Month: August 2018

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Planning and Preparing

photo credit: Tim Barnes – IAFR

Today was one of those days that focused mostly on planning and preparing.  A couple of major events are on the horizon which require work ahead of time.  In just a couple of weeks, the Board of IAFR will be meeting in Minneapolis for our annual face to face.  We normally meet each month by video conference call, but we always look forward to our time together in person…sharing meals, hearing how God has been moving through IAFR, spending time praying over the needs and people of IAFR, and looking ahead to how God might be moving in the future. The weekend together is always a rich time of community and encouragement.  But….it requires preparation, which will be the focus of the next few days.

Also coming up is my next trip to the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi.  I will be traveling with our East Africa ministry leader, Jake Tornga.  We will be sharing more as the trip gets closer, but today was buying plane tickets and putting information together for the Malawian visa application.  There is a lot of pre-work but it is always worth it.  

And finally, we are adding another teammate to our IAFR US Service team.  April will be joining us in a couple of weeks to assist the Executive Team, so today also included preparing for her arrival.  We are very excited and know that she will have a positive impact.

So my desk reflects a lot of moving parts happening in IAFR.  Glad you all are along for the ride!!

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Meetings

Starbucks, Elgin, IL – photo credit: Tim Barnes – IAFR

One of the things I appreciate about my role at IAFR, is that I can work from nearly anywhere.  Today was a road trip to Wheaton IL, to meet with our finance team at Cedarstone Partners.  As IAFR continues to grow in team members and opportunities, we need a good infrastructure that makes it possible for our organization and teammates to flourish.  Cedarstone is helping us with that.

Next on the agenda is connecting with a former colleague to catch up and share what is happening around the globe.  In the meantime, the picture shows my afternoon office.  I appreciate being fully caffeinated!!

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Post Conference

IAFR Staff 2018 – photo credit: Tom Albinson – IAFR

So much of my time these past few weeks has been in preparation for the 2018 IAFR Conference, the annual gathering of our global staff.  Despite a hiccup or two, the week went well.  Conversations, worship and devotional teaching, training and discussion sessions, times of prayer, plus fun activities led to a week of refreshment, challenge, and encouragement.  Our growing team was represented by people from the U.S., Canada, Iraq, Philippines, Somalia, Scotland, and South Africa.  What an exciting, diverse team.  

The challenges remain large but I believe we left encouraged and ready to press on.  Now back to the daily grind of living the Kingdom of God among those who have been displaced.

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Soul

Laughter even in challenging places – photo credit: IAFR

In his book called Soul Keeping, John Ortberg writes, “ In the book of Exodus, God says to his people, ‘You shall not a oppress a stranger; you know the soul of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.’ “  He goes on to write, “Everybody has a soul.  We demean people when we forget they have the depth and dignity of a soul.”

Powerful words for a divisive and rhetoric filled world.  I believe that it is easy to demean and vilify when we see people as “other” than us…when we forget they have a soul like us.  Part of our role at IAFR is to help re-humanize those who have been forcibly displaced, to help people see the “soul” of the individuals.  May we see people as God sees them!