Greenville Forward Thinking Creating Community Conversation to Inspire Change

I had the privilege of speaking to a large group from Greenville Connect yesterday.  Greenville Connect is an “alliance of churches, ministry organizations, and businesses and community leaders who share a commitment to working together to encourage and support movements of evangelism and discipleship in  every segment of Greater Greenville.  

I was overwhelmed when I looked into the crowd and saw over 80 folks staring back at me, waiting to hear where Vision 2025 was today.  In previous conversations with the organizers, I also knew they were looking for ways that the faith communities in Greenville could be involved in helping to shape our vision for the future.  How could they work to help us in our mission to move Vision 2025 in achieving it’s daunting and aggressive goals.  So, before I even walked into the room I knew I had some work to do.

When the leaders of Vision 2025 originally got together to define the areas of focus for the entire visioning process, they all agreed that two segments would be left untouched.  Politics and Religion.  The reasons were clear.  Both areas are very emotionally driven.  Both areas have a variety of opinions.  And both areas, while important to the community, could derail progress on getting the vision completed because no consensus could happen with all parties involved.  I could understand the omission of the political side, due to the fact that we are all so divided on issues, not only in our community, but nation-wide.  Don’t believe me?  Watch TV for 5 minutes and listen to the debates happening on ONE side.

But, I was always wondering about the religious aspect.  Why could we not include that in the vision process.  It doesn’t have to be that Greenville will not worship God and Jesus and those that don’t support it will not be included in the Vision.  But, it could have come from the perspective that we have a strong community of faith and it has played a significant part in shaping our community.  We have those that believe and those that choose to believe something else.  Those that choose to not necessarily believe what is widely accepted.  Those that choose to believe quietly and those that choose to believe loudly.  But, each person has a a choice to believe.  And, all of those people make up crucial parts of this community.

So, I struggled to figure out the right way to say how the evangelical community could be involved in Vision 2025.  And, my base answer was “they already are.”  Everyone is involved with our vision for the future.  It’s up to them how they choose to be involved.  Some are very vocal.  Some are more reserved, but attended every meeting possible to learn more.  Some are leaders who use the Vision as a blue print.  Some are advocates, but choose to listen and learn.  But, everyone is involved.

But, I did realize that we could offer more involvement to our faith community.  We have small churches, medium churches and mega churches.  All with a large membership  waiting to help Greenville move forward.  It’s time to reach out them and ask them to be involved.  Show them that there is a place at the table, to share their voice, to share their opinions.  But, as with anyone, sharing opinions is a community building thing.  It should not be divisive.  There should not be battles won or lost.  There should not be such heated debate that we are unable to come to any conclusion.  Mutual respect must be the highest priority.  We live in a beautiful culture of different belief systems.

My neighbor might not believe what I believe, but I respect their right to that.  And vice versa.  But, you know what?  I know there are things that we have mutual belief in.  And, that’s where we start.  From the common ground.  Not from the disagreement.  From the standpoint of mutual respect.  Not from total disagreement.  We can take time to talk about our disagreements, sure.  But, they cannot dominate a conversation about visioning for the future.

I had to write my thoughts down quickly.  This is what I came up with.  I hope it showed what I was thinking.

Since we were the tiny little community of Pleasantburg, nestled at the foot of the mountains and basking in the glow of the coast, we have had a past steeped in faith. 

The Father of Greenville, Vardry McBee gave portions of his land for the establishment of four cornerstone churches, Christ Church Episcopal, Buncombe Street Methodist, First Baptist, and First Presbyterian.  Some people know this already, but if you look at the four churches from the air, they form a cross.  So, Greenville is literally built on faith.

Today, our faith still moves us to volunteer, to help those in need, to give generously and often from our hearts and our pocketbooks.  Our faith institutions serve as a compass to guide many of our citizens in a positive direction, regardless of demonination, gender, race, socio economic status or otherwise.  We are rooted in our faith-based past, and we cannot ignore it.

I’ve heard an antidote that deals with the three regions of South Carolina, the Low Country, the Midlands and the Upstate.  When you’re in the Low County, the question that is always asked of you first is, “Who’s your family?”  When you’re in the Midlands, the question that is always asked of you first is, “Where do you work?”  When in the Upstate, the question is “Where do you worship.” 

In looking toward 2025, the faith community will play a vital role in our success.  The Vision for our future calls for all citizens to be involved in helping to shape our path.  This is no more true than for our religious leadership.  The tables of conversation, collaboration and cooperation are open to anyone and everyone that wants to participate.  The reach that you have into your congregations and your membership is vital to the advancement of Vision 2025. 

In the first years of Greenville Forward, we conducted an experiment where we got someone from a conservative faith background and someone from a non conservative faith background.  We asked them to sit down and “talk.”  And, talk they did.  They talked about faith, community and a variety of other things. Then something amazing happened.  The conservative simply said, “you know, you and I could make a list of 10 things.  We may disagree on 2.  But, we spend so much time focusing on those 2 to things we disagree on, rather than the 8 we do agree on, that we are never able to move forward.  This is true for our community and our nation.  We tend to approach our differences in a defensive way, rather than look beyond them and work for a better overall community.  We don’t respect another’s right to agree or disagree with us.  We come to a table of collaboration and immediately become defensive because you don’t go to my church or you don’t worship how I worship.  If we said, ‘I respect that you and I are different in certain areas, but we can move beyond that and work together on these areas where we are alike,’ the world would be a different place.” 

It’s amazing to think like that.  Regardless of our race, creed, gender, background, religion or opinions, we all want our community health and happy.  We can agree on that.  We all want our poor to be fed and housed.  We all want our children to have the best opportunities to succeed.  We all want to live in a vibrant, friendly community.  We can agree on these things.  We can talk about these things.  We should be albe to at least.

Our faith community can be our strongest link to a healthy and happy future for Greenville. 

 Thank you.  

Remember me?  I’m the friendly web-portal project started back in August of 2011 to gather ideas from anyone and everyone about ways we can continue to enhance our wonderful community.  I started out quietly, just putting myself out there without much fanfare.  That was a good test for me to get my nerve up.  I began to meet people.  People with ideas.  People with really good ideas.  It wasn’t long after that I realized, “maybe I need to attract a bit more attention to myself.”

So, I threw a big party.  It was in downtown Greenville.  I think I saw you there.  There were so many people, I just can’t remember.  But, it proved to me that folks in Greenville wanted something like me.  A place where they could play and post ideas, while checking out and commenting on other ideas.  Many times I heard from folks that I’ve been needed for a while.  It made me feel good, but it also put a lot of pressure on me.  Now that I had met the world and showed them what I could do, how would I prove that I could make a difference?  A small website that gathered ideas, shared thoughts and connected them to other sites like facebook and twitter.  How could I get these ideas some support?  I mean, some of these ideas were really good.  Some were really GREAT!  Community changing ideas.

So, that is where we are now…

After the dust had settled, I remembered I had spoken with some of you helping me out in the future.  You are MY Champion.  You are the doer, the dreamer, the visionary, the connection of my existence.   For you, I have been working to compile ideas that came from your neighbors, children, parents, co-workers and colleagues.  Now, all I ask you to do is visit me at www.whatifgreenville.com and try to take one idea, JUST ONE, to action.  When I first started out, I got over 1,400 ideas and thoughts.  And, I need your help to start the process to putting some of these to action.  Some of these have already started.  Some haven’t.  I CHALLENGE you to find one and take it on.  I’ll be here to help.  I’ll be here to motivate.  I’ll be here as your resource.  Do you accept?

Thank you for your leadership.  You are a true Champion.

Recently, I had to comb through some old Greenville Forward files to find a document for something I was working on.  Of course I buried this document in a file within a file within another file, so a simple hard drive search yielded no concrete results.  So, I had to dig.  And, it was through this digging that I realized we’ve come quite a long way in a short six years. 

Vision 2025 was always meant to be a moving document.  This doesn’t mean that it’s a moving “target.”  But, rather an evolving document that needs constant updating and care to make sure that it comes to fruition.  And, since those days back in 2005, we’ve worked hard to make sure the Vision did not sit high on a shelf, displayed as a wonderful community collaborative, but that’s it.  We’ve updated, we’ve slightly re-worded, we’ve amended due to changes in the environment, and we’ve held it up to a mirror just to make sure we were doing justice to the Vision of our community.  

I spent a couple of hours working through documents written by George Fletcher, John Warner, Brad Wyche and countless others.  These files contained the entire history of Greenville Forward, including some old, initial, logo concepts.  We made the right decision on the logo.  Within these computer folders, I found Report Cards, developed by me and Russell to track our progress on specific Vision areas. I found the original plans to hand the Vision over to the Leadership Greenville Alumni Association.  I found summary statements, strategic goals for establishing an organization to manage the Vision, and progress reports by focus area.  And, all of it was so interesting.  And, some of it was so dated.  But, the main thing that spoke to me was the progress we’ve made in six short years.  Not the progress that Greenville Forward has made, but the progress GREENVILLE has made.  

Of course we still have a long way to go.  But, we are on our way.  The Vision is becoming a reality each and everyday.  We take another step forward as a community each time we gather to discuss issues, each time we contribute to a charity, each time we mentor someone, each time we fight for quality education in our classrooms, each time we ride the Swamp Rabbit or build a garden or work to cross the lines of social, racial and socio-economic barriers.  We’re six years in on a bold and very aggressive 20 year plan.  We’ve got time, but every now and then, it helps to look back to see the seeds we’ve sewn.

I remember being on a mission trip in Theresa, New York in High School. The community was recently decimated by tornados and storms.  Houses were leveled, playgrounds were carried away, community pride had a black eye.  We went to help them rebuild. We cleaned fields.  We repaired roofs.  We helped, in a small way, put a community back together.  One afternoon, I was working with an elderly woman at her home.  We were working in her garden beds, trying our best to replant and rebuild her garden.  I glanced ahead of us and saw all the work we had left to do, and I asked her, “Don’t you get frustrated, knowing that you have so  much work ahead of you?  Can you ever see the end?”  And, she simply smiled at me and said, “No.  I don’t get frustrated.  If I feel that I might, I just look behind me at all the work I’ve already done, and how beautiful it is, and it gives me the motivation to keep moving forward.”  And, with that, I looked behind us at our work, and I saw flowers and shrubs and beauty in a way I’ve never seen them before.  And, it gave my work purpose.  I’ve never forgotten that lesson.  And, it’s wonderful that I get to experience that feeling now with Vision 2025.  

As a take away, below is a list of Vision 2025 Summary Statements from November 16, 2004.  You tell me if we are on our way…

• Local governments embrace the spirit of innovation.
• Everyone has a home and a viable education.
• We are regionally known as a center for the arts.
• We have a system of bikeway and walkway networks supporting a healthy Greenville.
• We have industry clusters supported by academic centers of excellence.
• We are a unified community with full equality.
• We have a commitment to international trade and investment.
• We have authentic mixed-use neighborhoods and town centers.
• We are a national leader in environmental stewardship.
• We keep the green in Greenville.
• We keep the village in Greenville.
• We cultivate and reward creativity.

Do you think we are on our way?  If you don’t, call me at 864-239-3716 and let’s have coffee.  We can discuss what you can do to help.  

Back in 2007, Russell and I attended a Junior League event, where we were exposed to a variety of early childhood organizations and daycares.  We were moved.  Not only by the depth and breadth of the organizations represented, not only by the quality of care that many gave these children, but also by the challenges that each faced on a daily basis in trying to keep up with regulations, laws and care for those in need.  It was eye opening for us.  As a 30 year old, I had not really been exposed to that part of our community and it, honestly, didn’t cross my mind that it’s something I should think about.  But, this program made me think.  And, we got involved with The United Way, through Laurie Rovin to help her in her mission to provide better early childhood development to our youth in Greenville.

So, fast forward two years, and Russell and I are discussing our school system.  Our school system had just spend 1 billion dollars on renovating and rebuilding our entire school infrastructure from the ground up.  We had new schools, renovated schools, new equipment, high quality technology and new opportunities for our teachers to reach our students.  But, was this enough?  What else was needed?  How could we expose our community to the great things being done in our schools, while showing them that we still face challenges on a daily basis?  More importantly, how could we expose our decision makers to our schools.

According to our “Culture of Learning” Study from 2010, only 32% of Greenvillians believe that our politicians understand the value of education, while only 14% say that they are held accountable for their actions.  Many said that unless one of our legislators had a child in Greenville County Schools they may not have stepped into any of our buildings.  But, the same could be said for many of our business and civic leaders.

So, in partnership with Greenville County Schools, specifically Patty Fox and Pam Mills, Greenville Forward created Eye on Education, a program to help community leaders become more familiar with our local schools.  It’s a chance to experience what is happening in Greenville County’s classrooms and see the activity in our schools. The program creates opportunities to develop dialogue on ways to improve the learning opportunities for our students and teachers.

All participant is broken up into two groups and set out to visit two schools each. Before the groups are broken up, they hear comments from Dr. Fisher on the state of Greenville County Schools.  When they return, they participate in a dialogue that discusses potential opportunities and next steps.

It’s a day of vigorous community building around public education in Greenville.  And, it’s this Friday, February 24th from 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Registration is almost closed, but if you would like to be added to the list, please visit, eyeoneducation2012.eventbrite.com or call us at 864-233-8443.