To: General Councilors, Society Presidents, and Field Representatives

I should like to urge all General Councilors to study the General Councilors reports so that if you have any questions they will be clearly in mind. It would be helpful if you would think through all of the issues which are likely to come up for discussion so that you may contribute effectively to the dialogue. If you have specific suggestions, recommendations, or motions to make, would you put them in writing. It will help in presenting them even if you must alter them at the meeting.

We wish to thank Barney Burton and the Special Projects Committee for preparing a buffet luncheon for us. We will eat around 1:00 p.m. There will be a nominal cost for each councilor.

Our General Conference meeting at George Williams College next week is the most content-packed and complex conference we have ever had. All of us will be frustrated by overchoice. Around 550 people plan to attend. We will have a wonderful time but many of us will probably be emotionally exhausted by the end of the week. But it will be a renewing and refreshing kind of "being spent."

We should like to thank Carolyn Kendall and the Planning and Expediting Committees for the great job they have done. Especially do we wish to express our gratitude to the Brotherhood office staff. They have been literally swamped for weeks.

There seems to be a general feeling that this may be the last General Conference. In the future we may depend on regional conferences to bring people together in smaller numbers. Meetings involving the entire Brotherhood in the future may be limited to leadership meetings of an invitational nature. All of us will want to think about these possibilities in the years to come.

As for now, we are looking forward to the largest gathering of students of The Urantia Book we have ever had with great anticipation. We pray for your safe journey and know that you will have a rich experience in spiritual stimulation and fellowship.

Cordially,

Meredith J. Sprunger, President

MJS/ils