First business meeting - San Diego Integration

By: Edward Viljoen on Monday, February 28, 2011

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Favorite quote
I second that emotion, Rev. Michael Torphy

Favorite question
Can't we just vote fit the whole thing just as it is now?
Anonymous

Favorite official statement
We have had a wonderful year up on love mountain in Denver
Dr. Kathy Hearn


In her address, Dr. Kathy shared how we had come through a period of financial recovery rather well.

Some highlights

Events are now fully integrated, which is an astounding accomplishment; bringing two cultures together, Asilomar is going to be a two week event of one organisation. Dr. Kathy reflected that Judy Morley's experience had been a sample of what it will take to integrate. Prayer, vision and willingness to go to the third way.

Science of Mind Magazine
The magazine now has an online presence, subscription can now be online or through excisting paper form.

Gregory Toole
Regular communications are now the norm to ministers and practitioners and annual reports are done online through survey monkey. An interim minister program is now ready to be launched and a new integrated practitioner curriculum has been developed. The integrated minister training is available online on a CSL forum for review and is still in development. The world ministry of prayer is being reassessed. A second annual practitioner conference is planned and a whole bunch of other things I wasn't fast enough to capture. Oh yes, the building in Denver was restained and looks great.

Dr. Kathy went on to say that integration was an idea whose time has come and acknowledged Dr. Christian Sorenson who had been a champion of reintegration saying "just get it done will ya?"

She also mentioned Rev. Chris Michaels who told her he was in Berlin when the wall came down and inspired her by saying that no one knew how it would all happen and how it would turn out, but they took the wall down none the less.

Dr. Kathy said that there lives within us a deep dream that has been seeded for a long time and shared a vision that Ernest Holmes was part of as far back as 1941 of the role we have to play through the power of God in supporting the awakening of human kind on this planet and that we have a sense of something important to do here, and this sense has been with us for a long time. She said "My thought, and I think it's your thought too, is that we can do this better as one organization."

She shared that from her perspective there is a huge freeing up of energy as this conversation about coming together completes and we can get on with the business of our work in the world. She acknowledged Jim Lockhard who seven years ago approached her in an elevator at a conference and said 'It's time for our organizations to get together" and acknowledged also that she dragged her feet a bit in the beginning because we had just been through an organizational change and were in the midst of tremendous recreation, moving headquarters, and changing our name among the significant changes.

She listed some of the key strengths International Centers for Spiritual Living bring to the table.

* There is a very strong stand in ICSL that the field communities have the final say in mattters of governance.
* There is a high level emphasis of service and volunteering
* There is a strong emphasis on mentorship
* There is a styrong emphasis that events do betteer than break even.

Dr. Kathy then asked us to consider what it is that we need to become and be to welcome the new world that rushes towards us. What do we need to be, she asked, to welcome the third new thing.

She asked us to check within when we consider the three documents that are coming to us as proposals, and she wanted us to know that overall, she was satisfied that the largest part of what is meaningful about our current culture is in these three documents.

She mentioned a few differences that we will encounterm, such as the shift from Global Heart Vision to Global Vision. The shift in language of the vision away from stated conditions (a world without hunger) to affirmative language, and the addition of an elected President to oversee the operations of the movement. The design includes the the field communities as a strong component in assuring the people have decision making power and another significant change is that of delegate proportionment. Every covenanted community will have a primary delegate and then an additional number of delegates based on service (attendance at service, classes, etc. more on that later). She alerted us that an important amendment was coming to re include a youth delegate and closed saying,

'I am a voice for what words, what is sustainable over time wihtout damage to people and resources. Overall, I am satisfied with what we have here."