So, I didn't get to go meet with Donna til last week, but we did finally meet. Ideas are now being processed and turned into actual events. This weekend there is the marathon, and in two weeks there will hopefully be another event on the 19th. There were also ideas which we might put into action over the summer. That will take a bit of thought, organization, and people interested in these ideas.

I met with Maloa and Beth to do the first of my interviews. I really enjoyed doing both. It was really interesting to see what they had to say.

I chose Maloa because I was curious as to how she viewed the FOCUS organization, being from such a different background, and I was also curious as to what she was thinking and preparing for when she changes schools. I think it's important to plan for moving on, and that's what she has to do. I, therefore, wanted ideas as to how to prepare for that. Different things to be thinking and planning for in terms of how to carry on ministry after school life.

I chose Beth because I was interested in seeing how another campus organization was run. We discussed some of the differences between our two groups and how we choose our leader teams. They're currently going through some changes in how they select their leader team, and we discussed different aspects of that.

Talking to Beth was just a great reminder of the little things that must be done to continue in successful ministry. She's been a part of the BSM staff for 14 years, which I find amazing. I asked her what she found most important in ministry. Her response was one on one meetings, building those relationships were the most important thing. She also reminded me that there were all the administrative details that had to go on behind the scenes. Those forgotten things are very important for ministries such as ours to function correctly.

I also asked her about her goals. I thought her response was quite interesting. In personal goals, her first response, right off, was health. To maintain spiritual, emotional, and physical health. That was one I didn't think about, but really, doing her job, meeting with, providing counsel to, leading, etc., other people drains you, in all capacities. And, at the same time, she finds someone to provide the same things for her that she gives to others. Only in this way could she feel that she could be the kind of Christian leader that she needed to be.

I appreciated her drawing attention to the little things. Somehow those seem to be skipped over in everyone's thoughts. I asked her what she'd learned and these are the answers I received:

1) To listen and ask good questions: to draw out what really needs to be discussed --- important thing to learn, I think

2) How/when to say no --- to remember that there is only so much you can do, and after you reach that point, you're really no longer being helpful anyways, more than likely

3) Make sure you take care of yourself --- if you don't maintain that, how can you help others to maintain it

4) Success is measured differently in the realm of ministry --- the real reward is fruitfulness. If you make a difference in one person's life, it's completely worth whatever hardship or other thing you had to go through.

I thought those were great things to draw attention back to.

This post gets longer, but I haven't really mentioned my talk with Maloa....

Maloa gave alot of similar guidance. She pointed out that making, maintaining, and building on relationships is oh, so important to have any sort of impact on lives.

I also asked her about how she was planning on moving on from FOCUS, and what her ministry life would look like once she'd left. I think she's right, many times people lose sight of the fact that there is more out there than college. We won't be at UTD, or in FOCUS, or attending Northeast forever, more than likely. She views this as training for life, thinking "globally", as she said many times. We have to be able to step out, think for ourselves and make decisions, but also remember to carry on our ministry, in whatever form that might take.

Side note: She made a comment that the best bonding she's done was bonding under obligation. I thought that was interesting to think about. You wouldn't think about things that way, like, she grew up in a boarding school, and you'd think those you were around most and couldn't get away from would be the ones you might just want to strangle. But, that's wrong. If you notice, you may want to strangle someone, but no one else is allowed to even mention something bad about that particular person. You defend them. I thought that was an interesting thing to point out. The best example I could think of was family, siblings specifically.

Anyhow, I think that's enough for now. Just, I really enjoyed talking to both of them, and I have lots to mull over.

Enjoy :)