2010 Annual Planning Retreat

Re: Annual Planning Retreat, May 21, 2009, at the Dover Conference Center

Please make sure you have marked Thursday, May 21 on your calendar. Among other things, we will spend that morning sharing your committee or council’s 2010 plans, negotiating calendar dates, and assembling our budget requests. Even if you don’t have such requests, we would appreciate your participation. We will gladly provide your breakfast if you will kindly call the Dover office to tell us you plan to attend. (It would really help if you could call by Thursday, May 14.) If you can not attend, will you please tell us who will attend from your committee or council?

Please arrive at the conference center by 8:00 a.m. for breakfast. The retreat begins at 8:30 a.m. When we finish eating, we will begin our planning retreat and conclude when we have finished our work. If we get right to work, I believe we can conclude by 12:30.

The attached forms will help you know what we need from you. We have some basic tasks that we must cover. For example, we need to share the proposed budget and association calendar with the churches in time for them to respond to their 2010 planning. It will really help if you bring your calendar and budget requests to this retreat. Do you have other agenda items? If so, please contact the office so I may include them. Thanks!

Dover will work better in 2010 because you attend this retreat. Our interaction helps us work together to accomplish more than we would if our committees and councils act independently of each other. Our interaction stimulates new forms of cooperation. I value that cooperation and am sure you value it too. I look forward to learning how your committee or council may join forces with others to do new things.

By Thursday, May 14, please give the office your proposed calendar dates and anything else you want shared with other council members. That way we can prepare a draft calendar that will make our work go faster. Thank you very much!