 We're now in the fall period today. First question before we get started, does anyone need to sign in? We're making sure we get a form. Our main words today are from Liz James. And I get some because if you were here last weekend, W Stone Soup is the message for all ages. And Liz writes this away. I am not sure those homeless people were being so harsh in the Stone Soup story. You probably remember how it goes. When the old woman came into the village and asked for ingredients to make food, everyone said they had nothing. She began boiling a cup of water with a stone in it and said, Oh, I wish I had a little salt. And someone came forward, shyly, with a tiny bit tucked away in a pocket. Then she wondered how long she could find a few group of vegetables that another person had that. Some hounds had three spoonfuls of rice and so on until the glorious soup was made. We're told that this tale is about tricking a meal out of selfish people. But I don't really think that's what happened. I mean, if someone asked me if I had a meal to share with them and I only had a half teaspoon of salt or a few old vegetables that are always at the back of my fridge, I would say I couldn't help. I wouldn't be longing when I said I had nothing to give. I would just be longing. When we say that there's nothing we can do, we're not longing. That phone call we might make, that five dollars we might donate, that working mail on the courage unit might send, these things feel so small that we think that they're the same as having nothing to offer. The Stone Soup story isn't about selfish people. It's about people who thought they were powerless. It's about people learning that they had something to offer that would feed themselves and each other. May we be given the bravery to step forward and offer whatever we have. May we be given the wisdom to see ourselves as part of something greater. And may we be given the compassion to see and draw out the gifts that are found in others. Thank you. The Stone Soup and generosity, thank you to the food haulers. We have the majority of our time today. We'll be going to a conversation with each other. This is the... Oh, sorry. So this is the... The fall parachute meeting in the U.S. has been devoted to our open question and process, which we'll talk a little bit more about later, but it essentially means that the majority of the meeting is devoted to listening to each other and talking in small groups on great issues that are critical to the future of our nation and to the mission that we also have. So to a quick agenda review, we do have a couple quick business items. First of which is reviewing minutes from our preview minutes from the last part of the meeting, as well as moving on from one reason to another to some more. So we do have two quick items in the business, and then it goes from the rest of the time to our preview. So then there was a handout with the June parachute review minutes. Are there any questions or corrections to those minutes? From the floor, Sam makes the moves to approve the minutes. So it's Brett Weiss, thank you. Wes, sorry for Brett Weiss. I'll take a photo of proving the existence of the June parachute review in Seattle. Hi. Next item. We're very pleased to have two candidates as new advisory members of the U.S. Board. We have some that are great and really want to know more. They've actually also been attending our last couple meetings as guests, and we're moving forward today as official candidates to open in as official part of the board. They've provided BIOS and all that you need. The BIOS are actually the writing on the back of the agenda. We have it up on the screen here as well. The word appreciation, the American appreciation for the presence in our unit, is very helpful for my honor to think about all the agendas and the full-time information that's, as we basically said, in our meetings. And we very much appreciate their perspectives. A motion from our honor candidates. Is there a second? Thank you. All right. I'll favor proving who's invited the members to the U.S. Board. The process at this time of year fits into the cycle of governance. Today we're going to focus on upon its one of the priorities of the interim time for this year and next is creating a culture of abundance here at FUS. But when I think about a culture of abundance, I immediately think of the classic stories. You can see my little graphic up there. Of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and the fishes. I knew him at home, right? Jesus is teaching and people are hungry and there's no food. And so he asked them to bring forth a basket of fish and a basket of bread and suddenly there's no food forever for 5,000 people. Now when I was hearing the story of a kid sitting in a pew in St. Pat's, it was told as a miracle story, purely simple. And you know, no question asked. People were hungry. Jesus made food miraculously in Peter and spread far and wide. And it wasn't until I was in seminary that I had a professor who told us this story and then said, there's the meaning of it. And I was thinking in the head, it's a miracle story. It's one of those that proves Jesus is divine and nothing more to Him. And then she started talking about how really it is a story of abundance and generosity and hospitality. It's the story of a community coming together to share what they each had. She painted this beautiful image of people going into separate pockets and their bags to pull out just a little bit more than maybe they were setting aside for later. And then everyone by giving what they had, they had enough. And she said, it is a miracle story, but it's not a miracle story of one person. It's the miracle of community because when each person gives what they had, we have enough. And that's sort of what Doug was talking about, creating the culture of abundance. That's why I think of that a community of abundance is when we come together and out of this spirit of generosity and gratitude for all the goodness in our minds, we share and we realize that together we have and we are enough. So we're talking about abundance today. It is a clarity of dinner time. It is also what the board is going to be focusing on on a strategic level for the coming year. And so for that, I'm going to turn it over to my co-conspirator. We need a new song. It's now the Terry Carter, the Terry manager. You're going to need a new song. So I'm going to talk about that for just a minute here. I'm going to play it out for you. So what I'm going to mention is that this is a... This is the talk of the month of August. It's a lot of rest of it. So I'm going to say that it's not an opportunity until there's noise for the districts and states. So we are totally convinced. More seriously, the talk of the month of August has been one of the major things where the blockage has been part of our intro over. And she basically wasn't a concerns to be here at the doors this far. I just wanted to mention that Doug isn't able to do with us here today because he is traveling this afternoon. We're just welcoming you up, giving you the opportunity to form the service of a close friend and a copy. So the thoughts are with him today. Oh, sorry. I'm going to use notes for this part. I just wanted to say a few words before we move into our topic about what an open question is. So the open question, one of the board's priorities this year has been to focus on the ways in which we will consistently work within our governance model. So we've been reading and working with the governance committee to review the history of our model and just to understand, you know, kind of be any more depth the intent of the model. Earlier this weekend, the board actually spent quite a bit of time with church consultants and governance experts, Dan Hodges. Many of you may remember me from this work here 10 years ago, and he was one of the folks who helped us implement our current structure. We're one of the biggest things that came out in this weekend's work. It was a better understanding of really what the cadence of activities is supposed to be in the intent of the model and the cadence of the planning activities, and in particular the communication channels between the board, ministers, staff, and the congregation. And the open questioning process is one important point of connection between the board and the congregation. So it's a basic definition. The open questions are designed to gather the information needed for a strategic plan. So the board published its conversations, as we're doing today, to listen to each other and gain a sense that the congregation is the most important priority. But the question and topic that we'll talk about today are something we'll talk about not just here in Sweden, but something that we'll come back to in many other seconds and something that we'll also discuss at our board. The question before today is quite broad, but the eventual outcome of this conversation is to leave to setting more kind of strategic goals. And the intent is to be very forward-looking, so we're actually thinking now about goals that we might want to set for future leaders. So moving into the conversation of the open questions today, Kelly's going to come and invite us into groups of the roughly seven of us all. She's laughing hysterically because we have a divide. She doesn't think we can be done. So maybe you need to prove me right on this one. Do we have an attendance number? Okay. So could the board members stand up? Or board members, if you would come up here. Board members are going to help record what's happening in the group. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight with money. Okay. Awesome. Let's do... Yeah. But she shouldn't believe it. So eat. Right? Do you guys want to be one group or two groups? One group? Okay. So we've got eight groups up here. Let's do it. So if any one of the people... eight groups will be one group. No, there's nine. There's seven. How long does they have to do that one group? Okay. But we have seven board members and two... Right. But we have number eight. So we can be group. All right. Let's come off by eights. We can do this. Okay. We're going to start with Chuck. So Chuck, one, two, eight, one. And then... Eight. One. Three, four, six, zero, eight. Three. Eight. Jim. Eight. Eight. One, two, three, four, six. So before we get to the opening question, it's, as an introductory exercise, primarily to, you know, put ourselves in our small groups and to introduce ourselves to each other. That was the point we've been counting on. It's hopefully here in... So please introduce yourselves to each other. And as a way of getting into our topic, our first exercise is to just talk about things very briefly that speak to the abundance you already see in the West. And we're thinking about just, you know, images, words, phrases. You know, this isn't a part of the conversation that we're really collecting. It's really just a reflective exercise. So, you know, however we interpret the idea of abundance and the wealthiness in here today. So I'm just going to take about 15 minutes for this part of the conversation, and I will drink the wine. If you would get that, then it's back to you. Make sure that everybody in your group has had some time to share and we'll let you know in five minutes. Sorry. Sorry. If you could meet with me as a larger group. Yes. Sorry. Sorry. Let's verify it. Stay in your groups, but if you just wanted to check in verbally, if your books could just shout out like no words or short phrase speech that came up. The staff. The staff. Versity. Sorry. Versity came up in the groups. The first stage was the last one. Music. Music. Inclusion. Beauty. Beauty. Beautiful building. No. No. What else? Opportunities to connect. Opportunities to connect. I don't relive this indication. Spaciousness. OK. How about just do meanS for smaller experience. Opportunities for smaller experience. There's whiteness. Like any expanded land. Tailors. Spirit. Spirit. Jolbendrecht. Laymen. Laymen spirit. Mysector of validation. My- My- What's mean hacerlo? Through- You. Shut it. Because of plans. Share a building broken in- Social非常的 specifications. So moving into our actual open question that we'll use for, again, this has meant to be an introductory conversation, and it will take place in any other time. So given the strengths and the areas that we've just been discussing informally, we're thinking more specifically for the future, which our open question is, in what ways could we increase the sense of abundance here about us? And just thinking of our mission and future in many ways that the word abundance can be useful. And just to know our process, because this is a conversation that will continue throughout the year, we're not trying to synthesize or prioritize information right here today. But we're asking everyone to individually write down ideas and themes that come up in your group. You know, I can just relatively briefly on posted notes that are available. And we'll get kind of an argument in the morning for the end of the conversation. And if we want to write down just the ideas that are most important to us as an individual, we're going to place the most notes on the easels from the room, and we want to take that information to work with in future conversations. Was it Michelle's idea or she didn't? No, you don't. I think it's my idea. I think it's my assistant. I'm going to put my feet here. I'm what's really nice about it. Yeah. I think so. That looks good, yeah. Here's a kind of a verse. Just to kind of wrap up some of our conversations, groups may be different places. I've been told some of the moving into the afternoon, some of the groups have kind of started to displace a little bit and wanted to bring things together to pose. A couple of requests. Before we get back into the large group, we just take a moment to thank each other for a conversation today. We're both going to make some connections. I'm going to tell her now. And we'll see if that's a game of the individual thoughts whether they're forward or back or forward. So we'll just take a few minutes. So I think that the measure will reconvene as the larger groups for our first group. We divided by numbers so that all the groups were the same size and we were sitting with just whomever. And that was fantastic. Every other time we've met, I think there have been some groups of seven, some groups of 14, some groups of 25. And we can actually count to eight and get them all the same size. I was amazed by the intelligence and creativity of my group. We had so many good ideas. Thank you. We were sitting up in the front corner and the microphone from there to that corner was utterly unintelligible. Yes. Surprise. I found out that one idea might lead to another idea and getting to know each other by working together was wonderful. We got to know each other by listening to each other's ideas and having them play off of each other. Wonderful ideas for being with the youth leaders. So I was grateful to be in that group. Love to be with the youth leaders. Thank you. What is abundance? What we call riches and bounty? Abundance is all around us. That we are alive is precious. That we are loved is beyond worth. That we love others in turn fills ourselves. We give so food that Mother Earth provides for her body, endlessly renewing, generously feeding all. We give so spirit that will save her social lives, freely and non-leaving represents. Holy, holy, holy. All the families surrounding us, our possessions, the homes that shelter us, all are forms of abundance. The seasons and tithes forever search circling. Some rises and some sets. The blessings of another day. In this we are lifted. Remember to be grateful. Take time to thank the writer for your bounty. With gratitude, with thanks, with love, do we fill our hearts. May you be forever blessed. Remembering that even in times of scarcity, we are ever blessed. May you share only half of those who have nothing and be agents of abundance. Thank you.