Detailed Agenda

 

6:00pm: Set Up

  • Set up two spaces: a place for everyone to eat and a place for conversation
  • Set out name tags and sign-in information (text the word “feast” to 72000 to win a Love Anyway goodie bag)   
  • Music (check out our Love Anyway Spotify playlist)  
  • Set up light snacks for introductions/games 
  • Prep your main potluck dish and gather serving utensils for other potluck dishes 
  • Test video capabilities

6:30pm: Welcoming Guests

  • Grab a name tag (optional) 
  • Sign-in (text the word “feast” to 72000) 
  • Snacks/drinks

6:45pm: Introductions

  • Introductions
  • Ground Rules: 
    • Listen silently to understand, not to offer advice or try to fix each other’s struggles.
    • We are not here to convert each other; we are here to listen, learn, and celebrate our unique identities. 
    • Use words “I” and “me” instead of “you” and “we” when sharing.
    • Everyone is welcome to share, but not everyone has to share.
    • Please monitor your own sharing to make sure that everyone who wants to share has the opportunity. Prioritize listening over being heard.
    • We are all at a different point in our journey. No tone policing or shaming people for using the wrong language. Take the heart and spirit of what the person is saying. 
    • You are welcome to speak your truth, but so is everyone else. You won’t always agree and you might even be offended by each other. This is your chance to love anyway, practice active listening, build relationships, and learn from each other.
    • You can disagree with someone’s ideas, beliefs, or opinions. You may not disagree with their experience.
    • Debating ideas is welcome. Yelling, shaming, calling names, or attacking people is not. 
    • Negative emotions are welcome—sadness, anger, frustration, despair, and resentment are ok. It’s ok to cry. It’s ok to lament. It’s ok to be mad. Our response to negative emotions in these gatherings is to embrace, not reject. 
    • Everything that is shared is confidential. 
    • Relax and have fun! 
  • Partner Up Game (optional): Set a 5 minute timer. Everyone has to partner up with someone they don’t know and talk about 3 things that are different about each other. Share with the group. 

7:15pm: Eat & Game

  • Everyone grab a plate and 5 blank index cards. Try to sit next to someone you don’t already know.
  • Give everyone 15-20 minutes to eat and talk.
  • Great Minds Think Alike Game
    • Create 5-10 categories (clothing brands, NBA teams, NFL teams, soccer teams, something you’d find at a beach, animals with patterns, something you eat with rice, something you wear daily, etc.) 
    • Call out a category. Everyone writes the first 3 things that come to mind (no peeking). After every category, find out which teams wrote something that their partner did and award 1 point/answer. 
    • Pick a winner (prize optional). Discuss that no matter how different we are in some areas, there are many things and ways of thinking that we share in common with even people that are different from us. 
  • Clean up together 

7:45pm: Video 

  • Feast Closer video 
  • Watch video
  • Group discussion:
    • How did learning that you can do a gathering like this again make you feel?
    • What does love anyway mean to you? 

8:15pm: Closing

  • Encourage everyone to text “gathering” to 72000 for more info on monthly gatherings. Guests will also receive an email soon. 
  • Celebrate the group being a part of something that changed the world.
  • Take a picture! 

8:30pm: Bonus (optional)

  • Find something fun to do in your area as a group 
    • Movie 
    • Go out for drinks 
    • Arcade 
    • Ice Cream/FROYO
    • Karaoke