The Oregon Conference Executive Committee met at the conference office on February 19, its first meeting of 2026. Diverse discussion at the meeting included 2026 budget, NPUC constituency session agenda items, Education review, and the voting of a new Communication department director.

Financial Statements and Budget

Eric Davis presented the most recent completed financial statement, from November 2025. As of November, the conference was over $1,000,000 ahead of budget in large part due to some expenses that were lower than expected in 2025. These include employee healthcare expense ($800,000 under budget), reduced employee moving expense ($200,000), camp meeting efficiency ($150,000), and reduced need for substitute teachers ($122,000). While tithe returned decreased slightly in 2025, these reduced costs still resulted in the conference remaining well ahead of its budget projection through November. The December statements are currently being finished and will be reported to the next executive committee meeting in April.

The committee also approved a budget plan for 2026. The plan is based on a projection of 99% of 2025 “ordinary tithe” returns. Since some costs of operation continue to increase, the finance team found additional efficiencies to balance the current budget. Some of the priorities addressed in the current budget include:

• Restoring continuing education funding for pastors. This funding provides opportunity for pastors to purchase books, attend seminars, or otherwise continue their professional development.

• Increasing cost of living adjustments (COLA) for employees in some regions where COLA compensation has fallen far below North American Division calculations.  

• Including $200,000 in funding to support camp meeting this year. This is an important intermediate step as administrators seek to fully include camp meeting in future budgets.

• Slight recalibrations of some conference office operations to reduce expense.

• The financial plan also expects that the conference will make minimal use of the remaining line of credit from the NPUC that was needed in 2024-2025.

Preparing for NPUC Constituency Meeting

The North Pacific Union Conference (NPUC) constituency session is upcoming in August this year in College Place, Washington. The executive committee dialogued on a variety of items relating to the upcoming meeting. Representatives were appointed as NPUC nominating committee members. According to NPUC bylaws, member conferences can submit proposals for inclusion on the official agenda of the union constituency meeting. The executive committee considered agenda proposals submitted by other conferences and voted to lend support for their inclusion on the agenda. The NPUC will publish its official agenda later this year.
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Education

Associate Superintendent Stephanie Cooper presented data related to MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing in Oregon Conference schools. Students are tested three times in each academic year. With the results of MAP tests, teachers are using the data to clarify how they can support individual learners. “We are in a continual growth cycle. We assess to know where students are currently and to know how to assist in their academic growth,” remarked Cooper. Together, Oregon Conference schools are working to improve student outcomes even further. One data point presented: In the most recent testing, 83% of students tested at grade level or above in language arts, with 30% of students identified has “high performing.”  
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Kaleb Eisele Appointed Communication Director

The Oregon Conference Communication department has been without a director since the departure of Assistant to the President for Communication, Juan Pacheco, in 2024. While Jonathan Russell has been acting as Administrative Communication Liaison since that time, it was decided to renew the director position instead of the filling the assistant to the president role, and to ask current assistant director/digital content specialist, Kaleb Eisele to take the job.

Eisele has been part of the Oregon Conference communication and media team since 2019 when he joined as digital content specialist. Since coming to Oregon, Kaleb has worked on a variety of creative projects:

• Oregon Adventist Stories told more than 100 stories of Oregon Adventists in short form, produced for social media.

• How the Church Works: A podcast commissioned by the NAD to help explain how the church is organized and how it really operates.

• The award-winning Bridges Over Walls podcast (2 seasons) cultivated conversations about the way that church has sometimes erected barriers between us and the people we seek to reach, and exploring more connected solutions for the future.

• Living Faith PNW: A five-part mini docuseries exploring Adventist beliefs and the diversity that exists within our Oregon Conference family.

• Creators’ Lab: An annual gathering of content creators that builds community and inspires people to do great creative work in faith contexts.

In his time in Oregon, Kaleb has demonstrated his skill in building teams, connecting with church members across our conference, and visioning meaningful communication and media projects that inspire and educate Adventists in the Pacific Northwest and across the world. Kaleb cares deeply about mentoring the next generation of communicators. Over the past two years at camp meeting, he was instrumental in developing a highly sought-after summer internship for university media or communication majors. Through the internship, students are exposed to various aspects of social media, video production, event management, and print communication. In his new role, Kaleb’s passion for opening doors for young creators to do meaningful work within our faith community is sure to impact the communication and media landscape within the Oregon Conference for years to come.

He was overwhelmingly approved to lead the Communication team and is looking forward to continuing to build better communication channels across the conference.  

The next Oregon Conference Executive Committee meeting will be held on April 16.