Hello, friends!
Pop quiz: what's the only thing better than being at a conference? Answer: showing up a day early to go to the pre-conference BEFORE the conference!
This year, prior to AAMSC19, staff of Asian American chapters were invited to come in a day early and receive some special training related to doing communal evangelism within the Asian American context. While I don't currently lead an AA chapter (or any chapter for that matter), I am leading an evangelism project for AAM, so I thought it would be a good idea to do some networking.
From a training standpoint, this pre-conference was great. I love the innovation that is happening within the Asian American Ministries department. The level of contextualization is great and the tools and paradigms that were presented gave language to something that I think we already knew as staff working with Asian American students. There were so many times in those 24 hours that I heard audible gasps in the room or murmurs of appreciation as a new tool, concept, or paradigm was introduced.
Looking at it from a recruitment perspective, it was definitely fruitful was well. I was originally slated to give a bit of a longer presentation but because of time constraints (read: the guy before me went WAY too long), I had 3 minutes to present my project and present my case. Despite feeling a little squeezed, I got all my information out there and 4 staff leading 4 Asian American Ministries chapters from all over the country found me after the pre-conference to express interest in the project.
However, the question of "was it worth it" is one that is still live for me. The information and new tools were super interesting and are going to be great for Asian American Ministries, but I don't work directly with students anymore so I didn't need to be there for that. The announcement led to new interest in the project but that happened on Day 2 of the pre-conference, meaning I may not have needed to be at Day 1. Still, being at Day 1 allowed me to announce the project using the language of the pre-conference, which may have made it a better announcement. BUT, was it worth leaving my family a day early? Was it worth leaving Meg with the kids for an extra 24 hours? That's a much harder question to answer.
Do I regret going to the pre-conference? Absolutely not. Was it a really informative and helpful time? Most definitely? Was it worth the extra time away? The jury's still out on that one.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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Thursday, March 28, 2019
Being Old Staff...
Hello, friends!
In March of 2007, I was a Senior at WashU (Go Bears!) and was invited to apply for InterVarsity staff as an intern. My staff worker, Jean, invited me to go to San Mateo, California to meet the Asian American staff from all over the country. That was my first AAMSC.
Back then, I wasn't even a staff. I was just a wide-eyed 22-year-old trying to decide whether or not I would apply to join this staff team (spoiler alert: I applied). AAMSC19 was my 5th AAMSC and after attending 5 of these bad boys, I've come to a realization... I'm Old Staff now.
Maybe I already knew I was old staff but seeing it in the Asian American Ministries context was something new. Of the roughly 220 staff in attendance, 125 of them had been on staff fewer than 5 years. Another 40 had been on staff between 5-10 years. Our group of 10-20 year staff was 16.
Not all of it is just numbers. A lot of the staff who either joined staff the same year as me or were already on staff when I hopped on, are no longer working with InterVarsity. Since AAMSC only happens once every 3 years, it's a bit of a shock when you arrive and realize that a few more of your old friends won't be there.
Of course, there are advantages to being Old Staff. One of those advantages is that since Asian American culture leans more hierarchical, I am afforded a certain level of reverence and respect from the younger staff. Whether or not I deserve it is another question altogether, but either way I still get it. =0).
Another advantage is that there's more freedom in the afternoons. Each day we had afternoon workshops but in talking to the staff who were leading those workshops, I realized that each of them was designed for staff in the 4-7 year range. That meant that I didn't have to go to them if I didn't want. I saw a fair number of Old Staff out and about during the workshop time, just like me. Of course, spending more years on staff also means you have more stuff to do, so all the Old Staff were in meetings or doing other work (I had a few meetings myself), but it was still nice to have that freedom.
Honestly, I love being Old Staff. It's fun to share stories with the younger staff about how things "used to be" and I love the freedom of not feeling like I need to "do it all" while I'm there. It's a bummer not seeing as many old friends but it's also great meeting new friends. Besides, I'm an old soul anyway so being called the old guy doesn't bother me.
We'll see what happens at AAMSC22, when I'm OLDER Staff. =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Back Home
In March of 2007, I was a Senior at WashU (Go Bears!) and was invited to apply for InterVarsity staff as an intern. My staff worker, Jean, invited me to go to San Mateo, California to meet the Asian American staff from all over the country. That was my first AAMSC.
Back then, I wasn't even a staff. I was just a wide-eyed 22-year-old trying to decide whether or not I would apply to join this staff team (spoiler alert: I applied). AAMSC19 was my 5th AAMSC and after attending 5 of these bad boys, I've come to a realization... I'm Old Staff now.
Maybe I already knew I was old staff but seeing it in the Asian American Ministries context was something new. Of the roughly 220 staff in attendance, 125 of them had been on staff fewer than 5 years. Another 40 had been on staff between 5-10 years. Our group of 10-20 year staff was 16.
Not all of it is just numbers. A lot of the staff who either joined staff the same year as me or were already on staff when I hopped on, are no longer working with InterVarsity. Since AAMSC only happens once every 3 years, it's a bit of a shock when you arrive and realize that a few more of your old friends won't be there.
Of course, there are advantages to being Old Staff. One of those advantages is that since Asian American culture leans more hierarchical, I am afforded a certain level of reverence and respect from the younger staff. Whether or not I deserve it is another question altogether, but either way I still get it. =0).
Another advantage is that there's more freedom in the afternoons. Each day we had afternoon workshops but in talking to the staff who were leading those workshops, I realized that each of them was designed for staff in the 4-7 year range. That meant that I didn't have to go to them if I didn't want. I saw a fair number of Old Staff out and about during the workshop time, just like me. Of course, spending more years on staff also means you have more stuff to do, so all the Old Staff were in meetings or doing other work (I had a few meetings myself), but it was still nice to have that freedom.
Honestly, I love being Old Staff. It's fun to share stories with the younger staff about how things "used to be" and I love the freedom of not feeling like I need to "do it all" while I'm there. It's a bummer not seeing as many old friends but it's also great meeting new friends. Besides, I'm an old soul anyway so being called the old guy doesn't bother me.
We'll see what happens at AAMSC22, when I'm OLDER Staff. =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Back Home
Bayanihan...
Hello, friends!
In 2019, I've been trying to learn some Mandarin. I've been using an app and am making progress, although I'm still not great with tones. At AAMSC19, I learned a new word in Tagalog, which is one of the languages spoken in the Philippines. That word is "bayanihan."
For some context, the plenary speaker was a Filipino man who's been on staff for I think 8 or 9 years. He's now the National Director for Global Urban Treks and a really spectacular guy. The theme for the night was asking us to re-imagine partnership, which is where "bayanihan" comes into play.
In 2019, I've been trying to learn some Mandarin. I've been using an app and am making progress, although I'm still not great with tones. At AAMSC19, I learned a new word in Tagalog, which is one of the languages spoken in the Philippines. That word is "bayanihan."
For some context, the plenary speaker was a Filipino man who's been on staff for I think 8 or 9 years. He's now the National Director for Global Urban Treks and a really spectacular guy. The theme for the night was asking us to re-imagine partnership, which is where "bayanihan" comes into play.
Bayanihan is roughly translated to "being a part of the community." I believe the word "bayani" can be translated to "hero" and "han" means collective, so it's a compound word, meaning everyone is a hero. The word has roots in the Filipino tradition where an entire village will help a family move to a new location by literally picking up the house and moving it. The idea is that everyone in the community has a role to play in the health and well-being of the other members of the community. This, is bayanihan in action:
When I heard bayanihan described, I immediately thought of how as InterVarsity staff ought to see our MPD and our ministry partners. Do we see them as people who fund our ministries so we can try to drag the house that is our chapter by ourselves? Or, do we see them as partners who take part in the bayanihan of moving to new corners of the campus and new life in the kingdom?
Bayanihan starts with connectedness. We have to believe that our ministry partners, and our coworkers while we're at it, are connected to us beyond transactions and in real relationship. That starts with a posture of gratitude and thanks.
So, as my ministry partners, whether you partner through giving, advocating, praying, or serving, I want to thank you for showing me bayanihan. I've said before that I wouldn't be on staff if it wasn't for y'all and the love and support you've provided for me. You have literally helped me move my staff home, from St. Louis to CoMO, and now to Omaha. For that, I am eternally grateful.
Have an excellent day!
Gifts...
Hello, friends!
The last night of AAMSC19, our speaker asked us to re-imagine our spiritual gifts. To say that session was interesting would not quite do it the proper justice.
I wouldn't say that the idea of spiritual gifts is foreign to me but it's definitely an area where I've grown a lot in my understanding and in my theology. Growing up in a Chinese Baptist church, we talked about spiritual gifts but didn't get into the more "ghosty" gifts like speaking in tongues and healing. I don't know if that was a theological decision or a a decision based on the fact that we were all high schoolers. Either way, I knew of spiritual gifts but didn't really think about them much.
When I got to college, I saw more spiritual gifts in action. I saw friends of mine speak in tongues. I've had other friends pray healing over folk and be healed as well. I saw staff speak words of prophecy. Like I said before, I didn't think much about spiritual gifts so there wasn't any "unlearning" that needed to happen. I just had more exposure to gifts and so I accepted that they were present.
Our speaker spoke a bit on how important gifts are to our ministry, then she had us do listening prayer with two prompts. The first prompt was to ask God if there were any spiritual gifts that had been lying dormant that He wanted us to rekindle. The second prompt was to ask God if there were any new spiritual gifts that he wanted to give us.
For the first prompt, what came up for me was that I needed to rekindle the gift of preaching. I've known for a while that I've had the gift of preaching but it's a gift that I haven't used as much in the past few years. When I was first starting out on staff, I was preaching every week at ACF Large Group. But, as my responsibilities grew and I took on more roles, eventually leaving ACF, those opportunities stopped. I also haven't preached at my home church in Orange County in a bit, although I was able to guest preach once or twice down in Jeff City. Still, it was interested to hear that from Jesus.
Even MORE interesting was what I heard when I listened for new gifts. The word that came up in big bold letters was the word FAITH. My first reaction was uncertainty as to whether or not the gift of faith is actually a gift. So, I had to look it up. It turns out it is. My second reaction was uncertainty as to what the gift of faith actually is. So, I tried looking that up to. That search was less than fruitful and a little bit confusing. =0).
After talking with our Regional Spiritual Formation guru, I think I have a working definition of the gift of faith that makes sense to me. To paraphrase, it's a supreme confidence that Jesus is going to do what Jesus is going to do so it's OK to take risks. I'm still not entirely sure of how that's different from regular faith or just following Jesus well, but maybe that's evidence that I have that gift. Looking back on my life, I think that makes a certain amount of sense to me.
Right now, the plan is for me to figure out how to incorporate those gifts more into my work. I'm not totally sure what the game plan will be but I'm excited to see how God uses me with how He's created me.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Back Home
The last night of AAMSC19, our speaker asked us to re-imagine our spiritual gifts. To say that session was interesting would not quite do it the proper justice.
I wouldn't say that the idea of spiritual gifts is foreign to me but it's definitely an area where I've grown a lot in my understanding and in my theology. Growing up in a Chinese Baptist church, we talked about spiritual gifts but didn't get into the more "ghosty" gifts like speaking in tongues and healing. I don't know if that was a theological decision or a a decision based on the fact that we were all high schoolers. Either way, I knew of spiritual gifts but didn't really think about them much.
When I got to college, I saw more spiritual gifts in action. I saw friends of mine speak in tongues. I've had other friends pray healing over folk and be healed as well. I saw staff speak words of prophecy. Like I said before, I didn't think much about spiritual gifts so there wasn't any "unlearning" that needed to happen. I just had more exposure to gifts and so I accepted that they were present.
Our speaker spoke a bit on how important gifts are to our ministry, then she had us do listening prayer with two prompts. The first prompt was to ask God if there were any spiritual gifts that had been lying dormant that He wanted us to rekindle. The second prompt was to ask God if there were any new spiritual gifts that he wanted to give us.
For the first prompt, what came up for me was that I needed to rekindle the gift of preaching. I've known for a while that I've had the gift of preaching but it's a gift that I haven't used as much in the past few years. When I was first starting out on staff, I was preaching every week at ACF Large Group. But, as my responsibilities grew and I took on more roles, eventually leaving ACF, those opportunities stopped. I also haven't preached at my home church in Orange County in a bit, although I was able to guest preach once or twice down in Jeff City. Still, it was interested to hear that from Jesus.
Even MORE interesting was what I heard when I listened for new gifts. The word that came up in big bold letters was the word FAITH. My first reaction was uncertainty as to whether or not the gift of faith is actually a gift. So, I had to look it up. It turns out it is. My second reaction was uncertainty as to what the gift of faith actually is. So, I tried looking that up to. That search was less than fruitful and a little bit confusing. =0).
After talking with our Regional Spiritual Formation guru, I think I have a working definition of the gift of faith that makes sense to me. To paraphrase, it's a supreme confidence that Jesus is going to do what Jesus is going to do so it's OK to take risks. I'm still not entirely sure of how that's different from regular faith or just following Jesus well, but maybe that's evidence that I have that gift. Looking back on my life, I think that makes a certain amount of sense to me.
Right now, the plan is for me to figure out how to incorporate those gifts more into my work. I'm not totally sure what the game plan will be but I'm excited to see how God uses me with how He's created me.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Back Home
Comfort Food...
Hello, friends!
One of the huge blessings about AAMSC19 was that it was in Orange County, about 15 minutes from where my parents live and where I grew up. Besides the joys of a Southern California February and being able to see my family, the fact that I was so close to most of my old favorite spots to eat was spectacular.
It may seem stereotypical but we as an AAM staff team love to eat. It's just a part of who we are. When I first looked at the schedule for the conference, I was astounded to see that we had a THREE HOUR lunch break. But, as I thought about it more, it made total sense. Most everyone was using Uber or Lyft, so you needed to wait for your ride to show up, get to the restaurant, order, take photos of your food, eat it, sit and talk about how good it was, decide where you were going to go tomorrow, order another Lyft, have that Lyft take you to get dessert of some sort (often boba), then grab a third Lyft back to the hotel. That's about a 3 hour trip, down to the minute.
Southern California has so many great restaurants, especially when it comes to Asian cuisine. I saw great photos posted from staff enjoying Korean BBQ, pho, Chinese food, sushi, and the like. I know there are some really great spots with delicious food and authentic flavors.
But I didn't want to find the best out there... I wanted to go to my old spots.
You've heard me say before that I'm a creature of habit. I love rhythms and structures. That is true when it comes to food too. I have no problem trying a new place if the folk I'm with want to go do something different. But if I'm left to my own devices, I'm going to hit the spots I know and love. Especially since I don't get back to Orange County as much as I used to, as soon as that plane touches down, I am a man on a mission.
Does Tommy's have the best burger? We can debate that all day long but we'll be debating it while I'm eating it. Is Kaju better than BCD? Almost certainly but BCD is never crowded, is right next to the Boba Loca (they use real red bean in their red bean milk tea!) and give you a fried fish as part of the bonchan, so you'd better believe we're going there. Is Korea House the best Korean BBQ joint in all the land? Not a chance but my family has been going there for 20+ years and as long as my dad is paying, we'll keep going there.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to everything. The Mandarin Noodle house was a bit too far to get to justify the trip, as was the pho place I like. Still, when I boarded my flight to get back to Omaha, I was happy, full, and maybe a little bit fat. That's the right way to end a conference.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Back Home
One of the huge blessings about AAMSC19 was that it was in Orange County, about 15 minutes from where my parents live and where I grew up. Besides the joys of a Southern California February and being able to see my family, the fact that I was so close to most of my old favorite spots to eat was spectacular.
It may seem stereotypical but we as an AAM staff team love to eat. It's just a part of who we are. When I first looked at the schedule for the conference, I was astounded to see that we had a THREE HOUR lunch break. But, as I thought about it more, it made total sense. Most everyone was using Uber or Lyft, so you needed to wait for your ride to show up, get to the restaurant, order, take photos of your food, eat it, sit and talk about how good it was, decide where you were going to go tomorrow, order another Lyft, have that Lyft take you to get dessert of some sort (often boba), then grab a third Lyft back to the hotel. That's about a 3 hour trip, down to the minute.
Southern California has so many great restaurants, especially when it comes to Asian cuisine. I saw great photos posted from staff enjoying Korean BBQ, pho, Chinese food, sushi, and the like. I know there are some really great spots with delicious food and authentic flavors.
But I didn't want to find the best out there... I wanted to go to my old spots.
You've heard me say before that I'm a creature of habit. I love rhythms and structures. That is true when it comes to food too. I have no problem trying a new place if the folk I'm with want to go do something different. But if I'm left to my own devices, I'm going to hit the spots I know and love. Especially since I don't get back to Orange County as much as I used to, as soon as that plane touches down, I am a man on a mission.
Does Tommy's have the best burger? We can debate that all day long but we'll be debating it while I'm eating it. Is Kaju better than BCD? Almost certainly but BCD is never crowded, is right next to the Boba Loca (they use real red bean in their red bean milk tea!) and give you a fried fish as part of the bonchan, so you'd better believe we're going there. Is Korea House the best Korean BBQ joint in all the land? Not a chance but my family has been going there for 20+ years and as long as my dad is paying, we'll keep going there.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to everything. The Mandarin Noodle house was a bit too far to get to justify the trip, as was the pho place I like. Still, when I boarded my flight to get back to Omaha, I was happy, full, and maybe a little bit fat. That's the right way to end a conference.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Back Home
The AAMSC19 Super Blog!!!
Hello, friends!
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Last month, I spent a week in California attending InterVarsity's Asian American Ministries Staff Conference (AAMSC19). Every 3 years, Asian American staff and staff who are working with Asian American chapters, gather together to rebuild community, re-establish vision for the work we do, and remind one another to God sees us as Asian Americans and that he's well pleased with us.
This year's theme was Re-imagine. We were asked to re-imagine how we see ourselves, our work, our partners, and our students. It was a really powerful time filled with good fellowship, great fun, and amazing food.
Putting all my thoughts on AAMSC19 in one blog felt like too big of a task, so here's a SuperBlog instead. Each link will take you to a different blog post on one aspect of my AAMSC19 experience. I'm still sorting through all the pieces so not all my thoughts will be fully formed. However, my hope is that I'll be able to get enough out into the blogosphere so as to not forget anything important.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Travel
Back in Cali
Pre-Conference
Being Old Staff
Bayanihan
Gifts
Food!
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Last month, I spent a week in California attending InterVarsity's Asian American Ministries Staff Conference (AAMSC19). Every 3 years, Asian American staff and staff who are working with Asian American chapters, gather together to rebuild community, re-establish vision for the work we do, and remind one another to God sees us as Asian Americans and that he's well pleased with us.
This year's theme was Re-imagine. We were asked to re-imagine how we see ourselves, our work, our partners, and our students. It was a really powerful time filled with good fellowship, great fun, and amazing food.
Putting all my thoughts on AAMSC19 in one blog felt like too big of a task, so here's a SuperBlog instead. Each link will take you to a different blog post on one aspect of my AAMSC19 experience. I'm still sorting through all the pieces so not all my thoughts will be fully formed. However, my hope is that I'll be able to get enough out into the blogosphere so as to not forget anything important.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Travel
Back in Cali
Pre-Conference
Being Old Staff
Bayanihan
Gifts
Food!
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
So... much... snow...
Hello, friends!
When we moved to Omaha, we knew that some things were going to be different than when we lived in CoMO. We knew that the city was going to be bigger so it was going to take a little longer to get around. We knew that it was going to be colder during the winter since we were further north. We knew that there would be some adjustments to make.
No one told me about the snow...
Y'all, it just stays! It comes, and it stays! I don't know how much it's snowed in the past few weeks but I do know that it won't go away! We had one day at the beginning of the month when there was rain and the temperatures were warm enough for all the January snow to melt. Then do you know what happened? It snowed! Then it snowed again! Then it snowed a third time! And we just finished another 6 inches of snow. All those inches are just piling on top of each other, making our back yard about a foot and a half taller. Our new snow shovel is already showing signs of wear. Y'all, it won't... stop... snowing.
Back in CoMO, winter weather was different. It'd snow and there would be ice, for sure but the temperatures would always make their way back up above freezing so nothing stayed on the ground for more than a few days. You'd have the inconvenience of snow but you could usually just drive over it without having to shovel your driveway because you knew it'd be gone soon. There was the occasional "snow-pocalypse" when we got a huge dump of it, but even those never lasted for very long, relatively speaking.
Look, I'm not saying I want to move back. I'm not saying that Omaha is terrible or that this whole thing is unacceptable. I'm not saying that the plows haven't been doing a great job or that we aren't going to make it work. I'm just saying there's a whole lot of it and I wouldn't mind seeing my driveway in its entirety sometime soon.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
When we moved to Omaha, we knew that some things were going to be different than when we lived in CoMO. We knew that the city was going to be bigger so it was going to take a little longer to get around. We knew that it was going to be colder during the winter since we were further north. We knew that there would be some adjustments to make.
No one told me about the snow...
Y'all, it just stays! It comes, and it stays! I don't know how much it's snowed in the past few weeks but I do know that it won't go away! We had one day at the beginning of the month when there was rain and the temperatures were warm enough for all the January snow to melt. Then do you know what happened? It snowed! Then it snowed again! Then it snowed a third time! And we just finished another 6 inches of snow. All those inches are just piling on top of each other, making our back yard about a foot and a half taller. Our new snow shovel is already showing signs of wear. Y'all, it won't... stop... snowing.
Back in CoMO, winter weather was different. It'd snow and there would be ice, for sure but the temperatures would always make their way back up above freezing so nothing stayed on the ground for more than a few days. You'd have the inconvenience of snow but you could usually just drive over it without having to shovel your driveway because you knew it'd be gone soon. There was the occasional "snow-pocalypse" when we got a huge dump of it, but even those never lasted for very long, relatively speaking.
Look, I'm not saying I want to move back. I'm not saying that Omaha is terrible or that this whole thing is unacceptable. I'm not saying that the plows haven't been doing a great job or that we aren't going to make it work. I'm just saying there's a whole lot of it and I wouldn't mind seeing my driveway in its entirety sometime soon.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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