And so to the time of plenary…
After two-and-a-half days of discussing, debating and deciding myriads of items of business in committees, the commissioners of the 219th General Assembly are now meeting en masse in one giant hall of the Minneapolis Convention Center. Between Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning there will be nine plenary sessions to conduct the business of the Assembly. Most of the business will consist of hearing the reports of the nineteen Assembly committees. Some of the items will be “no-brainers” and the decisions will be made quickly. Many items will generate lengthy and heated debates. At each General Assembly, as Friday evening approaches, many bets are made as to how late the body will adjourn that night, since it is the final opportunity to resolve all the business forwarded from the committees.
I was a commissioner to General Assembly in 1997. In many respects not much has changed in how the plenary session is conducted. But in several respects there are vast differences. Then, as well as now, most of the voting is done with electronic keypads. But whereas in ’97 all the pads were connected to a central hub by a huge network of wires, in ’10 everything is wireless.
In 1997 I received a giant pile of paper prior to the assembly, and a commensurate pile during the assembly. I came home with two binders, each about 2” thick. In 2010 all business is conducted electronically. Each commissioner has a laptop computer, and items for discussion and decision are automatically displayed on their screens at the appropriate time. As an observer to this Assembly, I sit in the back of the hall. But I, too, can connect to “PC-Biz” with my laptop and follow along with the documents up for discussion through something called “SessionSync.” Two downsides to this: 1)no electric outlets – so I can only participate for so long before my battery shuts down; and 2) internet access is blocked in the hall, so that commissioners are insulated from outside influence and distractions. Once I finish writing this post, I will need to go outside the hall to upload it to my blog.
One final difference between 1997 and 2010 is the sophistication of the audio and visual equipment in use. There are multiple video screens in the hall, with high-definition projections of speakers, of videos which support various reports, of voting results, and of various bodies of text. The audio system in the hall is extremely clear. In all respects, the result is to leave no one in the hall too far removed from the action. One can only hope that the commissioners will, in the next few days, discern God’s will for our church as clearly and distinctly.
