Jarvis Ward looks on the bright side of canceling an annual meeting.
By Joan Drammeh
In June 2009, a U.S. Meeting Planner Intentions Survey conducted for the Professional Convention Management Association revealed 41 percent of meeting professionals were planning to postpone, cancel or rebook meetings already booked in 2009/2010 due to current economic conditions. Jarvis Ward, national facilitator of City & Community Ministries with the Mission America Coalition (MAC), was one.
“I serve on the MAC national staff and work closely with our Chairman/CEO Dr. Paul Cedar,” says Ward, 47, who’s been with the coalition since 1994. “Paul made a recommendation to the board of directors that because of the economy and because a number of our ministry partners were seeing major drop-offs in registration, it would be best to postpone our 2009 event until 2010.”
The coalition began discussing the possibility of canceling the October 2009 Mission America Coalition Annual Gathering as early as December 2008. The annual gathering represents the coalition’s commitment to discussing strategies for collaborative evangelism and discipleship among Christian leaders. In March of 2009, the Mission America board of directors announced the postponement of the gathering until March 1-4, 2010. In addition to the change in date, the board announced plans to combine the gathering with the National City Impact Roundtable, an annual gathering where city reaching practitioners come together to share best practices.
“When Mission America made the decision to postpone the October meeting until the first quarter of 2010, I realized then that we could have a conflict with the National City Impact Roundtable,” Ward says. “In this economy, having two national conferences in the first quarter of 2010 and within a three-month time frame would be a struggle. I brought the idea of combining the two events to the Mission America board and to the National City Impact Roundtable.”
Due to foresight of Dr. Cedar and Ward, there were no contracts to be broken or cancellation and attrition fees to be paid — just a group of prospective attendees that had to be informed. Rejuvenate caught up with Ward to learn more about Mission America and how he handled a tough decision.
What was your opinion about the decision to cancel the 2009 MAC Annual Gathering?
I was in full support of the postponement of the event in light of what we were hearing from some of our colleagues around the nation. It gave us the opportunity to put
together the best program for the roundtable and the MAC.
What were your members facing?
A number of meetings were experiencing a significant drop in registration in the first quarter of 2009. We also heard a number of local and regional ministries experienced major drop in their funding. We have a great relationship with our leaders. In many cases we are attending their meetings or encouraging others to attend their meetings and we get a lot of feedback. We get a good feel for what’s going well and what isn’t.
How did your membership react to postponing the gathering and combining it with another one?
It was positive. I believe the membership appreciated the fact that we were considering their economic situation and trying to make the most of the meeting. It made more sense to have a meeting where we would draw a much larger attendance than to just have a meeting for the sake of tradition. It is not something we are planning to do each and every year, but in this particular time we made the decision and had a strong positive response from across the country. The bottom line — this Christian organization was sensing that the Lord was telling us what to do. The real measure of the coalition’s support will be how many register to attend.
Do you expect attendees to go to both simultaneous events?
That’s what we are hoping. We’ve never had these two meetings happening at the same time and same location. What we are presenting in our registration information is the notion of getting two national gatherings for one price. Many of them would attend both events anyway. I think they will be able to get a lot more in terms of resource providers, potential relationships and connections.
Have you benefitted from the extra planning time for the 2010 events?
Yes. In fact, the word is that 2010 could be our best yet in attendance, and the best in terms of the number of speakers and representation of ministries and denominations.
Will the schedule be more compact?
Yes. Trying to do two conferences over a four-day, three-night period will be very tight. We have intentionally planned a program designed around having combined sessions.
How many volunteers will you have in Birmingham?
We will have 30-40 volunteers and a few additional staff members. We rely on relationships that we have built and continue to cultivate in different cities across the nation. Our volunteers are people that we know. Whoever works with us does it because they have a desire to see city collaborative efforts grow in their areas.
What other ways is Mission America trying to save money?
We are always looking to be the best stewards of the Lord’s resources. We are currently in budget season and have been asked to cut our budgets. I was asked to cut the Mission America budget for City & Community. I submitted a 15 percent reduction by cutting corners, travel expenses and continuing without an administrative assistant.
How many roundtables occur a year?
We hold national gatherings once a year. About five years ago we began to encourage regional city impact roundtables that can be limitless in terms of the number of cities. This year we have five regionals.
Any plans to reduce those meetings?
Regional meetings are easy because those are locally owned and operated. The cost is lower because you aren’t bringing people from across the nation. You are usually just dealing with a couple of states. People are able to drive and get good hotel rates.
What role do you play in planning the events?
With the National City Impact Roundtable, I am serving on the planning team of six and working with our event planner, Jamie Brooke with Arrowhead Conferences & Events. Now that the contract has been signed, my role will be as point person working with the hotel on site to fulfill all of the provisions of the contract.
How did you first join the MAC?
I have been affiliated with the MAC since 1994 when I served as the executive director of the Mission Mississippi. I was invited onboard in 1997 as the national facilitator of City Community Ministries because of my work with the Christian reconciliation across the state of Mississippi.
What drew you to Mission America?
Mission Mississippi is a state organization with a local focus and Mission America has a national and international focus. The coalition is a network of church leaders with a shared vision to collaborate in prayer, evangelism and marketing. I wanted to take what I was doing on a statewide level and have the opportunity to have influence on a national and international level. It was the opportunity to see the gospel spread through collaborative evangelism and discipleship.
How do you think your work with Mission Mississippi prepared you?
Back in 1991, there was a clear line of separation and demarcation racially and denominationally in the body of Christ in Mississippi, particularly in Central Mississippi. What I got on a local level with denominational differences, racial differences, economic differences and so fourth, was solid strong preparation for moving to those national and international levels.
The MAC is made up of national church leaders. How does the coalition go about identifying community leaders?
In the early days we would seek them out. As people heard of the network we were building they started identifying themselves. They contact us now and ask to be a part of our newsletter and monthly conference calls.
What do you enjoy the most about your work?
I do what I do because I believe that when God’s people come together, in an understanding about long-term commitment, we can affect change in our communities.
REPLY
