For me, the past year has been a year that can not begin to be described in a written report. The best that I can do is outline some of the activities that I worked on as Vice President with the hope that this will convey the material aspect of my work over the past year. However, like many of you, the thinking and praying that has been a part of the experience that we have been through over the past nine months can not be adequately expressed. This report of activities is divided into two parts: continuing activities and activities related to Brotherhood/Fellowship and Foundation relationship.
Continuing Activities
Mailing List Subcommittee: Originally, the mailing list sub-committee was a joint subcommittee between the Brotherhood and Foundation which I chaired. In March, John Hay, Michael Painter, Brent St. Denis and I worked together to draft a report which includes a philosophy, guidelines, and set of procedures for the mailing list. This report was accepted, although not reviewed, at the April meeting of the Executive Committee and is currently on the General Council agenda as an action item.
Editorial Review for the Bulletin: Over the past year I have continued to review Bulletin copy and have gotten involved with writing some articles due to their political focus. Jim Johnston, Scott Forsythe, Nancy Johnson and others have done an outstanding job this year in terms of the quality and timeliness of Bulletin. They deserve a great deal of credit.
General Conference Computerized Registration: I worked in an advisory capacity with Michael Painter and Matt Block who "have done a fantastic job in working with a computer consultant to design a computerized registration program which could be used for the 1990 International Conference. Additionally, this program can be adapted for other seminars or conferences that the Fellowship sponsors. This is a great step forward in our ability to register conference participants in an efficient way.
Agenda: Over the past six months we have been working on reorganizing the agenda so that the agenda is more complete in advance of the meeting, individual members have a clearer opportunity to have an item included on the agenda, and agenda items are organized according to four categories: action, discussion, reports, and other. This format seems to focus thinking on what is being requested for each item, helps prioritize the agenda items and ensures that all items are either covered or tabled.
Activities Related to Brotherhood/Fellowship and Foundation Relationship
Reports and Correspondence: Over the past year I have worked on a variety of reports including the special report to readers in October and the report of the January meeting in Phoenix which included councilors, society reps, and area coordinators. Additionally, I participated in the review of a wide variety of correspondence.
Presentations: To help c1hrify the position of the Fellowship I have participated in the following presentations: with other members of the Executive Committee at Nordic Hills (November), with Lynne Kulieke at a First Society meeting (December), and with Gard Jameson, and Lucile Faw at a meeting sponsored by the San Francisco Society (January).
Name Survey: I worked with Mo Siegel and Dave Elders on the name survey which was distributed in January. Particular thanks are due to Scott Forsythe and Joanna Spinas who spent a great deal of time preparing over 500 responses for analysis.
Appreciation and Welcome Dinner: At the March Executive Committee meeting I worked with Gloriann Harris to organize a dinner/orientation for EC members and office staff. The dinner was sponsored by Executive Committee members to thank the office staff for all of their contributions over the past months of transition. The orientation was organized by Gloriann to acquaint EC members with the building and jobs that each office staff member performs. My hope is that the event helped to create a more integrated and cohesive team dedicated to the work that we are pursuing.
Program and Planning Subcommittee of the EC: I was volunteered to chair a subcommittee of the EC which was charged to develop some new programs and plans for the Fellowship. This subcommittee consisted of Bob Bruyn, Avi Dogim, Berkely Elliott, Gard Jameson, Jim Johnston, Peter Laurence, Dan Massey, and Harry McMullan. After some initial work that I presented on using a modified strategic planning approach as a framework for our planning efforts, the subcommittee decided that this would be a helpful approach. After some further work defining the mission, purposes, and goals, a smaller subgroup of Bob, Gard, Jim and myself worked on the remainder of the strategic plan: beliefs, strategic parameters, strategies, and some sample action plans. After a final committee review, we are submitting this plan to the Council at their July meeting as a starting place for discussion and to determine how we should proceed in developing the plan further.
Office Staff: While working on several projects, I had the opportunity to visit the office. From these visits, I would like to share the following observations with you.
-The number of different projects that the staff are working on is really impressive.
-The clarity of decisions made by the General Council and Executive Committee is important in the implementation of a project.
-As we continue in the process of redefining our organizational philosophy, it seems important that this philosophy be communicated with the office so that there is alignment between the philosophy in the office and the organizational philosophy.
Personally, I believe that we owe much appreciation to the staff for all that they have done during the past months and am greatly impressed by the efforts that each staff member has made to help us move through this transition. Conclusions
This past year has been like none other that I have ever experienced.
There are so many people in our organization who have contributed significant
amounts of time, money, thinking, and support to others throughout the
organization. All I can say is that it has been an honor to serve with
those persons whose commitment to our organization and each other as well
as their integrity to act consistently with their beliefs has been so evident.
A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship