From: Organizations, Contact Persons wiki page Organzations: The Rock MCC "ONE in One" wiki "GLBT" wiki "The Rock MCC" church wiki Member of: "Atlanta Interfaith Alliance" -"AIA" Yahoo! Groups
Your Personal Links: Bernard Wotton Scrap Stuff Bernard Wotton Other Notes E-mail: BernardW69@aol.com See: Gay Community Links + Bernard Wotton eMail Signature
Welcome to your own page! Add info, notes, times, dates, places, etc. (Others can also edit this.)
E-mail info/notes to the AFBA group using "AIA" Yahoo! Groups e-mail service, and by other private e-mails as you all have been doing to date, but also use this wiki to gather all info/responses/notes into one place where all can view it, read and think about what they view, and improve what was written by editing the page, no matter where they are as long as they have an Internet access on any computer. This wiki can also be of help in your phone conferences, and at SC meetings, and regular AFBA meetings. You all could have your computers on, and have this wiki open on screen, and have someone assigned to type the info/notes being said by phone or in person into this wiki, then tell folks when you have saved the page (save the wiki page very often by pressing the "Save" button at bottom of wiki page, this save part is most important of all), and then let others press the "F5" function key to refresh the screen to view what was just typed. This process can be very interactive in real time, just as a conversation between people is also interactive. Other folks could be typing info/notes on their own different wiki pages at the same time. Then later at home, folks can edit their pages. At all meetings also have someone assigned to be the recorder to takes notes on paper or on their laptop, which is different from the person typing notes on the wiki online. Hoping the persons assigned are good typists, but you see, mistakes can be corrected later on at home by attendees at the meetings, etc. This can be a very exciting process for all involved, whether just a little bit by some, or big time by others. Using this wiki can be done a little at a time as you have the time, but always save your work, then come back later to do more writing (editing) after giving time to think about how to word and write it. When you click on a Link that goes to another place (wiki page, or website, or document), press "Back" button to return back to where you were (here). (If you EDIT a wiki page after you click on the link, you have to press the "Back" button 2 or 3 times to get back to where you were. When you press "Back", make sure you are NOT on an "Edit" tab page; if you are, press "Back" again, and in the pop-up window that appears on screen, press the "OK" button only, and press "Back" again. Keeping doing this until you are back to where you were, or press the "Home" button icon (at top of page beside the wiki site name [here, it is "GLBT"] and go to the page you were last at. Whenever you press "Back", make sure each wiki page -whether in the "View" tab page, or the "Edit" tab page, is fully loaded, is all on screen, before you do any thing else, or take the next step. If you don't wait, things may mess up. All this takes time, so be patient, and things will be better!) After a few times, everything will become easier. I hope all the how to do things are explained clearly -if not, keep asking questions; do you want instructions on how to do things at places like this, or placed on a separate wiki page? I could place a Link at places like this to a wiki page with the instructions. Hope you try it out real soon!
Questionnaire Concerning the AFBA
Following is a questionnaire for you to submit your thoughts and wishes which will be used to shape and define who, what, why and how the AFBA effectively impact the LGBTQQI community in the greater Metro-Atlanta GA USA area.
In order to give the Steering Committee the time needed to evaluate your responses we must hear from all interested persons by April 26, 2008.
In your own words, please answer the following questions as completely as possible. The Steering Committee will use the information you provide to help shape the vision, mission and strategic direction of the Atlanta Faith-Based Alliance (AFBA). Thank You!
[Here is your chance to try out editing a wiki page! You may respond, answer the following questions, by typing (editing) in the spaces below; place your mouse cursor at the point where you want to begin typing. Never mind if you make mistakes; just type a little, then press "Save" button, type some more, and press "Save", etc... Mistakes can be corrected later on, if need be. It is best to type your responses into your "e-mail program" which hopefully has a spell checker, then sent it to yourself, open it, then copy & paste what you wrote at the correct place below, or some variation of this, such as using Word, etc. "Notepad" has no spell checker, but it can be used to automatically take out all pre-formatted stuff so you can re-copy & paste it back to a wiki page, etc. and then format it the way needed, etc... If you mess up big time, just hit "Cancel" and start all over again. May all this become fun for you!]
[Another thought: Louis Hinton probably would like us to e-mail our responses back to him, if you have not already spoken to him, or written them down on paper. I say, do it, e-mail your responses to him, BUT, also write (type, edit) them onto your own wiki page. Why? You may think of something else to say later on; you can edit your work online if it is on the wiki. You might wish you worded it better; you can edit the changes right onto your wiki page. You might not remember just how you said something, or what you wrote later on after sending the e-mail; if it is also already written down on your wiki page, you can look online to see what you said, and edit it some more, etc. You cannot edit email after it is sent, nor can you re-call sent e-mail; but you can always edit your wiki page any time you want to, as long as someone else is not editing it, since only one person can edit a wiki page at a time at any given moment. That is why it is best to create many pages in a wiki so all who want to write can do so at any given time. You can always create your own new wiki page at any time, but always LINK it to some Main wiki page, so you and others can find it later on. Enjoy writing, and have fun!]
Name (optional):____________________Bernard Wotton______________________________
Date: ______________________________ __April 26, 2008 __________________________________
Questions:
1. Why are you interested in the Atlanta Faith-Based Alliance (AFBA)?
Minister Louis Hinton came to preach at The Rock MCC church sometime just before the first meeting of what now is called the AFBA. I don't remember now if he mentioned the up coming meeting during his sermon or not. But after the service he talked about The Truth Center MCC 6th Anniversary celebration, at which the first meeting of what was to become AFBA was to be held. I asked him for more information and he got my interest up. I went to their website, found out how to get to their church meeting place, and was at that first meeting.
The more folks spoke at that first meeting, the more I wanted to be a part of the new upstart human rights group. I was excited about the whole idea of being a part of what became AFBA, as it is now called. Even though I was not from Georgia, nor the Atlanta GA area, I wanted the group to ever expand to other areas of the USA, such as Tennessee and beyond. I wanted to be part of a movement to change history for the better for GLBT+ and our Allies.
2. When you attend meetings, are you representing a larger group of people, and/or a specific organization? If yes, who do you represent?
I don't officially represent any group.
I am a member of The Rock MCC church.
I started and maintain the ONE in One and the GLBT wiki sites which are for AFBA use.
3. What do you think the primary work of this organization is and/or should be?
Since we are new, things are evolving slowly into what we might want AFBA to be. The work will evolve over time as old & new folks attend, and as times changes. And we should be up to all possibilities. As we grow, new things will be possible, that we can't do now being a small group.
An ever expanding, an ever widening sphere or circle of influence that is changing how various groups of people look at each other, relate and deal with each other, through one-on-one educational means using all possible avenues as a means to influence how we all get to know each other better, and to eventually get to do things together for the betterment of all people on earth. Such means of education are meetings, websites, wiki sites links to resources, e-mails to interested persons, one-on-one contact with friends, neighbors, etc.
One of the beginning primary work could be to kind of get to know about all the other related groups and organizations that have similar goals as we are in the process of developing. As someone said, we don't want to re-invent the wheel –we want to expand the wheel, add to it, make it more useful for all people. At first, we could be kind of a clearing house to what is all available to us to use, etc. Find out what is already out there. And put it all on the wiki site for all to view, to look into, etc.
We probably should not hope to be an “all in all” group to all people. But we can start small, and build upon a good foundation, so as we grow, we will stand tall, be there for folks who need us.
We probably should not be just a social club, etc. The meetings of AFBA should be well worth the effort, time and money spent to attend. The content of the meetings should be of such value that would not be available through any other means, such as websites, wiki sites, etc. It should be of worth going to, so folks will keep on coming to them in the future.
Right now, we probably should not be doing any specific work, good deed, or “action activity”, nor some kind of group participation concerning some issue yet, until we get our purpose statement in place, and our mission statement in place, etc. We should build upon all the ideas from previous meetings, look at what has already be spoken, written about, and come to some kind of consensus building (meaning, mutual agreement upon important issues, etc.), that is always open to new ideas. We need to work out what our focus need to be about.
I kind of like what is on the GLBT home page under the “Welcome ….” Part that says:
Welcome folks to the "Atlanta Faith-Based Alliance" (AFBA)!
Creating an environment -a GLBT faith-based coalition- that reflects cross-cultural and interfaith community building
Connecting GLBT faith-based folks to existing interfaith dialogue and community -bringing GLBT folks to the table
AFBA holds monthly general "Interfaith" meetings on 2nd Saturday when possible at different locations
Next General AFBA meeting: planned for June 14 Next Steering Committee (SC) meeting: May 3
Hot News, Hot Heath Program, Urgent Purpose of AFBA Mission Statement of AFBA
Above quote in the e-mail sent is not formatted as it is on the wiki site of course, but the two brief statements under the “Welcome….” that is highlighted in yellow, is from other folks e-mails (1st line is adapted from what Louis Hinton wrote in an e-mail, 2nd line is adapted from what Lorraine wrote in an e-mail), and adapted by me to be brief and to the point. Hope you like it, or can improve upon it. Also 2 links to the Purpose and Mission can be placed here. This wiki is just an example of what can be done, just an example of how to do it, one way of doing it. Anything can be changed to suit the needs of the AFBA group. (The "Hot News,..." part is a link to the content of that e-mail sent to us recently, and will be put else where after the date has expired.)
That's it for now.
Jot Down Your Own Notes, etc. Here... Use this any way you see fit; make this into something useful!
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