Since our last meeting the president of the Houston Society, James Jarnagin, sent us their signed Licensing Agreement which was turned over to the Foundation. They in turn executed the document and it has been returned to the society. This brings to a close an important project of the Foundation and Brotherhood in their efforts to insure that future generations can identify the original text of The Urantia Book. Now all societies have signed the Agreement and it is a requirement for new societies to do so. The "show cause" hearing that had been scheduled by the Judicial Committee has been cancelled since its only purpose concerned the issue of the Licensing Agreement.

I should mention that the project to obtain Licensing Agreements from all the societies was not accomplished with ease. Since 1975 there was a great deal of effort spent by many individuals to insure that a document was created that would best meet the objections raised while still insuring the purpose for which it was intended. There are many who deserve special thanks.as well as many I am unaware of who helped open up and maintain the dialogue necessary for this task. Three that deserve special thanks are past presidents Paul Snider and Meredith Sprunger, and Berkeley Elliott. I can only echo Duane Faw's statement in his recent letter to the members of the Houston Society, "I hope and pray that... the members will unify themselves in a spirit of conciliation..."Let us all bind up old wounds.and unite in the important work of spreading the fifth epochal revelation."

The annual Foundation/Brotherhood solicitation letter for 1980 was sent out in November. The initial response as of December 31.was reported to the committee. A brief summary follows:

Pledged or contributed $ 41,000

*56 society members of 556 $ 8,800

24 members-at-large of 172 4,900

177.nonmembers 15,300

*an additional 4 members gave $12,000

I plan to keep you informed of the progress of the response to our appeal since your help is needed to insure the continued funding of Foundation/Brotherhood activities.

For those who may not have taken note, January 2 was the 25th birthday of Urantia Brotherhood (for the Foundation January 11 was its 30th). It marks an interesting moment in our history. By any universe standard, we are not even out of the cradle of infancy. I hope the early founders, who with their best wisdom planned an enduring organization, will be pleased with our evolutionary growth. There are others who no doubt feel our growth has not been fast enough. I admire the patience exhibited by the early workers. They did not succumb to the race of time, but rather entered the race of eternity -- the unfolding of the Father's plan for our world and the uplifting place the Urantia revelation will have in this evolutionary process. I hope that as individuals we will always seek and use opportunities to "spread the gospel." As an organization may we continue to exhibit the wisdom needed to foster the evolutionary spread of the Urantia teachings.

Fraternally,

John W. Hales

President

JH/jh