A week ago, I traveled to Hawaii for a week long with the current staff of the Discipleship Training School that I will be joining on with next March to get some training and invest in time with this staff before I meet up in Cape Town!
I sent out a quick request for prayer the night I arrived as both the time of training and an interview I had with the Missions Board at my home church (Lake Avenue Church) were happening in that week and I wanted the prayer covering of my support team!
And my dear friends, the blessings of both times can hardly be expressed, I am just so grateful..
The Interview
First off, the interview: With a notebook in tow with tabbed sections, clear sheets and detailed budgets, I was ready to clearly portray my thoughtful considerations for this next step.. and although my preparation is not regretted, I simply asked to share the extended story of what got me to this place in my life, what has been on my heart in the last few months, and overall what God has been doing in my life...
After sharing, I was greeted with an overwhelming chorus of affirmations, and I was reminded of the beauty of the Church: being around fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and sharing testimonies of what God is doing in our lives is something that is so mutually encouraging-- hearing one story encourages the person sharing, and all those hearing it... and so I left that Skype call excited all over again-- trusting in the discernment of that Missions Board, and encouraged that although those on the Board outside of church staff I haven't had much personal connection with ever before, I know that we all left encouraged, reminded of a God who is constantly at work to bring about stories of His goodness in our lives!
Kona Staff Training
Similarly, getting a week to live life with the staff that I will be joining up with in South Africa was just blissful.. the location was ideal, obviously, but the privilege of getting time here to be in the midst of real life-- sitting in the joys and grief facing friends within the same meeting... I got a glimpse at what our life together will be like, and I felt SO assured that these are the people that I want to be running with
To be honest, almost every conversation I had felt like a divine moment, but one specific moment will always stick with me:
One afternoon, I had the opportunity to sneak into the training of the School Leaders (those that run the school that I will be staffing for-- so these are the people that will lead me)-- two of my friends were attending the meeting and asked if I would hang out with their one year old daughter, and she's adorable, so I couldn't say no!
So I am chilling with this sweet child as a conversation about diversity of strengths within a leadership team progresses between these School Leaders... the way they were presenting the concept of this diversity was by having a panel of other School Leaders who were all complete contrasts- one very strong in administration, another in pastoral care, another prophetically, and another a visionary. They proceeded to describe their strengths, and how those dynamics have come up in their leadership style-- with the good and the bad.. and I eavesdropped in what was a fascinating conversation.. and I wrestled with hoping that someone would step in and take the conversation even further, when one of the school leaders that I will be working with spoke up...
It still gets me emotional with how deeply I resonate with what he shared, and how proud I am to get to learn from the example of leaders like him...
He validated the importance of this conversation- in understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and how to work as a team-- but navigated the conversation to what it actually means to validate ALL team members... how to give a voice to the marginalized- those strengths that are not that of the majority- and the level of humility and awareness that leadership must have to bring attention to all strengths within a team.
We then went off to a meeting with all of the staff for the school, and another one of the school leaders reiterated what had been shared in the meeting, adding the importance of how much we NEED one another..
I have watched how this staff needs one another, and the steps they are already taking to navigate that vulnerability as a school, and it is beautiful.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
To see Christians live this out, I believe, is one of the most powerful testimonies of God working in peoples' lives, because the vulnerability and strength of a community that truly honors the marginalized speaks without words and does not go unnoticed to the community around them.
Those are the people that I want to live life with, learn from and be inspired by.. I got a week with them, and I can barely contain how excited I am to join them next year!!
I also felt so affirmed in my time that I am joining up with the school at the right time, because I am also SO excited about everything that is happening at our church and expectant of what God will do in the nine months that I have left!
