Staff Conference Hooray!!!

Hello, friends!

Sorry about not posting anything last week. I was actually in beautiful Orlando, Florida at our National Staff Conference. Between the meetings, the sessions, the seminars, and the sunshine, and in an attempt to stay fully present, I more or less went offline for the week. It was really nice.

Every 3 years, InterVarsity's entire staff team gathers together to reconnect, be re-inspired, and be reminded of our vision as a staff community. This Staff Conference (SC17) was special for a number of reasons. First of all, it was InterVarsity celebrating its 75 year anniversary! There was a really cool timeline up in our main session space that had our history, both its highs and lows, with photos and quotes and everything. It was pretty cool to see (even though I didn't get through all of it).

The second reason that it was a special staff conference was because of everything that has happened in our movement since the last staff conference, in fact, even in the last year! In the past 13 months or so, we had an Urbana, a new president was named, and we were in the news for our theological stance on sexuality. We had a lot of staff coming in from different places, not only geographically, but also mentally and emotionally.

As is often my nature, here are a few quick bullet points on my reflections from SC17:

- These things sure are different when you're a veteran staff. This is my 10th year with InterVarsity. I am by no means the longest tenured staff with our movement. It's not even close. However, I'm also not a young staff anymore. When I was younger, my Staff Conferences were full of play time, free time, and general chill time. As I've been on staff longer and longer, and taken on more and more responsibility, I've seen that more of my time at these things is filled with meetings. I don't think I had a breakfast meeting but there were definitely lunch meetings, afternoon meetings, dinner meetings, and even late night meetings. When we only get together every 3 years as a national team, you figure out how to meet. Meg's schedule was very similar. It's certainly not a bad thing. It's just a different vibe than from before.

- I know fewer and fewer people every year. I'm pretty sure that when I went to my Orientation for New Staff (ONS) in the summer of 2008 (after my intern year), we were the largest ONS class in InterVarsity's history. There were over 100 of us who joined staff that year. Since then, I'm pretty sure that number has been surpassed but what struck me is that at SC17, I saw even fewer people from my ONS class than in previous Staff Conferences. In one sense, I know that makes sense. I've talked to a number of friends from that ONS class over the year who left staff to go on and do great things. Still, it was a little humbling to walk into SC17 and know that there were a few folk I saw last time that I won't be seeing this time.

- It's nice to be at a conference and not be working at a conference. One of the best things about Staff Conferences is that most of us are there to be participants and not presenters or conference directors. This is a welcome change from the norm. As you know, I've been Missouri's Fall Conference Director for the past 3 years. I've also put on smaller things for students on individual campuses or for Mid-Missouri. Even at Urbana, I'm not directing but my primary concern is making sure my students are doing OK. It's fun work and it's good work but it's exhausting. SC17 didn't have any of that. I could go to a main session and just learn from the speaker without having to think through how students would be receiving the message or how to debrief the session later. If things ran over time, it didn't bother me. I could go to those various meetings and spend time at the pool with my wife and son without any guilt. It was pretty great.

Our theme for the conference was Magnificat. We were in the beginning of Luke, talking about Mary and the birth of Jesus. It was a beautiful time to not only spend more time thinking about the Christmas season but also a reminder that God's M.O. is to do miraculous things through the unlikeliest of people. That was a good word to receive as I prepare for the semester ahead.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam