TO: General Councilors, Society Presidents, and Field Representatives

It was a rich personal experience to attend the Northwest Get-together held at Wenatchee, Washington, among the rugged hills east of the Cascades on October 1-2. Around a hundred people attended the conference, with a substantial group of people present from Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. One is always impressed with the high quality of people attending these meetings. The beautiful weather and scenery, the warm hospitality of the Wenatchee Society, and the fine quality of the program designed to stimulate fellowship and spiritual inspiration made it an experience which I will long remember.

John Hales and Thomas Kendall attended the mini-conference at Montreal, Quebec, on October 8-9. Around thirty students of The Urantia Book attended the meeting with English and French-speaking people about equally divided. The gathering was quite informal in nature which provided an excellent opportunity for understanding and fellowship among the participants.

Henry Begemann reports some disagreement between the editor of the French news letter, L'Ascendeur, and the Paris Study Group under the leadership of Jacques DuPont. The L'Ascendeur editor, Alain Muraz, apparently is including material in L'Ascendeur indicating The Urantia Book is not in a class by itself. Henry and Jacques plan to initiate another news letter which will represent the views of the Brotherhood and Foundation. The Executive Committee decided to copyright The UrantiaN Journal.

This summer the Oklahoma Society sponsored the showing of a multi-media presentation, Jesus: God and Man, authored by Larry Mullins. Larry and the Oklahoma Society have approached the Foundation with two requests. First, they have asked for permission to give additional showings of this production which the Foundation has given.

Secondly, they have asked for permission to prepare and distribute independently the text of Jesus: God and Man. The text consciously avoids using quotations from The Urantia Book but does draw on facts and terminology from The Urantia Book. This makes it a derivative work and the Foundation trustees feel they have a duty to evaluate the propriety of its publication.

The Foundation has selected an Editorial Committee from the Brotherhood to study Jesus: God and Man, and make recommendation to the Foundation. Their views along with feedback from the Executive Committee will be used in the Foundation decision-making process.

Urantia Brotherhood Corporation discussed responsibilities associated with acting as the distributor to bookstores of Clyde Bedell's CONCORDEX. It was generally agreed that the introductory material in the CONCORDEX needs to be revised. The majority of the members of the Corporation felt that they needed more time to think about this issue before making a decision.

Some of you may not know that Duane Faw is in charge of the religious aspects of Expo 81 which will be held in Los Angeles, Duane has asked Vern Grimsley to be in charge of developing the religious program for Expo 81,, While at Wenatchee, Vern gave me a copy of his first report to the Expo 81 steering committee. The program promises to be exciting.

For those who do not know Duane, he is a retired general from the Marine Corps, Duane served as the chief legal counsel of the Marine Corps and now is a professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law and also serves as an assistant to the president of Pepperdine. Duane and his wife, Lucile, are active members of the First Urantia Society of Los Angeles, Lucile is vice president of the Los Angeles Society.

We should like to congratulate the editorial committee of the Finaliter and its new editor, Charles Olivea, on the Finaliter's new and attractive format. Barbara Kulieke, chairman of the Publications Committee, announced plans for a publications workshop at the General Conference next year.

In Chicago we are experiencing a prelude to winter. We hope that you have warmth of hearth and heart to bring comfort and joy in your struggle to master your material challenges as you grow in spiritual stamina and stature.

Cordially,

Meredith J. Sprunger, President