USMB Gathering 2024, the biennial National Pastors’ Conference, July 23-25, and National Convention, July 25-27, to be held at the DoubleTree Downtown in Omaha, Nebraska, will include the formal introduction of the new USMB national director.
“Our hope is to have a qualified candidate in place by the convention where we will celebrate all God has done and where he is leading us as a national family,” says Boris Borisov, Leadership Board vice chair.
Convention business is expected to include voting on a proposed national bylaw revision.
The Leadership Board, with the U.S. Board of Faith and Life, has distributed a proposal to district leaders recommending removing the reversion clause from USMB’s bylaws, which would allow districts to address the handling of capital assets should a church withdraw from the conference or dissolve.
The current bylaw states that when churches withdraw or dissolve, their capital assets become the property of the district, but there has been a disparity between the bylaw and practice. The change would allow districts to address situations on a case-by-case basis. The board does not recommend that districts remove the reversion clause from district bylaws.
“Since a church joining is the purview of the districts, we thought it best to have a church exiting also the purview of the districts,” says Leadership Board chair Luke Haidle.
Business will also include affirmation of the 2024 budget and an announcement pertaining to ICOMB USA’s organization and affiliation with USMB.
Key note speakers
Five keynote speakers, including the new national director, will address the Gathering theme, “Salt and Light: Faithful Living in a Secular Culture.”
“Few other passages are as instrumental as Matthew 5:13-16 in understanding how we as Christians are to live in the world, called to be salt and light,” says USMB National Director Don Morris. “The convention planning team felt strongly that this was the message we needed to focus on for USMB Gathering 2024.”
Gary Hoag, president and CEO of Global Trust Partners, will speak about biblically faithful leadership at the pastors’ conference. Hoag is sponsored by MB Foundation.
Convention speakers are Brian Kluth, national spokesperson for the Financial Health and Bless Your Pastor programs of the National Association of Evangelicals, sponsored by MB Foundation; Natasha Crain, author and podcaster; and Don Morris, retiring national director.
Register for Gathering by May 1 to receive early bird pricing of $185 for the Pastors’ Conference and $235 for the National Convention. Registration rates for children are $99 for youth and $89 for children ages 2-12. Children 2 and under attend free.
The hotel reservation deadline is July 1 to receive the group rate. For more information or to register, visit www.usmb.org/usmbgathering2024.
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and an Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals award in 2022. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
