Iron Clad

Sunday, August 14, 2005

New Structure
Well, I don't mean to compile onto the lack of consistent structure in the lives of WVCC goers, but it is time to evaluate the structure of Iron Clad. Please feel free to comment on any of the following, suggestions are welcome (we are all Iron Clad).
As it is, Iron Clad is a once enter, never exit, always on-going group. There are some problems with this structure that warrant a change: what happens with major life changes? Do those who can not attend for a week-month-year then get uprooted? What happens when new guys want to attend? Do they simply jump in head first? Do they then get trapped? What happens when a meeting is canceled? Do we re-do that meeting or cancel it?
This is the structure that I am considering instead of the current vaguely standing scaffolding:
1. Meetings still take place on 1st and 3rd Saturday of Every month, 7:30 PM at Curt's
2. Four quarters of Iron Clad, three months in each quarter
A. August-October (regular meetings re-convene)- Quarter 1: FACING CURRENT ISSUES
B. November-January - Quarter 2: SPECIFIC BOOK STUDY - PRACTICAL APPLICATION
C. February-April - Quarter 3: SPECIFIC SCRIPTURE STUDY - PRACTICAL APPLICATION
D. May-July (relational transition for summer)- Quarter 4: SCHEDULED MEETINGS GIVE WAY TO INDEPENDENT RELATIONAL ACTIVITIES
3. Specific Categories for each quarter
In this structure, we would have the ability to adjust according to the seasons we are in; however, we would not belabor a topic that has overloaded us. It would allow life transitions to occur naturally, without the awkward exit/entrance. Although we would have the same purpose, this way we establish a vehicle to accomplish this purpose.
I'm completely interested in your feedback, so please feel free to comment - be brutal if you wish.

posted by Mick Ó Seasnáin at 5:33 PM

4 Comments:

  • I'm not so sure about the book reading... it didn't seem to help last time. Are we going to choose books together?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:07 PM  

  • Well, I thought about the general direction of our group, and felt it was necessary to include some outside source to influence thought. The best third party I could come up with was a book. I'm open to any suggestions on this, however. I don't want to make a rule about our group that people are not in faith for. Granted, I hope that you pray before you say "no," so that it is not just about not wanting to read a book.

    By Blogger Mick Ó Seasnáin, at 9:30 PM  

  • I don't like the thought of becoming a "book group", but I have to admit that some really meaty information can be gleaned out of the right books. As it will probably take a couple of months to get through a book as a group, I like the idea of going through one book a year, and leaving the rest of the year for non-book time. To have no time spent mulling over a good Christian book might weaken the overall strenght of the Iron Clad group.

    Plus, most of the time the discussions related to the books don't necessarily require you having read the book! Some people would skip meetings if they didn't read the book when they really could have still contributed a lot to the meetings!

    By Blogger Jason, at 7:14 AM  

  • I agree with you J. I know, for a fact, there were guys who did not come to meetings as they felt guilty for not reading the chapters we were on. I'm sure, in hind sight, I was a big part of that. But we should not limit our members and insight based on meeting or not meeting assignments.

    What if we read a portion of whatever book we study in the meeting, and then discuss it? If we have three months to each book, we should be able to cover a lot even if we skip around.

    By Blogger Mick Ó Seasnáin, at 7:15 PM  

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