An Unexpected Bible Study!

Hello, friends! 

I'm now about 6 weeks out from Sabbatical and starting actually feel like I understand how to work again. Having the kids back in school now definitely helps with that feeling. Still, there are a whole bunch of things on my todo list from Sabbatical that I need to catch up on. 

Two of the things that I had to follow up on were some random follow ups. InterVarsity is a missions organization with a national presence, so every now and then, we'll get random contacts from folk who fill out contact cards. I also had an old contact card from someone who we used to go to church with.

Usually, these cards don't come to anything. Cold contacts is hard work and the success rate isn't very high. Added to that, both these contacts were for a local community college. When I took the job of Area Director, I felt really strongly that the best strategy for Nebraska was going to be to have a flagship campus. I want to spend the next few years really investing in UNO, which means that I can't say "yes" to everything or invest a lot of energy in something that may or may not happen. 

So, the plan was simple: I'll send a few text messages, give it a few days, and if there was no response (which was likely), then I'd be on my way after giving it a good effort. 

What I didn't expect was for these students to be hungry for Jesus, looking for community, and committed to making this thing happen. 

My first message was to M, the contact card. One of my coworkers had already reached out to him earlier in the semester while I was on Sabbatical and got no response. For some reason, he decided to respond to me. He was part of InterVarsity when he was living in California and just recently moved to Omaha. He was looking for community and ready to go. 

Next was a message to A. We'd had some interactions at church and she was a sweet gal but seemed pretty shy and introverted. I definitely was NOT expecting her to agree to a phone call and then hop in right away to starting a bible study on campus. She even made us a flyer! 

Added to that, one of our baby sitters and her sister are both starting at the same school this semester and they're both interested in joining too. Suddenly, what was once a longshot is now a bible study! =0). 

Friends, please be praying for Metro Community College in Omaha. It looks like we're starting a group on campus, which is great! Please pray for a good time in the word and that the students there will find Jesus and community there. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Back Into The Swing of Things...

Hello, friends! 

Well, it took a few weeks, but it finally happened... I sorted through all 1100 unread emails from Sabbatical! =0). 

Seriously though, the past few weeks have been all about playing the "catch up" game in terms of coming out of Sabbatical. Here's a brief list of all the things that were waiting for me when I got back to work: 

- Unread emails: Thankfully, most of those emails were so outdated that they were easily disposed of. However, there were still some that I needed to CHECK to see if I needed to respond, to go along with the ones that actually required some action on my part. 

- Supervisory work: As part of my new role as the Area Ministry Director for Nebraska, I now have 2 staff who I'm supervising. I needed to set up initial meetings with them as well as meetings with their supervisor from the past 6 months so I can get caught up on what's been happening.

- Student check-ins: While the Nebraska Area really is a more of a planting situation, there is still work being done on some of the campuses here. That means I need to check in with the student leaders to see how things have been going on their campuses and prepare for New Student Outreach.

- Asian American Ministries Work: A few hours of my week are devoted to helping the Asian American Ministries (AAM) Department with a few MPD projects. So, more meetings needed to be set up so I could get caught up on what was happening on that front. 

- National Training: Apparently, being a new Area Director means I'm part of New Area Director Training, which has actually been meeting for a bit already. That means I need to get caught up on the meetings and trainings that I've already missed. 

- Fall Conference Directing: Guess who came back to an invitation to direct the Iowa/Nebraska Fall Conference this year? Even better, guess who said yes?! So, now there are sessions to plan roles to delegate, and generally one more thing on my plate. 

- Ministry Partnership Development: When you don't contact folk for 6 months, there are a lot of people you need to contact when you get back. There are the folk who usually give at the end of the year but didn't because you didn't remind them. There are the folk who you tried setting a meeting up with before you left who need to be followed up with again. There are the new folk who you need to set up an initial meeting with. There are thank you cards to write and things like that. It's a good thing I like this part of the job. =0). 

This week has already felt better in terms of getting into a work rhythm. There's that old adage that the best way to eat an elephant is "one bite at a time." The past few weeks have been full of me taking small bites out of the re-acclimation process; a meeting here, a few emails deleted there, etc. I think I've at least got a handle on all the things that I need to do, which is half the battle. Now it's just a matter of actually doing the things. 

Friends, please be praying for me, especially during these next few weeks as I continue to figure out rhythms of work and how to get it all done. We're still in Summer Mode right now, which means the work week still isn't totally full since the kids are still home. Still, I know there are some things that aren't going to get done as well as I'd like. I have to be OK with that and keep using the time I have to work the best I can. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam