by Glenn DeJong
1995 CCBC Chairman
Welcome to 1996, an important election year! Our basic strategy in 1995 was to build an infrastructure which could effectively inform and motivate voters in 1996! In this article, I will briefly review the past year and outline our goals for the coming year.
1995 – The Year in Review
One goal for the Christian Coalition of Brevard County in 1995 was to strengthen this local organization by growing the membership. This past year, CCBC membership grew by over 60 percent. At the beginning of last year, CCBC co-hosted a successful lecture by Dr. Herb Titus. Last May, the CCBC had a very successful picnic, with over 100 adults in attendance, several elected officials who briefly addressed us, and a short message from CC-FL’s John Dowless. (Mr. Dowless, by the way, is now a full time CC-FL lobbyist in Tallahassee, and the very capable Bob West has assumed Dowless’ former role of field director.) In September, Brevard had seven delegates attending CC-National’s exciting “Road to Victory” conference in Washington D.C. In November, there was the “God & Country Rally” in Orlando. And, of course, there have been several important meetings of the local members.
Another accomplishment was amending our bylaws to allow people to choose an Associate Membership option. This has allowed business at our meetings to flow more smoothly, and also has allowed us to recruit people into the CCBC who may have been a little hesitant to immediately commit to a Full Membership. Another feature that was added is our Expanded Membership deal that gets a CCBC member enrolled with the state and national CC organizations at a very modest cost. This joint membership option has become increasingly popular. Lastly, we have established the “Sustaining” and “Booster” levels to recognize CCBC’s significant financial contributors.
Another answer to prayer in 1995 was the establishing of a CCBC office. As of this month, we now have our own office! How did this come about? Please attend our next member’s meeting, and you will hear the good news, see our new office, and understand the full importance of this acquisition.
And praise be to our God, who rules the universe, and cares about the details of our lives! CCBC’s success in 1995 was granted in spite of problems this year for chairman DeJong (mainly due to my health).
1996 – Our Strategy
Our early strategy in 1996 will be to continue building an effective organization as we transition to the tasks of educating and motivating voters. We must build the membership! We will need more funds and volunteers as we get closer to the elections. There are many people in Brevard County who will join with us as they learn of the CCBC. We must explain to friends that donations of time and money to a local coalition can be much more effective in educating voters than donations to candidates or national organizations. We all are aware that the election process is hampered when it is dependent merely upon candidates advertising their own opinions of themselves, along with a liberal-controlled news media’s biased reporting. CCBC’s educational efforts simultaneously influences election races from the national presidency to local city councils.
As we set up the office, we are thankful for members who have donated a Fax machine and a copier! We are still looking for someone to donate a computer to replace our old PC-XT. I know there are businesses and individuals who are purchasing Pentiums, and could donate an old 386 or 486. Even a PC-AT 286 would be a major step up from our outmoded XT. We also will need an answering machine, telephone, and a couple of items of furniture. Please call if you can help.
Our next meeting (January 25), will include nominations for our officer elections in February. Please consider nominating yourself or someone to help lead the work of the CCBC. We are also blessed to have Gene Burress’s brother Phil at the next meeting to explain how to strongly influence local elections. Many of you know that Phil is known nationally for his successful influence in Cincinnati.
We need to begin compiling voter guides, starting with the Republican run-offs just around the corner. We need to start planning for our spring event – perhaps a picnic combined with a candidates forum. Then we need to get out the candidate surveys and complete research on the voting records and habits of local elected officials.
As our membership expands, our goal for Pass The Word will be to change from a newsletter to a full-size newspaper format which will give even more information to more people in a more interesting style. (If you want to make this a reality, then please make use of the membership forms!) If you want to write articles, then please let us know! As you run into blatant blunders and falsehoods by the establishment liberal news media, please get this information to us.
