ABLE LEADERSHIP BOARD MEETING

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
 

First Iconium Baptist Church

542 Moreland Ave. SE

Atlanta, GA 30316

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ABLE LEADERSHIP BOARD AGENDA

1.    Opening Prayer

2.    Introductions

3.    One-on-One Report Back

4.    Financial Report – Susana Vega

5.    Weeklong Training Update – Lisa Morgan

6.    Faith & Democracy Update – James Marble

·         Turnout

·         Logistics

·         Program

·         Trainers from Michigan & Minnesota

7.    Evaluation

8.    Closing Prayer

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ABLE’s Faith & Democracy Training
 “A Single Garment Of Destiny”

 

Are you open to the possibility that we

could end fear and division, poverty and

discrimination in our communities? 

Then join us to:
 

·        Delve into your own experience of your faith life and your day to day reality.
 

·        Open yourself to a provoking discussion about the contradiction and the tension between our lived reality and the promise of our faith.
 

·        Explore the possibility for new ways of living our lives together here in our congregations, in our community and in the larger American context. 

Consider ways continue this discussion and to be part of collective action to give life to our values and to transform our communities.

ABLE’s Faith & Democracy Training
 “A Single Garment Of Destiny”

All life is interrelated.  We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny.”

                                                                     – Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Faith and Democracy Campaign has a Fourfold Purpose:
 

• To delve deeply into our faith, our experience and our hope for connectedness and to confront what divides us.
• To galvanize a more powerful and effective constituency around our core teams
• To unleash the energy that comes from practicing hope together in  a powerful way through our organizations.                                     
• To live out our faith more powerfully in the world.
   

 Delve Deeply into Our Faith:
 
To face the crisis we see in our country, our communities and in the lives of our families, we must understand that the transformation of the center of our  democracy is not only a political project, but a spiritual project.  It will require a community of people willing to live, to act and to project an entirely new way of being. Our organization can be part of that community of people if we are willing to delve deeply into our hope for connectedness and into what divides us.  These Conversations can help energize a broad new base of leaders in our congregations and organizations.

 
 It Begins With Core Teams:
 
ABLE encourages every member congregation/organization to establish a core team. The members of the core team are trained to build relationships in their congregation that make fellowship among members more than routine.

The Faith & Democracy Conversation is a base building organizing tool (akin to a One-on-One Listening Campaign).  The campaign is a common conversation which can be organized by core teams and conducted in member and non-member congregations. Too few people trying to do too much….that is our challenge. To energize more people we must engage people in our congregations more deeply about what they hope for in their lives, their congregations and our organization. Through this base building campaign we can work toward a stronger organization with strong core teams which are deeply grounded in faith and a vision for the world.  As an organization we have already accomplished a great deal.  Imagine how much more impact we can have when our core teams are energized by their faith and they grow and become stronger and better organized.  More people working consistently together as a team will allow each of us, our congregations and our organization to live out our faith more powerfully in the world…without expecting two few people to do too much.
 

 The Conversation Is Intended to:
 

·        Identify new prospective leaders for training and involvement

·        Strengthen your core team and to reach deeper into your congregation

·        Engage participants in connecting faith, values and living a public life

·        Deepen the analysis of race and racial justice in this era of a politics of division

·        Strengthen your congregations involvement in the vision and work of the organization and participation in future events