Strategic Planning Council - Day one

My trek to Nashville began with waking at 2:45am in order to catch a 6:00am flight. I arrived mid-afternoon, but had little time for rest before activities began at dinner, followed by an evening general session. So Wednesday was a long day for me. Looking at our jam-packed agenda, it appears that the next two days will likely feel just as long.

The Strategic Planning Conference is comprised of not quite 150 leaders from across North America, representing state/regional delegates and national leaders. The purpose of this gathering is part of a multi-year process of determining how the Church of God can be more focused and effective in its ministries, particularly within our North American organization.

Wednesday's opening session was to set the pace for all that we will grapple with over the coming two days. Crammed into a relatively small hotel ballroom we began our evening under the musical leadership of Jay Rouse. Ray Rood, our facilitator, was introduced. He works for a change management consulting firm, and has had connections recently with Warner Pacific College. Quoting organizational expert Bob Quinn, Rood briefly challenged us with the observation that all organizations are moving along one of two paths, either deep transformational change or a slow death. The choice we make will depend on sufficient leadership.

The bulk of the session was a presentation by Ron Duncan. He stated that he believes “this is a watershed event in the life of the Church of God” and that radical transformation is needed. We have faced three major crises and one major reorganization with the last twenty-five years, and on top of that significant canes have been occurring in our culture. In Duncan's view, from this Conference we must “build a solid foundation for a flexible ministry future in which we resource the local congregation”. There are three building blocks that will make this happen:

1. Restoration of key relationships among Church of God leaders.
2. Return to the basics of the New Testament church.
3. Renewal of collaborative ministries.

Duncan elaborated on these three building blocks, drawing upon results from the recent church-wide survey that was conducted and his own observations. Much of the work of Conference delegates over the remaining two days will be to build on these ideas and provide working answers to the questions that arise out of them.

Obviously there is more detail here than I can share in this post, but hopefully it will provide an overview of the nature of our gathering. I sense a strong spirit among those in attendance, and am impressed with the age diversity of delegates (although less impressed with the gender breakdown).

Please continue to pray for us at the Conference.