FROM THE DESK OF DON C SCHNEIDER

1. H. Jack Harris, who has been the president of the Retiree Association, has announced that he would like to retire again! Steve Gifford, who recently retired from being president of the Texas Conference, has been asked to become the next president of the Retiree Association. He is considering the invitation.

2. Dr. DeWitt Williams, Division Health Ministries director, who worked for several years in Burundi, Africa, as a missionary, has just received word that the new high school in Burundi has been named in his honor.

3. Lonnie Melashenko and the Voice of Prophecy team have just completed a meeting in Miami where 64 people have requested baptism.

4. Over 1800 sites have registered to receive the telecast of the NET 2005 meetings conducted by Doug Batchelor, speaker/director of Amazing Facts. Originating from the General Conference Auditorium, the home site is full as Doug preaches.

5. The North American Division had an increase of 4.8% tithe in 2004 over 2003, with $727 million of tithe being turned into the conferences.

6. Arizona had a 17% increase in tithe, and had the largest number of baptisms on record, for their conference. Their strong evangelism thrust continues with a series in Yuma where 500 people are attending.

7. The Upper Columbia Conference has been focusing on planting new churches. In the past 7 years, the number of churches has increased by 17% which translates to 21 new churches