MCBC's Big Day

Okay, I want to reflect on our MCBC Annual Meeting, but I have to try to draw you in with an exciting title!

It's hard to get everything done in one day - but who wants two days of meetings?! I found that I was constantly adjusting times of items on the agenda throughout the day because some of the items ended up taking more time than we had imagined or allotted. I was very blessed that at the end of the day we came out about where we had planned to - time-wise.

I found that the one item that we short-changed was the time for discussion. This was one item that could be moved around, but that it basically got moved right off the page was very disappointing for me. We are professing to be a church with a congregational approach, and then for the voices of the people to be squeezed out, suggests that we are not practicing what we preach. I just want to register that this was not our intention. It just happened due to the unexpected lengthening of the day.

I have heard many good responses, a couple of concerns, and some good ideas to consider for the future. The good responses were to the telling of the stories of the host congregations and the exciting welcome of our new congregation - the Western Hmong Mennonite Church.

One concern I recall is that the finance report should be more connected to the missional activity of MCBC. I have already mentioned this to our finance committee and they can appreciate this value, and will work towards it. A second concern is with the number of people who leave half way through the day, and then even more filter out through the afternoon. This has always been a concern, and so we ask for your ideas for a response to this matter. Thirdly, there was concern about the number of people who could not come to LEAD because it is during the day on Friday.

Here are some good ideas for the future. Some have said that my concern about lack of time for discussion was not a problem; they believed that there was not much to be discussed this year. But, they said that if there were some significant items for discussion, it doesn't make sense to have people just line up at mikes in the large assembly. We should bring well-articulated discussion items to table groups for some real interaction (as we have done in the past.) Some I spoke with felt that LEAD and the Annual Meeting could be both done on Saturday. Some said that the Annual Meeting should only focus on future vision, and not on the reports of the last year of activity (these are to be read in the report book.)

Well I hope this has given you some stimulation for your own responses. This time I SERIOUSLY WANT YOU WHO READ THIS BLOG TO RESPOND with your thought of how to best do LEAD and the Annual Meeting.