Attendance: Secretariats present - Arizona, Central Michigan, Gold Coast, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina East, North Carolina West, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Rainbow, Sonbeam, Sonshine, and south Dakota Secretariats not present - Almost Heaven, Atlanta, Daybreak, Gulf Coast, Indian River, Montana, and Sonshine of Jacksonville.

Spiritual Director Ron Qualley: "It is the intent of Cursillo to train people and to send them back to serve in the local congregations.

President Wilson Mausteller reported that the past year was marked primarily by Sonshine setting up a supply function with Ken Hall’s guidance. ...the pressure by the National Secretariat to license or desist using "Cursillo" has not diminished. ...If I may be permitted a personal opinion, we don’t stand a chance of winning a battle over a trademark: copyright - maybe; trademark - no. We, as the NLS, need to deal not only with the trademark question, but also advise and help the local secretariats to do so.

We need to get on with the job of being a mature resource rather that a collection of willing people who are individual resources.

President Wilson Mausteller: The NLS should operate as a coordinated resource for existing and new local groups. Some items:

1. Continuously updated listing of local secretariats, permanent addresses and officers.

2. Supply function further expanded and operating on a total needs basis.

3. The By-Laws call for a quarterly newsletter.

4. Keep locals aware of national resources available.

5. Make listings of items used by each local for training, talk aids, Ultreya ideas, temple talks, manuals, menus, etc., etc.

6. Bring the area representative listings up to date. And settle on "official" representation at National meetings.

7. Should the National send palanca - to whom - for what?

Wilson asked for the local secretariats to report on: the number of candidates, the number of active people, the strengths and weaknesses of their local, their outreach, their greatest need, and what the NLS can do for their local.

The meeting broke to attend the funeral of Donald Consear at our host church.

Song Books - Hilde Hildebrandt reported that Songs from Songs and Creations, Inc. is the best book.

Motion that we take a stand for the purpose of unity and selected a name. We will replace the word, Cursillo, and the related terms, Ultreya and fourth day. Motion carried.

The names suggested to replace "Cursillo" are: Pilgrimage, Immanuel or Immanuel Weekend, Kurz Lehr, Cornerstone, Way of Faith, Via Fide, Life in Christ, and Via Cristo.

We voted and the top three were Pilgrimage, Immanuel, and Via Cristo.

The terms suggested to replace Ultreya are: Fellowship, Area Celebration, and Family Reunion. The terms suggested for Fourth Day are: Pilgrimage, Renewed Walk, and Walk. Suggestions to replace the term, Palanca, were Agape Acts and Sacrifice. A suggestion for Group Reunions was Small Group, for Decuria was Reflections, and for Cha Chas was Servants.

Ken Hall reported that the NLS Distribution Center has been set up at Grace Lutheran Church.

The following names were submitted at this time, Arnion (lamb, in Greek), Christlich (Christ-like, in German), Christlich leben, Unterricht, De Colores, Open Door, Another Look, Sola Gratia (grace alone, in Latin), and Christ Encounter. We voted, and the top three were Pilgrimage, Via de Cristo, and Sola Gratia.

Spiritual Director’s Manual - done.

11 Talk Manuals (combine last 2 talks) - Iowa is working on these.

Fourth Day & Ultreya Committee Report: Essentials of an Ultreya are: sharing, small group sharing, music, start and end on time, social time, communion (optional), well planned and well organized, clear instructions on grouping, songs to match the mood, prayer and altar visit. Group discussion: Really need to take another look at Ultreya. It should be parish oriented and more open to giving everyone in the parish an opportunity to group. Success is not measured in the number who attend an Ultreya but rather by their involvement in the Church. Group reunions and ultreyas are not necessarily for Cursillistas.

The motion was made that we spend up to $500 to get a newsletter out regularly. Motion carried

We voted and the results were for Via del Cristo (Way of the Christ). We discussed that we should check with people who know Spanish to see if it should be Via del Cristo or Via de Cristo.

Motion that our 4th Day be renamed, Pilgrimage. Motion carried.

Motion that we trademark our new name as a service mark and allocate the money to do so.

"A yearly audit of the financial records shall be conducted and submitted at the annual meeting.

President - Wilson Mausteller, Pennsylvania Vice President - John Schmidt, Michigan

Secretary - Judy Lang, Iowa Treasurer - Fred Arndt, Minnesota

Spiritual Director, Pastor Carroll Lang, Iowa

Motion that we notify the National Catholic Secretariat (Gerry Hughes) that we have decided to go with a new name, and not to provide them with the list of the local secretariat’s names and addresses. Motion carried.

The Annual Meeting of the National Lutheran Secretariat was held February 6-8, 1986, at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church of Ottawa Lake, Michigan. The primary topic of discussion was the name of the Lutheran Cursillo movement.

The consensus of the National Lutheran Secretariat is summarized in the following points:

§ Ecumenical Nature: The strength of the Lutheran Movement is based on its ecumenical flavor.

§ Effectiveness of printed literature: The literature of the Cursillo method, as published by the Catholic church, is printed basically for internal use. The National Lutheran Secretariat has modified all 15 talk outlines, and these are now being further revised.

§ Outreach: It is the desire of the Lutheran movement to encourage outreach. For example, in the past six years, the Florida communities have successfully transferred the method to Michigan. This community, with the cooperation of the Ohio community, has brought the movement to Indiana and South Dakota, not to mention assisting in the growth of Kairos and Emmaus organizations. Minnesota has carried the Cursillo method to Papua, New Guinea, and Iowa is currently nurturing a community in Texas.

§ Unity: The assembled delegates unanimously agreed to promote unity -- unity within the Lutheran community and unity within the Cursillo family. Therefore, the delegates agreed not to provide Satan of the world an opportunity to reduce the effectiveness of "CURSILLO" by publicly fighting over a minor issue such as a name.

§ The Key: The "CURSILLO" is a key that the Holy Spirit uses to open people’s hearts, but so do other Cursillo-type weekends, like Kairos, Emmaus, DeColores, etc. It’s not the name, but the Holy Spirit that provides the power for the weekend. Therefore, the resolve of the National Lutheran Secretariat is to change the name for the purpose of unity.

In the final decision, the unanimous choice of the assembled body for the name of the Lutheran movement is "Via de Cristo" - the Way of Christ.

Recommendation of the National Lutheran Secretariat to all Lutheran Cursillo secretariats to adopt "Via de Cristo" as the name of their weekends, and to incorporate it into the official title of their secretariats.

The newly formed Texas Lutheran Secretariat really has something to crow about. As far as we know, they are they only Lutheran secretariat to be officially connected with the Lutheran Church. The Texas Lutheran Secretariat has been formed under the umbrella of the Lutheran Association of Southwestern Camping, which is a part of the Southern District of the American Lutheran Church.

True palanca is intense prayer and sacrifice on the part of the outside community for the community being formed in the Three-Day Weekend. Palanca is a witness to the participants that God is present in the world through groups of people who live His gospel.

Banners, food gifts, trinkets, and friendship letters are nice and fun things that contribute to the good feelings of the weekend, but they are not true palanca. Food items are welcomed and appreciated for the physical well-being of the weekend. Food items, however, are not considered to be "palanca" and should be referred to as "food gifts."

A good measure of a local movement is its attitude towards palanca! A community cannot allow the term "palanca" to become misunderstood or abused so that its true meaning is lost. Banners, food gifts, trinkets, and friendship letters are nice and fun things that contribute to the good feelings of the weekend, but they are not true palanca.

Spiritual Director’s Report - Carroll is still working on editing the Lay Talks.

Motion: George Steadman moved that any secretariat who signs with the Catholic Cursillo license and uses the term "Cursillo" be welcome as a member of NLS. Motion seconded but did not pass. Wilson declared the motion out of order because of our constitution. (Editorial comment: "already allows this").

What we need are 1) a Lutheran version of the Catholic Leader’s Guide which contains the history and purpose of the three day weekend, and 2) team training and workshop guidelines.

Ultreya and 4^th Day: The issues to be addressed for new cursillistas are: preparation - so they are ready for groups, planned ultreyas within 2 weeks after the women’s weekend, guidelines - so they know the sponsors responsibilities, contact the candidates within the first year and encourage them to become involved and to sponsor candidates, and the method of informing the non-Lutheran candidates that it is a Lutheran weekend. The issues to be addressed for sponsors are: continue working with the candidates after the weekend, quality of candidates, and small group for candidates. Issues to be addressed for church representatives are knowledgeable of those in church and communicate with them, and ultreyas. Other issues to be addressed are bringing new life into ultreyas, reactivating dormant people, and activate slowly dying movements.

They did recommend that we have a 3 day weekend, 14 or 15 talks, and a chapel service every day - preferably with communion. The team formation should be 20 to 30 hours. The team should be selected ahead of time. The rector 5 to 6 months ahead, the team 3 to 4 months ahead, and the SD’s a year ahead if possible.

We voted on the motion to accept the constitution and bylaws as presented and amended. It passed unanimously.

Motion that we change from the "pilgrimage" back to the term "4th day." Motion carried.

Wayne Ford moved that the new officers hold office until our next meeting in June, 1988. Motion carried.

Suggestion: we exchange the names of people in our movement that have moved into another area.

Officers elected: President - Fred Arndt, Minnesota

Vice President - John Schmidt, Michigan Secretary - Judy Lang, Iowa

Treasurer - Ken Hall, Florida Spiritual Director - Carroll Lang, Iowa

Interaction with the ELCA Committee discussion of guidelines to present to the Bishops to assure them that:

1. All rollos be critiqued by Lutheran pastors for consistency with Lutheran confession.

2. Lutheran communion be consistent with the ELCA.

3. Worship practice of weekend be in keeping within Lutheran practice.

4. Pastors attend the weekend before his congregation.

5. SD of secretariat, lead pastor on the weekends and rector must be Lutheran

The Executive Board of the National Lutheran Secretariat met on January 23, 1988 at First Lutheran Church in Northwood, Iowa.

Supplies - Ken Hall reported that during 1987 they did over $10,000 worth of business.....George Steadman is the new coordinator of the Distribution Center.

Constitution and Bylaws - ...change the address to "Pentagon Towers, P.O. Box 36181"

Public Relations committee recommended that we advertise in The Lutheran. Motion passed, with cost not to exceed $500.

President, Fred Arndt Vice President, D. Wayne Ford

Secretary, Leona Fox Treasuer, Ken Hall

Spiritual Director, Rev. Carroll Lang

Not affiliated with us are Sonshine of North Florida, Jacksonville; Heart of Florida, Orlando; and Gulf Coast, Fort Myers, which has shut down and the remnant has joined with the Emmaus movement in the area.

NLS now has an official logo! In the center is the familiar cross that is received at the close of the weekend. It is surrounded by the Luther Rose from the Luther Emblem. Around the outside are the words, "Via de Cristo" and "National Lutheran Secretariat."

It was established that the Daybreak Movement in Richmond, Virginia is currently inactive.

Music - Linda Stegmeier spoke briefly of her concerns about the illegal copying of music. It is very important that as Christians our movements should not be copying music without written permission from the publishers. Linda identified the Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc. as a possible solution to this music problem for the local secretariat.

Motion to remove the responsibility for the NLS newsletter from the Secretary and to establish a standing committee of Newsletter. Motion passed.

Motion to appoint a position to act as a clearing house for inquiries about starting a movement and provide the initial support to new movements. Motion carried.

Election of officers - President - Fred Arndt Vice President - Wayne Ford

Secretary - Leona Fox Treasurer - Ken Hall Spiritual Director - Rev. Robert Sael

Lay Talks - uniform names for the grace talks were recommended and approved by the NLS: 1. Grace; 2. Grace in Action; 3. Means of Grace, or A Day in the Life of Grace; 4. Obstacles to Grace; 5. Life in Grace.

Motion: to establish the fiscal year of June 1 to May 31, so that our financial year would correspond with our business year.

A proposed budget of $5350 was approved for the fiscal year of June 1, 1990-May 31, 1991.

It was decided that supplies would be moved to Minnesota.

Crosses are to be purchased directly from Beverly Appleby.

Status of lay talks - Pastor Carroll Lang edited the proof set of talks during the meeting....The talks will be printed and bound by Jack Packer.

The Lay Talks will be ready to print by January 1, 1990. (ed. note: Now March 1)

Status of newsletter - It was decided that we publish at least 3 newsletters each year.

A motion was made to change the NLS fiscal year to June 1 - May 31. The motion was seconded and passed. A motion was made that we create a second position of Vice President on the Executive Board. Motion passed. After consulting the NLS Bylaws President Arndt rendered an interpretation that we do not need a bylaws change to elect an additional Vice-President.

The following officers were elected for the 1990-1991 term:

President - D. Wayne Ford Vice Presidents - Ellie Henning & Ed Hansen

Secretary - Leona Fox Treasurer - Ben Troxell III

Spiritual Director - Pastor Bob Sael

Wayne Ford announced that Pastor Bob Sael has resigned as our Spiritual Director.

On behalf of your entire Executive Board, we are pleased to announce that Rev. Allan H. Sager of Columbus, Ohio has been elected to serve as the Spiritual Director for the remainder of the 1990-1991 year. Director of the Intern Program for Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

By discharging our past liability to St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in the amount of $2396.31, as well as Fred Arndt’s payment of $1000 toward the accrued balance owed to Good News! For the Lay Talk outlines, we have reduced our accrued liability to $1837 to Good News! And $1700 to Sonshine, Miami for supplies.

Request for change of format - A discussion was held concerning the request by Nebraska VdC to shorten the weekend so that it would not be necessary for attendees to miss a day from work. The Board expressed agreement with President Ford’s reply to the Nebraska Secretariat. Concern was expressed that the shortened weekend would alter the weekend dynamics too drastically.