Subj: An Open Letter from the Council of Elders Date: 12/4/98

Greetings, The following letter is from the Council of Elder members who are loyal to Dr. Meredith. This letter may be copied and distributed to brethren, as you deem necessary. =============================================================== AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS: Many charges have flown all over the world concerning recent events in the Global Church of God. The brethren have been deeply shaken, hurt and confused. This is an open letter from the majority of the Council of Elders present for the last meeting of the Council. It is our purpose to bear witness of the truth and to set the record straight concerning recent action of the Board of Directors.

During the few days surrounding the third weekend in November the Board of Directors made the most far-reaching decisions since the inception of Global. They had meetings which culminated with the firing of Global's founder and Presiding Evangelist, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith. We pose the question to the Board and to the membership, why was such a dramatic action taken totally apart from any counsel or advice from Global's Council of Elders?

In the bylaws of the Church it is stated that the purpose of the Council of Elders is to give advice to the Board and to the Presiding Evangelist and to help guide the overall direction of the Work in all spiritual and administration matters. At the time of these Board meetings there were eleven functioning members of the Council, five of which were also members of the Board. The Council's membership had been reduced by two in the preceding week. This was first due to the Council's previous action on November 11 suspending Dave Pack from the Council and secondly due to the tragic and untimely death of Colin Adair on November 15. Mr. Pack's suspension had come after an all-day hearing ending at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, November 11. The hearing and suspension were triggered by serious charges brought against Mr. Pack by church members in Michigan. Mr. Pack was present in the room for discussion of the charges. Prior to its Wednesday adjournment the Council decided, with ten members concurring and two abstaining, to suspend Mr. Pack.

Earlier, eight members of the Council had agreed that an outright expulsion of Mr. Pack from the Council was in order. The only three men present in the room to object to Mr. Pack's expulsion were Raymond McNair, Larry Salyer, and Edwin Pope. They were a very distinct minority in the Council meeting that Wednesday. However, when the Board met following Colin Adair's death these three then constituted a majority of the five member Board.

When their Friday meeting began (Nov. 20), a motion was made to remove Carl McNair from the Board (though no charges of misconduct were made against him). Since the motion involved Carl McNair, he couldn't participate in the decision and his expulsion was accomplished by agreement of three out of the four participants (Mr. Meredith strongly dissented from this action). The next decision was to fill Mr. McNair's place by the appointment of Norbert Link, the lawyer. Total control of the Board was now gained by this tiny minority of the Council. If there was a genuine desire to abide by the spirit and intent of the bylaws, why was the Council totally bypassed and left out of the loop in this most important and far reaching of decisions?

We, the majority of the Council of Elders as constituted at the time of the Board action do protest that the Board's actions were made without our advice and contrary to our wishes (as well, we believe, to the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the ministers and members). We call upon this minority who gained control of the corporate entity, Global Church of God, through political stratagems to step down and hand back over corporate control to Dr. Meredith and the leadership which is supported by the vast majority of ministers and members.

For further information concerning these and other matters please feel free to contact any one of us. It is our unanimous intent to continue the Work of God, preaching the gospel to the world and feeding the flock that God has called. Arrangements have already been authorized by us to continue the television and publishing work.

Roderick C. Meredith
Carl McNair
Richard Ames
Dibar Apartian
Charles Bryce
John Ogwyn

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Bob Thiel, 1998 Wow! These comments clearly show how the board gained control of the Council etc. through means which do not appear to be ethical to me.