Hello, friends!
One habit I've gotten into talking about staff work like it's an iceberg. You've heard that analogy, right? It's said that icebergs are only 10% above water and that the rest of the thing is actually below the surface, which is what makes them so dangerous (Feel free to insert your own Titanic joke here). In the same way, much of what we do in staff work is actually happening below the surface. The way I see it, there are 4 major parts to staff work, one of which is actually seen and the other 3 parts that happen below the surface.
The part that everyone sees and asks about is the campus work and with good reason. I don't know that there are any of us who got into this job for any other reason than we love the campus and we love college students. It's the part that makes the most sense to ministry partners as well because it's the most tangible. It's what we talk about the most, what goes in our updates and prayer letters, and is probably the most fun part of the job for most of us. But, it's not the whole thing.
Lying below the surface are the three other, equally important pieces of staff life that can't be ignored and have to be done well. There's the preparation piece, which includes things like prayer, planning, studying, running errands to buy supplies, making copies, formatting bible studies, conference calls, trainings, and things like that. There's the reflection and reporting piece, which is what allows us to learn from our experiences on campus and actually grow in our staff work and as followers of Jesus. Then there's Ministry Partnership Development (MPD), which is us gathering a team of people together to partner with us through time, prayer, energy, and finances, so we can reach as many students as possible. All 4 of these pieces are crucial to a healthy staff life and none can be neglected for the sake of the others if you want to thrive in this job. Of course, we all have parts we like to do more than others. (NOTE: other staff may add other categories to their icebergs. I'm just giving you my breakdown)
It may seem odd, but I really love the MPD part of the game. I love casting vision for people who may not have ever thought of the campus as a mission field. I love training staff in how to build up teams of people around them to make the mission go. I love learning about why people give and how people give. I love coaching and developing new ways of thinking about our MPD. It's so much fun for me and it doesn't hurt that I think I'm pretty good at.
Within the next week or so, I'll actually have the opportunity to run two different MPD trainings for our Region and I'm really excited about both of them. The first training (that actually started last night) is what we call MPD 101, or an introduction to MPD. Two of our newly hired interns are here and we're going to go over the basics of MPD, starting from the beginning and making our way to the nitty gritty details. Next week, I'll be traveling to Iowa to lead MPD 201, which is for veteran staff. We have some really exciting (at least to me) training planned in hopes of seeing more of our staff fully funded with resources to spare so we can hire new staff too.
Friends, would you be praying for me as I prepare and lead these trainings? Although I love this part of the job, I know that it isn't the favorite part of a lot of staff, which can be kind of draining when you're the one teaching it. Would you pray that God gives me clear words and a clear vision as we all move forward in developing this part of our staff iceberg together? =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
No comments:
Post a Comment