Tom: What do you miss most about on-campus ministry?
Jean: I miss helping students grow from freshman to senior year on a day to day basis. So much can change in these four crucial years. However, in my current role I am able to still engage students on a broader level. A couple of weeks ago, I not only got to see the staff that I work with challenging their students and leading them to faith, I was one of the conference speakers at the Iowa Fall Conference. I spoke on Lordship in all avenues of faith. Students afterwards responded by writing down areas of their life that they wanted to give over to God and praying for God to help them. Some memorable examples were: “Help me forgive my father.” “I want to love my professors better.” “Help me with lust.” “I want to invest in the city.” “I want to know you have a plan for my life.”
Tom: What do you like most about your new responsibilities?
Jean: Probably the most compelling thing about my new responsibilities is being a part of our Region’s vision. We have set the ambitious goal of reaching 50 chapters and planting 1 overseas movement by 2020. Currently we are only at 22 campuses. All the unplanted overseas countries are in semi-intense unreached nations like N. Korea or Iran. Imagine in just 10 years having wide impact in the Midwest and even abroad. I’m privileged to contribute to this global vision through my passion—leadership development. 1/3 of my current role is training and empowering staff/volunteers (for example, I worked with a WashU faculty-volunteer to develop a speaking training for our staff this past summer). 2/3 of my time is helping staff to strategize and work through character issues in fund development. 100% of my work contributes to growing our capacity to touch students’ lives. God is sharpening my skills in teaching, training, speaking, and supervising. It hasn’t all been easy, but I feel like I’m a part of something bigger, grander, and exciting. I suppose this is the joy of saying yes to God’s colossal story.
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