the grassroots to more effective engagement.
Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen, north of Dallas, was the second stop on the "World Famous" Grassroots Leadership Tour.
A couple dozen leaders, volunteers, and future leaders showed up Thursday evening, May 31, to hear the State Director team (consisting of Tamara Colbert, Paul Hodson, and Shelby Williams) discuss of the power of grassroots engagement in Texas.
The presentation included a lot of audience participation with questions, answers, and discussion. It was a good opportunity for COS supporters to refresh their understanding of the Article V process, review past victories, and be challenged with new ideas.
Saundra Lapsley (center) and State Director-in-training
Shelby Williams.
One of those key ideas is a shift or an expansion of vision that has happened within the Convention of States organization in the past few years. Originally the movement defined itself simply in terms of bringing about an Article V convention to correct the abuses of the federal government.
But now we realize that our vision needs to be much broader: nothing less than building a engaged grassroots army of self-governing activists!
For volunteers who have been involved for several years, the evening was an opportunity to relive some of the Texas team's favorite memories of the 2017 legislative session when the COS resolution was passed, such as Governor Abbott's State of the State address and the "The Stampede" when legislators lined up to add themselves to the list of sponsors of the resolution.
The lessons from those events were reinforced by the State Directors at the meeting: when we grassroots activists are omnipresent and insistent, we can return to the self-governance that our Founding Fathers imagined as the foundation for liberty in America.
