Memorable Town Hall Meeting

The Town Hall Meetings scheduled prior to the Constituency are now history.  It was my first experience doing conference constituency Town Halls, although I had town halls for my schools in the past, both here in Arizona and in California while I was at Orangewood.  All in all the meetings were positive events.  No one had negative things to say, although some concerns were voiced on a number of subjects related to the conference in general.

There was one town hall meeting, however, that was graced with the presence of an inebriated heckler.  He walked up the middle aisle of the church all the way to the front row of pews and promptly saluted the speaker, who happened to be the conference president.  He took a seat on the front row and seemed to be listening intently to the words of the president who was speaking in English and in Spanish.

This seemed to evoke negative feelings from the mysterious stranger who spontaneously yelled, “Speak in English—this is America!”  The president tried to ignore the outburst.  The stranger blurted out some other unintelligible utterance to which the president made a statement informing the visitor that he was welcomed to stay but that he would have to be quiet if this was going to proceed appropriately.  Suddenly the heckler cupped his hands over his mouth for amplification purposes and blurted, “Shut the (expletive deleted) up!”

At that point both the head pastor of the church came and sat behind the man, followed soon after by yours truly.  I informed him that any further outburst would result in an unfortunate expulsion from the otherwise friendly confines of the church.  He did not respond verbally but made a very loud gesture with is fingers that expressed his disdain for both the pastor sitting behind him and me.  He was immediately ushered out the side door while muttering, “This is Nazi Germany!” and sent off with our best wishes and hopes for a sober future.  He did not return.

Last night took us to Tucson and two Town Hall meetings—one at the Central Spanish Church and the other at the Desert Valley Church.  I had the privilege of driving the “Voos,” which is the name given to the transport vehicles for the academy.  The idea being that this vehicle is not quite a bus and not quite a van, thus a “voos.”  They appear to be airport transportation-type vehicles not unlike the airport car rental courtesy vans that have seating for 14-16 passengers.  Oh, well!

As many of you know, a new principal for Thunderbird Academy has been secured for the rest of the school year.  His name is Wayne Longhofer, who actually was a principal for TAA back in the early 90’s.  He is a great fit for the school during this transition time.   He is fully in charge and has the experience and leadership abilities to move forward with the changes we have tried to implement on the campus.

Although I did not take the time to process the toll the dual role was taking on me, in hindsight I can see and feel it.  The good news is that I am back in my original role as superintendent here in Arizona.  There is so much to do and the challenges are many.  I sense that our biggest obstacles are the ones we place in the way to keep us from even considering the possibility of change for the better.  Yes, changing a system will require a large outlay of energy and time, but it is not only worth it—it is essential if we are going to rescue the next generation from being swallowed up in the general mediocrity and spiritual malaise that is so prevalent in the world in which they have to grow.  If we believe our message and mission as a church is worth it than it’s worth fighting for.  Period.  Gotta go!