Call a Meeting

Between my work and church, I am on [counting...] ten committees, no I forgot one, eleven.  Then there are actually two more committees of which I am the only member [yes, that's a thing].  The pastor at our church gave me an award for being "Just a Gal Who Can't Say 'No'" [I am assured that there are no parallels being drawn here between me and the somewhat promiscuous character Ado Annie in "Oklahoma."]

Thank you for Rodgers and Hammerstein.  [If I have already thanked you for Rogers and Hammerstein, well, thanks again.]

We finish our work day, and then we get down to business.  We meet and get things done.  We make decisions.  We make lists.  We divide up tasks and responsibilities.  We celebrate successes and solve problems.  And we do it all in an hour [well, that's the goal, anyway].

Thank you for tangential conversations that are WAY more interesting than the business at hand.  Thank you for getting back to the business at hand.

I mention this here because I'm thankful for the people gathered around those tables praying, laughing, brainstorming, volunteering.  These men and women, unfailingly generous with their energy, experience, creativity, and time, are making a difference.  Some of them work to plan worship celebrations to lift people in faith and bring them into a closer relationship with God.  Some of them strive to lift up children, celebrating and praising their academic successes.  Some of them create opportunities to bring families together in Christian fellowship.  Some seek ways to bring families together to share a joy of learning.   I'm sensing a pattern, here.

Thank you for recognizable patterns of behavior and self awareness.

As much as I like and respect my committee companions, as much as I enjoy a well-planned event, I don't always want to stay after school or jump in my car in the evening and head to a meeting.  Can we change the world without getting off the sofa?  Can we make a difference in our pajamas?  I think this was the question that drove people to improve communications technology.  [Okay, maybe it had something to do with needing to work with people who were far away, but I like to think that they're in their pajamas.]

Thank you for pajamas.  Mmmmm so comfy.  Nice work.

So, here I am at the intersection of lazy and industrious.  And on the corner we find:  the conference call.  Certainly conference calls have been around for years in the business world.  But they're not just for multi-national corporations anymore.  Thanks to internet-based free conference call providers, folks like me can host a conference call and conduct meetings from our sofas in our pajamas [our sofas are not in our pajamas, just to be clear].  So I gave it a try.

Thank you for www.freeconferencecalling.com. [Not a paid endorsement.  Definitely no payment.]

To plan a large luncheon for a Sunday after church, the Family Ministries Team went home.  We kicked off our shoes and put our feet up.  We grabbed a snack.  We got comfy.  We picked up our phones and dialed in.  It was great.  The very novelty of the conference call made the event planning fun.  We were so fired up, we actually planned two events:  a Sunday luncheon and a Saturday picnic.

Thank you for feeling fired up about planning fellowship opportunities.

On some level, it is a superior technological advance years in the making starting with Alexander Graham Bell.  And it is a simple thing, a bunch of friends on a single phone call.  It is a sea change for church committees.  It's akin to wearing flip flops as an acolyte.  [Relax, it's no big deal, at least the kid's in church, right?]  Well, I'm thankful:  for all the genius and invention and work and time and people it took to invent this little thing; for the sofa and the footstool and the tall glass of iced tea; for the caring volunteers who called it in and accomplished just as much, if not more, than we would've in our Sunday best around a table starving for lunch and looking at the clock.

Thank you for ice and tea.  Thank you for kids in church--even in flip flops.  And Alexander Graham Bell [not in flip flops].

What will future meetings look like?  We won't forgo in-person, face-to-face all together meetings altogether.  We like each other too much to stay away [we'll spend true quality time together at that luncheon or picnic that we planned].  I suppose the next phase will include Skype or some such video component.  I'm not a great fan of videoconferencing; the camera on my laptop is always at an unflattering angle, and I have to make sure there is no mess behind me.

Thank you for "The Grammarist" website and its concise explanation of the difference between forego and forgo.

Try conference calling.  Get a bunch of friends or family to dial in and connect in a way you haven't tried before.  Expect some goofy silences while you try to figure out whose turn it is to speak or who just said that.  I'm sure we'll give conference calling another try.  But really, I can't wait to see my friends again.

Thank you, Lacey, Amybeth, Mike, Sally, Katie, Robert, Julie, and Elise for being a great team.  Thank you, God, for Lacey, Amybeth, Mike, Sally, Katie, Robert, Julie, and Elise.