2008 Board, Committees, Sections & Focus Group Meetings - Alphabetical
2008 Board, Committees, Sections & Focus Group Meetings - Chronological

2007 Religion and Family Life Section Minutes (pdf document)
2007-2008 Religion and Family Section Work Plan (pdf document)

Religious and Family Life Section Meeting
November 9, 2007
Pittsburgh, PA

1. Chair-elect, Linda Behrendt, called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.
2. Attendees introduced themselves.
3. The 2006 minutes were reviewed and approved.
4. Financial report (for FY 2007 thru September 30, 2007):
1. Revenue:  $793
2. Expenses:  $595

1. $326.84 – Linda Behrendt’s travel expenses to program meeting.
2. $114.50 – Refreshments for program committee meeting.
3. $153.90 – Hilton Hotel Charges

5. Old Business
1. 25 proposals were submitted to our section this year. As a result, we were allocated 3 paper sessions, 8 posters, and 1 roundtable. This is similar to what we have had the past. Members were encouraged to recruit more submissions for the next NCFR meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas.   
2. Website and Listserv: The website and listserv have been updated. Section members would like to make some additions to the website. Joe volunteered to help with this.
6. New Business
1. Maxine Hammonds-Smith, NCFR board president, and Robert Reyes, NCFR board liaison, made presentations to the attendees. Maxine reported that NCFR members will no longer be assessed section dues. New NCFR members or renewing members will be able to join as many sections as they would like. Members will be required to select at least one section. Each section will receive $2500 for each calendar year regardless of the number of members. Sections will be allowed to keep money already in their accounts and any additional funds they raise. 
2. Section Awards: This year two awards for $100 each were given at the annual meeting. The best paper award was entitled “Using Qualitative Data to Develop a Scale that Measures Faith Activities in the Home.”  It was submitted by Nathaniel Lambert and David C. Dollahite. The best poster award went to Starrla R. Penick and Arminta Jacobson for their poster entitled “Comparison of Christian Children’s God-Concepts and Logical Thinking Ability.” It was reported that the paper that received the award was not presented at the conference. Members felt that the recipients should be required to present their papers at the annual meeting. Also, it was suggested that we need to formalize the process for the selection of   paper/poster awards. Linda Behrendt will review the by-laws and try to get examples from other NCFR sections to initiate a more structured process for the evaluations of the papers/posters. Members gave approval to initiate this process for next year. 
3. Volunteers were solicited to review the papers/posters submitted for the annual awards. Linda Behrendt and Joanne Roberts volunteered to serve on this committee. 
4. Members discussed ways to recruit new section members and submissions for the 2008 NCFR conference.

1. Network outside NCFR with other professional organizations, especially in the areas where NCFR meetings are held.
2. Buy space in professional journals to solicit papers.
3. Contact seminaries and other religious organizations to solicit members and papers.

5. Members discussed ways to encourage and support quality research related to families and religion.

1. Gary Lehmann volunteered to start collecting syllabi and bibliographies to post on the section website.
2. Members suggested posting the contact information for major journals on the website.

6. Chris Gonzalez will search for possible topics for a symposium at the next NCFR meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas.
7. Members signed up to review papers for the next annual meeting. 

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Submitted by Joanne Roberts