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The workshop was introduced by Lyn Conley, President of the District Presidents Association and President of Mid-South District. The subject was the To-Be-of-Use Committee, a child of the District Presidents Association. The history of this committee, starting as conversation at the 1996 GA and evolving to an ad hoc group at the 1998 GA, was recounted by Chris Green, Past President of the District Presidents Association and Past President of Prairie Star District. Roger Comstock, Acting District Executive of the North East District and recently retired District Executive of the Thomas Jefferson District, outlined the transition of this committee from information gathering to identification of needs to eventual reporting to the Board of Trustees of the UUA. Rev. Tracy Robinson-Harris, Deputy Director of Congregational, District & Extension Services (CDE) at the UUA, explored connections of To-Be-of-Use to the CDE. Ken Carpenter, initial liaison with the UUA Board of Trustees, emphasized the ownership of To-Be-of-Use by the District Presidents Association despite support from the CDE that will continue at least through the next year. Also noted was the presence by invitation of the many other stakeholders at the 1999 meeting in Salt Lake City where more than 130 people attended the meeting.
The metaphor for the To-Be-of-Use Committee is a game of marbles where rolling conversations can connect diverse districts in a chain of informational action and reaction. The districts vary widely in size and geographic disbursement. Their programs and resources are in constant flux, providing a challenge even in this age of the World Wide Web. For example, the menu of district services on the current To-Be-of-Use Web site is already two years old. Its replacement must be identified. Also needed is identifying best practices as well as failures and gaps in services within and among the districts. While the To-Be-of-Use Committee is not a source of funding, it can play a role connecting the informational dots and interpreting and communicating the results of the natural experiments as they play out in the districts.
Examples of such natural experiments include "para-District Executives" who can share a knowledge base with the District Executives and serve as extenders to provide personal contacts in districts with numerous congregations or districts with congregations that are widely dispersed. Another experiment is the regional gathering of small congregations for leadership development. Yet a third is the use of interactive technologies over the Web. Other activities worthy of observation and study are the various approaches to training the trainers, conflict resolution, fundraising, and consultation for compensation and finances. Examples of successes noted by participants included programs for religious education and leadership training.
The take-home message is that the To-Be-of-Use Committee is transforming from informational gathering to identifying gaps and proposing remedies. While the committee itself may dissolve, the need for communication and the potential for coordination and interaction among the districts will remain.
