Subj: An Open Letter from the Council of Elders Date: 12/4/98

Greetings, The following letter is from the Council of Elder members who are loyal to Dr. Meredith. This letter may be copied and distributed to brethren, as you deem necessary.

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS: Many charges have flown all over the world concerning recent events in the Global Church of God. The brethren have been deeply shaken, hurt and confused. This is an open letter from the majority of the Council of Elders present for the last meeting of the Council. It is our purpose to bear witness of the truth and to set the record straight concerning recent action of the Board of Directors.

During the few days surrounding the third weekend in November the Board of Directors made the most far-reaching decisions since the inception of Global. They had meetings which culminated with the firing of Global's founder and Presiding Evangelist, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith. We pose the question to the Board and to the membership, why was such a dramatic action taken totally apart from any counsel or advice from Global's Council of Elders?

In the bylaws of the Church it is stated that the purpose of the Council of Elders is to give advice to the Board and to the Presiding Evangelist and to help guide the overall direction of the Work in all spiritual and administration matters. At the time of these Board meetings there were eleven functioning members of the Council, five of which were also members of the Board. The Council's membership had been reduced by two in the preceding week. This was first due to the Council's previous action on November 11 suspending Dave Pack from the Council and secondly due to the tragic and untimely death of Colin Adair on November 15. Mr. Pack's suspension had come after an all-day hearing ending at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, November 11.

The hearing and suspension were triggered by serious charges brought against Mr. Pack by church members in Michigan. Mr. Pack was present in the room for discussion of the charges. Prior to its Wednesday adjournment the Council decided, with ten members concurring and two abstaining, to suspend Mr. Pack.

Earlier, eight members of the Council had agreed that an outright expulsion of Mr. Pack from the Council was in order. The only three men present in the room to object to Mr. Pack's expulsion were Raymond McNair, Larry Salyer, and Edwin Pope. They were a very distinct minority in the Council meeting that Wednesday. However, when the Board met following Colin Adair's death these three then constituted a majority of the five member Board.

When their Friday meeting began (Nov. 20), a motion was made to remove Carl McNair from the Board (though no charges of misconduct were made against him). Since the motion involved Carl McNair, he couldn't participate in the decision and his expulsion was accomplished by agreement of three out of the four participants (Mr. Meredith strongly dissented from this action). The next decision was to fill Mr. McNair's place by the appointment of Norbert Link, the lawyer. Total control of the Board was now gained by this tiny minority of the Council. If there was a genuine desire to abide by the spirit and intent of the bylaws, why was the Council totally bypassed and left out of the loop in this most important and far reaching of decisions?

We, the majority of the Council of Elders as constituted at the time of the Board action do protest that the Board's actions were made without our advice and contrary to our wishes (as well, we believe, to the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the ministers and members). We call upon this minority who gained control of the corporate entity, Global Church of God, through political stratagems to step down and hand back over corporate control to Dr. Meredith and the leadership which is supported by the vast majority of ministers and members.

For further information concerning these and other matters please feel free to contact any one of us. It is our unanimous intent to continue the Work of God, preaching the gospel to the world and feeding the flock that God has called. Arrangements have already been authorized by us to continue the television and publishing work.

Roderick C. Meredith
Carl McNair
Richard Ames
Dibar Apartian
Charles Bryce
John Ogwyn

Subj: Letter from Dr. Meredith Date: 12/4/98

To All Ministers and Hosts:

Greetings from San Diego!

Thank you so much for your service and loyalty! The virtual outpouring of love and loyalty from thousands of the brethren all around the world has been most encouraging and inspiring. About 80 to 90 percent of the brethren are with us in most places. But, of course, there are areas which my letter missed because we did not have a complete membership list and then there are some people who have not yet clearly understood the issues.

Now that we are getting better organized, I will try to write all of you and the membership regularly. As many of you know by now, we have chosen and reserved the name "LIVING CHURCH OF GOD" as the official name of the Church. I hope that all of you will like this. Many other names were suggested, but most of them were already taken or else had some negatives attached to them.

Yesterday afternoon, we completed two days of very productive meetings with all of the United States regional pastors and also our entire Council of Elders joined in for some of these meetings. Our Regional Pastoral Team now consists of Mr. Charles Bryce for the southeastern U.S., Mr. Lambert Greer for the northeast, Mr. John Ogwyn for the south central region, Mr. Gerald Weston for the north central and Dr. Douglas Winnail for the entire western region. All of these men have been tried and tested over the years, and all of them have been very loyal to Christ and to His leadership during this crisis situation. I ask all of you ministers and hosts to give them your full support. All of these regional pastors have been appointed to the Council of Elders. The additional members of the Council are: Richard Ames, Dibar Apartian, Don Davis, Jeff Fall, Mario Hernandez, Carl McNair and me.

A number of the men who were members of the Global Council noticed the obvious change in atmosphere in our new organization. Instead of tension and hostility, we have PEACE. The warmth, the love, and the laughter in these meetings was a joy to experience. And that is the atmosphere I know we all want to experience in the Living Church of God! In these meetings, all of us committed to do a powerful Work of preaching the true Gospel. We are in the process of making plans to go on television and radio, to get out booklets and to use the Internet more effectively than ever.

Through the efforts of Messrs. Apartian and Hernandez, our International Work in the foreign languages will continue. And I am very happy to report that Mr. Syd Hull in South Africa, Mr. Bruce Tyler in Australia, Kinnear Penman in New Zealand, Rod McNair in the Philippines and other leaders in the international areas are solidly behind us with most of their brethren. So we can now move ahead!

Brethren, I am very disappointed that men whom I had loved and trusted were able to undermine me and eventually even oust me from the very Work which Jesus Christ used me to found and to build. It is almost incomprehensible that just three men on the Board later joined by the lawyer could oust Mr. Carl McNair from the Board and start a takeover of the entire institution. It is amazing that this small cadre of three men could thwart the will of the majority of the active members of the Council of Elders at that time who were and are solidly behind me. These dedicated ministers could see the wrong direction these misguided

Board members were taking, and so they have now come with us to establish the Living Church of God. But Satan is obviously FURIOUS at the Work we have all been trying to do and is desperately trying to stop it. Satan will NOT succeed!

Let us all move forward in a positive way to do the Work of God and to let the Living Jesus Christ rule in our personal lives. My thoughts and prayers are constantly with you brethren who have stepped out in faith to join us in finishing the Work. May God bless, guide and protect you as you walk with Him.

With Christian love,

Roderick C. Meredith

PS: Please read this message to the brethren in services this Sabbath