Evergreen Retreat

The Evergreen Leaders Retreat ended yesterday afternoon. The group worked hard and we were pleased with what was accomplished. The Rev. Dr. Jeff Woods, Associate General Secretary of ABC/USA was our facilitator. One of the many tools he shared with us was to look at our organization as though it was a jigsaw puzzle. Have you done a jigsaw puzzle recently? Usually, assuming it is a traditional puzzle, you begin by finding the corner pieces. They are foundational to the puzzle. Jeff said, that our core values are foundational to our work. Our core values permeate all we do, each time we meet you can “see” our core values. We started our time agreeing that two of our values are “unity” and “cultural diversity”.  After a series of exercises we agreed that the other two corners are “acceptance” and “shifting perspective”. I’m going to be more regular about posting on this site and do some reflection on these four foundational core values over the next 2-4 weeks. I’ll then share with you our thinking about the Evergreen Storyline and the edges of our puzzle, which are our mission priorities, and then share with you the thinking that came out of our retreat about our vision for Evergreen in the future.

            

I hope I’ve piqued your interest in knowing more. Look for further information here and in the Evergreen Newsletter.

           

Marcia

By-law Development

May 19, 2011

            Once again, I find that regularly posting a blog has escaped me! I am surprised that it is already May 19! Time flies when you’re busy, I guess.

            The last blog spoke of our mission statement. I thought I’d take this opportunity to write a little bit about our option to make decisions by consensus. When the by-laws of Evergreen had been written (by a lawyer) and we were reviewing the document (to take as much “lawyer-ese” out of it as we could J, we came across the article that read: “all decisions will be made by majority rule unless otherwise noted in these by-laws.” We had called a meeting that was held at the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. I can picture us, scattered about the pews in the sanctuary, everyone with a copy of the by-laws, paying attention, noses in the copy. There was a “dumb-filled silence” after reading that article. I interpreted the silence for myself as a “do we really want to make decisions that way?” Several eventually voiced their wondering. And a quiet conversation ensued about what else can we do? What are our options? Folks took the assignment to figure out what else/how else we might move ahead. On February 22, 2003, we adopted our by-laws, calling for us to do our work by consensus. Let me make it clear, the by-laws were affirmed by consensus! That part of the experiment had begun.

            We had also adopted by-laws that called for caucus groups to be our structure. This is instead of some kind of geographical representative structure. But it guaranteed voice and understanding to people who otherwise did not feel that they had voice and understanding. We started by making sure that we began a rotation of the chair by the African-American caucus group, not the Euro-American caucus group.

            Real genius was experienced when we put our consensus decision making and our caucus structure together. When we are even in mid-size groups (our Association Board, for instance), consensus is gained in caucus groups and brought back to the group as whole. This makes great sense and also lets those less familiar with consensus work, figure it out in the “comfort” of their caucus rather than in the unwieldy larger group. This works particularly well for the caucuses of color. In the relative safety of their caucus groups they can say and figure out things in ways better for them than ever could working in the group as a whole.

            Evergreen acknowledges that it is something a lot easier to experience than it is to describe. If you have the opportunity, there is a standing invitation to come and see!

            Our Annual Meeting is October 14-15, 2011 at Seattle First Baptist Church!

Marcia