Matt Ball, who is Director of Public Affairs North America West and works out of Los Angeles, happened to be in Sacramento last weekend and was invited by Sacramento DPA Richard Montgomery to come to our regularly scheduled meeting on Sunday, September 11. I felt it was more important for me to be at the "Gathering for Peace" event, so Judy Bellville went by herself even though she had never been before. I felt bad that I had to miss it, as I had heard that Brother Ball is an entertaining and enlightening speaker.
Judy took good notes, and took some pictures as well. This is her report:
Our Regional Director, Brother Ball, announced that the United Nations has now designated LDS Charities as a Non-governmental organization, or NGO. This is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term is used by the UN to refer to organizations that are not part of any government and are not conventional for-profit businesses. The NGO designation will give LDS Charities greater acceptance, flexibility, and freedom in crossing international borders.
Brother Ball also discussed "hot point" news issues, such as the "Mormon Musical", the "Openly Gay LDS ward leader," and the fact that Stephanie Meiers of the Twilight series books & movies is LDS; anything that grabs the attention of the media and becomes a talking issue. These hot point issues need to be handled through ONE CENTRAL VOICE of the Church out of Salt Lake, and we need to coordinate our response through them. Using this approach, the "Mormon Musical" for example, has been turned into an opportunity to place a large number of Book of Mormons, and greatly increased interest in the missionaries' message in the NYC area.
No comments:
Post a Comment