CMDL Breakout Panels

Saturday, April 22, 2006

I. Morning Sessions

Panel A: Transforming the Work Environment – Bottom Up

                        Focus: effective organizational transformation from the bottom up – from

production line and customer service to senior management – so that the organization is healthier, more productive, sustainable, and better aligned with the Christian ideals of Beloved Community by encouraging respectful engagement, service to others, risk-taking and making a meaningful difference in meeting the needs of both the market, the employees, and the wider community.

                        Participants:

(1) Kendrick B. Melrose, recently retired Chairman of the Board and

former CEO of the Toro Company (Bloomington, MN), Wayzata, MN;

(2) Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D. teaches, writes and consults about spirituality and organizational leadership, Dorchester, MA;

(3) Neil Roos, Executive Director, Christian Labour Association of Canada, a  50 year-old  union founded on alternative, progressive, Christian values of “dignity and respect for all people;”

(4) Nancy DeNero (convener), founding pastor, Mt. Hollywood Congregational Church’s ministry of Inside-Out.

            Panel B: Discerning Personal Vocations

                        Focus: methods and practices for engaging in effective Christian vocational

discernment, including the use of Scripture, and consideration of the meaning of “vocation” for ministry in daily life

                        Participants:

                                    (1) Jane Patterson, New Testament scholar and Co-Director, The

WorkShop, San Antonio, TX; 

(2) John Terrill, Director, Professional Schools Ministry, InterVarsity

Christian Fellowship, Madison WI;

(3) John McClung, owner and operator of Los Patios, retail and restaurant operations, San Antonio, TX;

(4) John Lewis (convener), New Testament scholar and Co-Director, The WorkShop, San Antonio, TX  

Panel C: Bringing Our Ethical Selves to Work

Focus: connecting Sunday beliefs in a practical way to our work lives and how

we respond when faith values seem to come into conflict with our roles in the professional world.

                        Participants:

                                    (1) Barbara Nicolosi, Executive Director, Act One, Hollywood, CA;

(2) Charles Reynard, Illinois Circuit Court judge, Normal, IL:

(3) David Miller, Executive Director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture,

New Haven, CT;

(4) Judith Valente Reynard (convener), Poet, correspondent for PBS-TV,            Chicago, IL. 

Panel D Discovering and Responding to God’s Workplace Presence

            Focus: identifying and probing “vernacular” or “indigenous” theologies emerging

from the workplace, including such issues as how do we discern God’s presence in the workplace, the revelatory possibilities of particular circumstances and processes in our workplaces, why looking for God in the workplace is a crucial dimension of Christian discipleship, and how workplace ministry can revitalize congregational life.

                        Participants:

                                    (1) Lynn Aldrich, sculptor, Los Angeles, CA;

                                    (2) Robert E. Gipson, entertainment industry lawyer, Los Angeles, CA;

                                    (3) Armand Larive, Episcopal priest, carpenter, author; Bellingham, WA;

(4) Anne Rowthorn, author, Salem, CT;

(5) Scott Young (convener), campus minister, InterVarsity, Los Angeles.

II. Afternoon Sessions

            Panel E Transforming Work Environments – Top Down

                        Focus: identifying the importance of setting the right “tone at the top” so that the

organization is responsive, creative, sustainable, and acts with ethics and integrity, including such things as leading by Christian values, encouraging teamwork, and promoting learning, while recognizing that “without margin there is no mission”.

                        Participants:
                                    (1) Doug Barr, CEO of Goodwill Southern California, an “industrial

evangelist” whose organization has placed over 1600 disadvantaged job seekers in competitive employment in the community, Los Angeles, CA: 

(2) Walter C. Wright, Ph.D., Executive Director of the DePree Leadership Center at Fuller Seminary, who has developed a framework for connecting character and productivity through research and consulting, Pasadena, CA;