Randomized controlled clinical trials have found that vitamin D supplements extend one's lifespan. What is the optimal dose? What blood levels associated with living longest? In my nine-part video series on vitamin D back in 2011, I noted that the relationship between vitamin D levels and mortality appeared to be a U-shaped curve, meaning low vitamin D levels were associated with increased mortality, but so were levels that were too high with the apparent sweet spot around 75 or 80 nanomoles per liter, based on individual studies like this one. Why might higher D levels be associated with higher risk? Well, this was a population study, so you can't be sure which came first. Maybe the vitamin D led to higher risk, or maybe higher risk led to the vitamin D, meaning maybe those who weren't doing as well were prescribed vitamin D. Maybe it's because these were Scandinavian studies where they tend to take a lot of cod liver oil as the vitamin D supplement, one spoonful of which could exceed the tolerable upper daily limit of intake for vitamin A, which could have negative consequences even if you don't inject it into your penis. I was surprised to see cod liver oil listed among the long list of things men have tried to inject into themselves, because they felt they were coming up short, though may have ended up even shorter after all the reconstructive surgery. Anyways, the U-shaped curve is old data. An updated meta-analysis has shown that as population vitamin D levels go up, mortality appears to go down and stay down, which is good, because then we don't have to test to see if we're hitting just the right level. Routine testing of vitamin D levels is not recommended. Why? Well, it costs money, and in most people, levels come right up to where you want them with sufficient sun or supplementation, so they figure what's the point. But also, because the test is not very good, results can be all over the place. What happens when you send a single sample to a thousand different labs around the world? You'd maybe expect a little variation, but not this. Results from the same sample ranged anywhere from less than 20 to over 100. So depending on what lab your doctor sent your blood sample to, the results could have placed you here or here. So not necessarily very helpful. So what's a safe dose that will likely get us to the purported optimal level? A thousand units a day should get most people up to the target 75 nanomoles per liter, which is 30 nanograms per milliliter. But by most people, they mean 50%. To get around 85% of the population up to 75 would crowd 2,000 a day. 2,000 international units a day would shift the curve from here to here. That way, we can take the average person into the desired range without fear of toxicity. You can take too much vitamin D, but you don't tend to see problems until blood levels get up around 250, which would take consistent daily doses in excess of 10,000. Note that if you're overweight, you may want to take 3,000, or if obese, even more than that. If you're over age 70 and not getting enough sun, it may take 3,500 units to get that same 85% chance of bumping your levels past the target. Again, no need for the average person to test and retest since a few thousand a day should bring almost everyone up without risking toxicity. Okay, but then why did the Institute of Medicine set the recommended daily allowance at 6 to 800 units? In fact, official recommendations are all over the map, ranging from just 200 a day all the way up to 10,000 a day. I'll try to cut through the confusion next.


And welcome back to news on you just heard Secretary Majorca say that the border is no less secure than it was under the Trump administration But that is not what immigrants who are trying to flee these countries are telling your very own Ben Berkwam as you just heard as he spoke live at the border just moments ago Just take a listen at what he told us specifically though yesterday The so-called Haitians that we have encamped under the bridge over there the vast majority are not from Haiti recently they're from Chile And within just a few minutes of searching the grounds here I found dozens of IDs from Chile these are people that were granted refugee status in Chile They've created new lives they've been there for years they've had children there and now they're moving up and we've interviewed them and asked them why they're coming now And the every single one without question has said they were afraid under President Trump that they wouldn't be allowed in now they believe under Joe Biden that they will be allowed in That they will be allowed in again under the Biden administration joining us live now Retired Army Ranger and Democratic mayoral candidate for Tucker Georgia joining us on the left Robin Byro and CEO and founder of Stockswoosh Melissa Armo joining us on the right Very differing opinions this story all over the place you got Democrats upset you got Republicans upset for very different reasons You have my orcas saying hey nothing nothing to see here it's no different than it was under the Trump administration But again we have been Berkwam on the ground with migrants flat out telling him we're going because President Joe Biden is in office Never mind the conflicting information about how many Haitians are here how many are not here but Robin why is there so much conflicting information out there Oh gosh it's it's the age that we live in Miranda and I can't stand it and I'm grateful to honest journalists like yourself who report the news We need more of that so often the news has just become entertainment but people tune into your show because they actually get real news and I appreciate the fact that you bring in a bipartisan panel Can we not get more of that in the news today that's what we need the problem right now is that there's also different political political ideologies as you alluded to Democrats are mad about this the treatment of Haitians because they're being mistreated and it's bad I've got a statement right here from my county party chairman that's damning That says that that they're being mistreated at the border and it's it's anti black racism so you know it's as clear as day to Democrats and it's a problem Miranda Is it really clear as day though I'm going to go into that in just a moment but I want to talk about the numbers that we mentioned earlier so DHS confirming that they That there are Haitian immigrants here illegally that are being allowed to enter the US that are given court dates and when to return we're hearing that predominantly men are the ones that are being sent back That women especially accompanied with children are being allowed to stay very different opinions on what we're hearing but we're still not be given definitive answers as to how many are staying here Melissa why do you think that is I think we have a huge huge problem at the border we're not getting accurate information just like we didn't get accurate information about Afghanistan so no one should be surprised it's one crisis after another with this administration And if Maxine Waters and the Democrats in AOC are upset about the treatment guess what they have no one but their own party to blame because the Democrats are in the White House They're in Congress they're in charge so fix the problem if you're upset about it as far as what's happening with my artist he blamed Trump in an interview with Chuck Todd back in March and said President Trump dismantled the system and they were going to rebuild the immigration system that's exactly what he said on March 21st Not only have they not rebuilt the system they've actually completely botched the system now they invited people to come over President Biden last year when he was running for election said people could come on over And that's exactly what we've done and now you have the cartels involved with really I'm sure they're ransoming people where they're making the same money to get over safely You know that's happening and they're not covering it whether they're letting women or children or men stay here we're in the middle of COVID scale we have to get vaccines I can't go and get a hamburger in New York without a vaccine passport but people are coming in over the border and they're not even testing them and they're allowing them in with COVID and God knows what else What is going on here it seems like if you live here and you're a citizen you bless freedoms and if you come in here as an immigrant I think a lot of people share that sentiment although there again there's been conflicting information from people who say that they are being tested others saying that they're not being tested All we know is that what we're being told what border agents are telling our very own correspondence on the ground is that not all of them are being tested But I want to go back to a point that you brought up Robin talking about Democrats you know criticizing the Biden administration for the treatment of some of these Haitian migrants that are crossing the border As I mentioned earlier the the envoy resigning effectively today here is representative Maxine Waters saying that the treatment of Haitian you know asylum seekers is far worse than she says slavery And calling out not the Trump administration but the Biden administration for border patrol agents handling of Haitian migrants accused of whipping them Here's specifically what she had to say So obviously there has been much debate about this issue and this is not going away real Drew Drew Hernandez real America's voice Drew Hernandez Who's covered the border extensively just like a very open Berkwam has a very differing opinion on what he has been seeing and is echoing the sentiment of what border patrol agents are telling him Here's what he had to tell us the other day here on news on News like this they're mistaking horse reins for whips and they're trying to actually paint this narrative over the border patrol agents this this is it's it's irresponsible it's immature I don't understand why people are trying to smear border patrol agents like this So going back to what you said Robin now you believe this is mistreatment but a lot of border patrol agents are arguing no we're on mounted horses we're not whipping them We are merely doing our job and that people are the images may not look the best but that is not in fact what they're doing that they're trying to protect our borders So which is it Well don't get me wrong I'm not trying to denigrate the good men and women of border patrol because they do keep us safe I just I think it's worth scrutiny I received this statement yesterday from my county party chairman I'm going to read I don't normally read things on air But this is from chairman John Jackson he says Democrats it's okay to criticize the Biden administration on how Haitians are being treated at the border If you are silent about this but loud about mistreatment of non-black immigrants it speaks volumes about you So I think that I'm glad actually to see some of my own party criticizing the Biden administration because border patrol serves at their discretion right now So this is a problem for the Biden administration my party But let me ask you just flat out Robin are they mistreating them in your opinion I'm not there I really that's So you don't know but you're applauding and fairness though and a fairness though you're applauding Democrats members of your own party for calling out the Biden administration for something that you don't even know for a fact is true Maybe I should head to the border and see with my own eyes Miranda the video that you showed didn't look particularly great I mean if it's if it's still a whip with a ring on it, I don't think that's all that great But you know they've got to do their job somehow it's far far be it for me to determine how best to secure our borders Last word to you Melissa on this topic 30 seconds Well former president Trump had an idea to secure the borders it was build the wall they started it and then the Biden administration stopped it so that's an idea right there I don't condone how they're handling this again. I don't know if they're doing this with a lot of people or was it once over But I'll tell you Maxine Waters comparing this to slavery she needs to pick up a history book She needs to go back in time 250 years ago when they were slavery they were branding people for certain plantations People were whipped really really like seriously whipped people died slavery is this is to compare this to slavery She needs to pick up a history book because this is a bad comparison similar to how they were comparing 911 to January 6th That was a bad comparison to they they want these graphic images out there because they want people to argue and fight all the time Don't they want people in the country to get along don't they want to improve the country? What's going on here? Why are they always getting whites against blacks? I've had enough of it quite frankly We'd love to know our viewers thoughts on this you can always chime in by finding me at Real Morandicon hashtag share your voice We're going to ask our bipartisan panel to stick around because we're going to talk about your money specifically how it's being spent when we return


Welcome, folks. This is Tom O'Brien of TFNN. We go five days a week. We go seven hours a day. We go 24 hours a day on the Internet at TFNN.com. Always remember, folks, whatever you think about, you bring about whatever you focus on grows. Hope everyone's having a great day, safe day. Let's make it a great week, folks. Ignore the opinions of others. Don't take anything personally. Whatever people do, feel, think, or say. Don't take it personally. Others are going to have their own opinions according to their belief system. So whatever they think about you is not about you, but it's about them. Now, that's this really strange God, man. Kind of tough to understand. Mugged-wise, let's take a look at it out here. We have the Dow Industries down 40. That's like up 107 S&Ps up 13.5. Gold contract trading down $6.60 at 1987 an ounce. We have silver down 32 cents, $23.18 an ounce of late sweet crude. Trading down $2.29 at $85.78 a barrel. Notes and bonds. A 10-year note. Up 13 ticks trading 106.13. The 30-year is up a point and a half at 109.27 and King dollar. King dollar is down 588 ticks trading 105.575. Euro is out here at a price point of 106. Yen is at 149. British pound is at 122 to 1 U.S. dollar. Our phone number is<PHONE_NUMBER>. Give us a call, folks. I want to know what's going on in your world. And the world of the S&Ps, let's take a look at them. The S&Ps looked over the cliff. Bottom line, Friday, you came downward volume. You're coming down right into the bottom of the consolidation. And, you know, bottom line, you couldn't jump this creek in a second, man. And you didn't. The bottom line is that the futures were down this morning. When you jump the creek, folks, though, the bottom line is that you literally, you know, you'd be down 30, 40 points. So you got a gap in the deal. And that's not what we got. What we got is that you had the S&Ps trade down to 417.80. Your swing point there is 420.18. It rejected it. You're going to have light of volume in the swing point. The swing point is 103 million shares. Right now, we're only at 62. So you can see what happened. You're down there. They stopped buying the market again. The bottom line. Now we'll see what kind of bounce we're going to get. We look at the NDX 100. Same type of setup in the NDX. Now, you've got to remember that the NDX, the last time that the NDX came into that swing point, it was also a one-day wonder. This time here, well, it was a one-day wonder, but it stayed under the swing point for a day. This time here, it did not stand to the swing point. We got down to the 351.12, rejected it ASAP, you're at 357. Now it's going to be intriguing for the Qs.  They're all coming out with numbers, but what's really going to save the market or has saved the market and we'll get into this is going to be the bond market and the dollar. Let's get out a little bit further. We get on to the gold market next. Okay, so the gold market, my take is the gold market not only has already taken off, it's going to take off like a rocket ship and the reason I'm saying that is this. So picture, the rates just kept going up, but yet gold was going up too. And depending on how long we've been in the gold market, the mantra always was, oh, you get higher rates, gold's got to go down. Well, guess what? It didn't go down. Now what you've had is that you're probably setting up a very large ABC structure. Right now we're at the 1987. It looks to me like 21, 29 is your next level. And we got here pretty quick. I mean, this is what's so intriguing. So listen to this. When you look at how fast we came off the bottom, wait to see this, five, 10, 15 days basically took back four and a half months. Yeah. That's normally just the other way around, folks. When you normally go down, that's what happens. But in this case, it was going up how it happened. Notes and bonds. This is the number right here, man. You heard of when I was doing that update, the news everywhere. In fact, Bloomberg's backing this up again and saying, oh, 5% is going to be back. 5% is going to be back. 5% is going to be back my eye. The bottom line is that we woke up this morning, that 10 years hitting 5%, OK? Here, let me show you something. The 10 years hit 5% overnight when no one was trading. The high was 4.990. Right now, we're 4.844. And if you take a look at it, it's the 10 year, right? Everything's predicated on the 10 year, by the way. Your credit cards, the mortgages, well, let's put it this way. Everything that us as individuals deal with, not market participants, they can deal with the two year, they can deal with the 30 year, but market participants in general. So look at the contraction of volume that we had. It was a monster contraction of volume on Friday. Today, bottom line, we get the... Well, you didn't even hit the lows today. That's what's amazing. I love the idea that we had the news, and it didn't even hit the lows, OK? And then we go to King Dala. It's all lined up, man. King Dala has... You know, it was messing around last week, but that messing around now it proves that that was building cause to lower price, because now you got wide price spread again. This is the third time we have wide price spread coming off the highs. Now what this sets up is going back to this 104699. And the reason that's the number that it took quite a while to get through. So we'll see how it deals with that number, because that number is also, watch this, that number is also right around where the 0.382 retracement is. So the bare side of this is that it broke, it's uptrend, it's coming back. We'll see how it handles that 104699. The bull side of the Dala is that it should have pulled back anyway, OK? Now a 0.382 retracement is nothing, OK? So it's going to be crucial to see where this Dala lines up. My take is that it's going to go all the way to the bottom, and the reason I'm saying that we're at the perfect time frame right now, meaning you're at the 23rd of October, you have the big tech numbers coming out this week, we have window dressing next week, this market wants higher price, and it's still just shaky enough, you know?  People won't close their positions as fast as they actually should until you do see a couple really good signs of strength in the S&Ps, and then you see some conviction, more conviction in the Dala as we go to lower price. Dow Industries right now, down 69, the Nasdaq's up 92. S&Ps are up 9. Stay right there, folks. Come back with our man, Mr. Steve Rhodes.


It is my very special pleasure to join you as we mark the first anniversary of the Clean Nigeria Use the Toilet campaign under the National Program to End Open Defication in Nigeria. Today's event provides a platform for us to reflect on the progress being made in meeting the objectives of the Clean Nigeria campaign and to further reiterate our commitment to improving the living standards and quality of life of our people. We're all aware that access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene services is a critical factor in the socio-economic development of any nation and contributes to human capital development outcomes such as early childhood survival, health and educational attainment. Access to these services is also one of the key preventive measures of the raging global COVID-19 pandemic. The practice of open defecation is linked as we know to sanitation-related diseases which affect productivity and other socio-economic outcomes and aggravates poverty. The cost of poor sanitation is there and they impact us all. These costs include healthcare costs, loss of productivity, premature deaths, poor educational outcomes among others. The social costs of open defecation, though intangible and no less grievous, this include loss of dignity, lack of privacy and increased vulnerability to physical attacks and violence especially against women and girls. Meeting target 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals for Water Sanitation which seeks to, and I quote, achieve by 2030 access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations. End of quotes. This is expected to contribute significantly to the achievement of other goals as we build a healthy and viral nation. To this end, this administration has consistently affirmed its commitment to the development of the wash sector in Nigeria as evidenced by the launch of the National Action Plan for the revitalization of the sector and the declaration of a state of emergency by Mr. President. The implementation of the partnership for expanded water sanitation and hygiene, pee wash and launch of the Clean Nigeria campaign last year. The Clean Nigeria campaign is backed by Executive Order 009 which gives effect to its implementation. The Executive Order provides that the national open defecation free roadmap be put into effect towards meeting the national target of ending open defecation by 2025. It mandates the Clean Nigeria campaign secretariat in collaboration with relevant government institutions to ensure that all public places including schools, hotels, fuel stations, places of worship, marketplaces, hospitals and offices have accessible toilets within their premises. It also provides for the enactment of legislation, appropriate sanctions and penalties to back up the fight against open defecation while ensuring that all development projects include construction of sanitation facilities as an integral part of the approval and implementation process. Between last year and now in furtherance of the campaign and with the support of our development partners, 17 additional local government areas have so far been declared open defecation free making a total of 33 open defecation free local government areas in the country. Today we'll be recognizing these local government areas that have led the process in our nation's journey to an open defecation free status as we understand that significant efforts were made to achieve these results. Each of these open defecation free local government areas will receive donations of sat upon toilets provided by Lixill Nigeria Limited. We're enjoying states to prioritize these local government areas for the provision of water supply facilities and the federal government will be supporting these as part of its ongoing initiatives. The federal government will continue to engage all stakeholders and harmonize actions to end open defecation in Nigeria and will reiterate commitment to support subnational level initiatives towards ending open defecation and improving access to wash services for the populace. To this end I wish to commend state governments who have taken the initiative to develop their state specific action plans for the wash sector with the declaration of a state of emergency and have commanded the rollout of their state level campaigns to end open defecation with the provision of needed financial resources. It is evident that we are making progress although marginal in the fight against open defecation in the country as seen in the statistics from the recently launched 2019 Wash National Outcome routine MAPI wash norm report. Consequently we must all increase our efforts and work together to meet the nation's water supply sanitation and hygiene needs as we cannot continue to expose our citizens to preventable water and sanitation related diseases due to inadequate wash services. Ending open defecation is not just about access to toilets it's about generating demand for toilets and changing people's behavior towards toilet usage. The clean Nigeria campaign as a transformational and behavior change campaign will require the contribution and commitment of everyone governments at all levels civil society private sector our development partners and the entire populace in building a new culture of safe sanitation. In our desire to aggressively mobilize the entire country towards ending the practice of open defecation we have identified campaign ambassadors to support the national drive towards open defecation free status. These are citizens who have contributed to the existing successes achieved so far under the campaign or have been identified as persons of influence who can significantly advance the campaign. As a clean Nigeria campaign ambassador you will require to provide leadership in advancing the objectives of the campaign and engage in campaign activities as may be initiated by you or other stakeholders. I enjoy all nominated ambassadors to give their best to this assignment and to bring their wealth of experience within and outside the wash sector towards meeting the national target of ending open defecation in Nigeria by 2025. The success of the clean Nigeria campaign will contribute to some of the key priority areas of the government which include enhancing social inclusion and poverty reduction, expanding business growth and entrepreneurship and expanding access to quality education, affordable health care and productivity of Nigerians. It is in this regard that the initiative of the organized private sector in water sanitation and hygiene OPS wash tagged flush it which aims at promoting private sector led innovative financial strategies in wash is a welcome development. The role of the private sector is critical in building a viral sanitation economy and will drive the sustenance of the results being achieved under the clean Nigeria campaign. On this note, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to officially launch the project flush it initiative of the organized private sector in water sanitation and hygiene and to formally appoint clean Nigeria campaign ambassadors towards achieving the objectives of the clean Nigeria use the toilet campaign for an open defecation free Nigeria by 2025. Thank you very much for your attention.


So at this time we move to their Center for Connectional Resources. It's my pleasure to introduce you our newest director of Connectional Resources I start to say I started to ordain you right then and there So anyway, so Kristi Drenner of Course who's a clergy spouse, but as our director of Connectional Resources tomorrow during the CFA report We will vote on electing her the treasure which she's already serving as but we have to do that every four years And so we'll do in that be doing that tomorrow during their report But she'll be reporting the Center for Connectional Resources and have some other things to bring to us So Kristi, thank you and welcome to North Texas at least to the conference staff. You're well aware of North Texas I know thank you Good afternoon Bishop and members of the annual conference It is a joy to be with you this day to share about the Center for Connectional Resources Or as we like to say the Ministry of Administration While at night might not always be the most exciting aspect of ministry We all know how vital good financial stewardship is to our longevity I would like to pause for a moment and give a shout out to all the church business Administrators that might be joining us today being married to United Methodist pastor I understand your struggle sometimes the spirit moves faster than the budget, but I digress It has been a busy five months since I started on January 1st I'm extremely grateful for my team and all of the clergy and lay members of the boards that I am lucky enough to work with It has been a challenging spring, but the commitment of these leaders to continue the good work of the conference has been inspiring For those who might be new delegates, I would like to share a little bit about what our center does While the annual apportionment budget the delegates will vote on tomorrow is less than 11 million dollars Our center receives and disperses three times as much each year In 2020 the unaudited total was closer to 34 million Most of these additional funds come from managing the comprehensive pension health and property insurance programs In addition to managing the accounting we partner with other centers to support the work of the local churches Here are a few recent examples of our collaborations One of our insurance carriers provides unlimited access to ministry safe training Reverend Emma Williams with the center for leadership develop and I met with the carrier And are planning to co-lead a back-to-school webinar to help our churches Learn how to take full advantage of not only the ministry safe training tools But resources related to bring to hiring practices and even website language Lisa Putnam on our team has been hard at work getting certified as a sales force certified administrator So that we can create a source of truth For data for conference data We have a few databases that we are hoping to consolidate into one She has been working with reverend jeremy bassett the new disaster relief coordinator in the center for missional outreach On how to build his disaster relief team information inside the platform to maximize efficiency So when the need arises they will be equipped to issue the call quickly And the center for church development Owen is always busy creating strategies and opportunities to align churches in new and exciting ways He often says I would I was told there would be no math So he leaves the complex accounting structures. He creates to our center for management In addition to my center In addition my center supports the work of the following committees The insurance advisory team, which i'm sure all of you are very familiar with at this point The board of trustees chaired by reverend chris yost That oversees all of the properties of the annual conference church closures and the buy-off bylaws of our conference The council on finance and administration chaired by mr. Larry wilmack all accounting and treasury functions The board of pension and health benefits chaired by reverend and will it who's about to give her a report As the name implies we work closely with west path to make sure all of the pension plans of which there are a few And the health insurance program are well managed and communicated to the local churches The standing rules and all statistical information are a part of the our department as well In the coming year, I hope to provide regular webinars to review with our local churches some of the policies and best practices related to the important work Of the business office. I'm open to any suggestions of topics. You might be interested in or learning more about I would like to emphasize as I did at the district meetings that we are here to serve the local church If you have any questions related to accounting HR health or pension benefits property insurance and a long list of other items related to business office operations Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team One item of legislation bishop to bring before you is that of equitable compensation On page 18 of the conference workbook. You will find legislative item number three After all of the statistics are gathered in january and analysis is done of the average increase in clergy salaries across the conference It is then reviewed by cfna and a recommendation is made for ds salaries For our standing rules the percent change of equitable compensation has been tied to the ds salaries The past two years we have recommended a suspension in the increase in compensation Due to the challenging nature of the past year CFA voted to not increase the ds's salaries. Therefore, the minimum compensation will remain at 50,326 dollars with the housing allowance of 12,000 dollars Bishop the ccr cld and cfa recommend the adoption of legislation number three Again, this is item legislative item number three It is found on page 18 in your workbook. So you should have it handy there This is before you and we're going to take a poll vote on that Am I correct? Yes, sir. Okay So I want you to get ready to vote and then we're going to provide about 75 seconds for you to vote But we're I'll I'll tell you when the poll will go live here in a moment I don't think there are any questions or I'm no of none. But so please get ready to vote Either yes or no when the poll comes up So we're ready to go the poll is up. Please vote yes or no now Okay, so those voting the 98% of the people approved the decoral comp for the coming year There was one abstention and one who voted no Thank you. Thank you. Is that it and will it is going to come now? Welcome man. Thank you. I'm Ann Willett I'm the senior pastor at North Haven church and also the chair of your board of pensions and health benefits Again, as Christy said, this may not seem like the most exciting stuff But once you have some health care needs and once you start thinking about retirements It's pretty important stuff. So we have had a great year and we are thrilled to welcome Christy drainer our new conference director of Connectional Resources To fill the very big shoes of Reverend Jody Smith. Christy has adapted quickly and led us well in 2021 I call your attention to legislative items four through seven in your conference workbook Legislative items five and seven are on our consent agenda. So we will vote on them tomorrow Today we will be voting on items four and six and we'll vote at the end of the report on both of those items So if you have any questions on four and six, you can go ahead and type those into the chat Item four is our proposed budget for 2022 Uh, and it's on page 21 and 22 of the conference workbook There's an overall increase of 1.83 percent or about $28,000 The increases are in a couple of line items line 83 to 50 the insurance supplement item increased about 12,500 Based on current and anticipated eligibility for clergy on disability and line 83350 retiree insurance increased 10,000 Based on actuarial assumptions a slight increase is needed We did have some good news In 2021 the actuals were significantly lower than budgeted because of a three month premium holiday given by west path So that is uh all i'm going to say about legislative led of item number four Bishop, is this the right time to ask questions about this? Okay, okay. Sure sure Questions andy At the moment, let's go ahead and vote okay this now Okay, so we're going to be ready to vote and basically this is the approval a piece of the budget That has to do with health care the most part correct And and pension and pension benefits. So you have it there are no questions So I assume you're ready to vote. I'd like for you to get prepared to vote on your devices and in the way We're doing we're going to do a poll. We're going to have 75 seconds in order to do that. So please Prepare to vote And I will let them know when we're going to put it up. Hold on You know, I've been corrected Or learned something new one or the other or both and so we're going to do four and six together Like just like I said, whatever you say bishop. That's what we'll do Did you take that line from andy lewis? Whatever you said, that's his biggest line I you need to trademark that solace. Okay. All right, let's talk about number five But we're not going to vote on it because it's on the consent agenda But I do want to explain it legislative Item number five is the resolution to designate rental housing allowances for retired or disabled clergy An item that the IRS requires us to approve annually and this allows covered retired or disabled clergy To use their benefits toward housing expenses, which has some tax advantages So that is on the consent agenda and will be voted on tomorrow Item number six is the pre-1982 service rate for 2022 Again, the discipline requires each annual conference to determine the rate for the portion of retirement benefits associated with service before 1982 Last year in 2021 We didn't make any cost of living increases due to the pandemic and economic uncertainty But this time we are proposing an increase of 2.5 percent in association with the cost of living adjustment Proposed by the social security administration So if approved, this will amount to $823 for approved service of clergy included We've reviewed the financial stability of the pre-82 funds and determined there are sufficient funds to cover the increase So this would be a time to ask any question about legislative item number six So item number six before you is about the pre-82 pension plan And the amount paid per year of service and they are recommending the increase of 2.5 Hope central texas does that So I'm just you know, I'm just saying Okay, so, uh, are there any questions? Do we have any questions andy? Do you know of any? So there are no questions. Let's prepare to vote. So get your device appointment. Can I go ahead and do number seven? You know, it's Would that be okay? That's fine with me Then I'll be done and then we can vote on that too. We have to vote Whatever you say. Thank you. Wait, that's andy lewis is lying. I know He's rubbing off on me item number seven is approval of our comprehensive benefit funding plan Some of the decisions that we address on the board of pensions depend on actuarial data released by west path And sometimes we don't receive the information needed soon enough To make our recommendations for annual conference. So for this reason, we are asking you To allow our conference board of pensions to review approve and submit the comprehensive benefit funding plan In the course of our regular meetings We have several new board members who are highly qualified and interested in doing a deep dive into this plan And so we are going to be addressing that In the coming months. This item is on the consent agenda and will be voted on tomorrow Thank you one other item before so we're going to vote here in a moment on four and six But one of the things I want to share with the annual conferences We have two members from our annual conference who serve on the west path board and do a very good job So we're not only are we well represented at the conference level, but we have um, I would not call it We have on the ground information that's very helpful to to our conference board of pensions And so I think that's important remember and as I remember those two persons are Nisha Dexter Nisha Dexter and Steve Just one Maybe niche is the only one now. I think that was different. It's early a few years earlier. Okay. Thank you So we're going to vote so we're voting on item. Let's slate of items four and six. I want to remind you That can you remind us what the six is? The service your rate six is the pre-82 service rate and four is the budget the budget Pension and health benefits. So you're ready to vote. We know of no questions get ready to vote We're going to open the poll in a moment I'm going to give you a few seconds to get ready to vote Okay, I think we're ready Let's place the poll up now. You have 75 seconds to vote Yes, or no 98 So the vote is this 98 percent of the people it's 98 percent of the votes We're for the approval of both items one percent abstained and one percent voted no So those two legislative items pass the other two will be on the consent agenda That concludes my report. Thank you, bishop. Thank you. So I want to thank both Ann Willett and christy drenner for their work We appreciate it very much christy. You have something else at this time. Okay, so so anyway, so let's uh show our word of appreciation to these people who work on the behalf of our


Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday. I spent the weekend hiking in Kentucky with my friends. We were in Red River Gorge where the views are absolutely phenomenal. This is an annual trip and it's always one of the highlights of my year. I had a mustache incidentally because last year everyone shaved their beards into a mustache but this year only I did so I looked like a weirdo as opposed to last year when we were just five moustachioed guys walking through the woods which didn't look weird at all. Red River Gorge is just stupidly beautiful. There are mountains and cliffs and all kinds of adventure from scrambling up rock faces to walking through creek beds and most of all there are views. It's a funny word view. A view is what you're giving this video of course. It's also what you can see at any given moment. Anyone who can see and has their eyes open has a view. As you're watching me, my view is of a panoramic scene of the valleys below and the ridges in the distance but as I'm recording these words I'm back home so my view is of an unmade bed, a Catherine Murphy painting, and a window into the gray Indiana winter. I always have a view but the idea of great views is that you're aware that you have a view. You're seeing the world in a way that feels new or vast or visually overwhelming. You're viewing something great and a little scary, which is how Rudolph Otto described the sacred, the Mysterium Tremendum he called it. A great view is supposed to evoke the tremendous mystery but it never quite worked for me like I remember once in college I drove across the country with my friends Ransom and Kathy to visit the Grand Canyon and we watched it dawn as the sun rose and the shadows crept down the canyon wall and I just wasn't that impressed. Like don't get me wrong, it's a Grand Canyon. I'm not deeply versed in Canyon War but I imagine that the Grand Canyon is probably an absolutely world-class top-of-its-field kind of canyon but for me personally at the age of 20 having driven 1800 miles to see this great wonder of the world it felt a little underwhelming. In the end I'm not sure that I'm a view's kind of person maybe because I don't have a particularly vivid visual imagination and maybe because I have a rather intense fear of heights and amount of height is sometimes correlated with quality of view. Like Red River Gorge is one of those aggressively beautiful places where the wonder shouts from the mountaintops and the natural stone arches and I do love it but of course I'm not really there for the views and what I love about it isn't really what I can see. I am there for the togetherness, for the feeling that my life is bound up in these other lives, for the stories we've told and retold to each other for over a decade now, for the making and recalling of shared memories. I do not get the feeling of Mysterium Tremendum from the views but instead from the feeling of interconnectedness not just to my friends but also to the ground we trod. For me the wonder is in every footfall and every pine tree. What an astonishment it is to be not just with beauty or with nature but to be at all.  Hank, I'll see you on Friday.