Minutes to Memories

I have an on-again, off-again love affair with meetings.

On the one hand, I appreciate all the jokes about committees, how they are the work of the devil and such. I have sat through many an infuriating meeting, so I get it. And I remember, in particular after Hurricane Katrina, the proliferation of meetings when there was SO much work to be done instead of sitting around talking about it.

But on the other hand, how can groups effectively move ahead together without having meetings? Every effective government has some sort of legislative meeting place. Every effective corporation has a board of directors that meets. Every sports team heads to the locker room at intermission time to do more than pee and towel off.

No, meetings are necessary. The secret lies in the effectiveness of said meetings somehow.

We had a SPIN meeting last night, planning for where to go from here in our young adult group's ministry to single parents. There were eight adults that came, representing six families. No one was technically in charge of the meeting, and there was no agenda other than the standing question: okay, how do we make this better? These facts combined to leave the potential success of the meeting in great question.

But it was a great meeting. I think a LOT was accomplished, and we seemed to leave with a really good plan.

I don't know exactly how that happened, but I wish I did. I'd bottle it up and carry it with me to all my meetings.