The Orthodox Christian Fellowship Board of Directors held its spring meeting on April 22nd and 23rd in Chicago, Illinois. A wide range of topics were covered during the productive sessions conducted at the Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.

The Board evaluated the delegation of day-to-day responsibilities, due to the recent vacancy of the Executive Director position in order to ensure the normal operations of the OCF offices. The ongoing preparations for programs, College Conference, Real Break, College Student Sunday, and Day of Prayer will be overseen by various Board members. A search committee was created to perform a comprehensive assessment of the Executive Director position and to create a formal search process, which will begin at a later date. Presently, Father Mark Leondis, OCF Board Chair is serving as the Interim Executive Director.

A report prepared by the Brigham & Nahas Research Associates, summarizing student focus group surveys carried out in December at the East Coast College Conference at Antiochian Village in Pennsylvania was reviewed. Seventy of the 238 student participants volunteered to take part in the surveys, which provided valuable insight into the effectiveness of the OCF ministry. The Board began a process to strategize methods of utilizing the results of the report, which was performed in cooperation with the Office of Vocational Ministry at Holy Cross School of Theology.

National OCF Chaplain, Father James Coles, updated the Board on the progress that has been made in establishing the regional chaplain structure of the organization implemented earlier this year through the generosity of the Order of St. Ignatius. This new network of chaplains located throughout the various regions of North America, have begun to function as a vital link between the OCF office and the local campus chaplains who serve the 270 OCF chapters. The regional chaplains work cooperatively in their respective regions with members of the Student Advisory Board, an annually appointed body of student leaders. Student Advisory Board applications for the 2010-2011 school year will be available soon on the ministry website, www.ocf.net.

The standing committees of the Board also met to discuss new resource planning, organizational governance, and development strategies which will further OCF’s core mission of providing an Orthodox Christian presence on college and university campuses. Reflecting on the incredible growth of OCF chapters, programs, and support in recent years, the Board of Directors looks forward to building on its tradition of sharing the message of Christ with students during their formative college years.

The next Board of Directors meeting will be held in Jacksonville, Florida, in the fall of 2010.

The 2009-2010 Orthodox Christian Fellowship Board of Directors is comprised of 19 members including appointed representatives of the 9 SCOBA jurisdictions, as well as elected members.

Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) is the official collegiate campus ministry program under SCOBA. Our mission is to support fellowships on college campuses, whose members experience and witness to the Orthodox Christian Church through community life, prayer, service to others and study of the Faith. Our headquarters is located in Indianapolis, IN and supports over 270 local university chapters across North America. In addition, we provide a variety of thoughtful and innovative programming, including regional training, annual conferences, and domestic and international service learning programs.

For additional information contact:

Presvytera Shyla Hadzellis
Development Director, OCF
shyla@ocf.net
www.ocf.net

OCF is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and the official campus ministry of SCOBA.