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Alpha - "An in-depth overview of the Christian faith"
MINUTES and ACTIONS ARISING
Attenders:
Eric Angel Conference Chair Nick Lee Chair of Organizing Committee Kathleen Greene Ministry Team Head Chris Allen Administration Team Head Jenny Moore Registration Team Head Peg O'Connor Stewarding Team Head Capt Bob Stewart Prison Alpha Dave Atkins Alpha Advisor Bob Horsey OAPC Chair John Wright Tony Liuzzo Chris Slojewski Irene Turpin Harry Baker Tony Copple, Alpha Advisor, and recording secretary (591-3903, tonyc@ncf.ca).Distribution of Minutes: All Ottawa area Alpha leaders, plus:
Tony announced the key speakers for the Alpha Conference: Pastor Lawrence Rae and Rev. Brian McVitty. (Click for their bios, which are on the conference web page). Brian was a key speaker at the recent Toronto Conference May 1-2, where Tony Copple met (and photographed) him. We are very fortunate that two of Canada's Alpha pioneers will be sharing their experience and wisdom with us.
Eric announced that the speaker for the Pastors and Lay Leaders Lunch at noon, May 29, will be Rev. David Crawley, Rector of St. George's Anglican, and one of the original promoters of Alpha in our region.
With David's enthusiasm, Alpha spread out powerfully in this city and surrounding cities, notably Morrisburg and Perth. The Networking Committee will arrange the lunch, to be catered by Dave Smith (Nate's) and a freewill offering will be taken to pay for it.
... ... ACTION:All are asked to seek out potential Alpha pastors and invite them.
Jenny Moore has done addtional exploration of the surrounding area (building on Peg O'Connor's initial work) and has produced a map and list of parking lots and hotels that will go out with Registration packages
Eric introduced Kathleen Greene, Ministry Team Head. Kathleen is well integrated into our local intercessory community through Cursillo and Alpha.
Nick introduced Harry Baker, Hospitality Team Head. Not to be confused with T. Harry Baker, who is also prominent in the Alpha community (Russell).
Bob Stewart, Nick and Tony reported on their attendance at the Toronto Conference. (Tony's photos of the conference are available on the web at www.ncf.ca/alpha/toalphaconf.html )
Hospitality: Harry Baker
Since squeezing in 300 - 400 people using all the breakout rooms in Dominion-Chalmers did not seem a good idea,
Harry had surveyed a number of local hotels. Others concurred that dinner would be far more effective if we were all together in a single room. From experience at the last conference,
the Crowne Plaza not only has the space but also is well suited to hosting the post-dinner talk and ministry team time after dinner. The issues would be related to getting
people there (8 blocks) and back to where they had left their cars. We would probably begin dinner at 5:30 or 5:45 (instead of 5:15) to accommodate travel time.
John Wright reminded us that we may want to accommodate spouses for dinner who were not attending the rest of the conference. We might also be able to negotiate a special room rate
for people staying overnight (although we cannot give any guarantee to any hotels for block bookings).
Harry was given the go-ahead to obtain rates form several hotels including the Crowne Plaza, and make a provisional booking for 400. Alpha Canada have asked that rates for several hotels be posted on the web.
... ... ... ACTION: Harry Baker. (Harry, please send rates to Tony Copple for the web.)
Ministry Team: Kathleen Greene
Kathleen has begun work on forming the ministry team, in conjunction with two friends who are discerning intercessors.
Readers please not that this team does not accept volunteers. Members are sought out.
Stewarding: Peg O'Connor
The Stewarding team now has 50 people on its books. The Welcome Desk will be merged with the Registration desk, organized by Jenny Moore. To date there have been no applications from Dominion Chalmers folk to serve on this committee.
The names have evolved somewhat since the previous minutes, and will not be repeated here, since evolution has not yet ceased.
If you are not sure if you are on a stewarding team, either call Peg at 613-264-2945, or see the conference organization chart at www.ncf.ca/alpha/orgchart.html
It was decided after discussion that the Dominion-Chalmers parking lot should be reserved for handicapped visitors, emergency vehicles, and Dominion-Chalmers staff.
Registration: Jenny Moore
Jenny has done additional exploration of the surrounding area (building on Peg O'Connor's initial work) and has produced a map and list of parking lots and hotels.
Jenny distributed a draft of the letter to be sent to all those who register with their conference fee. The letter will have the map printed on its reverse side, and also include parking and hotel information (which will also be on the web site). The letter states that seminars will be posted on the web page by October 1. In further discussion we decided not to offer bag lunches but to make it clear on the registration acknowledgement letter that delegates were responsible for their own lunch arrangements, and also that food could not be brought into the sanctuary. The letter will also ask language info (see "Language" below). We also discussed aspects of name badges.
Treasurer: Chris Allen
Chris Allen reported that we now have $750 in the bank, and encouraged volunteers (again) to
prepare draft budgets based on 450 people and submit their expenses. Alpha Canada is pressing us for budget information at this time. Chris can provide draft budget templates. We also have available the financial report from the 1997 conference.
.. ... ... ACTION:Team heads.
Networking: Eric Angel, Tony Liuzzo, Tony Copple
Eric reported that letters had been despatched to more than 700 clergy inviting them to the conference, and also inviting them to the Pastors and Lay Leaders Luncheon. The letter includes the names of 13 from our Council of Reference. (The full Council is listed on the Organization Chart, accessible from the conference web page.)
Tony Liuzzo reported that two letters have gone out from the Archdiocese to 120 Catholic churches with similar invitations, and including testimony from Tony's personal experience in Alpha. The Pastors Luncheon invitation is also posted on the Archdiocese web site. We thank Tony for these excellent arrangements which also involved the guidance and assistance of Vernon Robertson, Alpha Canada Catholic Board member (for whom your prayers are asked at this time as he goes through chemotherapy).
Tony Copple reported that 55 e-letters had gone to potential "Supporting Churches" inviting them to support us in prayer, finances, and promotion to non-Alpha churches in their vicinities.
Tony also reported that we have made application to the Dominion-Chalmers Millennium Fund for a grant to help us with conference advertizing. He showed an advertisement which appears in the May Christian News Ottawa which was distributed to 85,000 Ottawa Citizen readers on May 20.
He obtained approval to go ahead with a flier to be distributed to 65 local priests are subscribers to Anglican Renewal Ministries with the next edition of the magazine Anglicans for Renewal. Finally he mentioned that a letter had been written to be sent to our honorary co-chairs, thanking them, with a copy of "Questions of Life" and encouraging them
to visit the Ottawa Alpha web site to come up to speed on current Alpha happenings.
Organizing Committe Chair: Nick Lee
Nick sid that the hospitality team would include members from both Dominion-Chalmers and their neighbour church St. George's.
Nick has analyzed our progress to date against the yardstick of the timeline provided to us by Alpha Canada, and has confirmed that we are up to schedule in almost all areas. Those lacking are selection of seminars, and budgeting. He also spoke about the provision of accommodation for visitors, including Alpha Canada visitors. Team heads are encouraged to get to it on the budgeting front. (See Treasurer's report.)
Nick spoke about the wisdom of finding really good speakers for our seminars, and not being influenced by reducing costs in this area. He also recommended that out-of-town speakers should be billeted with committed members rather than in hotels.
Nick mentioned the need for a conference master of ceremonies, and it was agreed that Eric would fill this role, with Nick as back-up.
Language
Bob Stewart suggested that we survey all attenders (perhaps in the acknowledgment letter) for language skills (other than French) in case we have delegates who speak neither English nor French (as happened in Toronto).
Such volunteers could then be assigned at the conference if the need arises.
Seminars
As soon as the Pastors lunch is done, the selection of Seminars will become more of a focus.
Here is a partial list that may gel into the final selection. We encourage readers who have
needs for particular Alpha information to contact us with additional suggestions, bearing in mind that the prime focus remains
the needs of churches not currently running the course.
Please set your calendars for the next Ottawa Alpha Conference Planning Meeting:
Selection of seminars
Bilingual aspects
Venue for the Friday night dinner
Ensuring that all who have volunteered should be given jobs, or receive some sort of feedback acknowledging their kind offer
Budgeting
Advertising, including possible Ottawa Citizen coverage, and
Promotion, including via local education authorities and universities
By Tony Copple, Alpha Ottawa webmaster
Please check the Ottawa Alpha web site to see if the details of your next Alpha course are
correctly displayed. We always need the dates for your next course. This is repeated from the previous minutes because we received almost no response, despite the fact that many of the entries are outdated. Please go check. Now!
I still have a candidate for a course in the West part of Ottawa starting within the next tree weeks.
Ottawa Alpha Conference
Alpha Ottawa
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