07Event: 07 Event

by Doug Pagitt

Here is a copy of an email I am trying to send to those who were at the 07 contributors meeting at the San Diego Event.

Hello all, thanks for coming to the contributors meeting in San Diego or for your interest in being part of the future steps of the Emergent National event.

On Saturday morning the group of us who offered to put the next steps together met. After much discussion it became clear to all of us that to really pull off the kind of “big tent” event with multiple partners we are hoping for we need more time. So we are suggesting that we schedule this big event for May 2007.

This will give us 26 months and afar more time to invite partners to join in the creation process. Michael Toy asked a very observant question, “With 2007 being so far away are we really saying that we have no plans to do this?”
We all agreed that that is not at all our intention. We all agreed that we need to get working on this immediately if we want our partners to feel part of the event from the ground up. We also feel that we can use the Fall Emergent Gatherings in New Mexico, the theological gatherings, WALP, and even summer “institutes” as a building events to keep momentum and connections alive between now and then.

I also talked with the folks from Zondervan and if they decide to do the NPC again at the Town and Country next year, which it looks like they will, then perhaps we could have a “Mini-emergent convention” (think Mac Mini – all the power of a Mac but you bring your own keyboard and monitor). The initial discussion of this looks like it could be really great. We are discussing creating a rhythm of worship to the day turning the entire facility into a labyrinth (the sunrise in the morning, the pools as water of healing, the meals a refreshment – that sort of thing) and not having a music driven worship event. To make a theme of the day and have seminars and meetings fit the theme. We would try to make it simple and inexpensive. This would mean a fewer number of presenters and very little production. But this event is not the one that would capture the attention of our conversation over the next year.

We hope to intentionally try to get people to the Fall Gathering and other events and use the mini-convention to pick-up any who would be predisposed to the NPC partnership. So the next step is to create a plan and vision for the 07 event (which will include 08 and 09). This initial planning group will begin work immediately and have goal of having location, date, budget conception and partner invitations ready by April 1 (if Allah wills ☺).

We will then bring together an additional group to start the work of planning the event. So after this first phase we will need to draw from additional people to start putting the event together. We do need a name and input on the vision. We will have a planning blog to share ideas and give input. We are hoping to use this more than email for the exchange of ideas.

I know this all seems like a lot of work, but I think we are at a crucial point with a brief window of being able to turn the public perception of Emergent from the Brand to a catalytic network of friendships and these events may help that.

07Event

07 Event

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