COSAR Report

COMMITTEE ON SUPPORT AND RETIREMENT (COSAR) REPORT TO THE GENERAL CONFERENCE 2018

The following report covers the activity of the COSAR from August 2017 through July 2018.

Elected COSAR members include Eric Rudert (White Cloud SDB Church), Earl Hibbard (Central SDB Church), and Mark Lewis (Alfred Station SDB Church). Other members include John Pethtel, Jim Goodrich, Ron Ochs, Rob Appel, and Clinton Brown. The committee met at the General Conference sessions in 2017 and have communicated multiple times by email throughout this Conference year. Other communication has occurred with individual members in person, by email, and by telephone. Ron Ochs and John Pethtel have been carrying on the ministry of the COSAR between meetings according to guidelines established by COSAR. The primary ministry of the COSAR is the administration of two different retirement plans, a long term disability insurance plan, relief funds, and producing salary guidelines for pastors. Old Pastors Retirement Plan The old denominational retirement plan supported by the Old Pastors Retirement Plan (also known as “the old plan” or PROP) continues to serve retired pastors and surviving spouses. On January 1, 1979 it was closed to those under age 55 with a few exceptions. We currently have seven pastors, former employees, or spouses receiving benefits under this plan. The current obligation is $54,906 per year. This makes spending for the Old Pastors Retirement Plan one of the largest single program expenditure in our yearly Conference budget. Many have been generous in their giving but we are now operating in a regular deficit. We need your help if we are to continue to meet this obligation. If you would like to donate specifically to the Old Pastors Retirement Fund, you can see the Director of Pastoral Services (cash, check, or credit/debit card are accepted). COSAR sees this as the most important ministry that we support going forward. New Pastors Retirement Plan For pastors who are currently serving churches, COSAR administers a 403b plan available for pastors and churches to participate in. Due to changes in investment counsel by the Memorial Fund, the 403b plan was going to need to change providers as well. This was communicated to participants beginning in October 2017 with a follow up in April 2018. We are nearing the legal processes in place to make this change effective. Participants will have any enrollment or transfer process communicated with them shortly after General Conference 2018. New participants will be able to be taken at that time. We apologize for any of the inconvenience that may have been cause to the participants. Long Term Disability Insurance COSAR provides free long term disability insurance to all salaried pastors working 30 or more hours per week for a member church. Please contact the Director of Pastoral Services or the SDB Center for an application. If you are a participant, you will need to fill out an update form yearly which will be mailed to you. Salary Guidelines Salary guidelines for Pastors are updated yearly and posted at seventhdaybaptist.org by December of each year. These guidelines are suggestions for churches to support their pastor based upon education, experience, and location. If you have questions regarding these guidelines, please contact the Director of Pastoral Services. Relief Funds

COSAR administers a small relief fund for pastors who may have needs. These relief funds will most likely be rolled into the Stephanie Sholtz Wellness Fund. Please contact the Director of Pastoral Services for more information. The committee has been discussing some possible restructuring. We will be pursuing the option of rolling this committee and its functions under the umbrella of the Council on Ministry as we see a correlation to the purposes of the work of this committee and its role in serving pastors. Next year, you will likely see Bylaw changes that will formalize this process of transferring from a Standing Committee of the General Conference to a subcommittee of the Council on Ministry.