ETC Training Day 1 June 4, 2010

Today was day one of two of our Edge Team Coordinator training. Our goals for our ETCs for this training time are:

• To grow in their spiritual and character formation, discerning what it means to lead by dependence on the Holy Spirit.
• To develop specific leadership skills in participatory servant leadership as they facilitate small groups, address tensions and conflict on their teams, and develop others on their team by empowering them to lead in their areas of gifting.
• To begin forming a ministry philosophy that will help them finish well as a leader.

Tonight’s talk was on servant leadership. Tomorrow we’ll have sessions on conflict resolution and healthy teams, leading a bible study, logistical responsibilities, and their roles at orientation.

Please be praying for these leaders as they come into this summer. Some have just finished hard semesters at school and others have stepped away from busy jobs to pursue missions. Please pray that the staff would be an encouragement to these leaders and the other Edgers as they arrive.

2010 Orientation Countdown May 20, 2010

Well, we’re in the home stretch before this year’s orientation. Yesterday was 2 weeks ’til I’ll be in West Palm Beach at Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA). I will arrive early afternoon on Wednesday the 2nd, along with a few other core staff members.

Our Edge Team Coordinators (ETCs) will arrive on Friday the 4th. That evening through Saturday we will be covering with them:

• Servant Leadership
• Teams
• Conflict Resolution and Healthy Teams
• Leading a Bible Study (Book of John)
• Logistical Responsibilities

I’m responsible for the “logistical responsibilities” session as well as investing in these leaders.

The rest of the Edgers will arrive on Sunday the 6th. Here’s what we’ll be covering with them:

• “Myths about Missions – Why are you really going?”
• “Attitudes that Impact Teams”
• “Spiritual Readiness”
• Country Breakouts Session (I’m helping with the one on India)
• “Spiritual Warfare”
• “Culture Stress, Culture Learner”
• “Personalities”
• “Security Issues on the Field”
• “Gender Issues on the Field”
• “Grace and Teams”
• “Cross-cultural Evangelism”
• “Pioneers- Who are we?”

So that’s what is coming up in 2 weeks. I can’t believe it is already here! Please join me in praying for:

• the remaining details to come together
• for the Edgers as some are college students finishing the semester
• for the remainder of the Edgers funds to come in
• for the m*ssion*ries as they prepare to welcome the teams

Thanks team! Love ya!

ETC Training Day 2 June 6, 2009

Today was the second day of the EDGE Team Coordinator training. These are the people that will be leading their teams, dealing with money exchanges, and all that fun stuff.

So far, so great! I’m loving orientation. Tomorrow the rest of the EDGErs will arrive for a week of prefield training. We’ll have 120+ people here. How cool is that?

I wanted to share with you what some of the ETCs have been learning:

• Truth without grace is brutal, but grace without truth is lethal.
• When dealing with a conflict: WAIT (W.hy a.m I. t.alking?)
• Different personality types (I’m an ENTJ =Extroverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging)
• Leading a Bible Study

Something that has been really neat is that God is teaching me so much, too! During praise and worship today, we were singing Nothing but the Blood of Jesus and we were singing all of the verses, but we didn’t have the words. Most everyone new the other verses but I didn’t. I found myself only singing “nothing but the blood of Jesus” over and over again. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Isn’t that all we need to remember? Thank you Lord for your sacrifice.

Songs have a way of speaking to my heart in a such a deep way. This song I could listen to over and over. Check it out! Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus:

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current
Of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to
Thy glorious rest above!

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth
never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
died to call them all His own
how for them He intercedeth, watcheth
o’er them from the throne!

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus,
‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

A taste of the future June 2, 2009

I got to help the EDGE staff today with preparing the finances for orientation. It might sound kind of boring, but I loved every second of it! It gave me a glimpse into what my role will be with the EDGE and I am excited that I will be able to use my finance background as an asset to the EDGE program.

I leave Friday morning for the Orientation at PBA. Woo-hoo! I am so excited!

Tomorrow is the fundraiser dinner at CUMC. I’m looking forward to it. It’s neat sharing with people about missions and even neater (can I say neater or is it more neat?) when other people get excited about it, too! I’ll be updating my support stats and everything tomorrow before the dinner so I’ll be able to let you guys know exactly where we’re at.

 

Today was a long day, but a great taste of the future. God is good, all the time.

I get to go! May 14, 2009

As many of you know, I’ve been raising support to start a new job with The EDGE program at PI. Well, I got an email yesterday about the EDGE orientation… And guess what? I get to go!

 

Woo-hoo! It’s the second week of June and I am very excited! I am really looking forward to Orientation. It preps the EDGErs (the young adults going on these summer mission trips) for culture shock, language learning, and team dynamics through games, exercises, panel discussions, and more. It might not sound like it, but it’s a ton of fun. The EDGErs attend Orientation for one full week before going out to the field. This is important preparation because in some of these places, people have NEVER heard ANYTHING about Jesus. How do you tell someone about Jesus if you can’t say words like “salvation”, “sin”, or “forgiveness”?

 

I will get to connect with all of the teams, working with them, eating with them, playing with them, and most importantly praying with them and for them. A lot about what PI does is all about relationships and prayer, and those are top priorities at Orientation.

 

At this Orientation we are anticipating 112 Edgers to be joining us on their way to 23 different countries! Yay! This will be an incredible experience being on the other side. I don’t know what I would have done without Orientation when I went to India. How exciting it is to see over 100 young adults venturing out into the world with hearts for mission work.

 

The downside is that I don’t know yet if I’ll be joining the team after the Orientation due to support raising issues, but we are trusting God to perform a miracle in these next couple of weeks! Would you like to be a part of that miracle? Click here.