For those of you who were unabe to attend the recent event here in Chicago over the weekend of November 6-8, we will give you a preliminary report here. A comprehensive report to let you know the results of the workshops will be mailed as soon as it is complete.
The weekend was a tremendous success with approximately 120 people in attendance. The purpose of the weekend was explained in the intoduction letter, a portion of which follows:
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Urantia Foundation and thank you for taking the time to come and participate in the planning sessions for the dissemination of the teachings of the Urantia Book Your presence is encouraging and greatly appreciated.
The weekend will consist of a combination of workshop sessions and social time. The overall objective of the weekend is to explore together practical and effective ways of doing that which we have been asked to do : spread the teachings of the fifth epochal revelation to all the peoples of the world.
The early leaders were asked to form thousands of study groups to enhance readers' understanding of the teachings.
They were asked to develop leaders and teachers who could assist students of the book in their study, as well as to take the message of the book to our fellow mortals. They were asked to translate the book into other languages so that people from all cultures could have the opportunity to rea d the book in their native tongue.
Traditionally Urantia Foundation and reader groups have focused a lot of their group efforts to achieve these ends. Events over the past decade have fragmented the movement and stalled much of the work that needs to be done. The Trustees of Urantia Foundation feel that it is time to heal the wounds from the past and to gather teams of committed men and women who are willing to work on programs andprojects to ensure a safe and effective delivery of the fifth epochal revelation to the world. We hope these workshop sessions will be the beginning of a new surge of teamwork and service...
The weekend began on Friday evening with registration and social time at the Foundation. All of Saturday's activities were held at the Dewes Mansion which is only one block from the Foundation and it accommodated everyone comfortably" Saturday morning began with an introduction to the weekend by Richard Keeler and Tonia Baney, who introduced the new leather zipper book, followed by an inspiring key note speech by Jeffrey Wattles on the principles and teachings of The Urantia Book that need to be spread to the world. The rest of the day was spent in workshops.
There were five workshops running simultaneously and everyone attended three out of the five. The workshops were:
- Leaders and Teachers lead by Dorothy Elder and Carrie Prentice
- Study Groups lead by Carolyn Kendall and Jane Ploetz
- Education lead by Pat Goodson and Betty Zehr
- The Role of Service Groups lead by Lee Armstrong and Nancy Shaffer
- Translations lead by Seppo Kanerva, Geroges Michelson-Dupont, and Michael Hanian.
All the leaders did a tremendous job in preparing and presenting their workshops with intelligent enthusiasm and vigor.
Saturday evening began with a social on the first floor of the Dewes Mansion, then everyone was ushered up to the third floor ballroom where the atmosphere had been tastefully prepared for remembrance and worship before dinner. We were treated to a surprise performance by Joel Barry, an Italian opera singer who brought the house down with his soulful, heart rendering performance.
After dinner there were presentations by Georges Michelson-Dupont, Gard Jameson, and Tonia Baney. Georges presented a wonderful new information brochure on the translation project. The presentations were followed by music, dancing, and general socializing.
A display of samples of possible new book cover designs for The Urantia Book were spread around the walls of the ballroom and people were asked to fill out a survey/ballot form expressing their three favorite choices.
Everyone gathered again at the Foundation on Sunday morning for a continental breakfast and more socializing. The atmosphere was high spirited and people felt that the weekend was well spent. The leaders of the workshops will be analyzing the results of the discussions and communicating with those who volunteered to participate in this work.