President's Report January 22, 2009

Greetings to the Councilors of The Urantia Book Fellowship.

Here we are together again, rapidly moving into the new fiscal year of 2009. It will not be that long until a President of the Fellowship will be writing a report to the readership in 2050. What will that officer have to say and report on? Will anything we do now be influential to what the Fellowship is working on then? Will any of what we do now have importance in that near distant future?

Currently we have many things of importance to consider, to decide on and to take action upon. Just look at our full agenda for this weekend. From my limited point of view, we can start by defining what we desire from our personal participation in The Urantia Book Fellowship. There is a reason each of us serve, and we in some way intend to see the organization accomplish “things” this year and in the future. We then need to agree on what the organization will accomplish this year and what it strives to accomplish in the decades to come. Easy questions to ask, and difficult to answer succinctly.

We will likely agree that the Fellowship's purpose is the study and dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book. The more difficult aspect of the answer is how the Fellowship will go about the process of studying and disseminating the teachings? As a group, what are we willing to agree upon?

There are many avenues to pursue, the vital question becomes which avenues are the most productive to accomplish what we think the organization should accomplish? In essence, what are our priorities? What do we think are most critical to teaching and disseminating the teachings, is it the study groups, conferences, book distribution, website, Expos, person to person contact, publications, secondary works, education, scholarly pursuits of education or teaching more at the level of the masses?

All are important on some level to be sure. But we can only do so much well, or a lot of things with mediocrity. So the question remains, what are our priorities? We are likely to have as many answers (maybe more) to each of the above questions as we have Councilors in service. So we need to be able to have consensus among ourselves as to what the priorities are and only then can we begin to develop effective strategies to seeing our dreams become reality.

Priorities will change and shift with each passing year. What may have been of the high priority in the past can become one of the lower, and what was a low priority becomes more important in the future. The future seems to do that to our best hopes and dreams, the Supreme effects the best laid plans of mice and men. So each year those that choose to govern the Fellowship's efforts must be willing to review and be ready for possible change in the priorities of our efforts. Nothing stays the same in time and space.

In Buck's International Committee report, he quotes Jesus in his 9th Moronita appearance and his last farewell to the Apostles “…to go into all the world…to every race and nation…to every man, women, and child…and preach this liberating Gospel.” Our Purpose Statement, the one we swear to uphold in our service with the Fellowship says: “The purposes of THE FELLOWSHIP are the study and dissemination of the teachings of The Urantia Book; the promotion, improvement, and expansion among the peoples of the world...”

How do we do that as a United States based non-profit organization? We are not an international organization, so somehow we must be able to reach out and touch people from every nation and culture and do so with the resources we have at hand. I have two answers to this question. The first one is the Internet. We have the opportunity and the resources to become the premiere site for readers around the world if we make it a top priority. We can find and reach out to hungry souls all around the globe from our United States based organization using the tools of the Internet.

The second answer I have can be found in our Universities and College campuses. Some of the brightest youthful minds from all over the world, from every nation, culture, creed and theology can be found in the Universities in our 50 States. Right in our own backyard! We can reach many capable minds with a focused and committed effort and never leave the country. These students will spread the revelation and its teachings to their homes, families and friends.

I do not mean to undermine any of the other efforts of the Fellowship, these just seem so important that they deserve more of our devoted efforts. How to do these efforts will require planning and committed effort. I would hope that every Standing committee and even the ad hoc committees would focus much of their efforts toward strategies that support such priorities.

But that is just my opinion, the decision for such priorities resides with 36 capable and dedicated volunteers, the General Council. The execution resides with the Executive committee and the volunteers that serve each of those committees. To get it done requires support from all of us.

It is my prayer we do our Father's will and I cannot imagine that the Father's will is we strive for average competency, nor can the Supreme desire our efforts accomplish only mediocrity. If we are unable to rise up to the challenge now, then mankind will have to wait for others who are capable and willing of taking on the task. If we accept this challenge, this task, then we can expect to push ourselves to our limits in all areas of the fruits of the spirit, we will explore just how much loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance and enduring peace we each can muster, as individuals and collectively as a group, The Urantia Book Fellowship.

I appreciate all your efforts, your support of the revelation, your joy, your tears and your hope and dreams. It is an honor to be in service with each of you.

Robert Burns, President