Communication

happen again. 2) The Commission on Archives and History agreed that the backlog of processing and protecting documents in the McGovern Library Archives was unacceptable and must be corrected. We accept responsibility for working with Dakota Wesleyan University to make that happen. 3) The Commission on Archives and History agreed that the Archives of the Dakotas Annual Conference should be closed — with certain exceptions — until the backlog can be reduced to manageable proportions. 4) The Chair of the Commission on Archives and History (Duane Coates) is the contact person for exceptions to be allowed for access to the Archives of the Dakotas Annual Conference. 5) The Commission on Archives and History expressed support for Laurie Langland as Archivist of the Dakotas Annual Conference, considers her to be competent, and values her knowledge and experience with the Archives. 6) The Commission on Archives and History has confidence that Laurie Langland will be able to reduce the backlog of unprocessed documents to a manageable level if provided with the staff and other resources recommended in the report of Jane Kenamore of Kenamore and Klinkow, LLC, in her report of December 14, 2021. 7) A copy of these resolutions was communicated to appropriate officials of Dakota Wesleyan University. Since January, two volunteers, Kay Miller and Mary Hall, each have been logging as many as 26 hours per week in assisting Dr. Langland in at least boxing the backlog in an organized fashion. So, progress is ongoing. Research requests are getting approved according to a rubric the commission supplied. They are being answered thoroughly and professionally and in a timely manner by your archivist. Your commission hoped the improvement plan would be lifted by the end of DWU’s academic year and the archives would open by July 13. But moving forward, for the safety and security of the conference memory, we need open communication with DWU; and we need to hold accountable our ministry partner.

Disaffiliated Church Records: As of this writing, your commission, with the support of General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH), intends to abide by the Conference precedent regarding records of churches that disaffiliate under the process in ¶2553. The Conference established this precedent in the 2021 disaffiliation agreement with the former Prairie Winds United Methodist Church of Dickinson, North Dakota. As such, we interpret ¶2549 to equate disaffiliated church with closed and/or abandoned churches for the purpose of church-records preservation. According to ¶2549.4, the original records of all closed, abandoned, (and now disaffiliated) churches of our Conference and predecessor conferences, “shall be deposited for permanent safekeeping with the [United Methodist] annual conference commission on archives and history.”

Jubilee Clergy: We recognized this year the following persons as jubilee clergy: Darrel Aleson, Eve Hook, Richard Mayer, and James Patrick.

2023 Budget Proposal: While your commission requested no funding increase, please note expenses for archives and personnel represent 95.5% of our 2023 request. (As of this writing, the Conference Council on Finance and Administration has not notified the commission that its proposal was considered. So, the amount you have before you may differ from the $39,950 requested.)

Conference History Update: The Rev. Dr. Stephen Perry continues updating the conference’s written history. We anticipate the draft of the fifth of a proposed seven chapters will be available online soon. You may see his work at https://dakotahistorianblog. wordpress.com/

Meetings: The six voting and three non-voting members of your commission met three times since last annual conference.

Submitted by R. Duane Coates, chair, Dakotas Conference Commission on Archives and History

The Dakotas Conference communication team continues to tell the story of the ministries of the Dakotas Conference. The website— www.dakotausmc.org, which serves as the home base for all communications—grew in usage and efficiencies. Weekly e-newsletters were sent including Mondays @ Dakotas—e-news featuring stories of vitality sent every Monday, and This Week @ Dakotas—weekly announcements, sent out every Tuesday; they have both grown in distribution numbers. Social media communication has become a vital and inspiring tool, as well as video storytelling.

The conference website, www.dakotasumc.org, is the place where you will find all news, events, and announcements. The website is a partnership with camping—www.dakcamps.org, foundation—www.dakotasmf.org, and youth— dakyouth.org. There are daily updates with an emphasis on visuals, including photos, graphics, and video. The result was increased traffic of 12%.

Mondays @ Dakotas remains popular for sharing the ministry and telling the story of the Dakotas Conference. Mondays @ Dakotas continues to reach an average of 2,200 viewers per week.

This Week @ Dakotas, weekly announcements, provides a venue to share upcoming events, ministry announcements, and resources with local churches. Each week, there is an average of 3,100 viewers, through the website, e-mail, or on social media.

The social media presence of the Dakotas Conference continues to grow. Each day, multiple posts and tweets continue through HootSuite. Engagement has increased shares on Facebook and retweets on Twitter by 13%. Facebook is the most popular channel with 1,010 average daily views.