The highlight of the year for international Urantia travel was the pilgrimage to Israel for the 2,000th birthday of Christ Michael. Nearly 100 students of the Urantia Book from the United States, Finland, and Canada joined a tour organized by Berkeley Elliott. As we journeyed through Israel, the experiences and teachings of Jesus's life were retraced using the Urantia Book as a travelogue. The trip culminated in a worship service on August 21, in Bethlehem. This event served to re-focus our inner lives of worship and our outer lives of service to the revelation. 

Near the end of September 1994, I traveled with Berkeley Elliott to her final international Urantia meeting in Australia. She and I attended the annual meeting of Australian readers held in the Melbourne area. Martin McBuney organized the conference and it was centered around the theme, "Shepherd's Pie." I was honored to give the keynote address, wherein I discussed my experiences with the Urantia Book in the various cultures of the world. The meeting was attended by nearly 100 readers from many parts of the Australian continent. As the distances are so vast these students of the Book see and visit with each other infrequently, and when they do it becomes quite a joyous occasion. After the meeting in Australia, Berkeley and I visited Susan Hemingsen and her study group in Wellington, New Zealand. 

The Pacific Rim Urantia Conference will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, October 4-8, 1995. The meeting will be sponsored by ANZURA and is being organized by Neville and Patricia Twist. Several members of the Fellowship are planning to attend this gathering. The last Pacific Rim Conference was held in Robertson, New South Wales, Australia nine years ago. If the last conference was any indication; there should be visitors not only from the Pacific Rim but from many other parts of the world. 

The Fourth Urania Conference will be held September 22-26, 1995; and it will once again be a boat cruise down the Volga River. The Fellowship has been represented at all three previous conferences, and several Fellowship members plan to attend this meeting. Byron Belitsos represented the Fellowship last year, and made a presentation. Tatiana Antonyan from Russia and Svetlana Brazienne from Lithuania attended the Scientific symposium last year- as guests of the Fellowship. We have now pursued an informal relationship for several years seeking our common spiritual ground Thus far it has served as a forum to paint in a few broad strokes the teachings in the Urantia Papers. As stated before, true devotees of the Urantia Book await publication of a Russian translation. We know little regarding the progress of the Russian translation sponsored by the Foundation. If on schedule, translating should be finished and the product ready for final editing. Since this may not prove to be the case, the Fellowship should support the Russian translation project proposed by the New York Society. 

Interest in the Urantia Book continues to grow in Latin America. The IFC has continued to send Urantia Books and secondary works to South America. Communication has been maintained in the weekly correspondence by Douglas Fraser, by the visit paid to our South American friends by Rose Lieske, and by other communications from Fellowship members. For various reasons, we have postponed our next visit to South America until early 1996. At the suggestion of Dick Prince, we hope to take a small group and meet in a conference/retreat atmosphere in a rural setting. South American readers express a keen interest in Marvin Gawryn's Reaching High which has now been translated and published in Spanish. There is also great interest among fellowship members to revise and publish a Spanish translation of the Urantia Book in the format being prepared by the Fellowship. 

Berkeley Elliott's morontia soul departed for the Mansion Worlds on January 3, 1995, but her spirit remains with us. To maintain and carry forward this level of activity, and to also consider the increase in international activity attendant upon the Fellowship's publication of the Urantia Book; I have set in motion two initiatives to accomplish these tasks. First, I have made application to establish a public benefit corporation with its mission as the international dissemination of the Urantia Book and its teachings. The tentative name of this organization is the Urmia Foundation. Projects with which this organization will be involved include mailing Urantia Books, communication, education, travel, translation, publication, and outreach. 

Secondly, I have proposed to the executive committee to establish the Elliott Fund. To memorialize Berkeley's dedication to the Urantia Movement, a special fund will be established through individual contributions, and interest income from this fund will be utilized annually on a perpetual basis to foster international travel and exchange of ideas. 

With loss of the copyright by the Urantia Foundation and the decision by the Fellowship to publish the Urantia Book, we are given the challenge of a new level of dedication and responsibility to the Urantia Revelation. We should pause and take stock in ourselves. Dedicated students of the Urantia Book now populate communities throughout Christendom. How much more preparation did the followers of the Fourth Epochal Revelation -have before they were challenged to proclaim the Gospel openly and with power? Is it the Father's will for this movement to experience a period of struggle and preparation and having given this generation of time its full measure of devotion, we now enter upon a new age of activity and engagement? However one interprets our current situation, we have a very great challenge ahead of us to work so our efforts may bear fruit for the generation of readers to follow us.

Respectfully submitted by

John Lange, Chairman for the Committee

Douglas Fraser, Stevie Shafer, Adrienne Jarnigan, and John Hales