The first ever Vision Enabler Training Event was held in the heart of Midtown Memphis on the campus of Christian Brothers University, July 21-23, 2000. Thirty-eight individuals from fifteen presbyteries within the United States attended the event to be trained as Vision Enablers for their presbyteries. These persons came to be trained as resource persons for the TOUCH THE FUTURE program, a program of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church with the goal of strengthening congregations as its main purpose. TOUCH THE FUTURE recruited persons to be Vision Enablers to take back ideas about how presbyteries and congregations can begin to intentionally seek the will of God through discernment.
Flowing through five sessions, Vision Enablers participated in various aspects of discernment. Worship was led by Lisa Anderson and Nancy McSpadden. William Ramsay led the group through a Bible study while Margaret McKee helped them explore prayer forms. Frank Ward and Fran Vickers discussed group process. The discernment concepts were covered by Davis Gray, Elinor Swindle Brown and Roger Ricketts.
TOUCH THE FUTURE has grown out of a process begun by the General Assembly in 1995. By 1997 with adoption of three new priority goals, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had a new direction for the 21st century. The General Assembly, through TOUCH THE FUTURE, has now asked that each presbytery, congregation, board and agency identify its place in the larger picture and ask the question, "What is God calling us to do?"
Participants in this first event have given TOUCH THE FUTURE and its staff invaluable input about resources, better educational approaches, and fine tuning about the program itself. The staff thanks those who attended this event and look forward to working with them as we touch the future.
As discernment work is getting underway throughout the Church, other Vision Enablers have yet to be recruited and trained. This will most likely be done again in October 2001 and TOUCH THE FUTURE staff is considering the possibility of updating the initial training in regional smaller groups. These plans continue to be developed. If you know of those who have a gift for leading groups in a planning and discernment process and would be willing to serve, please contact the TOUCH THE FUTURE office.