February 7, 2023
Dear fellow members of the Board and Executive Committee:
Greetings in the Name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ!
NFAAUM Executive committee is excited to share with you and the members of your sub-ethnic caucuses some good news. The next General Assembly of the National Federation of Asian American United Methodists will be held on Thursday, March 2nd in Nashville, TN.
The event will start sharply at 11 A.M., Thursday with worship. Following the worship service, we will gather for lunch and meet as jurisdictions at 1 P.M. followed by the business items.
All the active and retired Asian-American United Methodists Bishops, District Superintendents, General Agency/Commission/Society staff, and members-at-large are welcome to bless the Assembly with their gracious presence.
If your sub-ethnic caucus has gone through any change in leadership, please pass on this information to the incoming leadership and committee members. Please note that NFAAUM Assembly is open to all Asian American United Methodists and hence I request you to share this information with all your constituents and invite them to participate.
Place of Meeting: GCFA Denman Building,
1908 Grand Ave Nashville, TN 37212
Time: 11 AM- 4 PM
The main purpose of this assembly is to approve the new By-laws and change of name as recommended by NFAAUM. Nonetheless, the change of name will become official only after the general assembly of NFAAUM approves it. The General Assembly has the final decision-making authority. Yes, the primary purpose of this assembly is to approve the change of name and the By-laws. After approval, we will write the legislation to General Conference for ratification.
We are requesting all 12 sub-ethnic caucus representatives to fly in for that day and register via this link, https://na.eventscloud.com/736052. They need to be present for the entire session. No exceptions.
NFAAUM will reimburse the 12 sub-ethnic caucus representatives, who make up the board membership, only the air travel because of the availability of limited operational funds. The flight tickets must be purchased at least 15 days before the event.
NFAAUM would be extremely thankful if the sub-ethnic caucuses will cover the entire travel expenses along with the rest of the other expenses.
In order to maintain the integrity of the program and to avoid mounting technical challenges, the General Assembly will not be held on online in any format. No proxy vote will be entertained either.
Enclosed, please find the proposed By-laws and agenda
A Brief History and background:
The issue of the tax-exempt status of the National Federation of Asian American United Methodists was brought up at its General Assembly held on May 4-5, 2018 at El Segundo UMC, California. It came to light that there were lapses in the Endowment Committee’s tax filing.
When checked with GCFA, it was reported that the tax-exempt status expired over 15 years ago.
The Rev. John Oda, who was elected as the President in 2018, led the Executive Committee to address this critical issue.
After working with an attorney, it was confirmed that the tax-exempt status was indeed lost in 2007.
Hence, he steered the Federation to retain an attorney, who proposed that the name of the Federation must be changed. Hence, an attorney was retained at a heavy cost, which depleted the entire reserve fund of NFAAUM and more.
The New Federation of Asian American United Methodists as a new name was proposed by the attorney and then incorporated in the State of California where the Endowment Fund was placed. Consequently, a new tax-exempt 501(c)3 status was approved and granted by the Internal Revenue Service.
The new NFAAUM was incorporated on July 3, 2020, and subsequently adopted with the same acronym, NFAAUM.
During its first organizational meeting, a new Board of Directors was elected provisionally, and new By-Laws were proposed and approved.
All original twelve Asian American Caucuses were retained in the new Board of Directors. These are the Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Formosan, Hmong, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Lao & Thai, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, and Vietnamese caucuses.
The National Federation of Asian American United Methodists “officially” became the New Federation of Asian American United Methodists (NFAAUM) by the action of its Board of Directors which met on August 27, 2020.
The new Federation also elected its new officers for 2020-2024: Rev. Scort Christy (President), Rev. Dr. Zaki Zaki (Vice President for Advocacy & Program), Rev. Edgar De Jesus (Vice President for Membership), Dr. Christina Lee (Secretary) and Rev. Tsuker Yang (Treasurer).
NFAAUM is one of the five officially recognized racial ethnic caucuses of The United Methodist Church and seeks to empower and advocate on behalf of Asian American United Methodist laity, clergy, local congregations, and ministries at all levels of The United Methodist Church.
By God’s grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit, NFAAUM is now ready to work for the full participation, empowerment, and advancement of our Asian American laity, clergy, congregations, ministries, and caucuses. To God be the glory!
I look forward to welcoming you all during the General Assembly in about three weeks in Nashville, TN.
Blessings!
Rev. Scort Christy
President, NFAAUM
New Federation of Asian American United Methodists (NFAAUM)
address:1401 Oak Avenue, Evanston IL 60201
e-mail: nfaaum@gmail.com website: https://www.nfaaum.org