AAM13...

Hello, friends! 

Many of you may be wondering about the lovely acronym that is the title of this blog entry.  Am I speaking in code (sort of)?  What does it mean?  Well, friends, allow me to enlighten you.  =0). 

AAM13 stands for Asian American Ministries '13, or the conference that Meg and I just attended this past weekend in Long Beach, CA.  The official title of the conference was Asian American Ministries Staff Conference '13 but the Twitter hashtag was #aam13 because #aamsc13 was a bit of a beast, I guess. 

In InterVarsity, there are approximately 1300 staff serving across the nation on over 550 campuses, reaching over 35,000 students and faculty.  Of those 1300 missionaries, a little over 225 of us are of Asian descent.  Every 3 years, we Asian American staff gather to build community, learn about the future of our movement, and eat tons of delicious food.  It is a rocking good time. 

This year, our theme was "Unleashing our Prophetic Imagination."  We had a number of artistic elements, slam poetry, original music, original artwork, dance, and such, all with the idea that as Asian Americans, we have something unique that we can bring to the table and we have an obligation to the rest of our brothers and sisters in the movement to make sure our voices are heard, not out of a sense "needing to get ours" but because our place at the table is just as important as any other place. 

Every AAM Staff Conference holds something different for me.  I went to my first conference in 2007 as a student.  It was there that I saw the rich history of Asian American Ministries and was sold on being a part of the movement.  In 2010 I went as a relatively young staff and saw the value in having like-minded community as I endured my first hard year on staff.  This year, as I saw fewer faces I recognized and more young staff in attendance, I saw how my role is transitioning, from the bright eyed young gun to the veteran leader.  I am still in the younger half of AAM staff but I am starting to move closer to the middle of the pack in terms of years served. 

However, that wasn't the only lesson that I learned at AAM13.  There was also a great reminder of how much God is, and should, be in control.  Meg joined me this year and I felt a certain burden to make sure that she had a good time.  This became even more apparent to me when I saw that at our first session, we saw the fewest number of non-Asian American staff that I'd ever seen at one of these things.  Everyone was super welcoming to her but I wanted to be sure that she felt comfortable at the conference. 

So, of course, I get sick.  It started with a scratchy throat on Thursday night.  It led to body aches and probably a fever on Friday afternoon.  I was out of commission until my dizziness subsided Saturday afternoon.  Pretty much, for 24 hours or so, I was no good to anyone.  During that time I didn't think about it much but looking back I do think it was God's way of telling me that I am not Superman.  As much as I would like to believe that it is my job to take care of everything (and everybody) I really don't have that power.  Sometimes, you just have to let God do His thing. 

Now, I am back in CoMO and mostly better, save for a runny nose.  AAM13 is over and it is time to get back to work.  There are 8 weeks left in the semester.  Let's do this. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam