Life (and death) Cycle of an Organization

Our new found direction inspired us to gather all of the most creative minds from the four corners of the Western Territory into a "Creative Caucus."  We locked these unfortunate souls in a room and commanded them to create.  The Caucus members put their noses to the grindstone and diligently whittled away.

Truthfully, the officers and soldiers who made up the Creative Caucus were in attendance of their own accord.  They volunteered their time with the sincere desire to help form a revolutionary new ministry.  The original ideas that flowed from that gathering of minds gave us new hope.  These folks were outstanding!

At one point, in the midst of the creative chaos, I had a wonderfully random "Eureka!" moment.  It came at the hands of our dear friend, Terry Camsey, who stood in front of the group and laid the truth at our feet.

"Throughout history..." he began.  "Every government, organization, and movement has followed the same life-cycle."  He sauntered over to the white-board and drew an upward sloping line, "Each movement, born of an original idea, quickly slopes up into Revolution.  A revolutionary, ground-breaking, new concept that attracts the masses.  Hordes of people flock to the movement, clamoring to be a part of radical change.  Steam builds and the movement experiences the lion-share of its overall growth during this beginning stage. Until..."

At the top of the sloping "revolution" line, Terry drew a horizontal line and pointed at it.  "Institution," he said. "The inevitable plateau.  Growth tapers as tradition and protocol begin to bog down the system.  The Movement stalls."

"As with aerodynamics, a stall will always be followed by the inevitable plunge..."  Terry's pen drew a swooping downward line, "Into Museum.  In every major movement, this downward spiral marks the beginning-of-the-end.  What follows soon after is..." In one final act of penmanship, Terry scrawled the word "DEATH" across the board.

"There is only one way for a movement to cheat death." He continued, "...through REVOLUTION."  The group sat silent.  "CHANGE is the only known antidote to organizational oblivion.  A system must adapt and evolve if it is to survive the long haul.  A movement on the verge of death must be reinvented and reborn or it will surely dissolve and fade away."

Terry studied the room.  "Now you must ask yourself... Do you want to be involved in The Salvation Army's death?  Or do you want to be involved in its rebirth?  I believe SAVN to be the first step in our great Army's movement to reinvent itself.  I'm on board because I choose 'rebirth.'  What you choose is up to you."  And with that, Terry took his seat.

"Eureka!" I thought.  "That's EXACTLY what our Army needs.  Rebirth!  This man's a genius!"  I felt renewed and refreshed, something akin to what Skywalker must have felt sitting at the knee of Obi-Wan.  Time to go out and start the Revolution!

A few months passed.  My father ran into Terry at a friend's retirement party.  During the Caucus, Terry had taken extensive notes and spent the last few months organizing them.  He told dad that he had just crossed the last "t" and dotted the last "i" that very day and was going to turn his opus over to SAVN.

Two days later, Terry was Promoted to Glory.  It was a tragic blow and great loss to our Army.  He was a great man.  Though his passing was grievous, it gave me a wonderful peace.  The SAVN caucus was the last bit of work that God had for Terry before taking him home.  It was an amazing confirmation that this ministry has truly been ordained by God.  Coincidence?  You'll never convince me of that.

We'll miss you and see you in Glory, Terry.  God speed, my friend.  God speed.