Aloha! I’m John Endriss, President of your HPBC Executive Board, and Pastor at Engage Church in Hilo. As we begin a new year in service to our Lord, we (your HPBC Executive Board) thought we’d try something new. Each quarter through video and other forms of communication, we want to update you on things that are going on within our convention, including actions taken at quarterly HPBC board meetings.
At our board meeting Saturday, we approved several new members to fill the many vacancies on our board. Your new board members are Eric Dissinger from Waialae on Oahu, Pastor Larry Hale from Ele’ele on Kauai, Pastor Hanale Lindo from Kaunakaki on Molokai, Paula Higuchi from Kahului on Maui, and Pastor Shane Tanigawa from UABC on Oahu. We are blessed to add them to our board, making it even stronger, and fulfilling one of my goals of a board representing nearly every region across our convention, and most of our people groups.
At our meeting, we celebrated the sending of our Executive Director Treasurer of 9 years Dr. Chris Martin, to serve at the International Mission Board. Let me share a few of his words from his final address to our board. “Together, God has allowed us…to build (for His) kingdom…(and it is) my opinion, that the future has never been brighter for our churches…yet, I leave you at a crossroads with many options, but you have every resource you need to accomplish the tasks ahead, they all rest in Jesus and you can do this together. Thank you for your service (and) thank you for your love for my family and me.”
One of the major actions of this quarterly meeting was to approve an Interim Executive Director Treasurer job description and a process for seeking and approving an I-EDT that Lord willing will hopefully be completed in several weeks. The I-EDT job description is going out today, and your board officers will be accepting candidates in the short window of the next 7 days up to February 7th. After sorting through candidates, we’ll have a special board meeting in Feb. to approve our interim. I will announce them to you when everything is completed.
A long-term EDT search committee was also elected at our meeting (by the process of our by-laws) from the members of your board. The elected chair of this search committee is Pastor Sterling Lee (from Pearl City). The others serving with him will be Pastor Brian Frable (from Kona on the Big Island), Naomi Ashman (from Olivet on Oahu), Larry Hale (from Ele’ele on Kauai), Paula Higuchi (from Kahului on Maui), James Kinoshita (from Olivet on Oahu) and myself. This process will last at least several months and Lord willing, our hope is to have our next EDT by the next annual meeting. Pray for this search committee as we work on this great task.
In other board activity, our committees did discuss our HPBC finances and the topic of the properties, but no new action was taken at this time. Another committee took time to begin further outlining parameters for applicants of our initiative scholarships and subsidies. Along with previously approved applicants, the board approved for seminary scholarships Noah Denney from Pawa’a, Todd Morikawa from Kailua, and Pancho Madrid from Guam. For new church worker subsidies, they approved applicants from Yokohama, Engage and Life Christian Church.
We are excited about the work of investing in future pastors and ministry leaders in our convention. Thank you for your partnership in this. May God bless us as we do his work and make much of Jesus in our islands and across the Pacific.
If you or someone you know would like to apply as the Interim Executive Director Treasurer, please submit a resume to the HPBC board officers:
- Pastor John Endriss (president)
- Pastor Sterling Lee (1st vice-president)
- Pastor Brian Frable (2nd vice-president)
Pastor John Endriss
HPBC President