To: General Councilors, Society Presidents, and Field Representatives

The Community Church of the Pacific to which Dick and Cheryl Prince belong has organized the Center for Life Enrichment at 2088 Beryl Street, Pacific Beach, CA. This Center was organized to serve the whole person and engages in counseling, workshops, seminars, and professional training. Dick is serving (on a part-time basis) as one of the six staff members of' the Center. This is an excellent example of the kind of "leavening" activity which I hope will evolve in the Urantia movement. We should like to congratulate Dick for this creative involvement in this service in the San Diego community.

The Executive Committee discussed the 'Licensing. Agreement for present Urantia societies which was submitted to them last month by the Foundation. There was unanimous agreement that the new document is an excellent statement of the principles involved, both in granting societies the use of these service and membership marks and in the proper control of their use for posterity.

I contacted the Oklahoma, Orvonton, and Houston societies who had had some serious reservations concerning the former Confirmatory Agreement. In informal discussions through letters, by phone, or in person, leaders or committees from the Oklahoma and Orvonton societies expressed satisfaction with the proposed Licensing Agreement. Allen Brazell of the Houston society wrote suggesting that more time be given to study the Licensing Agreement.

He plans to send his critique of the Licensing Agreement to members of the General Council.. The Executive Committee, desiring to be as patient and understanding as possible, decided to postpone their official adoption of the Licensing Agreement until next month.

You may be interested in an evaluation of The Urantia Book made by the Christian Research Institute of San Juan Capistrano, California. It is a rather typical fundamentalistic reaction. It laments that there is no atonement doctrine and points out that a literal resurrection of the body is denied. The report says (incorrectly) that almost every Christian doctrine is repudiated and claims (falsely) that the Thought Adjuster concept is pantheistic.

Fundamentalists consider the theology of mainline Christianity "liberal," "humanistic," and "non-Biblical." Therefore, they would find the theology of The Urantia Book equally objectionable; whereas some of the more liberal theologians of mainline Christianity would find some of the concepts in The Urantia Book too conservative!

Julia reports that almost all of the Field Representatives have recommended that their meeting be held in August at or close to the time of the General Conference. As soon as we receive Julia's detailed report we will set the specific time in August when the Field Representatives will hold their meeting.

The Executive Committee has set the time of the 1978 General Council meeting for 10:00 A.M., Saturday, August 12, at 533 Diversey Parkway.

Raymond L. Louie of Burnaby, B.C., Canada, was accepted as a Member-at-Large.

We hope that all of you enjoyed the relaxation or reversion of the holiday season. Looking into the new year, I hope that we can become increasingly integrated as a Brotherhood and that the Licensing Agreement difficulties may soon be a thing of the past.

Many promising experiences are on the horizon of the future. We hope that we shall soon be considering study groups who are ready to be chartered as societies. The 1978 General Conference promises to be an exciting and inspirational meeting of students of The Urantia Book from far and near.

New activities and services promise to "leaven" segments of our society. We would urge you to be imaginative and resourceful in initiating the potentials of ministry to your fellows. May we experience the exhilaration of progress in 1978.

Cordially,

Meredith J. Sprunger, President