5872 mostly due to salary of the part time executive assistant.
  • Nevertheless, we had a surplus of $711.
• We achieved our goal for 2016 to increase membership by 10%.
• We expanded the Membership levels to include: ministry student, lay minister, licensed minister and ordained minister.
  • They all will pay $200 annual membership dues.
  • All levels can take BEI courses at no charge.
  • Ministry students and lay ministers must work under supervision of an ordained minister who evaluates their readiness to apply for the next level.
  • The first lay minister is added to the membership at this convention.
• In 2016 we had 7 regional meetings.
• ECAMFC provides free associate logo to those ministries that subscribe to our directives and policies.
• The new executive assistant carried out number of projects and improved our support of our members by responding to their prayer requests.

Planned developments include:

• We will review the curriculum of the Extension Bible Institute to clarify the educational requirements and offer different options on how to satisfy them.
• We will update our website to reflect all changes.
• We are planning a new, improved website to advertise for members’ availability and vacant positions.
• We are developing of policies to satisfy increasing government requirements. These will be made available to our members.

Election of the President 

There was no election this year as Rev. Gordon Williams asked that his name be removed from the ballot in favor of Dr. Mingardi who was then acclaimed as the president for 2017. All other officers agreed to serve another term.

Officers of ECAMFC for 2017

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

Fellowship Lunch 

The Durham church provided a wonderful chicken dinner. As usual, this was a good time to re-connect with our friends and members at a personal level.

Ordination Ceremony

Rev. Gordon Williams, in keeping with our theme this year of “Back to the Beginning” spoke about the characteristics of the first century church. He reminded us of 1 Corinthians 14:26, “How is it then brethren when ye come together every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine hath a tongue hath a revelation hath an interpretation; let all things be done unto edifying.”  This New Testament describes how the church should be. He gave an overview of the 15 gifts of the Holy Spirit and spoke about how they could be incorporated so that everything would be “decent and in order.” He also provided a booklet entitled “Guidelines for House Church Meetings” to all the convention attendees. He presently has established 14 hose churches

This brochure is available from The Gordon Williams Evangelistic Association Inc. [www.http://gordwilliams.com/] to all who did not attend but would like to set up a house church.

Ordination of New Members:

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

1. Brent McLaughlin – Upgraded from Licensed to Ordained
2. Aileen Yap – Lay Minister
3. Dennis Glazier – Ordained
4. Isylma [Ruth] Bastado –  Licensed
5. Paul Anyoti – Upgraded from Licensed to Ordained
6. Martin Parada – Licensed
7. Julian Zelaya Pompilio – Ordained

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

 You can download the brochure of the National Convention 2017 by clicking here.