Lessons of a supervisor

Failure. It continues to be my most humbling mentor.
I know this isn’t exactly the response you might be looking for. InterVarsity does provide me with wonderful mentorship and community (who’ve helped me process through what you’re about to read) – but failure has indeed been the primarily catalyst for growth this year.

In my new role, much of my spiritual development has come as I’ve been challenged in how to love and support other staff. What keeps a missionary going? How do you help them walk through their own areas of weakness? When do you call out their mistakes and praise their faithfulness? This is a ministry on a whole new and more difficult level. And what I’m discovering is that I don’t naturally want to engage difficult conversations. I don’t want to call out things that are uncomfortable. And when I decline these opportunities, I fail as a supervisor and I fail the mission.
But as I’ve failed in this area, I’ve been reminded that declaring God’s kingdom on campus requires that we live the kingdom. And this includes asking our staff to be held accountable. So I am being challenged to be a better staff worker by holding our people to a higher standard -- to the standard of a King. I am being challenged to act instead of letting things go.
And thankfully, we have a King that wants to help us conquer our weaknesses. But we all must first admit that we need His help. Failure has helped me to admit it.

Rewards and...

Every season has been different. Watching people turn around, and choose to live a life of faith is always wonderful to see. For example, one of my older students, Alex, met Jesus on the brink of suicide three years ago. Not only did he turn around, but this year he’s ACF’s go-to guy. Alex is making Jesus more real for them and has inspired several people to come to faith. These are rewarding things that I get to see.

But this season it’s been you, the donors, that have been an incredible encouragement.

You are truly generous and incredibly faithful people. And it’s been made particularly evident in this horrible economy. Here are some examples:

Jin - lost her job for a while but kept on giving! And when God provided her with another job, she doubled her giving. All without my needing to ask. AMAZING!

James - felt God telling him to share his blessing. And upon received my last prayer letter, he decided that he should also give to Morgan (the supervisee that I highlighted last month) as well.
I continue to be amazed at the generosity in our midst. God is a real and powerful God.