M & M III Reflections

I was reading my blogs last evening and I noticed that I promised last week that I would comment on the Mission and Ministries Forum that Elaine and I attended last week.

We arrived at Ladore to a balmy 55 degrees. We were given our room keys, made a few re-acquaintences, and then went to our first meeting. The guest for the week was Bill Thrall, a founding member of the Leadership Catalyst based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Bill was not new to Elaine and I. We heard him speak at Northern New England Officers Advance (aka Retreat) in 2005. Bill is a great speaker. He is easy to listen to, and that makes his presentations that much more powerful. Bill spoke on Trust and how as leaders it is important to trust. I will say that his presentation was more meaningful for me the first time around. Perhaps this was due to his presentation being primarily geared for people who are known to each other. This enhanced the small group dynamic. It was difficult to share in the small groups with people I met that day.

The first evening, the TAM (Territorial Arts Ministries) performed the musical Marching Along. This musical took a journey through Salvation Army history and some of our notorious "heroes of the faith." It was very well done. It reminded me of a production on a cruise ship. That is meant as a compliment! It was short, yet very much to the point, and was a very moving production. The TAM performed excellently. I was most impressed with the fact that they were able to "nail" the accents as well as they did. British accents, turkish accents, run of the mill american accents, and of course, tough as nails New York accent. Good work TAM. I have a new respect for you and your ministry.

The week was packed full of sessions and the forum. I was moved by Tuesday evening's meeting. It was great to "get to know" the territorial leadership on a more personal level. We laughed, we cried, it was a full range of emotions. I came away from that saying to my wife that the territory will truly miss Colonels Knaggs. They will be taking up appointments in Australia East effective July 1st. They are real people and they will be missed. Lt. Colonel Tito Paredes also shared a humorous story about trying to sign up for corps cadets. He ended up becoming an accepted candidate! Great stuff!

If I had to rate this conference I would rate the sessions a B, and the evening events an A. Bill Thrall was great, but as I shared earlier, his presentation was slightly watered down due to the repetitive nature, and the lack of a small group dynamic. We left Ladore with snow on the ground, and a temperature that read 33 degrees in the Toyota.