Introduction to Good Cities January 09 Conference

Ray Williams opened the meeting with prayer and by thanking Geyer Springs First Baptist Church for the use of the facilities and for their preparation for this conference. Glenn Barth, the Good Cities Learning Communities facilitator started the conference by saying that the whole purpose of the conference is to advance the engagement of people in Little Rock outside the walls of the church. Growing disciples is part of the mission of the church, but it is also to mobilize people outside the church to be change agents. Today we will be discussing volunteerism - how to motivate people to be laborers in the harvest. As Jesus said, "The fields are white for harvest."

As a facilitator, it is Glenn's purpose to expose the participants to new knowledge such as through readings and scenarios; promote understanding, to take the knowledge and begin to think about what it means to the participant and how to communicate it to others; and decision-action that will mean taking new plans back to the churches. The participants are asked to be fully present in the discovery process which will entail five stages - what is, what might be, what could be, what should be, and what will be.