Baby Proofing!!!

Hello, friends!

First of all, happy Holy Weekend to you. Whether you're reading this on Good Friday, Holy Saturday (is that the right name for it?), or Easter Sunday, rejoice because He is Risen!!!

Ezra is now 8.5 months and it's been a really big month for him! He's learned to scoot on his butt, army crawl, clap his hands, say "Dada" (he could already say "Mama"), pull himself up, pick up food to put in his mouth, and he's rolling over like a champ. It's amazing how quickly everything developed!

That means that this weekend, Meg and I are going to be baby proofing the house best we can. We have drawers that need to be locked. There are stairwells and cabinets that need to be gated. There is art that needs to be elevated. There are corners that need to be softened. It's going to be a busy weekend.

Our plan is to have a friend watch Ezra tomorrow afternoon so we can knock out as much as possible without one of us having to be watching to make sure he doesn't fling himself off the couch (as he's tried to do on more than one occassion). I'm hoping that 4 hours is enough time to get it all done, but we'll see.

In some ways, I'm really looking forward to our baby proofing. I love projects like this and it'll definitely give me peace of mind to know that we're doing all we can to keep Ezra safe. On the other hand, I'm not super excited about the changes that will be coming to our house. I like having drawers and cabinets that open without me having to push a button or pull a lever or something. Alas, the things we do for love, right?

Friends, please remember to keep our family in your prayers. It's been so much fun watching Ezra grow and develop. It's changed Meg and my lives for the better and we are so thankful that God blessed our family. Here's hoping we can keep him safe long enough for him to start to look out for himself. =0).

Chasing the Yeti...

Hello, friends!

Depending on when you're reading this, I'm either on my way, currently in, or on my way home from beautiful Springfield, MO, home of the Missouri State University Bears, the Springfield Cardinals (One of St. Louis' minor league teams), and what I call the Yeti of InterVarsity at Missouri.

I say this because in my 9 years of being on staff with InterVarsity, Springfield has probably had more false starts than any city in our state. There are at least a half dozen colleges and universities in the city limits and literally tens of thousands of college students. We have contacts in Springfield, people who love Jesus and want to see more students reached with the Gospel. We've had people almost affiliate their current ministries with InterVarsity and almost have people join staff so they could do work in Springfield. I've visited there at least a half dozen times to meet students, scout, and generally see what's shaking. We know that God is there. We know that something COULD happen. We just haven't put it all together quite yet. Thus, much like the mysterious Yeti, we see glimpses but no definitive proof.

This trip I'm taking will be to visit a student I've known for the past 4 years or so. I don't remember how we first got into contact with each other but ever since his Freshman year, we've kept in touch and I've visited when I can to see what's happening. In December, this student went to Urbana and had a life change moment. He went back to campus and started a bible study with some of his friends and they've been meeting regularly ever since. I'm going to offer my support, see what's happening on campus, pray a little bit, and try to cast vision for a student led InterVarsity movement at Missouri State.

Friends, I'm not sure what to expect during my time there. On the one hand, it could be great. I could show up and there's a group of missional students who want to see the campus reached with the Gospel. I could walk into a room full of graduating Seniors with no desire to hang around Springfield. I really don't know.

What I do know is that my call is to be faithful. I told this student a while back that I would visit at some point so that's what I'm going to do. I'm not worried about what I'll find there because I know that either way, Jesus will be working. We could end up with a new chapter at Missouri State. We could end up with another Yeti sighting. I really don't know.

So, friends, please be praying for me. Pray for the 3 hour drive that's ahead of me. Pray that God will move through the bible study today. Pray that God will give me good wisdom and insight into the work that he's already doing in Springfield. Pray that God will bring a revival to Missouri State.

Have an excellent day!

A New Team Challenge...

Hello, friends!

Team MidMO is growing! When I moved out here almost 9(!) years ago our staff team was just me. Now, we have 4 paid staff, a number of volunteers, and we are hiring 1-2 more interns for the next 2 years! We've grown from 1 chapter on 1 campus (Mizzou ACF) to 5 chapters on 3 campuses (Mizzou ACF, ICF, and NCF, Columbia College, and Lincoln University) and we're hoping to have something going at Missouri State in Springfield by the beginning of next year. It's been a wild ride and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

One of the things that I've realized is that I've been blessed by all of you in a number of ways and that God has blessed me with wonderful networks of people who love me (and Meg and Ezra), love the campus, and love to see college students come to know Jesus. It's the reason that Meg and I have always finished the year fully funded without any funding deficit.

As our team continues to grow, our biggest barrier is going to be funding. We have a lot of new staff coming from different circumstances that will make getting fully funded a little harder. We have former students who gave their lives to Jesus in college so they don't have a strong home network. We have staff who have been working away from home for the past few years so have lost contact with their networks. We have staff who come from church traditions that support missions work differently than the way IV does it. We have more travel expenses as we go to more places. It's a good problem to have but it's a problem nonetheless.

So, as a team, we decided that from here on out, MidMO is going to pool all of its resources, meaning all of our networks, our deficits, and our time and energy, together to make sure that all of us can do the work that God has called us to do.

For the next few months, that means trying to raise $25,000 by June 30 to cover our budget for this year and hopefully get us started on the budget for our interns for next year. $25,000 in 10 weeks seems like a lot, and it is, but we have faith that God will be faithful and provide.

Here's where you come in. We already have a ministry partner who would like to be a matching donor, up to $6,000! Between now and May 1, every dollar in new money that we raise will be matched until we get to $6,000. This means that if we hit our May 1 goal, we'll already be almost half way to $25,000!

To break it down a little more, it goes like this: Each of my blog posts gets between 30-75 hits, so we'll call it an average of 50 people read this blog. If each person reading decided to give $120, or $20/month, we'll hit our goal, just like that! If each person reading this post shares it with a friend and that friend gives $20/month, we'd have $18,000 raised by the end of the week. If each of THOSE people shares this post with one friend and each of THOSE people gives $20/month, we reach our goal. =0).

My friends, would you please prayerfully consider being a part of the team or increasing your partnership to help us reach our goal? Would you please pray that the LORD of the harvest will come in his full power? You can give by clicking this link here and we'll make sure that all of God's provision is divided equitably.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

On Flourishing...

Hello, friends!

Greetings from beautiful Anaheim, California. I've been here the past few days at InterVarsity's Asian American Ministries Staff Conference. Since Tuesday, over 200 Asian American staff and staff reaching Asian Americans from InterVarsity have been gathered here to reconnect with one another, gain tools to help us in our work, and see what God has in store for us as part of the Asian American community. It's been an absolute blast on so many levels. AAM SC only happens every 3 years so it's a special treat to go every time it comes around. Here's are a few highlights of things that I've learned from my time here:


I'm getting to be an old man (Part 1)! On Wednesday, we had a commissioning and time of sending staff. Joe, the director of AAM, had us form concentric circles around the room, with the younger staff on the outside to be blessed by more veteran staff, who would then be blessed by more veteran staff, all the way to staff who have been serving for more than 25 years with InterVarsity. It was a really powerful time of sending and seeing generations of staff be sent by those who have gone before. What was so interesting for me was seeing that I've served longer than over half of our staff team. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but somewhere along the way, I moved away from being rookie and into being an elder statesmen.


I'm getting to be an old man (Part 2)! Last night there was a dance party... I LOVE dance parties. It was a karaoke dance party. I LOVE me some karaoke too! When I first joined full time staff, at one training we had a 4 hour dance party where about 20 of us never left the floor. We finished around 2am and felt great. Last night? after about an hour or so, I had to call it quits and head to bed. I got dragged back in when someone started singing Kelly Clarkson, but I was dead tired and in bed at a reasonable hour. I guess that's how it goes...


Being a staff director changes the job. This AAM SC was interesting in that it was my first AAM SC as someone who supervised staff and as a staff who isn't caring for an AAM chapter. I had big concerns entering about how I would be able to apply the learning I received here to my job. It really is about a change of perspective. Now, instead of thinking about how I can bring these tools back to campus, I'm thinking about how I can coach the staff I supervise to bring these tools back on campus. It's a different mind set, that's for sure, but one that I think I like. I'm still learning how to do it well, so here's hoping this works as a good training ground for me.


Flourishing is about abundance. Our theme this year was "Flourish" talking about how we want to flourish as AAM and how we want our students to flourish as well. The big takeaway for me personally is how in order to flourish, it requires a mentality of abundance. I have to believe that as an Asian American, God has given me an abundance of gifts to bring to the table and that he has even more in store. It's ok to risk because God will provide. It's not an easy mentality to adopt, especially as someone who has spent much of his staff career by himself with an acute sense of how resources are lacking. It's something I'm going to have to continue to internalize so I can better see all that God has for me.


I love MPD. Ministry Partnership Development, or MPD, is InterVarsity's process of building partnerships with people to help us build and grow the ministry. It's sort of like fundraising but so much more. Anyway, MPD has always been a love of mine and during this conference, I somehow managed to get my fill. There were consulting sessions, seminars, special interest dinners, and side conversations all centered around MPD. I somehow managed to get to all of them. It's a joy to continue to learn about an area where I have so much passion.


I also love my son and my wife. This week was tough in the sense that Meg and Ezra were in town but not at the conference. Except for 15 minutes on Tuesday and a lunch date on Wednesday, I haven't seen either of them since Friday. In the time since we've seen each other for real, Ezra has learned to roll over and make funny noises with his lips. I am very much looking forward to spending the weekend with them here in California before we had back to Missouri.


Mama Leong is the best. Mama was VERY popular this week. On Tuesday, after she dropped me off at the hotel so I could help setup, she stayed to watch a staff child so her mother could do some work. She then proceeded to take the staff mother, her daughter, and two other random staff to In-N-Out, the Korean grocery store, and to get Korean food. The next day, she came and gave a parental blessing at the conference and there wasn't a dry eye in the house (well, except for mine because I don't really cry...). I've been getting comments all week about how great Mama Leong is. It's been a long time coming but I'm so thankful for her advocacy and full embrace of the work that I'm doing with InterVarsity.


Doubletree cookies are REALLY good. Do I really need to say anymore? =0).

Friends, would you take a moment to pray for Asian American staff and Asian American college students? Pray that those who don't know Christ will meet him. Pray that we as staff will be able to navigate our own stories so we can serve students better. Pray that we as a community will fight for flourishing in all parts of the campus and every part of the lives of our students. Pray that Asian American students can be on the front lines of issues like racial reconciliation, immigration, justice, and mental health. Pray that we will see the abundance that God has already laid out for us as inheritors of His Kingdom, and not just inhabitors of a foreign land.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam