Nominating Committee?

June 17, 2011

            Last weekend the Black Caucus of Evergreen went on a road trip! About a dozen folk squeezed into a van at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Baptist Church’s parking lot and made their way to Calvary Baptist Church in Spokane. They were greeted by several members of Calvary Church who treated us (yes, I joined them, only I flew because I had an unexpected appointment earlier in the day J) to a scrumptious barbeque dinner!  On Saturday morning (after more food), we shared…a history of Evergreen, what churches were doing in outreach to the community. We “toured” the house where every Saturday Calvary Church feeds lunch to 75-100 honored guests. The Seattle folks got back into the van after lunch (more wonderful food, enough to take some home with us) and made our way back to MLK parking lot and home. An Evergreen “moment”! Part of the Evergreen story!

            The Black caucus plans more such adventures!

            On Saturday morning when sharing was happening concerning Evergreen, I was reminded of one of the “unintended” consequences of our Evergreen structure. We have no “nominating committee.” In many/most organizations like Evergreen the real power resides with the nominating committee, it is who the nominating committee knows which makes a difference about who gets the leadership nod in many groups. Our caucus system has dispersed the work of the nominating committee, so that each caucus works out how members of the Executive Committee will be selected. With each caucus naming two people to the Executive Committee and naming officers when it is a caucus’s turn to name an officer, it means the work of nominating leaders is the work of all the caucuses rather than one small “representative” group. It is shared power at its best.

            Further reflection on this brings me to the Executive Committee. Although we have had some folks with a great number of years on the Executive Committee we have always had extraordinary service from all who have served. And the relationships built and maintained by that service is astounding.

            We have made it a practice at Executive Committee meetings to always ask a question at the end, either “what have you learned in today’s meeting” or “how do you see God at work?” Many times in response has been the group working together and the meaning the meetings have for the participants. Since at least one of our participants is almost always on the phone, I think this makes another “Evergreen” moment/story. There is a commitment and “sum greater than its parts” about our work. The Spirit is there and we are blessed. Thank you to the current Executive Committee and to all who have served over our eight years!

                        Marcia

Nominating Committee?

June 17, 2011

            Last weekend the Black Caucus of Evergreen went on a road trip! About a dozen folk squeezed into a van at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Baptist Church’s parking lot and made their way to Calvary Baptist Church in Spokane. They were greeted by several members of Calvary Church who treated us (yes, I joined them, only I flew because I had an unexpected appointment earlier in the day J) to a scrumptious barbeque dinner!  On Saturday morning (after more food), we shared…a history of Evergreen, what churches were doing in outreach to the community. We “toured” the house where every Saturday Calvary Church feeds lunch to 75-100 honored guests. The Seattle folks got back into the van after lunch (more wonderful food, enough to take some home with us) and made our way back to MLK parking lot and home. An Evergreen “moment”! Part of the Evergreen story!

            The Black caucus plans more such adventures!

            On Saturday morning when sharing was happening concerning Evergreen, I was reminded of one of the “unintended” consequences of our Evergreen structure. We have no “nominating committee.” In many/most organizations like Evergreen the real power resides with the nominating committee, it is who the nominating committee knows which makes a difference about who gets the leadership nod in many groups. Our caucus system has dispersed the work of the nominating committee, so that each caucus works out how members of the Executive Committee will be selected. With each caucus naming two people to the Executive Committee and naming officers when it is a caucus’s turn to name an officer, it means the work of nominating leaders is the work of all the caucuses rather than one small “representative” group. It is shared power at its best.

            Further reflection on this brings me to the Executive Committee. Although we have had some folks with a great number of years on the Executive Committee we have always had extraordinary service from all who have served. And the relationships built and maintained by that service is astounding.

            We have made it a practice at Executive Committee meetings to always ask a question at the end, either “what have you learned in today’s meeting” or “how do you see God at work?” Many times in response has been the group working together and the meaning the meetings have for the participants. Since at least one of our participants is almost always on the phone, I think this makes another “Evergreen” moment/story. There is a commitment and “sum greater than its parts” about our work. The Spirit is there and we are blessed. Thank you to the current Executive Committee and to all who have served over our eight years!

                        Marcia

Caucuses

June 2, 2011

            Where does the time go! June already, even though it is cool outside! But then we have been blessed not to have the scorching temps that the east coast has had or the tornados and terrible winds, now hitting even Massachusetts.

            The last post was about consensus. I want to write a bit further about our caucus model. The benefits of the caucus system were not known early on. One of the best unintended consequences is that we don’t have a nomination committee for Evergreen. Each caucus acts as it needs to put forth nominations. Talk about sharing of power! Most often in organizations the nominating committee is the real place of power. Without one in Evergreen, power is more dispersed and shared. The caucus system allows this and each caucus handles nominations in its own way. In fact, each caucus is organized in its own way!

            The quorum, across Evergreen is that at least one person from each caucus must be present in order for us to do business. For all people groups, this says, if we don’t show up, it means that the organization cannot go forward. The rules say we can only get along with everyone present! That is a real shift for people of color, it means ownership in a way that is not usual in American Baptist circles anyway.

In addition our caucuses help us reach consensus. Early on in our life, we learned that consensus building as a whole group beyond the Executive Committee (total 7 people) was almost impossible. The caucuses allowed us immediate smaller groups! And that meant that at Association Board meetings caucuses could have some real conversations. I’m convinced that at times conversations happen that just would not happen if the group were ethnically mixed. This is especially true as it relates to conversations about money or anything of importance. Within the relative safety of the caucuses some concerns can be voiced where otherwise they would be silenced or rationales would be put forward. Does it mean that sometimes decisions must be slowed down? Yes! So far that hasn’t been a bad thing. It has helped us all come to more reasoned decisions and decision making.

Exactly how this all works does need to be experienced. It is rather difficult to put down on paper (or out on the web in words) the complete experience. The Euro caucus in particular has had difficulty in understanding why “separating” helps us come together. In my opinion, that has to do, in large part, because the Euro caucus has not dealt deeply enough with our white privilege. While we think we might allow all others in a larger group to participate, we are usually unaware of how we dominate the conversation and the agenda. Our “giving people time” to respond, does not translate for the other caucus groups. It is indeed by our meeting separately that the Black and Asian (and prayerfully one day other caucuses) have their voice.

We are learning, we have not yet arrived.

Marcia