Sep
24
2009
abelara
we had a fabulous time at New Staff Training last week in Orlando. we covered some really valuable information and got to know a little better what we are actually getting our selves into. but what i enjoyed the most from our week away was all of the incredible people we met. not only did we have fabulous instructors, but the other participants from the various ministries of Campus Crusade are all top notch people. we made some great new friends, it's hard not to when you spend 10 hours or more for 10 days together.
so we've made it home and have hit the ground running. in fact, we may have started running a little too fast.
deb and i are both pretty competitive people. so when a challenge was given during our training of who could be the first person to get 3 appointments for the following week to share our ministry, we were on it. we each got our three, and i even got a fourth. deb won a handcrafted pen for being the first female to get her 3 appointments by 7:31pm. and i won some books for going above and beyond the assignment of getting three appointments.
but we weren't very strategic in our calendar planning. as it stood when we left training, we had appointments on tuesday, thursday, friday, and saturday of this week. and since i have a leaders meeting at church on wednesday, that meant one or both of us was busy every night of the week from tuesday-saturday.
so it was kinda a relief for us when yesterday our appointment for thursday rescheduled for friday. it's easier to ask a babysitter to come earlier or stay later, than it is to find a babysitter for another night of the week entirely.
Campus Crusade has various goals per week/month that they'd like New Staff to aim for in order to eventually report to their assignment in a timely manner. these goals are adjusted according to a person's work schedule at an outside job. so for me working 40hrs/week at Efcom, plus some more hours towards church related activities, we have goals set on the low end.
well as competitive as we are, and as much as we sense the urgency of the work we'll be doing, we've overachieved our goals for the first two weeks. which is great because it eventually gets us closer to our goal of reporting to work in Little Rock. but it's not so great being away from our family every night of the week.
i think the people at Campus Crusade have set their goals for us very reasonable, probably because they've seen thousands of families go before us and are aware of what drain it can take on time, family, and body. if we can taper back slightly and coordinate our schedule even better, we'll be better off in the long run. doing that i think we'll be able to reach our goals and maybe even overachieve every once in a while, and still have a healthy, sane family when we finally move.
keep us, our kids, and our health in your prayers. thanks.
1 comment | tags: appointments, campus crusade, competitive, familylife, goals, mpd, NST, plans, scheduling, time | posted in faith and ministry, life and family
Sep
17
2009
abelara
as i sit and look at the picture above of our fellow New Staff Training attendees, my eyes are welling up with tears. these people are heroes to me.
you see happy, smiling, young faces.*
i know the men and women who have been called by God to set apart their lives for a greater work of full time ministry. they come from all walks of life. there are students right out of college, former military, pastors, video production engineers, IRS agents, teachers, people from office jobs or manual labor. some have been married for years and have grown children, others have young children, and there are even two couples here that just got married 19 days ago!
these men and women have chosen to leave their friends and loved ones, pack up their families sometimes to a place unknown, and trust fully on God for their lives. these heroes have accepted the task of raising their support not because it’s fun, attractive, or easy to do so. no, they’re here at New Staff Training because each one of them has felt a call from God to do what He’s called them to do (and oh, if you could hear all of the stories i’ve heard). they have a passion for their particular area of ministry. and they have a sense of urgency to their work. the time is short, and we must begin doing the work He’s called us to do while there’s still time.
they are my heroes…my co-laborers…and my friends.
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* picture intentionally blurred and darkened for various reasons. email me or call me if you’d like to know why.
2 comments | tags: call, campus crusade, familylife, God, heroes, ministry, new staff training, passion, urgency, workers | posted in faith and ministry
Aug
27
2009
abelara
some are probably saying “it’s about time”, but i’ve finally put an official online giving link on our blog for your convenience to partner with us in our journey to staff with FamilyLife.
we’ve been so blessed the past few weeks as we’ve shared with people what God is doing in our lives, in the ministry of FamilyLife and how he’s brought us together. we’ve seen people become excited to partner with us and the ministry of FamilyLife.
well, it’s crunch time people. we’ve only got 15 days left till we leave for Orlando. back in June we were encouraged/challenged to raise $6000 to cover the expenses of New Staff Training and the Follow-up Training. so far we’ve received a little over 50% of that in pledges towards that $6000 goal. yet we’ve only been given in hand a little over 30% of it.
so, for those of you who needed a reminder to fulfill your pledge or perhaps you were waiting for a more convenient way to give (because honestly, who in the world still uses checks?), here it is.
on the right you’ll see an Online Giving button/link that will take you directly to the giving page on Campus Crusade for Christ’s website where you can give towards our ministry. it’s a simple process.
- first, you’ll be asked for an amount and frequency (special needs gift or ongoing monthly or quarterly gift). you can also add a note for us in this step.
- then, you’ll be asked to give as a guest or log in with your account (if you’ve given to Campus Crusade before-not necessary though).
- third, you’ll be asked for your contact info.
- finally, it will ask for your method of payment – bank withdrawal or debit/credit card.
by default it asks for a bank withdrawal using your bank account # and routing #. this is the default method since there aren’t any fees associated with it charged to our account. if you use a debit/credit card our account (not yours) is charged the 2-3% processing fee that Visa/Mastercard/Discover/etc. charges to Campus Crusade. in other words if you choose to give $100 using a debit/credit card, we’ll actually only receive $97 or $98 because of the fees (you’ll still receive a receipt for a donation of $100 though).
we could care less by which method you choose, we are so grateful to every person who is able to partner with us; be it with $100, $1000, or $1. we’re simply glad that you’ve obeyed God in what he’s asked you to do, and trust that He’ll take care of our every need. but for some, you may feel it’s worth the extra effort to pull out the seldom used checkbook to find your account and routing #s in order to make sure that every penny of your donation gets credited to our account.
once again, a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have already given, or are planning to give. we’ve got 15 days left till we leave for our first training and we’ll have much more information and vision to pass along in the coming weeks and months as we enjoy (and labor through) this next season of our lives.
so click on the link to the right or the button below.
2 comments | tags: campus crusade, familylife, giving, journey, mpd, online | posted in faith and ministry
