News from the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of the Christian Reformed Church met in Grand Rapids, Mich., on February 27-28, 2014. Here is a round-up of some of the conversations at that meeting:

• The board heard reports from

—Diversity in Leadership Planning Group Implementation Team.
—Christian Reformed Home Missions.
—Task Force Reviewing Structure and Culture.
—Strategic Planning and Adaptive Change Team.
—Disability Concerns ministry.

• The board approved a new mandate for Disability Concerns.
• The board ratified the annual plan for the Centre for Public Dialogue of the Christian Reformed Church.
• The board interviewed and nominated Steven Timmermans to be the CRC’s next executive director. A plan for senior leadership transition will be made in consultation with the nominee.
• The board tabled a request from the Safe Church Ministry (SCM) advisory committee for a change in SCM director’s position description to include a requirement that the director report directly to the executive committee of the Board of Trustees if she or he believes an instance of sexual abuse by an employee of the CRC was improperly handled.
• The Leadership Exchange governing board was disbanded.
• The board adopted a revised Banner advisory council mandate.
• The board extended the deadline for the Doctrine of Discovery Task Force (to Synod 2016) and increased its budget by $35,000 over two years.
• The board heard that a proposed change to the budgeting process that would see 10 percent of ministry shares set aside for a strategic response fund is no longer under consideration. "It went poof!" said director of finance and administration John Bolt.
• The board expressed appreciation for the work of Mark Rice, former director of Faith Alive Christian Resources.