[Springboard] Denver Gathering

[Jack Gilles]

Dear Colleagues,

In less than two weeks there will be another gathering of our  
Springboard group in Denver, March 28-30.  We hope that some of you  
who haven't signed up will do so.  We know that the date has not  
proven to be one that some can attend, but after conferring we have  
decided to go ahead and gather with the following context for our  
work.  For those of you who are planning to come, please fill out the  
form attached and notify Ann Neal  <anneneal-ica at qwest.net> as soon as  
possible.

The three previous gatherings of Springboard have moved us down the  
road in our quest to give form to Caring for Those Who Care.  We have  
accomplished a great deal and have drafted a declaration of “who we  
are” that many of us have committed to.  We now need to give form to  
the care we feel is our role as an emergent Order.

In our last gathering it became evident that the guild dynamic is  
alive and well and takes many forms in many parts of the globe. The  
work being done in many fields is developing a tremendously rich  
understanding of what is possible today that we could not have  
conceived 30 years ago. Many parallel groups and organizations of like- 
minded global care and focus on the major contradictions of our times  
speak to an indicative consciousness among those who care that we can  
help empower. All of this is feeding into a growing global repository  
of spirit and social methods that extends the wisdom of our previous  
30 years as it links to and joins the efforts of many others.

Therefore, some of us have discussed this and are proposing that this  
Springboard gathering will focus on how we might make this emerging  
Repository a vibrant and dynamic interactive research site.  We have  
not only much to share from our past work in Methods and Spirit, but  
we have new constructs, thoughts, designs and models emerging every  
day that need collective mind work.  We have articles and books being  
written and more to write that may be done through our resurgent  
publishing capacity.

We are proposing that this gathering bring a qualitative focus to  
establishing an ongoing research dynamic that will be like a "virtual  
GRA".  All of this means we probably will need a different  
technological platform or hosting service and tools for work on our  
Repository so that we can establish focus areas and working groups  
that take us beyond sharing models by email.  The repository can  
become like a library with sections and divisions for writing teams  
and guild teams to intensify their work.

We also propose that we discuss funding and self-financing options for  
this repository website, research and writing. We already know how the  
publishing can be self-financing through the sale of publications.

Finally we want to look at 2008 opportunities to meet when we might  
have other focused gatherings. Suggestions for focus areas and meeting  
locations should come from all of you.

Our gathering will be a time to review breakthroughs since we met at  
Abbey North. We have two breakthroughs to share with everyone in this  
communication and there are more in the making which we hope to share  
soon.

Joe and James Mathews have completed the arrangements for the location  
of the JWM personal archives at Wesley Theological Seminary in  
Washington, DC. They have worked closely and directly with Betty Pesek  
and the ICA executive leadership and board in Chicago, and the  
President, Dean and Head Librarian at the Seminary for over a year now  
to make this possible, fulfilling one of Joe’s wishes – that his  
life’s work which so many of us have shared in could be placed in an  
academic institution where it could be available to the world for  
continuing research and writing. The great move is scheduled to take  
place during Holy Week.

The Bishop James K. Mathews family has also bequeathed Bishop Jim’s  
archives to WTS and the two sets of archives will be located adjacent  
to each other in the new Library Methodist Heritage archives and  
research center. The Seminary is indeed excited about this as it  
brings a wealth of biblical and systematic theological thinking and  
practical application to the world stage that WTS envisions to be its  
global, ecumenical, urban and multi-cultural ministry to the world.

The second is an exciting new development happening in Litibu where a  
group of your colleagues established a residential community more than  
15 years ago.  Salvatore Caruso, Dianne Greenwald and Jack & Judy  
Gilles are establishing a Litibu Eco Community and Mindful Living  
Centre.  We are purchasing Larry and Shirley Henschen's property and  
are presently on the search for 9 other partners for this exciting  
venture.  This will be one of the keystones in Caring for Those Who  
Care and we would hope it would be a place where all of you may feel  
welcome.  We will be sharing the prospectus with all of you in another  
email.

Please give us input and suggestions for the Springboard gathering and  
we hope to see many of you there!

Grace & Peace,

Jack Gilles, Gordon Harper and George Walters

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